1zara-uchiha1 and I don't own the Naruto cast or anything else you might recognize. 1zara-uchiha1 owns Laura and I own Kahlan. Together we own the plot.


Chapter 95

Note: War is life or death; the instinct for survival will always win over morals.

~Kahlan's POV

"Sorry," I say running my hand through my hair. "We had run into trouble, a lot."

"Those guards are very persistent," Kisame replies with a small grin.

"Leader-sama," Konan says. "Do not get upset, it could have happen to any group."

Leader sighs and I relax my posture. Hidan is busy pigging out on the ice cream and I shake my head. I'll laugh when he gets himself sick. The five of us takes a seat as Leader sets down a map.

"We're going to have to change tactics," Leader says. "From what Zetsu has gathered, the guards are also attacking the Konoha ninjas and their allies. We will use this to our advantage. Half of us will be going down to the beach to take care of the Konoha while the other half stays here in town to take care of the guards. We will then switch places at noon after giving a report of what is going on."

"Who will be going where," I ask glancing at the map.

"Hidan and Kakuzu will be going here," Leader says pointing to the north side of the beach. "You two will attack together from there. Whoever stands in your way kill them. Sasori and Deidara will be making the first move from the sky. If you see any more helicopters blow them up. Kisame and Laura you will be attacking from the south side of the beach. Zetsu will be going with but staying at a distant to give reports. The rest of us will be inland fighting the guards, no arguments."

Turning to Kisame I give him a very evil glare and say, "If anything happens to Laura, I'm coming after you."

"She had me as a sensei, she'll be just fine," Kisame replies.

"Enough," Leader says. "Those I've assigned to attack the beach are to go now. You are dismissed."

"Be careful," I say to Laura giving her a big hug.

"You be careful too," she replies returning the hug.

"I will," I reply letting her go.

She gives a smile and I return it. She leaves with the others and I start gnawing on my bottom lip as I turn to Leader. We wait for Kakuzu to drag Hidan out by the ear who is complaining that 'I'm not fucking done eating the fucking ice cream asshole.'

With Hidan and Kakuzu finally out Leader turns to us all and says, "Alright, Tobi you will be going into the group of guards as a diversion. From the North Konan and I will attack. Sasuke you will be attacking from the east, catch them in a genjutsu if you must. Itachi you will be attacking from the south and Kahlan you will be attacking from the west."

"What," I ask slightly surprised. I'm going to be on my own.

"Do not question me," Leader replies. "By attacking from all side we will have them cornered. We are moving out now. Dismissed."

"Tobi will go distract them," Tobi says cheerfully and runs out of the building.

Leader and Konan head for the door with Sasuke following. Slowly I rise to my feet a little shaking-ly. I'm not sure if I can really do this stuff on my own. Oh gosh what if I get killed…no that won't happen I can't allow it.

"Just remember what I taught you and listen to your instincts," Itachi says.

"Okay," I mumble in reply.

Itachi turns and walks out and I follow behind him silently. With everyone outside they all start moving out and I just stay rooted in my spot for a moment. I wait for them to leave sight and slowly, ever so slowly, I turn and head in the direction I have to go.

My eyes roam around the destruction of the town. Some house are standing untouched while others are completely blown to the foundation or burning. Derbies are scattered across everywhere, some on fires and some not. Cars are in places they shouldn't be. One Chevy truck is sticking out of a house while a Mercedes is flipped over in someone's garden.

I keep my ears open for any sounds. Right now it's quite…as in shit will be hitting the fan soon quiet. My entire body is screaming for me to run and hide, but all I do is continue walking down the deserted dirty road, my footsteps sounding loud.

The entire time I'm walking my body is tensed. I'm on edge, jumpy at almost anything making a sound pulling out my Sais for non-existing ghost. Damn imagination going into over-drive.

"Calm down," I mutter to myself placing the Sais back then run my hand through my hair.

I continue to keep my guard up. My eyes scan over everything as I spin around in a slow circle every few minutes. Still nothing ever jumps out at me. No one attacks and I can't help but think I'll be getting into some serious trouble and there will be no one to help.

My body freezes hearing something in the distance. Slowly I turn around narrowing my eyes but see nothing. Either I'm overreacting still, or I should have thought about walking out in the damn wide open. Think quickly, what can I do.

"Hello," I call out, my voice cracking with just enough quivering to make it sound like fear. Fuck, why the hell did I just do that? I should have learned from the last time what happen when I called out.

"What are you doing here," says a deep stern voice.

I turn to look at a crumbling pink house. My eyes find no one, but I know that is where the voice came from. "I'm looking for my friends," I lie.

"Don't move," the same voice says and I hold my hands up in the air.

A second later, a man with an army-ish looking uniform comes out from the side of the pink crumbling house. I raise a brow noticing the shot gun in his hands. Slowly I bring my hands down knowing this guy isn't part of the National Guard. He's that clerk from…Walgreens that I've seen a few times.

"I know you," the man says keeping his shot gun pointed at me. "I've seen you around those people with those cloaks."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I reply innocently. "Are you sure you don't have me confused with someone else."

"Don't play with me girlie," he growls narrowing is eyes at me.

He starts pulling the hammer for the gun. Quickly, I start running in a zigzag pattern. A moving target is a harder target to hit. While running I start gathering my chakra.

"Shadow clone jutsu," I say under my breath creating two clones. "Distract him."

The clones nods and run towards the man. The man glares and points the gun at one of the clones. He gets a lucky hit shooting one of them making them go poof. I almost fall down as I receive them memory of the pain the clone felt for a split second.

The second clone he has more of a problem shooting. He misses, causing him to curse and having to reload. I use the opportunity to add chakra to my feet to increase my speed. Reaching him I kick the gun out of his hand. Really I don't want to hurt him but he start shooting at me. So I can't be blamed for punching him in the face.

The man stumbles back but regains his balance. He spits tobacco at my feet and then actually starts charging at me. Oh come on, this can't really be happening. Oh, who will I be able to kid it is. So, I do the one of the only logical things to do. I dodge the man's attacks, after all he is just a civilian probably scared, confused and angry as hell.

"Oh so now you want to be a coward," he snarls.

"I'm not," I reply. "I don't want to do this."

The man gives an un-amused chuckle of disbelief then pulls out a large knife used for gutting on hunting trips. Quickly, I take out one of my sais and block the attack. I push the blade away and kick out to him. My clone comes up from behind him with a bat and knocks him upside the head a couple of times until the man is lying on the ground unconscious. Where the hell the bat came from?

"Let's go," I say standing up straight.

"You're not going anywhere," someone yells.

There's a loud bang going off. Instinctively, I turn my body to the side. Pain erupts in my shoulder and I fall to the ground as my clone poofs away. Warm liquid starts gliding down my left arm. Hissing, I look up and see a young woman maybe in her late twenties running over to the fallen man. This woman is part of the National Guard.

I stand up while the woman seems to check the man's vitals. Hearing me move she looks over. She lifts her gun up and goes to pull the trigger. My eyes widen and I quickly do a substitution jutsu just as the gun goes off.

I rush over to her, ignoring the pain in my shoulder and try removing the gun from the woman. It's a battle of tug-of-war for two minutes before I successfully snatch it from her grasp. She goes to kick my feet out from under me and I jump up slightly into the air as I toss the gun to the side. She goes to hit me, and I block the attack.

We engage in a hand-to-hand to combat for about fifteen minutes. She makes quick jabs and tries to hit for pressure points. I block and attack with moves that Leader Deidara, Sasori and Itachi has taught me. Though really, from the wound in my shoulder, the woman is the one with the upper hand in the battle so far.

She seems to know this and twists the arm to the wounded shoulder. A small cry of pain escapes my lips as she brings her elbow down on the shoulder, hard. I go to kick out at her but she moves back and then adds pressure to the wound as she starts moving my arm in a direction it does not bend.

"No," I yell as I move backwards with all my weight.

The woman stumbles loosening her grip on me. I take the chance and snatch my arm back. She tackles me to the ground pulling something out. Light glistens on a silver object in her hands. Fear of dying kicks in and my survival instincts seems to take over.

It doesn't happen it in slow motion like it does in movies. My right wrist turns in the right angle activating the hidden blade as I lodge it into the woman chest before her hands start coming down. With my left hand, I awkwardly remove one of my Sais and lodge the blade into the side of the woman's neck before moving it towards me to add more damage and for the blood to escape quickly then I pull both blades out. The blood splatters on me and I close my eyes as it hits my face. The woman starts making gurgling noises and I open my eyes as she tries to desperately keep the blood from escaping. The light starts fading in her eyes and she's looking at me with hatred. I can't look away; only stare as the woman dies on top of me, her blood falling on me.

Her body starts falling forward, but I'm unable to move as her head lands beside mine making a thump hitting the ground. For a moment I just lay there as her blood starts soaking my shirt. Slowly, I roll her off me and sit up. I stand with shaking legs, my eyes wide and my breathing comes in gasp, the pain in my shoulder momentarily forgotten. I stare down at the woman for what seems like forever.

Slowly, my body turns around and my feet start forcing me to walk. My eyes focus on nothing as I head east not sure what I'm doing. I walk and walk even though I feel like hiding under blankets like a little child. I continue walking until I come across a battle of guards and ninjas. None of it registers in my head as I stand frozen watching everything with detachment.

For a while I seem safe as I see Leader, Konan, Sasuke, Tobi and Itachi all engage in battle with the guards. Leader does his almighty push, Sasuke does some lightning attack, Itachi is doing a fire attack, Tobi is running in circles and Konan is attacking with paper. That safety goes out the window as one of the guards see me with my sai still out and it along with myself still covered in blood. They point their gun at me, but I just let myself become more detach as I let my instincts take over. My sai flies out of my hand to get lodge in the man's throat.

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This is war and it's only natural that people will do what they have to do to survive. It is instinct and programmed into all of us so it's not a shock that Kahlan finally had to go through it. Plus, I also love putting my characters through hell; it shows them what they're made of and makes them grow.

Anyways, we both hope that you have enjoyed this chapter and are enjoying the story. Thank you to everyone who has been reading, adding this to their favorites and/or alerts and for reviewing, it means a lot to us. Please stay tuned for the next update and once again thank you. Reviews are much appreciated and loved; until next time. ^.^