[A/N] So i've decided on how I'm going to schedule my fics from now on. Still Alive will be my main fic that I'll update regularly, probably once a week, while in the background I'll be writing other fics as the ideas come to me.
If I stay true to the outline, this fic should be around 100k words when it's finished, though that may change. Currently I have 2 fics running in the background;
'Smoke and Fire' - an Avatar fic from the POV of a bounty hunter
'Among Stars' - an Invader Zim fic focusing on the relationship of Gaz and and Irkin oc I made.
I'm also working on a rewrite of 'Show of the Century' but it's slow going.
That's all! Please Enjoy!
Akari snorted, molding her chakra for the coming fight. Behind her, the sound of steel meeting steel rang out deeper into the forest as Kakashi and Chameleon fought. "I'll take my chances thanks."
There was a moment of silence as they stared at each other, Akari's Mangekyo spinning slowly. An explosion rang out in the forest and they rushed at each other, kunai meeting in the middle with a spray of sparks.
Kakashi wasn't sure who this man was but he was damn good. The copy nin grunted as he was forced to duck under another chakra scalpel that would have severed his trachea. His battle with the fake Chameleon had been going on for several minutes at this point, and in the background he could distantly hear the sounds of Rabbit fighting their target.
Kakashi's opponent had numerous wounds on his body where the copy nin's tanto had found flesh. Kakashi himself seemed unscathed apart from some heavy breathing but that was due to his opponent's choice in weapon. His left arm ached where he had been grazed with a chakra scalpel, severed muscles twitching painfully beneath the skin.
His opponent was an extremely proficient user in that specific technique it seemed, the copy nin's Sharingan hadn't seen the chakra making up the jutsu waver once over the course of their battle. It spoke volumes of his chakra control, Kakashi himself wasn't even capable of using such a control intensive technique in the middle of a battle.
He took a deep breath, bringing his tanto to bear as Chameleon rushed toward him once more. Kakashi ducked under the first chakra scalpel and deflected the second with the flat of his blade. He brought the sword swinging in an arc toward the overextended arm to sever it, only to have to pull back as his Sharingan caught another chakra scalpel racing toward his unprotected throat.
He just barely raised his tanto, blocking the strike and striking out with a fist, impacting the man's stomach and making him lurch forward unconsciously. Capitalizing on the opening, Kakashi lashed out with his tanto, smiling in satisfaction at the spray of blood that followed.
That satisfaction was short lived as his opponent turned into a log with a puff of smoke.
'Substitution?' Kakashi thought, bringing his tanto in front of him in a defensive position, 'Where did he-' His thoughts were interrupted by the ground in front of him erupting to reveal his opponent. The fake anbu struck out with his right arm and Kakashi's Sharingan flashed as he tried to dodge.
He was mostly successful as the blade of chakra traced a line across the front of his anbu uniform. The other man attempted to follow up on his attack only to be forced to dodge out of the way of Kakashi's tanto racing toward his neck.
The following battle was a blur as Kakashi attempted to kill his opponent and vice versa. His head ached as his implanted Sharingan worked overtime, spinning rapidly to properly combat his foe.
'If this keeps on, I'm gonna be out of chakra in no time!' Kakashi thought as he lashed out with his blade, his opponent dodging and thrusting a chakra scalpel toward his ribs, 'I've got to end this quickly!'
He fought on for several more seconds, Sharingan spinning as he looked for an opening. It didn't take long before he saw it, 'There!' Kakashi dodged another chakra scalpel before lashing out with his leg, sending the other man flying back.
As his opponent flipped himself upright to land on his feet, Kakashi was already in motion, hands flashing through handseals at a rapid pace. He brought his hand to his mouth, molding fire chakra in his throat as his opponent landed on his feet across the clearing, "Fire Release: Flame Bullet!"
From his mouth came a series of fist sized balls of flame that quickly raced across the clearing toward his opponent. As the fireballs approached, Kakashi's Sharingan watched as the other man molded chakra, invisible seals lighting up on his body, before making a single handseal and pursing his lips behind his mask, "Water Release: Water Wall!"
A surge of water escaped the fake anbu's mouth and rose up in front of him, the fireballs impacting the wall of surging liquid harmlessly and creating steam which quickly spread out to cover the clearing and dropping the visibility rapidly.
That worked in Kakashi's favor though as he could still see his opponent's chakra perfectly fine. He brought his hands back together and began flipping though handseals that had become almost second nature at this point.
"Who sent you?! What happened to the real Chameleon?!" He shouted at his opponent in an attempt to buy some time.
"I'm afraid I can't tell you Hatake-san. Just know that some very important people are interested in Akari-san. To her detriment I'm afraid." The fake anbu member stated calmly even as Kakashi sensed him beginning to mold chakra.
It was too late however as Kakashi had finished his seal sequence, bringing his left hand up to grasp his right wrist and channeling lighting chakra into it. He shouted to his opponent as the clearing filled with the sound of chirping birds, "Then I'll just have to bring your corpse to TI for examination!"
Sending chakra to his feet, Kakashi darted forward, arm held at his side and purple lighting scarring the earth below it. He reached his opponent in less than a second, thrusting his arm forward as the fake anbu's eyes widened behind his mask.
"Chidori!"
Kakashi's lightning clad arm impacted the enemy nin's chest and continued forward, slicing it's way through bones and frying through organs like they weren't even there, ending it's journey with his elbow deep inside the other man's sternum. The fake anbu jerked briefly on his arm as lightning chakra coursed through his veins before falling forward onto him as the life left his body.
Kakashi breathed deeply, deactivating his technique and ripping his arm out of the now lifeless body. It fell to the earth with a thud and lay there, twitching sporadically as leftover electricity coursed through it's nerves.
Kakashi waited a moment for the twitching to subside before flipping the body on it's back with his foot, "Now, let's see who exactly you are."
As he went to remove the mask however, his instincts screamed at him. He jerked back, watching with wide eyes as the body began seizing before melting, dozens of rats emerging from the hole in it's chest. They trampled over one another to get away, leaving nothing but a puddle of blood where the body once lay.
"A clone?!" He spoke in astonishment, "When did he-"
Kakashi spun around as he sensed movement behind him only for his vision to shake as he was struck in the side of the temple with the end of a kunai.
He fell to the ground, bringing his darkening vision up to gaze at the mask of the man he thought he had killed. The fake Chameleon crouched down and brought out a kunai, nicking Kakashi in the arm and drawing blood. He stored the kunai in his tool pouch and spoke as the dark spots in Kakashi's vision slowly made it's way in.
"I'm truly sorry about this Hatake-san, but I have my orders. Please do not interfere." He stood and began walking toward the area Kakashi last heard Rabbit fighting the Uchiha.
The copy nin attempted to raise up to follow him but his arms gave out almost immediately. 'Poison.' Kakashi thought blearily as he felt his body weakening further. He once again tried to raise himself up only to curse as his arms refused to obey him at all. He stopped trying to move, laying there as the darkness consumed his vision entirely and he passed out, cursing the man who was responsible.
Akari panted as she deflected another thrown kunai with Rumi. Even with Kami no Ryoiki constantly filling her chakra reserves, this anbu was no joke. The Uchiha had been forced to constantly expend chakra to keep up with the other woman.
In the back of her head, she could sense Kakashi fighting with that other anbu member a short distance away. She knew she didn't have long before one of them emerged victorious and she would have two anbu to deal with instead of one. She needed to finish this quickly.
She turned her attention back to Rabbit as the woman rushed at her once more, molding earth chakra and slamming her palm on the ground she shouted, "Earth Release: Mud Flow River!"
The dirt under her palm softened and melted, turning into mud that began spreading out and rushing toward the sprinting anbu woman in an attempt to stop her assault before it began.
Rabbit cursed, sending chakra to her legs and jumping high above the flowing mud. She brought a fist up above her head and Akari could feel her channel a large amount of chakra into it. The Uchiha cursed, removing her hand from the ground and placing it flat against her chest. Channeling fire chakra into her lungs and closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply, "Fire Release: Brilliant Torch!"
From her lips came a blinding white ball of fire that hurt Akari's eyes even through her eyelids. Luckily it was even worse for Rabbit who still had her eyes open. Akari could hear the woman scream in surprise and pain as she was forced to abandon her attack, sending the gathered chakra dispersing into the air to be absorbed by Kami no Ryoiki.
The anbu woman landed a few meters away from Akari who opened her eyes and changed Rumi back it's original shape, immediately expending a good portion of the chakra she had just received. She twisted her body around, sending the flail of the meteor hammer flying toward the still reeling anbu operative.
Rabbit's instincts were too honed though, as the other woman seemingly sensed the weapon coming toward her and twisted out of the way, sending a wind enhanced kunai flying in the direction the weapon came from and forcing Akari to dodge, yanking Rumi back toward her in the process.
The Uchiha caught the flailed head of the meteor hammer and panted. That short exchange had been how the entire battle had been going, Akari would catch the other woman off guard and attempt to capitalize on her supposed weakness, only for Rabbit to demonstrate how she had become anbu in the first place.
It was extremely vexing to say the least.
Akari took a deep breath and called out to the other woman as she regained her sight, "I don't suppose there's any way I could convince you to just let me go? Save us both the trouble?"
Rabbit just laughed, pulling another kunai from who knows where and enhancing it with wind chakra, "No can do kid. I've got orders directly from the Hokage, you really tweaked a lot of noses when you escaped. Mine included." She crouched down, muscled legs tensing as she channeled chakra through them, "Mole was my teammate, I think I'm due a little revenge don't you?"
Akari cursed as the woman leapt, closing the distance between the near instantly. She blocked a kunai with the head of Rumi and twisted, wrapping the chain around Rabbit's wrist and yanking, forcing her to drop the kunai.
Rabbit's other hand came up to stab Akari in the stomach but was deflected as the Uchiha maneuvered Rumi, pulling the chain taut between her in front of her stomach. That didn't stop the wind chakra however, as it simply continued around the chain to pierce her armor, stopping half an inch deep.
They stayed like that for a moment, struggling against each other before it quickly became apparent that Rabbit was stronger, wind clad kunai slowly making its way deeper into Akari's armor. The anbu operative grinned victoriously only to become confused as Akari smiled.
"Gotcha." The Uchiha whispered, and Rabbit's brown eyes widened in terror as she saw the glowing liquid in the back of Akari's throat.
She attempted to disengage, only to be stopped as Akari tightened her hold on Rumi's chain. She inhaled, pursing her lips as the anbu's struggles increased, "Fire Release: Dragon's Maw!" The Uchiha spat liquid flames directly onto the anbu's masked face.
Rabbit screamed in pain, launching herself backwards with a burst of chakra, sending Akari flying backwards in the same motion. She landed on her back with a grunt, jumping up with Rumi held at the ready only to watch as the other women shrieked and grabbed at her mask desperately. She wasn't paying attention to Akari at all, giving the Uchiha time to think.
Akari took a moment to gauge her chakra, she grimaced at what she saw. Even with her chakra constantly refilling, she was a little below half of her maximum, if she enacted her plan, she'd barely have any chakra left. She didn't have a choice however.
She took a deep breath, placing her hand on the ground and molding her chakra, it was all or nothing.
Rabbit hadn't expected this fight to last as long as it had. She expected to blitz the Uchiha, rough her up a bit, and knock her unconscious so she could go help Hound deal with the imposter.
She didn't expect the sixteen year old to be able to cast jutsu without handseals. Didn't expect her to have chakra reserves comparable to an elite jonin. Didn't expect her to be ruthless enough to spit fire directly onto Rabbit's fucking face.
She didn't expect a lot of things.
Rabbit's hands grasped at her mask desperately as she felt the heat from the fire begin to seep in. She fumbled with the piece of porcelain for a moment before finally getting a hold of it and ripping it off, flinging it into the forest where it shattered against a tree sending liquid fire in every direction.
The redhead grabbed at her face for a moment, sighing in relief as she only felt minor burns on her jaw where the mask didn't cover, and looked back to where the Uchiha was standing with a scowl on her face.
Only instead of being met with one Uchiha, there were two. Rabbit stared in confusion before realization hit her. She laughed, "You really think making a clone is gonna help you against me? That was a nasty little move you just pulled, I think it's time I stop holding back."
That was mostly a bluff, Rabbit had been holding back at the start of the fight, but as it went on she tried harder and harder. It was really embarrassing that a chunin had been giving her such a run for her money, she'd have to up her training when she got back to the village.
Rabbit went to speak more, only to stop as her opponents moved, one putting her hand on the ground and the other bringing her hand to her mouth. Rabbit wasn't a sensor, but even she could feel the massive amount of chakra the two girls were channeling.
Realizing she didn't want to be on the receiving end of whatever jutsu these two were cooking up, Rabbit attempted to leap into the air only to be stopped as her foot sunk into the soft ground below her.
Looking down, she cursed as she saw her foot had been caught in the deep mud from the girl's earlier jutsu. She looked back up at the two girl's and could tell they were almost done molding their chakra, she wouldn't be able to escape the mud in time.
She took a moment to calm down before bringing her hand's in front of her and beginning to make handseals. Rabbit may have been a taijutsu specialist, but all anbu were required to know at least a few ninjutsu, she just preferred not to use them as most of hers were chakra intensive for her relatively small reserves.
This jutsu she was preparing to use would take around half her reserves, leaving her virtually empty.
She was nearly finished with her handseals when her opponent's announced their techniques.
"Earth Release: Earth Spear!"
"Fire Release: Dragon Flame Bullet!"
One of them slammed their palm on the ground, sending a surge of chakra through the earth and forming a massive spear that surged towards Rabbit. The other put her hand to her mouth and exhaled a torrent of fire that quickly began to race up the length of the spear, engulfing it in flames.
The end result was a massive flaming spire of sharpened earth that raced toward Rabbit with astounding speed.
'What the hell did they feed this kid?!' She thought incredulously as she finished her handseals. She clapped her hands together, sending a massive surge of wind chakra into her palms before spreading them apart, revealing a quivering ball of wind. She thrust her hands forward, "Wind Release: Shredding Current!"
The ball of wind raced forward toward the spear, quivering with barely restrained power. As it met the earth jutsu, it expanded in a cone shape, releasing shredding winds in the direction of the Uchiha, destroying the combination jutsu and racing toward the girl and her clone. Impacting them with an explosion of dust.
Rabbit took a moment to regain her breath and began walking toward the slowly dissipating cloud, "You know," she began as she approached, "This would have been a lot easier if you had just come with us willingly. There was no way you could have won, even if you beat me, you still would have had to deal with Hound and I don't think I need to tell you how bad that would have gone for you."
She reached the cloud and waited for the dust to clear. As it did, Rabbit expected to see an unconscious Uchiha and a pile of dirt. What she saw instead was two piles of dirt and no Uchiha.
"What the hel-?" She began, but was interrupted by pound of solid steel attached to a silver chain smacking her in the side of the face and knocking her unconscious.
Akari smirked as she pulled back on Rumi's chain, sending the flail sailing back into her hand. She looked down at the unconscious anbu member smugly, "Like I said, I'll take my chances."
She took a deep breath, stopping the flow of chakra into her eyes and sighing in relief as her chakra returned to her as Kami no Ryoiki deactivated. She blinked a few times as her vision returned to normal, eyes fading from crimson red to onyx black.
The Uchiha took a few moments to catch her breath, glad that her plan had worked. She had gambled on Rabbit being too preoccupied to notice her making the clones and hiding underground and was glad it payed off. She knew if that final blow hadn't knocked the anbu member unconscious, she would've been screwed as she didn't even have enough chakra to activate her Mangekyo now.
She bent down, digging through the unconscious woman's pockets and withdrawing a soldier pill. She swallowed it, humming happily as her chakra began slowly refilling. "Now to get out of here." she muttered.
Expanding her senses, Akari cursed, dread pooling in her stomach at what she felt.
Apparently Kakashi had lost as not only did his chakra indicate he was unconscious but the chakra of his opponent was currently racing toward her, and at the speed he was approaching, he would be here in a matter of minutes.
Channeling chakra to her feet, Akari leapt up into the nearest tree and jumped off. The border was just a miles or so away, there was a massive river separating the Land of Fire and the Land of Waterfalls. If she could make it to that river she could disappear into it, erasing her scent trail and hopefully stop further pursuit.
As she leapt from branch to branch, she could feel the anbu's chakra getting closer and closer until eventually, only minutes later, he was upon her.
She whirled around, not stopping her tree hopping even as she flung Rumi in an arc, attempting to knock him to the forest below but he just dodged the flailed head and grabbed the chain, pulling it toward him roughly.
Akari yelped as she was pulled toward him, attempting to attach herself to the tree with chakra to no avail. Her body flew weightlessly for a moment before being forcefully stopped as the man thrust his leg out, smashing into her armored torso and sending her flying away with a cry of pain.
She clenched her eyes shut, as she impacted to ground below, body landing in the dirt with a loud thud. She groaned in pain, arm cradling her newly bruised ribs.
There was a sound to her right and Akari's eyes looked over to find Chameleon rising from his crouch and walking toward her slowly. She shot to her feet, channeling chakra into Rumi and turning the flail into a kunai and throwing it at the masked man with a snarl.
He tilted his head to the side, dodging the knife with little effort, and grabbed the chain once more. He looked down at it, as if pondering something, before raising a hand glowing with chakra and bringing it down on the silvery links.
Snap*
Akari watched in silent horror as her precious weapon was split in two, broken pieces of her parent's gift falling to the dirt with sad little plinks. Her vision went red.
"I'LL KILL YOU!" She channeled chakra into the remains of her weapon, forming a tanto and rushing at the anbu member with a scream of rage. She aimed for his throat on the first swipe only to have him dodge, she used the momentum from the first swing to twist herself around and thrust her weapon at his stomach.
The man grabbed her wrist, stopping her assault cold and pulling her up until they were face to face. She snarled, jerking in the unmoving grip as she stared into the dark holes of the porcelain mask.
He took in her thrashing form and shook his head slowly. He pushed her backward, leaving her unbalanced, and slammed his foot into her armored chest again. Akari's vision went white with pain as her already bruised ribs cracked and splintered.
She flew backwards out of the forest, body landing on the ground and rolling several meters. Tears came to her eyes as she gasped in pain from her broken ribs. There was a moment of silence as she tried to get her breath back and her ears perked up as she heard it.
The sound of rushing water.
She looked up from her position on the ground and saw the edge of a cliff a few feet away, she could just barely hear the sound of a river past the jutting piece of land. She was nearly to Waterfall.
She reached out with her arm, clenching her teeth with pain as she dragged herself forward. If she could just get to the river, she could disappear.
"Just…a little…further!" She grunted desperately as she dragged herself along the rough the ground. Behind her, she could hear the slow footsteps of the anbu member as he followed her. It didn't matter though, she was nearly there!
Just as she reached the edge of the cliff, a hand grabbed her shoulder and flipped her on her back. She froze in horror, Mangekyo activating unconsciously as she stared into her assailant's porcelain mask as he slowly unsheathed his tanto.
He hesitated for a moment before seemingly finding his resolve, "I'm sorry, Akari-san." He raised his tanto above his head, before bringing it down on the defensless Uchiha as she screamed in terror.
*Clang*
Akari watched in amazement as her death was averted by a solid mass of dark pink chakra appearing in front of her. She could feel her eyes straining with the construct's appearance, and could feel the drain in her chakra as it stayed manifested, it must have been another aspect of her Sharingan. It had saved her once again.
Taking the opportunity that had presented itself, Akari slammed her hand on the ground below her and sent as much chakra as she could into the earth. The ground shook before collapsing, destroying the cliff she had been laying on and sending her careening down toward the river below.
Akari's eyes faded from red back to black as she ran out of chakra. Her hand clenched tightly around the remains of her precious weapon as wind rushed past her at an alarming pace.
It only took a few moments before she impacted the water's surface with a splash. She clenched her teeth at the freezing cold feeling of the water before her vision mercifully went black.
The fake Chameleon stared at the water where the Uchiha disappeared and shook his head lightly. His master wouldn't be happy with this.
"Good." He muttered, feeling the seal in the back of his head flare warningly.
He sheathed his tanto and began making his way back to Konoha at a leisurely pace. He'd give that girl as much time as she needed to escape, Danzo be damned.
[A/N] That's the end of Arc 1 of Still Alive!
Tune in next time to see where Akari's adventures take her next!