Naruto: A Red Eye Hidden by Shadow

by Tatanka4Life

On the fateful night of the Uchiha Massacre, a girl of Uchiha and Nara blood is spared and left with no memories of her past. Now she must walk on the path left by her family to help her build a new future for herself. Her path will be hard, full of struggles and pain, but as long as she has her friends and family at her side she will keep forging ahead, even if it was a drag.

187. Chapter 186: Unwavering Wills

Chapter 186

Unwavering Wills: A Trinity Rises!

Ghoulish moaning drifted through the ancient grounds of the Chūnin Exams, the icy breeze weaving between a dense woodland as old as the mountains, whistling around the earthy structures freshly erected by warring humans amidst felled trees and shattered trunks. The ancient branches of trees yet standing creaked and groaned, blades of grass bent and wavered, and shafts of resplendent sunlight pierced the woodland, casting sable shadows in their wake.

Upon a hill, far from the battlefield, a purple cloak rustled. The figure drummed their fingers impatiently upon a tree, awaiting the results of the experiments.

However, for the Leaf shinobi trapped within the claustrophobic walls of the Mountain Maze, there was only cold stone, a lightless ambience absent of warmth completely severed from the outside world. They did not know the figure in the purple cloak watched with bated breath, nor did they hear the ghoulish moan of the winter breeze as it wandered through the forest like a soul denied eternal rest.

The walls of their prison were too thick, the figure too far, and the rigors of battle all-consuming. In darkness the shadows quarreled. They heard only the shrieks of metal and their tempered or quick breaths, they felt only the tension and aches of their stiff muscles, all as their hearts thumped powerfully in fresh wounds.

Within the highest prison of the Mountain Maze, as tall as the oldest trees within the woodland, Mimi's foot connected with the forearms of Burn Scars—a broad man with a cleft chin, bearing the scars of a powerful Fire Ninjutsu along the left side of his neck and upper torso.

He slid back on his heels, threw his right arm out. Earth Nature ninjutsu coagulated around the arms, forming into a long curving blade stretching from his shoulder to his ankle.

Mimi pivoted suddenly, raising her kunai as Gap-Tooth leapt out of the adjacent wall. Another metallic shriek stabbed their ears as she parried aside his kunai. Simultaneously, Burn Scars darted straight ahead, drawing his Earth Arm-Blade back; it's tip carved a line through the wall, ejecting debris and pellets as he rapidly approached.

Blade leaving Gap-Tooth, Mimi spun a sharp pivot and raised her kunai. Red-hot sparks sprayed off the small blade as the edge of the Earth Arm-Blade ground along its width. Suddenly, very suddenly, the upper half of the kunai snapped off.

Eyes wide, breath caught in her throat, the Inuzuka's arm jerked forward. She stumbled a step towards the blade, then quickly planted her feet and redistributed her weight. The noisy metallic clatter of her kunai on the stone floor as harsh as her pounding heartbeat in her ears.

Burn Scars halted suddenly, turned to face her. He raised his Arm-Blade across his body.

At the same time, as Gap-Tooth tried to lunge in low, Aoko slid upon the ground and kicked the man with both feet, one foot landing square in his side and the other in his hip, shoving him away.

Red chakra lashing violently, the Inuzuka ducked onto all-fours beneath the swiping Earth Arm-Blade, feeling the whoosh of air rush over her head and back, and tossed aside her broken kunai. It, too, made a harsh and noisy clatter.

Burn Scars deftly drew his Earth Arm-Blade back and thrust it for her back within a beat. Mimi leapt aside and rolled rapidly through the air, blade narrowly passing by her torso before piercing into the earth, cracking it. She landed again on all-fours upon the wall, sapphire eyes flicking to her companion.

Gap-Tooth's kunai emerged from the floor first, driving towards Aoko's chest. Her ninken suddenly sprang to the ceiling, spinning around to land on all-fours as their enemy fully reemerged beneath her. He then darted through the air to pursue the ninken.

Before Burn Scars could pull his blade free, Mimi flickered away, materializing halfway between the floor and ceiling.

Gap-tooth's battlefield awareness was sharp. He raised his arms as her leg flashed for the crook of his neck, then flesh and bone colliding against flesh and bone reverberated through the halls like thunder through a canyon.

His weapon hand flashed. Mimi's wild eyes widened, a wordless scream breaking past her lips as white-hot pain shot through her entire being and heart-pounding rage drummed beneath her skin, setting her skin on fire; she could feel his kunai, slick with blood, buried in her right calf, piercing her tibia and rattling inside it with their harsh movement.

They flew to the opposing wall, carried by the momentum of their collision. The Stone shinobi crashed back first, again she felt the impact roar through his blade and into her tibia. He then yanked the blade free, coaxing another scream from the Inuzuka, before sinking into the wall.

Mimi scrambled on three limbs across the stony surface, blade shooting up beneath her chest several times, unzipping flesh along her right shoulder, tearing through her flak jacket along her side.

The kunai hissed, seeking to bury into her throat. She shifted her body upright, blade severing the fabric of her blue v-neck down its middle, then pushed through her left leg and bounded off the wall onto the floor again.

Burn Scars was there to greet her, Earth Arm-Blade already drawn back. She didn't have the time or the mobility to evade. Desperate, Mimi attempted to sidestep and block the blade aside utilizing the plate on the back of her fingerless glove.

Instantly she knew it was a terrible plan. Metal and stone ground together. Instead of red sparks, however, flecks of blood sprayed through the air, splattering the blade, the walls, and the two shinobi in a shower of crimson. Pain etched on her face, a furious and loud snarl tore apart the kunoichi's throat.

I've had enough of you bastards!

Faster than Burn Scars could react, she planted her unstable right foot and straight kicked the man in the stomach with all of her gathered strength. Spittle flew from his lips, his wide eyes appeared to nearly pop out of his skull. His feet left the floor, sent flying in a light arc away from the Inuzuka.

Grimacing, Mimi slid back on her wounded leg, sandal screeching beneath her, then tumbled onto her back and felt another painful jolt shoot through her leg. She quickly rolled onto three limbs, keeping her right leg and foot slightly elevated off the floor.

At the same time, as Burn Scars was uprooted from the floor by her kick, Aoko shot off the ceiling in a Tunneling Fang aimed at his back.

Gap-Tooth was too damn quick. He emerged from the floor, grabbed his comrade, and sank them both into the ground. Flesh and clothes still shredded, however. Aoko's claws sheared across Burn Scars left shoulder before he could disappear; droplets of blood sprayed, shreds of blood-stained fabric floated and settled on the floor.

Her ninken exited the rotation, spun along the floor and into position parallel to Mimi. Burn Scars and Gap-Tooth both emerged ahead of them, the latter wearing a cruel and ugly smile.

"What's the matter, little demon? You're looking a little pale. Where's all that bravado? I thought you were going to finish what the Butcher started."

Pale? Yeah, that sounded about right. He'd struck the tibial anterior artery, the bastard. She was losing sensation in her right leg. Her stomach was swirling terribly, head buzzing and feeling lighter and lighter by the second. She felt cold. Really cold.

It only took one opening, she blinked, trying to keep her vision clear. And that bastard capitalized on it. Dammit, she shook her head in an attempt to stay awake. This is bad.

Mimi couldn't tell if her sweat was warm or cold over the fog creeping over her mind, but she was intimately aware of it soaking through her clothes and dripping off her body as she heaved for air. Gap-Tooth and Burn Scars didn't bother to advance, keen to watch the offspring of the Butcher die from blood loss, like hunters who had trapped and scored a fatal hit on their prey, and now only needed to wait for it to bleed out.

Perspiration and blood mingled together, leaking off her trembling limbs and onto the floor from the wounds these ugly bastards left in their wake; they'd only been thin cuts and scrapes bleeding down her arm, just beneath her left armpit, and along her right cheek before.

Now her left hand, sore and trembling, was gushing blood through the ravine in the plate covering the back of her hand. Crimson squirted out the back of her right leg in long arcs.

Prior to the latest injuries, they were tit for tat on minor injuries. Burn Scars, Gap-Tooth, and Aoko all sported some manner of cut, scrape, bruise, and visible blood on their person. Their latest exchange, however, turned the tides in the Stone shinobi's favor, to put it mildly.

They were souring the mood of the party.

"Mimi, you're losing too much blood," Aoko rumbled, moving in front of the kunoichi. "I'll pin them down so you can use your new technique."

Mimi grunted. Guess I shouldn't have expected anything less from assassins sent by the Stone, especially ones out to settle a score with Dad, she thought, grinding her teeth together. I'd hope to save this to help the others out, but Aoko's right. Bastard got me good. I won't last much longer. My bodies getting colder. Hearts pounding faster than it should be…

Despite the direness of it all, the Inuzuka couldn't help but grin wildly. Even as the fog built and her head grew lighter, and the world seemed farther and farther away, life-force quickly slipping through her fingers, she felt an exhilarated thrill race through her being.

"All right, Aoko. Let's finish this."

"Right!"

Aoko inhaled a large breath, expanding her entire diaphragm.

A piercing howl consumed the hall. All at once the entire stone prison began to rumble and quake fiercely around them. Gap-Tooth and Burn Scars screamed, the former throwing his head back and writhing as he covered his ears in futility, the latter collapsing to his knee.

Mimi grimaced. With her hearing enhanced, in the claustrophobic walls, Aoko's howl resembled hot knives stabbing her eardrums. All the same she turned her focus inward.

I've only got one shot with this. No second chances, no retries—that was the stipulation for this Exam anyway, right?

"Mr. Anbu and Miss Anbu have their hands full, so we can't depend on them to save us," Amari's voice came back to her. "This is our battle and ours alone. They're a wall obstructing our path. The only way to reach our goals now is to stick together and blaze a trail straight ahead."

That's right, thought the Inuzuka. This is our battle to finish. And although they may have separated us, there isn't a doubt in my mind that you two are still alive and fighting like hell right now to put these assassins in the ground and regroup.

"Then let's stop waiting around. We'll carve a path right through them."

Yeah. No more waiting around. No more bravado. They came looking to settle a debt, so let's settle this old debt and move forward.

Inhaling a long, calm breath, the entire world around Mimi collapsed into a shapeless void where there was no pain, no heartbeat pounding in her ears, no blood spraying out her leg. The only way for her to control this new technique was to focus, to breathe, to be as serene as an undisturbed lake.

We're gonna carve our path right through these bastards. Everything we've trained for, everything we're fighting for, it's all on the line. So there's no reason to hold back.

She imagined the First and Second Gates, the Gates of Opening and Rest, in her left and right hemisphere, and unsealed them. The valves slammed open and unmitigated chakra poured through.

We're going all in. I'll heal whatever wounds we take, I'll surpass Lady Tsunade and help build a future where kids won't have to suffer the way we have.

Serenely, controlling the new flow of chakra with every bit of focus she had, Mimi envisioned the Third Gate, the Gate of Life, located on her spinal cord.

In the shapeless void a small grain of light ignited. It was warm. Quickly, the grain burgeoned into a spherical orb, and like a sun it blazed brighter amid the void, burning away the darkness in warm white light.

Doesn't matter how dark it is, as long as she's there blazing her trail, we'll know which way to go.

Right here, right now, we're putting everything on the line—our dreams, our future, our very lives.

The Gate of Life unsealed.

A sudden and sustained powerful quake rumbled from the highest point of the Mountain Maze to its deepest corridors far below the earth, startling all its occupants.

Elsewhere in the chambers, Amari and Sasuke both smirked; the vibrations caused by Aoko's powerful howl had heralded this precise event, and now there was nothing the Stone shinobi trapped with Mimi could do except wait for the guillotine to fall upon their necks.

Yūgao sensed the sudden explosion of power. Tenzō exhaled a soft chuckle. They shared a similar thought.

The kids were done holding back.

Somewhere beyond the battlefield, a crazed grin took form on Kabuto Yakushi's face, for even he felt the hints of power trembling upon the air itself—none could ever mistake the release of the Eight Inner Gates.

Within the highest Mountain Maze, red chakra gushed and swirled violently around Mimi like a raging fire tornado. Harsh gales of raw power ascended off the Inuzuka, crashed into the ceiling and walls, cracking the surface, and gusted through the corridor; Mimi's and Aoko's flak jackets and clothes billowed, as did the attire of the Stone shinobi, who felt the wind punch them square in the chest as Aoko's howl kept them pinned down.

Mimi's dark-brown wild mane lashed wildly, caught in the storm. Her complexion darkened, shifting red. Veins bulged along her hands, face, and elsewhere beneath her clothes. A green aura took shape around her.

Every molecule of focus and chakra control she possessed went into directing the immense overflow of chakra. She struggled to grasp it all, feeling as though she was trying to catch and hold a waterfall in her hands. She struggled to control it.

At the heart of the swirling red tornado, Mimi inhaled another deep, calm breath. Exhaled just as deeply. She focused on that ever-expanding grain of light, still growing, still expanding, still burning away the darkness. She cradled it in her hands, and then pushed it into the center of her being.

The warm light, she envisioned, floated there, spreading its light slowly from the center of her torso towards her extremities.

Steam suddenly rose from the wounds on Mimi's body. The thin cuts and scrapes beneath her left armpit and the cut along her right cheek vanished, her contusions faded. Then the gaping ravine along the back of her hand and right calf slowly, steadily, sealed shut. Beneath the surface her Medical Ninjutsu mended the bone of her broken tibia, it repaired her anterior tibial artery.

Mimi's eyes snapped open, absent of irises and pupils. Her new technique was a complete success.

When I was trying to figure out how to heal Lee's injury, I hit upon the Cell Activation Jutsu concept that Lady Tsunade eventually used to perform his surgery. I lacked the chakra without a food pill and the refined chakra control to activate all the cells simultaneously, allowing the body to repair itself.

Gap-Tooth and Burn Scars, grimacing and unable to move as Aoko's howl stabbed their ears, stared wide eyed at the kunoichi at the heart of the tornado.

Opening the Third Gate removes the chakra restraints. Even though it takes everything I have to control this absurd amount of chakra while maintaining a constant flow of Medical Ninjutsu, I can finally do it. It took me three whole months of intense training to control this technique, and even now I can only maintain this for around twenty seconds, if I push it. But the end result…

"The Third Gate," she snarled, "Infinite Gate of Life… Open!"

Fissures split through the stone beneath Mimi's hands and feet, beneath the Stone shinobi, up the walls, and into the ceiling, ejecting dust and debris as red chakra expelled from them like geysers of fire. Stones gradually uprooted around her, levitating amid the violent streams of chakra.

The end result is healing any damage the Gate of Life causes before it occurs. Which means there's nothing stopping me from carving right through you two now!

Aoko ceased to howl, unable to maintain it any longer.

The crimson cloak gushing and swirling around the Inuzuka wrapped around itself, twisting, bending, tangling together as something took shape within. The Stone shinobi's sucked in a breath as they saw it—the visage of a ravenous, grinning wolf demon.

A grin Mimi mirrored.

"Looky looky at those shocked faces. Thought you came huntin' the Butcher's daughter, and yet ya look so surprised by what you found. Hehehe!" her voice trembled with a sadistic chuckle. "I told ya, didn't I? You're trapped with a Demon, and Mama's hungry for some blood!"

Mimi flickered out of existence. The only sign of her presence was the rupturing of stone on the ceiling above the Stone shinobi.

Pale, as pale as the Inuzuka he thought he'd slain a moment ago, Gap-Tooth's horrified gaze raised to see the Demon lunging towards him, the vicious chakra casting hues of crimson over his horror stricken face. His last sight was that of a snarling wolf demon descending upon him. He heard its infernal howl roar in his ears.

And then it's jaws clamped over his being, devouring his soul in a single bite.

Mimi's foot crashed into his chest, pulverizing his ribcage. Stones ruptured in a calamitous uproar, a shockwave pulsed through the hall, launching debris, dust, and gales of wind in all directions none save Mimi and Aoko were prepared for. All as red chakra vented through the cracks like the geysers of hell.

Simultaneously, the gap-toothed Stone shinobi torpedoed through the floor, through the earth of the highest Mountain Maze, out its exterior, and plummeted into the ground below at terminal velocity.

His body cratered the ground, then shot through it into the lower Mountain Maze where Sasuke and the twin Stone kunoichis were in the heat of battle…

---

Aoko's piercing howl was unmistakable.

It's sound waves penetrated the earth, muffled by thick layers of dirt separating them, and yet unfurling mild tremors along the floor, walls, and ceiling of the dark corridor Sasuke occupied. All three shinobi felt a jolt at the new sensation as they pursued and retreated respectively.

The Uchiha's crimson eyes, glowing in the darkness, flicked between the two Stone kunoichi's as they ascended both walls towards the ceiling, darting closer in a pincer attack. Sasuke leapt back, conscious of the Quicklime coating the floor below, and the Stone Golem now charging at his back.

"Didn't you say we should be more worried about our comrades?" the hooked nose twin with a buzz cut wondered cruelly.

Two piercing cries. Red sparks rained.

"Sounds to me like your comrade is crying out for help. Or perhaps its mercy."

Swiftly, Sasuke leapt backwards at a downward diagonal, landed on the wall to his back left, then quickly pivoted towards the Stone Golem. He leapt again at a slight angle.

The short-haired twin followed him to the opposite wall, but halted suddenly, lip curling in a frustrated snarl when the Stone Golem lumbered and turned towards his previous position, blocking her path.

The Uchiha zipped by the Golem's side, beneath its large arm. He attached his chakra covered hand to its stone body, whipped around three hundred and sixty degrees with his sandals screeching upon its back, then sprang off to the opposing wall.

Body Flickering, he dashed along the wall, onto the ceiling, and appeared at the flank of the long-haired twin wearing her red headband as a bandana as the Stone Golem finished its turn, cutting off her twin's pursuit.

Another metallic cry, another flash of sparks. This time she was the one to retreat in evasion, leaping off the ceiling to the same wall he'd initially jumped to.

Suddenly, very suddenly, a sustained quake of tremendous power rumbled through the dark chamber. Minor fractures split upon the ceilings and walls, and even Sasuke's enhanced visual prowess trembled as the vibrations rolled up legs.

The kunoichis inhaled sharp breaths. Sasuke felt his hairs stand on end. Power, raw and fierce, pressed down upon his being, the air in the windless chamber quivered.

He felt the corner of his lip lift.

Leaping after the long-haired twin, his blade narrowly passed over her head as she sank into the earth. He bounded across the hall, turning around as he flew.

Their blades cried out again as the short-haired twin struck. They both slid along the opposite wall, him backwards, her forward, carried by the momentum of their jump, but he kept their blades in a deadlock.

"Hmph," he snorted dismissively. "That power doesn't belong to your comrades. If I were you, I'd say a pray for your friends and give them their Last Rites while you can."

"You arrogant child," seethed the twin.

"Then again, you shouldn't waste your breath. After all, you'll be seeing them soon enough."

Their deadlock broke. He slashed and evaded back at the same time. The twin ducked beneath his blade. Her sister emerged from the ceiling, flying like a loosed arrow. Sasuke leapt to the opposing wall, gaze flicking to his right as the Golem appeared in his peripherals.

There was a flash, then a rush of heat. The Golem groaned, stumbled as the Paper Bomb he set detonated, providing a faint opening to evade again.

He leapt around the Golem to the opposing wall, and inhaled sharply when the long-haired twin rose before him. Flesh unzipped on them both, his blade passing through her armor and splitting a surface wound beneath her left armpit and breast.

Hot pain unzipped along his right thigh—nothing serious, fortunately. Like the cut along the bridge of his nose, right half of his jawbone, back of his right hand, and the cut bleeding into his mesh armor at the center of his back, he could weather it.

Hastily, Sasuke leapt towards the ceiling. To stand still was to die in this environment.

The short-haired twin appeared out of the ceiling. He blocked her blade, but choked for air when her foot smashed into his stomach, launching him towards the Quicklime covered floor.

Damn!

He channeled chakra to the soles of his sandals, slid upon the viscous substance. He bent at the knees and prepared to leap again.

He was too slow.

Commanded by the long-haired twin, the Quicklime roared to life around him like a sentient wave and covered his feet to his neck. His skin was burning instantly. He writhed beneath the surface, wincing, grunting, gagging, and squeezing his eyes shut as the pain intensified.

"Heh, not so arrogant now, are you, Uchiha scum," the short-haired twin said.

I can't move my body. Sasuke grimaced. If they add water to this, I'm dead. I need to…

He stopped writhing. Took a breath.

He needed to focus. They were already patting themselves on the backs for a job well done. Let them bask in it while they could. Let them arrogantly lower their guards. He wasn't dead or done, not yet. Neither was Mimi. He could still feel the earth trembling through his legs.

You fools, he chastised his enemies, centering himself. Calming his mind and body even as his skin burned. You arrogantly thought Mimi was already dead, and now you think you've captured me as well. You underestimate the power of my comrade, you underestimate my power.

The power of the Uchiha Clan.

The long-haired twin approached, walking along the wall.

You, who targeted me for your vendetta against my father, who loathes my Clan, should know better than that. Not that I mind.

Suddenly an explosion of rupturing stone split their ears. A shockwave of power and wind roared through the hall, a single shaft of golden light poured in through the new skylight smashed into their chamber.

The Stone kunoichis ducked and covered their heads, wind harshly whipping their skirts and hair. Sasuke shut his eyes against the biting gale, but smiled in spite of the pain sizzling along his flesh.

Hmph. As hot-blooded as ever.

The gale died. Nothing went still or silent, however. Patches of grass, mounds of dirt, and stone debris crashed onto the Quicklime covered floor, splashing and spraying the grayish-white substance against the walls.

Sasuke opened his eyes, took in the scene.

So, this is the power of the Third Gate of Life, huh.

With the impact so close, the shockwave disassembled their Stone Golem. Worse, though, was the crater it left behind, and what lay inside. Both twins gawked at the mangled corpse of their comrade, their horror as tangible as the tremors rattling their skeletons.

In Sasuke's enhanced vision, he could see every falling piece of debris in slow motion, could see the droplets of Quicklime at the peak of their ascent; he could see the Stone twins stiff muscles, the short-haired twin's vocal chords tightening as a word—shout—prepared to break free, the long-haired twin's chest rising on a sharp inhale as her mind processed the scene.

Likewise, he could see their fallen comrade's caved in and pulverized ribcage in unfortunate exquisite detail. Blood—profuse and grotesque—soaked through his red uniform and stained his brown flak jacket into an odd shade of maroon. Arms, fingers, hands, legs—the bones were all mangled, twisted, snapped in ways he couldn't unsee.

"Kenji!" the short-haired twin shouted, the word—name—finally rising out of her.

He was dead. Likely died within moments of the impact that sent him torpedoing through the earth.

This is my chance, Sasuke thought, channeling chakra throughout his body in a steady and sustained current. They're distracted. Now may be my only shot.

Sporadic blue arcs sparked around Sasuke.

I couldn't channel this power while under pressure. In a way, this prison of Quicklime has worked in my favor. You grounded me to a single spot, lowered your guard.

Lightning crackled, electricity flowed upon the air. Gooseflesh broke out on the Stone twin's bodies. Sasuke's long hair began to levitate, undulating as though floating in the sea.

I haven't perfected this technique to call upon it at command. At this point it takes all of my concentration to generate and sustain the proper amount of Lightning; it's the reason I couldn't use it while we fought, you two and your Stone Golem were too persistent. But now…

Sasuke hummed, smirked. He finally had a sustained current of Lightning chakra.

Now you'll witness the power of the Uchiha Clan firsthand.

The piercing cry of a thousand chirping birds shrieked through the hall. The Stone kunoichis whirled around, eyes wide at the sight of their Quicklime prison spraying harmlessly through the air and splattering the walls.

Standing at the center of the explosion of Quicklime, now on solid earth, Sasuke stood sheathed in whitish-blue light as arcs of lightning crackled around him and through his chokutō.

"He's using the Raikage's Lightning Armor?" the long-haired twin gasped in disbelief, stepping back unconsciously.

"Hmph, can't say I've ever seen the Raikage's technique," Sasuke replied. He grabbed at the center of his white high-collared shirt and ripped the tattered piece of clothing off without effort, leaving him in his mesh long sleeve. "I borrowed the concept from someone else."

Yukiko Igarashi, to be precise. He'd considered how to apply the same fundamentals of her Quirk to his own arsenal ever since Amari told them the story. Now, with Lightning Chakra flowing through every cell in his body, his physical abilities, his speed, his reaction time, even his visual prowess were all enhanced.

Unlike Yukiko Igarashi's High Voltage Quirk, however, he wouldn't end up suffering cardiac arrest or muscle tears by prolonging its use; he liked to think of it like a perfected Eight Inner Gates, all of the enhancements without any of the drawbacks.

Except he hadn't perfected it. Not yet. Nor could he maintain it for extended periods, which meant he needed to end this. Right here, right now.

My vision is clear, he thought, perceiving every piece of falling debris, every rising droplet of Quicklime, every tense muscle of his enemies in crystal clear detail. Clearer than its ever been. You two are like me from before, but my vision is no longer clouded by my brother's lies, or my darkness and hatred. Amari opened my eyes, and now I can finally see this world clearly.

I know you'll never listen to me, and I can't blame you for that. I wouldn't have listened, either. Not without her. So I won't waste either of our time.

Crimson orbs narrowed.

I'll put you and this vendetta you carry to rest, once and for all.

"I'd tell you to warn your comrades of the Uchiha Clan's power," he said, flourishing his blade into reverse grip. "But you won't live to tell the story."

He pierced his sword into the earth. Utilizing it as a conduit, he channeled his Lightning Nature through the chokutō and into the earth.

Chidori Stream!

Two whitish-blue streams of Lightning burst through the earth, parting the Quicklime as they climbed up the walls, racing straight for the Stone kunoichis. The short-haired twin leapt off the wall in quick evasion. Stunned, the long-haired twin hesitated one second too long.

The Chidori Stream raced up her legs, coating the woman in the whitish-blue Lightning Nature chakra. Eyes wide in agony, her jaw clamped shut, blood sprayed from her mouth, and something fleshy flew away as she belted out a scream. It was her tongue, Sasuke finally registered, too surprised to believe it at first glance.

I've finally gained control of the Chidori Stream. Now…

Sheathed in Lightning, Sasuke shifted his hand on the hilt of his chokutō, from reverse to standard. He pulled his Lightning-coated blade free, shifted his weight.

Let's finish this!

The short-haired twin, anticipating his next move upon leaping, expelled a vast stream of Quicklime, which gushed over the stone floor in a towering wave.

A whitish-blue bolt of lightning appeared to cut through the wave, parting the Quicklime as it flitted from the floor to the wall, and then struck the first twin. Blood sprayed over the wall, splattered onto the Quicklime covered floor in thick globs.

Lightning crackled around bloodstained steel, pierced all the way to hilt through the heart and out the back of the Stone kunoichi.

The long-haired twin's face was pale, her eyes wide as blood quickly soaked into her uniform. Detached crimson eyes met her wide, fearful gaze.

I can't risk turning my back on a wounded enemy, especially one as dangerous as you, he thought. You and your comrades came here under direct orders to kill or capture us, so don't resent me for defending myself. This never would've happened if you stayed the hell away from the people I care about.

In the distance, the short-haired twin's eyes also went wide. She also went pale in horror of what he'd just done. And he couldn't blame her for her reaction.

"Sada!" shrieked the second twin in a mangled voice that made his stomach churn unpleasantly.

No, he couldn't blame her at all. Not for her visceral pain, or the hatred he felt take its place even at a distance. He'd been there before, seeing his parents lifeless bodies piled on top of one another as their killer—his own brother, forced by the Foundation—stood over them.

The long-haired twin's eyes rolled back, her body went slack. He pulled his sword free as the corpse fell, splashing into the Quicklime covered floor. He didn't look at the empty shell again.

This current world is too cruel, he lamented for a moment.

Then he compartmentalized his feelings, detached from them. This wasn't the time or place for them.

Swiftly, the Uchiha shifted his weight on his feet again and locked his hardened gaze onto the grieving twin, whose breaths came faster, deeper, all as her glistening eyes burned with hatred. Hatred he recognized all too well.

He didn't taunt her. Didn't dig his finger into the fresh wound with a snide barb or cutting remark. He didn't smirk or smile to provoke her.

To what end? Cruelty for cruelty's sake?

No, he was done throwing barbs now. They were far past their schoolyard provocations and insults.

Now they were just two soldiers fighting to survive, occupying a hall with two corpses because some old man living far away from the hell of war couldn't let go of his hatred.

What a cruel world they existed in. A world where sons were forced to cut down their parents, and twins were forced to watch their beloved siblings die.

Their world truly was twisted.

The whitish-blue bolt of lightning flickered through the hall, illuminating the corridor and parting the Quicklime as it passed; and as it flitted by, electrifying the air, a dreadful and bloody shadow theater played out upon the walls.

Sasuke bounded onto the right wall, skidded a meter while bending at the knees, and then flickered at the Stone kunoichi.

Flecks of blood sprayed through the air. The Stone kunoichi hissed, leaping back and onto the right wall after a narrow pivot saved her life. Her armor, shirt, and under layer of mesh armor were all severed down to the flesh, blood was soaking into the threads.

Sasuke grunted, annoyed. He was already slowing down. The chakra and chakra control required to sustain the technique while in combat was still too much.

"Uchiha scum!" she shrieked in a gut-wrenching grieving wail. "You're dead! I swear I'll kill you!"

He said nothing. He whirled around and attacked again, hoping to end the fight before his time ran out.

High above their corridor, an earth-shattering rupture of stone roared over the ancient grounds, trembling through the trees and into the earth below.

---

Tani Rintaro was falling.

A hail of stones, shattered and ejected from the once impenetrable wall of the Mountain Maze, rained all around the Stone shinobi identifiable by his cleft chin and burn scars.

Wind whistled by his ears. Chunks of stone whooshed past like falling meteors, some he slashed with his Earth Arm-Blade, splitting them around his body. Pebbles whizzed through the air, pelted his armor.

Heart slamming against his chest, Tani locked his narrowed eyes upon the gushing and swirling crimson cloak beyond the debris, and an awful, cold dread he hadn't felt in years washed over him. The being—child, creature, beast, demon—flickered in and out of existence, leaping from falling stone to falling stone. Every landing, every leap, pulverized the stone before it.

He couldn't see the Butcher's offspring within the cloak of raw chakra. He couldn't see her red complexion or her wild mane standing on end as gales of wind ascended around her. He could scarcely trace the green aura at the heart of the blazing crimson tornado.

Yet the Demon Wolf, the ravenous beast grinning in her silhouette, was unmistakable.

He saw it bounding from stone to stone. He and he alone heard it unleash an infernal howl, tightening his pounding heart in his chest. He felt its hungry snarl rumble through his being, and he began to tremble from head to toe.

Tani clenched his jaw in defiance, trying to steel his Will. Yet cold sweat was pouring down his face and soaking into his clothes. His gut churned, and he swore a colony of rats were racing up and down his intestines, nibbling at it. His extremities suddenly went cold, his heart quivered. Hot bile climbed up his throat.

It shouldn't be possible, he trembled at the monstrosity, eyes wide. A child combining the Eight Inner Gates with Medical Ninjutsu! This child—no, she's no child. She's—

The crimson cloak whirled into a buzzsaw. The Demon Wolf charged him head-on, opening its mouth as it howled. He recoiled, gasping out a quick and wordless wail.

His defiant Will, like the once impenetrable wall of the Mountain Maze, shattered at that moment.

She's a Demon!

Out of sheer desperation, Tani attempted to plunge his Earth Arm-Blade into the buzzsaw. His technique could carve through metal. Now it need only pierce the flesh of the Demon he'd seen bleed. If it could bleed, then it could die!

His Earth Arm-Blade and the buzzsaw met. To his eyes, the Demon Wolf snapped its jaw shut around his arm, pulverizing the earth shielding it, and then…

Tani ceased to breathe. His whole body went taut, and the world stilled for the briefest moment. His heart was punching his chest like a Stone Golem, and in that still moment he could feel the flesh, muscles, and bone tear off, and then the absence of the limb as a spray of blood slowly jetted from beneath his torn sleeve.

In his horrified state, however, Tani didn't see the buzzsaw at the center of swirling tornado of chakra.

He saw the Demon Wolf tear his arm clean off.

"Fang Rotating Fang!" the Demon Wolf roared as it ripped past him.

Tani screamed out in agony. He grabbed at his shoulder, and a grisly wetness squished beneath his palm, soaking it. Panic and fatigue quickly joined his terror.

Above, the ninken of the Demon whirled into view, preparing to drill straight through him and deal the final blow.

There is nothing more I can do. Not like this.

I've failed…

Shame was a painful brand, nearly drowning out the agony of his wound. He'd never imagined the Butcher's daughter could wield such monstrous power at her age. Such savagery. And that grotesque wolf shade which lingered in her silhouette. The apple hadn't fallen far from the tree.

Yet to die now would be the ultimate failure. To die without warning his comrades of the monster they would face… No, he could not die yet. He still held Intel to prepare those who might fight this Demon in the future, Intel he had to return with even if it meant leaving Kenji's body to the enemy.

Shutting his eyes, teeth grit, Tani Rintaro did the only thing he could do.

Reverse Summoning!

The ninken neared, inches from drilling into his torso.

The Stone shinobi vanished, materializing and crashing back first at their rendezvous.

Cold sweat and blood soaking his body and uniform, Tani heaved heavy breaths, let out a terrible and pitiful moan as he curled in on himself. The medic-nins on site gasped and hurried to his side. He squeezed his eyes shut.

He couldn't die. Not yet. And should he live, he swore he would do everything within his power to strike that Wolf Demon down.

---

Satomi Yoshitaka lunged at the Uchiha scum with a guttural wail. Hot tears streaked her face, blurred her vision between blinks. The child, no longer sheathed in Lightning Chakra, met her kunai strike for strike with his chokutō. Red sparks and tears flitted from the wall they battled upon and rained onto the floor below them.

Metallic shrieks cascaded through the corridor, matched in intensity by Satomi's own blood-curdling shrieks.

She didn't recognize their slower–slowing—movements. To her mind, to her grief-stricken and adrenaline fueled heart, pounding so ferociously against her chest and drumming in her ears, they were moving at the same previous fever pitch. Her body was hot, sweating in a natural reaction to cool off.

No amount of sweat or cold air could cool Satomi now. The fire of rage and hatred blazing within refused to be tamed, inflamed by the Uchiha Clan's fan all over again.

Their blades flashed through the air. Red sparks and tears flew as blades and humans shrieked. Satomi ceased to think—couldn't. Her vision, darkened around the edges, was fixated upon the Uchiha scum who murdered Sada—her precious twin. Her beautiful sister, stolen by this spawn of an accursed Clan!

Again and again, she cursed him through grit teeth.

Ducking his blade, Satomi wailed horrifically and lunged at him again, chasing him onto the ceiling.

Again and again your Clan murders the people I cherish. First your bastard father, and now you, Sasuke Uchiha!

He skipped back, pivoted to narrowly evade her blade.

Crimson eyes narrowed, focused. She had no chance to recover. His blade crackled and glowed with Lightning Chakra. In a quick motion, he severed the kunai from its hilt, stealing the tip of her thumb, as well as her middle and pointer fingers with a single slash.

As she screeched, blood spurting from the amputated appendages, the spawn of Wicked Eye Fugaku attempted to cut her down. She evaded to the side, barely, and kicked.

The Uchiha raised his guard, caught the blow in his forearms, and slid back along the ceiling. He flourished his sword, sheathed it. He formed the Tiger handseal and inhaled a large breath, expelling a swift moving fire ball that encompassed nearly the entire width of the corridor.

Satomi's vision ignited in blazing orange-red, then the Fire Ball exploded against her body.

Through the veil of smoke, the burned and smoking body of the Stone kunoichi shot off the ceiling, crashed against the Quicklime covered floor, bounced, and rolled onto her toes, sliding back as she weaved one-handed handseals as a powerful stream of fire raced towards her.

Solid Earth erupted out of the Quicklime in the shape of a wall, blocking the Fire Style attack. Heaving heavy, grief and rage filled breaths, Satomi ground her teeth together. Her skin stung, ribbons of smoke rose off her outfit as tiny tongues of flame still danced and burned on skin and fabric.

It didn't matter. She'd go to her grave in flames as long as she took him with her.

I'll kill you, she screamed within her mind. I swear I'll kill you! Even if it costs me my life, I'll kill you for what you've done!

Something strange swept over the kunoichis body, as though a ghostly hand had rested on her shoulder. Satomi inhaled a sharp breath, prepared to whirl around. She stopped halfway, paralyzed by the sight of her twin's still corpse.

Sada's lifeless gaze stared at her, half her face covered in Quicklime. Satomi choked on a sob and growl, hot tears streaming down her face.

Sada…

The strange sensation remained on her shoulder, gentle, like so many times before when Sada had rested a hand on her shoulder.

The cry of a thousand chirping birds screeched through the battlefield. Satomi made a split-second decision, leaping to her twin's still body, kneeling, then cradling her twin in her arms.

I won't leave your body to be desecrated by these Leaf shinobi.

The Earth Wall exploded. Whitish-blue lightning coated the Uchiha's hand as he utilized the famed Lightning Blade, shattering through her wall in search for his enemy.

His crimson eyes locked onto her. Maintaining his speed, he darted along the Quicklime—one stride, two.

Reverse Summoning!

Satomi vanished with her twin from the battlefield, never hearing the explosion of earth as the attack struck the wall instead of her heart. She arrived at the rendezvous, and all of her seething rage and adrenaline faded.

Those present that day would forever be scarred by the soul-rending howl of Satomi Yoshitaka as she hugged Sada's still body.

For it was the howl of a twin who had just lost everything.

---

What… What is the source of this massive flux of power irradiating from Kenji's and Tani's position?

Fujiwara, the smallest man on the battlefield and master of the Stone Fist Jutsu, grimaced while hidden within the walls of the Mountain Maze Jutsu. Such immense power, even at a distance and with limited sensory abilities he could feel the intense pressure bearing down on his being.

The howl I heard… Could it be… Could this massive surge of power belong to the Inuzuka? To a child? How? Is it some manner of Food Pill enhancement? Have the Leaf resorted to enhancing their children with drugs? This incredible power, how can it belong to a child!

He shook off the awe. He had to focus. Something was disrupting their Mountain Maze Jutsu. It was sourced from the Anbu kunoichi's chamber high above them, he could discern that much from here, deep beneath the earth with her male counterpart.

His Earth Clone and comrades pursued the man through the ever-changing maze as Fujiwara himself altered the landscape from within the outermost wall, far from any imminent danger.

Yet the chakra coursing through their Combination Jutsu was no longer residing strictly within the individual chambers to be manipulated by one member of each unit, it was being absorbed into the Anbu kunoichi's chamber.

Under normal circumstances, the Mountain Maze Jutsu required a team of Earth Style users to synchronize their techniques and chakra to create the chambers in which they intended to separate an enemy squad.

Once the chambers were created, one shinobi in each chamber would become the anchor which created, controlled, and transformed the maze. However, each chamber remained connected, in this way allowing the Stone shinobi to move quickly between them once they eliminated their targets.

The chakra running through the near-on impenetrable surface flowed through the walls in a specific pattern, similar to how water flowed through the waterlines running through the walls of any normal household.

Now the flow was disturbed. Rather than running evenly through every chamber, so much chakra was rushing towards the Anbu kunoichi's chamber, and absorbing into oblivion, it seemed. They had minutes, maybe less, before it leeched the chambers dry.

If Murakami, his comrade within the Anbu kunoichi's chamber, wasn't careful, he'd end up leeched of all his chakra, too. Serving as the nucleus of their jutsu, he was in the gravest danger, and should he fall, the entire Mountain Maze would crumble like a cairn losing its foundational stone.

Who is that kunoichi? What kind of technique is she using to leech the chakra from the Mountain Maze—

A hand suddenly clapped onto Fujiwara's shoulder, squeezing the pressure point. He inhaled a sharp breath, eyes widening.

"Found you," the male Anbu agent whispered in his ear, voice shaded by a cold, black humor.

He could almost see the cat-mask looming over his shoulder, next to his ear.

On instinct, Fujiwara leapt free of the wall. For the briefest moment, desperate to survive and escape the ambush, he believed the Anbu agent's arrogant reveal provided him the opportunity to escape.

Wooden tendrils then exploded from the earth wall, binding his small frame beneath an intricate mesh of roots, leaving only his head poking out. The Leaf Anbu emerged from the wall, walking along his wooden creation.

Sweat dripped down Fujiwara's face. He grit his teeth. He tried to move, to bring his hands together and unleash a counter ninjutsu. His head writhed side to side, but little else. Suddenly the roots squeezed tighter around his body; he felt and heard bones crunch as his air was stolen.

"How?" he wheezed. "How did you locate me?"

"You're not the only one who can create Clones," he replied cooly, stopping overhead.

Fujiwara turned his head as far as he could to see the man, but he scarcely entered the edge his peripherals. Just enough to see the Leaf shinobi didn't bother to look at him.

"And you don't need to be a genius to deduce where within this maze an enemy might try to hide themself. Locating you still took effort, I admit, and unfortunately far too much time if Mimi is unleashing the Eight Inner Gates."

The roots tightened. Fujiwara gasped, eyes wide. His enemy was slowly crushing him!

"The Eight….Gates… Im- Impossible!"

"Hmph," the Leaf Anbu exhaled a snort. "Someone as experienced as you should've known better than to underestimate an enemy shinobi."

Finally the Leaf Anbu looked down at him, cold and unimpressed.

"Now you and your comrades will suffer the consequences of your mistake."

The Anbu agent clenched his hand into a tight fist.

"Wood Style: Tree Bind Eternal Burial."

Root tendrils wrapped around Fujiwara's head. He struggled to free himself, breathing heavily, desperately, as his head vanished beneath the roots. He didn't have the air to scream, or the time to Reverse Summon himself to safety.

The roots tightened.

Blood streamed between the tendrils, dripping onto the stone floor below.

---

I…can't move…

Miyuki, wielder of the Lava Style and bearing a birthmark on her jaw, struggled to sit up, to tear herself free of the tremendous obovate leaf whose glandular hairs stuck to her uniform like velcro. In response to her struggles, the leaf secreted a thick, gluey mucilage which slowly spread along her arms, legs, and torso.

"I suspect neither of you have ever heard of carnivorous flowering plants like butterworts," the Leaf shinobi spoke with cold confidence from somewhere beyond her line of sight. "You see, they lure in their prey with droplets of mucilage that resemble droplets of water. However, this mucilage contains digestive enzymes that trap the insects on their leaves. The more the insect struggles to escape, the more mucilage it releases. Some can even bend their leaves to bring more of their glands into contact with their prey.

"To put it more simply: The more you struggle, the quicker you'll be digested. A humbling way to die, don't you think? Being devoured by a plant."

Devoured?

Miyuki tried to still herself against instinct—instinct driven by the back of her uniform hissing as it dissolved.

To think they'd had the Leaf shinobi captured moments ago. Or she believed they'd had him captured within a prison of volcanic ash and earth. It was only a Wood Clone.

She could hardly believe it. The Wood Clone was indistinguishable from a real person, it received damage any ordinary Clone would've dispelled from, and yet, like the droplets of mucilage drawing in an insect, the Wood Clone had drawn her and Saigō in. And then columns and rows of branches chaotically burst from the walls and ceiling of the corridor.

She could feel sharp stitches of pain from her left calf—a deep wound caused by one of those branches. It led her to falling right onto this monstrous leaf.

This is the power of the First Hokage's kekkei genkai, Miyuki awed. Then grimaced as everything from the back of shoulders to her ankles seemed to ignite at once. She was being dissolved—digested by a plant of all things!

"Miyuki, retreat!" Saigō called from somewhere beyond her sight. She could hear the same panic and pain she felt in his voice.

Cursing in shame, the kunoichi didn't hesitate to Reverse Summon herself, believing that as soon as their wounds were healed they would leap back into the fray to finish their mission.

Instead, she and Saigō were greeted by the soul-rending howls of Satomi Yoshitaka.

Nothing was proceeding as planned.

---

"Stay back!" Murakami commanded.

His comrades, Nakano Futaba and Isoroku Tojo, halted suddenly three long strides away. Murakami inhaled a steady breath, trying to keep his diaphragm from expanding too far, trying to maintain a calm and level head in spite of his precarious position.

Black tendrils—shadows, he recognized—bound his body from head to toe in an intricate webbing even a spider would envy. They stretched out of the wall behind him, curling around his neck and face, binding his arms and legs precisely where they were when he tried to strike the enemy.

Now he stood frozen in place, both hands drawn back, clutched around his sword as he prepared to plunge it into an invisible enemy—the Anbu kunoichi he had mistakenly believed had lowered her guard and rendered herself vulnerable.

She already had him clutched within her grasps by then, he now knew. He just hadn't felt it at the time. He hadn't known that when she pushed off the wall with her hand, she had actually placed this Seal constricting his limbs, tightening little by little around his neck every time his Adam's apple shifted.

"Murakami, what happened? What is this technique?" asked Isoroku, his tall, portly and surprisingly agile comrade.

He and Nakano hadn't lowered their guards, they scanned the corridor for the Anbu kunoichi, Explosion Style and Earth-covered sword prepared to strike.

"This kunoichi is a practitioner of the Sealing Arts," he tried to speak without moving his jaw too much. It was difficult. He'd be damned if he ever let someone mock a ventriloquist in his presence ever again.

"She was leeching the chakra from the entire Mountain Maze, likely with some manner of Chakra Absorption Sealing Technique," he explained. Then fought against the unconscious instinct to shake his head in exhaustion as he said, "I was at my limit. Any longer and I would've hit absolute zero. She must also be a Sensory Type; she knew precisely where I'd exit and when. She timed it perfectly, attacking right when I appeared."

Of course, the Leaf Anbu hadn't struck him directly. She utilized a Shadow Clone, the same Shadow Clone she tricked Isoroku and Nakano into pursuing straight to his position.

Why? That was the question he needed to answer as quickly as possible.

Why bring them here? Why lure them into the same location with a Shadow Clone? When had she even switched places?

Again he fought against the need to shake his head to shake off the pointless question.

No, when was a dumb question to ask now of all times. She had switched places and that was that. Now they had to locate her, and quickly.

That tremendous power seething from Kenji's and Tani's chamber… He blinked. His hairs continued to stand erect, gooseflesh tickled his skin. He could imagine its cause, for few techniques could tremble the air with such raw chakra.

We need to hurry.

He twitched his head unconsciously. The shadows tightened. Murakami grimaced and tried to remain completely still. His shoulders were burning.

"This technique," he spoke, keeping his jaw and lips nearly stationary, "is sourced by a Seal on the wall behind me. It tightens in response to movement and resistance."

He learned that when he immediately tried to tug himself free and attack the kunoichi. She didn't react. Instead, the infernal shadows reacted with a life of their own, tightening, nearly crushing the bones in his wrists and ribcage as the Anbu kunoichi watched. Still as a statue. Silent.

When he halted his struggles, mirroring her stillness, only then did she approach. He grit and ground his teeth together, for that was all he could do as she approached, calm, cold control in every step. He expected her to cut him down, he expected her to kill him then and there when she had him right in the palm of her hands. Helpless and defenseless.

Instead she wasted precious time pressing her hand against his chest and aligning her sword directly over his heart, her cold dark eyes revealing nothing except contempt. Had she not taken that extra moment to align a clean and quick kill, she may have felled him then and there.

Fortunately, Isoroku and Nakano arrived in the nick of time, the latter summoning a wall between them, forcing the kunoichi to evade back and directly into Isoroku's Explosion Style punch.

The destruction of the Shadow Clone was disappointing, but not the end of the world. However, Murakami knew his role in the battle had finally reached its end.

"Can we break you free somehow?" Nakano asked.

"No." He kept his answer simple, fought to not shake his head. They weren't masters of Sealing Arts, they couldn't help him. "Try to break me free by force and you'll kill me. I can free myself through Reverse Summoning, and then I'll summon myself back as soon as I'm free."

After he ingested a Food Pill at the rendezvous, at least.

"What are you waiting for, then? Or are you sick enough to enjoy this kind of punishment?" Isoroku wondered, amused.

"I'm here still," he ground out, "because I've figured out her identity, and that information may save all of our lives."

He didn't have a name, precisely. Rather, he couldn't draw it from his memories through the burning in his shoulders and shadows tightening around his thighs and ribs in response to tensing muscles and the mere act of breathing.

This high-level Sealing Art, however, and its utilization of the Nara Clan's Shadows in spite of the kunoichi not truly hailing from the Clan—it could only be one person.

"We're fighting the pupil of the Mistress of Shadows, Miyako Nara."

He couldn't fully see their faces, but he felt their grave expressions.

Miyako Nara's Shadow Sealing Arts were infamous, carved into the darkest memories of the Stone shinobi who served during the peak of the Third Great Ninja War.

Shinobi like them.

"Be careful," he commanded. "If you aren't, you'll—"

Searing heat awoke from the center of his chest. Murakami gasped, glanced down. He couldn't make out the Seal blazing to life on his chest, couldn't see the Hindi script centered around the kanji for Wind. Yet he knew.

Yes, he knew what it meant…

No, Murakami felt his stomach drop. His blood went cold as a reaper's cold bony hand gripped his heart. He recalled the kunoichi placing her hand on his chest, and her parting words rang in his ears.

"In your final moments, I want you to ask yourself this: Was your Tsuchikage's vendetta worth dying for?"

She wasn't gloating prematurely. She was placing a Seal upon him!

This is why she wanted us together, he concluded, heart giving a terrible jolt. She's intending to kill us all with a single technique!

The burning intensified.

I can't Reverse Summon myself, Murakami realized, horrified by his sudden mortality. If she intended to kill all three of us with this technique, this Seal may be enough to kill everyone at the rendezvous!

He could do nothing. Nothing except…wait for the inevitable.

Eyes wide, sweating profusely, he looked to Isoroku and Nakano with all his vulnerable mortality. They recoiled, faces stricken by horror. They unconsciously stepped back.

"Run, you fools," he commanded weakly.

"Murakami—"

Isoroku wrapped a large arm around Nakano, leapt back while expelling multiple Mud Bullets from his mouth—mud he commanded to rise into walls.

A blade of wind suddenly tore through Murakami's chest—from the inside out, expelling a gale from the new wound.

Blood spurting from the wound, pouring out his mouth, Murakami felt an intense moment of pain, and then numbing coldness wash over him alongside exhaustion. Quick and clean, almost entirely painless save that one brief moment. He was grateful for that small mercy.

As new gales tore open through his flesh from his insides, and blackness subsumed his vision, he was struck by a strange thought.

I wish I had taken up writing poetry when I was a child, Murakami thought, feeling weak despite the lucidity of the thought. I've always loved poems, there's something innately beautiful about them. But my father made it clear boys weren't supposed to be interested in that sort of thing. It was considered too effeminate. Shameful. Weak.

What a stupid way to live. Fearing the dance of words, trying to live within the lines someone else drew for my life instead of pursuing my passions.

It was my life, wasn't it?

So why did I waste so much time worrying about what other's thought of me? Why did I spend so much time trying to fit into those rigid lines, killing and destroying the lives of complete strangers? I probably would've like to share a beer with many of them, in some other circumstance.

Instead I became a soldier. I followed orders. I tried to live up to someone's ideal vision of manhood, as though writing poetry would've made me less of a man. All of this death and misery I've suffered, that I've inflicted upon others… What was it all even for?

What an utter waste of a life.

Was it worth it?

No. It wasn't.

None of it ever was.

But you already knew that…

I wish I had chosen to be poet instead of a warrior.

Because the life of a warrior is no life at all,

The life of a warrior means only to fall.

To say there is glory is naught but a lie,

We march in folly knowing we'll die.

So all I ask is that you respectfully bow your heads,

Because the warriors walking among you are already dead…

---

From the inside of Murakami's body, an explosive outflow of wind burst through his flesh and roared into the corridor. Isoroku Tojo's walls shattered beneath the gales, deep fissures split through the ceiling, walls, and floor of the Mountain Maze corridor, expanding out rapidly in all directions.

The retreating Stone shinobi dashed on the fissured earth for but a moment. Then the entire corridor collapsed around them, pulverized beneath the typhonic force gales.

They could not defend themselves as they fell amid the debris, whipped head over foot as though caught in a tornado. They were buffeted by stone pellets, struck by slabs of earth thrown by the wind.

Suddenly, violently, Isoroku struck a wall, cratering the solid earth but unable to fall—the gale kept him pinned.

Nakano Futaba crashed just as suddenly, just as violently, against the floor, slamming back first. None could hear her scream as a stone slab crashed upon her left leg, crushing bone as more debris burst on the ground around her, or slammed into her body.

Ten seconds they suffered beneath the whirlwind. For the Stone shinobis, it was the longest ten seconds of their lives.

When the typhonic gale finally ceased, Isoroku fell from the crater and crashed upon his chest; his uniform and flesh were tattered and split by sharp blades of wind, buffeted by pellets of stone, and yet even as his entire body trembled he tried to force himself to rise. Blood slowly stained his red uniform a darker shade or dripped onto the floor beneath him.

Nakano couldn't hear herself gagging or grunting, her ears were ringing incessantly as a result of the blistering wind.

Yūgao could hear it clearly, though.

Like a dark specter, she emerged from the shadows, kicking aside a small stone, which clattered noisily upon the floor.

Isoroku and Nakano raised their trembling heads, likely feeling the vibrations. Or, perhaps, a primal instinct warning them of a dangerous predator approaching—a sense all experienced shinobi learned to hone, at times like a cold tingle at the back of the neck, or a sensation like hairs standing on end.

Sword drawn, Yūgao stepped carefully through and around the debris, eyeing her path to Nakano first, who was closest to her, and hastening her approach with every advancing stride.

Nakano's sharp features were pale. She was sweating, breathing heavily, greedily. Her eyes, colored like carnations, glared at her enemy—she wasn't vanquished, she wasn't finished fighting.

Her Will of Stone hadn't been pulverized like the rest of the chamber. Yūgao could sense the determination within the Stone kunoichi. To complete their mission, certainly. Yet also to survive, as she had countless times before.

Yūgao expected nothing less from a veteran and survivor of war.

She approached quicker, springing through the debris wherever solid footing existed. Nakano gripped her Earth Nature covered sword tighter; she hadn't lost it in the typhonic gale, refused outright to be separated from her trusted weapon.

Suddenly the Stone kunoichi slammed her opposite palm into the ground, and the slab covering her leg shot off, flung by a small column rising suddenly beneath it. Earth then rose beneath her body, springing her upright and onto one good leg.

Two Shadow Clones split from Yūgao as she leapt vertical, the pair springing in from the Stone kunoichi's flanks. Nakano barely had her balance. All the same she retreated back with a quick leap, simultaneously slashing through one of the Shadow Clones.

She maneuvered her blade to block the second, which lunged in from a blindspot. The Shadow Clone's blade shattered upon impact. Nakano ignored the opening and drew her eyes up to Yūgao, dropping in from above, blade whirring with Wind Nature chakra.

Crescent Moon Dance!

Nakano leapt back again, tip of the blade passing mere inches from her torso. For a moment their eyes locked, the Leaf kunoichi's cold and unrelenting, Nakano's wide with pain.

Tan and red armor fissured down the right shoulder and down to the bottom of her ribcage. Blood sprayed through the air, flecks splattered against Yūgao's mask.

Nakano's ankle twisted on an uneven piece of debris. She crashed and rolled along the floor, alive but severely wounded. Yūgao landed, eyed her path, bent at the knees.

Surging power pricked the Anbu agent's senses. Eyes flicking towards Isoroku, she saw his fists planted against the earth.

He's channeling his Explosion Style through the earth, she noted, altering the pressure in her feet and legs.

Explosions tunneled through the floor, bursting stones through the air as they rapidly approached the kunoichi. Immediately she leapt away in retreat rather than pursuit, moments before the wall of explosions ejected stone debris where she once stood. Heat brushed against her skin, pellets buffeted her body.

Isoroku sprang off all-fours across the battlefield towards Nakano. Squinting, Yūgao drew her blade back and slashed it at the kunoichi, unleashing a whirring blade of wind. He reached his comrade, grabbed ahold of her. The blade of wind zeroed upon the pair.

Then they vanished. Not only from sight, but from the battlefield entirely. The wind struck the earth, tossing aside debris and carving a fissure into the earth a foot deep.

Yūgao landed, cast her senses out. Then hummed.

A Reverse Summoning, she concluded, allowing the wind around her sword to fade. She sheathed the katana on her back. I don't sense any other Stone shinobi around Tenzō, Sasuke, or Mimi and Aoko. They must have slain or pushed the enemy to retreat as well.

However, she honed in upon Haya's and Osamu's chakra, Haya and Osamu are still fighting. She's stressed, struggling. The Stone shinobi are right on top of her. She can't find an opening, they're wearing her down…

Yūgao vanished into the shadows. Mere moments later wind sheared through stone once, twice, and then a third time. A wall exploded on the exterior of the chamber, and from the debris and smoke, the Anbu agent emerged, hastening to the final battlefield.

Simultaneously, Tenzō emerged from the earth, quickly falling in step with her.

"How are they all holding up?"

"Sasuke and Mimi and Aoko are secure; they've already regrouped. The Stone still have Haya under pressure."

"Then its about time we even the odds."

She hummed in agreement. Now there are no other distractions.

Haya, we'll be there in a moment.

Please, just hold on a little longer.

---

Among the stone debris littering the forest floor, surrounded on all sides by a flock of Crows, Sasuke kneeled on his left knee, crimson eyes locked on the conical-shaped prison of stone Amari was presently locked inside of.

Mimi stood behind him, hands pressed against his back as she kneaded warm Medical Ninjutsu through his body to provide rudimentary treatment to his burned skin. She already fed him a Plasma Pill and finished knitting together the wounds on his right thigh, along the bridge of his nose, right half of his jawbone, the back of his right hand, and the surface-level cut wetting his mesh armor at the center of his back.

Aoko crouched on his left as a Man Beast Clone, also eyeing the conical stone prison. Sasuke had no doubt Mimi's mind was there, too, even as she tended to his wounds. They'd all had narrow shaves, seen their enemies Reverse Summon to escape.

Without the Byakugan or Sensory abilities like Karin's, they were all but sitting in the dark as his clan-sister's battle played out inside the prison. After their battles, though, none of them were willing to underestimate the enemies within.

All it will take is one of them getting ahold of her, Sasuke thought grimly. One single moment, and they'll escape with Amari. She must still be fighting now, though, otherwise…

He eyed the black flocks swirling around the prison, felt yet another draft of wind cascade down the conical structure and rush past them as the Crows searched for weak points in the structure.

The Crows wouldn't be attempting to punch through if they had captured Amari.

Although he was confident in his clan-sister's abilities, he had no intention of leaving her to fight the battle alone. Mimi and Aoko, he knew, were of the same mind.

"All right, Shirtless Wonder, this'll do for now," Mimi said, removing her hands from his back. "We'll finish treatment once our whole unit is together again, and once we beat these bastards back."

"Got it," he nodded, understanding and agreeing with the sentiment.

They'd had their moment of respite. They had recovered from the drawbacks of their new techniques, Food Pills were replenishing their chakra. Now all that remained was reuniting their Trinity.

And sending the last of the Stone groveling back to their Tsuchikage.

---

Clashing steel cried out. Sparks, blazing red hot amidst the darkness, rained down through the complicated netting of stone columns and beams to the earth below. Shadows ascended the deadly jungle gym, leaping higher, clashing as they bounded through the darkness like damned specters still doomed to an eternity of quarreling. They dashed along the beams, steel upon steel shrieking in relentless attacks.

The shadows emerged from stone, slashing retractable blades through the bodies of Shadow Clones, dispersing them into harmless plumes of smoke. They wielded blazing blades which ground against earthy layers of armor. They commanded alterations to the earth in an effort to capture the real kunoichi, or separate her from the Crow perched on her shoulder.

When one such alteration neared their target, the girl vanished amid churning black feathers. The flock ascended. The Stone shinobi gnashed their teeth together, clenched their jaws so tightly their skulls were beginning to pound. This annoying child, they cursed. This frustrating girl, born to the accursed Uchiha Clan, bound by blood to a man who left an unforgivable scar upon the Stone Village's pride.

They would capture her and end this futile attempt at rebellion, here and now!

Two kunai whistled out of the ascending feathers. Crinkling paper filled the chamber, then metal pierced into the conical ceiling—right where the Crows on the outside were striking from. Another sudden piercing of stone sounded off; the second kunai impaled a column two levels below, upon which a small orb dangled from a thin wire.

Amari materialized on a higher beam within the cramped, conical minnow trap of earth the Stone shinobi had trapped her within. Everything was almost in position. She just had to—

Crimson and lavender flicked left. The Uchiha pivoted towards the movement, stepped back quickly on the beam, and leaned her torso back until it was nearly horizontal. Springing out of the nearby column was the veteran built like Might Guy, bearing retractable blades on his black ink covered tattooed arms.

Expression calm, she watched the tip of his right retractable blade hiss by her bleeding upper chest by the width of a single hair, moving across his body. Her Sharingan and Byakugan perceived the sweat glistening on his tense and vascular arms, beads leaping off with the movement, the detail of the two flesh-colored lotuses at his elbows and shoulders, and his follow-up strike.

When he plunged the left blade in a stabbing motion, Amari was ready. She planted her back foot and bounded forward. The blade passed over her right shoulder, split flesh along her cheek, and severed a few strands of hair. The Uchiha hardly noticed.

She saw Tattoos eyes narrow, his chest expand with a sharp inhale. She was in striking range, and he was wide open. Gripping her tantō, Amari slashed her tantō from low to high, aiming to carve him from his groin to his throat.

Whirling shuriken whistled into view. Those, too, she saw in intimate detail, as though traveling in slow motion as they impaled her right forearm along the length of the limb. Flecks of blood sprayed, splattering the Clan Crest pendent wrapped around her wrist. The pain was instant, and hot.

Amari grimaced, felt her grip loosen and her muscles jerk. It altered the swing by a fraction of an inch. That was all Tattoos needed.

He stepped back once, blade whistling past his torso harmlessly. Amari channeled chakra throughout her body, and at the apex of the swing Tattoos swiftly advanced, swinging his right arm for her left thigh in an effort to cleave the limb clean off.

The retractable blade pierced through air, striking the Afterimage to no avail. Overhead the harsh sound of a blade grating against an earthy layer of armor scraped their eardrums.

Tattoos raised his head. Above the Uchiha and his square jawed comrade were clashing on the underside of a beam, the former now wielding her tantō in her left hand.

I'm running out of time to turn this around, she thought, ignoring the hot sting along her left orbital bone, staining her cheek and neck in vibrant crimson. Fresh blood was already leaking down her right cheek and right forearm.

She pushed it all away. The pain. Her stiff right forearm and hand. Her aching chest, thrumming hotter and hotter with every movement, every exertion that seemed to tear the wound open more and more. The building fatigue. The disgusting amount of blood and sweat soaking her hair, clothes, and skin—there wasn't time for any of it.

She had to finish this. Now.

Amari ducked a fist, hopped forward and kicked Square Jaw with both feet, releasing chakra she connected. He stumbled back. She flipped head over foot, sheathing her tantō and then catching the beam with rock climbers grip as she pulled her feet back into contact with solid earth

In her Byakugan vision she saw Tattoos bound through the air directly for her.

Now or never.

Swiftly, she sank into the beam, and sprang out the other side, clapping her palms together. A orange light flashed at the ceiling, then an explosion roared through the chamber, ejecting smoke and unleashing a shower of earthy debris from the conical ceiling.

It did not rupture, however. It didn't punch a hole straight through to the other side.

"Ready, Osamu?" Amari asked.

"Of course, Lady Haya."

She landed on a beam two levels below the tip of the cone. Pellets of stone rained around her, pelted her. Cracks and scorch marks marred the ceiling. The thick smog was unpleasant, it brought back memories of the hellscape she and Kasai fought through. But the explosion and the smog were serving their purpose, drawing the moths to flame.

Square Jaw reached her first, rising out of the beam and snatching at her throat. Amari narrowly stepped back. His grasping fingers fell short of her neck by an inch.

Amari stumbled away.

"Trying to escape? I thought you said you would burn our Will of Stone to ash?"

Escape? She wanted to reply. Is that what you think I'm trying to do?

There wasn't time for meaningless banter and boasting. Tattoos leapt onto the beam from below, landing behind the kunoichi. Amari didn't turn her head, she could see him clearly in the Byakugan, hear his blade hissing on the air as he slashed it horizontally at her shoulder level—he was aiming for Osamu.

The Crow hopped up, flapping his wings to take flight. At the same time she pivoted and ducked. The blade narrowly passed beneath his talons and over her head, air swishing between them.

"Is this all the ancestor of Madara Uchiha is capable of?" Square Jaw wondered, swinging his leg back.

Amari hooked her finger around the ring of a kunai from her ninja tool box, then raised her arms, bracing the left forearm in front of the right.

"What a disappointment!"

Square Jaw's kick struck her arms, knocking her back and off the beam. The kunoichi grunted, gagged, the power of the blow recoiling through her stiff right arm.

A disappointment, huh? Maybe so. Compared to my ancestor, who made your Tsuchikage and his predecessor kneel before him in front of the whole Stone Village, I'm a pale imitation.

But what you fail to understand is that I was never attempting to imitate Madara. Unlike you and your Tsuchikage, who seek to create your own imitations by stealing my unborn children, I am not obsessed with my lineage or my great-great grandfather's legacy. I do not cling to an old ghost story.

Teeth grit, Amari threw her kunai. Tattoos leapt after her, evading the blade as it passed by the missing tip of his right ear. He retracted his left blade, reached out with his left hand for her ankle.

I seek to carve my own path. My own legacy.

Because, you're right, I am not Madara Uchiha.

The Uchiha reached up and clutched her tantō hilt in her left hand.

I'll leave behind my own legacy.

She eyed the kunai, flying straight for Square Jaw. Osamu glided into position.

So, you're right. I am not Madara Uchiha.

Tattoos hand was inching closer and closer to brushing against her ankle. Square Jaw tilted his head to the left, and the blade hissed by as his hands moved through handseals.

I am Amaririsu Yūhi and Haya Uchiha of the Leaf, the Head of the Uchiha Clan.

He didn't see the black ink printed on the hilt.

The door was already open.

And you will remember my name!

In a violet flicker Amari vanished. Faster than a blink she rematerialized behind Square Jaw. Osamu caught the hilt of the kunai in his beak. Chakra surged into her tantō as it sang from its scabbard. Flames erupted around the blade, but it wasn't enough.

Hotter, she commanded.

The flames expanded, intensified.

Make it burn hotter. Hot enough to cut straight through that annoying armor!

Searing white erupted at the core of the flame. Intense heat flushed over her hand, singeing fabric and flesh.

"Who said anything about running, you pretentious bastard!" she growled.

Tattoos and Square Jaw's torsos were still expanding with sharp inhales when her blade struck. Beneath blazing steel his shell of earthy armor stood no chance. It carved through the shell to the flesh beneath, tearing down the base of his neck and the center of his spine, cauterizing the wound as it charred the surrounding skin.

Square Jaw seized up, entire body going rigid. Then, faster than a heartbeat, it went slack. He folded inwards and fell from the beam like a sack of potatoes, his bellow the only sign he was still alive.

As he fell, Osamu darted through the air. He was upon Tattoos before he could come into contact with any physical ground. The Crow maneuvered behind the man, Amari began a half turn as gravity pulled at her.

The Stone shinobi was caught in the midst of whirling around, eyes wide, when he perceived the second violet flicker.

Amari appeared behind him, finishing her half turn and swinging her white-hot blade, growling and grimacing as it burned her skin.

The slash cut through flesh and bone as though it were fine silk, severing the tattooed right arm clean off the Stone shinobi. She extinguished the flame, the odor of burnt fabric and skin filling her nostrils. Osamu glided above, and she flickered away.

Suddenly she was above the Stone shinobi with her hands in Tiger and her head already drawn back.

His wide eyes gazed upon her in horror. Just as they would if he had looked upon Madara Uchiha.

Flying Raijin: Halo Dance of the Blazing Dragon!

From her lips a violent stream of fire burst forth in the form of a dragon. It snatched its jaws around the Stone shinobi and dove, plunging the screaming man towards the floor below.

As gravity took hold, Amari corkscrewed into a nosedive and released three kunai at the conical ceiling, Paper Bombs crinkling at their ends. Osamu, she saw in her Byakugan, was mirroring a peregrine falcon, diving to meet her as beams and columns whipped by.

Light flashed behind the kunoichi. An explosion roared and reverberated through the stone prison, tremors shook the walls, beams, columns, and the floor she was diving towards. Simultaneously chunks and pellets of stone expelled out into the forest beyond and rained into the conical-shaped prison.

Golden light poured in through the hole. The sunbeam, like a spotlight, stretched all the way to the floor, casting new shadows all across the environment.

Osamu's talons clutched her shoulder. The Uchiha's body disassembled into a churning mass of cawing Crows, rapidly descending through the final levels of the deadly jungle gym the Stone shinobis had created. Finally, at the floor, they amassed in a whirling tornado of black feathers.

From the swirling mass Amari emerged like an occult witch, twirling the Flying Raijin marked kunai around her left pointer finger. Osamu was perched on her shoulder. Crows were pouring in through the open portal, she sensed Mimi, Aoko, Sasuke, and their Anbu guardians climbing to follow.

Looks like the other Stone shinobi either perished or retreated. Good, she thought, masking her fatigue and pain with detached indifference. She was consciously trying not to move her right hand or arm; every step, every slight twitch, sent searing pain shooting up her arm.

Although I'm certain Mr. Ibiki would like a chance to talk with all these shinobi to learn how they planted Summoning Seals inside the forest, that the others pulled through and aren't in critical condition is enough for me today. Besides, the kunai slapped into her palm, we still have two potential prisoners right here.

Her crimson and lavender eyes flicked to the now one-armed Stone shinobi. She squinted, then looked to Square Jaw. He lay on his chest, breathing, groaning, grimacing. It was all he could do now. The intense flames had taken away sensation from his shoulders to his toes.

He must've sensed her, for he lifted his head. Their gazes met. Amari's right eye widened.

Demonic Dragon: Shadow Checkmate!

Shadows encased their battlefield, subsuming every shape into a blank black canvas. It devoured the deadly jungle gym, the flock of Crows descending from above; Osamu vanished from her shoulder, and the darkness subsumed the body of Tattoos.

All that remained was Square Jaw and Amari. Here, in the shadows, the searing red glow of the Sharingan matched the glow of the Amenominakanushi.

"It was all so unfathomable, wasn't it?" Amari wondered coldly, stepping confidently towards the man. Her sandals clapped loudly upon the black void. " 'So much fuss over three children.' Those were your words, remember?"

Square Jaw gasped. With cause. As Amari took another step, her right human leg transformed into the large, muscular leg of a dragon, its scales as black as the void around them, and yet shimmering with embers.

"Now look at you. I've taken everything you held dear from you; your strength, your future, your shinobi career, and the arrogance that led you to misjudge me and my comrades as mere children—I've taken it all with a single cut. Just as you intended to do us."

Her next step transformers her other leg.

"You and your comrades sought to take everything away from me. You intended to steal my freedom, my strength, my pride, my comrades. You even sought to steal away my unborn children and their futures!" she seethed. "You and your Tsuchikage see me and my bloodline as a lineage of monsters—as demons absent of humanity. If that's what you want—fine."

Amari's upper body underwent rapid metamorphoses, taking on the form a demonic black scaled dragon, whose jagged horns resembled an infernal crown of obsidian. The dragon bared its teeth in a furious grin. Its mouth did not move, and yet the voice of a rumbling demon pounded into Square Jaw's skull like iron spikes.

"I'll be your monster," she rumbled, heavy steps vibrating through the void.

Evil red eyes gleamed as lightning cracked behind the dragon, illuminating its fiendish wings and titanic body.

"I'll be the devil you wake in cold sweats from."

Square Jaw gagged and gasped. He wanted nothing more than to flee, to stand and run, but he couldn't. So he lay there, iron spikes pounding into his skull, heart pounding in primal fear. His stomach was in his throat, threatening to pour its contents onto the floor as an unbearable cold dread flushed over his being.

"If that is what I must become to protect my freedom and the freedom of my unborn children from disgusting sacks of flesh like you and your Tsuchikage, so be it!" she roared.

Her roar unfurled razor sharp gales through the void, tearing through the flesh of Square Jaw. He winced. His breaths came quicker, the air burning his lungs with every sharp breath as the dragon arrived in front of him.

Only when its sharp talons buried into the flesh of his upper body did he scream, the sensations of pain imparted through genjutsu where no sensations now existed for him.

The dragon lifted the measly human off the ground as though it were plucking a carrot from the soil. Square Jaw met its dark divinity with wide, horrified eyes. Hot air rushed from the hungry beasts flared nostrils across his face.

"If I have to fight the entire Stone to stay free, then I'll fight every last one of you," she growled. "If I have to incinerate men like your Tsuchikage to change this twisted world, then I'll blaze my trail right through you. I'd rather burn bright enough to reach everyone I can, but if this fire within me must burn you all away, then I'll incinerate you all!"

From the depths of the dragon's molten core, it unleashed another powerful roar into the face of the Stone shinobi.

At that moment, just as the Uchiha predicted, Square Jaw ceased to look at her as an upstart or a child.

He gazed into the malicious red eyes of the dragon and saw what all his comrades had seen before they died.

He saw the grinning ghost of Madara Uchiha within the demonic dragon's bared teeth.

He saw Haya Uchiha, the Head of the Uchiha Clan.

And, as the dragon lunged in to devour him, he let out a bellowing scream.

Then his upper body vanished beneath its blood-coated teeth.

Amari blinked and the conical prison returned. The Crows were amid their descent, Osamu was on her shoulder, a single shaft of light poured in from above, illuminating the floor and casting shadows through the chamber. The genjutsu lasted but a moment, and yet Square Jaw was as pale as death. He looked ready to vomit.

Turning her gaze to the one-armed Stone shinobi, she crossed the illuminated floor towards the body. As she neared, the human form discolored, turning brown, then melting into mud.

Tattoos, wielding both arms, emerged out of the floor behind her, piercing one retractable blade through her thigh and the other into Osamu.

As Amari cried out, he flung the Crow's body aside and wrapped his freed arm around her neck.

"It's over!" he declared.

The kunoichi's grimace suddenly twisted into a grin.

"You should see yourself now."

"What?"

The world around the Stone shinobi shuddered. Suddenly blinding white light filled his vision—a Light Bomb dangling on the end of the kunai she'd thrown into a column above.

Crying out, he covered his eyes, but then new cries broke from his lips as what seemed to be needles pierced up his legs, through his torso, and his arms.

The light faded. As his vision returned, he saw Amari kneeling several strides away with Osamu perched on her shoulder. Her Shadow connected them both, thin and sharp tendrils sewing through his thighs, torso, and arms, with the ends pricking the top of his head.

"Yoshino taught you to sew quite well, Lady Haya. Your Shadow Stitching Jutsu is a complete success," Osamu said.

"Ho- How?" Tattoos seethed.

"Don't you remember?" she mocked. "It was when you chased me out of that beam earlier. I used a Crow Clone to evade behind you—that's when you met my eye, and I planted a suggestion on you."

"Genjutsu? Dammit," he tried to struggle free.

"I saw right through your Earth Clone," she said. "You were too eager. Not that I'm complaining. And would you look at that, reinforcements have arrived just in time."

Sasuke, Mimi and Aoko, and their Anbu guardians entered through the open portal, beginning their descent by hopping from beam to beam.

Tattoos grit his teeth. "Tetsuo! Get out of here!"

"He may not be very responsive," said Amari.

"What did you do to him?"

"Burned his Will of Stone to ashes, just as I promised."

"You're every bit of the monster Lord Tsuchikage warned us," he growled.

"And yet he's obsessed with using my body to steal my children and my bloodline," she replied coldly. "Which one of us does that make the real monster, hm?"

"Tch! Tetsuo, if you can still Reverse Summon yourself, do it! You must report her abilities to the Tsuchikage! For the glory of our Empire, you cannot fail now! I'll take these Leaf shinobi straight to hell!"

"How do you—"

Amari nearly bit her tongue off when she saw black seals spreading up the man's neck and down from beneath his sleeves. Her Sharingan and Byakugan perceived the technique instantly, and her stomach dropped in horror. Osamu gasped.

"Get back!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. "He's using a Suicide Jutsu!"

"Lady Haya, quick! Eliminate this shinobi!"

"It's already too late for you and your comrades."

Amari prepared to plunge her Shadow tendrils through his skull and heart.

What appeared to be black ink suddenly ejected from Tattoos body, encapsulating his comrade, Amari, Osamu, and himself within a black sphere. Amari's Shadow faltered. She felt an inescapable gravitational pull tugging her towards the man. She dug her heels in, tried to use chakra to hold herself down, but her sandals shrieked noisily against the earth as she was dragged closer. Square Jaw's limp body started to roll towards Tattoos.

Dammit, this is bad! We're trapped inside a Suicide Sealing Technique of some kind.

Square Jaw—Tetsuo—suddenly vanished. Her comrades were still descending, the flock of Crows reversed course to rescue them; she sensed everyone's panic over her own, she swore she could feel all of their hearts hammering in her ears.

"Osamu, Revers— ggh!"

Amari jerked forward, then collapsed back, attaching her hands to the floor with chakra. She felt the skin on her palms scraping against the floor as she skidded closer. Osamu's talons were burying through her armor, digging into the flesh of her shoulder.

"You're too dangerous to live!" declared Tattoos.

Amari's eyes went wide. Osamu's eyes narrowed.

Time and space appeared to be swirling behind the Stone shinobi, but Tattoos couldn't see it. He didn't see the black gloved hand emerge from the vortex, the sleeve, or the orange mask with the black flame pattern.

"I'll wipe out the bloodline of Madara Uchiha here and now—"

"And who are you to decide that?" the Masked Man declared coldly, hand clapping on the man's shoulder.

Time and space swirled again, this time warping the space around the Stone shinobi.

"Die alone, you worthless scum."

In an instant Tattoos was sucked into the eye of the Masked Man, or so it appeared.

The gravitational pull ceased, the black sphere vanished.

Amari gasped and sat up straight. Quickly, fearfully, she glanced around, ensuring there were no remnants of the Suicide Sealing Technique.

Nothing. Not a single Seal left behind.

Too close. Way too close.

"Haya, are you all right?" the Masked Man asked sincerely.

She lowered her head, exhaled an uneven, relieved chuckle.

"I am now. You really know how to make an entrance, Grandfather."

Today just continued to get more and more troublesome.

---

Review Response to Isobel Bauch: Glad you enjoyed that last cliffhanger! Sorry for the wait, but I hope you enjoy this one, too!

Anyway, thanks for the review!