And here we... go.
20
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Pause.
I had a plan, now.
Was it a good plan?
No.
Unfortunately, there's not much else I can do.
I drummed a rhythm, carefully using my knuckles rather than my claws, onto a book in front of me.
I stared at it, but I wasn't reading it. I wasn't looking at it.
The book was unimportant, save only for a picture contained in it's pages, a picture of the Uchiha fan. An arrow clip kept the book open, to this page, and pointing at this picture.
Would I be able to make a difference, if I was alone?
Nope. Itachi and Tobi were faster, far, far faster than me. They'd kill the clan, and I was simply too slow to stop them.
Going in alone was tantamount to pointless, the only goal I could accomplish would be to blindside them, and try to hurt them. Or, kill them.
Preferably, the dead one would be Tobi.
No one said, however, that I had to go in alone.
The second the massacre started, this book was going straight to Shikaku, and I was going straight to the compound right after. Shikaku was intelligent enough to work out something was wrong, even if he didn't know what.
With any luck, he'd call the ANBU, or the Jonin.
With any luck, they would see Tobi.
And then?
Who knows.
I shuddered as the Darkness pulsed, a wave flowing through the Darkness. A sensation of mercury flowing down my nonexistent spine, coupled with a minor pull in a direction. Not necessarily unpleasant, but definitely weird.
It was a sensation that I'd since come to associate with a Heart leaving the body.
Incidentally, I was pretty sure I knew the rough location of the Torture and Interrogation Department. Or, at least where they kept the prisoners.
Another pulse came, as another Heart left a body.
Two?
Three simultaneous pulses, three more Hearts.
Oh shit.
I grabbed the book, disappearing into a Corridor of Darkness towards Shikaku bedroom.
I stopped only long enough to throw the book at Shikaku's sleeping form, before vanishing into another.
Seven, Ei- nine, ten, twelve.
I emerged in the shadows of the Uchiha compound, my form hidden in the darkness of alleyways.
Fifteen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty.
I rushed, sprinting down the streets in the shadows, towards the released Hearts.
22, 23, 26, 30.
I flattened against the ground, skittering along further and faster.
31, 32, 33, 34.
There!
36.
Tobi, garbed in a dark blue cloth, orange swirled mask in place.
His blade flashed, and another Uchiha had his head separated from his body.
38.
He turned, facing another Uchiha with a horrified expression on her face.
40.
No time to think.
41.
Only time to act.
I burst from the ground, leaping at Tobi from behind.
42.
My claws lashed out, a sweeping strike to slice apart his spine.
He moved.
His body flung forward, twisting with my strike.
My claw tore along his shoulder, the armored cloth doing nothing to protect it from me, his flesh simply unable to resist. His blood spurted along the ground, even as a protective Chakra Shell weaved into place around his arm and back. Too little, too late.
I hit the ground, already knowing that I had failed. His spine escaped unscathed by my assault.
Not good enough.
I caught a glimpse of a Mangekyo eye, before I leapt from the ground and tried to strike again.
The mask, this time.
Almost contemptuously, he leaned back, allowing my claws to pass through naught but air, a failed assault against a faster and more skilled opponent.
44.
I landed, and in the same moment, his blade lashed out towards my chest.
Not fast enough.
It struck true, slicing into and through my chest, Darkness made flesh bursting into a purple smoke as it did.
Huh. No pain.
Uncaring, I stabbed back.
Again, he moved, turning an ineffectual sword strike into a graceful turn, neatly dodging my own stab.
48.
Slowly, my chest began to knit back together, purple smoke reforming into blackened flesh.
He held back, staying beyond my claws.
Range wouldn't save him.
A piece of Darkness manifested in my claws, which I flicked towards Tobi in the same movement.
I'd never be able to hit Tobi, but Tobi wasn't my target.
He jumped into the air, even as dark flames blossomed where he stood.
50.
Several more were created and thrown, even though I knew that none would hit him, He was simply too fast and too skilled for that.
He landed on the ground, and in a pulse of Chakra, blurred. In one moment, he was in front of me, and in the next, he was behind me, naught but a trail of displaced air to show his passage. He was so, dreadfully, dangerously, impossibly fast. Another pulse of Chakra, another trail of displaced air, and he was in front of me again.
My arms dissolved into smoke, and for a moment, I was helpless.
Not good enough. Not fast enough, not strong enough, not skilled enough, not smart enough.
He walked, slowly, taking his sweet time, knowing that I couldn't do anything to him now.
Just not enough.
He paused in front of me, staring down at me, arrogant condescension in his eye.
He thought I was pathetic. He looked at me with disdain.
I hated him.
His blade descended again, seeking my neck.
I didn't care.
I touched the Darkness, and pulled in a part of its power.
Claws weren't good enough. I needed something longer, sharper, more dangerous.
Blade.
My arms reformed, smoke becoming flesh in an instant, claws merging and shifting into a longer edge.
My bladed hand met his sword.
There might have been resistance, but I could have just as easily been imagining it.
Darkness parted metal, slicing through the sword like it wasn't even there.
It was only Tobi's instinct that saved his hand, a severing turned into a shallow cut.
Blade became Claw, even as I tried to strike Tobi once more.
Space warped.
His body twisted upon itself, collapsing into a point of his Mask, shifting around and into his eye.
Kamui.
Claw passed through nothing, Tobi gone before I could.
My KILL, denied to me!
I punched the ground in rage.
So, what do you think?