Bone shattering cracks resonated through the hollowed chamber. Chunks of ice and debris falling from the walls and ceilings like hail as the younger Kyuubi Jinchuuriki and her Akatsuki enemy burst through the wall, both bleeding from wounds and glancing blows that weeped red blood down their bodies as they each struggled to gain an advantage over the other.
Red chakra surged and churned, bubbling around the Jinchuriki's body as she snarled at the Uchiha, salivating through her fangs as she attempted to strike at him with massive, burning chakra claws.
The ice at her feet melted with hissing steam as her chakra burned red hot against the icy cold surface Trickles of water slid down the slope as she anchored herself in with the claws at her feet rather than the chakra itself.
The Uchiha ducked and weaved, dodged and slid. Avoiding the deadly blows that would have torn the flesh from his very bones with the fluidity of an acrobat.
Seeing an opening Itachi slashed with his blade, narrowly missing the woman as she ducked under his swing, countering with a vicious uppercut. Itachi twisted with a back flip, avoiding the claws before he landed on his feet, lunging at the Jinchurikki, blade extended as he attempted to plunge it through her chest, only for Akina to savagely bat the weapon out of his hand burning his skin as the demonic energy came into contact with his bare flesh.
Her movements were powerful, and difficult to keep up with. Only his Sharingan allowed him to stay ahead of both her own hands, and the chakra claws that lashed out on their own. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he found his next opening and took it.
Sliding his foot between her own, he hooked her heel with his ankle, ignoring the uncomfortable heat at the contact, and pulled.
With the slippery ice, her foot gave way with ease, sliding forward in a stumble. Before Itachi's bare fist decked her across the jaw.
Loosing her footing, she fell with crack to the sloping ice floor, hand digging into it with her claws, she allowed her momentum to swing her down, up and over, using her dug in fingers as an axis she attempted to kick Itachi's legs out from under him.
Itachi leaped up, higher along the sloping platform, avoiding the blow as he began his handseals.
Akina swung to her feet however, roaring with a grating screech as she extended a massive chakra claw towards the Sharingan wielder, who, in mid air, had no way of dodging the attack, received the full impact full to the chest as the claw tightened around his torso with bone crushing force.
Gasping in pain the Uchiha felt the air leave his lungs in a rush as his back was smashed painfully against the wall. The burning grasp tightening around his entire body.
Giving a hard yank to the side Akina then proceeded to drag Itachi's struggling body across the wall of ice, entire chunks of debris fell with a thunderous crack of ice slamming into ice sounding more like stone falling on stone as Itachi's body was used as a brutish, fleshy plow, sharp vibrations rattling her chest as they traveled up her legs and through her arms.
When she reached the far edge, she pulled the Uchiha's now limp corpse closer for inspection watching him bleed. His broken body bringing a feral satisfaction from her mind that made her blood sing in her veins and primal viciousness feel sated and satisfied.
Then the infamous Nuke nin vanished into black smoke coalescing a moment later several yards away, still bleeding from several lacerations but very much alive, and still very much able to fight. Mangekyo sharingan glaring into animal red.
Clouds of moisture seeped down from the walls around him, glass eyes glossing over with dewy residue as metal joints creaked with slow, cautious movements.
Above him, Gaara watched the legendary puppeteer.
Training with Kankuro had taught him much. He'd have to thank his brother for this. Puppets were notoriously uselful in ambush and reconnaissance operations. Moreso with the former than the latter but regardless, all puppets had one major weakness.
They had no senses.
Of course one could put a camera to record or send a live feed back to the wielder if they really wanted it but such a thing didn't help much in a straight fight. Pupeteers, needed to be able to see the battlefield with their own eyes in order to successfully engage an opponent. Or at least had to have some way to percieve the battlefield themselves so that they could lead their puppets reactions accurately. Whenever they couldnt see the battlefield, the only thing they could rely on was a puppets movements. If it was struck with any kind of force the vibrations would travel through the Chakra strings, alert the pupeteer as to what had moved, be it a limb or a piece of the chest chassis and they'd have to react acordingly. Often with minimal success.
Sasori's physical body was a puppet as well. One that had the senses of sight and sound. But Gaara highly doubted anyone would have the patience or the skill, to replicate the entire human nervous system on wood to fully replicate skin. Sasori most likely didn't have the sense of touch.
Advantageous because he couldnt feel pain.
But any warrior knows that all senses are important. Sometimes, pain was the most important of all.
He'd teach Sasori this today.
Carefully he focused his power, crawling five single grains of sand onto Sasori's head, hands and feet. One on each.
It wasn't much but with some concentration he should be able to keep a general perspective of the Nuke-nin's location once the mist became too thick for unaided eyes to pierce.
He would place more. But he needed to focuss on the Sand he currently had coating the walls, those grains were coated with as much chakra as he would risk placing on them, any more and Sasori would discover what he'd done. If he hadn't discovered it already.
The Kazekage closed his eyes, expanding his senses to the rest of the sand he had dispersed through the room, focusing on their vibrating movements and trying to increase the frequency of their shaking and thus, increase the level of the mist that was slowly choking the lower chamber.
The main priority here was saving Yugito. Sasori was a secondary objective in the Kage's mind at best. They had to get the Neko out of his grasp. No easy task but one Gaara hoped to accomplish.
Soon, the mist became thick enough for Gaara to emerge from the tunnel, signaling the two Anbu to hold their position before he leapt down into the fog below.
Immediately the sand that had been scraping against the ice walls surged to his feet, catching him in two, hovering platforms that were barely large enough for the balls of his feet, but he managed, easing himself slowly down onto the snow and ice covered floor without nary a sound before sending the grains of sand back to the walls to continue producing the protective mist that shielded him from sight.
He focused on Sasori's movements again, tuning his senses to the five grains of sand on his person, the Pupeteer still had not moved, possibly consoled by the fact that his opponent could not see him any better than he could see them.
Which would be true under most circumstances. His caution due to his fear would be his downfall.
Placing two fingers to the base of his throat, lining the tips with chakra the Kazekage let his voice emerge.
"You almost had me the first time."
He heard the shuffling of movement, the crunching of snow beneath the weight of a body , followed by the crunching scrape of ice being shattered by the weight of some kind of impact.
Ventriloquism. It paid to have a brother who was a puppeteer.
"Kazekage." Sasori hissed, his voice emerging to Gaara's right, also being thrown by the Nuke-nin for the same purpose of misdirection. Unlike him though. Gaara could tell where he was. "I should have expected those Anbu would find you."
"Did you enjoy your rest." This time Sasori's voice voice emerged from above, and Gaara fought the urge to look upwards. He couldn't make any indication to his position. "Perhaps I should send you back to it."
Throwing a kunai into the air the Kazekage waited for a moment, once again gathering sand beneath his feet.
There was a dull thud as the blade impacted ground and Gaara once again heard the sound of feet crushing the snow as Sasori moved one of his puppets to attack.
Gaara used the sand beneath his feet to rise from the snow, rushing forward through the air, the rustle of his clothing being the only evidence of his movement, drowned out by the sound of moving puppets.
The Ichibi Jinchurikki drew two kunai from his borrowed satchel, holding the blades firmly in his fists as he focused all his attention on the grain of sand atop Sasori's head, lunging for it through the mist.
Metal gouged deeply into reinforced wood his wrist jerking awakwardly with the sudden resistance. He grit his teeth, ignoring the pain as he pushed forward, feeling the kunai slide across the surface before the resistance against his blade vanished as, Sasori's head jerked to the side in reflex.
Then Gaara caught sight of a dozn weapons hurdling towards his airborne body.
He let himself fall, the sand propelling him dorward disolving into grainy clouds as he dispersed them.
His momentum carried him forward, at a downward angle, arm finding snow as he rolled sliding across the slick surface beneath him before he reached his feet, never breaking his stride. Never slowing down. He couldnt. Not unless he wanted a hundred different projectile weapons sinking into his back.
Sasori followed the sounds of his footsteps, continuing to fire as Gaara dodged and weaved, swerving left and right, avoiding the strikes through purely random movements and luck, not able to see the incoming attacks through the mist as he made it to the wall and used it to jump towards a different angle before he reformed the clumps of sand at his feet, effectively vanishing from Sasori's only means of tracking him.
He struggled to keep his breathing even and quiet, heart pounding within his chest with the force of a thousand beating drums as he swallowed thickly, hands shaking as he worked to push down the adrenaline and keep his thoughts together.
Below, Sasori was faring better but not by much as he felt the deep grove right beneath his left eye.
He had remained within this mist because he had been under the impression that none of his assailants could see him or strike at him. With any less ease than he could. And snow made it notoriously difficult, if not impossible to approach undetected.
But the Kazekage could do both. How Sasori did not know. But it was clear he needed to get out of here.
Still there were risks. Many risks with emerging from the mist to the catwalks above. There were two Anbu up there, and though he could best them easily in any other circumstance, it was a good twenty foot leap between any of the walls and the nearest solid platform.
Twenty feet where he would be open to any attack.
A good Anbu needed less than half of that.
And he doubted they wouldn't have some kind of strategy in place in case he simply tried to climb the walls, perhaps explosive tags or even Chakra absorbing seals which would completely immobilize his puppet for a short time. Time he couldn't afford
He had to decide soon what was more risky...the Anbu above, or the Kazekage below.
He looked down to where he could still faintly see Yugito's pale blond hair. Her skin was turning a sickly hue from the poison that flooded her veins and would very soon kill her despite her demonic resilience.
To Sasori, it was his survival that mattered to him. Pein's cause was not his own. The man was powerful, unbelievably so. But all around him his plans were crumbling and it was time for the Nuke nin to cut his losses. The money had been good for the time. But it was not worth his life. Not the money, and certainly not the delusion he fought for.
Reaching down with one of his puppets he made the thing hoist Yugito onto its shoulder, her broken, limp body offering no resistance save for a pained groan as the mannequins studded shoulder dug into her ribs and aggravated her still bleeding wounds. .
And so we have the bait.
Without a second thought the Suna nuke nin sent his puppet crawling up the walls, clawed feet digging gouges into the ice as he shimmied his way up the slick surface, breaking the veil of mist after a brief moment of struggle.
Not more than a second or two later he felt the fluctuations in the strings between his puppet and himself. Injuries, most likely with a large blade. Like a sword, not kunai or a shuriken. That meant the attackers were close; good. The sudden loss of weight from the puppets shoulder. alerted to him by the shift in the puppets center of gravity, confirmed his suspicions.
He didn't waste another second.
With a deafening bang that was not unlike a door being slammed but thousands of times louder Gaara could only watch with horror at the sounds of bodies striking the floor along with the sounds of shrapnel scattering throughout the room and the smoking husk of Sasori's puppet, still burning with acelerant fuels cast a dim glow through the mist as it crashed down from its place on the wall.
He felt Sasori move.
There was no time for the dead, no time to check or think of what their condition was, what Yugito's condition was. He had to end this, now before Sasori could gain the advantage.
Not wasting time to gather his sand, he ran across the snow covered floor, the crunch of his feet lost amidst the still echoing cacophony of the falling shrapnel. And Sasori's own puppets moving off in different directions in an attempt to confuse through the echoes of sounds.
Brandishing two kunai Gaara ran up the side of the wall, eyes fixed on where Sasori was before he emerged from the mist, finding the back of the Suna ninja's head in his sights..
With a powerful leap, he closed the distance between them, watching as Sasori turned, his wooden features belying no shock as Gaara's hands rushed forward, blades at the ready.
With a a flourish, ten blades emerged from the pupeteer's back, flashing forward towards Gaara who hastily blocked as best he could, wincing as one of the blades cut into his shoulder and another into his left side.
He leapt back, away from the wall, cursing before, with a swirl of air the sands came to his call, coalescing into a single solid spike not much longer than a short sword and only half as thin, sailing straight towards Sasori's ankle.
It struck, shattering the metal joint, nearly severing the entire foot as the sand construct twisted like a drill before dispersing, sending the red headed ninja smashing down towards the lowest floor with a startled cry as Gaara fell onto his back against the snow a solid crack as his head struck something definitively harder than flakes of frozen water.
His vision swam, colors bleeding together as everything felt decidedly...off...
Suddenly, with jarring clarity, his senses sharpened, warnings tickling the back of his mind with their caressing touch as whatever precognitive abilities of the Shukaku, attempting to manipulate absent grains of sand lurched forward, screaming in his mind. Warning him of the impending danger.
He raised his hand, cursing and screaming as he felt the sickle like blade run his hand through even as he held it up, away from his throat. The tip dangling unnervingly close to his flesh as is hand shook with tense force as blood dripped down onto his skin and clothes.
His ears twitched, hearing more of the black garbed puppets coming forward like a hoard of ravenous beasts ready to fall upon the carcass of their prey.
Gaara grit his teeth, the anticipation of the pain he would experience making it all the worse as he savagely yanked his hand to the side, flesh, muscle and bone parting in the wake of the razor sharp edge of the sickle like blade, pulling it to the side in the process, the sudden absence of resistance allowing it to dig into the snow and ice just above his shoulder.
He had just enough time. In a puff of smoke the Kazekage vanished, replaced by the flaming husk of Sasori's self destructed puppet just as dozens of other blades and kunai fell onto where he'd previously been laying. Ripping through the metal husk of the former puppet.
It took the real Sasori a moment to realize what had occurred and immediately sent his thralls forward, rending blades flashing with fire as the burning fuels clung to the weapons, searching out the Kazekage as they blindly swung in wide arcs.
There was a clash of blade upon blade.
There!
Sasori focused his efforts, sending his puppets forward in a mad rush to finish the Kazekage, to finish this fight.
He heard a cry of pain...
But that was not Gaara's voice.
A shadow fell over the Nuke-nin and he twisted around from his place on the floor, glass optics barely able to take in the hazed sight of the Kazekage's face before something pierced his head, reinforced wood and metal giving way beneath pure force rather than the honed edge of steel as the tip plunged into the only other organ remaining besides his heart. His brain.
A jerk. Nothing more than that, and Sasori of the red sands fell still. Gaara's weight, unoticed as it crashed ontop of him from where he had fallen.
The Kazekage panted, gripping with his remaining good hand the kunai lodged in the Suna ninja's skull.
Slowly, he stood, chest heaving as he sucked in gulps of air with wild greed as his injured hand shook and twitched at his side, a throbbing pain centered around the injury that the Kazekage could slowly feel burning up his arm.
'Poison.' The Kazekage thought, wincing before he grasped his forearm tightly. Hissing through clenched teeth as every movement jostled the nearly severed fingers.
Nerve damage...he'd cut through the Hypothenar muscle groups, spasms wouls begin shortly all around his arm once the adrenaline died down. He'd probably cut through two metacarpal bones...maybe more he wasn't sure.
Damnit.
A strangled, wet gasp, almost a gurgle more than an intake of air startled the Ichibi Jinchuriki, drawing his attention away from his shaking limb. He turned, stumbling for the sound that indicated a survivor. Hoping he wasn't too late.
As he marched closer towards the source his teal eyes found the dark lump laying on the floor. Reaching it, he knelt slowly, cautiously pulling at its shoulder until it rolled over, revealing one of Sasori's puppets.
There was a gasp beneath the puppet as Gaara finished pulling the thing away, revealing one of the Anbu that had come to his rescue, the puppets rending claw blade protruding from the man's chest. The man's chipped blade lay in the snow, useless to him now.
The nina gasped, gurgling on his own attempts at breathing, or perhaps speaking either way. It was being caught and choked by the blood that flooded his throat and mouth, bubbling up until it spilled down the sides and bottom of his mask.
The Kazekage reached down, fingers brushing over the masks ridge before he stopped, the body beneath him becoming still as life fled from it.
Too late...
Gaara closed his eyes, brow creasing in something akin to pain, lips pursed as he let his hand fall away before he continued to pass his sight over the battlefield
The puppets, inactive and useless with their master dead, lay across the snow, dotting the perfect white surface with splotches of black, like some Macabre mimicry of the dead. The fire from the one that had blown itself up all but put out now, though embers still struggled for life.
Then he found Yugito.
He could only see her back from where he stood, face down in the snow, head turned away from him, wounds weeping red, her skin a sickly pale from blood loss and poison.
His throat tightened with apprehension, a leaden weight falling in his gut before he stood and made his way over to her, not even daring to hope that she was somehow alive.
When he reached her, he gently drew his hand, almost as though afraid to come in contact with her before he gingerly rolled her over towards him.
Numerous cuts and lacerations were scattered across her body. Horrifying wounds that weeped crimson that stained the snow beneath them with blotches of red, shrapnel and slivers of metal dug under her skin across her chest, stomach, upper thighs and shoulders, with one having sliced deep along the side of her neck and burns blackening her skin.
She...was dead.
Slowly Gaara stood, pulling himself away from Yugito's form, leaving her pale visage alone on the ice covered floor, clothing barely covering her as a single trail of blood leaked from her mouth and her bleached blond hair spread out behind her like a halo.
He closed his eyes, a bitter taste settling along the back of his throat as his fists clenched.
He should take her back...he should take them all back...
But there was no time...he could still hear the sounds of fighting outside...he needed to leave...or their sacrifice would have been for nothing.
With one last glance The Kazekage looked to the former Neko Jinchuriki, and the two Anbu that had come to his rescue, then he leaped up into the catwalks above, intending to make good on his escape.
The rush of heat from the explosion stung her face and burned her eyes as she closed her lids tight, the fan beneath her feet lurching as the winds shifted to fill the vacuum caused by the fiery blast.
She shifted her course, swiveling around until she dipped low into a dive, eyes scanning the open skies for a sign of her opponent, finding most of her vision of the sky blocked by black smoke.
Then, with the beating of great wings Temari found herself face to face with a massive clay beast that was easily three times the size of the clay bird that had just been blown up.
'Dragon' was the thought that passed through her mind before she was forced to enter into another quick dive to avoid the synthetic creature's massive jaws as it lunged for her, curving upwards in a climb to pass behind the creatures beating wing.
Rising over the thing the blond Suna kunoichi turned her head to the side, catching sight of the smiling Deidara as he stood on the dragon's back back, between the shoulder blades and wings. She turned, pulling away away before the beast began a turn to face her.
It was still slow. Faster than the bird but still slow.
She her turn with a whiplash of the tail end of the fan, using the momentum of the move for added speed as she rushed forward towards the clay wielder as she watched the beast open its mouth. She wondered if it was going to breathe fire or another type of long range attack, only to see two smaller dragon like creatures emerge from its gaping maw like blobs of hacked phlegm before their wings extended as they rushed towards her, the creatures bulbous tail shortening in accordance to the clay it expelled.
Temari cursed, drawing her two smaller fans as she swung them infront of herself, releasing hails of rending wind blades that sliced into the smaller beasts.
The attack cut into them; slashing what would have been horendously bleeding wounds had they been of flesh and blood as razor sharp edges carved through their bodies, faces necks and wings, watching as they exploded with a shockwave of flame and concussive force that rattled her body even as she pushed forward through the fires rising as she pushed through the veil of smoke finding the head of the lumbering dragon directly infront of her.
She jumped, the momentum of her previous speed carrying her forward even as she watched her fan plummet down towards the earth before she landed on the clay dragons head. Rolling forward with her speed she sprang to her feet as she rushed the startled Deidara.
She reached into her pouch, grasping Shuriken between her fingers as she threw them with the ease of experience at the Iwa nin, watching as the Clay wielder drew his own kunai and blocked the thrown blades, tightening his stance as she rushed him.
She attacked with speed and fury born from something not unlike desperation swinging her weapons in wide arcs that sought to sever limbs or slice open vitals.
For all his lack of skill in hand to hand combat Deidara dodged every blow with jerky, awkward movements as he struggled to find an opportunity to counter or increase the distance between himself and the Suna Kunoichi, feet shifting over the surface of the clay dragon he'd made as he tried to find some way to keep his bearings over where the surface ended as he backpedaled and slid to the left and right in wide dodges in his attempts to avoid the razor sharp blades that could cut through stone.
Finally she over extended, showing her attacks next direction before she delivered.
Catching the Suna kunoichi's wrists, he held them tight as he twisted her around so her back was pressed up to his chest, arms crossed in front of her, fists held firmly so the wind blades pointed upwards next to Deidara's own shoulders, fingers clenching over hers in hopes to cause some kind of damage to the fans themselves, minor as it may be, and also to make sure she didn't shift her wrist. A few notches inwards and those blades will be cutting into his shoulders and possibly his neck.
Temari cursed, struggling in his grasp before she looked up towards the cloud obscured height of the ice fortress, flashes and dark rumbles not unlike rolling thunder reaching her ears as she grit her teeth, anger and determination flooded her veins before she dipped her head forward and savagely threw it back, hearing a fleshy thump as she felt the sting of teeth against her skull.
She did it again, and again, feeling Deidara's grip slacken after the third strike she pulled herself out of his hold with little grace to speak of, falling onto one knee as she scrambled away from him, watching as the Iwa ninja cradled his broken and bleeding nose, dark red blood dripping between his fingers as he glared at her with such hatred she felt her skin crawl as she tightened her grip on her two fans.
"You bitch!" The Iwa nuke nin growled as he spit out a glob of blood before he smiled a smile full of malice and wicked glee.
Reaching down to his pouch the Iwa ninja felt around for the designated C4 bag.
Temari grimaced as Deidara seemed to melt for a moment, a sliver of black extending from his hazy form a second later as a clone was forged next to him, the real Deidara's hand on its shoulder as he smiled.
The Iwa ninja chuckled. 'Let's see your wind chakra stand up to bombs that you'll be breathing.'
Temari could only watch with mounting dread as the clone began to grow, bloated and disfigured as...something grew inside of it.
It was the solid impact of a kick to his chest that sent Kisame staggering back, a smile lifting his bloodied lips as wide, gleeful eyes snapped to and fro, mind traveling a mile a minute as it struggled to keep up with the ever shifting chaos of the battlefield and his three deadly opponents.
He knew one thing though...he needed his sword which lay on the ice just a few yards away.
The old man and the Suna kid were between him and it.
Not too bad
He always did love a challenge.
There was a crunching of snow behind him, a meter, maybe two. Not attacking, circling, waiting. The copy cat.
Bloody fangs were revealed a little more as the monster of the mist readied himself, putting up his fists in a defensive stance as he kept his senses fixed on his three opponents, holding his position.
Yoshihiro was the first to rush him, sporting the least number of injuries (or at least handling them much better) in comparison to his two allies Kisame knew he needed to focus on him more, Kakashi was tired, skilled, but tired, making mistakes. And the Suna nin's suit was already damaged, servos whining and wood creaking. He may pack a bit of a punch but nothing he wouldn't be able to deal with even outnumbered.
He stepped forward, hand lashing out and wrapping around the massive war hammer's neck, stopping the hammer's forward momentum with brutish ease with one arm his free limb lashing out in retaliation.
Yoshihiro deftly raised his left arm, feeling the sheer force of Kisame's fist through the thick iron of his arm guards wincing before he kicked out with his right leg, smashing his boot into the juncture of Kisame's ankle and foot.
He felt the limb falter under his weight, almost smirking as he hoped that he had broken the shark man's ankle with that blow. But as he'd proven throughout this fight, Kisame's bones were tough, ridiculously so, and with a firm jerk Yoshihiro found his balance gone as Kisame dug in his heel and straightening his ankle with startling force.
The Tsuchikage tightened his grip on the hammer's shaft, refusing to release the weapon even as he scrambled to do little more than fall on his ass.
The whirring of servos and the heavy thuds of wooden footfalls alerted Kisame long before his eyes did.
With a heave he pulled Yoshihiro's hammer, man and all, forward, smashing the metalic head against the side of the approaching fist hard, sending the lumbering behemoth's strike off course, just barely grazing past his shoulder before he lifted his foot and kicked Yoshihiro in the ribs, finally loosening his grip on the weapon as he sent the old man sliding across the snow and ice.
Kisame grinned hefting the hammer in his hands before he swiveled around on his heel, weapon extended as he swung, the sound of feet sinking into snow warning him again of Kakashi's movements
The hammer struck Kakashi's skull, and Kisame watched with childish glee mingled with something akin to disappointment as blood escaped the side of the ninja's head like an overly ripe grape that had just been popped before the image faded, revealing nothing but half melted snow and half frozen water.
Kakashi's body soon emerged from behind the crumbling water clone however, hair and clothing wet with bits of ice clinging to him, kunai blade held firmly in a fist, as he burst through the remnants of his own construct. only its faint, dull glimer giving Kisame any warning before he felt the metal dig into his stomach, slicing through skin and muscle as it buried itself into his flesh up to the hilt.
The Nuke-nin grunted, blood seeping out from between his clenched teeth an annoyed scowl on his features before the smile lifted his face again and Kakashi was grabbed and hoisted up a foot off the ground by his throat.
Kisame raised the hammer in his hand again ready to bust Kakashi's head wide open with the second swing when there was a great crack, and lights danced across his vision before he found earth meeting sky in a disorienting swirl of vertigo and a throbbing pain raced up and down the side of his ribs before he felt the shocking cold of packed snow breaking under his weight.
"Bastard." The Nuke nin growled, though his tone lacked any real measure of anger as he picked himself off the floor. "That one actually stung."
He found his arm suddenly yanked backwards, a firm grip twisting his wrist painfully as his fingers struggled to retain their grip on the Hammer that was still clutched in his hand.
A fist smashed against the side of his head, a dull thud that sent his face into the snow. It didn't hurt, but a repeated strike at the exact same spot dazed him enough to loosen his hold on the weapon..
Yoshihiro, at least that's who he assumed his opponent to be, because Kankuro wasn't nearly fast enough and Kakashi's fist wasn't encased in metal, reached for the weapon, grasping it and yanking it out of his hand.
Kisame's smile only grew as he felt his heart pounding beneath his chest, the sense of awareness as adrenalin flooded his veins and everything slowed as he tried to think of a way out of this situation before that forty pound dead weight came crashing down on his skull.
The thrill...
That was why he fought.
It never got old, never waned. It was always something new, an entirely all too powerful experience that was always unique.
With his free hand the blue skinned man reached up, grasping the kunai still lodged just above his stomach, yanking it out before twisting around despite the arm still twisted behind his back.
With a gut churning scrape of bone sliding against bone his arm was pulled from its socket offering him just enough leverage to reach up and stab the dull painted metal into Yoshihiro's thigh. The tip winding its way between the folds or iron and chainmail.
The old Tsuchikage screamed, the hand that had previously been holding Kisame's wrist releasing him as it went to grip the weapon's shaft his other hand still holding his weapon.
Rolling onto his back before the old man had a chance to recover, Kisame lashed out with an awkward kick, slamming the side of his foot onto the kunai's handle digging it even further into Yoshihiro's limb.
The Tsuchikage crumpled, leg giving out beneath him before Kisame used the same foot to kick him across the face, knocking him down as the Kiri ninja began to stagger to his feet. He didn't have the luxury of time to waste.
A fact which was proven by Kankuro and Kakashi a moment later as both men rushed forward.
Reaching his feet Kisame barely had time to brace himself before Kankuro's armor covered body smashed into him, motors revving as it attempted to grapple the Nuke-nin into a submission.
But even with one arm currently disabled Kisame's strength bordered on unreal, his remaining limb going under and over Kankuro's shoulder as he worked as best he could in an attempt to throw Kankuro face down into the snow.
A blur to his right brought his attention to Kakashi. Finding the jounin rushing towards him, steps sluggish in comparison to his normal speed. He was exhausted, good that would make him sloppy.
Kisame lashed out with a kick, leaning against Kankuro to offset the weight, watching as Kakashi smothly slid to the side, avoiding the attack, kunai in hand as he thrust it forward in an strike that would have buried the blade into Kisame's temple.
But the Kiri ninja leaned back, avoiding the weapon, teeth gleaming in a wide smile before those same teeth sprang forward in a vicious bite, rending flesh from bone as the sharpened fangs tore into the skin and muscle of Kakashi's forearm.
The silver haired ninja screamed bloody murder, stopping awkwardly as his entire mind went completely blank due to the sheer rolling pain that raced up and down his limb as Kisame clenched his teeth all the tighter.
Kisame's jaws were like a vice, powerful muscles clamping down with mind numbing force as he tasted the coppery metal of blood pooling inside of his mouth.
He bit down a little harder before finally releasing the copy ninja, watching as the man backed away, cradling his injured arm before Kisame finally managed to throw Kankuro off balance knocking him and his suit down onto one knee before he leaped over him, rushing towards Samaheda, still laying on the soft snow.
Sliding across the white snow to close the remaining distance he reached out with his remaining arm, grasping the hilt of the legendary blade before smoothly reaching his feet, holding the weapon across his chest as he smiled at the three recovering ninja.
Jerking his upper body once he savagely threw his limp arm out to the side, growling as the humerus reattached itself into the socket with a sickening scrape of bone on bone. Muscle fibers and torn ligaments screamed with agony that he dutifully ignored as he grasped Samaheda firmly in both his hands, smiling with bloody teeth . "Lets try this-" He stopped smile slipping from his lips before he turned, looking up towards the sky where he found a massive dummy that looked like Deidara, its body slowly expanding as though it were about to rupture.
Kisame growled. 'Not today you worthless waste of space' He thought, turning away from his three injured opponents as he placed Samaheda securely on his back again.
As he formed his hand seals Kakashi, Yoshihiro and Kankuro felt a rumbling beneath their feet.
Temari braced herself, torn between attacking Deidara, risking him blowing that doll up in her face, or finding a way off of this dragon in order to get away from the impending blast.
She argued to herself, cursing her indecision as reason fought with instinctive fear.
Too long it would seem.
Deidara's smile grew wide, bloodied teeth escaping the confines of his lips as he laughed, his hand pulling away from the now bloated clone that didn't seem to be stopping its growing any time soon. "You're fuckin' dead now bitch!"
Temari swallowed, fight or flight instinct taking over. And she choose flight.
Turning sharply to the side the Suna Kunoichi ran towards the edge of the dragon's back, determining that she would figure out a way to slow her fall after she avoided the explosion.
Temari's run towards escape was halted when the dragon suddenly lurched to the side, its body shifting beneath her feet with such force and suddenness that she felt herself stumble before falling, tumbling once, twice, before the beast leveled out stopping her movements.
She began to pull herself up, wincing as a sharp pain shot up her calf bone. Pulled muscle? Sprained ankle? She didn't know and she didn't care at the moment.
She looked up, reaching one knee before she found Deidara's arrogant smile, assured of his own victory as his bloated puppet thing seemed as though it was just about ready to finally.
Then, something slammed into the underside of Deidara's clay mount, lurching it upward so violently Temari felt one shoulder nearly pop out of its place as it struggled to hold her up, fumbling wildly as half melted snow, water and ice surged up from around the Dragon's side.
"Wha-"
And that was all Temari would ever hear of the blond Akatsuki member as jaws of a swirling, crushing water dragon closed in around him, sheer current pressure tearing through hardened clay and swallowing both Deidara and his bloated clone while ripping the clay dragon apart like rice paper, its forward half falling to earth with Temari still on top its falling surface.
The water dragon rose higher into the air, a swirling pillar of water and ice. It was the biggest attack of that type that she'd ever seen. The Chakra to make it must have been monumental.
Temari gripped the now dead surface of the Clay dragons back with chakra, watching as the massive construct of water rose high before arching downwards and slamming down into some distant area on the ground, utterly crushing whatever had been trapped within it.
But the Suna princess could spare no more time watching, standing unsteadily against the rushing air that beat against her in the descent, she looked down to the rapidly approaching ground and the Ice fortress just a few dozen meters off to the side.
Best she was gonna get.
An unsteady step turned into a breaking run, a jerky pause turning into a desperate jump towards the only means of survival, a solid wall of slick ice.
Her legs sprang her through the air with force, the high winds lashing at her exposed skin like whips of rusted wire before she slammed into the unyielding surface of the Akatsuki's base.
She wheezed out a curse as her breath was pushed from her lungs and ridged slopes of frozen water bit into her body as she struggled for some kind of grip or purchase with both chakra and her bare limbs as pure momentum sent her tumbling down the sheer drop in an uncontrolled roll.
Finally, she stilled, sliding now on her back instead of rolling before she righted herself so her feet were downward, Chakra coating the back of her arms, and legs, slowly easing her to a relative stop as she struggled to catch her breath, her heart pounding against her chest before she looked upwards, ignoring the shaking that rattled her insides from the massive chunk of sculpted clay that finally crashed into the ground, watching the flashes rumble down from the clouds above, to signify the progress of the duel between Naruto and the Paper witch.
With a groan of effort she rolled herself onto her front wincing at the cold that seeped through her clothing along her chest, stomach and legs as she began the arduous climb upward.
Kisame smirked, watching as the dragon elevated itself high into the air, snow and ice water sliding beneath and around his feet as it gathered together to feed the ever growing beast.
Behind him, Kakashi, Kankuro and Yoshihiro watched with rapt attention as the creature surged upwards, growing until it was almost as tall as the Kage Towers of the five nations and as thick as a standard built two story building. Its sheer size alone would swallow up more Chakra than any of the three elites held in their entire bodies. How Kisame was able to do this on a whim was nothing short of mind boggling to them.
The three started to move forward, seeking to close the distance between themselves and Kisame to stop him from turning the massive dragon on them if only through sheer risk of proximity; but stopped when, to their surprise and confusion the thing angled its massive head upwards towards the clay dragon still circling above in the sky, roaring as it surged forward, its maw opening wide before it tore the, by comparison, diminutive clay creature in two with a single bite arcing through the sky before smashing its face into the unyielding surface of the ice that covered the lake several hundred yards away, no doubt utterly obliterating anything that may have been caught inside of it.
With a flourish Kisame turned, a smile plastered over his face as he brandished his sword, barely winded from the use of what must have been a gargantuan consumption of chakra for the technique that had just all but killed his ally making all three of his opponents pause in their run just a few yards short of reaching him.
The Nuke nin chuckled as he turned spreading his arms wide as he yelled. "Alright then! I think I was just in the middle of kicking your asses wasn't I?!"
The ground rushed up to meet the Uchiha, legs struggling to catch his weight and simultaneously halt his downward momentum without splintering the bones in his limbs.
A crunching of snow behind him, he turned, rushing forward in a blur of blacks and reds as the three tomoe of his Sharingan spun wildly within his eyes, accelerating his perceptions and reflexes enough to catch her movements easily as she met his charge with her own.
She lashed out, reaching for him with claws of fire and energy which he easily avoided, retaliating with a slash from the kunai blade in his hand , sparks of electricity dancing across its metallic surface as he cut deeply into her side as she howled her rage at the sharp bite of pain before she stopped, swiveling on her heel, attacking with a backhanded swipe that should have removed the Uchiha's head from his shoulders, but only struck tendrils of wispy black smoke as the Nuke nin practically evaporated before her eyes.
Her senses kicked in, ears and touch finding what her eyes could not. A rustle of clothing, the air currents above her...disturbed.
She jumped back, melting snow and ice beneath her feet as she landed kunai and Shuriken raining down on her previous position shortly before her opponent landed, hands going through seals before dozens of clones appeared at his sides, rushing off in various directions, flanking her as they circled and rushed in for their kill.
She attacked like the beast she helped house lashing out with wild abandon to her left and right growling and snarling as she struck at her attackers, dispelling those her claws reached, while others slipped between her strikes, scoring hits and cuts where they could, dispelling immediately after as the toxic nature of the demons chakra ate away at their energy constitution, destabilizing their constructed forms
The slice of the blade cut into her back, burning agony racing across her shoulder as she stumbled forward, one hand reaching over to grasp her lacerated shoulder and back. Before a foot connected solidly with her jaw, knocking her off her feet and sending her sliding across the icy floor.
She cursed, blond hair clinging to her face with ice water and sweat as she struggled to push herself up again, dazed. She wondered where Itachi was, she needed to get up, to attack again before he attacked her.
His words made her blood run cold.
"Amaterasu"
Pure, raw agony exploded across her back and left side, screaming bloody murder as black flames, more powerful than any other fire Jutsu in known existence burned through the chakra cloak that covered her body like armor searing through clothing and skin eating away at the muscle beneath.
She writhed in agony, thrashing on the floor as she howled and screamed in pain rolling as she tried futilely to put out the hellfire that would supposedly burn for seven days and seven nights.
Itachi watched the woman, watched her face, feral and wild, twisted in what could only be indescribable pain. He watched as tears evaporated before they fully fell from her cheeks, fingers twitching spasmodically as she thrashed on the ground, twisting so hard as she continued to burn he thought she would break her spine with her own spasms.
His eye released bloody tears, the shuriken like iris spinning as he focused on the deadly fires, willing them to die away as he forced them to adhere to his will snuffing them out a moment later. Leaving the woman's entire back steaming and smoking as the skin was charred black over the damaged muscle and raw tissue beneath.
Wet coughs escaped her throat as she choked on her own blood, wheezing strained breaths that only gurgled in her wind pipe.
Itachi blinked, wiping the blood that stung at his eye as he watched her lay there, helpless on the floor.
He defeated her by himself...
"No...you are not him."
His teeth clenched, muscles going taught as his body coiled and tensed, the chakra building within his form, beneath the surface, surging and flowing before he expelled it outwards in all directions with a violent wave that rippled through the broken plateau of ice along the top of the structure. Scattering wisps of white paper and snow that blended together into an indiscernible mass.
Above him, Konan reeled from the shock wave, a grunt escaping tightly clenched teeth as the force washed over her. The wings on her back catching the wind, and raising her higher with the powerful, harsh gusts.
She drew the false appendages back, sheets of white coiling away, giving no resistance to the force of gravity as she dove down towards him, a paper sword coalescing into her hand, glowing as she powered it with wind chakra.
He jumped straight towards her, meeting her dive with his own charge.
She swerved to the right, narrowly avoiding his claws as he lashed out at her. Circling back around she struck at his back, only for him to bring his single, wind empowered kunai over his shoulders and down along the length of his exposed spine, blocking her strike.
She used her wings to angle herself, striking at his exposed ribs with a kick receiving a full hit onto his side, as her reward as she sent him him back down towards the plateau of ice before she rushed him again, choosing to press the attack while she still could.
He hit the ground rolling, fluidly reaching his feet before he breathed out a torrent of red flame towards the paper witch. Again, she swerved in mid air, a violent, sharp shift in trajectory that , unsettled the snow at their feet as her wings harshly beat against the air to continue defying the force of gravity.
The heat of the fire stung her eyes and singed the edges of her cloak, wisps of paper peeling away as they burned, lest they consume the rest of her as well. She circled, squinting through the glow and heat of the flames as she tried to get a fix on where exactly she could strike to do the most dammage.
She closed her eyes, the sting of the heat, contrasting sharply with the biting chill of the wind overcoming her for a moment..
When her eyes opened again she found herself staring at Naruto's clawed hand, extended towards her, three feet away.
A concussive blast of pressurized wind suddenly smashed into her, striking her face, chest and stomach, grinding her forward momentum to a dead halt and nearly breaking her neck with the whiplash as she was then forcefully shoved back, sailing through the air with speed before finally slamming against the ground, sliding across the ice before coming to a halt.
With a great leap, that carried him into the air he closed the distance between them, blade raised high, point, held downward as he descended, poised to land directly over her.
Konan swayed as she picked herself up, one arm cradling her bleeding temple as more of the crimson liquid trailed from her lips specking across the pristine white of the ice beneath her.
Suddenly, a blade of pure wind was plunged through her body, entering through her back and escaping its new sheath from her stomach, letting even more blood stain the snow and ice. Naruto stood over her, one hand on the ring pommel of the kunai blade, the other gripping its hilt before he savagely ripped it out of her side.
Suddenly, Konan's body fell away, scattering to the winds in sheets of pale white, reassembling themselves behind the blond Jinchuuriki before she drove two kunai into his shoulder blades, weapons of obsidian steel driving themselves through bone and muscle before she savagely yanked out the black tinted weapons in a shower of blood she moved to escape from before the liquid could hit her.
Naruto staggered forward, stumbling before he caught himself, resting on one knee, he breathed heavily, the heat of his breath, visible in the cold air as it escaped his lips in harsh growls.
He seethed in anger at his own condition. Cursing his weakened mortal body as it struggled against injuries and toxic youki. And faltering as it did.
He turned slowly, slumped shoulders bleeding freely, crimson trails darkening his red cloak as he turned on weakening knees towards the blue haired woman
Konan did not waste time, did not risk him bouncing back from his injuries. She struck fast. Fast and with a brutal, precise savagery .
Thin wisps of paper traveled through the air, nearly invisible against the white backdrop of snow, spinning with faint whistling sounds as they cut through the air, and finally sliced their way through him. Razor thin blades breaking through skin, bone and tendons.
Blood escaped his body as though he were some macabre sprinkler, rivulets of red specking across the flat surface they stood on in every direction.
He gasped, feeling the agony of each tendon and targeted muscle group as the powerful wind element cut its way through his body. Previously taxed muscles melted away into lethargy and laxness, and he shook with the sheer effort to remain standing.
Konan rushed him. Fueled by adrenalin and battle haze she didn't relent in the attack, even when every cognitive thought and restraint within her body screamed at her to pull back. To cease striking at him lest she kill him and undo all their years of effort and work.
But she didn't, and as she drove the wind powered kunai into his chest, the specks of blood that struck her face felt agonizingly satisfying, and the feeling did not relent even as she plunged the second kunai through his back as she circled around him.
Then she pulled away, haggard breaths, shaking her chest as her fingers shook with the adrenalin that continued to course through her veins.
Naruto fell to his knees, the two wind empowered kunai that had been plunged into him clattering to the floor along with his own as the chakra that had fueled them was burned out, exhausting itself after a moment.
His head remained bowed, staring down to the ice at their feet, the cold seeping trough his pants and into his legs, melting into the black cloth.
The cold brought his eyes down towards the snow.
And there he saw it:
A small thin paper, fluttering as if it were about to abandon its struggle and let itself be carried away by the winds.
Apparently, the only thing that kept the parchment on the ground, was the weight of the blood that coated a side of it.
He reached down, grasping the object in his clawed hands, watching as the bloodied side tore and fell away at the slightest of pressures...
Konan watched as he slowly began to stand again. Mustering strength in faltering legs and shaking shoulders as he forced himself to rise again despite what she knew must have been near crippling physical pain. He used his chakra to fuel his limbs now, no doubt using it as some weak bridge to at least ignore the severed tendons for the time being.
She allowed herself to relax, taking in how every movement seemed to sap more and more of his strength, soon he would collapse, either from sheer exhaustion, blood loss, or from overtaxing his body beyond even its supernatural limit.
She felt his chakra ripple outwards, washing over her as it began a slow build up. Her senses prickled and the hairs along the back of her neck stood on end. She watched as fire gathered along his arms and soon she relaxed. Though if she were ever hit by one, it would spell her doom, fire attacks were generally slow, beating only earth techniques in speed by a very small margin.
No matter how massive the attack was, she would most likely be able to avoid it with a great deal of success. Given his body's condition...it didn't seem as though he would be standing after he launched this.
As such...she could only summarize that he hoped to utterly destroy her in one massive, final attack. He was desperate. She'd won this fight.
Her wings spread out, catching the wind with a mighty flap as she rose into the air, placing greater distance between herself and the Jinchuuriki.
She gazed down on him. Brown eyes lit with the assurance of victory.
The flames formed up around him, born from his chakra they danced over his body without burning him, teeth gritted in effort as his pain fogged mind fought through the haze.
Konan felt and saw the chakra rise higher and higher, building up as though it were a great river behind a dam.
He circled her writhing body, dark eyes waiting for something as he paced around her, staying several feet away as she struggled to even breathe through the pain.
She twitched and groaned, hands scratching at the surface of the ice, as her body feebly attempted to respond to the commands her mind was issuing her limbs.
"It is...most curious." The Uchiha said slowly stepping forward so that he was in her line of sight, waiting until a glassy eye registered his presence.
"You've fought with him before..." He continued, staring down to her as he met her gaze. "And for some reason...he has not killed you yet."
He paced a little bit more retreating from her line of sight as he continued to speak.
"He could clearly defeat me...Kisame...Deidara...Tobi...all of us...were needed to disable. We may not have been going for the killing blow. But I have very little doubt that should any one of us face him alone. We would be hard pressed for any measure of victory over him." He paused almost in contemplation before continuing.
"But you...does he hold back maybe? Some sentimentality...or perhaps your lives are interconnected...like the lives of any Jinchuriki is entangled to their Bijuu..."
When he looked at her, is eyes burned with something other than apathy...embers of emotion smoldering in the bloody eyes of the Uchiha.
"If so...then you...are the only means for him to be killed."
His eyes drifted, landing onto the dulled surface of the kunai in his hands.
"His...one weakness."
Akina coughed more blood spattering the ground in front of her as it dripped from her mouth, seeping down through the snow and spreading like red ink.
Itachi took a breath, closing his eyes as he allowed his senses to spread outwards. The lids of his eyes snapping open a moment later with a sharp intake of breath as his gaze trailed upwards.
Impossible...how could he have recovered this much power so quickly!?
He looked to the immobile young woman on the floor and then felt his gaze travel to his kunai again.
His one weakness...
He straightened, the cogs of his mind turning slowly but surely.
Slowly a small smile lifted his features.
Then the entire room shuddered around him as the shock wave of some deafening explosion took his feet out from under him as the walls and tore themselves down around them with powerful tremors.
'He'll bring this whole place down around our ears!' The Uchiha mentally snarled growling before he holstered his kunai and rushed towards the still immobile female as huge chunks of ice smashed down around the platform.
Konan never contemplated that so many flames could be made by a single jutsu.
The bright orange heat escaped the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki's clenched hands, in a massive blast that was not unlike some of Deidara's greatest explosion, rising higher and higher into the air.
But not towards her.
Konan watched as the fire rose to new heights, becoming a great spire of pure flame as it reached the very clouds themselves.
Orange light seeped through the gray clouds as though tearing abyssal fissures through the sky, turning the land of ice into a nightmare, hellish landscape with its orange lighting.
His purpose became clear to Konan a moment later when water, not snow, struck her cheek.
Horrifying realization settling over her features. The blue haired kunoichi only now realized...just how high she truly was.
She could almost feel the new moisture in the air, as though a thin mist had settled into the area, prickling her skin like the desert sand on a windy day.
She turned, altering her course into a sheer dive, wings coiling back to almost let her succumb to gravity in a complete free fall.
But it was too late...far too late...and in a drenching shower, Konan found herself soaked, head to toe in freezing, ice cold water, wings falling apart at the seams, layer after layer peeling away and scattering to the winds.
She tried to control her fall, slow herself down, finding, at best, minimal success, and all too soon the unyielding surface of the top of the ice fortress met her descent with a gut churning thud.
He raced through snow and ice. A path known to him by heart already but seeming agonizingly long in his rush as he and the other five continued to push through.
The protective storm that circled around his base like the eye of a great typhoon doing little to slow their stride as harsh gusts sent shards of ice into their faces and exposed skin.
He needed to get there.
There was a flash, blinding all of his eyes for a moment before each adjusted, seeing the fiery orange haze from beyond the veil of the storm.
'Konan'
So long...it had been so long since she had felt such pain...pain...unfamiliar and blinding. It raced up her limb, freezing every thought and nerve for what must have been an eternity.
'Don't go into shock, don't go into shock, don't-' She chanted over and over in her mind, using the mantra to try and focus the shattered vestiges of her thoughts.
She breathed through clenched teeth. Moans of agony escaping her throat with each breath as her eyes were shut tight. Her remaining arm cradling her shattered one. And for the longest of times all she could focus on was this horrifying pain.
She opened her eyes slowly. They blurred and were almost unregistering as she looked on his collapsed form just a few feet away, slowly picking himself up from where he'd fallen from exhaustion.
How...how could he still move!
This was beyond determination, beyond sheer willpower or even raw power in itself...This was...this was inhuman!
He should be dead! At the very least, a broken shell of a man laying on the ground in agony. Not pushing himself to his feet with slow, grueling progress, sickening squelches of bleeding, shifting flesh churning her stomach with nauseating effectiveness.
She cradled her arm, hissing with each jostle of the limb as her weight shifted with each attempt to get to her own feet.
Finally she managed to stand, lightly holding her bleeding appendage, the skin of which was almost scorching red hot over the multiple fractures.
She looked to him again, watching as he knelt, almost sitting over his two legs, hands resting over bent knees, head bowed low.
He seemed almost catatonic really, as if this time he was well and truly done for. As if somewhere between picking himself up off the floor and reaching this position his body said that enough was enough.
His breathing, from what she could see, was shallow and even, as though he were asleep.
She stepped forward slowly, warily, jumping at every step in which he didn't lash out at her in a flurry of motion.
Seeing him this still. It was an unnatural thing.
She swallowed thickly before she shook her head at her own cowardice, forming her hand seals as best she could hissing and wincing with every movement of her shattered limb, only pure focuss and determination kept her fingers still long enough to form the sequence.
Though his body still couldn't properly channel the demonic energy of the Kyuubi due to the rapid fluctuations his sudden release from the binding seal in the central chamber had caused. It was very likely that it was slowly readjusting itself. If he even regained a fraction of his previous control then he could outlast them as he always had.
As her chakra slowly wound its way through her coils onto the fingertips of her uninjured arm, Konan sensed a shift in the air, and a dim, almost unnoticeable red haze had creped in along her peripheral vision. Simmering the air around him.
'No.' The thought was more disbelieving than angry or shocked, filled with incredulity and a hint of desperation.
She looked to him, head still bowed, hair matted down with blood and sweat, eyes closed.
No. There was simply no way that he could be-
She didn't hesitate another moment, rushing forward before she had even finished her final seals she sought to close the distance between them before he could even steal another breath.
She was desperate in her bid to reach him, unfocused...careless.
In a single fluid motion Naruto's previously still form sprang to life, reaching down, through the cottony white snow at their feet before he pulled away the lone kunai he had at his disposal. Wet and frostbitten, the biting chill stung his bare hand as he grasped the handle.
But the pain was of little consequence, and with one final, desperate lunge, the Jinchuriki threw all of his weight into a powerful forward thrust that plunged the dark, diamond shaped blade deep into the startled Konan's stomach.
The blue haired nuke nin felt her gasp choke her as her blood met the sharp exhale within her throat, gurgling on the dark liquid her hands grasped at the wound, the seal construct dying away into nothing as her focus was broken.
Naruto's weight crashed into her, knocking her flatly onto her back as the devil king fell on top of her, the last of his weight driving the blade even deeper into her stomach cavity.
Naruto breathed heavily at her side, he began to push himself away before his body finally gave out, going into shuddering spasms as he convulsed and choked on his own bubbling blood in his throat as both ind and body began to give into shock before he fell still, eyes rolled into the back of his head.
Konan gasped in pain, blood bubbling up her throat as she shuddered, rolling onto her side as fire slowly surged through her veins, somewhere in the back of her mind she realized that perhaps he'd done something more than just stab her.
Glassy doe eyes opened, staring across the flat plateau towards the dull gray horizon, the sun blocked out by rumbling storm cloud.
A shadow fell over her, and for one long, agonizing moment the blue haired woman thought that Naruto had somehow stood up again and was about to finish the job, when she felt a hand gently cupping her chin. Carefully bringing her gaze to where it intended.
There she founed the purple hued rings of the Rinnegan, looking down on her, Yahiko's animated body looking down on her with more concern than she'd ever seen in these last two decades.
Her eyes grew heavy, and her trembling arm reached up, caressing the cold cheek of the corpse with trembling fingers leaving ugly traces of her blood to ar the surface of his skin.
Her mouth moved. But no words came before her eyes finally closed and her head fell to the side, leaving only fury to replace the worried expression that had graced the Akatsuki ninja's feature's as he turned his legendary Doujutsu onto the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki.