Flickering light played across Naruto's face as he stood at the window. The same view he'd enjoyed that morning of Takigakure's upper portion was marred by towering flames. Shinobi flitted past, taking up positions around the burning buildings and releasing water techniques. Shouting could be heard, muted by the glass. Naruto closed his eyes.
"Do you sense them?"
"Chōmei is close, approaching the shore at high speeds."
"And Matabi?"
Kyu sounded amused. "Three miles away and growing further."
"Kumo ran."
It was a simple fact. The moment the attack began, they fled the village without looking back. Naruto remembered sitting on a branch earlier that day, swinging his legs alongside two Jinchuriki. But he didn't linger in the memory for long.
Most of Taki hadn't realized they were under assault. They saw the fire as the crisis, not the diversion that it was. But Naruto had been woken by the flare of chakra. Even before the first building started to burn, shinobi had infiltrated the village.
"You said that Chōmei was close."
Hinata was still asleep in bed, not having been woken by the chaos, but Naruto felt the embrace of a woman. It was a trick of the mind— a manipulation of his senses to make him feel what couldn't physically be there. So long as he didn't turn around, it might as well have been real.
"You wish to go," Kyu said, a warm feeling crossing Naruto's neck that could have been her breath.
"I want to save them. But this is Akatsuki work. If I go, I need to know my partner will be with me."
"I can hardly leave." Kyu sounded amused.
"That's not what I mean. I need your power, Kyu. I need you to have my back. I need your permission."
Even if it wasn't permanent, his death would mean her death too, at least for a while. He wasn't the only one taking a risk. He felt the sensation of a hand stroke his cheek.
"Having Chōmei in my debt sounds pleasant, to hear her whining if nothing else. But that's not the real treat." The feeling of hot breath redoubled against Naruto's cheek. "It's so rare to see you serious… and so utterly attractive. The celebrations following our victory will be divine."
Chakra bubbled out of Naruto's gut, sweeping throughout his body and cloaking each of his limbs. Holding back the howl that his lips instinctively tried to release, Naruto slid the window open, absorbing the smell of smoke and the clamor of a panicking village, before stepping on the ledge and leaping off.
He disappeared into the smokey night.
O-O-O
Run.
They burned Kegon. The last she had seen of Yōrō was a plume of water burying him. She had fled, flying into the night like a coward, like a fool, like a naughty child—
"Focus, Fū! You couldn't have stopped them! I'm lucky number seven, you think you'll get caught when I'm with you? We'll give them the slip, have a little faith!"
Fū didn't answer. Chōmei was her second friend, they'd been together as long as Fū could remember, but she couldn't forget the look of fear on Yōrō's face as water smashed him into the ground, the shark standing over him with his hideous laughing sword.
Red clouds. Akatsuki. Yugito and Naruto warned her but there had been nothing she could do. They had come for her and they wouldn't be denied.
"No! We'll escape, so keep flying, Fū!"
Chōmei sounded scared. Fū was too. All she could do was buzz her wings, speeding up as she cleared the shore and shot across the surface of the lake. Her body ached from how hard she was pushing it. A little more! She had to go faster. She hoped Naruto and Yugito were far away. At least then, more of her friends wouldn't die.
"I told you, they won't catch— LOOK OUT!"
Chōmei's warning came slightly too late. A watery shark head burst out of the lake and tried to swallow her. Fū jerked to the side, but the fangs crushed all three of her wings on the left side.
Falling toward the water, Fū's only thought was— No! She remembered the fate poor Yōrō met trying to protect her. Water was the enemy; water was danger.
Her wings were pure chakra. Losing them didn't hurt, but she needed time to reform them, time she didn't have as the surface of the lake came closer. She threw a hand toward the far shore and flared her chakra.
A web shot from her palm. The water started rising to meet her, ready to lock her inside a liquid jail.
Before it closed around her, the end of Fū's web fastened against the trunk of a tree. She yanked with all her might, flapping the wings she still had, and hauled herself to the beach, where she landed hard. She hit her head in the process, blurring her vision.
"Fū!" shouted Chōmei.
Fū pushed herself up, sitting forward, but she was seeing double. It was dark here. The only light was the moon and the distant pyre of her burning village. Shapes appeared in front of her. Four or six or two— she couldn't tell. They wore cloaks, and when she squinted to confirm there were just two shinobi, she noticed that one was much taller and wielding a sword, while the other was slighter with shining red eyes.
"Use my chakra! Heal! Transform!" Chōmei urged.
Fū summoned the chakra, pulling it out wantonly, ready to transform. Suddenly, the taller man was in front of her face.
"Eat up!"
The flat side of his enormous bandage-wrapped blade hit Fū with the force of a bull. She was thrown back, striking a tree hard enough to snap its trunk. Something inside her broke, the screaming of Chōmei starting to sound faint and distant.
Two sets of feet approached her as Fū lay on the ground, her eyelids closing and opening repeatedly.
"We need her alive."
"I didn't hit her that hard! Some Jinchuriki she'd be if she tapped out from this. Tch, this whole village has been disappointing. I can't believe Kakuzu came from such a den of weaklings!"
She needed… chakra! Fū dug deep, pulling on Chōmei's power. Her friend would heal her. Her friend had always healed her before.
The burning chakra did heal her, until she felt something rough and sharp get jammed under her chin. The tall man had unwrapped the tip of his blade, pressing what felt like scales against Fū's skin. She felt cuts forming. When they didn't heal, she gasped. Her chakra was being leeched!
"Told you she's fine," the man said.
Fū rolled to the side. She clawed at the beach, pulling herself forward, crawling toward the trees. For a moment, it felt like she was getting away.
When she looked back, reality settled in. They were watching her. The men could capture her whenever they felt like it. The taller one was smiling.
"I love it when they struggle."
He stepped up and lifted his sword with both hands. They said they wanted her alive, but he didn't hold back as he swung down, putting the full might of both arms into the strike, aiming for her forehead.
His partner twisted. There was a blur, a loud noise, and Fū was flying.
Her body stopped not far away. She felt arms underneath her. Looking up, she saw blond hair, whisker marks, and the shadow of a swinging sword.
Fū gurgled a warning but Naruto was moving. A leg clad in red chakra roundhouse kicked the scaly blade away.
Fū had watched the tall man's swings crush Taki's strongest Jounin. When Naruto's foot hit the sword, a sound like a bell filled the air, followed by the weapon being hurled off-course.
Naruto hopped back again, standing between the trees. He set Fū down gently, straightening again with tense shoulders.
"Kisame Hoshigaki," he said. "Itachi."
The two men regarded him. Kisame — the shark-like one — turned to the other.
"There's two of us," he said. "And there's one of him."
Itachi nodded.
"So why does it feel like we don't outnumber him?"
Fū felt it too. She could almost see it, shimmering like an afterimage in the red chakra around Naruto. If you squinted, it was like a woman was looming over him, wrapped around his body protectively.
"Leave," Naruto said.
"You know who we are," Kisame said. "And you're bossing us around?" He started unwrapping his sword, revealing a hideous form of bloated scales that barely qualified as a blade. Kisame leveled it at Naruto's chest. "How about you leave the girl, and you get to keep your head for a little longer?"
"Take him seriously," Itachi said.
"Yeah, yeah, nine is more than seven, yatta yatta," Kisame said.
Contrary to his flippant tone, his body was tense. He didn't lunge into Naruto's face the way he'd come at Fū, or the way he slaughtered her guards.
It didn't matter, in the end, because Naruto came at him.
There was a burst of chakra as Naruto appeared and threw a punch with his at Kisame's throat. At the last second, he dispersed the Bijuu chakra around his body, leaving his naked knuckle to strike the sword's scales.
The crack! made Fū flinch.
Naruto's arm broke badly. He retreated only a step, the red chakra making its return, healing his arm in under a second, only for him to step forward and break it against Kisame's blade again.
"Think, kid!" Kisame spun the flat of his blade, and Naruto bent backwards out of the way.
Again, Naruto's borrowed chakra had disappeared before making contact, but returned in time to heal him. He swung his fist up, striking the bottom, breaking something and healing just as fast.
"You're like a stupid animal!" Kisame swiped down from above, leaving Naruto to turn sideways out of the blade's path. "All strength, no plan!"
He sounded disappointed, even frustrated. His desire for a good fight was obvious. Naruto answered only with his fist, slamming another easily blocked blow against the scales.
One, two, three. Fū winced as Naruto hit Kisame's blade three times, not even pausing to heal in between. The flurry left him exposed, giving Kisame the chance to smack him away with the blunt side of the sword.
Only for the blade to start squealing.
Fū watched, horrified, as a mouth opened at the tip, a big pink tongue stretching out. The high pitched noises were coming from the sword's mouth, reminiscent of the cries of a pained rodent.
"What's wrong, Samehada?" Kisame asked.
His eyes landed on Naruto. Healing as quickly as ever, Naruto brought his fist to his mouth. Protruding from the middle of his knuckle was a sharp gray scale lodged in his skin.
Naruto tore it free with his teeth and spat the scale at Kisame. The shark-man caught it in his palm, staring at it. Samehada squealed louder than ever.
"I thought it would take more to break a sword that famous," Naruto said.
Kisame squeezed the torn scale in his hand. "You're dead."
"You cannot kill him," Itachi said.
Unlike when he was talking about Fū, she couldn't tell if he meant 'Killing Naruto goes against our mission' or 'You, Kisame Hoshikage, wouldn't be able to kill him'. The Uchiha's eyes began to spin as he stepped forward, joining the fight, his partner's pride be damned.
"Itachi, what is this fucker?" Kisame asked.
Naruto was watching them in silence, chakra thick in the air around his body.
"He is the Akatsuki's final gate," Itachi said. "An insufferable boy who knows nothing."
"I'd rather be stupid than have my head full of useless stuff," Naruto said.
For a second, it carried the air of a practice argument. Had they met before?
"Fū. Run."
Chōmei's voice filtered back to her, and Fū jolted. That terrifying sword had drained a lot of her chakra, but she was a Jinchuriki, and there was far more where that came from. Her injuries disappeared, her partner's voice ringing clear in her head once more.
"He came for me," Fū thought. "I don't want to leave him."
"Will you fight with him?"
"I… would get in his way."
"So flee. Into the woods. Even watching will hold him back."
A terrible feeling bloomed in her gut. Its seeds had been planted as her guards were cut down while she was ordered to run and not look back. Now, she had to run again.
Chōmei was right. She didn't have a choice. But…
"Win!" Fū shouted.
She easily called on her wings, summoning a full set again. She buzzed into the air, considering hurling herself into the fight for a brief second. She could conjure webs, or transform, or—
Naruto looked back, smiling at her, and all thoughts of interfering vanished.
His face wasn't like Kegon. He wasn't resigned like Yōrō. He planned to win.
Fū believed in him.
"Let's play hide and seek," Naruto said warmly. "Go and hide. I'll find you soon."
He turned his back on her, rolled his shoulders, and formed a cloak around himself with seven tails hovering at the back.
As Fū flew into the trees, she heard a howl and the first of many impacts.
Instead of feeling fear, they made her smile.
O-O-O
Samehada was avoiding him.
Since losing one of its precious scales, the chakra-eating sword was using its malleable shape to dodge Naruto's blows, no longer a shield against his fists. Kisame cursed, clearly frustrated. He let Naruto's kick hit him in the stomach and drive him away, purposefully sailing to the lake where he remained.
A kunai flew at Naruto's head in the same instant that a Genjutsu settled over his mind. The illusion barely lasted a millisecond before Kyu contemptuously broke it. Naruto backhanded the kunai away like it was nothing.
Kisame attacked with the lake. Rather than forming something as 'small' as a water dragon, he created a bone-breaking tsunami focused on Naruto's position. Each of Naruto's hands hit a different chain of one-handed seals.
"Fuuton: Westerly Wind!"
"Katon: Fire bullet!"
Kyu's flames and Naruto's wind whipped together, piercing the heart of Kisame's attack. The edges uprooted trees behind him, but Naruto was left untouched, except for the steam that engulfed his position.
"I sense something foul."
Kyu's words were the only warning Naruto got before familiar black flames billowed toward his face.
It was time to dodge. He sped blindly through the steam, ducking and dodging what he knew to be unquenchable flames. He lost his sense of direction briefly, and when he burst free from the cloud of steam, he was standing on the surface of the lake.
Kisame — or perhaps a water clone — melted out of the water, a jutsu already finished.
"Suiton: Ship's grave!"
Walls of water rose, threatening to clamp Naruto inside a dome of water hundreds of meters across. The second before it could swallow him, Naruto's chakra spiked.
Kyu's red flames poured out of him. Chakra enhanced them, heating them hotter, hotter, hotter…
Kisame's technique reached completion. All was silent except the distant, almost unnoticeable clamor from Taki.
With a tremendous thoom! water was scattered. When the steam faded to reveal Naruto crouched on the surface of the lake, orange chakra mixed with startling yellow flames. As he stared down Kisame, who had regrouped near the shore, the fire heated up further, turning white.
He felt a gentle sensation along his neck completely at odds with the fight.
"The Uchiha's eyes are bleeding," Kyu said. "It's time."
Naruto didn't look to verify it. The black fire had been proof enough. In the middle of the fight, he shut his eyes.
Kisame had good eyesight. Across the distance between them, he spotted Naruto's eyes close. Almost experimentally, he formed a single Water Bullet, firing it at Naruto.
The Jinchuriki dodged at a full sprint, running along the surface of the water at his top speed, moving as if his eyes were wide open.
"How the—!" Kisame cursed.
He submerged, taking himself out of Naruto's path, who headed straight for Itachi.
Black fire appeared on his body, materializing almost instantly, but Naruto's movements were close to instantaneous in their own right. He struck the black fire with his scalding white flames. Though his fire was beaten, it bought him enough time to duck past. An eighth tail appeared behind his back, his lips parting in a fierce howl heard all around the lake. Itachi judged Naruto's path, correctly guessing that his passenger was guiding him now. With his eyes closed, there was no opportunity to make eye contact.
Itachi stood still, accepting the blow that came for him. It passed straight through, a flock of crows breaking apart where he had stood.
Naruto's fist continued down, striking the ground.
Where he hit, the beach was blasted apart. Fissures spread into the forest and reached the lake, filling with water. He stood for a moment in a fresh crater. Then, turning his head toward the sky, he leaped out, cracking his eyes open once more.
O-O-O
"We leave."
Kisame stared at his partner, trying to understand if this was really Itachi Uchiha.
"We can take him!" Kisame insisted. He hadn't had a fight this good in months— no, years. And Itachi wanted to run?
Their conference was occurring about a hundred meters offshore. Bits of dust were still drifting into the air after the Jinchuriki's last blow. Kami, bleeding this one dry was going to bring him the tastiest chakra.
Itachi, with practiced ease, ruined Kisame's fun.
"We won't be able to track the Nanabi in this situation. The mission is a failure."
Kisame squinted. "You're sure you aren't letting him off easy, one Konoha deserter to another?"
"Absolutely not." Kisame was taken aback by the steel in Itachi's voice. By his standards, the Uchiha was acting downright emotional. "I fucking hate him."
"Did you just curse—"
Itachi's pinwheel eye had faded back to its usual three-tomoe shape, though that didn't clean the blood collected on his cheeks. "We leave," he said.
He led the escape, Kisame reluctantly slinking out of the water behind him. The nine-tails wasn't chasing them. Maybe the kid was more clever than Kisame thought. Memories of Samehada's stripped scale cropped up, bringing out a scowl. The kid was cunning.
There was no pursuit as he followed Itachi toward Taki, planning to use the tunnels to escape. It hadn't been hard to navigate them once Itachi shattered the ancient Genjutsu and assassinated the guide. It would be harder to get out than to get in, Kisame mused, since Samehada couldn't guide them toward a Jinchuriki's strong chakra signature. Maybe they could catch up with the two-tails? She wasn't their target, sure, but it would speed up the Akatsuki's project. Plus, she was bound to put up some fight, unlike the rookie seven-tails.
"Prepare."
Itachi's terse voice snapped Kisame out of his thoughts. He took in his partner's tense stance, the Uchiha having turned back to the direction they came from.
"Prepare for what?"
Kisame's only answer was the return of Itachi's fancy eyes. Blood leaked along his cheeks as a purple figure enveloped him armed with sword and shield. It set the shield forward, bracing itself. Kisame stared in disbelief… until honed instincts caught up with him.
If Itachi was reacting like this, he had a reason. Something was on the way. Something big.
On the far bank, Kisame's eyes picked out a bright orange ball.
He squinted, trying to make out the details. The brightness kept increasing. On the far bank, trees bent, dragged and shoved by localized gusts.
"Fox Howl," Itachi said.
"Is that supposed to mean something to me—"
The glow erupted like a set-off volcano.
"Shit!"
Kisame summoned a Water Prison with himself as the sole prisoner. He greedily bent the lake's water to his purposes, dragging an immense amount of water around him, so much that the final dome was as tall as the roots Takigakure was built upon.
The beam hit moments after he raised his defense.
It was blindingly bright, glowing a luminescent bright white like the flames the Jinchuriki had wielded. Vaguely, Kisame saw the blurry shape of Itachi's conjured giant drink the attack on its shield and stop it dead. He wasn't as lucky as his partner with those damn cheating eyes.
The beam ate into the water Kisame erected. If his Water Prison had been any smaller, it would have failed him. As it was, he felt the water heat to boiling temperatures despite his best efforts to cool it off. He fused with Samehada, taking on a shark's appearance, and still screamed from the heat, bubbles streaming from his mouth. The glow inched closer. The water heated up. Pain doubled, then doubled again. Kisame hadn't hurt like this in over a decade.
It ended without fanfare, the heat lessening, and Kisame gratefully let the water that had cloaked him fall away. He lay on his back, his skin raw and sweat beading over it. His chest was heaving.
Itachi appeared above him shortly, his appearance as flawless as ever, Sharingan replaced by dark brown eyes. "We must move."
At the same time, a howl pierced the night air, a single dragged-out piercing note. Kisame shook his head, sitting up and resting his arm on one knee.
"What a fucking night," he said.
There was still an orange shape visible across the lake. Crouched, hands on the ground next to its feet, the shape cut the figure of a beast, and it was watching them, making sure they fled.
Sighing, Kisame stood up, following Itachi as they cut across the lake, back toward the caves that would take them away.
As he ran, he was making plans for next time.