Akina trudged her way through the desert sands, the burning heat deterred little by the thick material of her boots. The heavy clothes made up for this however, doing a good job of holding off the high raised Suna sun, which was every bit as cruel and hot as the rumors set it out to be. Her two water canteens were still almost full though. She knew she needed to ration the water as much as humanly possible incase she got lost or sidetracked.
Looking around she determined it wouldn't be very hard to loose one's trajectory here. Nothing but sand dunes and sand stones. With a dry plant or two to break up the scenery every now and then.
Why couldn't the sand village be in a beach? Beaches had sand, plenty of sand. They could have made it there and still kept the name village hidden in sand. The shore side view would be a bonus too. So why oh why did they forgo a nice tropical beach...with coconuts, palm trees and shade! And instead chose to build in this...dry...hot...sandy desert?!
She sighed. Oh well some things she couldn't change. And the location of the one place she could hopefully gain at least temporary asylum from both Naruto and Zhuge Liang certainly was on that list.
As she continued to make her way through the desert however something was becoming more and more apparent up ahead of her. A dust cloud of sorts. Her first instinct was to immediately begin preparing herself for a possible sandstorm, having learned several methods to wether these storms, such as meditative breathing techniques and chakra control exercises that allowed one to hold their breath for a very long time incase one was buried beneath the waves of sand these storms often brought with them.
But as she got closer and closer she could tell that the dust cloud wasn't nearly big enough to be a sandstorm, and that it was moving further away from her. So, picking up her pace slightly she decided to investigate.
Approaching she could make out alot of commotion, it sounded like people. Many people. Her first thought was that it was an invasion force. But she quickly caught herself. Naruto had been all the way north just a few days ago, his army was hard pressed enough keeping a tight defense in their conquered territories, he wouldn't be able to launch an invasion force of this apparent size...or at least...she hoped not.
As she slowly made her way up the last dune that shielded her view from whatever was causing this dust cloud she could not help but openly gape at the sight.
It was people, hundreds of people. It may even be hitting the thousands. All marching in a column line making their way south east.
'These are refugees' she realized as she allowed her eyes to travel over the hundreds of bodies that trudged through the sand. She had seen a large refugee camp headed to Kumo but nothing like this. This was different. It may be nearly twice the size of its Kumo counterpart. Or at least it seemed that way given its length
Before she could contemplate this sight further however, she sensed someone directly behind her. She didn't even have the chance to turn as an arm wrapped around her throat and the point of a kunai pressed against her spine, the arm holding her in place.
"Don't move." Came the voice of her captor.
Akina glanced around slowly, trying to look over her shoulder to her attacker, but catching faint shimmers along the corners of her eyes. She looked around, and soon the shimmers became more pronounced, before melting away entirely, revealing half a dozen or so Suna chuunin with two jounin surounding her.
There was only one who was not a chuunin or Jounin, but an Anbu. He however, did not wear the standard armor, cloak and mask. Instead his armor was black, lined with gold, the Anbu helmet, which normally was used to help hold up the animal mask had been customized for him. Framing his tanned face, instead of the simple metal bands there were golden dragons, their open mouths and fangs framing the sides of his chin, the dragons horns, curved back so the points would be near the back of his head, accentuating his pale blond, almost silver, spiky hair.
His curia was an opaque gray, meant to absorb light rather than reflect it. The overlapping sections of armor that allowed him more freedom of movement were lined with gold, giving his armor something of a noble look. Or at least very expensive
His arms were covered only with the thin, skin tight black cloth that most Anbu wore, his forearm and wrist guards were the same color as his cuiras, with seal designs etched in gold paint over them.
Around his waist was a dark green sash, tied together with a dark blue belt. His pants were also gray, or perhaps a very dull brown. His boots were covered by the shin guards that shared the color of his armor.
But the most eye catching part of this entire ensemble was his weapon. A gold spear with a red shaft and black pommel counterweight at the end of it. The tip of the spear had an opening in the blade, the base of it curved back, forming two spikes that pointed outward on either side of the main blade and curved slightly so they were pointed towards the wielder.
"Search her." Barked the spear wielding Anbu captain and Akina soon felt the ninja holding the blade to her back pull away slightly, his hands moving to the pouches on her belt, finding whatever kunai and shuriken were held in their flimsy capacity.
But then his hand started to trail lower, too low and when it found a part of her anatomy that it most certainly wasn't supposed to find the Kumo girl decided that this particular security detail was not one she was going to stomach.
Spinning around Akina quickly grabbed the offending hand before flipping the ninja over her shoulder, so surprised by this move was the offender that he didn't even have the opportunity to try and retaliate with his kunai before he was eating sand, his arm twisted behind his back with her standing over him.
She saw the rest of the ninja step forward before a hand from the spear wielder stopped them. "Enough, she is no spy." He said before quickly looking down at his fallen squad mate. "And next time you do something like that while working under me, rookie know that I'll break that arm myself."
The ninja around her relaxed a bit, their weapons held pointed to the ground. She, reluctantly, released her prisoner, watching him scramble to his feet, rubbing his sore arm, glaring at her from behind the thin veil of the cloak that shielded him from the sun as he took his place beside his comrades.
Akina glared back before turning her eyes to the commander with a skeptical eyebrow. "You got telepathy or something? You can immediately tell I'm not a spy?"
The tanned spear wielder shook his head. "No, but a spy wouldn't have brought unwanted attention or suspicion upon themselves by retaliating with physical violence to one of my men. Regardless even if I still suspected you we have neither the time or the resources to interrogate you fully. Our scouts have reported that a Konoha strike force led by the Copy ninja is on the move to intercept us. Therefore we need to move fast, gather your weapons and join the caravan if you wish or go your own way in hopes to avoid the attack, it makes no difference to me."
As he finished speaking both he and his men began to vanish, their bodies shimmering like distant mirages. "Wait!" She called to his quickly vanishing form. "What's your name?"
Just before he completely vanished he spoke. "You may call me Daisuke." and the Jinchuriki was left staring at the empty space.
Akina quickly turned her eyes to the caravan, the dust cloud of thousands of feet trudging through the desert rising high into the air. She grabbed some of her fallen kunai before making her way towards the people as they marched through the desert.
Kakashi's heavily clothed form stood upon the dunes, using his single visible eye to survey the spectacle before him.
A few paces behind the copy ninja were a dozen or so more ninja, most chuunin, few jounin, each cloaked under a Genjutsu so that they could maintain their presence hidden, though it was doubtful they'd be seen this far off, seeing as how the sight of their target could barely be seen despite its size without the use of binoculars.
Ibiki, the second commander for this operation walked up to his side, crossing his arms, his scarred visage looking even more merciless with the squint due to the harsh desert sun. "Quite a sight isn't it?"
Kakashi nodded. "Quite a sight indeed. So that's what a thousand refugees look like..."
Ibiki nodded. "Yea...amazing how many people still hate Naruto enough to flee their homes with their entire families."
Kakashi nodded. "But what I don't understand is...why is Naruto just letting them go? He obviously knows about where they are if he's sent us here to deal with them. Why didn't he intercept them earlier?
"Two reasons." Ibiki said holding up two fingers. "Simple reasons, but reasons nonetheless. The first, is that he cannot afford voices of dissent in the villages when the next major battle occurs and he is forced to draw upon a great deal of his troop reserves and resources. And he will, you can believe that. And second he wants to break the worlds faith in Suna and Kumo. From rumors I've heard Anko already hit a rather large encampment once they were in Kumo's jurisdiction killing the ninja but sparing the civilians. Because Kumo failed to protect them..."
"The people will lose hope that they can escape to other villages safely." Kakashi finished. "Brilliant...brutally cold, but efficient as usual. With this display of mercy he can silence any that would call him a monster while also destroying belief in the other villages capabilities as well as the villages morale." Kakashi said turning his head to face the interrogator.
"Perhaps." Ibiki admitted. "But all strategies carry their own risk, and this one is no different. Those who hate him may remain hating him despite this "mercy" and with this strategy of killing most of the high skill set ninja that are with the refugees, it may only fan an already dangerous fire.
"Yes but those ninja need to be killed. They know too many of our secrets to simply be captured. The risk that they will leak sensitive information back to Suna or Kumo is too high to not kill them." Kakashi argued.
Ibiki shrugged. "Regardless. We have our orders." Throwing a scarf over his shoulders to shield his face from the growing winds. "Lets not mess em up." He said before making a quick gesture with his hand and the dozens of ninja around the two Jounins vanished with him.
Kakashi sighed. "Yeah...after all...we will be attacking a civilian target." He spoke, almost to himself as he pulled his forehead protector up, revealing the three tomoe of his Sharingan.
With this gesture seemingly dozens of other ninja emerged from beneath the sands around him, like daisies, the golden grains falling off their clothing, like they fall off a scarabs scales, revealing the cloaks and masks to the world as they assembled on either side of the copy ninja.
"We can't afford to mess up."
Akina maneuvered her way between the massive crowd of people, avoiding horses, oxen pulling carts and just regular passerby all the same, her worn down and ragged clothing allowing her to easily blend into the crowd, appearing as unimportant as possible. The last thing she wanted was for any word to return to Kumo. Since Suna was in an alliance with Kumo they would practically be obligated to report that she was there if they found out who she was, hell, they may even be obligated to just outright hand her over to Kumo and that...that she certainly did not want.
She estimated that she was somewhere near the middle of the caravan at this point before a voice made itself known from beyond the background noise.
"Grandma I'm tired...I don't wanna walk anymore."
Akina raised her eyes up to the path ahead of her, finding a young girl, probably no older than 7 or 8 tugging on the sleeve of an old woman while she was tugging a horse by the reins. The animal was pulling a cart, no doubt loaded with this families material goods.
The old woman stopped, pulling the horse to a stop as well. "Ok dear, come, you can ride in the cart for a while more. You'll have to get off soon though, Cloud still needs to pull this cart for alot longer and we cannot afford him tiring out before we reach Suna ok?"
The little girl nodded, but Akina could see her eyes filled with confusion and sadness. "But why are we coming out here anyway grandma? Why did we have to leave home?"
"You'll understand when you're older dear." The old woman explained as best she could, not having the patience to explain to a seven year old how her parents had been killed for merely speaking out against the regime. She had warned her daughter and son-in-law, many times, the dangers of saying such things. But being from Kusa, the nation that had lost the most when Konoha had taken the central marshlands they both felt that there had still been time, that the will to fight Konoha again had not been fully extinguished yet. When the fact of the matter was, that the will of Kusa and all other nations to fight openly had been broken the moment the leaf villages banner waved over the city gates instead of their own.
"But I wanna understand now." The child whined, holding up her hands as the older woman leaned down to pick her up.
"I know dear I know." She said, but before she could grab the child another set of arms lifted the girl. For a brief moment the older woman and child felt panic, but it quickly vanished as they both saw that she was being lowered into the cart.
"Ahh, thank you young one." The older woman said rising to her full height as the stranger turned to face her.
Akina smiled as she turned, finally getting a good look at the older woman, she seemed to be in her late sixties, probably early seventies. Her back was beginning to hunch a bit, but her legs still held strength as she walked, not needing the support of a cane or anything else yet. "It was nothing." She said before resuming her pace and walking ahead of the woman and child.
The older woman smiled in gratitude but soon her eyes caught sight of the bloodstain in the back of Akina's clothing. "Oh my what is that?" She called making Akina pause in her tracks, looking over her shoulder
"Hmm? What's what?" The Jinchuriki asked, watching as the older woman approached with her cart in toe. She quickly gripped Akina's shirt with her index and middle finger, stretching it out to examine the bloodstain and hole more carefully. "Oh...that." Akina said somewhat sheepishly, embarrassed that she may have to explain how she had pilfered this clothing off a dead man. "Well...err..."
The old woman seemed to smile, a strange benign smile that made Akina believe as if she already knew what had happened. Accepting her excuse without even needing to hear it "Goodness dear this is unacceptable we cant have a nice girl like you wandering around in these. I think I may just have something that's just your size." She said as she went back to her cart. Akina's eyes widened at the action.
Quickly she held up her hands, following the older woman. "Oh no wait. That's really nice of you but I'm fine really."
"Nonsense child." The woman said as she rummaged through a sand covered chest. "A kind action, always deserves another. Remember that Maya."
"Yes grandma." The child answered back.
Akina tried to protest but her voice fell on deaf ears as the old woman continued to rummage through her pack. "Ahh, here we are." She stated pulling out some white clothing. She turned with a smile to face the younger woman. "Here you are, come now." She said grabbing a large brown quilt of some sort before handing one edge to the small girl and circling Akina so that she was trapped between the quilt and the cart, shielding her from the eyes of the passerbies.
Akina blinked in confusion, wondering just how she's gotten into this situation. Peering through the side of the drape that shielded her she nervously smiled at the older woman. "Miss, I really appreciate the offer but I'm fine really."
"Please child don't make me insist." The woman said with her own small smile. "Come now and hurry. The Caravan is still moving."
Akina sighed with a small shake of her head. She really didn't want to impose on these people, she could get by with what she had now, and they would probably need these clothes more than she would.
Speaking of which just how the hell did they have her size? She shook her head. She may as well get it over with since she really didn't want to insult the older woman by denying her offer. So, with eyes snapping in every direction to make sure there weren't any peeping toms in this caravan she quickly began to change.
A few moments later she peeked her head off the side of the drape, tapping the older woman on the shoulder. "I'm done." She called, making the old woman walk towards her granddaughter, shedding away the barrier that shielded the blond from the eyes of the others around her.
"Now that's nice." The older woman commented appraisingly as she observed the young woman with a critical eye.
She now wore a white, no sleeve silk shirt, over a light blue form fitting long sleeved one. Both shirts were tucked into a pair of white shinobi functional pants that had small slits along the sides which allowed her thighs to remain slightly visible. Her pants were tucked securely into white Shinobi sandals and several weapon pouches hung from her belt. A light blue scarf/mask, made of a thin silk was wrapped around her neck, trailing down to the small of her back from her left shoulder.
Akina smiled as she looked to the old woman and young girl. "Thank you but, really you shouldn't have."
"I'm a seamstress dear, I have plenty to sell once we reach Suna. Besides, you looked like you needed it more than us."
"You look nice lady." Came the voice of the little girl, complementing her as her legs dangled off the side of the cart.
Akina smiled. "Thank you. Umm, I'm sorry. Here I am taking your gift when I haven't even introduced myself. My name is Akina."
"Nice to meet you dear, I'm afraid you are not the only one whom has forgotten introductions." The old woman said as she kept smiling. "My name is Kiko and this little angel here is my granddaughter Maya."
The little girl waved timidly Akina smiled in return as she gave another small wave of her own. Kiko then moved to the side, grabbing the horses reins, she turned to look over her shoulder at the younger woman. "Would you like to join us then? Its a long road to Suna and we both seem like we could use the company at the moment."
Akina smiled somewhat sadly before she nodded. "Sure." She said before walking forward and grabbing the reins of the horse. "I'll take him for now, you seem tired."
"Thank you dear."
Staring down at the sight of the refugees, three Suna Anbu commanders stood on one of the taller of the dunes. Their heavy cloaks draped over their shoulders. Their golden brown color blending in with the surrounding sands. One was the unmasked, code named Daisuke, the other two did have their masks, one a tiger, the other a cobra.
"We cannot continue like this." The tiger masked Anbu spoke. "All these civilians are slowing us down, Konoha will catch up to us soon at this pace. We've already lost contact with the rear guard."
"What would you suggest then?" Daisuke began with a sideward's glance. "That we simply abandon them to a massacre? I wont do that. These people came to us for help and they-"
"Are a burden we cant afford right now." The tiger masked Anbu interrupted. "All these people will just be like parasites, that will just suck the lifeblood out of Suna's coffers. The only one's of importance are the nobles. They're the ones who will contribute to fund the war effort. Not the peasants who could barely even bring the clothes on their backs.
"He does have a point, commander. We can only come out on the loosing end by defending peasants our government will have to support and feed in the end should they make it to our village. We should take the nobles and go." Cobra said turning his head to face Daisuke.
"So what are you saying?" Daisuke questioned, his voice heated as he rounded on the two. "Just because they cannot grant more money into our banks that their lives are less important than the ones who can. You two would abandon nearly a thousand people to save just a few dozen because its convenient. What will that do to the men's morale, or Suna's image to the world."
The Tiger and Cobra masked Anbu turned to one another before facing Daisuke again. "This is not up for discussion. This mission was given an odd number of comanders in order to not allow split decisions. The two of us, say that we will gather the nobles, and slip away from the caravan as soon as possible. If you choose to defy us we'll have you signed up on a court marshal once we return to the village."
Daisuke's eyes narrowed with something akin to disgust as he shook his head.
The three then turned their heads to the sound of one of the refugees. "KONOHA! KONOHA IS HERE!"
The three Anbu commanders turned their eyes to the horizon, finding there to be several small silhouettes making their way across the desert several hundred yards behind the refugee's and quickly swallowing up the distance between the two.
Daisuke turned his eyes to the other two commanders. "Well then." He said, a disgusted tone in his voice as he shoved past the two. "We had better move. Wouldn't want to catch ourselves actually doing fighting the war we're paid to fight."
The organized march had quickly turned into chaos, dozens of people, previously lethargic and slow in their pace now running in a frenzy, snapping the reins of their horses and yanking on the yokes of oxen as they began running. Only the massive size of the refugee column and knowledge of the general direction they needed to go in was keeping them from just running off in random directions like lunatics.
It was a frenzy, every man for himself mentality had fully taken over. Akina pulled the reins of the horse down as the massive animal stood on its hind legs, startled by someone that had crossed its path too quickly.
Kiko held, Maya in her arms, hugging the small child close to her, uncaring to the fate of her cart. Akina had to admit, compared to some of the other people around here she had her priorities straight.
Walking back to her she took the small girl from her arms. "Give her to me!" She nearly yelled taking the child from the older woman's eyes, ignoring the little girls increasing cries of fear and confusion. "GRANDMA!" Akina felt the shrill cry right over her ear, making her wince a little. But she ignored the scream placing the girl ontop of the carriage. Turning to Kiko she quickly helped the older woman onto the carriage herself.
Scrambling to the back of the cart after she'd handed Kiko the reins to the horse she quickly began dumping trunks, of clothing and other supplies that did not include camping equipment or rations. "Go, keep moving and don't stop, no matter what." She yelled as she jumped off the cart.
"What? But what about you?" Kiko questioned looking over her shoulder at the blond.
"Don't worry about me just go." Akina yelled, throwing a kunai so the blunt end would strike the horse's backside. Startled, the animal whined and rushed forward, kicking up sand as it dragged the startled females further away from the attack and toward their destination before any more words could be said.
Akina shielded her eyes from the grains of sand, stopping them from entering her eyes as she squinted.
Watching as the carriage vanished amongst the rampaging sea of panic before her Akina turned to face the approaching black dots.
She glanced around, realizing rather quickly, that Suna ninja were nowhere in sight, either they were waiting in ambush...or they weren't coming.
Akina paused, time seemed to slow to a crawl around her, as if the fates were granting her this reprieve in order for her to gather her thoughts.
She didn't want to join herself in this fight...she wasn't sure anymore, if in the end she would even want to join any fight. Perhaps the best thing for her to do would be to disappear. Leave this world to Naruto and Liang, let them tear each-other apart for it if they really wanted it.
'Some promises dear sister, must be kept...at all costs'
Naruto's words echoed in her mind, bouncing off the walls of her skull.
No...she couldn't leave...she couldn't leave because...because the sorrow would never end...it would never stop. He would never stop. He wont stop, not until he fulfilled whatever promise it was that he made, to whoever he made it too.
She looked down to her feet, finding a kunai, discarded, half buried in the sand and something seemed to come to her then. Slowly, ever so slowly she knelt down, grasping the weapon in her hand, ignoring the sand that seeped between her fingers and under her fingernails as she did.
"I may not know...what promise drives you brother...I may...not even know if you were being truthful to me really...but...today...I'm going to make a promise to you. I may not know how I'm going to keep it...or even if I'm right in doing so...but"
She paused, standing up to her full height, her hair whipping in a sudden gust of wind along with the silk scarf around her neck. She pulled the hair away from her eyes, settling it behind her ear as she watched the Konoha ninja grow closer and closer.
Glancing down at the kunai in her hand she gripped it tightly, her eyes closing for a brief moment before opening with a strange resolution settled within the sea blue orbs.
"I swear..." She began. "That I will free you from your own promise. Whatever it may be."
She marched closer
Kakashi slowly made his way down the side of a dune, sand falling off the angled hill in droves, almost like actual water as the grains gave way beneath his weight, the heavy brown cloak draped over his shoulders doing little to hide the kunai in his right hand, his left free in order to help maintain his balance.
As he reached the foot of the dune, watching as the ninja squads under his and Ibiki's command rushed past him to press the pursuit his Sharingan eye scanned the landscape for any Genjutsu that may be concealing enemy ninja but he found none. Strange...so far there was no resistance as they approached, she'd heard the refugee ninja and Kumo's own had fought practically tooth and nail to try and fight off Anko's assault. They didn't succeed. After all...it was Anko. Crazy bitch probably scared off half the opposing force by just doing that thing she does with a shuriken...
Yes...moving on.
Still it was odd that not one scrap of resistance was pulling itself together to face them. They knew that Suna ninja were in the caravan, they had already killed off a few scouts on the way down here. They may be hiding in the crowd, hoping to throw the Anbu off with the chaos of civilian targets around. "All teams." The copy ninja spoke into the comms. "Enemy units may be hiding within the refugee column. I repeat, enemy units may be hiding in the refugee column, dressed as civilians. Herd the refugees into Ibiki's squadron ahead of us before you move in to subdue the civilian populous."
"1st squad copies."
"2nd squad, roger that Wolf."
"3rd squad that's a go."
"This is fourth squad here; uhh commander you may wanna turn that eye of yours this way. We appear to have some resistance headed right for us."
Kakashi did so, turning his eye towards fourth squad, who he had placed at the center of the formation since they were the most numerous, numbering roughly a dozen squadmates where as the others were of six, eight at the most. Fourth squad also had the highest "rookie" count. These kids needed to learn quick if they were gonna survive what was to come, attacking a relatively mid to low danger refugee column headfirst seemed like the best bet to get them some easy experience.
His Sharingan immediately caught sight of what fourth squad was up against. A single...young girl. Dressed in white. She was charging headlong into them. Kakashi's Sharingan spun slowly, again checking for any Genjutsu. As he did that the commander of the fourth squad, who had slowed his pace called back to Kakashi. "Commander, please confirm if we should engage."
Kakashi scanned the girl and the area around her for a moment, even at a distance the Sharingan couldn't be fooled. "Fourth squad, You may engage target if proven hostile. I detect no Genjutsu on her or the area around her. I say again; you have the green light to engage if the target proves hostile.."
"Acknowledged."
Kakashi watched as fourth squad regained momentum, matching their former pace as they placed themselves into an attack formation to deal with singular targets.
There were only, at most, maybe half a dozen yards away from one another before there was a bright, white flash. Kakashi squinted for the split second it occurred before he saw one of the chuunin of squad four blasted into the dunes by a lightning attack from the girl's fingertips. Again, another flash, this time he saw her using a lightning laced kunai to hold off his men. She was fast, very fast. Kakashi watched as she quickly disabled two more of the rookies.
"Squads 2 and 3 proceed with the attack, Squad 1 double back and compensate for squad four's delay, this girl may prove more trouble than she's worth. Squad 4, hold tight I'm on my way." The copy ninja said before he began making his way across the dunes.
"Would ya look at that?"
The tone of disbelief and slight awe in his subordinate's tone made Daisuke look over his shoulder at the younger man. "Stop stalling. We need to hurry." He said, loathing the twisting, disgusting feeling in his gut with every step that lead him to further abandon the helpless civilians. Slightly ahead of his unit, which acted as the rear guard were Tiger and Cobra, escorting the nobles and their families, quickly forming distance between themselves and their Konoha attackers.
"But commander look!"
Daisuke sighed rolling his eyes, this was why he hated rookies on his squad. No discipline, no self control, no restraint. "What is it?" He snapped rounding to face the back of the, possibly, teenager's head.
"Look." The rookie pointed towards the approaching Konoha ninja. "It's that girl, remember, the one we stopped earlier. She's wearing different clothes but its definitely her."
At that statement, several more of Daisuke's squadmates rallied around the instigator of this debacle, curious to see the girl that had so easily subdued one of their own only hours earlier.
Daisuke couldn't stop from rolling his eyes as the chatter began.
"Look at her. She's nuts, charging the enemy alone like that she's outnumbered 50 to one."
"She's only fighting one or two of the squads, don't exaggerate."
Daisuke rolled his eyes before walking forward to get a glimpse of this spectacle.
When he first saw her, making her way across the sands towards the enemies that approached her, Daisuke's first thought was that, she had been a spy or scout that was now retreating back behind her allies to fight another day. But when he saw the flash of light, and the lightning that struck one of the Konoha ninja he knew he had been mistaken.
Daisuke wasn't sure what it was about the sight of her charging the Konoha ninja, all by herself. But, for some odd reason...it struck a chord in him.
He didn't know why.
He had seen similar sights in his nearly 15 year career as a Suna ninja. But...there was just something strange...something odd about her. The way she moved. Her very gait, her walk was heavy. Burdened. Even from this distance she seemed...strangely sad. But he could also see something else.
Determination.
As already stated it was an odd sight. But a strangely...inspiring one.
And he suddenly realized why it was that he felt this. It was almost like an epiphany that came to him as he gazed toward the refugee column.
She did not flee.
It was such a simple concept it was almost humorous. She simply did not flee. The names Konoha and "The Devil King" had been spoken in hushed whispers, shied away from so many times. That they had become almost synonymous with fear in Suna. Something that could be seen even with so called elites like Cobra and Tiger. They feared Konoha...they fled from Konoha...
But she...she was different. She actually rushed toward them. Challenged them and she did so alone. Not with an army at her back.
When she finally delivered her first attack, striking down one of the Konoha ninja in a bright flash of white light, the Suna commander couldn't help the emotion of slight wonder that danced across his eyes.
For this brief moment in time she was amazing
"Crazy fool's gonna get herself killed. There's no way she can win."
Daisuke nodded to himself as he looked to his spear. "Perhaps...but she wont be dying alone."
Before any of his squad could fully grasp the meaning of what he just said the unmasked commander was already closing the distance between himself and the girl.
"Shit!"
"Commander"
The startled shouts that reached Daisuke's ears he ignored, knowing that his men would follow and proving himself right a moment later as the squad took their positions behind him. A smirk played across his features.
It was time to stop running from Konoha!
The blast was deafening to her ears, making them ring like high pitched whistles, the shockwave knocked her onto her back, sand slipping into the back of her shirt and getting in her hair but she paid it no nevermind as she rolled, getting back to her feet and using chakra to stay there as the sands continued to shift beneath her.
Two chuunin rushed to her flanks, attempting to hit her from both sides simultaneously. Normally she would have jumped but the weak sand beneath her feet didn't allow enough stability to get very high. She ducked as the one to her right swing, before quickly catching the wrist of the second to her left as his blade descended. She twisted, putting the weapon in a position so the blade was upwards and the blunt side was towards her, using it to block the follow up swing of the attacker to her right. She spun on her heel, sand kicked up into the air with her movement as she swiped her lightning edged kunai across the mans stomach, slicing it wide open, staining the sands red before she got to her feet, using the same kunai to cut off the arm of the ninja she'd been holding. The man screamed in pain, gripping the injured limb with a vice-like grip for only a split second before she kicked him away.
She spun around, blade at the ready, her eyes darting back and fourth to the 8 men left in the squad, trying to determine which one would attack next, as they circled her, their speed dizzying in its intensity as she tried to keep up.
But she had to keep up, she not only had the disadvantage of numbers, but also the lack of an arsenal. Other than her main weapon, the three pieced staff, and Jutsu's that could be used in conjunction with it, the vast majority of her arsenal consisted of mid to long range lightning techniques. Thus, without that weapon she was severely limited in both offensive and defensive techniques.
She heard the crunching of sand beneath a boot, slightly behind her and to her right. She spun around, leaning back to avoid a kunai swipe to the shoulder. She was about to retaliate when, to her left one of the ninja emerged from the sand dunes, two kunai at the ready. Akina turned, but she knew she wouldn't be able to put up a proper defense in time.
This theory was proven right as both kunai were soon plunged, hilt deep right into her shoulders.
A scream was ripped from her throat as blinding pain tore through her arms and chest. Falling onto her back she still had enough sense left to get her attacker off her. So planting her feet on the Konoha ninja's stomach she pushed him off. Vaguely noticing his rank to be that of a jounin.
She grit her teeth, jumping to her feet as she realized she had little time to waste, the blood now staining the white and light blue clothing before she yanked out the weapons from her flesh, tearing it all the more in her haste before the wounds quickly resealed themselves.
Before she could even recover from the rapidly dissipating pain two more chuunin were on the attack. One coming with an overhead swing with a sword, the other with a swing that would slice open her waist. She threw her lightning charged kunai, the weapon easily shattering the chuunin's sword before he got to her. Then she did a cartwheel, avoiding the second blade as it passed under her. She threw a kunai mid jump, catching the second chuunin in the calf, making him stagger as he fell to one knee.
Landing on her feet she saw the chuunin who's sword she had broken leap into the air, throwing a shuriken before he began his handseals.
In an instant, one projectile turned into a hundred.
Chakra converged in the girl's palms, small jolts of electricity leaping for a brief moment from her fingertips before she clapped her hands together. The sparks grew in intensity for a moment before she thrust her hands to either side of her, A transparent "field" of lightning spreading out in front of her, with only small jolts of lightning snaking their way over the thin shell of it to make out its surface.
At once, the kunais were blown back, the polarity of the static electricity working like the other end of the magnet, repelling the electrified kunai before they could strike her, with most vanishing in a cloud of smoke a split second later except for the original kunai.
Her head snapped to the side, where another of the ninja had just launched a fire Jutsu at her. Again, more lightning emerged from her fingertips, hitting the fireball dead on. But it did not stop the attack, the sparks and flames mixed and clashed. The flames did not stop, changing color from orange to blue as the electricity continued to pour into it.
The former Kumo kunoichi sidestepped to avoid, the now, blue fire before she brought her attention back to the man that had thrown the shuriken as he lunged at her.
She caught his wrist, ducking slightly so he would pass over her shoulders. As he did she yanked on his wrist, his forward momentum and her slightly chakra enhanced strength snapping his upper arm with a violent twist.
Kakashi's eyes narrowed as he finally spotted the Suna reinforcements approaching where the girl was fighting, they would arrive barely a few seconds after he did if they kept up their pace and he increased his.
But still, this was too much of a coincidence, Suna arrived just as they'd broken formation, heading for squad four, going around the other squads in order to get to the girl. If his suspicions were true and there were enemies hiding in the refugee column then with this squad flanking them they would easilly be able to catch the other three squads with an attack from the front and the rear, he couldn't allow that.
"Squad's break off the attack on the refugee columns, I repeat, break off the attack on the refugee's. Suna's escort force has been spotted converging around fourth squad's position, estimated numbers to be" He paused quickly counting the Suna squads rushing into the fight. "Two dozen at least, more are coming over the hill as we speak. Initial hostile estimated to be a high A class Jounin possibly an Anbu commander double back to squad four's position immediately."
Switching frequencies the copy ninja spoke again. "Ibiki."
A moment of static. "Yea?"
"Regroup at our position. The enemy may have anticipated our attack. Do not engage the refugee column, the risk is too high for an ambush."
"Understood, heading to rally point."
Kakashi shut off the radio just as he rushed over the last dune, leaping into the air to swallow up the remaining distance his hands quickly formed the handseals for his signature technique as he saw the girl dispatch yet another of squad 4.
"RAIKIRI!"
Akina heard the roar of a thousand birds, the attack itself drowning out its name, as she turned, meeting the fierce gaze of a fixed, spining sharingan eye.
Quickly she brought two kunai to her hands, pointing them at the incoming attack before two lightning blades extended from them, nearly six feet where they clashed with the Raikiri.
Kakashi's techniche was not however, considered a high A class assassination Ninjutsu for nothing, nor had the rumor that he had used it to cut a lightning bolt in half merely an over exaggerated rumor. Something he proved beyond the shadow of a doubt in this field of battle as the Raikiri practically tore through the lightning blades like a bulldozer would go through a building.
Kakashi saw her eyes widen, the movement slow and easily read by the crimson eye swirling like a vortex in its socket.
But then he felt his own eyes go wide as he saw something else, something impossible. But he knew his eyes did not deceive him, they never did, the Sharingan was not fooled. And even if it was fooled no one could imitate what he saw a split second before it actually happened.
With the forward momentum he had already built up he couldn't avoid the object of his shock before it struck.
A red claw, emerging from the girl's arm smacked the arm holding the Raikiri off its course, batting it to her side so he would pass her harmlessly.
Kakashi's arm was buried shoulder deep into glass a moment later, the girl a bit to his left and slightly behind. He spun around, using his free hand as the axis he tried to kick her in the face with both legs. But his heels only met her forearm as she blocked the attack.
Getting to his feet the copy ninja saw another of his ninja approaching her six ready for the kill when a gold and red spear pierced the man from the back, the point sticking out of his chest as he stumbled, he collapsed, the spear pushing itself out as he fell onto the sand, the grains greedily drinking up the blood.
Kakshi's eyes snapped up to the Suna ninja as they swarmed over the area, striking down the majority of 4th squad before they could regroup. Kakashi's gaze turned to his left, where squads 1, 2 and 3 had just finished rising over the dune.
A scant few seconds later the battle raged in earnest.
His sharingan then caught movement from the corner of his eye, a kunai slipping into his wrist which he used to quickly block a swing from his female opponent.
His eyes narrowed, watching as the edges of the girls eyes seemed o hold a faint hint of red before it bled out into cristaline blue. "Who are you?" The copy ninja questioned as sparks of electricity began to rise from their weapons.
If he was truly expecting an answer he didn't get it, only a shove from the girl as she pushed him back.
He didn't stumble, the kunai in his hands was thrown to the girl, distracting her as she was forced to dodge the metal projectile. Giving Kakashi the few moments he needed to complete his seals, the copy ninja wiped his cut thumb on a scroll before tossing it aside.
Akina felt, more than heard the shifting of sand beneath her feet, her every instinct screaming jump. She did so, watching as five dogs exploded from the sand formally beneath her feet, their jaws snapping as they clawed at air, trying to catch her.
Akina grabbed five Shuriken from her pouch, throwing the projectiles with accuracy as she hit the five summons, making them vanish in puffs of smoke.
Kakashi did not have a natural wind afinity, but he was not known as the copy cat ninja for nothing. Proven by the next Jutsu pulled from his sleeve. "Kaze no Kenkadou!" The copy ninja yelled.
With the heightened hearing the low pitch of wind blades made themselves known to the blond girl. But hearing something and dodging something, especially while in mid air were two completely different things.
So it was no surprise when a split second later dozens of cuts crisscrossed every inch of her skin.
And then in next split second she vanished in a puff of smoke, a kunai taking her place. A kunai with a note tied to the hilt.
Kakashi recognized the tag a moment too late as the tag soon exploded in a bright flash of blinding white light, stunning nearby Suna and Konoha chuunin alike. Kakashi nearly cried out as his Sharingan took nearly the full force of the blinding flash tag.
The copy ninja shielded his eyes and face, his other senses taking over for his currently disabled sight, ears twitching as he tried to drown out the sounds of the battle around him.
'There!' The copy ninja thought to himself leaping away from where he suspected the next attack to be coming from. Those tags had a special effect. Most people who got hit, panicked trying to blink the blindness away, when in reality with every additional exposure to light the blindness would only take longer to go away. However, if one waited patiently for five seconds with their eyes closed, the tags effect would dissipate naturally. Most couldn't afford two wait half a second in the ninja world. But he was the copy nin, one didn't get to where he was without raising their survival timer a little bit.
Opening his eyes before he even landed the world again came back into focus, bleary at first but soon sharp and clear. Kakashi's eyes immediately fixed themselves on the girl, a moment before another lightning Jutsu shot from her fingertips towards the copy ninja.
Kakashi's sharingan went to work, spinning rapidly. The copy ninja charged forward dodging the lightning bolts as they came, his Sharingan giving him just enough foresight to do so relatively safely.
When he had closed about half the distance between them the copy ninja again, formed the handseals for his signature technique, the Raikiri wreathing his hand with crackling power. His eyes narrowed, he needed to be sure what he saw was what he suspected.
He sidestepped more of the lightning bolts, never really slowing down and keeping a path solely fixed on her.
Akina grit her teeth, techniques like this one and Naruto's Rasengan were driving her to the brink of insanity. They held so much raw power that she really had no real way of effectively countering them.
She cut off the flow of lightning to her hands, and Kakashi saw the simmer of red chakra dance across her palms. And when his gaze returned to meet hers he knew for sure.
Only one other person had that gaze.
Still he paid it no mind, his mind focused on his task to defeat the girl.
When he was finally close enough, he knew that she would try to deflect the attack again, and so when she did he was ready, leaping over the claw and continuing, now his Raikiri aimed for her face, rather than her chest.
But then her other hand came up, palm facing him, and he saw that he would again fail.
Adjusting his flight, Kakashi, stepped on the red chakra extension of her hand, using it to leap back seconds before a second one would have taken off his head.
The copy ninja backflipped, landing lightly on his feet, his eyes never leaving the gaze of his opponent as 'that' chakra fell away from her skin, vanishing back to the void where it came from.
This was too risky. She was an unknown variable in strength, skill ability and knowledge on how to control her beast. If what she had shown so far was any indicator it was very well.
Looking to the squads still fighting against the Suna ninja he noticed that there was an Anbu captain in the suna ninja ranks. Fighting this girl and someone of his skill set wouldn't end well, even if he did call Ibiki to him. "FALL BACK!" The copy ninja yelled out his order, chakra making his voice carry itself over the chaos of the battlefield.
The Konoha chuunin did so without question or pause, some vanishing in wisps of smoke, others into the shifting sands below.
Across the battlefield there was a pause, an awkward silence that settled over the Suna ninja. It felt heavy with shock, disbelief and incredulity.
But those emotions were soon discarded, replaced by the growing sense of elation that came over the Suna combatants, an elation that was vocalized as the relatively small squad of thirty or so ninja all let out a great cheer. Their voices filled with a strange relief that seemed to carry itself into the heavens. The sun over Suna, for this moment was no longer harsh and oppressive, but warm and relieving, the sun seemed to lose its glare, allowing whomever wished to stare at the clear blue sky freely and without a care.
A few embraced one another, their hearts still racing from the battle, from the euphoria they were feeling now. They felt as though they could take on the Devil King himself and come out victorious for this brief moment.
As Daisuke watched all of this his eyes turned to the girl they owed it to. A smile spreading across his features as he walked up to her, noting her breathing heavy and the shell shocked look still spread over her face.
He stepped infront of her, bringing her attention to him. Placing a hand on her shoulder he smirked down at her. "You fought with skill. So did your opponent. I did not get a good look at him though, do you know who he was?"
Still somewhat dazed by the abrupt ending of the battle Akina responded without much thought, having recognized Kakashi from the bingo books. "Sharingan no Kakashi."
"The copy ninja!" The two heard one of the chuunin gasp. Indeed Kakashi, despite the infamy and near pandemonium the name of his Kage brought to the minds of those who it was spoken to, was infamous himself throughout the ninja nations and was still very well recognized for his skills and abilities, dwarfed as they were by men such as Naruto and Jiraiya. The chuunin quickly turned to his comrade. "Did you hear that, she scared off the copy ninja. Unbelievable."
Immediately murmurs broke throughout the chuunin assembled around her, few which Akina and Daisuke were able to make out clearly.
"Look, she doesn't even seem injured."
"To scare off Sharingan no Kakashi like that. Damn she must be good."
"-the way she just rushed right into that squad of chuunin it was amazing."
"With this girl at our side we can actually win. We may be able to beat the Devil King yet."
Akina listened to the men talk with a growing sense of dread rising from the pit of her stomach.
And from his place at her side, Daisuke felt that same feeling as well.
Naruto sat at the desk in his home, marking his signature over various papers and trade forms. The reason he was in his home was simply because, after Hinata had told Suzume what had happened with his "lack of sleep" episode, Suzume, the next morning before he had even arrived at the office, had all his paperwork transferred, here. He still couldn't understand why entirely. He was already fully rested and a mile or so walk from his home to the tower wouldn't be a detriment to his health, or very exhausting. But regardless it made little difference to him weather he went over the paper work in his office or in his study. They still needed to be signed.
He paused mid brush stroke as he sensed a presence outside his door, the ice blue eyes looking to the sliding portal before he spoke. "You may enter."
The door slid open, revealing none other than Sabaku no Temari standing at the doorway.
He stared at the Suna princess, watching as her silvery eyes met his own, her lips curled back into something akin to a snarl, seemingly conflicted with herself.
Naruto waited patiently, watching Temari as her emotions danced across her face. Emotions like anger, sorrow, and confusion were the most prevalent. But there was something else there, something hidden beneath the obvious. Concern, insecurity and something else...something he could only relate to the emotions that had been burned into his memory on the face of another woman. On Yoshino's face, whenever she had looked at him.
Meeting his eyes again she spoke, her voice steady and strong, unwavering. "Get me to talk with my brother...and I'll tell him what happened...you'll get what you want."
Naruto watched her, his silence stretching on for nearly a full minute as he scrutinized her beneath his intense gaze before he slowly nodded his head, watching as she left the room.
He couldn't trust her, he knew that. She could be telling him that just to have him drop his guard. He could see the conflict on her expression, which meant she was considering it. It also meant she may hesitate at the last second. He would need to make sure he remained in control of the situation when he brought her out to the field.
He resumed the signing of the pages on his desk.