Chapter 5 - Fleeting Reunion and Timely Arrival

As Hishin and Mizubuke started to scale the cliff with Roan and Matsu, Akai was racing threw the canopy, searching for a sign of where Kiba had led the others. It did not take long for him to locate an arrow carved into the bark of a tree, which knew must have been left by Iruka. He followed that direction for about two hundred meters and then found another one, which he then followed. After the fifth arrow, Akai ran into a massive tree in the center of a large clearing. A single kunai was stabbed into one of the trees roots, telling Akai that this was the place. He made his way over to the kunai and found that there was a cave hidden underneath the root, so he grabbed the small weapon and took it with him as he entered.

As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he found himself in a long stone tunnel and there was yet another arrow scratched into the wall. *Iruka-sensei and the others must have gone on ahead,* Akai thought to himself as he started walking briskly, careful to watch his footing, *I should be able to catch up quickly enough.*

After several minutes of this, Akai found a split in the tunnel, with one branch going off to the right and the other continuing on straight ahead. Akai looked about for another sign from Iruka but found none, and the stone floor of the tunnel yielded no footprints. For a moment, he stood there and debated which path the others might have taken or if they might have even split up. His debate was ended however by a sudden piercing scream, panicked but recognizable, which radiated from the right hand tunnel.

“Izumi!” he shouted as he recognized his missing sister’s voice, and he tore off down the branch tunnel without a second thought. “I’m coming, sis, hold on!” Using the rock-climbing jutsu to help secure his footing, Akai raced down the tunnel at full speed, unconcerned about the potential hazards or traps. At one point, he triggered a trap door in the tunnel floor, but since he was running all out was able to run right past it with little difficulty. He continued running for several more minutes, prompted to greater speed every time he heard Izumi scream in pain, before he noticed the glow of a lit room up ahead. He ran up the steep rise that led to it, noticing the sudden drop in temperature, and emerged into a large circular chamber lit by torches all around the walls. The chamber was just below the earth’s surface, apparent due to the large open skylight in the roof thirty feet above, threw which poured the light of the moon and stars outside.

As Akai ran into the room, a large stone door shut behind him and sealed itself in place, but he took no notice. He was more concerned with the circular stone table, in the center of the room directly beneath the skylight, where Izumi was lying with her hands and feet tied to the table, struggling to get free. Standing above her and holding a long black knife was a tall figure, whose robe depicted the blue clouds of the Akatsuki servants. As Izumi turned and looked at Akai where he stood in the doorway, a look of relief on her face, the Akatsuki agent plunged the knife into her stomach, causing the longest scream of pain yet. Akai reacted instinctively and was moving before he even realized it. The agent was suddenly thrown off the table and against the chamber wall by the force of Akai’s flicker kick. Akai turned and knelt next to his sister, who having stopped screaming was looking up at him, tears forming in her eyes.

“I knew you would find me, brother,” she said weakly, and Akai could see that her strength was fading fast. Akai leaned over and hugged his older sister with tears in his own eyes.

“Don’t leave me, Izumi,” he said to her, “not now!”

“I never will, little brother,” she said finally, and Akai watched as the last of her strength gave way and her eyes closed as she stopped breathing. Akai was too stunned to do anything but look at her face, tears flowing unchecked now. His sister was dead.

“Oh, come on,” said a voice behind him, “you’re gonna get this emotional over some worthless girl?” The Akatsuki had stood from his ‘meeting’ with the wall and was now taunting Akai, and as Akai stood and turned to face him, he recognized the red lotus on the shoulder of Akai’s jacket. “Oh,” he added in amusement, “you must be the brother that she kept yammering on about, the brother that would come and save her.” He glanced at Izumi’s lifeless form on the table. “A bit late, don’t you think?”

“Shut up!” Akai shouted at the agent, the tears gone from his now focused eyes and his hands balling into fists, “if you say one more thing about her, I swear I’ll…”

“You’ll what?” the agent snapped back with a laugh, “hit me with that blunt stick on your back?” He laughed again before another look of recognition crossed his face. “Hey, you wouldn’t happen to be related to those two runts, too? They kept talking about a ninja cousin with a bokuto coming to make me pay, until I sealed those two demons inside of them. They weren’t talking about you, were they?”

“Leave them out of this!” replied Akai, glaring at the robed ninja, “Don’t say another word about my family!”

“So it was you,” the Akatsuki replied with a chuckle before looking Akai in the face, “well you better run along now. If your family was expecting you to be able to do anything, they were even more stupid than I thought.” That had done it. Akai grabbed and unsheathed his bokuto and flickered toward his opponent.

The robed agent blocked the attack by simply raising his arm, since he had a metal tonfa grasped in his hand that absorbed the impact. He looked Akai in the face with out a single hint of amusement.

“I thought I made it clear that you can’t do anything to me, especially with this blunt stick,” he said, glancing down at Akai’s battered weapon.

“And I’m making it clear right now that I will never let you see the light of day again for everything you have said about my family,” Akai replied, his eyes more intense than ever.

“Well if that is your intent, as a jonin, I will show you first hand how that is done,” said the agent as his free left hand started to move at blinding speed, “Earth Style: Strong-arm Jutsu!” Even as his fist became covered in rock, he planted it in Akai’s stomach, winding him and launching him threw the air. He barely managed to hang on to his bokuto as he smashed into the wall.

*Damn,* Akai thought to himself, dazed by the impact, *this isn’t good. If only Iruka-sensei and the others were here.* He glanced toward the tunnel he had arrived from only to see the stone door that had sealed itself in place. *I guess it’s just me then, time to step it up.* He dropped to his knees and set his bokuto down in front of him as the Akatsuki started slowly walking towards him, playing with him.

“Surrendering?” the agent asked with a chuckle, “what happened to never letting me see the light of day again?” He laughed again as he continued to walk towards Akai, stopping only when he was standing right in front of him. “This is too easy,” he said as he removed another long black knife from a sheath on his belt and raised it over his head, ready to plunge into Akai’s bowed head, “you are even more worthless than your sister. Time to die.” He brought the knife down towards Akai’s skull just as Akai moved his hands to his own stomach, spreading his fingers to form a circle with eight points.

“Eight Trigrams Suppression Seal: Release!” The sudden surge of chakra in Akai’s system caused a massive pulse of energy to radiate out from him, forcing the Akatsuki agent backwards several feet, but Akai wasn’t finished yet. He reached forward and grabbed his bokuto as he leapt to his feet. “Shadow Clone Jutsu, Delta Formation! He and two shadow clones moved in on his still dazed opponent and each simultaneously landed a chakra enhanced blow to the agent’s chest, sending him sprawling to the ground twenty feet away.

“So you have a few good tricks,” said a voice behind Akai, causing him to turn. Something solid smashed into his forehead and sent him flying backwards. “But you’ll have to do better than that to beat me.”

Akai rolled to his feet, his bokuto in hand. If he hadn’t been wearing his hitae-ate, which had taken the brunt of the attack, he would likely have been killed. He glanced at where the agent’s body had landed, only to see a mere rock lying there. His actual opponent was standing several feet away, having just smashed him in the temple with the metal tonfa. *A substitution jutsu?* Akai was too dazed to realize that the agent’s hands were already moving again.

“Paralysis Jutsu!” the Akatsuki cried, and Akai realized to late that he was the jutsu’s target. He tried to move his arms and legs but it had no effect, his body wouldn’t move. “Now you are mine!” cried the Akatsuki agent, eyes filled with anger, “no one tries to pull a fast one on me!” Then he took the black knife and threw at Akai’s heart.

*I’m sorry, everyone, I’ve failed,* was the only thought that passed through Akai’s mind as he closed his eyes, not wanting to watch the knife sail towards him.
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A piercing whistle suddenly caused Akai to open his eyes again, just in time to see the long knife be knocked to the ground by a massive shuriken. The Akatsuki agent, as stunned as Akai, turned to see where the shuriken had come from, but he could see nothing through the shadows in the cavern. Another whistle sounded from behind him, but all he saw when he turned around was another shuriken coming right at him, which he dodged easily enough.

“Enough games,” the agent shouted into the shadows, clearly unnerved by the elusive enemy, “stop hiding and face me!” All he got in response was yet another whistle from behind and a third shuriken, which came considerably closer to its mark this time but was still evaded. A fourth came flying from his right, accompanied by another whistle, and Akai could see that the jonin was getting jumpy. He obviously wasn’t used to enemies being able to hide from him.

Suddenly a similar, but different, sound emanated from the skylight above, and both the agent and Akai looked up to see a bird of some kind diving into the cavern and heading directly for the robed jonin, apparently on a collision course. The bird veered away as it entered the cave, but it didn’t quit the attack. The Akatsuki saw a flash of light from the bird’s talons and side stepped just before a kunai landed where he had been standing.

“Some silly parlor trick?” he shouted into the shadows, “distract me then try to hit me from above?” He was angry now, but Akai noticed a hint of fear in his voice as well. Akai tried to move again but his body still didn’t respond, and the jonin continued his rant at the seemingly empty chamber. “You will have to do better than…” He stopped as he noticed the slight hissing sound coming from near his feet. The kunai was attached to a lit paper bomb! The jonin leapt away a mere moment before it exploded, saving himself from the blast.

Akai, still struggling to make his body move, felt a suddenly blast of wind blow past his right side, which caused him to stop entirely. He watched as the blast of wind collided with the still airborne agent and sent him flying into the wall. The next thing he knew, he felt something tap him on the right shoulder and his muscles instantly relaxed. He could move again.

“I thought you might need some help,” said a voice behind Akai, causing him to turn around. Standing before him was Taka, a smug smile on her face. The kunoichi held an open fan in her right hand another of the large shuriken in her left. “So, here I am.”

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