Chapter 7 - Reinforcements: Reunion and Rebirth?

After the dust had settled and the Akatsuki agent had collapsed, Akai and Taka each relaxed. Akai’s shadow clones burst into smoke and Taka’s earth clones, some of which were still hidden in the shadows, turned into rubble and fell to pieces. Silence again filled the chamber as the two shinobi turned towards each other and smiled. The two of them had just bested a jonin. The joy was short lived however, when Akai looked back at the stone table where Izumi was still lying. Not having an enemy to deal with, the fact that his sister was gone was starting to finally hit him, and he started walking over to her.

“Don’t turn your back on me, you demon!” Akai turned around once again to see the Akatsuki agent staggering to his feet, clutching his side with his right arm. The other arm hung limp at his side, apparently broken. “You haven’t beaten me yet!” he added as a withdrew a kunai from somewhere in his robes. He leaned forward as if to charge, and Akai had his bokuto up instantly.

Before the jonin could move an inch, however, a tall young shinobi in a green jumpsuit appeared next to him and grabbed his arm, twisting it back and threatening to break it until the kunai fell to the ground. Akai and Taka watched as Lee then gave the jonin a quick strike on the neck, which caused his eyes to roll into the back of his head and he fell over, unconscious. Lee caught him before he hit the ground, and laid him down gently as Temari, Iruka, and Kiba leapt down through the skylight. They were then followed by three others: Kakashi, Sakura, and Naruto.

“Ah,” said Kakashi calmly as he laid eyes on the unconscious ninja at Lee’s feet, “at least we have one prisoner to interrogate.” He then looked at Akai and Taka and noticed the confused looks on their faces. He smiled as he said, “Oh, my apologies. Lady Hokage was going to send some members of the Neju Shotai, but she ran into us first and we volunteered. We heard some unusually whistling and shouting coming from down here so we decided to investigate.”

“Are there any other Akatsuki down here?” Sakura asked the two ninja, to which they both shook their heads. Sakura nodded and continued to look around. It was only a few seconds before she noticed the stone table where Izumi was. “Casualty?” she asked before turning back to Akai and seeing him lower his face before nodding.

“No,” said Iruka softly once he walked over to the table and recognized the person on it. He looked over at his student. “I’m very sorry, Akai.” Once all of the others realized what had happened, there was an uneasy silence in the chamber.

“Damn it, if only Grandma Tsunade had found us sooner,” blurted Naruto as he kicked a rock on the floor, “we could have been here.”

“Drop it, Naruto,” said Sakura, glaring at her teammate.

“Don’t worry about it, guys,” said Akai, looking up with an obviously forced smile on his face. The others all fell silent once again, as Akai turned to Iruka. “What happened to all of you after we got split up?”

“We found a prison chamber,” Iruka told him, “but only three of your clansmen were there. Apparently the others were taken when the Akatsuki fled.”

“Who did you find?” asked Akai when he remembered that Izumi had not been the Akatsuki’s only captive.

“They gave their names as Meikou, Kawaii, and Han,” replied Temari, and Akai’s heart sank, “do you know them?” It took Akai a moment to respond.

“Meikou and Kawaii are my uncle and aunt, Roan and Matsu’s parents,” he said slowly, “and Han was their little sister.” Temari, Iruka, Kiba and Lee all fell silent.

“Roan and Matsu, were they the two that were being carried back to the village by Hishin and Mizubuke?” asked Kakashi. Though surprised that the jonin knew the wolves’ names, Akai nodded.

“Are they all okay?” asked Akai after a moment.

“They are all fine, Akai,” Lee responded, “they are all waiting up there with Hinata.” He motioned toward the skylight as he said this.

“Hinata is here, too?” asked Akai.

“Yeah,” replied Naruto, “she was with Grandma Tsunade when she found us, so she came along as well.” After this was said, there seemed to be nothing else left to say, so the chamber fell silent again. Akai looked at Izumi again and shuddered. Taka came up behind him and laid a hand on his shoulder.

“Well, time to get moving,” said Kakashi suddenly, before disappearing and reappearing next to Izumi, “I’ll take her.” He reached down and picked up Izumi’s limp form, at which point Akai had to turn his face.

“Let’s go, Akai,” Taka said to him a moment later, and the two followed the other shinobi up out of the cavern through the skylight and through the forest to the valley wall. Hinata and the three rescues were waiting for them on top of the cliff. Hinata was standing lookout with her byakugan. When everyone was gathered, Meikou, Kawaii, and Han all rushed over and hugged Akai, while Kakashi carried Izumi over to where Hinata stood.

“One casualty,” he told her, to which Hinata gave a bewildered look. She then looked more closely at Izumi and then nodded, as if confirming something in her mind.

“Umm, Kakashi-sensei,” she said slowly and quietly so that only the grey haired jonin could hear, “she’s not dead.” This prompted a skeptical look to appear in Kakashi’s single visible eye.

“What do you mean, Hinata?” he asked her, “I don’t feel her heartbeat.”

“But I can see her chakra still flowing,” Hinata replied persistently, catching the attention of the entire group and causing everyone to fall silent.

“That’s not possible, Hinata,” replied Kakashi with a smile, “I know you knew her and want her to still be alive, but I’m telling you she isn’t.”

“Actually, Kakashi-sensei,” interrupted Sakura, “some medical jutsu place the target in a deathlike state to accelerate the healing process by focusing all of the body’s on healing, so it could be possible that she’s alive without an apparent heartbeat.”

“I’m pretty sure she’s actually dead, Sakura,” he said before holding Izumi’s lifeless body out for her to examine, “but you can check her if you like.” Sakura walked over to take a closer look at Izumi. Then she looked more closely at the knife that was still in her stomach.

“Well, usually those jutsu are ended by removing senbon that were placed in the target’s body at the start of the jutsu, so…” She grabbed the handle of the knife and slowly started to pull it out. A look of shock suddenly crossed Kakashi’s face.

“Stop that, right now!”

“What, I’m only trying to…” Sakura stopped when she realized that Kakashi was not looking at her. He had locked eyes with Akai instead.

“Come here and tell me what you think, Akai,” he said, catching everyone by surprise. Akai hurried over to him. “Check her pulse.” Akai placed his index finger on the vein in Izumi’s neck, and a moment later, his eyes widened in shock. Seeing this reaction, Kakashi turned to address Lee.

“Lee, I am giving you permission to open up to the third gate,” he said. Lee eyes went wide with surprise.

“W-W-Why, Kakashi-Sensei?” he stuttered.

“Because that’s the only way we can get Izumi here to Lady Tsunade in time,” he said calmly. Everyone present was confused.

“What do you mean, Kakashi?” asked Iruka. It was Taka, with her chakra enhanced eyes gazing right at the vein Akai had just touched, that answered his question.

“She has a heartbeat.”

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