II

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Arc II Chapter 3

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In the middle of the room, stood her captured mother. Her empty eyes stared into the horizon without emotion.

Akihiro smiled with a certain sense of satisfaction. Genjutsu. Contrary to popular belief, genjutsu had indeed some use, albeit only from time to time.

Asami carelessly dropped her kunai. Cheerful, she rushed toward her mother, prepared to hug her with her open arms.

"Okaa-san! Okaa-san!" The ignorant girl beamed, but all her hopes were crushed with merciless brutality. Asami froze. Her entire body turned to ice.

A single strike, a single well placed strike from Hagane ended everything. His sword that was the product of Kumo's famous swordsmithing, easily recognizable due to its grain pattern.

Hagane's blade skewered her heart, taking her life. Her mother's plummeted like a lifeless puppet whose strings were cut. Her life had ended.

Her dead mother lied before Asami who couldn't comprehend what happened.

Asami clenched her fists. Inside her heart, she felt confusion, pain, sadness, and undiluted hatred. Okaa-san died. They took her, stole her, killed her.

Her dearest wish was to burn them alive. Asami's heart desired revenge, retribution, justice. She demanded justice. She demanded blood.

Akihiro commented, "Hagane, Ibuki, let's grab her and get out of here. We have already wasted enough time ..."

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Four consecutive explosions shook the room. The blast forced everyone to take cover, except for Akihiro. Years of experience, good instincts, and luck saved him. Akihiro threw himself onto the ground, thus avoiding being blown apart.

Akihiro forgot about her kunai and paid the price. She dropped them deliberately. They were a trap. Asami triggered the explosive tags remotely, nearly killing him.

Akihiro coughed. He didn't like what he saw, he didn't like it absolutely.

The initial could of dust settled. A hailstorm of murderous kunai welcomed an unprepared Akihiro. They were fast.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight kunai, and more. Kunai saturated the air and every kunai had a little present attached to them, a lovely explosive tag.

Akihiro's eyes went wide. Shit! There was no escape. This was meant to be his end.

Akihiro didn't have much time. He had to act fast. Driven by adrenaline, he chose the most sensible choice, running and hoping to not get toasted. Powered by the forces of desperation, Akihiro ran for his life. He took cover behind the first sturdy stone wall he reached.

Against all expectations, he survived. Akihiro survived the following series of detonations. He survived the inferno of fireballs and shrapnel like wooden splinters that filled the air.

Her assault subsided. No more kunai, no more tags. It only cost him a few burns, a few cuts, and his right leg that got pierced by a sharp piece of metal.

But Akihiro was still alive, and that was what mattered.

The remaining dust cleared and Akihiro peeked around the corner, He spotted his team mates. Ibuki and Hagane got lucky. They didn't suffer any major injuries.

In the middle of the room, stood the girl, her predatory eyes fixed on them. They wouldn't escape. The girl wasn't the same as before. Her aura had changed.

All happiness, joy, and hope vanished from her being. Maddened by her bloodlust and her desire for revenge, an ominous shade of red darkened her eyes.

Powered by raw emotions, powered by hatred, the girl's chakra oscillated. Her chakra was cold, uncaring, corrosive, powerful. It thirsted for blood, their blood.

Akihiro's hands trembled. Fear gripped him. Who was this girl? What was she?

Asami drew her sword. She pointed her polished blade in their direction. "I thought we could solve this situation peacefully, but I was wrong."

Her murderous stare bored into their souls. Her voice promised inevitable death, destruction, and pain. "You killed okaa-san right before my eyes.“

“I ask you why, why did you kill her? Why did she need to die?"

Asami closed the distance in an instant. She ran her sword through a stunned Ibuki, but Hagane intervened just in time. He deflected her attack

Hagane blocked the thrust and Asami disengaged immediately, retreating. She didn't waste any time and attacked again, and again, and again, and again, and again.

Swords clashed. Hagane parried her blows, but they got heavier and heavier. Hagane was losing ground.

Asami discarded all finesse and resorted to brute to crack his defence. The girl and her sword hit like a sledgehammer.

Hagane groaned under the weight of her blows. He needed help, and he needed it soon. "Ibuki, Akihiro, get your asses moving. Do you want me to die here, or what?"

Hagane freed them both from their stupor. They joined the fight and together they forced Asami back.

They kept an eye on her. They had underestimated the girl before. They wouldn't make the same error twice.

“Hagane, Akihiro, we should retreat immediately", Ibuki advised. "Our target is far stronger than expected. High chunin level upward."

"We are probably already compromised. With every second passing, our chances of escaping are falling …"

"Do you really think I would let you escape that easily?" Asami tilted her head.

"You won't escape my wrath! None of you will!" Asami charged them without hesitation, without mercy. Again, again, again, and again both sides clashed. Fierce fighting erupted.

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"High chunin level my ass. She gets faster, stronger and more dangerous with every minute." Akihiro was tired, mentally, and physically exhausted. At this rate, he would collapse soon.

"I said high chunin upward, you idiot, upward!" Ibuki panted while staring at the girl. Her sword had tasted blood, and it craved for more.

Her eyes had fully transformed. Two black tomoe surrounded by a luminescent red with a touch of glowing purple greeted them. They fought an Uchiha, and they got beaten up badly.

The girl terrified them. She didn't show any weakness, no sign of faltering, no sign of fatigue, no sign of exhaustion. She was right, there was no escape. This was their end.

The situation was beyond salvation. Everyone knew that. The still lived only because of sheer luck and Hagane. He was a veteran ANBU, and he kept them all alive.

Hagane took the brunt of her assaults. He blocked, parried, counterattacked. If he fell, they would follow soon. They stood together and fell together.

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Akihiro, Ibuki, and Hagane mobilised all of their remaining forces. Wounded, tired, battered, low on chakra, they faced her.

Asami formed a seal and the next round began. Her lungs produced a giant wall of purple flames, a sea of blazing heat and destruction.

Akihiro countered her flames with suiton, but her fire drained his chakra reserves at an alarming speed. Her katon was powerful, extremely powerful. A purple incarnation of unrelenting primordial fire.

Elemental weakness my ass, his suiton was useless against her fucking katon.

Her flames evaporated his suiton, covering the entire area in a thick mist of steam.

Akihiro gripped HIS kunai and prepared himself. They knew she was about to attack.

He scanned his surroundings. The girl was close, hiding within the steam.

And as expected, Asami attacked, using the steam as an improvised smoke screen.

Akahiro located her. He threw his kunai, but her damned unbreakable shield stepped in once again. Akihiro really hated the thing. A spherical barrier of purple chakra protected her, blocking his attack.

The girl was fast, extremely fast. Always on the move, always changing position, never stationary. She dictated the pace. She toyed with them.

But not this time. This time, they took the initiative and charged. They met her head on. The girl flashed an evil grin. Akihiro realised, they were fucked, but it was already too late.

Electrical sparks danced through the air, announcing their demise. A stream of glowing plasma traversed the ionized air. A bolt of purple lightning struck the ground with all its might.

The lightning killed Hagane and Ibuki. Their scorched bodies were hurled across the room by the impact.

Akihiro got lucky. He survived the lightning strike, suffering third degree burns everywhere.

Accompanied by a sense of melancholy, Akihiro lied on the ground. Never ending rain poured down on him and his fallen comrades. It still rained.

Hagane's and Ibuki's deaths triggered their self destruction seals. The seals decomposed their corpses, turning them to ash. All tangible evidence would be destroyed. They would take their secrets with them.

Asami picked up Hagane's bloodied blade and looked around. What she saw was rain, death, destruction, and fire. Her home was reduced to a pile of rubble Nothing remained but a lifeless ruin.

Her luminescent red eyes fell on Akihiro. "Can you tell me why have you done this? Why have you killed her? Why have you stolen okaa-san from me?"

Akihiro asked Akihiro and Akihiro decided to answer. These were his last moments anyway.

Akihiro offered a weak smile. "I don't think you want to know the answer. The truth can be terrible.“

“Never ask for the why. Trust me, you will only be disappointed."

His answer didn't satisfy Asami. His words displeased her. "Indeed, the truth can be terrible. But this time, things are different, my friend.“

“I lost more than mere words could ever hope to replace. I will never get her back. So much was lost in a single night. I feel a pain that never will be cured, never healed.“

“From now on, I will an eternal infinite pain deep down within my heart until the end of days. So why shouldn't I ask why?“

“I assure you, the day I will find out who is responsible for all this …"

Asami whispered in his ears," That day I will serve justice. I will make them pay the price. They will know despair, and they will know pain deeper than the darkest abyss."

Akihiro's eyes widened in horror. He was left speechless. What had they done?

Asami brought her sword down, ending Akihiro's life. He deserved nothing but death.

With her chakra depleted, her limbs grew heavy from exhaustion.

Asami found Kurano lying among the rubble. Her body remained unscathed, spared by all the fighting. As if okaa-san was just sleeping. She even smiled.

Tears fell down her eyes, tears of indescribable grief.

She had given everything, everything wasn't enough. In the end, she had failed to protect okaa-san.

Asami collapsed. She hugged Kurano's dead body. Even unconscious, Asami hugged the person she loved with her heart. She hugged okaa-san.

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