Suigetsu and Haku moved silently through the trees, their eyes locked on the battlefield ahead. They tailed Han, the Five-Tails Jinchuriki, all the way from Rock Village after he went out to look for Roshi under the Tsuchikage's orders. Now he stood his ground against two figures wearing the infamous black cloaks with red clouds.
They expected this to happen. The disappearance of a Jinchuriki was no ordinary matter, and their suspicions were correct—it was Akatsuki.
Suigetsu's grip tightened around his sword. "Damn it… I know that guy." His voice was low but filled with frustration. "That's Kisame Hoshigaki."
Haku's sharp eyes focused on the other enemy. He had never seen him in person, but Shika had warned them about him. "That means the other one should be… Itachi Uchiha." Haku frowned. He remembered all the Akatsuki pairings like Shika had told them. If Suigetsu was right, then their chances of winning weren't looking very good.
They watched as Han charged forward, his immense strength shaking the ground beneath him. Steam rose from his body, a clear sign that he was tapping into the power of the Five-Tails. Kisame met his attack head-on, his massive sword, Samehada, absorbing the chakra as Han swung at him.
Both pondered whether they should intervene, but they weren't confident about taking on these two figures. According to Shika, these two were the strongest after the leader of Akatsuki and another hidden member of the organization.
It wasn't even that both were fighting Han together—he was being completely handled by Kisame alone, while Itachi stayed back and just observed the fight.
Suigetsu gritted his teeth. "Let's be honest here, even if we join the fight, we stand no chance against someone like Kisame Senpai and Itachi Uchiha."
Haku nodded. "Hate to say it, but we might have to call for help once again." Haku spoke with remorse in his tone. Last time, too, they had to call for Shika's help to fight the likes of Deidara and Sasori. Only their team had done that—no other.
Suigetsu groaned, already knowing what Haku was thinking. "You want to call Shika, don't you?" He didn't like it. They had already called Shika for help once; he didn't want to lose face against other teams like this.
"We don't have a choice," Haku replied. "If Han falls, the Akatsuki will capture another under our watch. What will you tell Shika then?"
Suigetsu clicked his tongue in annoyance but quickly took out a small communication seal that Shika had given them. Pressing his fingers together, he activated it.
"Now what?" Suigetsu asked with a hint of distaste. He didn't like it. He understood the need, but that didn't mean he had to like it.
"Now we wait and see. If Han starts losing, then we act." Haku said, turning his attention back to the fight.
—-
By the time Shika arrived at the scene—almost instantly with his portal—things weren't looking good. The emergency signal from Suigetsu and Haku was urgent, but he swore that if this was anything like before, where he caught them eating dango in a motel, he was going to lose it. Unfortunately, his luck wasn't that great, and now that he was here, he saw why. The battle was already over, and it wasn't looking good.
Suigetsu was on one knee, breathing heavily, his sword stabbed into the ground for support. Haku stood beside him, his clothes torn, blood dripping from a cut on his forehead. Han, the Five-Tails Jinchuriki, was captured. Steam rose from his body, but even with his immense strength, he was completely exhausted and most likely under Itachi's Genjutsu.
Then, Shika's eyes landed on the enemy.
His luck was indeed terrible.
Itachi stood with his Sharingan spinning, while beside him, Kisame grinned, Samehada resting on his shoulder, its scales twitching as if eager for more chakra.
'I knew it was going to be them if it were Akatsuki, but why…?' Shika let out an indignant sigh, cursing under his breath. If it were anyone else, he might have had more options, but against these two, things were dangerous.
If he wished to keep his identity hidden, then he couldn't risk using his Nara Clan techniques or some of his Shikigami, which Itachi and Kisame had already faced before. Itachi and Kisame had seen him fight before—if he used the same abilities, they might recognize him. Did he even have the luxury to hide his identity and hold back when Han had already fallen into their hands?
He had to be smart about this.
With a quick movement, he dashed forward, grabbing Suigetsu by the arm and pulling him back.
"Shik…" Suigetsu almost called his name before Shika landed a heavy blow to his stomach.
"Ice, take care of…" Shika used Haku's code name to indirectly say 'don't use his real name' and was about to ask Haku to handle Suigetsu but forgot his code. Only Suigetsu and Karin chose code names that had nothing to do with their powers or personalities.
"Sword... take care of Sword." Cursing under his breath again, he came up with another name for Suigetsu on the spot before tossing Suigetsu to Haku.
"Another one. Did Sasori, Deidara, Hidan, and Kakuzu really lose to them? They are weak." Kisame spat.
"We got the Jinchuriki. Let's go." Itachi didn't want to stay any longer. Using Tsukuyomi on Han was exhausting.
At first, both Kisame and Itachi thought these were the people responsible for Akatsuki losing its manpower recently, but after seeing their performance, he didn't believe it.
"Come on, Itachi. I'm sure the leader will give us some bonus if we bring these three to him. He's been awfully agitated recently anyway." Kisame grinned and started walking toward Shika and the others, ready to end this fight and bring all four of them back to Akatsuki's base. Though, maybe just one of those masked men would suffice.
Shika, on the other hand, just observed both Akatsuki members while coming up with a doable battle plan.
However, fighting with a handicap—like not using some of his techniques to hide his identity—was borderline impossible. He could reveal his identity, but that could result in Konoha learning about him, especially people from Konoha, which he didn't want to happen.
More importantly, leaving a trace of which village he came from would lead White Zetsu to him. He didn't think Zetsu couldn't get his hands on his mission records. Finding every place he visited during his missions wouldn't be out of the question.
"Tch, whose face did I see this morning?"
xxx
Here is the goal for this Week.
1000+ Stones for the bonus chapter on Sunday or Monday bonus chapter
"Thank you Very Much for All Your Support"
If you want to read up to 20+ Chapters in advance, check my Patre on
Patreon.com/Kamidemond