Chapter 46
Miles and miles away from the shores of the lake where the Sanbi sat resting, a shadowy figure of Konan emerged from the shadows and stood behind her leader.
"It is him again," she whispered, as Pain's eyes narrowed in frustration.
"He is becoming quite a nuisance," and this was not the first time he had interrupted one of their missions.
"Kiri has also joined their alliance. At this rate, this mission will end only in another failure," and to think that they were being pushed back by a singular shinobi.
"Perhaps it is time I show them how futile their resistance truly is...."
HIKARI HYUGA
Hikari had finished his mission at the border rather quickly. Weakened as it had been, Konoha was still the largest of the Five Hidden Villages, and Iwa and Kumo had their own slew of problems to contend with.
A few decisive victories were all that they had needed to remind the two villages of the established hierarchy and emphasise that they may have lost their Hokage. But there were men and women ready to take up arms even without the shadow of the Sandaime Hokage watching over them all.
After his rather successful and emphatic stint against Kumo's forces, he was given a new mission, one that few shinobi had even dared to touch, for accepting the mission meant taking on perhaps the most powerful group of rogue S-ranked nin ever assembled.
It was a death sentence that few shinobi would ever dare to take on themselves, and yet Hikari was not amongst those few shinobi.
He was happy to mess up with the Akatsuki, and so his new crusade against the Akatsuki began. His mission was two-fold, as he tried to slow down the criminal organization while obtaining as much intel on them as possible.
It was the perfect cover for him as well, for the mission allowed him to pass on what he already knew about each member to the village without raising suspicion at all. He was skilled enough to escape any encounter with said organization, and so over the last year and a half, he had a total of over seven encounters with the said organization.
And he was perhaps the only shinobi alive who had downed two of the said organization's henchmen, while escaping their clutches over half a dozen times.
"Why do you always have to stab me first?" Tobi, the masked member who had become a rather prominent fixture in his last two encounters, complained as Hikari twisted his sword, though he knew that it would not change anything at all.
"Because I don't like you," and the masked nin had the audacity to clutch his chest, as he laughed away.
"Now, you are just breaking my heart," but by then Hidan and Kakuzu had moved as the zealot's scythe rushed towards him, inches from cutting him up, while Kakuzu's fist pushed through the ground as it made to pin him to his place.
"Hiken!" But a burst of fire from his soles was enough to push him back as Hikari rolled in the air and landed on his foot, as the scythe and the fist both hit nothing but air.
"Hidan, and Kakuzu," Hikari smiled as he saw his opponent, and it was their third encounter, and they had just met a few months ago at the Fire Temple, where they had tried to slay the rather famous Monk Chiryuu, until he had come to push them back.
"I won't forgive you for interfering in my ritual last time. You will pay for shaming me in front of Lord Jashin," and Hikari chuckled as he remembered their last encounter.
"How did you like the goat blood that I served you last time?" Hidan gritted his teeth as he was reminded of his humiliation from the last time.
"I will have fun skinning you," he said as he licked his scythe, while Kakuzu's green eyes narrowed.
"You have cost me six lives until now," and the masked nin was perhaps one of the oldest shinobi alive. He had a bag of tricks to save himself, but by now he had seen them all.
"Six? I should have done better," and then he tapped the seal on his arm, as another sword puffed out for him.
"But no worries, this time I will surely get all five," and he was not alone, but he could not face them with the threat of the Sanbi at his back.
"All of you should go and make sure that the Sanbi remains asleep," he ordered, as the Mizukage raised a brow.
"You intend to deal with them all by yourself?" she asked, and Hikari nodded.
"As long as you can keep the Sanbi out of it, I am confident enough in handling these two," and that was quite a statement, but she had no place to object.
"Don't die, young Hikari. I would hate to bury a young boy with such a beautiful face," and Ino, beside her, flushed at that, as she raged at her.
"He is engaged," and that made the orange-haired woman raise a brow.
"Is that so?" she said, giving him a testing look.
"Well, that makes you even more interesting," and with that, she jumped away, as Ino followed suit, for without her, they wouldn't be able to track the Sanbi at all, as he gripped his sword tightly and prepared himself for the fight of a lifetime.
"So, you think you can take on both of us all by yourself?" Kakuzu challenged, as he removed his cloak, showcasing his body with all its stitches and scars.
"You think too highly of yourself," and with that, four shadowy creatures pushed out of his chest one by one, as they came to stand beside him, as threads began to ooze out of his orifices.
"I will crush you," Hidan rushed forward, and Hikari gathered chakra in his feet as he prepared himself for a life-or-death fight.
"Ninpo:..." he whispered, as the ground beneath his feet grew hotter and hotter.
"We will see about that," and with that, he pushed forward, as he let the chakra out in a single powerful burst which propelled him forward at a near inhuman speed.
"Hiken...." and this technique was the work of over two years of constant effort, and with the Byakugan allowing him the most precise control over his chakra, Hikari was able to use compressed fire and wind-natured chakra to amplify his movement speed to an inhuman level.
And even before Hidan could begin to swing his scythe, his arm was cut. Yet, thes bastard was not one to give up as he tried to bite him with his head, but the Byakugan allowed him to see everything, and so just as he was about to bite him, Hikari spun in the air and pushed the bastard's face into the ground.
"GAHHHHHH!" and Hidan screamed, as his body was pushed into the ground, yet in that moment, Kakuzu had prepared an attack of his own, as two of his masked creatures opened their mouths at once.
"Katon: Zukkoku!"
"Futon: Atsugai!"
BOOOOOM! BOOOOM! BOOOM!
And the combined might of their attack blew everything apart, and Hikari managed to jump back just in time to avoid the attack, as screams and shouts began to come out of the dust cloud.
"AGHHHA! AHHHHA! You attacked me as well, you bastard," Hidan complained, and he could see his arm being sewn back as the bastards stepped out of the dust cloud.
"Shut up! If you are not going to die, then at least serve a purpose," Kakuzu countered, as Hidan refused to back down.
"It still hurts you, bastard," and Kakuzu simply scoffed as his eyes landed on him once more.
"You survived that," and Hikari simply shrugged.
"You and I both know that such part tricks are not enough to defeat me," and he snarled as Hidan's arm was fully attached again.
"You will pay for this," he said, angry as he took a deep breath.
"You are not going to make it easy, are you?" he whispered. He had hoped to do this without relying on it, and so with a simple thought, his seal began to turn. Nature chakra began to rush out of the now modified Orochimaru's free Cursed Seal, and he felt his body shift as wings sprouted out of his back, his teeth grew longer, and his tongue grew thinner.
"What the hell is that? He looks like a snake?" Hidan complained, but Kakuzu was able to realise what it was.
"It cannot be," he gasped, backing away in fear, yet it was all too late now.
"I guesss, it iss time you ssee how I killed Deidara and Ssasori...."
"A Sage...."
"HIKEN!"
00000
DARUI
Miles and miles away from the shores in Wave, Darui walked behind his Raikage as they traversed through a long, long row of bodies littered all over the ground, as they scoured through Yugito's layer for any sign of life.
He could feel the Raikage's rage through the air as Lord Dodai stepped out of the shadows, and shook his head.
"She is gone, Ay-sama," and he was perhaps the only one who could call him as such.
BOOOOM!
And the wall was the first victim of his rage, as the lightning cloak thundered itself into existence as the Lord Raikage raged at the men.
"How could we let this happen?" he questioned, and this was perhaps Kumo's greatest failure in two years, for they all knew about the attack beforehand. Intelligence had been shared with them by one of their most bitter enemies about this attack, and yet, despite their preparations, they had just lost one of their jinchurikis.
"We do not know, my lord," Lord Dodai answered, embarassed by the failure.
"Get the platoons ready, and have a search party scour through all of the mountains. If those bastards are still within our lands, then I want them found at once. I will tolerate no failure!" Raikage-sama raged, as they all straightened at his command.
"As you wish Ay-sama..."
And so the men rushed out, and all of Kumo was scoured, yet they found no trace of Yugito or her captors. They searched for days, yet in the end, they had no choice but to accept the fact that they had lost her.
That the Akatsuki had struck them and taken the Nibi's jinchuriki just as they had been warned.
"Yugito was quite strong. It would take an extremely powerful foe to capture her," and Darui was the one to cut in.
"The Akatsuki are a collection of S-ranked criminals," so it was not like they were lacking in strength.
"What else do we know about them?" the Raikage-sama questioned, and around a year ago, a letter had come from Konoha, containing information about the said group along with an offer of alliance for dealing with the said group.
Yet in the end, they had denied the offer, thinking it to be a ploy. More than that, Kumo had no need of allies. They were strong enough to protect their own assets, or at least that was what they had thought.
"They are based in Ame. We know the names of its members," Lord Dodai read out of the file that had come with Konoha's message.
"We also know that this is not the first time they have struck," and it was Samui-sama who joined in, as Lord Raikage sat there with his hands folded infront of him.
"They razed Taki to the ground, and did capture one of Iwa's jinchuriki," and before that, they had captured Suna's ichibi, and now Kumo had failed as well.
Now, only Kiri and Konoha still had their bijuu safe, though Kiri now shared Konoha's protection.
"We also know that two of its members are dead," and that had come as a shock to everyone.
"Hikari Hyuga was the one to slay them along with the current Kazekage," and so the choice was theirs on how they were going to deal with this.
"We still have the Hachibi," Lord Dodai added.
"They will strike again,"
"Not if we strike at them first..."
.
.
.
Besides the lake, Tobi found himself far away from the battle as he faced an orange haired shinobi.
"Are you sure about this?" he questioned, and the orange haired shinobi simply flew past him.
"I am...."
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