Complete Mayhem (11)

When Sasori saw Akashi raising his finger at him, he was confused. 

'A genjutsu of some sort?'

He thought, for a ninjutsu like this to exist... one that goes out of a finger without a hand seal... was simply unreal to him. Never did a ninjutsu like this cross his mind.

'A fire release?'

By the time Sasori registered what happened, there already was a leak on his chest, on a device that served as something akin to a heart on his puppet-like body.

'...No. Something like this... it's far too refined to be a fire release technique...'

But what was the point? Sasori felt his body falling to the side. 

'Damn... it...'

He didn't even get to give his 100%. There were numerous puppets at his arsenal, one that he didn't get to use in this combat. 

The enemy in front of him, Akashi, truly was a devious foe. Sasori came across numerous ninjas, but he's never come across one as cold and rational as Akashi in a battle.

Sasori's body fell with a creaking sound. He weakly raised his arm and took out numerous scrolls from a pocket space of his puppet body. All of them but one fell out of his weak hand.

His body was slowing down. Shakily, he unsealed the lone scroll in his hand, revealing an exact replica of himself—yet another puppet body.

"No... no..."

Sasori mumbled to himself as he saw Akashi getting nearer. He tried to hurry, but his body was moving at a snail's pace. The empty shell of a puppet body, the replica that he just unsealed fell as well, unresponsive.

...In truth, he knew. 

"This... this is my end?"

Placing his other hand at his purple-liquid-leaking, heart-like device to slow the leakage as much as he could, Sasori felt despair. It was his core, the only part of him that was brought from his human self. The destruction of this core meant his irreversible death.

'I shouldn't have come here.'

Such a thought subconsciously ran within Sasori's mind. 

He came with an ambition—of turning everyone into the immortal form of a puppet, to create the everlasting world that could be defined as perfect.

Never did Sasori think of this possibility, the possibility of losing against the one whom he thought of as the prey. 

In the end, Sasori overestimated himself, and it was partially due to him having defeated the third Kazekage through the similar method as now, through an ambush.

"Please... please..."

Sasori, as Akashi now stood in front of him, began to beg, as the fear began to overwhelm him.

"I don't want to die..."

The reason why Sasori immortalized his body into that of a puppet, in the first place, was due to his fear of death. 

Now, one in front of Akashi was no longer Red Sand, but a teenage boy.

"So do I."

Akashi coldly replied. 

"So do others. So does everyone."

The purple liquid continued to ooze out of Sasori's chest. It formed a pool around his body. Sasori's eyes shook as they stared into Akashi's lone eye that was exposed through the mask that he wore.

Truthfully speaking, Sasori reminded Akashi of himself to some extent. 

Red Sand and Red Blade. Renowned geniuses of this age, and... S-ranked rogue ninjas starting from young ages.

Akashi saw himself in Sasori. He realized that he could've turned out just like Sasori, seeking pleasure through violence.

"You probably suffered as well. A traumatic event that led you to become as such."

Akashi spoke. He didn't know why, but he wanted to say it.

"But does that past of yours justify your actions? All those murders that you made?"

Sasori continued staring at Akashi. Akashi stared back at him. However, to Akashi, it felt as if he was looking at his mirror self.

Yes, the words that he was speaking now—he was saying it to himself.

"No. Should after-life exist, you know that you're going to the deepest part of the hell."

Akashi remembered his time in Yukigakure, when he mentally suffered from his actions. 

He learned that none of his thoughts mattered in the end. Those conflicts were reserved for the good people, not for someone like him. 

All he had to do was to simply live on. Do what he wanted to do... be it to seek that so-called peace or become a blood-thirsty murderer like Sasori.

"So accept your fate. The least that you can do... is to accept it when the time comes."

Sasori was long dead and unresponsive. The scrolls of his were scattered out everywhere. 

Realizing this, Akashi parted his eye from the 'dead' puppet. He chuckled, thinking how strange it sounded to put the words 'dead' and 'puppet' together.

Moving forth, he looked at the exact replica puppet body of the dead Sasori, one that he probably used to swap his body should the original one broke beyond repair. There was a cylinder-shaped hold at its chest, indicating that the transfer of his mind to another body reqired the heart-like device that Akashi punctured just before.

"Puppets..."

Akashi tried to picture what he saw from Sasori. He raised his hand and tried to image the chakra threads growing out of his finger tips. However, imaging alone, of course, won't work, as all Akashi saw was the blue streak of chakra covering his fingertips.

Anyhow, Sasori's techniques were worth investigating, Akashi thought. Resealing his replica puppet body and grabbing other unknown scrolls scattered around the area, Akashi placed them in his pouch. 

He then looked back, at the far distance where the Kumo ninjas were standing in trance.

The chakra within the seals that kept those ninjas trapped was nearly empty.

Akashi knew that it was time to retreat.

__________

The smell of papers burning reached A's nose when he regained his senses.

"...What?"

The bizarre genjutsu that they were trapped with no escape abruptly disappeared. 

A was standing in the middle along with other Kumo ninjas, and none of them were hurt. 

A knew very well that they were as good as dead the moment he realized that they can't get out of the situation. Seeing how dire the circumstance was, B was thinking of releasing the eight tails inside him just to dispel this technique. Thankfully, the technique automatically dispelled just before he was about to do so.

A saw that other ninjas too woke up and looked around their surroundings in confusion, confused to see that they were alive and well.

A turned to where the smell of burned things came from and found nothing but ashes. 

He then inspected the surroundings just as any other, trying to find even the smallest trace that his enemy, 'Taka' of Kiri, may have left.

"What is..."

A indeed find one—the indication of a rough battle. 

The trees were burned and broken down. The sharp weapons were scattered everywhere, leaving gashes on tree barks. 

There were craters here and there. In the middle, there was a huge pile of ash.

"Big bro..."

B, while sweating profusely, looked at A. 

A clenched his fists. No one knew whether he was angry or... afraid. 

When fighting Namikaze Minato, A felt humiliated. He was one step behind, and felt that if he could just reach a little higher, he could for sure defeat the man.

However, what of this shinobi named Taka? 

A felt as if... he would never be able to win against that man, no matter how stronger he got.

"That ninja whom we met just today... hah."

A's head dropped in grimace. For the first time, in the eyes of Kumo ninjas, he appeared defeated.

"...Is he really from Kiri? If they had someone like him from the start, why not just... forget it."

Sighing, A gazed at the plain ahead tiredly before turning around.

"Prepare to fall back. Send a message to her, to fall back from the border and return to the base. The potential leakage of information... we have no choice but to risk it."

__________

Swiftly, Mei and Hidan travelled across the land of hot water. 

It wasn't for long until they began to see the blue in sight. Ahead, there was the wide ocean, and a harbor before that. 

"This is..."

Hidan's eyes widened, clearly amazed. 

"...First time?"

Mei smiled at that, before the two of them continued.

'Kiri is near, at last.'

With determination in her eyes, they snuck their ways in the harbor city.

"Looking for a ship? I mean, understandable, considering the ongoing war up there. There are many refugees and I'm the only available one, but still, hm..."

"What if I pay you two-fold the amount?"

"As if that'd worth as much as my life—"

"Three-fold!"

"..."

"Four-fold!"

"...A rich young lady you are, huh?"

As Mei was seen trying to get a ride to the land of whirlpool, little did she and Hidan know, that someone was watching them from the back.

Silently, the watcher took out a senbon. With no hesitation, the senbon was then thrown at Mei's neck. 

It penetrated through Mei's neck without anyone sighting the needle. However, what happened next wasn't of the watcher's expectation.

Mei suddenly exploded into water, leaving Hidan to get drenched.

"...?"

'Water Clone...!'

The watcher's eyes widened. The boatsman whom Mei was making deal with yelped. Horrified, he instinctively grabbed Hidan who just stood there, ran into a wooden house of his, and slammed the door close.

'...Shit!'

The watcher decided to retreat. Though the senbon was invisible in the eyes of the commoners, it didn't apply to ninjas who are trained to be sharp-sighted.

However, just when the watcher decided to do so, a high-pressurized wave of water crashed down on her. 

The entire tree—one that the watcher hid within—broke down, and the watcher was revealed in broad light.

"A-Ahh!! Ninjas!!"

People screamed and ran out of the scene as quickly as they could. 

"Kumo forehead protector... you are..."

Mei watched as the watcher stood up from the puddle of water. 

Said watcher was a blond woman, the well known jonin of Kumo. 

"Nii Yugito."

Mei's face turned stoic as she saw that Kumo stationed the jinchuriki of two tails at this area.