Naruto: Akatsuki

No thought entered my mind. With every muscle that constitutes my body being tensed up, I clenched my weapon-less hands into fists and circulated the warm chakra around my body.

Then, a growl. Takahiro, the shinobi—he growled savagely as he lowered his body and placed his hands on the ground like an animal would. His teeth grew into fangs, and his fingernails have gotten notably sharper.

I felt a cold sweat dripping from my back. I knew that I stood no chance against this shinobi in a head-on confrontation, regardless of the fact that his left arm and leg were broken.

'But due to anger, he is numb from the pain.' I quickly analyzed while leaping to Takahiro's right, 'Then, force him to use those injured limbs, and wear him out.'

BANG!

Subsequently, one tree bark on my right received deep gashes by Takahiro's swipes. His attempt to strike me in one go failed, thanks to his injured limbs causing him to lose accuracy.

However, while I was hovering in the air, Takahiro nimbly stepped his feet on the same tree bark, and propelled himself to me.

"Piercing Fang—!!"

Spinning wildly like a drill, Takahiro stabbed his sharp nails to me in midst of his spin, leaving deep gashes on my abdomen.

A jolt of pain. I couldn't help but let out a scream upon sighting my very own blood splattering out. From the impact of Takahiro's technique, I crashed down to the ground and rolled without a control.

...Kunai.

"Haa... haa..." I found my body weakening. Just one strike from this shinobi was enough to weaken me to this extent. The enhancement of my body with chakra served no purpose, and I was now quite close to death.

But I can't give up here. This man was already injured by quite an extent.

"Haa... haa... haa..."

I just have to damage him a little more—

Swoosh.

I quickly rolled to my right to dodge the sharp nails, before mustering all my strength to hop upward just in time, to evade Takahiro's attempt to bite my arm off.

'A chance!'

With my back floating on top of crouched-down Takahiro, I combusted a small fire on my palm and rotated my body around, about to slam it onto his face and burn it. However,

"Piercing Fang!!"

I then found my vision turning hazy from the pure pain, with Takahiro blasting himself up and slamming his spinning technique on me again.

"AHHHHHH!!!"

I was knocked up to the sky, spilling the little amount of blood that I had in my body while doing so.

'...F***...' I couldn't help but curse weakly as I felt my mind fading away. I was breathing profusely as I was flying up in the sky, with my face heading up.

Plop. A raindrop. Yes, just as always, the heavy rain was drenching me. How familiar, I thought. Rain, at this point, has been something that was with me throughout my whole life.

But wait, there was more—the red cloud.

My eyes widened upon the sight.

One of the only mesmerizing things that I managed to find throughout my whole life in this depressing land of rain. According to Tsunade, it's nothing but the sunlight being shone beyond the cloud during the sunset, but to me, it symbolized something else—hope.

Hope. The fact that sun exists, that there exists the day without the rain. The fact that war isn't everything, that peace exists beyond.

'...Even if I were to die here,' I thought. Gritting my teeth as I began to fall, I held my hands out in determination.

'I can't let him harm them.'

In my pocket, there existed the kunai that I previously retrieved while rolling on the ground after the blow from Takahiro; this was the only chance that I got.

Just below, I saw Takahiro crouching down, about to use that accursed 'Piercing Fang' again as a finishing blow.

'One chance.'

I exploded the little remains of chakra that I could muster in my body.

'Focus!'

I pushed all of them to my right hand, while I was falling toward where Takahiro was awaiting.

Tsssss—

The sound of water evaporating. Upon the fire, that surrounded my entire right hand, coming into the contact with the raindrops, the rain evaporated and generated the foggy steam. Waving my hand around, I generated the steam around my whole body as I fell. Now, the steam was wrapped around my entire body—

"Piercing Fang!!!"

"Keugh—!!!" I coughed in a shock as Takahiro's sharp finger suddenly appeared in front of my face, before impaling my right eye.

'A-AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!' I inwardly screamed in agony.

"This is it, you little f*****d!!!!" Takahiro screamed maniacally, as the two of us were flying due to Takahiro's propulsion.

My whole body screamed in pain. I felt as if my brain was melting. I knew, that my right eye was gone forever.

Yet, my hand moved. My shaky left hand took out the kunai from my pocket, and pushed onto Takahiro's exposed neck.

"Y-you—" Takahiro's body froze. His eyes became bloodshot, before shifting to the area of impact. In realization of what just happened, he vomitted the blood onto my face, as his body began to lose strength. His eyes turned hollow, and his appearance was reverting back to normal. He was dying.

Yet, the man didn't stop. With nothing but hatred and twisted determination in his eyes, he ripped out my right eye that he impaled his nail on.

CRUNCH.

While I was half-unconscious from the pain alone, he landed directly on the ground and absorbed all the shock, shattering his legs. However, his grip on me didn't loosen.

In his grip, I was dangling. My whole body ceased to move from pain and exhaustion, and there was nothing more that I could do.

Now, here we were, on the edge of a cliff.

"If... I am... going to die..." Takahiro muttered weakly, "So... will... you."

His grip on me loosened.

Swooo—

The wind picked up. It felt as if the rain has stopped moving. Takahiro's figure was becoming further and further away from me. Ah,

'I'm falling, aren't I...'

I didn't know anymore. I couldn't bother to think any further. My whole body ached in pain, and I lost far too much blood.

But I found a weak smile on my face. Though this is my end, Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato would be safe, with this enemy of ours having been taken care of.

With my lone remaining eye, I held my hand up weakly, as if trying to grasp the hazy view of the red cloud that was getting farther and farther away from me.

'Peace...'

In the end, what exactly was the peace? Was it worth chasing for?

'Shinobi-san... did I do good?'

Did I succeed in helping them, just like you helped me? Did I succeed in bringing the peace upon those three poor children?

Then came, the black.

__________

"S-stay here. We left the markings on the tree barks while travelling, so Akashi should be able to recognize." Yahiko said with uncertainty in his tone.

"Okay!" Konan nodded with a huff, trying to hide the tingling pain that she felt from her knee.

"Y-Yahiko..." Nagato, who was shivering in cold, whispered to Yahiko, "I'm cold..."

Yahiko forced a smile on his face as he closed in on Nagato, before hugging the latter, "There, feeling better?"

Though Nagato was still shivering, he nodded, "Yeah... thank you."

The three of them were currently staying under a large tree, believing that the tree of this size will be seen easily from miles away. Yahiko believed that Akashi, who is the smartest of them all, should be able to deduce his intent quickly.

"...Guys!" Then, Konan spoke up with shock in her tone, "Look!"

She, with a shaky hand, was pointing at the sky.

"Huh?" Yahiko turned his head to where Konan was pointing at.

The end of the thick clouds where there existed the orange sky, illuminated by the bright sunset. There was no rain, but instead, a wonderful view that they've never seen before.

"So that's what it means to live outside of the rain..." Nagato said with an underlying excitement in his tone, "That's where we are going, right, Yahiko?"

"Yeah." Yahiko, with a grin on his face, nodded vigorously, "We are sprinting to that place after Akashi comes."

Just when Yahiko finished his words, the bush nearby them shook, generating a ruffling noise.

Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato tensed up. They gulped in anticipation, awaiting for their brown-haired leader.

However, it was someone else who arrived.

"Haa... you guys." It was Jiraiya, who was bleeding in many areas. He, although not in a condition to move, headed out, looking for them, "I'm glad... that you three are safe."

His eyes held sorrow. It was probably out of the fact that many comrades, who's been with him throughout the war, have all vanquished except for him, Tsunade and Orochimaru, now declared as 'Sannins,' the legendary three ninjas, by Hanzo himself.

However, Yahiko felt as if something has gone wrong. Those eyes that Jiraiya had—what did they mean?

"Where's Akashi?" Yahiko whispered, as cold sweat dripped from his back.

Jiraiya didn't answer. He lowered his head instead.

Yahiko was at loss of his words. Jiraiya's reaction was enough of an answer. All three of them knew immediately, of what Jiraiya's reaction meant.

"Y-you are joking, right?"

"Many died today." Jiraiya muttered weakly instead, "War is such a tragic thing. It brings forth the hatred upon hatred... it is the never ending cycle of hatred that leads to nothing but destruction. Akashi, and my comrades too—they've been the victims of this war."

Silence. Nothing but the noise generated by the heavy rain could be heard.

"...Akashi is gone?" Konan whispered, not wanting to believe the truth, "B-because I fell?"

Nagato curled up into a ball and grabbed his head tight, trying to escape from this harsh reality, "It's... it's because... I fell sick..."

Yahiko fell to his knees.

"He's dead?" Yahiko slowly turned his head to the dark forest. His whole body was trembling, but not due to the cold surrounding, "...That idiot... until the end..."

Yahiko felt the tears in his eyes. Without control, they poured down, "...He took the entire burden by himself."

Just like that, the world without rain exists. The world without war exists. The peace... it too exists.>

Tap.

"You are right, Akashi. All of them exists. We've seen one today." Yahiko, with a shaky voice, stood back up.

<"The future where we can laugh, the future where we can become stronger than those ninjas, the future where we can eat as much as we want, certainly exists."> Yahiko said with his fists clenched tight.

Konan and Nagato looked at Yahiko with a bewildered expression.

"I will ensure to see such a future. I will carry on Akashi's will." Yahiko stated, "We will make the land of rain into such a paradise. Just you watch."

Yahiko turned to Jiraiya and met him in the eye,

"Will you teach us how to become strong?"

__________

"Purple eyes with concentric circles. From the records regarding the memory of the boy named 'Akashi' that I finally managed to retrieve during the war, those eyes are a special dojutsu of some sort." One shinobi with mask muttered, "It needs to be reported to Danzo-sama—"

PUK.

A white spike suddenly shot out from the bark that the shinobi was standing behind, before stabbing his heart in one go. In an instant, the shinobi was dead.

"Oh no, I can't let you do that."

Then, from the bark, one white humanoid creature revealed itself.

"Those eyes aren't yours to take."

This white creature grinned, revealing its sharp teeth.