246. Nozomi vs Akatsuki
246. Nozomi vs Akatsuki
As soon as Nozomi’s eyes landed on the Akatsuki group she felt her mind being pulled elsewhere. A moment later Nozomi found herself tied to a cross by chains, Itachi holding a katana looked at her with his usual expression.
“This is Tsukuyomi, here I can control everything.” As he spoke Itachi moved to stab Nozomi in the gut, however before the katana could touch her it began to disappear.
“That might be true to some extent but the world no matter which one bows to me.” Nozomi answered as the entire realm they found themselves began to waver like a heat mirage. A moment later Nozomi found herself back in reality, staring at Itachi's bleeding eyes.
“Amaterasu!” Nozomi had but a moment to dodge out of the way. Unfortunately, despite her speed her susanoo’s left arm ignited with black flames. Quickly dispelling the chakra construct Nozomi landed with a lazy smile.
“My turn.” An instant later Nozomi disappeared as she engaged her optical camo. Moving quickly while taking advantage of her lynx paws Nozomi closed the distance aiming her scythe towards Deidara’s neck.
A resounding clang rang as Nozomi disengaged her optical camo, having her surprise attack blocked by Kisame’s Samehada. Not only that but she had to quickly make distance as Sasori’s Hiruko puppet attacked her with its poisoned tail.
Not wasting time Nozomi aimed crescent rose towards her foes unleashing a barrage of bullets. Each one of her enemies blocked the bullets their own way, from a wall made of explosive clay to Samehada and the blaided tail of Hiruko.
Even worse she had to quickly dodge out of the way as a massive fireball tried to scorch her courtesy of Itachi. By then Deidara had enough time to mount one of his explosive creations. Soon enough she would need to dodge the bomber’s creations.
“Tch, you all are annoying.” That is all Nozomi managed to get out before Kisame unleashed an unreasonable amount of water effectively turning the crater she had created into a massive lake.
Having been swallowed by the water, Nozomi got to see the other members of akatsuki standing atop the water while looking down at her. In that moment Nozomi used her own mangekyou sharingan to extinguish the black flames Itachi had tried to unleash on her.
That moment of distraction was all it took for a ridiculous number of water sharks to form. To make matters worse, clay figurines in the form of weird aquatic life forms began falling onto the lake. Their plan was obvious, swarm tactics with Itachi’s amaterasu as the winning condition.
Well, it wouldn’t be that easy. In a moment Nozomi concentrated an absurd amount of chakra as she prepared to release her jutsu.
‘Water release: Vengeance of the drowned.’ Instantly her chakra took control of the water around her as vaguely humanoid creatures began to form out of it. From extremely thin with gangly limbs to obscenely bloated like they would explode. These creatures began to grasp the many water sharks and clay constructs as well as rise from the water while trying to grasp Nozomi’s foes to drown them.
Soon enough the water was filled with explosions as Deidara’s explosive fishes exploded on contact with Nozomi’s drowned. The sharks would tear apart some of the drowned before being torn apart themselves. While this was going on Sasori, Itachi and Kisame fought the unrelenting drowned trying to grasp them. With her jutsu distracting her foes, Nozomi rose to the surface, her expresion a combination between a mad grin and an aggressive snarl.
“Trying to use swarm tactics against me? How do you like them yourselves!?” Nozomi laughed as she reengaged her optical camo. For as long as she had chakra and water she could continue creating drowned, for that she had to thank Kisame as he had provided her with the water.
Now that she had time to go on the attack, Nozomi prepared a nasty surprise. Taking out a special Kunai Nozomi focused chakra on the tip of her fingers as well as her eyes. The preparations only took a second but what would come would make her enemies regret fighting her.
With a swift motion Nozomi tossed the kunai upward, a thin chakra thread connecting it to the tip of her index finger. As the kunai flew a couple hundred meters above, Nozomi pulled on the string. Like a flower the Kunai opened up showing intricate sealing formulas carved onto the metal. A moment later Hundred of thousands of Kunais came flying out with their tips pointing downwards. Even worse, every single one of them had a paper bomb attached to their handles.
“Bukijutsu: Thousand falling stars! What is it you like to say, Deidara? ART, IS AN EXPLOSION!” Nozomi spoke with a wicked smile as she used her dojutsu to increase the force of gravity on each Kunai by a hundred fold. It took little over half a second for all the kunai to make landfall, detonating moments after impact.
As the water vapor began to settle, Nozomi got to see the effects of her attack. Kisame looked half cooked with the left side of his body burned out. The only reason he survived was thanks to Itachi using his susanoo to protect himself and the fish man. Sasori lost Hiruko the puppet, nothing more than bits and pieces floating on top of the water. He too was protected by itachi.
Dedara who had been flying up above managed to cover himself in a protective shell made out of his clay. Though now that he had crawled out of it Nozomi could see that her attack had destroyed his left arm.
A moment later Itachi’s susanoo disappeared as the sick Uchiha began coughing blood, his eyes cloudy and unfocused. Not wasting Time Nozomi took a deep breath before shooting a group of highly compressed wind bullets, or as Tomoka liked to call it, APHER.
It was Sasori the one that came to the rescue this time as he unleashed an army of hundred of puppets, some of them taking the blow for his teammates. Nozomi knew that much wouldn’t be enough to deal with them but even so she was annoyed. Especially seeing how Kisame began to heal, slowly but he was healing.
Weaving a few hand signs, Nozomi created three shadow clones and got to fighting and dispatching puppet after puppet while dodging or outright destroying Dedidara’s annoying creations. Finally Nozomi’s patience reached its end as she once again covered herself in her fully formed susanoo.
“Enough!” Channeling chakra Nozomi charged her susanoo’s scythe with an obscene amount of wind chakra. With a swift swing of the thing a wind blade as large as a building flew towards the legion of puppets. To make matters worse, the wind blade continued to grow larger and sharper as Nozomi focused her dojutsu on the thing. It took an instant, one moment, a legion of over a hundred puppets stood at the ready, the next they were torn apart by an unstoppable force of nature.
Nozomi didn’t get to celebrate her small victory for long as a legion of explosive birds began bombarding her susanoo. More than anything, the things were annoying especially so due to the smog screen they would leave behind after each explosion making it hard for her to see.
‘Wind release: Hurricane’ Her answer to the annoying birdies and their creator? Wind, a lot of it. Not to mention that she wasn’t done just yet.
‘Water release: Moonson’ As the winds began picking up speed dark clouds formed releasing heavy rain comparable to that of ame if not heavier. Soon enough the water droplets began picking up speed as they revolved around and around in the heavy winds as they continued picking up speed.
All of this as a set up for her next and final jutsu. However, when she was about to release it her mind was taken elsewhere again. This time she found herself inside Tsukuyomi unrestrained. Itachi’s ineffable mask of calm nowhere to be seen. The man looked tired, around one or two steps from death.
“Nozomi Uchiha, before you break out of my tsukuyomi again I wish to talk.” Hearing Itachi Nozomi just raised an eyebrow. From Tomoka’s memories of the show, Nozomi understood that Itachi wasn’t actually a bad guy, just a really dumb one.
“Alright, I am listening.” With a sigh, weather of tiredness or relief, Itachi began speaking.
“I know I won’t survive this fight, even if we somehow take you down, I am almost fully blind, and my disease has progressed even further. No, I don’t even believe we will win. I know I don’t have any right to ask this of you but… once I die, I would like it if you preserved my eyes, give them to my sister.” Nozomi nodded along, she expected this much.
“Give them to her yourself, once I deal with you and your friends I will have you teleported to her or her to you. You killed our clan, and although I understand why you did, I can’t forgive you. In the end, I believe it is Satsuki’s right to be the one to choose your fate.” Having said her piece, Nozomi once again broke out of Tsukuyomi.
Less than a second had gone by since Itachi placed her inside Tsukuyomi. Now it was time to end this. Channeling her chakra, Nozomi focused on the storm she had created. Afterall, no matter how small the projectile, with enough speed, anything could be lethal, even a single raindrop.
‘Water release: Dance of a million water needles.’ Each raindrop gained speed as its shape changed to look like senbons. Not only that but Nozomi once again used her dojutsu, this time to increase the power of the storm.
The Hurricane's winds gained strength as they picked up speed. The many water needles accelerating relentlessly looking for a foe to pierce. More and more speed, more and more power. Nozomi could feel the back of her eyes Itching as she pushed more and more chakra through them.
Soon enough the winds turned sharp, cutting anything in its path, the water droplets like bullets going through their surroundings with impunity. The members of Akatsuki tried their best to defend themselves. Deidara’s clay cocoon looked like a bee hive full of holes. Itachi’s susanoo flickers uncontrollably as it resisted the assault draining its creator more and more. Kisame’s water bubble deformed and splashed as the shark man did his best to survive.
Poor Sasori didn’t stand a chance. His wooden body became splintered as the winds shredded him with impunity. His center, the part that contained him, the part that he couldn’t turn into a puppet became a pincushion of water needles. He died, the art he hoped would be eternal, no more.
The storm raged on, Itachi’s susanoo at the verge of collapse. Then the darkness of the storm was swept away by the brightness of the sun. Deidara’s cocoon had collapsed to show a black sphere cracks covering its surface from which light came out unimpeded.
“Well shit.” That's all Nozomi managed to get out as the sphere broke apart releasing the power within, Deidara’s final art. Nozomi quickly covered herself in her susanoo while using her dojutsu to reduce the power of the explosion as much as she could.
Light, all encompassing blinding light. Pressure, like being in the deepest depths of the ocean. Finally, heat so much heat as if the sun had fallen from the skies above onto the earth. And the battlefield was no more.
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