Utakata sat near the river, watching as Hotaru practiced the jutsu he had been teaching her. "Master, see! I can walk on water now!" shouted the girl, to which Utakata could only reply, "I'm not your master..."
He didn't like it. His past was too bloody for him to be comfortable being anyone's master after what his own master did to him. And thus, when the time was right, he ran away from the Hidden Mist, and ever since then, he had been on the run.
Very few knew about his secret identity, and even fewer were left alive after they found out. While on the run, he met this girl. Her guardian had asked him to protect her for some reason. He didn't need a reason—he was getting paid and had a place to stay. A little bodyguarding didn't hurt.
But when the girl started calling him master and asked to be trained as a ninja, that was when he felt that maybe he shouldn't have come here.
It had been peaceful for a while, and he hoped it would stay that way. But his instincts told him otherwise.
A sudden gust of wind cut through the air, slicing the trees behind them. Hotaru gasped and stumbled back as five figures appeared, each wearing black trench coats with red clouds .
Utakata's eyes narrowed. "Hotaru, get back."
'1...2... There are 5 of them. All of them shinobi,' Utakata pondered. He wasn't surprised to see shinobi—he had expected them to find him one day—but he was expecting Hidden Mist ANBU, not some rogue nin.
'However, the fact that they're all wearing the same black coats with red clouds… they might not just be any group of missing-nins. What group of missing-nins has a dress code?'
Kazuma stepped forward. "Utakata, Jinchuriki of the Six-Tails. You're coming with us."
Utakata didn't respond, but internally, he was on high alert. His identity as a Jinchuriki wasn't widely known, yet these people knew.
He knew words were useless. If they came here with this many numbers specifically for him, a fight was inevitable. He pulled out his bubble blower and exhaled, releasing several bubbles toward them.
Fudo slammed his fists together, sending a shockwave that burst the bubbles before they could explode.
"Who are you guys? Why are you after me?" Utakata asked with narrowed eyes. That one move was enough to know their capabilities. All of them were at least Jonin-level.
"You don't need to know. Just come along obediently..." Fuen flicked her fingers, creating a massive gust of wind that sent Hotaru flying back.
"Leave her out of this!" Utakata shouted, barely having time to react and save Hotaru before Fuka appeared behind him, her hands glowing with chakra. He twisted away just in time, but Kazuma was already charging at him with a blade covered in wind chakra.
Utakata barely blocked with a bubble barrier, but the blade cut through, forcing him to jump back. He quickly formed another set of bubbles, sending them flying toward his attackers.
But before they could even reach the attackers, a highly pressurized wind blew them away completely, and once again, the attacks came at him.
Their teamwork was on point, even giving a Jinchuriki like him trouble. He had yet to use his real power, but he knew they hadn't either.
---
For hours, Shika found himself flying on the back of Nue. This might be the only limitation of Rinnegan Teleportation—he couldn't teleport without knowing exactly where he was going. He had a general idea of where Utakata could be, but not the exact location. If only there was an address for every location in the Naruto manga.
It took him some time, but finally, he knew he was close. "Utakata should be here," Shika muttered irritably, his body stiff after hours of motionless flying.
It had taken him some time to find the general area, but what he wasn't expecting was to sense a huge pillar of malicious chakra surging out the closer he got.
"Biju chakra," he noted after spending so much time around two Jinchuriki.
"Nue…" Shika shouted, and as if the beast understood his heart, it flapped its wings and sped up. By the time he arrived, he saw a very angry Jinchuriki on the verge of entering full Biju mode, already having five of his Biju tails manifested, fighting five shinobi in very recognizable black coats with red clouds.
Shika had to take a double take upon seeing the Akatsuki there. He wasn't too surprised, given how the plot was changing. It was completely possible for them to target the Six-Tails this early. However, he was surprised to see who was fighting them.
The second worst thing after them already targeting Utakata was that this wasn't just any normal two-man team from Akatsuki—it was the Six Paths of Pain themselves.
'1...2...4...5…'
'Where is the 6th one?'
Seeing how many people were fighting Utakata, he was sure this had to be Pain. In the manga and anime, Pain was the one who captured Utakata. He had just learned this from the manga.
However, as he got closer, he realized that wasn't the case. These people—they weren't Pain's puppets.
"Since when did Akatsuki get extra members like this?" He wanted to go through the manga again—maybe he missed out on some side story or filler. However, now wasn't the time.
He saw Utakata struggling, even after using his Biju's power. His chakra flared wildly, his body already partially covered in the Six-Tails' cloak.
"They're pushing him too hard. Those idiots—if they continue, he'll completely enter Biju mode. Then it'll be almost impossible to talk reason with him," Shika muttered in irritation.
Without hesitation, he pulled down his Shadow Mask, concealing his face, and jumped into the fight. Hiding his identity from the Akatsuki was important.
Kazuma swung his wind-infused blade at Utakata, who barely dodged in time. Just as Kazuma went for another strike, a kunai flew past him, forcing him to jump back.
"Who—?" Fuen turned, but before she could react, Shika was already in front of her, delivering a strong kick to her side, sending her crashing into a tree.
"Huh, at least something that old hag taught me came in handy." Shika grinned. His chakra-infused strength wasn't even one-tenth of Tsunade's, but it did the job just fine.
Utakata's eyes widened as Shika landed beside him. "Who are you?"
Shika didn't turn to him. "Not your enemy. Would you mind if I rough up these guys a little?" Shika replied, barely paying attention to Utakata, more interested in the new characters.
'Two men, two women, and a child? I don't remember anyone like them in the anime…'
The other Akatsuki members regrouped. Fudo looked confused and turned to the others. "Who's this?"
They didn't know either. Shrugging, they turned to Shika and said, "Stay out of this. This has nothing to do with you."
Shika ignored the man and observed them. He felt like he knew them—minor characters they might be, but he felt he had seen them before. However, recognizing someone just from their manga description was hard. In this case, he could only see how they fought and try to recognize them from their techniques.
'Can't use Shadow Possession here—too recognizable...'
"Let's continue the fight. Please, don't mind if I join in."
xxx
[Word Count: 1200]
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