Someone Was Getting Desperate

Sasuke Uchiha slid the Kusanagi Sword back into its sheath, neither hurried nor slow, as if he had already confirmed there would be no more battles before him that required drawing his blade.

He glanced at Yunju, then at Deidara, who was bleeding on the ground, before looking away. "I don't care what you want to do, or whose side you're on. Itachi Uchiha can only be killed by me."

He did not wait for anyone's response.

His body rose into the air, hovering briefly above the treetops before he departed in one direction and vanished without a trace.

Deidara lay on the ground, staring in the direction Sasuke Uchiha had disappeared. He squeezed out a curse too weak to be heard, then turned to Yunju. "You bastard..."

"Don't talk. That hole in your chest is still pouring blood."

Yunju crouched down, and green medical chakra seeped from his palm into Deidara's wound.

He did not heal him completely. He merely sealed the surface blood vessels, enough to keep him from passing out from excessive blood loss over the next five minutes.

Deidara did not push him away, but he stared into Yunju's eyes. "What you said earlier—'save it for when it really matters'—do you say that to everyone?"

"Actually, you're the only one I've ever said that to."

Deidara's mouth twitched. It was unclear whether he wanted to laugh or curse.

Yunju did not respond. While maintaining the treatment, his gaze swept around the edge of the forest as if confirming something. "By the way, where's Tobi?"

Deidara froze for a moment. He looked around as well and realized he had not seen Tobi at all since earlier. Tobi usually followed him around, but he was nowhere in sight now. "Tobi? Hey! Tobi! Where did you go?"

There was no response.

The forest was unnaturally quiet. Even the sound of the wind weakened in that instant.

Then something stirred in the air.

Tobi leaped from a gap in the treetops high above.

He hovered even higher in the air, as though something were supporting him there. His right hand had already completed its hand signs.

Fire Release: Storm Dance!

As flames surged forth, the Mangekyō Sharingan in his right eye had already activated Kamui.

Using spatial distortion, he created a massive inward-pulling vortex. Flames followed the wind into its center, accelerated, compressed, and spun, eventually transforming into a gigantic flaming serpent that spiraled forward and plunged down like a living creature.

The flaming serpent advanced at tremendous speed. Everything in its path melted and shattered the instant it touched the flames. A charred trench was gouged into the ground, molten rubble still dripping down its edges.

Yunju was already on his feet the instant before the serpent descended. He grabbed Deidara by the shoulder and yanked him up from the ground, activating the Body Flicker Technique just before the flames reached them.

He shifted sideways with Deidara, but the momentum made him pitch forward slightly upon landing. The moment his right foot touched the ground, it was caught by a pulling force—a white arm had suddenly stretched up from underground and wrapped around his ankle.

Zetsu! Half his body was still embedded in the surface of the earth, while the white half's hand gripped Yunju's ankle.

Yunju looked down, then violently shook free, but that delay of less than half a second allowed the flaming serpent's tail to sweep directly across the outside of his right leg.

The sensation of flesh being scorched reached his mind before the pain did.

Yunju looked down at his right leg. A large section of his pant leg had been burned away. The wound stretched from the outside of his knee to the middle of his calf, the skin already charred and smoking around the edges. His movement speed had clearly slowed.

Deidara saw the injury on Yunju's leg as well. He raised his head toward Tobi, floating in midair. "What are you doing?! I'm not dead yet!"

Tobi did not answer.

His mask faced Deidara, but the exposed Sharingan was not looking at him. It was watching Yunju. Zetsu slowly rose from the ground, and the white half spoke. "What a shame. It only caught part of him."

The black half immediately added, "Stop talking."

Tobi formed hand signs again and fired off Great Fireball Techniques in rapid succession.

The fireballs were smaller than before, but there were more of them. They formed an arc in the air and continuously rained down upon Yunju and Deidara.

Yunju did not take them head-on. Dragging his injured leg, he changed directions repeatedly while using Wind Blades to deflect the fireballs. Most skimmed past his sides, but one grazed his back and set a corner of his coat ablaze.

A sense of danger also lingered around him. He had not known what was making him feel as though needles were pricking his back.

Finally, he saw it.

Illuminated by the firelight, several shuriken emerged from distorted space. There was no flight path and no change in speed—they simply appeared out of thin air less than half a meter from his side.

Yunju twisted aside, but a shuriken still grazed his shoulder. The second cut across the outside of his left arm. He failed to completely avoid the third, and it sliced open the skin on his chest. The wound was not deep, but it was bleeding.

As Yunju moved with Deidara, Deidara did not say a word. But he kept watching Tobi's movements.

Judging from his rhythm of attack, the nature of his Fire Release, and the way he distorted space, Deidara had never seen Tobi fight at this level during his time in Akatsuki.

"Tobi—what exactly are you trying to do? You attack without saying a word?"

Tobi still did not answer.

Yunju set Deidara down, pulled a homemade fireworks signal flare from his ninja tool pouch, and threw it into the sky. Red smoke exploded in midair, forming a clear signal. He truly needed Jiraiya's support now.

Then he raised his right hand and pressed it to his forehead. Chakra from the Yin Seal flowed back into his body, and the dark markings of Hundred Healings briefly flashed across his face and arms. He released only a portion of it. That was enough.

"Deidara." Yunju did not turn around. "Can you still make a flying bird?"

"I've got a little material left, but my chakra's nearly empty."

"I'll give you some. Run. Since Tobi has made his move, he probably doesn't intend to let you live. That means Akatsuki probably has no use for you anymore."

Yunju placed his hand on Deidara's shoulder, and pure Hundred Healings chakra surged through the point of contact like a canal being filled with water once more.

Deidara's body trembled. He could feel his dried-up chakra pathways being replenished. "You bastard... Where did you get chakra like this?"

"Don't ask. This is my art. Make a bird and escape now, or it'll be too late." Yunju withdrew his hand, turned toward Tobi, and rapidly formed hand signs. Lightning Release: Flash compressed to its limit in his palm before he hurled it violently toward Tobi. "Go wait for me at Hidan's sealing site. I'll catch up."

A blinding white flash exploded before Tobi. Almost simultaneously, Yunju opened his mouth, and Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet surged forth. A broad curtain of water spread out, covering the area around him and Deidara.

Deidara did not hesitate.

He chewed up the last of his clay and spat out a white bird half the size of a person, then flipped onto its back.

Before the bird took off, his gaze lingered on Yunju's back. The wound in his chest had been mostly sealed by Yunju's chakra. The bleeding had long stopped, no longer seeping out, though the pain remained.

"Little artist, you'd better come back alive and see me." The bird was already airborne, flying higher and higher as Deidara's voice fell from above. "You're the only one who truly understands my art—don't die in a place like this."

Yunju did not turn around.

Water mist covered the battlefield. Tobi had been blinded by Flash for several seconds, and by the time his vision returned, the mist had not fully dispersed.

He swept his gaze around. Deidara was gone. Only Yunju remained, standing alone in the center of the mist.

Tobi said nothing. Floating in midair, the Sharingan visible through his mask's eyehole narrowed slightly. Zetsu stood on the ground, his black-and-white body turning slightly as the white half looked toward Tobi. "Deidara's gone."

The black half did not respond.

Yunju remained where he was. A thin scab had formed over the burn on his right leg, but blood seeped from its edges, dripping down his ankle onto the ground.

The mist left behind by the Water Dragon Bullet was slowly dissipating. Around twenty meters separated the two of them, with a charred, smoking trench burned by flames lying between them.

"Tobi," Yunju said, his breathing uneven, "what exactly is your objective? To kill me? Or to kill Deidara through someone else?"

Tobi slowly descended from above, the Sharingan beneath his mask never leaving Yunju's position.

"You talk too much. You won't survive, so don't ask so many questions."

Yunju did not retreat. He gathered chakra again, continuously attacking with Wind Blades, but he knew clearly—his leg was injured, while the enemy's intangibility remained a problem he had not cracked at all.

He still did not know whether Jiraiya had received the signal.

I really screwed up this time. This Tobi is far less simple than he looks.