Confrontation: Part 1

Kakashi and his team had been chasing the rouge Uchiha for about three days now and he was sure they were closing in. Since leaving the village, Akari had seemingly made a beeline toward the border of the Land of Fire and Waterfall. Luckily, she seemed to be pacing herself slightly as the Fire Daimyo didn't currently have an open border agreement with the Waterfall Daimyo, any Konoha nin caught within the country would be subject to persecution, not that that would stop most anbu.

Right now they were about twenty miles from the border. Enough time to catch up to her but less than he'd like. Rabbit was getting anxious if her pacing was any indication and Chameleon had been strangely silent the whole journey, though Kakashi didn't mind as long as the man still followed orders.

The anbu captain crouched down to inspect the tree branch he was standing on, his lone Sharingan spinning as he examined the bark. He ran the tips of his gloved fingers along slightly grooved surface of the wood and grunted.

He looked back towards his team, "Chakra burns. She pushed off too hard here recently and left grooves in the wood. We're close." He pulled a scroll out of his pouch and threw it up in the air. He flipped through handseals before catching the scroll between his outstretched fingers and slamming it down on the bark.

"Summoning Jutsu!" He shouted, sending a pulse of chakra through the scroll as he did so. A seal matrix spread from the scroll and glowed briefly before releasing a puff of smoke from which a voice sounded out.

"Oh, hey pup. it's been a while." As the smoke dissipated, it revealed a small pug with a sleepy look on it's face. It opened continued speaking, hind leg raising up to scratch it's ear, "What did you summon me for? I was taking a nice nap, couldn't you have summoned Bisuke? He's always happy to help."

Kakashi ignored the ninkin's complaining, "No, Bisuke doesn't have the nose you do and he's way too excitable. This is a delicate mission straight from the Hokage, you're the best choice Pakkun."

Pakkun yawned, "Yeah yeah, I'm the best you don't have to tell me that. Still, you owe me for this one, I was having an amazing dream." He stretched, mouth opening in another wide yawn, "So what's the mission? Assassination, infiltration, or retrieval? Please don't tell me it's infiltration, it took forever to get the mud out of my fur that time in Iwa."

Kakashi shook his head fondly, "It's retrieval. Another Uchiha survived the massacre because she was out of the village, she recently defected and we're tasked with bringing her back. We should be closing in on her judging by the fresh quality of these chakra burns, I need you help closing in on her."

Pakkun hummed, sniffing at the dark spot in the wood, "I can certainly smell something thought it's faint. It smells like rosemary, not native to the area, probably your girl. Give me a moment."

As Kakashi leaned back to let Pakkun work, Rabbit came up beside him. She spent a moment watching the pug inspect the wood before turning to her captain, "Is he really gonna be able to help locate her? I thought only Inuzuka ninkin had noses that strong."

Kakashi just crossed his arms, continuing to watch his ninkin try to locate the scent trail, "I've raised Pakkun and his pack since I was a child and he's always had the strongest nose out of them all. He'll find her."

He was proven right as a moment later, Pakkun raised his head and turned in a specific direction before looking back at them, "I've managed to make out a trail, follow me." He leapt off the branch, Kakashi and his squad following close behind.

As they jumped, Pakkun made a motion with his tail that Kakashi knew meant he wanted to speak. The anbu captain leapt up beside the pug and he jumped up on Kakashi's shoulders, leaning in to whisper in his ear.

Kakashi's eyes widened before narrowing sharply. He gave Pakkun a nod and the ninkin hopped off of his shoulders as they returned to their former formation. Rabbit came up beside him, "What was that about?"

Kakashi simply shook his head, "Nothing you need to worry about, I'll deal with it when the time comes." As he said this, he brought his hand in front of him and made a few discreet gestures, ones that Rabbit caught if her narrowing eyes indicated anything.

"Understood Captain."

~~~

Akari sat in a cross legged position, eyes clenched shut as she focused on expanding her chakra. She knew it was only a matter of time before her anbu pursuers caught up with her, she also knew she didn't have enough time to make it to the border before they did so. She would have to fight. Luckily, she was much better equipped to do so than when she had left the village.

Over the course of her journey to the border, Akari had been experimenting with her Mangekyo to figure out exactly what she could do, it had been extremely enlightening.

For one, her Mangekyo had two main abilities that she had been able to figure out, although the second was tangential to the first.

The first ability, the one she used in the village, didn't just expand her chakra senses as she had originally thought. Instead, it allowed her to expend her own chakra to create a dome that she could increase or decrease the size of depending on the amount of chakra she put into it, not only that, but the chakra was still connected to her so creating the dome didn't expend her reserves at all except for the small amount on activation. She could sense anything inside the dome that had chakra, from shinobi to the seals inscribed on the paperbombs in their pouches.

The downside was that if she used all of her chakra in creating the dome, she'd have none left in her coils, leaving her unable to use jutsu at all.

This explained what had happened on the night she escaped Konoha as when she first used her Mangekyo, she used all of her chakra to make the dome. The reason she had been in pain when she tried to chakra jump was because all the chakra she had was outside of her body at the time, leaving nothing left to jump with and causing extreme pain as her coils clenched on themselves trying to find chakra that wasn't there.

The solution to that problem was relatively easy to figure out, she just had to use less chakra to create the dome, decreasing it's size and actually leaving her with the ability to still use jutsu. Though the smallest she had been able to make it was five hundred meters, a little less than half her usual range, and even at that size it still took up around a quarter of her chakra. Not really ideal.

Luckily, this was slightly offset by the secondary effects of the dome.

Because she was able to sense herself when the technique was active, it also gave her perfect chakra control in that it let her see exactly how much chakra she needed to expend on a technique, it was like she suddenly had a third sense when it came to chakra. She also found out that as long as she was familiar enough with a jutsu, she wouldn't even need handseals while the technique was active.

Her second ability was one that took longer to figure out because the fact that she had been specifically avoiding chakra signatures.

When she had come across a small village built next to a river, Akari had simply been prepared to go around but she decided to set up camp on the other side as she was extremely tired at the time. She had created her chakra dome to detect any intruders and sat down to rest before she continued on her journey.

When a young man fishing on the river rowed into her dome. she didn't feel anything different, just the civilian level chakra she expected, but as time went on, the chakra slowly began to get lower, and lower, and lower, until he barely had a chakra signature at all. She was absorbing his chakra. Killing him without him even realising, like a frog in a pot of slowly boiling water.

As soon as she realized what she was doing, she had deactivated her technique and watched as the villager slowly returned to his village, much more tired than when he had started fishing but still alive.

Further experimentation with her secondary ability revealed two things. One, the closer someone was to Akari when the technique was active, the faster their chakra was absorbed. Two, whatever chakra Akari couldn't absorb simply returned to the original owner. She had no idea if she was able to absorb elemental chakra, but she doubted it as elemental chakra and regular chakra were completely different on a fundamental level.

Still, the potential of the technique was incredible and Akari suspected it would only grow as her chakra reserves did and she could put even more chakra into the dome. It took a while for her to find a name for her new ability, but she finally decided on one. A bit ostentatious, but Akari felt it fit.

Kami no Ryoiki (Domain of the Gods)

Back in the present, Akari clenched her eyes tighter, channeling chakra to her Mangekyo to activate her technique. It only took a moment before the chakra of the anbu appeared on her senses. There were only three of them, but they were only a few miles away and closing fast, they would be here in around ten minutes if her estimation was right.

She focused on the individual chakra signatures of the group, dismissing the smaller one as she figured it was likely a summon. She focused on them one by one, trying to glean as much information as she could before they arrived even as her reserves slowly filled as they got closer..

The first one was either a taijutsu or a genjutsu specialist if the low jonin level chakra pool was any indication. The way they were light on their feet suggested the former. Their main natures were fire and wind but Akari could tell their wind affinity was the one they prioritized given how much stronger it felt. They likely used it to increase the cutting power of whatever weapon they used. She'd have to keep them at a distance.

The second anbu was more strange. Their chakra pool was a little larger than Akari's which she normally would've taken to mean they were a genjutsu specialist but something told her she was wrong, as when she examined their chakra closely, she got the distinct feel of medical ninjutsu. Not only that, but Akari could detect several seals on their body though she couldn't tell their purpose this far away. Their chakra signature was vaguely familiar but she couldn't put her finger on it.

She spent another moment analyzing the chakra signature before shrugging and moving on. It was probably one of the chakra signatures she felt when she escaped the village.

As she took in the chakra of the third member, Akari cursed violently as she recognized the distinct feeling of ozone invading her senses.

"Fuck! They sent Kakashi after me?! They must not want me to escape, either that or he's here to assassinate me." She took a deep breath, retracting her dome until it only encompassed the clearing and the trees around it. There was no way she could win in a straight fight, if she wanted to stand any chance against Kakashi, she'd have to catch him off guard at the start and take him out quickly. .

They were almost upon her, their chakra nearing the tree line. She stood, shrugging off her cloak, and unsealed Rumi, the silvery length of chain already familiar in her grip. Using a normal meteor hammer with one arm would be nearly impossible but Rumi wasn't a normal meteor hammer.

She stared at it for a moment before channeling chakra into the weapon. The end of the weapon turned into liquid before flowing up her arm and across her back, it reached the stump of her arm before enclosing it an solidifying, creating a metal cap which the chain could swing from freely. She twirled Rumi with her other arm, testing the length of the chain before nodding in satisfaction. It would do.

She took another deep breath to ready herself, letting it out as three figure dropped out of the trees to land across from her. She eyed the anbu closely, taking in their figures.

The one she sensed the medical chakra from was a tall man in a Chameleon mask, light brown hair peeked out from the sides of the mask. He was standing stiffly, hands at his sided and clenched into fists. His chakra felt weird, both fearful and resigned at the same time, like a man about to be executed for a crime he didn't commit.

The other unfamiliar anbu was a tall woman in a Rabbit mask, she dark red hair and was wielding a kunai in each hand which Akari could feel were already infused with wind chakra, increasing their cutting power substantially. Her chakra felt tense, like a coil wound too tightly. Her head kept twitching slightly, as if she wanted to look at the man in the Chameleon mask but kept refraining from doing so.

Akari looked to the one member of the group she was familiar with. Kakashi was wearing a Hound mask, although his bright grey hair entirely defeated the purpose of the mask. His chakra was overwhelming as always, the feeling of electric feeling of ozone barely held back by the mans body. Like a thunderstorm trapped in a bottle, one simple mistake from being unleashed and wreaking havoc on those around it.

"Akari Uchiha. You have been charged with the assault of a fellow shinobi of Konoha and the desertion of the village to which you have pledged your loyalties. Please come quietly or we will be forced to take drastic measures." Kakashi spoke across the clearing, mask doing nothing to muffle his voice.

Akari laughed lightly, beginning to twirl Rumi at her side, body tensing in preparation for the oncoming battle, "I'm afraid I can't do that Kakashi. There's much more going on in that village than either of us know about, it has taken everything from me, I won't also let it take my life."

She could practically feel Kakashi's confusion before he shrugged it off and sighed, reaching toward the blade on his back and getting into a ready position, the anbu in the Rabbit and Chameleon masks doing the same beside him.

There was a tense moment of silence in which they all just stared at each other before Kakashi spoke once more, "Then I must do what is expected of me."

His hand closed around the hilt of his tanto and Akari tensed in preparation of his assault, only to be bewildered as he struck out at the man in the Chameleon mask with lethal intent, the other man only just barely able to deflect the weapon by slapping it away with a chakra scalpel. Chameleon leapt back, tensing in preparation of another attack, "Captain?! What was that for?!"

Kakashi simply pointed the end of his weapon at the other anbu member, "The impersonation of an anbu operative is a crime punishable by death. And according to Pakkun, you smell nothing like my teammate. I thought it was weird you hadn't spoken a word this entire mission, Chameleon is normally extremely chatty for a stealth specialist. Now I know why."

He looked toward the woman in the Rabbit mask, "Rabbit, you know what to do. Focus on the mission." He looked back toward Chameleon, grip tightening on his tanto, "I'll deal with the imposter."

He leapt at Chameleon, blade flashing as he attempted to decapitate him in one strike only to fail as the other man ducked under the blade and struck out with a chakra scalpel that Kakashi barely avoided. They went back and forth for a moment before Akari was forced to look away from the fight as Hawk charged her with dual kunai held at the ready.

The Uchiha leapt back, sending Rumi flying forward in the same motion in an attempt to cave in the anbu's skull. He attack was futile however, as the woman just jumped to the side, dodging the weapon and continuing her rush toward Akari.

Akari snarled, wrapping her hand around the chain and jerking sharply to the side, sending the the flail of the weapon careening toward the anbu's unprotected back. She grinned as the weapon approached unnoticed which proved to be a mistake as the other woman caught sight of it.

She whirled around, kunai coming up to block the heavy head of Akari's weapon with some success, though one of the kunai snapped in half in the process. She discarded the weapon by throwing it at Akari and pulled out another, channeling wind chakra into it and rushing at Akari once more, rapidly closing what little distance was left even as the Uchiha jerked her weapon back toward her.

As Rumi approached, Akari channeled chakra into the weapon, morphing the bell like end of the meteor hammer into a dagger which she grabbed and used to deflect the broken kunai before bringing it up to defend against the other woman's assault.

Akari's suspicions of the woman being a taijutsu specialist were proven right as her assault began. Even though the Uchiha could see every movement the other woman made, including the chakra surrounding her kunai thanks to her Mangekyo, it was useless if her body couldn't keep up with the input. Rabbit clearly had years of experience with her fighting style as every time Akari successfully blocked one kunai, the other was there to take advantage of her open guard. The only reason the Uchiha was even still alive was thanks to the armor she was wearing as it took the brunt of the assault.

Though Akari knew that if this assault kept up, she wouldn't last much longer, she had to do something. Luckily she hadn't deactivated Kami no Ryoiki before the battle.

Akari molded fire chakra in her throat and right as the anbu raised the ring end of her kunai to strike the Uchiha in the temple and end the fight, she exhaled. "Fire Release: Dragon's Breath!"

A torrent of flames exited her mouth and raced toward the anbu who's eyes widened as she abandoned her assault and leapt backwards to avoid the technique though she was unable to avoid a portion of the fire which struck her in the leg, filling the air with the scent of burnt flesh.

The anbu landed across from Akari, making a handseal and spitting water to extinguish the fire on her leg, wincing slightly from the pain. As the fire went out, Rabbit eyed the Uchiha warily as she twirled her kunai in her hands, "Your file didn't say you could do that. You been holding out on us brat?"

Akari smirked, wiping her mouth to get rid of the warm feeling on her lips before morphing Rumi into the form of a curved kunai. She shrugged, "I guess I'm just full of surprises." She flipped the kunai backwards and smiled as she felt her chakra slowly filling back up, the woman across from her none the wiser.

Rabbit scoffed, tensing in preparation to rush forward again, "Sure kid. Just don't think that trick will work on me twice. You might as well give up now, I'm one of the only taijutsu specialists in anbu, there's no way you'll beat me."

Akari snorted, molding her chakra for the coming fight. Behind her, the sound of steel meeting steel rang out deeper into the forest as Kakashi and Chameleon fought. "I'll take my chances thanks."

There was a moment of silence as they stared at each other, Akari's Mangekyo spinning slowly. An explosion rang out in the forest and they rushed at each other, kunai meeting in the middle with a spray of sparks.