"This is bad..." Akai mumbled in worry. With Sasuke, she leaped away from the giant bomb, running through the forest. "If that thing is the same as the previous ones..."

Sasuke nodded in agreement. Akai's left eye became bright red; her teeth shark-like once again. She attached the two swords she had back into Hiramekarei's original form, before returning it to its sheath.

Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks, her attention set on the clay figure. "Sasuke, that thing is about to-..."

BOOM!!

"Get away from it, Akai."

Akai gulped, "Uchiha, my eyes' not as powerful as yours!" She chased after him, "What the hell was that?! A lizard beside me just disappeared!"

Sasuke abruptly turned to look at her, and Akai swore she saw him flinch. "Be careful, there are bombs inside your body."

"Art is a bang! Katsu!"

Her expression became horrified. "For f*ck's sake, what's wrong with my luck?!" she screamed in frustration, right before her body disappeared into droplets of water. The red mist around them faded away soon after, and Sasuke barely managed to hide his shock.

Deidara grinned in victory, moreover when Sasuke's body was soon destroyed in a similar way.

"I guess I'll have to thank Itachi later on ..." he muttered, smiling to himself. However, he never managed to celebrate his victory, because the pressure of a pair of Sharingan eyes suddenly dawned upon him.

And before he could react, Sasuke appeared behind him, with a Chidori through his chest.

"It looks like you've used up most of your chakra. Your movements are slow," the Uchiha commented.

"Those eyes ... !"

"Those small bombs truly are invisible to the naked eye, but with my Sharingan, I can distinguish chakra according to its color," he explained, "Those small bombs that you've molded with your chakra ... I could see them as clearly as a cloud of fog. I was also able to see that you were hovering outside of the bomb's blast radius. As long as I can see the bombs, escaping was a piece of cake."

Deidara gritted his teeth, "But saw you die from my C4..."

"That was my Genjutsu."

"So, that's it. That was it all along..." Deidara asked, "But what about your blue-haired friend?"

"She's used to dying. It's in her blood," Sasuke briefly replied, "I avoided hitting any vital points. Now, you're gonna tell me where Itachi is."

"This is why I said I'd have to thank Itachi later on." Right after he said that, his body turned into clay. The real Deidara emerged from the clay bird, his hand now holding Sasuke's ankle tightly, a smirk on his face.

"I was waiting for you to use your Genjutsu!" he exclaimed, "You're just like Itachi! I won't be fooled by the same trick twice, yeah!"

Sasuke struggled to escape, but Deidara's grip never loosened. "This time, it's over for real! Enjoy my C4 firsthand, yeah!"

The blond blew out another C4, which expanded at a rapid speed, swallowing Sasuke and the clay bird's body. "It looks like you're the one who used up too much chakra! You don't even have the strength to break away from this, do ya?!"

Deidara released the bomb and jumped away from it. "The same invisible C4 bombs from earlier are inside there, yeah!" He tried to make another clay bird, but it seemed like he already ran out of chakra. However, the blond wasn't fazed when Sasuke escaped from the C4 giant.

"Now what, yeah?!"

Sasuke, with a Chidori in his hand, flew towards Deidara. "Your extended Raikiri can't hit me at this range!" the Akatsuki member shouted, "It's over. Katsu!"

Deidara, not-so-smoothly, landed in the forest. "I won," he muttered, upon seeing how Sasuke's snake was destroyed by his bombs, "It's my victory! My art won!"

Like before, his joy didn't last long. He suddenly turned, to find Sasuke behind him, punching his jaw, sending him flying a few meters away. The Uchiha panted in exhaustion, while Deidara stared at him in disbelief.

"Don't tell me... you..." Deidara sat up, "You noticed...?"

"Yeah. A long time ago," Sasuke admitted. "When you fight a Sharingan user, it's essential to hide your hand seals. No matter how quickly you form them, these eyes of mine can see right through it all."

"So far, all of your jutsu involved using Earth Element seals, and my Chidori is Lightning Element, so you realize what that means, right?"

"You really did notice..." Deidara trailed off, "Then, that Raikiri from earlier was to... No way!"

"The Earth Element is weak against the Lighting Element. If your bombs are electrified by my Lightning Element, they become duds. That's your weak point, right?"

"You..." Deidara growled, "I see. He used the previous Raikiri on his own body. That turned all of the C4 bombs inside him into duds."

"Yeah. It screwed up with my body, though. Though, the jutsu's actually called Chidori."

"Seriously, the two of you talk too much." A voice interrupted, an annoyed girl's voice, "Can't we just skip the lecture and finish this?"

"Took you a while, Akai," Sasuke commented, smirking slightly. A cloud of red mist was formed beside him, before it solidified itself as Akai. The girl let out a sigh, pulling down the hood of her red cloak.

"It's true that I can turn into mist, but I never did it unintentionally. It's harder to transform back." The girl turned her attention to Deidara, her grey eyes became red instantly.

"That was... awesome jutsu, sir. But sadly, I'm not dead. And that felt weird as f*ck, you annoying piece of sh*t. I'll cut you to pieces." Dark blue chakra began to seep out of her body, and Deidara could only stare at her in horror as she cracked her knuckles.

"J-Just how much chakra do you have, un?!"

Her eyes switched back to grey, "I've survived two direct blast from your bomb, and all the damage you've done has been healed completely. Moreover, my uncle is known as the 'Tailless' Tailed Beast."

"Wait, that sounds familiar..."

"As familiar as 'I'll shred you to ribbons'?" Akai asked, tilting her head slightly.

"That-.. Wait, that was-... Kisame, yeah! You're related to Hoshigaki?! You don't look anything like that shark freak!"

In an instant, Akai already stood in front of the blond, her large sword pointed at his neck. "Don't you dare call my uncle that. I don't mind showing you how monstrous I am compared to him,"

Akai jumped away and smiled. "But anyways, like what you had just heard, I'm Kisame's niece. Ask the Jashin-obsessed guy if you don't believe me. Akai Hozuki. One of the Seven Swordsmen of Kirigakure. The Red Mist. Surely you have heard about me?"

Deidara slowly nodded, and her smile turned into a proud grin. "I'm a close-range fighter, so I can't say much. I think you used a bit too much chakra, but aside from that, you're strong. One of the most powerful shinobi I've fought so far."

Deidara was about to reply, when suddenly, Akai was pushed aside by Sasuke, who made his way towards the blond.

"Hey, Uchiha! I don't give my chakra so you can mindlessly go back fighting!" she yelled, but he easily ignored her. Deidara tried to get back onto his feet but failed miserably, as his legs were shaking.

"Where's Itachi?" Sasuke demanded.

Deidara gritted his teeth, launching two clay snakes which wrapped themselves around Sasuke's ankles. The ravenette sent Chidori through his body, causing Deidara to release the snakes. However, Sasuke also fell onto his knees.

"No matter how cool you try to look, the truth is that you can't even catch a breath," Deidara mocked.

"Just stop it, you two!" Akai yelled, "Are you really going to kill each other for something as pointless as this?! Sasuke, don't you dare-..."

"Stay out of this, Hozuki!"

In an instance, her eyes turned red. "Fine," Akane stated, "We're not good at being kind, anyways."

"I've won," Deidara declared, "My explosive clay..."

Sasuke stayed silent, while Akane's attention was set on Hiramekarei.

"In a situation like this, at least express a little worry, you bastard, yeah? My art will definitely kill you this time!"

"That's what he said~" Akane muttered to herself, tracing the edge of Hiramekarei's blade as the blond continued shouting 'nonsense'.

"Akai... can we just leave...?"

'That's what I want, but at this rate, Uchiha might die as well. We can't let that happen.'

"Why? He has no manners even when we already helped him."

'... Just make sure he stays alive.'

The sound of ripped clothes caused Akane to look up. "Sh*t's about to happen here..." she mumbled, upon seeing the strange black symbols on Deidara's chest.

'Guards up, Akane,' Akai reminded, watching as Deidara pulled off the stitches, and fed the mouth his explosive clay.

"This'll be my ultimate piece of art," he announced, "I'll explode. I shall die and become art itself!"

Akane's grip on Hiramekarei tightened, as black lines appeared on Deidara's skin.

"This will be like no explosion before it, and it will bequeath a scar on the Earth unlike anything else. Then, my art will receive the admiration it's always deserved! While in awe of me, you'll be killed!"

"He's insane, Akai."

'Some people just can't deal with Uchiha. It's understandable.'

"The radius of this explosion is ten kilometers! There's no escape, yeah!"

The lines were slowly absorbed by the black ball on his chest, the bomb. "Drop to your knees in awe and despair! Cry your heart out! Because, my art is..."

All the lines were gone, and what's left was just the small bomb. One by one, cracks appeared, and white light shone from them. Sasuke's eyes widened, Akane held her breath in anticipation.

"Katsu!"

The bomb exploded.

| * | * | * | * | * |

When Akai arrived back at the previous battlefield, she found that the rest of the Konoha shinobis had gathered there, inspecting the enormous crater Deidara's bomb had left.

The blue-haired girl silently took her place behind the group, trying to ignore the pain that began to catch up with her, as the adrenaline in her system slowly dissipates. Her whole body was starting to hurt, but she couldn't afford to let it show.

"-kai. Akai, can you hear me?"

Akai instantly snapped out of her daze. "Sorry, what?"

"The crater." Kakashi sighed, "There were three chakra signatures here, and one of them is yours."

Akane cussed in her mind, but Akai still kept her composure. "That's just because of my large chakra reserve, so you sense it too."

Ah, if she knew it would be this complicated, she would have stayed longer with Suigetsu...

"This reeks of snakes," Akane sneered, as Manda was summoned to a clearing. Sasuke collapsed out of exhaustion, while Suigetsu ran towards him.

"What? You're so torn up! Who did this to you?!"

"Deidara, an Akatsuki," Akane replied, walking towards the two males, "He's dead now, though. What a waste. He's powerful, but if only he uses a bit more logic..."

"Akane?!" Suigetsu was about to pull out Kubikiribochō, but Sasuke stopped him. Akane, too, put her hands up and cringed.

"Don't worry, things are already settled between Akai and me." She blinked, and her eyes returned back to grey, "Anyways, you saved my life there, Uchiha, so we're even now. Suigetsu, it's been a while."

"Yeah," Suigetsu admitted, before turning to Manda's now lifeless form. "He croaked," he commented, "Manda was Orochimaru's best pet, wasn't he?"

"More or less," Akai replied.

"You know, you should really treat animals better. You even used a genjutsu on him against his will," Suigetsu told the ravenette, who rose back to his feet.

"It was at the last moment. I didn't have time," Sasuke retorted, causing Akai to scoff.

"More than animals, you should treat people better," she stated, before turning to Suigetsu, "I want to talk and such, but I need to get back to my team. I have to go now."

"Akai-..."

"Don't forget to say hi to my dad. He's alive in Kirigakure, with Mairu." Akai fixed the sword on her back, giving her fellow Hozuki a small smile, "Until next time. Take care, Suigetsu."

Suigetsu doubtfully nodded, and then she left.

"How can we trust you? Pakkun can smell your scent here, too. Even before you arrive, Akai." Kakashi glared at her, and Akai couldn't help but to groan internally. His nagging isn't helping with her pounding headache; why couldn't he wait for her to recover?

She thought Konoha shinobis were supposed to be kind and gentle, but no, they interrogate her nonstop without giving her a chance to talk. Amazing. And to think that she was supposed to be their teammate, just wonderful.

"You were here when the battle took place, right? You fought against an Akatsuki member, along with Sasuke."

'Busted.'

| * | * | * | * | * |

Another update! This one isn't that long, but well, it's a fight scene, after all. Hope you don't mind!

Tell us what you think! Also, click that little beautiful star for the sake of the next chapter XD

Hopefully, we can update sooner after this, but no promises. Thanks for reading, and see you later!