The frontlines were a chaos, but for once, the reports coming out of the main offensive weren't entirely grim. With Yushiro and Sayami-san stepping up to cover the void left by Yugito and Pakura and their deadly blood manipulation and their duo was unstoppable hence the Kumo's rhythm had shifted dramatically. Paired with Shisui's absolute mastery over Genjutsu and body flicker, the trio had formed a terrifying frontline combo. Neither the brutal explosive troops of Iwa nor the squads from Konoha had found a way to break them yet.
Darui, however, wasn't there to see it.
Instead, he was stationed at the rear, tasked with babysitting the secondary supply lines. En Oyashiro, the Commander of Land of rice field frontline, was worried that the recent streak of success on the front had made the reserve corps soft, and Darui was chosen as the babysitter because he was capable enough.
He leaned against a tree trunk, resting a hand on the pommel of his cleaver broadsword, scanning the quiet perimeter. Another peaceful day. Boring, but peaceful.
Just then, a chakra signature registered on his sensory link which made him sweat buckets it was heavy and suffocatingly strong. It was the kind of presence that immediately made a shinobi's instincts scream *run*. If this turned into a fight, Darui knew with certainty that he'd be dead in minutes... no seconds. Yet, strangely, the entity wasn't advancing. It was lurking, almost indifferent to him or Kumo's rear ranks, perched high above the dense foliage like a scavenger waiting for a carcass.
"Are they scouting us, or are they waiting for something else?" Darui thought, as sweat tricked past his neck. "Friend or foe?"
Whichever it was, he couldn't risk keeping quiet. Darui gestured silently, alerting the nearby Kumo elite sentries to assume defensive positions. But because his sensory focus was so intensely locked onto the monster lurking nearby, his awareness flickered for a fraction of a second... just enough to miss two small shadows gliding silently through the dense overhead trees toward the supply crates.
Farther up, hidden within the deep gloom of the trees, a cloaked figure watched the entirety play out before him.
"Found you," Kakuzu muttered softly under his breath.
He hadn't set up camp near the Kumo supply dump to ambush a tired Kumo guard or to get involved in the war between the hidden nations. He had staged himself here as a patient camper, knowing that Iwa's prodigies... the few capable of light-weight flight... would eventually swoop in to scorch Kumo's logistics. He had simply been waiting for the bait to attract the real catch.
Below, Darui drew his heavy broadsword with a metallic ring, as his posture grew tense. He was caught in a tactical dilemma: split his focus to intercept the stealth infiltrators threatening the supplies, or keep his eyes locked on the terrifying leviathan standing right in front of him?
Looking closer at the cloaked figure, Darui caught the detached look in the man's green eyes and realized that. He isn't here for Kumo at all. What does he want... the attackers?"
"Moroi-san!" Darui called out, his voice with resolve despite the tension tightening his throat. "Take the squad and handle the infiltrators near the crates! I'll hold this one!"
Kakuzu's eyes narrowed slightly as he stepped into the light. "I have no interest in you, boy," he said. "My business is with Muu. But if you insist on standing in my path, I will kill you without a second thought, maybe you are worth something I don't mind a spare change."
Before Darui could process the name, explosions detonated near the supply tents. Moroi and the sentries engaged the airborne infiltrators, behind him was filled with the roar of fire. But Darui couldn't afford to glance back.
"Earth Release: Earth Spear."
A black obsidian-like chakra surged beneath Kakuzu's skin, darkening his limbs and turning his body as dense and unbreakable as a diamond. The technique transformed him into a living battering ram, amplifying his physical weight and defensive power to an absurd degree.
In the blink of an eye, Kakuzu vanished as he body flickered. Darui's instincts reacted faster than his mind could process. He dragged his heavy broadsword up, interposing the flat of the massive blade between his chest and the oncoming blur.
*CLANG!*
The impact sounded like a siege hammer hitting an anvil. "It's... heavy!" Darui choked out, his vision flashing white.
The sword kept him from being pierced and bisected outright, but the sheer momentum of Kakuzu's hardened strike pushed the sword backward against Darui's torso. The shockwave lifted Darui off his feet and launched him like a cannonball through thirty yards of underbrush. He crashed headfirst into the base of a massive tree, the wood splintering violently around him.
Darui collapsed against the tree, gasping uselessly as blood welled up from his throat. The impact had shattered at least a dozen ribs, leaving severe fractures that stabbed mercilessly into his lungs and internal organs. He couldn't stand. He could barely draw breath.
Kakuzu didn't even turn his head to watch him bleed out. To him, the Kumo shinobi was a non-factor and a hindrance to his objective. His green eyes turned towards the wreckage of the supply camp.
There, standing amidst the bodies of Moroi and the slaughtered Kumo elites, were the two Iwa shinobi: Muu and a young Deidara.
"They've been slipping away for too long," Kakuzu grumbled softly.
Without breaking stride, Kakuzu extended his arm as long black thread-like tendrils erupted from his forearm, shooting through the air like whip-snakes directly at the large clay bird Deidara, but just as they were about to retreat.
The tendrils slammed into the bird's head, ripping the clay construct apart in a shower of white gooey mass. Deprived of their mount, Muu and Deidara lost their footing and hit the ground hard, tumbling through the ground.
Muu was up in an instant, stepping in front of his younger companion. "Deidara, listen to me," Muu commanded, his voice with urgency as he pushed the boy back. "You escape while I buy time. His target is me... he's been tracking for the technique that I am using."
Deidara's chest was heaving, but he refused to step back. "You're going to die if you fight him alone! I'm not leaving you behind, hmph! I won't let anything happen to my junior while I'm standing here!" Even though Deidara was a year younger than Muu.
A slow laugh burst out from beneath Kakuzu's mask. He slowly clapped with his now retracted darkened hands together
"Such conviction," Kakuzu said, his eyes locking onto Muu. "But it seems there is a misunderstanding here. I am not here to collect your head neither for a bounty nor for using my signature technique, Muu. I am here to take you as my student, perhaps it's time I experienced the emotional nuisance of being a master. I've watched your application of Earth Grudge Fear, and I am... impressed. But if your little friend here is so eager to throw his life away for a childish sentiment, so be it. "
Muu realized in an instant that there was no room for negotiation, and no surviving a full engagement.
"Deidara... take care of Fuu," Muu whispered, his voice steady as he resolved himself to see this to the end.
Before Deidara could shout a protest, one of the masked entities stitched into Muu's back detached with a tearing sound as the threads lashed out, wrapping around Deidara's torso and flinging him forcefully into the sky, away from the kill zone.
Muu stood his ground, drawing a breath as Kakuzu closed the distance, ready to finish what he started.
~~
A/N: An uncharacteristical display from Kakuzu, who wants to take Muu as his student even by force.
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