She stared into his still, unmoving eyes. Her pulse quickened, her body sensing what her mind refused to grasp. Something was wrong. Something crawled behind his gaze, slithering into the space between them. Killing intent.
Her instinct flared before thought could catch it. She dodged, body twisting in the air. “Kai!” The word tore from her lips, chakra surging. Another Genjutsu shattered, the illusion falling away like broken glass. And there he was. Itachi Uchiha, moving toward her in a blur of motion, lightning crackling from his palm like the scream of a storm. The noise of it filled the clearing, violent, alive—Chidori.
Yuna’s eyes widened as she saw Itachi pivot below, his momentum spinning him round, and then he was launching up toward her again. The world fell away and it was only them, suspended in the moment before the strike.
Her hands moved, seals blurring through the air. In an instant, an earth clone materialized, throwing itself between her and the flash of lightning. The clone took the hit with a sickening crack, the lightning-coated hand plunging into its chest, the stone body splitting apart, shattering into fragments.
Yuna hit the ground running, flickering from branch to branch, her body moving on instinct, desperate to put distance between them. She felt the threat behind her, relentless, his presence like a shadow that would not be shaken. She had no wish to kill, but fear drives the hand, and in fear, even the gentlest strike becomes fatal. She couldn’t let it come to that.
She turned midair, catching him in the act of weaving seals. Her voice broke through the chaos. “No more of that!” She kicked off a tree, hurtling toward him. He was forced to raise his arms, abandoning his technique to block the strike. Her foot slammed down with a spinning motion, breaking through his guard, and he shot back into the underbrush.
She pursued, her hand reaching out, fingers grasping for the high collar of his cloak. But his response was swift, his arm shooting out, catching her wrist, forcing her outstretched hand through a series of signs she did not intend. And in his other hand, a kunai gleamed, a flash of steel aimed at her face. She batted it away, the blade spinning off into the trees.
Inu. Hitsuji. Ino.
Earth Release: Mudslide.
The ground beneath them roared to life, a wave of dirt rising like a beast from its slumber, swallowing them whole. The tumbling earth was disorienting, dirt grinding against skin and stone, and she had no choice but to let him go, rolling with the current until the wave spit her out. She staggered to her feet, filthy and breathless, but alive. Her body tensed, bracing for his next move.
She shouted across the clearing. “Itachi! I think there’s been a misunderstand—” But the words barely escaped her lips when the earth beneath her buckled. Arms shot from the soil, grasping for her legs, but she leapt, twisting away just as he lunged for her ankles. He pursed. His fist came fast, and she caught it, driving her own blow into his gut with a force that left him gasping.
Itachi stifled the noise. He retaliated, a spinning kick aimed at her face. She dodged, but not fast enough. His foot scraped her cheek as he spun past. She tightened her grip on his fist, refusing to let him regain his balance, sensing his momentary weakness. She dropped low, sweeping his legs out from under him, the boy’s body crumpling, his fist twisting unnaturally in her grip. The bones dislocated with a sickening pop, slipping free from her hand.
But even then, his other hand formed a seal. The same technique she used earlier. One-handed. Fucking Sharingan, she cursed to herself.
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Hebi.
Violent Heavenly Earth Needle.
Itachi’s fingers stabbed into the ground, the earth trembling under his touch, and then the ground rippled like water, parting as a spike of stone shot toward her, spiralling upward with deadly precision. He was too close. Too close. She couldn’t escape it.
Her mind raced, and then her hands flashed through seals, a desperate calculation. She fell back, slapping the earth with open palms. The ground split, a jagged chasm opening beneath them. A thunderclap shook the forest as the fissure widened, swallowing them both, along with the deadly spike that nearly impaled her. Earth swallowed earth, and the world seemed to collapse in on itself, pulling everything down into the darkness below.
----------------------------------------
The fall took longer than expected, much longer. There was no elegance in it, no grace. Yuna’s fingers scraped against the cliff’s edge, catching herself on a jagged outcrop that cut into her palms. She was barely steady, her mind already working, assessing the situation. Her eyes darted across the chasm to find Itachi, and there he was, clinging to the opposite rockfall. His red eyes cut through the shadows, watching her with unnerving calm.
“Kai!” she muttered, wrenching her gaze away as she felt his Genjutsu unravel in her mind. There was no time for reflection. "I don’t want to fight you,” she called across the divide, her voice echoing slightly in the hollow of the cavern. She was careful, measured—trying to sound reasonable, perhaps even conciliatory.
Itachi scoffed. He didn’t believe her, and it showed. “You’ve got a funny way of showing that,” he said, his voice hoarse with exhaustion. He was panting, just like she was, the strain of the encounter beginning to show. But there was something else, something sharper, an edge of distrust that cut through the space between them.
Yuna’s patience was fraying. “Look,” she said, her irritation slipping through the cracks in her tone, “I’m sorry. That first time—whatever you think it was—it was an accident.” The explanation felt hollow even as she said it. She knew better. Words in moments like these rarely did what you hoped.
“Yeah… sure.” His response was flat, almost dismissive, as if he was simply entertaining her. The kind of answer someone gives when they know you’re lying but can’t be bothered to argue.
Yuna’s eyes narrowed, her mind working again, searching for an angle. “You’re hurt,” she said, her voice shifting, aiming for something pragmatic. “You’re bleeding. You need a medic. We can get out of here, both of us. No more fighting, just stop this madness. Or we could just wait. Someone will come, with all the noise we’ve been making.”
Another scoff from Itachi, this one laced with disdain. “Sure,” he said. “Let’s just sit here while I bleed out. I’m sure that’s what you’d like, wouldn’t you? After all, you brought us here—out of all the places in the village, you picked one of the least populated. You tell me, what’s convenient about that?”
Yuna froze. The accusation hung between them like a bad smell. "You think this is an assassination?” The shock in her voice was genuine this time.
“What else would it be? A picnic?”
Yuna wanted to laugh. The absurdity of it, the dark humor beneath the surface, almost made her lose focus. “You really believe someone’s out to kill you?” she asked, her tone now more curious than defensive. “You’re barely out of the academy. What reason would I have to assassinate you.”
Itachi said nothing in response. He didn’t need to. The silence spoke volumes, filling the space between them with all the things they weren’t saying.
A sudden bark echoed through the cavern, and Yuna glanced up. Hachi, her ninken, still in his beast clone form, stood at the ledge above, peering down at them both. She sighed, sensing Itachi tense across from her.
“It’s alright, Hachi!” she called out, keeping her voice as steady as she could. “It’s just a misunderstanding. We’re… working it out.”
She turned her attention back to Itachi, weighing her next move. “We can figure something out,” she said, though the confidence in her voice wasn’t entirely convincing.
“Like what?” he asked, not moving from his precarious position on the rock. His tone was flat, guarded.
“I’ll surrender,” she said after a pause, the words surprising even her. “You can take me hostage. Just… stop this. Let’s get you to a medic. You need help.”
Hachi barked again, louder this time, a clear warning. Yuna raised a hand, motioning for calm as she waited for Itachi’s decision. The seconds dragged on.
Finally, Itachi’s voice came, colder than before. “Look me in the eye.”
Yuna didn’t hesitate. Her gaze locked onto his. The air between them felt heavier than before, thick with something unspoken, something she couldn’t name.
His eyes, dark, bled red into hers, something cold and unnatural taking root in her mind.