Akari's mind was sluggish as she came back into her body. Feeling tears rolling down her face, Akari wondered if this crushing feeling in her chest was a biproduct of the memories, or a result of being forced back into the cruel reality she had awoken to.

"I went back too far." she heard Inoichi say distantly. He placed his hand back upon her scalp, "Let's try this again."

Before she was able to protest, Akari was once again dragged back into the web of memories.

She had a feeling this one wouldn't be nearly as pleasant.

----------------------------------------

Flashback Start

Akari sighed in boredom as she and her team walked down the shaded path deep into the Land of Forest. When they first left the village, she had a feeling the mission would be boring, she had just underestimated how boring it would actually be. She knew it was too much to hope for her first mission as team leader to be an exiting one, it didn't stop her form hoping though.

Her sigh caught the attention of her Inuzuka teammate, Haruka. Standing around 5'4, Haruka was your typical Inuzuka, boisterous personality and all. The dark red fangs that sat on either of her cheeks marked her as a born Inuzuka and not one who entered the clan via marriage or adoption. Though her ninkin, Toji would have been indication enough of her status.

"Whatcha sighing about Akari?" Haruka asked, long brown ponytail swishing as she moved closer. Toji barked from beside her as if asking the same question as his master, which was entirely possible considering how smart some ninkin were.

Akari shook her head, "Nothing Haruka. I was just hoping my first mission as leader would be more exciting. I know it's a C-Rank but come on!" She threw her arms up in the air in exasperation, "Forest Country doesn't have any shinobi villiages, it's a hotspot for bandit activity, there should have been something by now!"

"It's quite possible we scared them all away Akari." Denji spoke up from her other side. The tall teenager had been mostly silent thus far into their journey, being the type to only speak when necessary. That, coupled with the large nodachi that sat at home on his back, had caused him to be dubbed the teams 'Silent Samurai'. A fact Haruka had gotten no small amount of joy from teasing him with.

"Given the clan symbol on the back of your jacket," He pointed toward the Uchiha fan displayed proudly between her shoulder blades before pointing at Haruka, "as well as Toji, most bandits would most likely prefer to stay out of our way. Both of your clans are rather well known after all. Haruka's less so." He finished, smirking playfully at the Inuzuka.

Akari hummed in thought, dodging out of the way as Haruka dove at Denji with the intent to tackle him. He was right, the Uchiha were well known all throughout the Elemental Nations and while the Inuzuka weren't quite as famous, the clan of canine users was still a massive family with many powerful members of it's own. They could be carrying a chest full of gold and bandits would still probably stay well away. So that meant it was unlikely that her boredom would be alleviated anytime soon. Wonderful.

She sighed again, distantly aware of her sensei coming forward to walk beside her as her teammates fell behind, "Chin up Akari-chan," He spoke kindly, ruffling her hair lightly and causing her to pout. "Not every mission ends with fighting. As you get older and rise in rank, you'll come to relish quiet missions like this one."

Iwabi stopped in the middle of the trail prompting Akari to do the same as behind them, the other members of team 12 bickered playfully. He looked around at the forest around them for a moment, face slightly concerned. The clearing around them was quiet. Eerily so.

'Although," he spoke as he continued to scan the surrounding forest, "it is a bit strange we haven't seen any signs of bandit activity. Part of the mission is bandit extermination which means there is at least one or two bandit companies about and yet we haven't seen any indication of it. No abandoned camps or snuffed fire pits, nothing."

"Maybe they got tired of waiting for us to arrive and took care of the bandits themselves." Akari offered. It wasn't unheard of. Some places like the town they were going to were so out of the way that by the time the messenger with the mission request arrived at the village, weeks or even months had passed due to the lack of chakra used in their travel. This usually led to the town in question having to take matters into their own hands which rarely ended well.

"That's one possibility," Iwabi nodded, still gazing intently at the forest around them "but unlikely. If that were the case we would have seen at least some indication of battles or Haruka would have smelled blood on the wind. No, it's more likely that another team of shinobi dealt with the bandits first. And they're most likely still here." He finished, looking grim.

Akari's face immediately turned serious and she turned to her still bickering teammates, "Haruka! Denji! Form on me!" They immediately sobered up an rushed to her either side looking serious as they awaited her orders. "Possible enemy shinobi in the vicinty. I need both of you on high alert. Haruka, I need you and Toji keeping a nose out for any unusual scents. Denji, guard me as I make a chakra net, I don't want any surprises."

Receiving confirmation from her teammates, Akari closed her eyes and began releasing chakra in thin waves around her. The technique she was using relied on the same principles as echolocation, as her chakra spread out in waves, any unknow chakra it encountered would immediately ping itself on her senses. It was a difficult technique to master being extremely chakra intensive and even Akari herself could only use it in short bursts.

It only took a moment however, for her chakra to collide with someone elses. Multiple someones. Akari gasped and turned to warn her team but was interrupted by a hail of kunai coming from the brush to their left.

"Haruka!" she shouted as the kunai grew closer to their position.

"On it!" The Inuzuka shouted, blurring through handseals before bringing one hand to her mouth and inhaling deeply, "Wind Release: Wind Tunnel!"

From her mouth a vortex of wind surged forth, spinning rapidly and knocking the kunai off course and knocking branches from a tree in front of her. Akari recognized them as mist kunai, the signature curve unmistakable.

"Multiple incoming enemy shinobi! Most likely Kiri!" Akari shouted to her team as she pulled out her own kunai. Beside her, she heard the sound of Denji unsheating his nodachi and felt the sting of ozone as he readied his chakra to channel into it. "We're surrounded! At least thirty chunin level opponents maybe more!"

"Thirty!? Are you fucking kidding me!?" Haruka yelled incredulously as she and Toji got into a ready position at the rear, "How did we not notice them!? You're a sensor and I'm an Inuzuka! How the hell did that many sneak up on us?"

"They must have known we were coming, there's no other explanation." Denji spoke up from beside her, his knuckles popping as he tightened his grip on the hilt, "They probably got the information from the town we received the mission from. Willingly or not."

Akari cursed as she felt their opponents grow closer. She looked over at Iwabi, "Sensei, what are the odds we can escape before they reach us?" She asked despite already having a good idea of what the answer would be.

Her sensei shook his head, confirming her fears, "Almost zero. There are way too many of them and that's not even accounting for backup. No, we have to make a stand here." He pulled out a scroll, channeling chakra through it, and two sickles appeared in a puff of smoke. He twirled them expertly before turning and batting away a senbon that had been thrown toward his neck by a nin sitting in the tree. Akari threw a kunai in retaliation and was surprised when it hit the mist nin in the neck, killing him without so much as a modicum of defense. His blank face didn't change even as he tumbled to the ground, blood seeping into the dirt.

Akari frowned, projectiles had never been her strong suit and she knew she hadn't thrown the kunai fast enough that he wouldn't be able to put up a defense against it yet he just sat there and took it to the neck without even trying to dodge.

Akari was jolted from her thoughts by a large buildup of chakra to her right. She turned and saw a large mist nin flipping through handseals at a rapid pace. She opened her mouth to warn her team but was interrupted as the nin finished his technique.

"Water Release: Hidden Mist Justu!" He opened his mouth wide and expelled a massive quantity of mist that immediately spread around the clearing, bringing the visibility to near zero.

Akari's eyes darted from left to right, trying to pick out any detail that would help her fend off the attack she knew was soon to come. Beside her she felt Denji tense and further tighten his grip on his nodachi, the leather creaking with the force of his grip. Behind her she heard Toji growl, no doubt becoming agitated with the increasing lack of visibility.

A whistling sound met her ears and was soon followed by a small thud and a sizzling sound from the ground beside her. A paper bomb attached to a kunai burned merrily from it's place in the dirt.

Akari immediately expelled chakra from her feet, sending herself flying forward and away from imminent death. She distantly felt her teammates do the same before her senses were consumed by a massive explosion that sent her flying foward, further into the forest and away from her team.

Akari landed in a tumble, rolling for a few meters before springing up and flipping onto her feet. She stumbled for a moment before reorienting herself just in time to see several enemies emerge from the forest around her. There had to be at least twelve of them, all sporting the same blank expression.

The Uchiha growled in anger at being separated from her team, "Alright then you mist bastards! You wanna play!? Let's fucking play!" She held a hand to the seal on her wrist, channeling chakra through it and relishing in the weight of the chain that was spat into her palm in a puff of smoke. She spun the weighted ends of Rumi around her body in a flourish before sending the spiked ball souring at her closest foe, a kunoichi around ten years older than Akari herself. The heavy end smashed into the mist nin's face with a massive amount of momentum. Her neck snapped with a sickening *Crack* and the clearing was silent as the now dead kunoichi fell to the ground with a thud.

Akari grinned viciously as she yanked on the chain, pulling Rumi back towards her before she twisted and spun, sending the weapon twirling around her body before throwing it out once more to smash against another nin's chest sending him flying backwards with a shattered ribcage.

Her assault couldn't last uncontested forever though, as two of her enemies surged forward in an attempt to stop her before she could build up any more momentum.

'That's fine though.' Akari thought to herself as she channeled chakra though one of Rumi's many seals, causing the weapon to liquify and reform in her hands in the shape of long, curved kunai just as one of the approaching nin went to stab her in the throat.

She ducked low, slipping under his arm before planting Rumi's blade in the tender flesh of his armpit, hitting his heart and killing him instantly. She ripped the weapon out and parried the blow of the second nin as he came upon her. She manipulated Rumi's form once again, liquifying it before quickly reforming it and leaving the enemies kunai trapped. Akari then used her offhand to stab the nin in the neck with a spare kunai, leaving him to gurgle innefectivly and slowly choke to death on his own blood.

Akari glanced sharply to her right as she felt several surges of chakra. She was met with a enormous wall of water taller the trees and just as wide and cursed as she rapidly formed handseals, finishing them right as the wave reached her. She slapped her hands on the dirt in front of her, "Earth Release: Earth Rampart!"

The ground in front of her surged up at an angle, leaving Akari in it's shadow as the water flowed harmlessly over it. Akari panted tiredly from behind her creation, her chakra had noticeably dipped.

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"Using Rumi must take more chakra than I thought." She said to herself as she dug in her tool pouch for a soldier pill. "I'll have to practice with it when I'm not in mortal danger." She swallowed the chakra suppliment and sighed in relief as she felt her chakra stores begin to quickly fill back up. She sat there for another moment, sealing Rumi back into her wrist before slowly making her way out of cover.

As her enemies came into view, Akari gulped in fear. Her enemies had clearly been reinforced as where before there were only a dozen, less after she killed three of them, now there were at least twenty more each with the same blank expression as the others. There was no way she could win.

She steeled herself, if she was going to die today she was going to bring down as many of them as she could before she did so. Taking a deep breath, Akari gulped down another soldier pill before brandishing a kunai and charging foward with a warcry.

The next several minutes felt like hours as her life was consumed by blood, fear, and desperation. She slit throats, crushed jugulars, and did whatever else she had to to kill the people who wanted to do the same to her. By the end of it, she was covered in so many wounds and so much blood she didn't know how much was hers or the enemy's. What mattered though was that she was winning or, if not winning than at least surviving.

Then she tripped on the corpse of a enemy she had slain moments before and tumbled to the ground. Horror filled her mind as she looked up to see a man with a tanto in hand raise it above her head before bringing it down upon her. Akari's eyes burned, vision sharpening and allowing her to see her approaching death with extreme clarity.

The blade approached in what seemed like slow motion and Akari chuckled in dispair as she realised what had happened. 'Of course I unlock my Sharingan right as I'm about to die.' She thought as she stared at her encroaching death, 'What a fucking joke.'

She closed her eyes, not willing to watch the blade take the life from her body. She sat there, eyes tightly shut for what seemed to her like ages before slowly opening them to see what exactly was taking so long.

She was greeted by the tip of a blade coated in blood inches from her face. Following the blade back to it's source, Akari looked past the blade to the smirking face of Denji peeking out from behind the man he had ran through.

"Good evening Akari." He greeted as he yanked the blade from the corpse of the man who had nearly killed her, "I hope you don't mind if I take this one. I know we don't encourage kill stealing but you seemed a little preoccupied."

Akari teared up a little, "You bastard." She sniffled slightly, "It's about damn time you showed up." Denji held out a hand which she took as he helped her to her feet.

He patted her on the shoulder before standing behind her, nodachi held at the ready as he guarded her back, "What do you say we take these guys on together?"

Akari nodded in agreement as they stood back to back, "Sounds like a plan, let's kill all of these bastards and find Haruka. She's probably bored out of her mind without us there."

Denji smirked, "Knowing her, she's probably sleeping on a pile of corpses. You know she is going to be insufferable once we fin-"

He was interrupted as an object flew through the mist in their direction, coming to a stop at their feet. Akari's mind went numb with shock and she felt Denji go slack behind her as they recognized the object for what it was.

They stared in horror at the bisected upper half of Toji, the ninkin's lower body nowhere to be found.

The sound of chuckling drew their eyes away from the gruesome sight to one that was magnitudes worse.

A massive figure was walking slowly towards them, large muscles bulging grotequely as he held the struggling form of Haruka by the neck in one hand. She kicked innefectivly at his torso in an attempt to get free even as her face slowly turned blue from lack of oxygen.

Their eyes met and Haruka slowly mouthed 'Help me' to Akari as the Uchiha stood frozen in horror. Akari watched in slow motion, eyes burning once more as the man's obscene muscles bulged before a horrific *Crack* rang out and her teammate went limp, now lifeless eyes still staring into Akari's own.

"Oops," the man grinned at them, yellowed teeth sharpened to points, "I broke her."

"HARUKA!" Denji screamed in rage from beside her. Akari felt a surge of chakra and the crackling of ozone as he channled his lightning chakra down the length of his sword and charged straight at the still grinning mist nin.

"Denji no!" Akari reached out in a fruitless attempt to stop him. The tall genin reared his sword back with a yell and attempted to slice down upon the massive man but was unsuccessful as the enemy simply dodged to the side before pulling a large hammer from his belt and deflecting the follow up strike with a laugh. Each subsequent attack was similarly dodged or deflected as the mist nin toyed with his opponent.

Akari attempted to chase after him to assist but was forced to dodge out of the way of a water bullet that nearly took off her head. She was unable to dodge the second however, which impacted her side with the force of a train and sent her flying deep into the forest with a scream of pain.

She flew several yards before reorienting herself and landing feet first on the trunk of a tree. Sticking to the tree with chakra, the Uchiha took a moment to catch her breath as she observed her new surroundings warily. She was in a large clearing, the distinct crackling feeling of Denji's chakra could be felt on the other side of the cusp of trees opposite her. Between her and it however, were at least twenty more Mist nin all staring directly at her. And barely had any chakra.

She did however, have several soldier pills left.

Akari took a deep shuddering breath and looked to the pouch on her hip, rage suffusing her very being as she recalled what had happened to Haruka. What might happen to Denji if she didn't make it back in time. This wasn't the time for hesitation.

"Fuck it, I'll just burn off the chakra faster than I regenerate it." She muttered, digging angrily into her tool pouch once more and withdrawing a fistful of pills. She stared at them for a moment before breathing deeply and swallowing the lot in one go.

Akari gasped in discomfort as her chakra stores shot up like a rocket, her coils straining as they were filled to bursting. She had maybe a few seconds to burn as much chakra as possible before her coils overfilled and were permanently damaged, crippling her for life. She'd have to do this as quick as possible.

She unsealed Rumi once more, activating the seals and changing it into a naginata, the drain on her chakra now negligible as it filled faster than it emptied.

Sending chakra to her legs, Akari launched herself at the group of enemy shinobi, the tree she had been attached to snapping in two from the force of her chakra. She crossed the clearing in a second, swiping Rumi in a wide arc in front of her and decapitating two shinobi in one go. Twirling, she brought the rear of the naginata up and deflected a sword strike aimed for her back before spinning it around and stabbing the offending nin in the stomach.

Feeling a surge of chakra behind her the Uchiha lept into the air, dodging a large water bullet in the process. Still in the air due to the force of her jump, Akari attached Rumi to her back with chakra before flipping through handeals at a rapid pace.

Ending on the tiger seal, Akari inhaled deeply before bringing her hand to her mouth, forming a ring with her index finger and thumb as every Uchiha had been taught to do, "Fire Release: Great Fireball!"

From her mouth came a massive fireball several meters in diameter, the heat was so great the mist around the clearing instantly turned to steam. It impacted the ground with a large explosion, incinerating several mist nin who were unfortunate enough to be in the impact area.

Akari landed at the edge of the clearing unnoticed, the steam bringing the already low visibility to near zero. She took a deep breath as she gathered as much chakra as she could from her still filling coils in preparation for her final jutsu.

Her mother had practically pounded this technique into her head via several months of practice, citing it was essential should she ever find herself outnumbered with no backup. It was one of the many jutsu that earned the older Uchiha her Bingo Book entry as well as her S-Class status.

Akari's eyes snapped open, Sharingan spinning wildly as her hands finally finished the seal sequence. She crouched, slamming her palms harshly on the ground screaming, "Earth Release: Gaia's Garden!" and sending a massive pulse of the gathered chakra underground.

The clearing rumbled powerfully before erupting. Massive stone spikes rose from the ground, reaching toward the sky regardless of who or what stood in their way. The anguished screams of those hit by spikes were ignored as they continued to rise before exploding, branching out in all directions and tearing several of those impaled upon them into several pieces. Blood fell from the heavens, soaking the ground in some twisted fascimile of rainwater.

Several shinobi attempted to flee the clearing but were ultimately unsuccessful as the shrapnel from the technique caught them anyway. Some attempted to defend themselves with walls of water or wind. The garden didn't care, tearing through the defenses as if they weren't even there before skewering those who had dared put up any resistance.

The technique lasted several seconds, earthen spikes rising and blooming before falling and doing it all again. All the while the screams of those caught in the technique rang in the caster's ears. By the time the jutsu ended, the clearing was silent apart from the sound of the victim's blood hitting the ground and Akari's panting as her chakra slowly returned to normal.

The Uchiha stayed crouched there for several seconds as she attempted to catch her breath, her Sharingan deactivating as her eyes stung from the dust that now floated around the clearing. Her chakra coils ached from overuse and she felt like she was going to throw up. She couldn't stop now however, Denji still needed her.

She stood, legs trembling slightly before she steadied herself on the tree beside her. She looked at the clearing her technique had devastated. Hundreds of stone spires leapt up from the earth as if trying to escape into the heavens. The corpses of those impaled upon them hung limp, arms and legs (Those that were still attached) dangling like wet noodles. The floor of the clearing was soaked in so much blood that the original green of the grass had been replaced with crimson red. The Uchiha turned away from the carnage before quickly making her way back toward Denji, cursing and increasing her speed as a scream of pain rang out in the direction of his chakra.

Breaking throught the treeline, Akari was horrified to find Denji on the ground, blood leaking rapidly from his leg which had been severed just below the knee. His nodachi lay broken in half just out of his reach, covered in it's master's blood as his assailant loomed over him in preparation to deliver the final blow. Their eyes met, and Akari realized she was about to lose another teammate.

"NOOOO!" She screamed, throwing a kunai in a desperate attempt to stop her teammates execution. The mist nin simply leaned his head to the left, dodging her attempt.

He turned towards her, raising his hammer with a malicious grin on his face, "And then there was one!" He exclaimed, swinging his arm down to crush her teammates skull.

Akari watched, helpless as the hammer approached Denji's head in slow motion, too far away to do anything but too close to look away. Denji's eyes burned into her own, going from fearful to angry to resigned as his death approached.

*CLANG*

The forest was silent. As the hammer was stopped inches from Denji's skull by a bloodsoaked sickle.

Akari stared in relief as her missing sensei saved her teammates life. Iwabi looked worse for wear, his normally spotless jonin uniform was torn in several places and covered in blood. The leaf headband he normally wore around his left arm was gone and in it's place was a large gash that was still bleeding profusely and the arm itself hung slightly limp. Despite all of this, he was still the greatest sight Akari had seen in her 16 years alive.

The mist nin wasn't nearly as happy to see him, jumping back to gain some distance from the sickle user he scowled, "I thought Yuma killed you."

Her sensei stepped in front of Denji's prone form, blocking him from the enemy nin's view, "She almost did." he stated casually as Akari kneeled at Denji's side and started wrapping his leg tightly with bandages, "unfortunately she left herself open one too many times gloating about my inevitable death. My sickles made sure she didn't gloat for long."

"Tch," the mist nin spat as he pulled a second hammer from his belt and readied himself for battle, "I always told that woman her mouth would get her killed one day. Although," He grinned, looking at Iwabi's wounded arm, "it looks like she still managed to tag you with those kunai of hers. The poison working it's way through your system won't be enough to kill you but it will make it a bitch to fight me."

"Oh well," he laughed twirling one hammer in preparation, "guess that just means I get to kill you myself." He launched himself at Iwabi with a shout.

Akari's sensei met the mist nin half way, form blurring as they exchanges blows too rapidly for her Sharingan to catch. Sparks leapt from between them as the silvery streaks of their weapons caught each other.

They clashed one final time before leaping away, both breathing heavily though Iwabi was clearly worse off, swaying slightly on his feet. Despite that, he was still the only thing between them and certain death.

Her sensei glanced toward her, keeping the enemy nin in view, "Akari, take Denji and get out of here, this isn't an opponent you can face."

Akari shook her head as below her, Denji blinked blearily from blood loss, "No sensei, we both know you won't last long against him. You're barely standing as it is." And she was right, Iwabi's wounded arm had gone completely limp from Yuma's poison. He wouldn't last much longer without both arms to use his sickles. "I'll send a mud clone to get Denji away, just let me help you. Please sensei." She begged Iwabi.

He stared at her for a moment, eyes widening slightly as he saw her active Sharingan, before nodding slightly, "Alright Akari," he sighed, "We'll take him together, just get Denji out of here."

Akari nodded in relief, putting her hands in the ram sign before placing a palm on the ground, "Earth Release: Mud Clone" The dirt bubbled for a moment before spitting out an identical Akari who nodded at them before placing Denji on it's shoulder and sinking back into the ground. Akari followed it as it sped underground using the chakra tether that was attached to herself.

"You realize it's going to drain your chakra until it dispells right?" Her sensei asked from beside her as they readied theirselves.

She nodded, nearly every cloning jutsu came with ups and downs. Shadow clones were extremely chakra intensive but could transmit memories back to the maker. Water clones didn't last very long and were generally weak but as long as you had a water source, they were very easy to make . Mud clones like the one Akari used were extremely durable, able to reform themselves after sustaining damage but they also needed a constant stream of chakra to stay active.

"We will just have to finish this quickly then." Akari said to her sensei as she unsealed Rumi once more, keeping it in it's meteor hammer form. She'd have to refrain from changing it's form in this battle to avoid using too much chakra.

"That's going to be difficult. The man across from us is Buri Aogawa, an A-rank shinobi known for his brutal fighting style. He just barely missed the cut for being a Swordsman of the Mist, mostly due to the fact that Jinin Akebino died with Helmsplitter in his possession." Her sensei shook his shoulders to relieve tension, "If we are going to have any chance at defeating him, we are going to have to cover each other's weak spots. I attack, you defend and vice versa. Got it?"

Akari nodded, twirling Rumi to build momentum.

"Let's go!"