A/N: I think I gave away too much in this chapter. SO PAY ATTENTION. This is the most important chapter I have written yet and I want you guys to try and figure this out—I hardly doubt you can figure out most of my plans but, you know, you can try. :P
And there’s going to be a new character. I HATE HIM. I ABSOLUTELY HATE HIM. >:(
“Roger!” Kohana said with a nod and leaped away from the long vertical log she, Kakashi and Naruto stood on. Naruto, despite the impatience, anger and determination to save Gaara at the moment, he briefly let himself be curious about Kohana suddenly departing.
“Where did Nee-chan go?”
Kakashi narrowed his eyes at Deidara, who seemed a little bothered by the Konoha-nin not chasing him at the moment. He sort of wanted a fight, even if it was supposed to be his priority to take Gaara away from Kakashi’s team.
Shrugging, he just decided to let it go; they would follow him soon after anyway.
Once he turned away, Kakashi and Naruto pushed off the wooden surface and started to jump over each one along the way, desperate to reach Gaara.
Gritting her teeth, Kohana stealthily ran across the forest and after Deidara. The most she had improved on over the years was her speed and, of course, her favorite, footwork. From being impressively fast to becoming more comparable to the speed of Namikaze Minato, Konoha’s Yellow Flash, that wasn’t the only thing about her speed that changed. Now, her feet were extremely light, as if air merely passed over the grass on the ground, and although clippings often flew due to the pressure of her feet, hardly any human ears could hear the sound of her feather-light footsteps. Sure, it used up quite an amount of Kohana’s energy, but it was time-saving and needed most when it came to chases and such. Which was also why Kohana was recommended to clients whose problems involved escaping prisoners, bandits and other kinds of criminals—almost totally unrelated to the Akatsuki.
Kohana’s heavily improved speed was also the reason why Kakashi let her cooperate with them from the shadows. If she were to stay with him and Naruto, both men wouldn’t really be able to catch up, not to mention Kohana was better reserved for stealth and surprise attacks. Deidara wouldn’t know what would hit him… if something were to go wrong, Kohana could easily take him to a one-on-one fight while Kakashi and Naruto would be able to retrieve Gaara through any means necessary for the young Kazekage. Of course, they would have to do the job quickly, Kohana, even as a very active jōnin on her way to being an expert wouldn’t be able to last too long with Deidara due to their difference in style. Kenjustu was only perfect for short-range attacks, while Deidara, being a bomber, was a veteran when it came down to mid to long-range attacks.
And if Kakashi wasn’t fully confident about being able to stop Deidara right away, there was probably no way that Kohana would withstand fighting the young man longer than the Copy Ninja could.
Gritting her teeth, Kohana willed herself to stay calm. She was worried, to say the least, about Sakura and Chiyo because, according to Deidara, Sasori was stronger than he was and that only served to escalate Kohana’s concern for both of them. Since three of them were battling Deidara, she was a little more confident that they would be able to rescue Gaara in time. As for Team Gai, she had full faith that they would make it.
Nao grumbled under her breath, following closely after Katashi. For once, the twenty-year old psychotic male was unusually quiet today, and his steps were a little shorter than his usually long and quick strides, also giving Nao some time to keep up. If she were to be honest, the teenage was bothered by the sudden silence and contemplative atmosphere that Katashi secreted.
