6 Chapter Five: Friendly Fire

​Yuna stared into Itachi's still, unmoving eyes. He held her gaze with a steely intent that sent her heart racing again.

Something was wrong.

She sensed something foul leaked into his aura. Killing intent.

Yuna's instinct flared and she dove to the side. "KAI!" The Genjutsu altering her perception shattered revealing Itachi's diminutive form as he zipped towards her with a screaming mass of lightning in his palm. Recognition flared in Yuna's eyes as she kicked against the ground launching herself up into the air.

Lightning Release: Chidori.

A technique that involves channelling and compressing a high concentration of chakra in the user's palm. The chakra compressed is then released through a single point as a concentrated, high-speed piercing attack.

Created by the infamous Copy Ninja, this technique was soundly dubbed…

The "Lightning Cutter".

Below, Itachi glared up at her as he zoomed past ineffectually.

Yuna's eyes widened, as Itachi skidded around the tree in his path, before launching himself into the air after her. Her hands blurred through a series of hand seals and an earth clone puffed in existence in front of her, catching the lightning-coated palm that was stabbing towards her heart with its body.

Unwilling to retaliate, yet fearful for her own wellbeing, Yuna hit the ground running, flickering from branch to branch as she tried to force more distance between them. Itachi pursued, seemingly intent to decisively end the threat he assumed she posed. Yuna pivoted mid-air to catch him weaving seals.

"No more of that!" she declared, kicking against a tree trunk to put the boy back within arms reach. Forcing him to disrupt his technique execution, as his hands rose from a two-handed dragon seal into a full guard, she kicked down with a twirling motion to break said guard.

The Uchiha recoiled into the forest undergrowth and Yuna pursued after him, reaching out to grab his high collar. In response, Itachi's arm shot out to catch her outstretched hand and somehow force it through a series of hand signs. With his free hand, he tossed a kunai at her face which she promptly batted away with her other arm.

犬. 羊. 猪.

Inu. Hitsuji. Ino.

Earth Release: Mudslide.

Yuna forced her eyes closed as they both fell into a rising wave of dirt. The tumble was disorientating as it was irritating. Left with no choice, she let the Uchiha go as she tucked and rolled, allowing the wave of earth to move her some distance before spitting her out. Yuna emerged, filthy from the ride as she took a stance in anticipation of Itachi's continued assault.

"Look! Itachi!" she shouted. "I think there's been a misunderstand—" Yuna leapt, narrowly dodging the pair of grasping arms that shot out from the earth beneath her. Itachi pursed again, punching towards her head. Yuna caught his fist, planting a proper gut-wrencher in the side of his gut. The Uchiha bore it admirably, retaliating a spinning kick to the face. Yuna just barely dodged it, the sole of his foot scraping along her cheek as he spun past. Yuna's grip tightened around his fist, disallowing him from stabilising his balance.

Sensing weakness, Yuna dropped to the ground with a spinning kick of her own that uprooted the boy's feet from beneath him. The bones in his restrained fist dislocated, allowing the appendage to slip from Yuna's grasp. From the corner of her eyes, she caught him forming a single-handed seal with his good hand.

蛇.

Hebi.

Violent Heavenly Earth Needle.

Fucking Sharingan, Yuna groaned internally as she began to lean out of the way. Still spinning in mid-air, Itachi stabbed fingers-first into the ground, the earth rippling like water as it parted like butter around his hand. As if guided by the hand stuck in the earth, a spike of earth emerged, spiralling in Yuna's direction.

At that moment, she realised he was far too close for her to evade completely. Thinking fast, Yuna leaned back, her hands flashed through a cluster of seals. A split moment later, the earth beneath them suddenly fissured, opening like a massive maw as the technique, Earth Release: Fissure, took hold. With a thunderclap, the spilt widened by a few dozen meters to swallow herself, Itachi, and the spike of death he sent her way whole.

…

The fall felt much longer than it had any right to be. Barely catching herself on one of the sheer cliffs, Yuna's gaze immediately panned in search of Itachi. The boy was hanging off the opposite rockfall, his crimson eyes gleaming in the darkness.

"Kai!" Yuna immediately looked away as she felt the illusions he was starting to weave in her mind break.

"I don't want to fight you," she tried again, hoping he would listen this time.

Itachi scoffed in response. "You've got a funny way of displaying that," he replied, panting laboriously just as she was, his distrust ringing clear in the empty cavern.

Hearing that, Yuna growled in irritation. "Look," she said, her impatience mounting, "I am sorry, ok? That first time was an accident."

"Yeah… sure."

"...You are hurt," Yuna pointed out in an attempt to reason with him. "Most likely bleeding out. We need to get you to a medic immediately. I swear, I am not trying to hurt you. Just stop trying to kill me. We can both simply wait here if you like: with all this commotion, someone is going to eventually come to investigate."

Itachi scoffed again. "Sure," he said disdainfully. "Let's do that. Let's just wait here while I continue to weaken as I bleed out. I am sure you would like that a lot. Especially since you were the one who decided to bring us out here to one of the least populated training areas in the village. Pretty convenient, isn't it."

Yuna was stunned. "You think this is an assassination attempt?"

Itachi huffed, evidently exhausted. "What else is this supposed to be? A picnic?"

Despite herself, Yuna chuffed at the sheer absurdity of the statement before a sobering realization dawned on her. "...You really believe someone is out there, plotting to kill you?" She asked, her face contorting in a frown. "You barely just got out of the academy."

Itachi didn't respond.

A loud bark echoed in the silence that followed and Yuna looked up to see Hachi, still in his beast clone form, peering over the ledge. A sigh escaped her as she sensed the boy across from her grow tense.

"It's alright, Hachi!" Yuna yelled back at her ninken above. "It's just a misunderstanding! We are working it out!"

"Alright," Yuna continued, turning her attention back to the boy across from her. "We can work something out."

"Like what?"

"...I will surrender myself to you if you promise not to harm me. We need to get you to a medic, Itachi. Take me hostage if you like, but we need to get you some help."

Hearing that, Hachi barked again, a warning ringing in his voice. Yuna made a gesture to placate the ninken as she awaited Itachi's decision.

"...Look me in the eye," Itachi eventually ordered.

Without hesitation, Yuna complied.