Let It Burn: Life [Sasuke Uchiha]

Chapter 24

Again, it was raining, but Mai paid no mind to it as she swung through the trees at top speed. Jiraiya stopped her before leaving the Village to give her information from one of his reliable sources. She found herself heading west after the last sighting of Akatsuki movements. The others weren't too far behind, but the Be Fong made sure to put some distance between them. The teen didn't want to interfere with their tracking or potentially running into him.

There weren't any tracks to show the organization's movements in the forest. She trusted the Sannin's information the further she went. It was only when something massive set off her strings miles ahead that the Be Fong paused. The chakra wasn't familiar, and approaching quickly.

A shadow casted over the top branches, reaching down to her level. The teen glanced up realizing it had been some kind of bird. The source of the chakra. The shadow had been fairly large for any avian in this region drawing her curiosity. Climbing the tree her head carefully peeked out from the branches to see a plump bird flying in the direction she was headed. And then it suddenly veered, not something a bird would do unless being hunted, but there was no predator. Then the Be Fong's eyes landed on its back when it turned. Two figures were perched there and her memory went back to the report she read from Kakashi and Naruto's pursuit of the Akatsuki criminal Deidara. The rescue mission surrounding Gaara's capture. It had to be him. A bomber of his technique and caliber was rare. Very dangerous.

Slipping through the shadows, she never lost sight of it. For nearly an hour they traveled at a leisurely pace as if in search of something. They were getting too close to the route Naruto and the others were taking and that made the Be Fong nervous. The teen began to wonder if she should step in to intervene, and try not to give herself away in the process. But Mai only knew little about Deidara, and even less about his new partner. They had killed the last one, Sasori, so where had he come from?

The unknown man disappeared from the back of the bird, her senses heightening. Had they discovered she was tracking them? A hand unconscious twitched towards a short sword in the belt. However, the bird suddenly dive-bombed and a massive explosion occurred upon impact. The ground trembled, causing the trees to shake and groan as the forest came to life. Animals of all shapes and sizes that had been hidden ran away from the danger screeching at the top of their lungs in warning. Mai held onto the tree tightly so not to fall, waiting for the branch she stood on to balance once more. There were multiple blasts that followed and the Be Fong's hands gripped the strings, pulling back before launching herself through the air. Chakra flared in the area, but what struck the ninja as odd was that one seemed to change as another large explosion rocked the ground.

Finally on the edge of the clearing, Mai caught herself before being exposed to observe the fight. Sure enough, Deidara was circling above on a new bird. He looked worse for wear with blood dripping from his wounds. Scanning the tree line, she found his partner untouched and otherwise not bothering to fight whomever their opponent was, obscured in the cloud of dirt. When a great gust cleared it away, the ninja swore she stopped breathing for a moment at the sight of Sasuke in his cursed seal form.

There were wings protruding from his back, skin having grown darker and scaled, teeth now fangs. She had never seen it this advanced before. After the Chuunin Exam leading up to his departure from Konoha, the Uchiha could only manage to cover part of his body in black markings to gain extra power. Obviously, the time spent with Orochimaru had allowed him to explore the curse mark further. As the transformation began to recede Mai could clearly see how the blasts had affected him. The protection hadn't taken affect in time to spare him completely. Looking back to the bomber her brows pinched in confusion. The Akatsuki member began to consume his clay, but not with the mouths in the palm of his hands like normal. He was treating the clay as if it were a meal.