The White Flash

Seed

            Chakra ran down her legs, pooling into the soles of her feet. She sent it into the ground in an instant. Ayumi shot across the field. Her clone reached for Sasuke as Ayumi stepped on Zabuza's stomach and spun. Nailing the Jounin with a kick. Zabuza stumbled back. Another burst of chakra shot from her feet the moment they touched the ground. Ayumi fell towards him, a clenched fist glowing orange. She pulled it back until her torso twisted. There was a sizzle as knuckle met jaw. The clone dispersed.

Ayumi landed with light feet, steam from the water droplets still rising from her fist. A tight grip latched onto her forearm. She was yanked to the side. The forest blurred into the sky. Ayumi was slammed onto a group of small spikes. She cried out. Zabuza stood over her with a wide grin showing through his bandages.

"Ayumi-chan!" Sakura's shrill voice filled the forest. Ayumi placed her hands against the dirt, sizzling as their heat cooled. Her arm scraped against the makibishi spikes as she tried to sit up. A large foot stomped onto her gut and forced her back down. Burrowing the spikes further into her limbs.

"How's this Kakashi?" Zabuza laughed, twisting his foot into her stomach. "The trap you set for me being used against your daughter." Her teeth clenched and eyes closed. Painting the picture of a symbol to her right. She vanished from beneath Zabuza, placing a hand against Kohei's unconscious body to cushion her fall. "What the hell?!"

Iron flooded her taste buds and she spat it onto the ground. She swiped the red string of saliva from her lower lip, green eyes daggers as they met her opponent. "I'm not... I'm not going to stop until..." She pushed up on her knee, her back stinging as the makibishi spikes moved in her skin. She stumbled a step to her right, "until you let Papa go." Monkey-Ox-Tiger-Boar-Snake. Earth style: Tamaishi Danmaku! A strong wind lifted her hair from her shoulders. Pebbles and rocks rose from the ground surrounding her and shot towards Zabuza.

He lifted his sword from his back with ease and with one swipe the pebbles were knocked aside. "Is that all you got?"

The corner of her mouth lifted as she looked past Zabuza. "Ignite." Zabuza turned, eyes widening. Ayumi's clone stood just behind him, skin glowing and expanding. Ayumi shut her eyes and turned her head just before it exploded in a blinding light.

"Fuck!"

Ayumi reached into her weapons pouch and pulled out three kunai for each hand. Burning her chakra into the handle she turned back and threw them around the field. Zabuza was stunned, rubbing at his eyes. She looked to her comrades. Oops, she grimaced. In all honesty, it would have been a good idea to let them know about the flashbang she was planning. They were in the same state as Zabuza. A frown settled soon after as she noticed they were in the same exact spots as before. This entire time they haven't moved a fucking inch. She sighed.

Her gaze moved to a kunai that landed among the makibishi spikes along the shoreline. She was there. Careful not to step on them she threw a kunai at the real Zabuza. Like the others, his vision was no more impaired than looking into the sun for a few seconds, dotted with white spots-nothing more. "Not bad," he chuckled. He moved his head slightly to the side, catching the weapon with his free hand. "But not good enough." He turned it and threw it back. Ayumi ducked.

"Ayumi on your right!" Kakashi shouted. A flash of silver entered her vision. She vanished.

Ayumi stood next to Naruto, legs shaking like a leaf. She fell to one knee, head hanging and lungs hot. Her limbs and back stung, thin trails of red curled around her muscles on a path towards the ground. "A-Ayumi-chan." She turned her head slightly to Naruto, his blue eyes wide with fright. Her gaze travelled the others. Hiro was in a similar state, his entire body shaking while Sakura had her hands clasped together in front of her chest. Sasuke seemed to be the only one capable of moving. "Uchiha-kun."

"What?"

"Go..." She forced herself to her feet, stumbling a few steps forward. "For the real Zabuza." She took another kunai from her pouch, "I'll keep distracting the clone."

"Ayumi-chan, you can't in your condition," Sakura exclaimed.

"Don't worry," she faced them with a closed eye smile. "I won't let him pass me." She turned back, her smile falling. To be honest, it would be easier with another person but... what can you do? She was gone. Standing behind Zabuza, she landed a blow to his shin. He turned. She left. Her breathing was labored, and her body stung with every move. More... One foot planted she kicked up, nailing Zabuza's sword hand. The sword dropped. She spun, raising her opposite foot. He raised his hand to catch it. She vanished, following through her kick to his back. I need just a little more chakra!

"You little bitch!" Zabuza shouted. He picked up his sword and swung at her. She was gone.

The battlefield vanished. Ayumi paused and studied her surroundings. There was no sea, no Kakashi, and no Zabuza. She looked back to see a kunai stuck in the trunk of a tree. "So that's where this went," she breathed. Ayumi pulled the kunai from the bark, wincing as she pulled her arm back. Her knees wobbled and she stumbled back. "I... need to get back. Uchiha-kun needs my help." She needed to get back. She needed to protect Sakura and Naruto and Hiro and Tazuna. She needed to help her father. Just a little more!

There was a squirming beneath her clothes, a writhing of some kind of worm. It wiggled and crawled across her skin, sprouting like a weed from a single point at the small of her back. The fatigue that weighed down her limbs grew lighter, breath returning to her lungs. The ingrown worm/weed-like sensation creeped up her neck, bulging between her skull and skin. Her body grew hot.

A sharp pain struck the back of her neck at two points. Any strength that had returned to her body was zapped from her feet. The weed-like sensation vibrated and retreated. She crumbled to the ground, her cheek bouncing off the earth. "I am sorry." A gentle voice, soothing and innocent. "But I cannot let you return to your friends in that state."

"Wha...?" Her voice trailed off, drowsiness pulling at her eyelids. Pale legs stood in her vision, accompanied by light-brown platoon sandals. The shinobi squatted and flipped her over. She saw the white mask of a tracker ninja, the symbol etched on the forehead that of a Kirigakure ninja. Carefully, he lifted her into his arms. They left the ground, venturing into the trees.

"You should be safe here." Ayumi was laid along a tree branch, just wide enough to support her hips and shoulder and letting her limbs dangle. The shinobi removed whatever had struck her neck before gently resting her head against the bark. "If your comrades survive, I will send them to you." With that he turned and left. Ayumi's vision blurred and darkened, her consciousness fading.