Naruto - Azure Awakening

Akane's eyes widened in surprise as she noticed her opponent's chakra suddenly surge, nearly doubling in intensity. It became wilder, more aggressive. Yet, not even for a second did she consider retreating. She knew that her friends were behind her and if she lost, she'd be putting them in danger.

'Waiting is pointless. There is no use in wasting time, I must attack now.'

Akane flickered and reappeared behind her opponent in an instant. Before she had even fully materialized, her arm was already in motion as her blade sliced toward the elite chunin's neck. But just as the strike was about to land, her opponent's raging chakra stabilized. It was still violent, but no longer chaotic. The woman spun around as a cunning grin spread across her lips. She blocked the strike with far more ease than expected causing Akane's eyes to widen in surprise.

'I had a clear advantage in strength before, but now…' Akane's grip tightened on her weapon as she tensed. 'She's gotten stronger. Faster too and she was already quicker than me.'

Despite her opponent's clear advantage, there wasn't a trace of fear or doubt on Akane's face.

In an instant, her blade slipped free from the elite chunin's hold. The Kiri kunoichi had stopped her strike, pinning her weapon with her own, but Akane wasn't about to let that moment of control last. She knew that if her opponent fully seized the initiative, her chances of victory would disappear. So, instead of pulling back to regain distance or prioritize safety, she pressed forward, attacking again without hesitation.

This time, though her opponent managed to block once more, the shockwave from Akane's sword still reached her body. The force struck like a hammer blow, and this time, the Kiri shinobi visibly felt the impact.

'I don't know if I can win this fight,' Akane thought. 'But I know I can hold my ground. And there's no way this kind of chakra surge will last forever.'

Even as she fought, her mind worked nonstop as she analyzed her opponent's movements - looking for patterns, weaknesses and any opening she could exploit.

'A good shinobi never fights blindly. They always keep assessing the battlefield.'

Akane remembered Shin's words. It was a lesson from one of their sparring sessions. Akane had always listened carefully when Shin spoke as he was one of the few people she truly respected.

But there were times when analysis and strategy alone weren't enough to bridge the gap between strengths. And this was one of those times.

Akane had misjudged just how much her opponent's powers had grown.

The Kiri shinobi moved too fast as a sharp kick slammed into Akane's stomach, launching her backward before she could even react. But her opponent wasn't done as she pursued her mid-air, refusing to give her even a second to recover.

The moment she hit the ground the enemy was already there. Before Akane could even lift herself, an elbow slammed into her face with devastating force.

A sharp pop rang in her ears as pain exploded in her brain. For a moment, her vision also blurred.

However, through sheer will, Akane snapped back. She spat out blood and sprang to her feet.

This time, the Kiri kunoichi was just a moment too slow. Akane's fist slammed into her opponent's stomach with crushing force. If not for the insane levels of chakra reinforcing the elite chunin's body, Akane was certain she would have shattered a few ribs. To be fair, Kiri kunoichi wasn't the only one enhancing her body, Akane's Chakra Rotation technique fortified her strikes as well.

Even though the punch hadn't caused serious damage, it was significant for another reason. It restored Akane's confidence.

'The only reason she gained the advantage is because her chakra enhances her body.'

Thought Akane and spun into a kick as she aimed for the next strike. 'If I can find a way to push my Chakra Rotation technique further, I'm sure I can close the gap completely.'

The Kiri chunin raised an arm, blocking the kick, but the shockwave still sent a jolt of force through her body. Individually, these shockwaves were minor, but she had already taken quite a few of them. Little by little, they were adding up.

Yet, the gap between them was still too vast. Blocking the attack took little effort and now her counterattack came immediately.

She delivered a strong kick, aimed straight for Akane's head. She barely managed to lift her left arm in time to block it, but that was exactly what her opponent had been waiting for.

In the same instant, the Kiri shinobi's right hand flashed forward as the chakra blade sliced Akane's stomach.

Akane twisted at the last moment and jerked her torso back just enough to narrowly avoid a fatal wound, but she wasn't fast enough to escape completely.

The blade bit into her abdomen and blood erupted from the gash.

A deep wound. Not life-threatening yet, but severe enough to spell the end of the fight.

Akane's face twisted in pain, but the wound on her abdomen wasn't what weighed on her the most. The real fear creeping into her mind was the thought of losing this fight for her whole team. If she went down, her opponent would immediately shift to help other kiri shinobi and that would make things infinitely worse for her friends.

'I need to do something… I need to turn this around.'

Her vision blurred for a moment as her mind pulled away from the fight, desperately searching for a solution.

The elite chunin noticed.

A seasoned kunoichi wouldn't ignore such an opportunity. Without hesitation, she launched forward as her chakra flared wildly around her. The elite chunin knew Akane was vulnerable and distracted. She had no intention of giving her even a second to recover.

But that reckless aggression, that sudden surge of chakra, that was exactly what Akane needed to see.

Her eyes snapped back into focus as hope settled into them.

'Her chakra doesn't just move inside her body… it extends outward too, forming some kind of barrier around her.'

Then she realized something. She had seen this before - Toji Senju...

During their fight, his body was also wrapped in a thin layer of chakra.

'What if I do the same? What if I force even more chakra through the pathways I already use for Chakra Rotation? I'll pump so much that it won't be able to circulate smoothly anymore…'

She didn't have time to weigh the risks. It was all or nothing. If this failed, she'd lose. And losing in this fight meant death.

It took less than a second for her to act.

Akane had always excelled at chakra control, and now, she pushed that skill to its absolute limit. She flooded her pathways with chakra, forcing the flow far beyond what was safe, far beyond what she had ever attempted before.

The result was instantaneous.

A burst of energy exploded from her body, red-gold chakra surging outward in wild, flickering waves. It didn't just wrap around her, it bled into the air, distorting the space around her as it made the air crackle with tension.

Akane stared at her hands, she was feeling the raw power coursing through her whole body.

'I thought this would just cover my limbs, just strengthen my strikes. But this…'

Her fingers flexed as the chakra around her shivered, pulsed, expanded.

'This is so much better than I expected...'

Akane's thoughts were interrupted by a subtle sting in her abdomen. She looked down only to realize that the bleeding had stopped.

The chakra layer enveloping her entire body was forcing the blood to stay inside as it sealed the wound with nothing but sheer energy. It was an incredible effect, something she did not expect. But, like all things that seemed too good to be true, there was a price.

'My chakra is burning at an insane rate. I've got less than a minute to finish this fight.'

Time was against her, but strangely, she wasn't afraid. In fact, she felt an almost unnatural certainty that she would win.

In front of her the Kiri chunin stiffened as the change in Akane's presence and the raw intensity of her chakra made her hesitate. For the first time since gaining the burst of power, she felt overwhelmed.

Her entire body screamed at her to retreat, to stay away. Some primal instinct warned her that getting too close to Akane now would be dangerous. Possibly even lethal. But she ignored it.

A shinobi of her caliber refused to let fear control her, especially against a child. Her pride, sharpened by years of experience, overruled her instincts. She forced herself forward ignoring the ominous feeling with sheer willpower.

It was a mistake.

The speed advantage she had relied on so far was gone as Akane, who had barely been able to keep up before, effortlessly slipped past her attack, ducking under the incoming kick with inhuman grace. Before the chunin could adjust, Akane's fist moved upward - an uppercut straight to the jaw.

But she didn't stop there.

A brutal kick slammed into the Kiri nin's stomach, bending her forward with a choked gasp. The moment her opponent doubled over, Akane's blade flashed.

She swung for the kill, but at the last possible second, the chunin managed to jerk sideways, barely avoiding a fatal blow.

She wasn't fast enough to dodge entirely though as Akane's blade cut her shoulder cleanly.

A scream tore through the battlefield.

"Uuugh!!"

The Kiri chunin staggered. Her only remaining hand was holding the bloody wound where her other hand used to be. Kiri kunoichi's face was twisted into a grotesque blend of rage, pain, and fear.

"I'll kill you," she snarled. She was shaking uncontrollably - not with anger, but with the terrifying realization that she couldn't.

She had gambled everything on the red pill she had taken earlier, using it to artificially boost her chakra levels. But the same pill that had granted her power had robbed her of control.

She couldn't even use ninjutsu anymore.

And unlike Akane, she had no backup plan.

Akane saw it in her eyes. She had already won.

But she wasn't reckless.

Even though her victory was certain, she didn't allow herself to relax. One mistake was all it would take for everything to turn against her.

"If you surrender, I won't kill you," she said with a cold and indifferent voice.

Her voice was so devoid of emotion, so utterly indifferent that it didn't even sound like her own voice.

It sounded like Mizuki.

The Kiri kunoichi could see that Akane was burning through chakra at an insane rate. If she could drag this fight out just a little longer, she might still have a chance to kill her.

"Fine, I'll surrender, but I need a guarantee that you won't kill me afterward," the elite chūnin said as she placated an innocent, almost pleading expression.

Akane's gaze remained cold.

"First, release that technique. You're in no position to bargain." She could still speak, but in a few more seconds, it would be too risky to continue. If the kunoichi didn't comply, Akane would have no choice but to kill her.

'I'd rather keep her alive. We could use all the information we can get.'

"Fine, fine," the woman said, sighing dramatically. "But can you really guarantee my safety?"

She slowly began to rise, but Akane noticed immediately that her chakra field had not diminished in the slightest.

"This is your last warning. Stop that technique, or I'll kill you."

Akane tightened her grip on her blade, as she readied herself for final attack.

The kunoichi held her submissive posture for a second longer and then charged.

Her chakra-coated trench knife shot toward Akane's throat.

A second later, her head was rolling across the ground, severed cleanly from her body.

Akane had no time for remorse. No time to acknowledge the corpse at her feet.

Her only focus was survival.

She steadied her breathing, forcing the chakra in her body to settle in an attempt to conserve what little remained. But the moment she stopped actively pumping chakra into her Chakra Rotation pathways, intense pain tore through her body like tons of needles piercing her simultaniously.

Her body seized. Her knees buckled.

She collapsed and her vision darkened as she struggled to remain conscious.

The wound on her abdomen was also bleeding again. She could feel the warmth of it spreading, soaking through her clothes.

Akane reached for her first aid kit, but her body refused to move.

'Am I going to die this pathetically?'

That was her last thought before everything faded to black.

**

A/N -

I tried walking with crutches today, and it was a dreadful experience. Sitting in the house 24/7 felt like a bad idea, so I decided to go out and buy groceries. In the end, I came back empty-handed, exhausted, sweaty and still ordered everything through delivery instead xD

Thanks for reading! See you in the next one!

Character Notes:

Akane - RIP??

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