Of course, I realize once things have inevitably gone to shit, no matter how good a plan is, nothing ever goes right. Everything starts innocently enough. We get into Kiri without raising suspicions. The issue is that the streets are almost deserted and the few people still walking around are distrustful, haggard dockworkers and equally distrustful Kiri-nin.

Since there is no conceivable way for us to blend in with a population that is so wary of strangers, we go with the more dangerous option and go full ANBU to find our spy.

Kiri has a reputation for churning out missing-nin, and after seeing the condition it's in, I know why. The shinobi, still in better condition than the civilians, are all half starved and look to be overworked. For all of Konoha's faults, (looking at you, Danzo and Naruto's canon treatment) I'm incredibly thankful I was born in Konoha.

Though, the fact that the vast majority of Kiri-nin are in terrible condition is fortunate for my team, because infiltrating an enemy nation should be a lot harder. Dad must have been caught and killed at the beginning of Yagura's reign, before he drove his country to ruin, I reflected.

We find our spy, a small woman with black hair and green eyes that are most definitely the result of a henge, relatively easy, but on the way back to the ship we smuggled ourselves in on, mist begins to rise. Hawk, Rhino, and the spy who introduced herself as Snake tense. A vague, half remembered memory floats through my mind. Can't some people sense through chakra mist? Shit. "Captain," I whisper, "we need to get out of here, now!"

We abandon secrecy and sprint for the docks. I dodge a blast of water and keep running as Rhino throws up an earth wall. "H-how are we getting off this island?" Jackal gasps out as the docks come into sight.

Snake cackles. "Make like a Kiri-nin and water walk!" Hawk sighs but doesn't refute her orders.

I'm channeling chakra through my senses, and panic is surging through my veins when we jump off the dock and onto the water. There's a poof behind me and- holy shit, that's a big shark! "Aim for the nose," I scream, internally thanking my past self for having a five year long marine biology phase.

A fireball shoots past me to impact right in the shark's face. "There," Jackal points to a tiny, forested island, "we should make landfall, split up with a clone of snake, and meet back at the abandoned warehouse once we've lost them."

Hawk nods. The crackle of a lightning jutsu is swiftly approaching. I turn on my heel, sending up a spray of water, and catch the electricity. I redirect it back with a snarl and start running again.

We make it to shore and split. "Snake, you go with Lynx. No one is going to expect her to be the guard. Too small and harmless looking." Hawk is smirking beneath that mask. The asshole.

I snort. "Wow, thanks."

Snake and I head east, taking random turns every now and again just to throw our pursuers off. A rustle of leaves. I stop and tilt my head, trying to catch the sound better. There! I dodge out of the way of a truly monstrous sword. Hell, it doesn't even look like a sword, but well the man wielding it is blue, so who am I to judge. "Snake, continue on to the rendezvous point. I'll hold him off." Snake nods and disappears into the undergrowth. I unsheathe my sword.

I eye the shark dude warily, trying to place him in my memories. I slowly run the pad of my thumb over the blade of my tanto, drawing blood. Arashi, Rai, and Sawagi appear behind me. "Tell the others that I got held up and Snake is continuing on by herself for now." My eyes track the movements of the strangely familiar man.

"Well now," shark man grins, showing off Kiri typical sharpened teeth, " haven't seen a lynx summons in a while. Haven't seen the Lynx mask in a while either."

Arashi stills, "you!" The cat hisses.

"Arashi, go!" I order. He growls but disappears into the undergrowth with the other two.

"How does my summon know you?" I fully draw my tanto.

Shark man's eerie grin doesn't fade. If anything it grows. "I killed the previous summoner. Had the Lynx mask too. I'm about to be two for two on Lynx summoners." Rage burns in my veins. I'm going to kill this man. It might not be today, but I'll get my revenge eventually. But for now, I have to stay calm. Fighting angry won't help me any. He attacks in a burst of speed and I catch the strange sword on my own, but one of the spikes grazes my arm. My chakra starts to flow out of my body. My eyes widen and I decide fuck secrecy, and call my shadows.

They throw both man and sword away from me. "Holy shit, that's samehada," I breathe as I finally place the sword. Which makes- "and you're Hoshigaki Kisame, one of the seven swordsmen of the mist."

Kisame grins. "Smart little kitty, aren't you."

"Cat jokes," I drawl, "how original." I eye him. Ok, samehada, what do I remember about samehada? It drains chakra, and that's about it. Can it only take from a person, or can it eat a jutsu, too? Well, time to find out. I run through the seals one handed, and shoot a lighting bolt at the man. The sword grows and just... eats the attack.

I sigh and ready my tanto. Gods be damned, this is going to be rough. The shadow Justus worked earlier, so lure him into a false sense of security and take control of his shadow. Thank the gods that I managed to get that puppet jutsu working.

He springs forward again, and he definitely has the strength advantage, but I'm faster. I duck underneath a powerful blow that would have taken my head off had it hit and jab my tanto at his stomach. He leaps back and brings Samehada down. Falling to the side, the sharp spikes of Kisame's sword graze my arm and I feel my chakra levels drop. Ugh, that's a pain. I kick him in the shin in retaliation, and suddenly I'm wishing steel tipped boots were a thing, because a chakra enhanced kick to the shin in those would bring a man to tears.

Kisame growls and spits a burst of water at me. I narrowly avoid the blast and hear the crash of a destroyed tree behind me. Wincing, I curse under my breath as I dodge more high pressure spit. I don't manage to get out of the way of the last water jutsu though. It slams me into a tree with enough force for me to hear the crack of my bones. What the hell did I break? All of the air leaves my body in one flash of pain. My vision tunnels and black spots dance. Crumpling to the ground as I gasp for air, I scramble to get up before Kisame reaches me.

The feel of sharp spikes digging into my back alerts me to the fact that I'm too late. Chakra leaves me in a flood, and I'm almost too incoherent to realize that being stabbed by a huge, sentient mass of spikes doesn't hurt as much as it should. An involuntary cry of pain leaves my lips and I taste dirt. When did I end up on the ground? Wait, I've been on the ground this entire time hadn't I?

"You know," Kisame grunts from somewhere above me, "the last Lynx went down a lot easier than you did." The last Lynx... that's right! My dad, this asshole killed my dad and almost killed Arashi!

Cold fury courses through me and lends clarity to my hazy mind. I discreetly move my fingers in the pattern of shadow sewing. His guard is down, and he thinks he has me defeated. Well, that will be the last mistake he ever makes. My consciousness reaches out to touch the shadows of my surroundings and I take control of Kisame's. As I curl his shadow around his neck, tighter and tighter, Kisame lets out a strangled gasp and digs samehada into my body deeper. Using the last vestiges of my chakra, I yank the shadows tighter. I hear a crack, then two thuds. I can no longer feel samehada.

I let loose a breathless, slightly hysterical laugh and attempt to push myself off the ground. I frown. My upper body is doing what it's supposed to do, but my legs...

I can't feel my legs.