The sound of the rain bat against his eardrums. His eyes blinked away the water and tears. He couldn't cry. He couldn't cry!
Fire loses to Water. Water loses to Earth. Earth loses to Lightning, and Lightning loses to Wind. So your element is perfect for Sasuke.
'No.' thought Naruto as he remembered those words. 'It's perfect for Sasuke because only Wind can make Fire stronger.'
Sasuke looked at Naruto. His eyes were cold, but his thoughts were confused. Naruto...was crying. Or was it the rain. This brought back memories, this face-off of theirs. Memories he could never forget.
Naruto was the first to look away. His eyes took in the huge face staring at him. The sealing statue. He didn't flinch as the chakra that blew around struck him. Sasuke was nimbly trying to dodge it.
"What the hell are you doing, stupid fool!?" Sasuke noticed that Naruto was not running from the chakra.
'I know he's gotten stronger, but to just stand there? Does he think he can take on all of them? There's no way, he'll be killed.'
Sakura held Kakashi up as she stared into the distance. Even from miles away, she could see it. The chakra that flew into the air and screamed loudly, loudly. Screamed for its freedom, for a chance to act on its rage, hatred, love of pain, to hurt to kill to hurt to kill.
She turned away, but went no further.
"Sakura," began Kakashi. "Go."
Sakura turned to her teacher, her eyes saying a million things, but he knew of only one.
'Sorry, Kakashi-sensei.'
Her feet went quickly towards the Akatsuki base.
"If Sakura goes, we all go."
Kakashi stared as the rest of the Rookie 9 came to join. Even Gai's team was there.
"What of the village?"
"Don't give us that bullshit. You know you can't stop us. We've been there for him, we sent him there, we fought against them. You cannot stop us." Kiba looked at Kakashi, just daring him to disagree. He didn't.
All of them left, with Sai following Sakura. Team Kakashi in the lead, followed by the rest of Naruto's close friends.
Naruto could feel the Kyuubi struggling.
'LET ME OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'
Naruto could feel the chakra drain on him as his wounds healed. He could hear the Kyuubi roaring to regain his control as the strongest demon.
There were bodies around. He had the chance to make friends with them, as they all shared a common ground. They were all jinchuuriki. They were all human sacrifices, in more ways than one. And all eight of them were dead. Their demons were all in that sealing statue.
Naruto, that sealing statue will be unstable without the nine-tails along with the other demons. In other words, we will have to destroy it. They're keeping it stable by providing a constant, if not moderately sized, stream of chakra. Once we kill them, we will have to destroy it, so I'm off. I need to find a way to do so.
Those were the words of the six-tailed jinchuuriki. She was always bad with words, speaking in fragments the way she did. And she did find a way to destroy the statue. He had known from the beginning that he could not become Hokage. He was strong enough, the village approved, but he had had a feeling.
"Get the hell away from there, dobe!" yelled Sasuke. He had already retreated to a safer distance. Although the chakra still reached, it was easier to dodge. Naruto, meanwhile, only walked closer to it.
"Get away from here, Sasuke. There's nothing more you can do." Naruto stated calmly, flinching only when what he felt to be the chakra of the two-tailed cat to cause a particularly painful wound on his side.
"What the hell are you doing, usuratonkachi?!" yelled Sasuke. "Don't make me have to come get you!"
Karin held onto Sasuke as she saw that he was heading towards the Konoha nin.
"Damn it, Sasuke! Juugo's already dead, Suigetsu needs attention, and now you're going too?!"
"Let go, Karin."
Karin looked at Sasuke. He was staring intently at Naruto, who was slowly walking towards the statue, as one would walk to their inevitable death. She loosened her grip.
"Stop right there!" yelled Sakura. Karin grabbed onto her shoulder where the kunai Sakura had sent had grazed her shoulder.
"Sasuke!"
Sasuke turned, his eyes back to their haughty and cold appearance. "Sakura. I thought you had taken Kakashi to Konoha."
Sakura glared at him. "I'm not here for you as much as I am for Naruto. She sent her eyes towards Naruto.
"Naruto! Get the hell away from that! What if she was wrong! You'll be throwing your life away!"
Sasuke registered her words. "What's he planning on doing?"
Karin looked at the two as she withdrew her arm away from Sasuke. She was torn from Sasuke regaining any feelings for either old teammates and his speaking with Sakura keeping him away from the statue.
Sakura looked away as she tried to get closer to Naruto.
"Stay where you are. All of you!" screamed Naruto. His eyes were hidden under his bangs. He had manipulated his chakra into becoming wind, then used that to create a sort of tornado in front of the ninja.
"Tsunade-sama forbade you from using it! It was a direct order! Are you going to disobey her? As Konoha ninja, we are to follow orders." Sakura stared at the wall of air whizzing in front of her. She was positive it would tear her apart if she dared touch it.
Naruto heard her words, but said nothing. In response, his hands went to the back of his head, where he untied the simple knot that kept his headband in place. Then he threw it away.
"Naruto-kun!" screamed Hinata, getting there in time to see him throw it away.
Shikamaru threw a look around the place. He had never been there before, but it looked as if there was a lot of damage from the battle. He noticed the dead bodies and briefly registered that some of them had been in contact with Naruto. His eyes widened at the form of the Kazekage. Temari was there, holding onto the body of her dear brother. Kankuro was on the other side of the field, barely breathing. Not to mention the dead bodies of the Akatsuki, and the Uchiha. By the time he looked at Naruto, Naruto was nearly to the statue.
"Shit!" said Kiba as he saw it would be nearly impossible to get through.
"Ino." said Sai, and she immediately understood where he was going. She positioned herself to try her mind-transfer jutsu.
"It would be better if you got out of here. If she tries that, I'll redirect her to the damn fox's cage."
Shikamaru threw his arm out, stopping Ino.
"He's right, but Naruto. Are you sure you want to do this?" The last part was screamed.
Naruto turned around. "Get the hell out of here! All of you! The chakra backlash could kill you!"
He held his arm as the muscle kept being torn. He was almost completely surrounded by the chakra, it was killing him. Slowly, painfully, he began making seals.
'LET ME OUT!'
"Naruto!"
"Fool!"
There were screams as Naruto undid his own seal and simultaneously created another.
"Chidori!"
Sasuke cut straight through the wall, finally understanding what Naruto was about to do.
There was a flash, and it was over.
"And that's all that happened?" asked the young girl. She kept her eyes fixed upon the man telling the story.
"Ai, don't be so rude!" whispered another girl next to her. The old man just chuckled.
"Actually, that's where I come in. Do you think they all deserve to die, Ai?"
Ai, being just a young child who still didn't really understand death, gave a confused look.
"Well, it's nice being here." she said. She looked up at the man, her eyes pleading with him to tell her.
The old man laughed. "That's true, but I think that they all needed another chance, and that's what I gave to them."
"To all of them?" asked Ai.
"Yes. There were many persons that they all had bonds with."
He looked at the scene. So many dead, surrounded by the life that had grown due to the chakra that was released. So many dead. He could still see them, the thin lines of life. They stretched to everything, even after death. Some were faint, some caused by memories. Easily broken. Yet, there were also those. Those that would tear at their hearts at being broken. He couldn't do it, he had done it so many times already. It might be selfish of him, but he would follow through. Another chance, just one more. A rare gift, and all were worthy. In fact, all their bonds were worthy. He called them, those threads of life, love. He called them, and called them. To even those that were dead as well as alive. And he did it.
The girl smiled. "That's good! That story was so sad, how they were all sad, and they wanted something they could never get. So what happens next?"
"Well, that's why I called you. I thought you might want to watch."
Just to let you all know, the old man was God, or whatever higher being there is. Didn't want to straight out call him God, what with my own personal beliefs and everything. What happened was that he took mercy on all of them and let them be reborn. Not reincarnated, I always thought of that differently. Don't know the difference? Well, reborn, they're back. Reincarnated? Their memories. Kinda hard for me to explain. Anyways, first fic, please review. Although I'd understand if you don't, please. I don't have the story planned out yet, so any ideas are extremely helpful.
This was just to explain how it happened, the next story delves more into their lives after being reborn. Remember, review please! It would mean a lot to me to hear your inputs. :)
