Here's to this new chapter. A big thank you to my friend for his harsh, but helpful, critiques. You're ever-so-slowly making me a better writer just doing this for me. Thank you, man. :3
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Edited as of: March 9, 2014
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I coughed into my hand as I choked on the smoke that had managed to get into my mouth, my chest burning at the pungeant taste that coursed down my throat and into my lungs. At the rate I was going, I might as well die from smoke inhalation instead of by Sasuke's hand. Already, the smoke was making my head feel light-headed and it took all of my willpower to not use my chakra to clear away the blasted smoke. I would need every ounce of chakra that I still had left for this battle.
My body reacted to a the few kunai that had been launched at me from the safety of the trees, twisting itself into an impressive array of flexible dodging as the kunai sailed past me harmlessly, landing with a muffled thunk in the ground nearby. I gave them a contemplary glance as I crouched to the ground. They would be immensely useful later on. I was running low on weapons again and I couldn't keep replicating them with my chakra since that would drain me too quickly.
Mind made up, I stared in the direction that the kunai had come from. Nothing but trees and a bunch of shrubs. The perfect hiding place for an S-Class missing-nin. My hands flew through a few handseals before I slammed my palms to the ground.
"Doton: Doryuha."
My chakra flooded into the ground beneath my palms, raising the earth until it towered above me. A simple push from my chakra sent the tidal wave of mud towards the trees where I knew Sasuke would be hiding. The attack wouldn't do much damage. It couldn't do any damage even if I tried to force it. It was a waste of chakra, but it was necessary to draw Sasuke out of his hiding place. I had to draw him out into the open. He had the advantage high up in the trees.
A blur of black jumped from the trees when the mud wave assaulted them, the nimble body easily flipping over my head and landing gracefully to the ground. I heard a whisper of metal being pulled from its sheath and another round of sparks flew from our weapons as we fought against each other in a battle of strengths. Red eyes glared at me in irritation when I shoved him, slipping underneath his sword and thrusting my fist upwards. He barely managed to tilt his head out of the way, but a barely there wince told me I had just managed to clip his jaw.
Hands flew through seals in a familiar way to the Uchiha as he reared his head back, chest puffing out as he brought a hand to his lips in the shape of an O. I tched when I realized that I wouldn't be able to dodge the attack properly without suffering from more wounds.
I have no choice but to waste more chakra.
I had just barely managed to complete another round of seals before I sensed Sasuke's chakra roar up his throat in the form of flames.
"Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu!"
"Suiton: Suijinheki!"
I quickly blasted a huge wave of water from my mouth that wasted no time in surrounding me in a tight circle, the sounds of fire sizzling out reaching my ears from the other side of my water wall. The water splashed to the ground once I released the chakra needed to sustain the jutsu, immediately redirecting the course of my chakra to my feet as I sprinted across the reasonably-sized puddle of water. Always one-step ahead, Sasuke dodged my punch before I could even stretch my arm to its full extent, flipping his sword into a vertical position and extending upward. I reared back, bending backwards until my hands touched the surface of the water and back-flipped away, Sasuke quickly chasing after.
Still mid-flight from my flip, I twisted so that my front was facing Sasuke and prepped my leg back, bringing it down in an impressive display of flexibility. The attack was a big enough surprise that Sasuke could do nothing but not react as my foot came down on his left wrist. A sickening snap was heard and his katana fell into the water with a splash. A grimace twisted across his lips and he lashed out with his right hand, left hand cradled to his chest in a shockingly feeble attempt to protect it. Ducking underneath his arm, I grabbed his arm and pulled. His front connected with my back and I all but chucked him over my head and threw him into the surrounding trees, where he landed with a huge crash some meters away.
I took the brief reprieve from the battle instantly, placing my hands on my knees and breathing heavily. This was tiring work. Fighting a war. A losing war, at that. I'd have to be an idiot to not notice all the destruction around me during my battle with Sasuke. The smoke was still so very thick in the air and took my breath away, the heat from nearby fire outbreaks burned my skin and made my eyes water painfully, and the screams...
I shivered. I hated not being able to do anything to save all of those innocent people. My duty as a medic was to save people. Not to let them die. It felt like I was breaking the oath I had made to Tsunade when I had sworn myself to her as her apprentice and future successor. I felt my heart start to tear at that thought. It was a terrifying thought to think of at a time like this. It was crucial that I defeat Sasuke here and if I let thoughts distract me, then I would never be able to finish him off.
Poor Naruto. He always did want to beat Sasuke one-on-one.
The harsh creases my face had been making as I breathed smoothened out at the thought of the obnoxious blond. He had a way with words, that's for sure. I had no doubt in my mind that if he were under different circumstances, he would easily be able to change Sasuke's mind. He would be able to drag him out of his ludicrous thoughts of revenge and clear his mind of the hate that he harbored for elders. He was just that kind of a person. He was so kind and gentle and open. Like a cool breeze that cooled the hottest of workers. He was a miracle worker.
My eyes caught the briefest flash of orange out of my peripheral before a sandal-clad foot planted itself into my stomach. My body instinctively keeled forward, the sudden assault knocking the breath out of me and sending me directly into the white-clad elbow that clashed with my chin, snapping my head back and sending me flying across the water. I cringed at the pain that coursed through my jaw when I finally settled above the water. Beautiful. A broken jaw was so not needed right now.
I spit out the blood that had gathered in my mouth and placed a hand underneath my jaw, already snapping it back into place and healing it just so that it would stay in place. The pain was blinding. Broken bones were a bitch, especially when the bones were shattered and were piercing muscles, but broken jaws were fragile things that could seriously damage one's face if not healed correctly. The sounds of struggling reached my ears and I didn't look up as a figure landed beside me, a warm hand resting on my back in what was assumed to be a comforting gesture.
"Your timing is impeccable as always, Naruto," I said through gritted teeth as I numbed my jaw the tiniest bit. The pain was bearable now, but I couldn't have it distracting me. Plus it would give Sasuke the unneeded upper hand.
A small sheepish look crossed his face as he kept his eyes on Sasuke, who appeared to be struggling with a clone as he fought to keep his broken wrist out of harm's way. I noticed how his clothes were torn just slightly, the huge splash of blood on his front very nearly giving me a heart attack, but a closer look told me that it wasn't his but rather someone else's. He must've had to go through some of the Zetsu clones while trying to get to where Sasuke and I were battling it out.
"Sorry, Sakura-chan," He said, helping me to my feet. He placed a hand on my shoulder when I wavered, keeping his grip gentle as I shook off the waves of dizziness that blurred my vision. I was grateful for that. I had a rather nasty bruise from a Zetsu clone ramming into my back some time ago when the attack first started. "Things were pretty hectic just trying to get over here."
The hidden meaning underneath his words, plus the dazed look in his normally sparkling blue eyes, made my heart twist painfully and I felt tears begin to obscure my vision. Tsunade was dead. The vast amount of blood on his front wasn't his. It was Tsunade's. He had tried to save her. My throat closed up at the thought of her corpse lying on the ground somewhere and I fought desperately to keep my tears at bay.
"What of Madara?"
"He wasn't there. I couldn't find his body anywhere."
My blood chilled at that. What if Tsunade had failed in sealing Madara away for good? If his body wasn't found at the site where he and Tsunade had fought, then where could it have gone? Was he still wandering around the village, killing off the few that still remained?
"Stop wasting my time with your stupid clones, Naruto," A cold voice said through clipped tones.
We both looked up at Sasuke, both of us tensing at the brutal way his sword pierced mercilessly through the clone's abdomen. A gagging sound from the clone reached my ears before it disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Dear Lord. Could Sasuke get any more heartless? What if that had been the real Naruto? Would he have hesitated?
I snorted mentally at that thought. The answer was simple enough. Of course he wouldn't. The stupid bastard wanted us dead on the same level that he wanted the elders dead. If anything, since he was the sadistic fuck that I knew he was, he would purposefully kill us in the cruelest way possible just to make us suffer.
So focused was I on my thoughts, I unconsciously looked into Sasuke's red eyes as they began to spin. I found myself thinking that it was almost magical. Ethereal. It reminded me of my odd obsessions with spinning objects when I was a kid. A separate part of my mind screamed at me that Sasuke was spinning a Genjutsu around. It screeched at me to snap out it, but I found that I couldn't. The spinning was so...addicting, in a way. I couldn't look away. Morbid fascination kept me pinned in place as the black tomoe spun and spun...and spun...and spun...
Pretty...
"Snap out of it, Sakura-chan!"
I blinked back to reality as Naruto shook me violently before scooping me up into his arms as Sasuke came careening from an aerial assault to the exact spot that I had been standing in not seconds before, a chirping chakra-clad hand piercing the ground. I shivered in Naruto's arms as he landed carefully on the ground. To think that could've been me.
"Thanks, Naruto," I murmured as he set me back on my feet. He gave a nod.
"How low are your chakra reserves?" He asked, crouching to the ground to pick up the kunai that Sasuke had thrown earlier in the fight. He handed one to me and I gratefully accepted it, twirling it in my hand to test the weight and grasped the handle firmly when I was satisfied. A quick scan of my chakra had me scowling at what I found. I had used up quite a portion. I had about a little more than a quarter left.
"Not much left," I settled with as my answer. The answer seemed to displease Naruto as he bit his lip with his unusually sharp canines, a bead of blood blooming on the pierced skin. He hastily wiped it away. I realized that I didn't like this side of Naruto. His hardcore concentration on something. It...bothered me, in a way. It wasn't his normal personality. He was always sunny and bright and happy. Sometimes idiotic, but still mature. To an extent, of course. Seeing him thinking up ways of defeating Sasuke, though...it was unnatural. I didn't like it. I hated it even.
Naruto's reply had me standing up straighter than before. I knew that voice. It was the voice of our would-be Hokage had Madara not attacked. I couldn't help but hope to impress him with my alertness as he issued his order. "Attack him from the left, Sakura-chan. I'll go for the right." Blue eyes pierced my green ones. "Are you up for it?"
No, My heart whispered brokenly. I didn't want to do this. I really didn't want to do this. It would only succeed in breaking what little sanity I had left.
"Yes," I replied instantly, already crouching into a ready position and continuing to ignore the cries some part of my mind was procuring.
He gave me his signature lopsided-grin and matched my crouched position. "Alright then. Let's do this." He spun the kunai in his hand in what seemed to be a cocky manner, but coming from the Naruto I was looking at right now, I realized it was his way of using it as a distraction. It seemed to be working. Sasuke's narrowed eyes hadn't left the kunai that Naruto spun so casually in his hand.
"On my count." He stopped spinning his weapon and held it up to his face. I saw his reflection from my position beside him. "1..."
I checked myself for balance, hopping the tiniest bit to check myself and was pleased when I didn't teeter or waver. My dizziness was something of the past, still there, but ignorable. Good.
"2..."
I tensed my legs, clenching my kunai tightly. For some reason, it felt heavier than what I had ever remembered it to be. The new weight was somewhat bothersome, but it would have to do for now. I couldn't afford to waste more time trying to find another weapon that I was more suited for. The last second that I had left before I jumped back into battle was used to mentally prepare myself. For the onslaught that was about to happen. The high chance of my never seeing this place ever again. And also for the long awaited meeting that I had with Death himself.
"GO!"
I wasted no time in pondering on such angsty thoughts and pushed forward, Naruto a few steps ahead of me, as we clashed with our long-gone teammate. Red eyes glared at our daring actions and proceeded to merge together to form an intricate star-pattern. The Mangekyo Sharingan. He was as serious as we are. I physically smiled at that. Good. I wouldn't have it any other way. And neither would Naruto.
Our time as a team means nothing to me anymore. As of right now...Sasuke is an enemy. And enemies have to be dealt with. Regardless of past affiliations. As of right now...we are enemies till the time I die, Uchiha Sasuke.
I regret nothing here. I don't regret editing this ENTIRE story. I don't regret erasing the other chapters. And I don't regret starting anew on a fresh page. Oh. And a shoutout to you, oh so kind GUEST that reviewed my old third chapter? FUCK. YOU. People like you are reasons why there aren't so many authors who will post their stuff on here. CAUSE DICKS LIKE YOU EXIST TO BRING THEM DOWN. I was fucking twelve when I wrote this. You can't let me have my own imagination? Get the fuck off my story if you don't like it. I didn't ask you to read it and I sure as hell don't WANT you to continue reading it after your oh so nice little comment. I'm allowed to imagine things, too.
Thank you all for bearing with me here. I'm sorry for my long absence. Things have been hectic. Rocker-san and Lulu, forgive me as well. This is the first time that I've been on Fanfiction since, like...January, I think. I'm sorry for not responding sooner. :(
Thank you for reading! I intend to redo this entire story so that it'll fit together more seamlessly than messily clustered together like the old version was. This new chapter pleases me. I already like the way it's going right now. UNTIL NEXT TIME!
-KalafinaJ