Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I did get stabbed in the shoulder once though and don't recommend you try it!
Edited 2010 and likely still full of mistakes ^_^
I've Got You
Chapter 4: The Pain and the Rage
Snapping his head back, he felt it connect and a sickening crunch met his ears along with a deep grunt of pain. Even though Iruka was sure he'd met his mark and broken the man's nose, the arms did not release their bone-crushing grip. Spots began to form before his eyes and Iruka knew there was only a few desperate seconds before he blacked out and left completely vulnerable. Quickly forming hand seals, he twisted one hand up and placed his palm on his assailants arm, releasing the full force of his burning jutsu. There was a loud agonised howl and the arms released him. Iruka dropped to the ground gasping for air and staggered away, desperately trying to clear his vision and suppress the nausea threatening to dispel his earlier sandwich. Every breath was painful, his chest bruised and protesting each expansion. The Leaf Chuunin knew he didn't have time to worry about bruising; he'd fought with worse.
Turning to his new enemy, brown eyes lifted and met murderous black. Iruka was facing Rikiryou.
Oh fuck.
…
There was no pause, no time to run or try and catch his breath. Rikiryou attacked with a furious bellow, dashing toward Iruka with teeth bared and chakra flaring. Iruka managed to twist and desperately throw himself out of the way at the last second, one of the massive fists missing him by mere millimetres. As Iruka took to the air, Rikiryou smashed his clenched hand into the ground and chunks of earth erupted upwards leaving a dust filled crater where the Chuunin had been seconds before.
Iruka was stunned. He'd felt the man's chakra when in hiding and assessing the situation but had no idea it would be on a similar level to Tsunade's! He realised with a sickening certainty that he was way out of his league trying to fight this shinobi. One decent hit and it could all be over. He was already weakened and injured from his previous battle but even at full health and fitness, completely armed and in uniform, he wouldn't want to try and take on the Mist Jounin.
Can't get hit, I'll have to rely on speed and look for an opening to escape.
The thought had barely formed in his mind when a mass materialised directly in front of him and another massive fist was flying his way.
He's fast!
Pure instinct and speed from a life time of training let Iruka move fast enough to block and infuse his arms with reinforcing chakra. Crossing them in front of his chest, they absorbed the full bone jarring impact and he was thrown across the clearing at blinding speed. A tree stopped his flight. The Chuunin slammed into it hard enough to become slightly embedded in the solid trunk. The distinctive internal sound and sensation of ribs breaking was unmistakable even in his dazed head, which had thumped solidly into the hard wood along with the rest of his body.
Head ringing loudly and vision doubled, Iruka folded to the ground and collapsed trembling onto his knees. Taking a shallow breath he leaned forward and coughed harshly, red droplets splattering the soft grass under his fingertips. His chest felt like it was on fire, burning with white hot intensity and threatening to incinerate his heart with its flames. Pain laced its way through the back of his skull and he could feel warm, sticky liquid beginning to run down the back of his neck. His mouth filled with blood and Iruka turned his head to the side and spat out a dark red glob. Damn, he needed to stop shaking.
Raising dazed eyes, he saw the source of his agony bearing down on him with frightening speed, face contorted with anger and lips curved back in a snarl. The academy sensei knew there would be no one to save him this time but himself. He needed a boost and desperately. Wasting precious seconds, he closed his eyes and reached deep inside to the place where his final source of energy would come from. As if seeing it through his true eyes, Iruka placed his hand on the top of the cage he had constructed such a short time ago.
I need you now.
The pure and unhindered power of rage flooded his system and bought new life to muscles that had been quivering with shock and exhaustion. The pain dulled in the glorious rush of adrenaline coursing through his veins and vision that had been greying at the edges came back clear and strong. Iruka was angry!
"You interfering little maggot!" Rikiryou drew his fist back to deliver the killing blow.
Obviously far faster then the Mist leader had been expecting from the smaller, badly battered shinobi, Iruka channelled chakra to his feet and leapt up into the dense overstory of the trees. Rikiryou only paused in surprise for a second before slamming his fist into the base of the tree, causing the wood to splinter and the tree to protest with a loud groan as it began to topple. The Konoha Chuunin didn't slow his pace. He pushed off the falling trunk and landed on a solid branch in the next tree. Turning in his crouched position, he glared down at the furious man below. His heart was hammering in his chest like a sledgehammer and each tiny breath was laboured and painful. Muscles screamed in protest as lactic acid began accumulating in their fibres, too little oxygen in his system to disperse it properly.
Iruka knew the only way he would defeat this opponent was to force him to make a mistake. In his childhood the reliable and responsible school teacher had been a little pony-tailed prankster of doom. Those years of wreaking havoc and getting into mischief had taught Iruka many useful things. One of which was that angry people make big mistakes. Iruka felt almost giddy at the thought of further infuriating this mountain of a man and wondered briefly if his own fury was feeding this line of reasoning. Maybe he'd hit his head so hard that all his common sense was flowing out with the blood itching on the back of his neck. Mentally shrugging, he decided that it was the only plan he really had so he might as well follow it.
"Come on, Princess. Not afraid of a few trees are you?" he sneered down at the man on the ground before deciding to add "Pussy."
If Iruka had thought the Mist leaders face couldn't get any redder he was very mistaken. It turned a fascinating deep scarlet and the Chuunin was convinced he had actually seen a vein pop in the thickly corded neck.
The loud bellow of outrage was all the warning he received to move before the branch he had been resting on was turned into a shower of toothpicks.
Hn, that worked well. Now I really need to find a weapon!
Iruka cast his eyes around for anything he could use and spotted a source of defence embedded in a log not too far ahead. Putting on a burst of speed he dashed down and yanked the machete free of the wood before bounding back into the canopy above. Moment after he'd moved, the log exploded behind him. The Chuunin knew it was time to fight back and stop running, he'd just have to fight smart. Close combat was not an option in this case as he would be too easily overpowered, therefore he would have to be a bit creative.
Directing chakra down the blade of his weapon, Iruka sliced through a branch and sent it sailing towards Rikiryou with a well aimed kick. Pausing very briefly to watch what effect this would have, he wasn't surprised when the man smashed his way through the flying foliage. The enemy was slightly slowed though as Mist ninja were not trained to fight amongst trees. Iruka was, and now he had a plan of action.
Speeding from tree to tree, he sliced off branches and sent them all flying back at his opponent with precision accuracy. As much as the enemy-nin was slowing down it still wasn't enough for the Sensei to make an escape or risk a more direct attack. Sucking in one painful breath after another, Iruka knew he wouldn't last much longer. The adrenaline boost from earlier was starting to wane, his movement becoming slower.
Just a little longer, he chanted in his head like a mantra. I just have to hold out a little longer.
Slicing through another branch and kicking it backwards, Iruka was caught completely unprepared as the Mist leader rapidly dodged to the side and caught the limb. Rikiryou swung the branch around in a move that belied his previously slowing actions and aimed directly for the Chuunin. Iruka forced additional chakra to his feet, trying to get that extra boost and escape, but he was not fast enough. The branch caught him on the leg causing him to lose his balance and tumble toward the ground below.
Reaching out for anything to grasp onto, he heard his machete slice into wood and reached blindly in the direction of the sound. He managed to grasp hold of a branch and – using the momentum from his fall – he swung his body around, managing to flip upwards and land on his feet. As soon as his feet made contact with the wood, Iruka was slammed backwards into the trunk of the tree and indescribable pain shot through his entire body.
The massive weight of his adversary pinned him in place and Iruka couldn't hold back the gasp of pain as all his injuries were jarred. His right wrist was captured in a crushing grip and pinned above his head. All this was nothing compared to the sensation he experienced less then a second later as a long bladed tanto was driven through the soft flesh and hard bone of his left shoulder to be embedded in the wood of the tree behind. Agony, pure agony, screamed through his entire system. He could barely think for the pain but somehow managed to savagely clamp down on the cry threatening to escape his throat. A vibration travelled through his body and Iruka realised through the roar of blood in his ears that Rikiryou was laughing.
"No," Rikiryou said, pressing further into Iruka and again causing him to gasp in pain, "don't hold back your screams. I want you to scream, I want to feel it travel through your body. I want all those Konoha shinobi below to hear you scream and watch as you die."
The black eyed man slowly twisted the dagger and Iruka grit his teeth hard, hissing through the pain as soft flesh was further torn and the blade ground on bone. It was agonising. He subconsciously registered the sound of wood splintering behind him and felt small splinters poke into his already damaged and inflamed flesh.
"Scream for me," Rikiryou hissed in his ear before dipping his head and dragging a wet tongue from Iruka's jaw to his temple, at the same time giving the tanto a vicious jerk upwards.
For a moment, Iruka blacked out. The pain overwhelmed his system but then, just when he needed it most, through the darkening cloud of despair came the rage. With a primal growl, he forced pure chakra down his terribly injured left arm and gathered it in his hand. Forcing the badly damaged limb to move, he touched his palm to the Mist leader's chest and released. The large man was blown backwards off his feet along the branch. Using the momentary burst of anger, Iruka clasped the tanto's handle and yanked the dagger out of his shoulder. Pulling back his right arm, he threw it at Rikiryou and watched in disappointment as it sank into the man's thick thigh. He had been aiming for the heart.
Iruka knew that he had used too much chakra and what was left of his strength was leaving him as quickly as the crimson blood flowing from his shoulder. He saw the man cry out when the dagger stuck flesh but couldn't hear it over the roaring in his ears. Rikiryou's gaze briefly shifted to the battle field below and Iruka found his own eyes following. It was a bloody massacre and Iruka couldn't tell who was winning. The ground was soaked a sickening brownish-red from the lost lives of enemy and comrade alike.
On the edge of the clearing was a small group of Mist-nin looking ready to break and run from the conflict. This was what Rikiryou had focused on and Iruka watched in fascination as the Mist leader pulled the dagger from his leg with barely a wince and threw it toward his own soldiers. It landed behind the Mist group and sunk into the earth with such force a small crater was formed. All their eyes turned fearfully upwards and a few faces openly blanched when they realised who had stopped their retreat.
"Them or me!" the Mist leader bellowed.
Clearly, the Water country soldiers were more terrified of their leader than their Leaf adversaries, choosing to reengage the Konoha shinobi instead of risking Rikiryou's wrath.
"Iruka! RUN!"
The scream below had the Sensei's head snapping around and locking onto panicked mismatched eyes. Their gazes met for a less than a heart beat before Kakashi's attention was drawn back to his adversary and the Jounin narrowly avoided a deadly attack. With horror, Iruka realised the copy-nin was battling single-handedly against both the dark skinned monk and red clad woman. Fear tightened his chest. If the legendarily laid back and perpetually bored Copy-nin was looking that panicked then the situation must be dire. Iruka had to do something and fast. The Sandaime's voice suddenly flashed in his mind so clearly that he almost looked around expecting to see his beloved Sarutobi-sama standing on the branch next to him smoking his pipe.
Iruka, remember that if you cut the head off a snake the body will quickly die.
Blinking rapidly to try and clear his fading vision, Iruka knew that he had lost too much blood and chakra. His head felt very light and it was becoming increasingly harder to focus. He took as deeper breath as his broken ribs would allow and stooped down to pull machete from where it had cut into the branch. Rikiryou, having finished intimidating his troops back into battle, turned once more to the academy teacher and began to advance. Iruka knew he only had a minute maximum to achieve a miracle before he passed out and put all his remaining strength into his attack.
Running forward, he met the massive man head on. The Mist leader once more drew back a large fist and in a far corner of Iruka's mind he noted that it was likely very fortunate that this opponent didn't use any weapons or he would have been dead a long time ago. Ducking at the last second, he avoided the blow aimed for his face and spun low and awkwardly behind the large man, feet no longer able to stick to the tree due to lack of chakra. Standing and swinging his weapon upwards in one movement, Iruka aimed to run the blade directly up his enemy's spine. It would be a paralysing if not killing blow.
Rikiryou shocked him as he moved so quickly that the blade almost completely missed, only slightly nicking once of the wide shoulders. Again, his wrist was caught in a bone crushing grip and twisted savagely. The machete flew from his grasp and only ingrained training made the exhausted Chuunin move appropriately to avoid another broken bone. Feet slipped on the bark and he almost fell, despair clutched his heart at the lost opportunity to finish the fight and help save his comrades. Before he could even attempt to alter his stance and gain a firmer footing, a blow to the head made everything disappear.
…
He was being lifted. Iruka must have only been knocked out for a moment but that was more than enough time to render him powerless in the hands of his opponent. One large hand was wrapped around the back of his neck, fingers almost touching at the front of his throat and further cutting off precious oxygen. The other hand was fisted in the fabric of his jeans under his tail bone, the large knuckles digging painfully into the sensitive area. He was held above the Mist leaders head. His left arm hung uselessly, dripping blood and refusing to respond. Iruka could no longer tell one pain from another through out his body. They had all just merged into one that seemed to consume all of him and threatened to drag him into the darkness once more.
Everything was becoming so cold and shudders began to wrack his frame. Perhaps quite ridiculously, during all of this he couldn't help but admire how the sunset shone so beautifully through the fluttering leaves above. While all below was stained in death the heavens above were alight with stunning gold and pink. The irony of their feeble war compared to the never ceasing and untouchable passage of Mother Nature was not lost on a dying man in a world of pain. The stars would not cease to shine and mountains would not crumble if he were to stop existing here and now. It was humbling. A voice snapped him from his drowsy musings.
"KONOHA! Watch and despair! This man's fate is the fate of you all!"
Iruka was not going to be conscious for much longer but a final idea forced its way into his sluggish mind as the Leader delivered his speech.
If I'm going to die I'm taking this fucker with me.
Reaching into his pocket, Iruka felt his last exploding tag and the charcoal stick he'd used for sketching earlier. One handed, he rolled the tag around the charcoal. Twisting his head, he ignored the excruciating pain as skin ripped and tore in the tight grip, looking down to sight his target. Rikiryou was still yelling to those fighting below.
"Every last man, woman, and child will die by my hand!"
"Oh, you're not touching my kids, you bastard," Iruka croaked.
Swinging his hand down, Iruka hit dead on target and slammed the tag wrapped sketching stick through Rikiryou's right eye.
A resounding shriek of pain split the air nanoseconds before the hands released him. Iruka felt he was falling in slow motion, passing the Mist leader who had his hands clamped over his eye as blood and intraocular fluid poured from between the fingers. Focusing the very last of his chakra, Iruka concentrated on the explosive tag and prayed he would have enough.
"Release," he whispered, forming the necessary hand sign.
He saw the leaders head explode a moment before darkness claimed him.
…
It was a strange sensation, like sleeping but being awake. Iruka could hear noises all around him but they sounded like they came across a vast distance, muddling together. He couldn't open his eyes, not that he wanted to. There was no pain here, he was neither hot nor cold, and the sensation of falling was actually quite pleasant.
I wonder if I'll feel it when I hit the ground. What will it be like to die? He mused.
Iruka was resigned to death. He'd protected his village to the best of his ability, killed the Mist leader, and hopefully sent the enemy force into disarray. They'd likely retreat with the lack of leadership. His bills were all paid, the filing up-to-date at the mission room, and he'd finished his class plans for the rest of the semester so his student would be fine. Everything was organised for those coming in his place. He hoped Naruto wouldn't take his death too hard and someone would continue to take him out for Ramen.
The ground must be getting closer, Iruka mentally sighed. Don't really want to die. Hope it doesn't hurt.
The falling sensation stopped abruptly, the muddled sounds all fading away.
Is this it? Am I dead?
It didn't feel bad at all. He felt cradled, like something had wrapped around him and would hold him safe, protected. There was a new noise, it was clear and strong. A fast beat: Ba-bump, ba-bump.
A voice seemed to light the darkness, like a candle in a blackened room. It was very familiar though he couldn't place it.
"I've got you, Iruka. I've got you. Don't leave me, love. Please, don't leave me alone."
It sounded desperate, pleading and scared and desperate. It touched his heart, igniting a candle of his own in the darkness.
Ok, he thought. I'll stay.
AN: I was going to be evil again and end the chapter where Rikiryou's head blew up (BOOM) but wanted to put in that nice little ending.
I got the idea of Iruka's rage from old stories I've read about solders that would go berserk in battle. They were called Berserker's and the battle rage would take them over to fuel their bodies and cloud their minds until they could barely tell friend from foe. Very fearsome fighters as any cuts or wounds that weren't fatal would only fuel their anger and they would fight continually until finally collapsing from exhaustion or being constrained long enough to snap out of it. Of course this wouldn't completely suit our dear Iruka, so I wrote him with a more controlled form of the condition. Bet you some of you thought I was driving towards another form of Naruto's kyuubi, didn't ya? Ah, Come on! Hands up those who thought I was leeching off Naruto's character! -click review and stick your hand up-
