Thanks to those who reviewed!
Sakura Angel 4eva
Nokas-Kokas
Cribrius Crusade
Depressing Truths
Goukatenshi - Soon...very soon...:D
J.a.M.i.16 - Maybe...just maybe...but that's for the later chapters...XD
xXWinterXx
Zanibarr
DemonBrownie - That's sounds really interesting...((glances at Sasuke)) Maybe I'll include it in the story!
lacusclien4
iheartoast09
Emriel
little sasuke kun
CrAzY-SiLLy-Me - ROFL! That'll be pure torture...for him. ((evil laughs)) I'll keep that idea in my mine shadow-chan. XD
silverymoonfire - Haha...she always is in the beginning. :D
666Shukakugrl28
Sophie Ellem - haha! You can read em up in wikipedia. Just search Sabriel. :D
A/N: Terribly sorry for the freakin late update, hopefully you guys still remember this story...hahaha...well, I've been into DGM lately, so I've been neglecting my Naruto fics. I'm slowly catching up to it, so hope you guys still continue to read and review! Thanks for being patient!
Chapter 7: Daybreak
"Say what?" Naruto exclaimed, watching as Sasuke unsheathed his katana. His eyes bled red as the presence of the Dead and Black Mages became clearer to them. Ruffling of bushes and shuffling of steps could be heard as the three of them got into battle stances.
Naruto's hold on Sakura tighten and Shisui moved protectively in front of the two, as he was the closest to them. Before Sakura could register what was happening, Neji and Sasuke had already sprang into action, going in opposite directions, they began their attack on their ambushers.
"Naruto, put me down!" Sakura said, clutching his robe tightly. She could see him gritting his teeth, wanting to run into the fight to aid his comrades. "You need to help them!" she continued, seeing that he was about to protest.
"Sakura-chan…" he trailed off, debating on the option. Shisui was still standing in front of them, hitting and avoiding blows from the Dead with his staff. "If you get injured…"
"I won't!" Sakura snapped back, she didn't mean to be angry, but Naruto was stalling. "I can be responsible for my own safety Naruto!"
The blond looked a bit taken back at her outburst, but grinned when he remembered Sasuke saying he wouldn't be responsible for her. Giving in, he set her down on the ground, making sure her back was to a tree so that no one could come from behind. "Alright, alright." He said, digging into his pouch behind his back, pulling out two long kunai. "Stay safe okay?"
Without looking at the girl for a confirmation, Naruto leapt off the ground, crouching on a high branch before diving forward to join the battle. Charter spells and clashing of metals could be heard and seen through the mist of black cloaks and moaning, making Sakura worried. Shisui continued protecting Sakura, biting back another shout of frustration, he hit the Dead with more strength than needed, wasting quite a bit of stamina.
"Kill them!" The leader, Sakura presumed shouted. "Let not one live! No one enters Waterfall!"
Sasuke elbowed a Black Mage in the gut, before slicing through a few Dead with Chidori. There really was no end to them. He would have chosen to use the bells, but with so many Black Mages here, the effect wouldn't hold out as long as they needed to. If only there was someone else that could ring the bells or had another set of bells…
He cursed mentally when he thought of it. How could he have been so stupid?
"Sakura!"
The girl looked up when she heard her name. Kusanagi in her hands, she managed to hold out on her own while Shisui joined the battle, but he was careful not to stray too far from the girl. Neji and Naruto ignored Sasuke's shout, as his voice did not hold any sign that Sakura was in danger. They knew him too well.
"The flutes!"
Sakura's eyes widened in realization of what Sasuke wanted her to do and she nodded, signaling for Shisui to cover her, which he understood. Sasuke dodged another blow from a Dead and managed to avoid a random Charter spell. He slipped Ranna out of the holder and rang it, accompanied by Sakura's flute playing. With the two sounds, the weaker of the Dead were sent back into Death, lessening their number at least by half.
Smirking, Neji cast a fire spell, burning the remaining rotting flesh of the lesser Dead. Naruto hacked through them as their movements slowed thanks to the playing of the flute and bell.
"Neji, Naruto, ignore the Dead." Sasuke said, placing Ranna back. "Get to the head, we need information."
"You got it, teme." Naruto said, leaping over a few Dead as he ran past Black Mages towards the leader.
Aware of their plan, the leader immediately commanded the Dead to fight off the blond mage, and while they were occupying Naruto, the Black Mages advanced towards Sasuke and Neji. "These Black Mages need a life, don't you agree?" Shisui said amusingly, as he stood beside the Byakugan user. He merely nodded his agreement.
"Let's really begin then." Sasuke said, smirking.
Sakura stood behind them, wondering what they were talking about. Really begin? Then what have they been doing?
With movements too fast for her to catch, they began their counterattack. The opposing mages didn't have time to react as one by one they fell, either bleeding in vital areas or out cold. Sakura watched in amazement as she caught Sasuke running his blade through the heart of one mage, then disappearing the next second.
She vaguely heard Naruto shouting above all the commotion, but she was more focused on the scene before her. Neji was hitting some points on the bodies, rendering them out cold and Shisui was merely playing clean up as he drew Charter spells above each mage and the body would burn, leaving only ashes. So focused on their actions, she almost failed to see a Dead behind her, until out of nowhere Kyuubi gave a howl that rivaled a grown wolf.
Naruto's instantly directed his sight towards the howl, shouting a warning towards Sakura. "Sakura! Behind you!"
The other three males turned around in time to see the Dead lifting it's rotten hands to land a strike at Sakura, who flipped backwards. Kyuubi ran towards the Dead, shooting a simple spell to distract it as Sakura grabbed Kusanagi. Sasuke was going towards Sakura when she swung the blade, effectively killing the rotten piece of flesh.
Sakura smiled sheepishly at the surprised look on Sasuke's face, and swung the blade around a bit. "I am trained to kill, Sasuke."
The young Uchiha shook his head, smirking. "One can sometimes forget that when they see how you act though."
Sakura's smile turned into a frown, and she glared at him. "What is that suppose to mean?"
"Nothing…absolutely nothing." Sasuke replied, waving it off. Sakura swung her blade at him, to which he dodged with ease. "Careful there Pinky."
She twitched, bringing the blade down again, only to have Sasuke avoid it. "Stay still!" she exclaimed, clearly agitated. Sasuke chuckled, and the two were clearly not aware of the three pairs of eyes that watched them. Naruto grinned as he tightened his hold on the leader's collar. "I guess the two totally forgot we were in battle?"
Neji shrugged, watching as Shisui cleared off the last of the bodies. "At least he's not eager to tear off anyone's head anytime soon.
"No good, he won't talk." Naruto said, throwing his hands up in the air. Neji grumbled lightly, kicking the unconscious man on the head.
"Most likely he's too stupid or too loyal." Neji said, shaking his head. "Either way, he's useless to us now." He nudged the man with his foot again, trying to push him into the stream running beside them.
Shisui groaned. "I'm willing to bet it's the first, Waterfall are not known for their loyalty. Maybe he was threatened with something worse than death?" he said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"Like Neji said, either way, he's useless." Naruto replied, pushing the man into the stream. Sakura would have felt sorry for the poor Mage, had he not tried to kill her just a few hours ago.
Sasuke had been silent the whole time, taking time to analize the situation. They had caught the leader, but there was no clue to what the Waterfall were hiding. What was so important that they dispatched a whole group of Black Mages to stop anyone from entering the village? He glanced up at the man floating down the stream, away from them.
"What's worse than death anyways?" Sakura piped up, watching the body float. Neji, Naruto and Shisui exchanged glances before looking at Sasuke expectantly, waiting for him to give an answer. Sasuke noticed their look before shrugging, settling down more comfortably against the tree he sat.
"For us Mages, there are only two things worse than death." Sasuke explained, catching everyone's attention. He raised up two fingers, looking more serious. "One, is the normal you can't die and get trapped in the realm of dead for eternity, or until the person who imprison you dies. It's bad because you could be there for hundreds and thousands of years if your captor decides to hand down the spell to his descendants and such."
Sakura nodded, remembering one particular lesson in where Kakashi was telling them about this. You would be stuck in the realm with no sense of time, no feelings of pain or hunger, just wandering aimlessly around for eternity.
"The second is worse than the first." Sasuke continued, holding up one remaining finger. "Have you ever heard of the Glacial Crypt ritual?" he asked, looking at the girl, who shook her head in response. He smirked. "Didn't think so."
"Well, we seldom learn about rituals." Sakura retorted, crossing her arms. Naruto chuckled at the display but said nothing, waiting for the raven haired boy to continue.
"Right." Sasuke said, his voice holding a hint of disbelief. "Anyway, in simpler terms, one would just call it the cold burial ritual." He explained, racking a hand through his spikes. "Like the name, it concerns burial. The difference with the first is that when you're imprison, you can feel everything that goes on, whether it's hunger, sense of time, emotions etcetera."
Sakura's eyes widened. "That's…that's pure torture!" she exclaimed, while the others just nodded.
"Exactly." Sasuke said, setting his hands on his legs. "The other difference with the first is that in the Glacial Crypt ritual, the captor can easily trap your soul in a container, a bottle for example." He paused, bringing out a small bottle. "So you can see where you are, everything that's happening, but you can't do anything. Even if you think you're going to die of hunger or thirst, the spell won't let you, and that's even worse than death."
"Wounds that you get will never heal unless your captor heals you. You can scream or try to break out, but it'll never reach anyone's ears, it's like the container is sound proof." Shisui explained in more detail.
"And yes, it can be passed down to descendants like the first spell." Sasuke finished, tucking the bottle back into his backpack.
Sakura stared at Sasuke, staying silent and processing all that they said about the two things that were worse than death. Konoha had never seen it fit to teach their Mages any forbidden ritual or Charter spell, so she guessed that they had to find out on their own, but she did know that the two most powerful families in Konoha did have scrolls and information on this type of rituals.
"I take it that not many Black Mages are able to do this spell." Sakura finally spoke, and Sasuke nodded.
"It's hard and complicated, requiring a very highly trained Mage, whether white or black." He explained, waving his hand. Neji nodded. "Even the Hyuugas cannot perform this spell without at least three members. And the last time they tried, they all died."
Shisui shrugged. "Which is why we don't have many being entrapped at all." He said, gesturing towards Naruto. "The Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi inside Naruto using an almost similar Charter spell with the Glacial Crypt, but he died in the process, as Konoha history clearly states."
"Anyway…" Sasuke interrupted, and once again all attention was on him. "Let's get back to the main topic." And the others only nodded, sitting down to face him. "Waterfall is hiding something, or someone like Gaara said. The problem is we don't know what."
"It could be someone." Naruto suggested. "After all, Waterfall is not known for their advance technology. That's Konoha's specialty."
Sasuke nodded, seeing the logic in it. "I agree. It could be someone that's a threat to the other nations. That's why Waterfall doesn't allow anyone in."
"But who would be such a threat?" Sakura asked, furrowing her eyebrows. "I mean, the only person who went down in history for being a threat to the whole nation is dead as stated in history."
"Aa, I remember it's…" Sasuke didn't get to finish his sentence because Kyuubi yelped loudly, making all heads turn.
"Well well, if it isn't the survivors." A deep voice drawled out, making Sasuke and Shisui's eyes widened. Two figures emerged from the shades of the woods, shocking the group of the five of them.
"We didn't even sense them!" Naruto hissed, taking a step back.
"Of course not." The other figure growled. "We were trained to not be sensed!"
"Itachi…" Sasuke growled, his eyes bleeding red when he saw the figure step out. Sakura turned towards the elder Uchiha, not believing it.
"Uchiha…Itachi?" she muttered, making Itachi look in her direction. He smirked slightly in amusement.
"What's this…?" he said, turning towards the girl. "You got yourself another companion?"
Neji and Naruto stepped in front of Sakura, shielding her from Itachi. "Get your Akatsuki ass out of here." Naruto spat, drawing his two kunai blades. Shisui drew a quick protection spell for Sakura, as Sasuke seemed too angry to notice anything except his brother.
Itachi chuckled at this, making Sasuke's anger rise more. He drew his blade, pointing it at the elder Uchiha. "What the fuck do you want?" he yelled. "Don't you fucking lay a hand on her." He continued, glaring at the man before him.
Unconsciously, Shisui's hand was shaking after drawing the Charter spell, and no one but Sakura noticed this. Everyone was too focused on Itachi and his partner, there was no time to be thinking about fear. Sakura didn't know about Shisui's near death experience with Itachi, but she could tell he was terrified of something by the appearance of Uchiha Itachi.
"Don't worry." The other figure approached them. He had dark blue skin and his face resembled a shark, and Sakura would have laughed if she didn't know he was dangerous. The Akatsuki were quite a well known group in Konoha, and she knew that Uchiha Itachi had slaughtered his entire clan save for his younger brother, and had joined the Akatsuki.
"We're not here to fight today." He said, laughing. Itachi glared at his partner, but nodded.
"Here." He said simply, tossing a scroll in Sasuke's direction, and he caught it without taking his Sharingan off Itachi. The elder Uchiha smirked.
"We were supposed to enter Waterfall and investigate something, but since you're here, then we know what we need to know." Itachi said lazily, and pointed at the scroll in Sasuke's hands. "That's some information our spies gathered, who knows, it might be useful to you." He drawled, talking like they did not have enough brains to know something.
His partner laughed out again, shaking his head. "Bunch of babies if you asked me, Uchiha." He turned and jumped off, leaving Itachi with the five of them, which four of them were glaring at him.
"Until next time, otouto." Itachi smirked, disappearing in a puff of smoke which left them coughing.
"Otou…to?" Sakura asked as the smoke cleared, while Naruto and Neji swept the place with their eyes to make sure there were no other enemies around.
Sasuke growled in irritation. Trust Itachi to spill everything he tried to hide.
"Well?" The pale man asked the red head girl, his eyes narrowing dangerously.
The girl shook her head. "They're dead. All except the leader. I can still sense his life force."
His other underling chuckled. "If you want something done, you gotta do it yourself." He said, looking at the pale man.
"Indeed…you make sense." His yellow eyes glowed in the dark, making him look very eerie even to his underlings.
"Karin, see to it that they don't get past the borders into Waterfall." He ordered, and the girl bowed slightly before leaving the room, grumbling under her breath.
"And you Suigetsu." He pointed to the man. "Make sure she doesn't kill the pink haired girl."
Suigetsu groaned, grabbing his huge blade from the table. "Alright…" he muttered, hating to baby-sit anyone. He trudged out of the dark room, chasing after his partner.
This was going to be a boring mission.
Shiro chewed thoughtfully on an apple as he read through the documents in his hands. Below him, a figure was waiting patiently as he jumped down from the tree, passing him the documents.
"Are you sure it's confirmed?" Shiro asked, looking into the figure's dark eyes.
The figure snorted, obviously displeased. "Haruno, you should know better than to doubt my abilities."
Shiro chuckled at the threat behind those words. He knew better than to doubt his source. "I know, but you know that if I ever told anyone where I get my sources from they'd throw me in a mental institution?"
The man beside him snorted again, clearly finding that thought amusing. "I would find that highly impossible, considering you should already be in one."
"Haha, very funny." Shiro glared, tucking a few papers into his pack. "You have enough holy water right?"
The man raised an eyebrow, clearly saying 'what the hell for?'. Shiro coughed, scratching the back of his head. "Right. Wrong question."
"I should be going now." The man said, turning to walk away.
Shiro sighed, throwing an apple towards the figure, who caught it without turning. "Remember not to even touch her!" Shiro threatened half heartedly, and a wave of a hand was the answer he got.
"Honestly, sources these days…" Shiro grumbled, hefting his pack. The apple he threw came sailing back, hitting him square on the head.
"Hey!" he yelled, glaring at the empty space where the figure once was. "When I get my hands on him…" he grumbled, walking away.
She swallowed nervously after Sasuke explained the whole situation to her together with the others, who apologized for keeping the secret about the fact that Sasuke was an Uchiha. Sasuke merely grunted, turning away from her after he was done.
"That's why it's a bad idea to travel with us, Sakura-chan." Naruto said sadly, eyes cast downwards. "You could get seriously injured if you keep following us."
"I suggest you head back to Sand, considering it's the nearest. Waterfall is of course, out of the question." Neji said, turning his gaze towards the younger Uchiha, who said nothing.
"But-"
"It's your choice though, we won't force you to do anything, but it really is dangerous." Shisui hastily cut in, seeing her about to protest.
"It's better if she headed back." Sasuke said, his eyes narrowing, as if daring her to counter his words.
"I want to continue my journey." Sakura said firmly, matching the fire in his eyes. She was just as stubborn as he was. "Even if I might die, I need to continue. I won't give up halfway."
Sasuke's glare hardened, but Naruto whistled in awed. "Nicely said Sakura-chan!" he cheered, grinning brightly.
"I won't be responsible for your death." Sasuke said, his frown giving way to a smirk.
"I don't expect you to." Sakura retorted, sticking out her tongue at him.
"Well if we've settled this issue…" Shisui announce, grabbing their attention. "Let's get on with our main mission."
"Right you are." Naruto agreed, still grinning.
"Infiltration of Waterfall village, begin at daybreak!"
dark: I'mma done with one more...((dies))
Sakura: Hey hey! You can't die yet dark-chan! ((shakes)) What's gonna happen next!
dark: I'm here I'm here...
Sasuke: Hn. You're lazy to write?
dark: Not my fault...I can't seem to put my finger on the plot completely now...
Sakura: You better...the readers have waited long for this update!
Naruto: Who's the dude talking to Shiro?
dark: That...is a secret. ;)
Naruto: ...Review please! We'll make sure she writes the next one soon.
dark: Nooooooooo! ((runz away))
Sakura: Get back here!