Chapter 7, Cirque du Freak
Long shadows danced up the walls of the office, twisted silhouettes thrown by the light of the single, solitary candle set upon the cluttered desk. With a satisfied gulp, the buxom blonde threw back her head, twin ponytails swaying wildly as she swallowed down another tumbler of bitter, burning sake. So enamoured was she with the glorious liquor flowing down her throat that while she may have noticed the distinctive sound of the window sliding open and wooden geta touching down on its frame, she paid it no mind.
"I bet Sarutobi-sensei's rolling in his grave right now," the newcomer joked half-heartedly, the worry clear in his tone. "Entrusting the coveted title of Hokage to a lazy old drunkard who would drink her own face off even while on duty." Tsunade's eyes met his in a lopsided frown, and she took another long draught of alcohol.
"It's three in the morning," she countered, gesturing aimlessly at nothing with the bottle. "I've been off-duty for hours now, and I need this one. Besides, I never said I wanted to clean up this tangled mess the old man left behind. " Jiraiya gave a drawn-out, exasperated sigh, leaping down from the windowsill and pulling up a chair to take a drink of his own. He downed it in one swallow and set the glass on the desk with a heavy-handed clink, before levelling a hard stare on his old teammate.
"I trust, then, that you're received my latest report." Tsunade gave him an odd look, then nodded. Even now, after several decades, she couldn't understand how the old toad sage could change from a total goofball to a serious and professional with less than a moment's warning. Jiraiya hung his head, arms crossed over his broad chest. "I know it sounds unbelievable, but it's as true as anything. Orochimaru is officially dead. I saw it with my own two eyes."
"That's not what surprised me; I knew that slimy bastard would get his comeuppance one day, and it just so happened it was today. What threw me for a loop was when you said you thought Sasuke had done the deed."
"The wounds on Orochimaru's body matched those of a straight-edged blade, like the one Sasuke now carries, and there are burns consistent with intense application of Raiton chakra. I doubt there are many outside of Kumo that it could've been." Jiraiya leant back in his seat. "Orochimaru was severely weakened, both from the effects of his current body breaking down and because of Sarutobi-sensei sealing the use of his arms. Though even with such a handicap, I doubt dispatching Ororhimaru would've been an easy task for anyone. Sasuke must have improved drastically during his time with him. If that's true, then there's not a shred of doubt in my mind that he'll go after Itachi."
"And if Itachi should tell him the truth of the Uchiha massacre like the loving older brother he is, Sasuke'll return here looking for vengeance," Tsunade finished, drumming her fingers on the desk. "Well, that certainly sounds like fun," she spat, voice dripping with sarcasm. A knock at the office door silenced the both of them, and Tsunade set down the sake bottle with a tired sigh and a longing gaze. "Enter," she called, and the door swung open to reveal a man dressed in Konoha regulation jounin attire, his face bearing a twisted, mangled scar stretching across the bridge of his nose and over his left cheek.
"I apologise for the interruption, Hokage-sama, Jiraiya-sama," Namiashi Raidou began, noticing the Gama-sennin's presence. "The delegates from Kumo and Taki have arrived earlier than scheduled. Would you like me to show them in?" Tsunade spent a moment straightening the countless forms and papers scattered across her desk in a vain attempt to make it appear a mite more presentable. In the wake of Orochimaru's death, she had all but forgotten about that. With the Chuunin exams only a few days away, teams of shinobi from all across the Five Nations and beyond would flock to Konoha for the chance at promotion, and several villages had been quite... eager, shall we say, about the next exam. Considering that the enthusiasm came mainly from villages such as Kumo and Taki, well known partially for the jinchuuriki they harboured, she had her suspicions that it was because of a certain blonde she could most certainly live without.
"Send them in, Raidou." The tokubetsu jounin nodded respectfully and bowed out of the room, returning moments later with a sizable group of people that quickly split up into two groups upon finding the size of the room. On one side, a group of five shinobi lead by a burly, dark-skinned man in white Kumo jounin uniform, with a collection of shortswords sheathed in a special holder on his back. His platinum blonde hair was slicked back out of his face, dark sunglasses shielding his eyes even in the dim light, and a tattoo of a bull's skull burned black on his cheek. His beefy arms, thick as steel cables, crossed over his chest. With him stood a trio of females, two rather small and slender with one being a stern blonde with pale skin in a tight black outfit and the other being a dark-skinned redhead with a smirk pulling at her cheeks. The third was another blonde, her arms rested on her hips as she tried to counterbalance the weight of her breasts, which Tsunade noticed could rival hers in size. The fourth shinobi under the large man's lead was a male, his dark face frozen in a thoughtful expression as he sucked on the head of a lollipop. His platinum blonde hair was the same shade as his sensei's but short and spiky, and he too carried a sword strapped to his back.
On the other, the group was smaller, though only slightly. A group of three shinobi were led by an older male, though he himself looked as if he was only in his late teens. Dark hair, pulled back into a ponytail, and soft black eyes set into a friendly, smiling face. A blue jacket and dark pants bound his thin frame, a single pauldron on his left shoulder the only piece of protection he wore other than the shuriken holster on his thigh. His genin team consisted of two girls and a boy: the boy was all scowls and brooding, much like a certain Uchiha in his youth, his lanky, shoulder-length dark grey hair framing his angular face. Other than that, he was fairly nondescript, garbed in generic grey shinobi attire, though with a pair of bracers on both arms and shinguards on both legs, and a large, two-handed bladed fan. The two females were considerably more interesting to look at. One, a grinning dark-skinned girl with short, mint green hair and gleaming orange eyes, was dressed in a white tank top and short skirt, with a large red bag strapped across her back. Her teammate was almost her opposite in appearance, with bright orange hair that cascaded down her back in a single, unbroken sheet, bright emerald eyes, and pale skin. Unlike the other girl, who clearly had some muscle on her and was likely a taijutsu specialist, the green-eyed one was fairly thin, though her eyes betrayed an intelligence that wasn't often seen on genin outside the Nara clan.
"I present to you," Raidou announced, "the leader of Takigakure, Shibuki-sama, and his team of genin, and Killer Bee-sama, brother of Raikage-sama." Shibuki bowed graciously, but Bee gave nothing but a grunt.
"Big bro's lookin' forward to the final event, yo! He's rarin' to see yo' ninja's tango!"
"I apologise for Bee-senpai, Hokage-sama," the thin blonde said regretfully, bowing lowly. "He has a tendency to speak in rap. Raikage-sama is eagerly waiting to see your shinobi in action during the final exam. My name is Nii Yugito, and these are Karui, Samui, and Omoi." The three genin all bowed to the foreign superior. Tsunade nodded, and turned to Shibuki.
"These are my village's most promising genin, Chinatsu," he gestured to the orange-haired girl, who smiled politely, "Fuu," the green-haired girl, who grinned, puffing out her chest, "and Hideaki," the grey-haired boy, who merely grunted his acknowledgement. A look of realisation and remembrance passed across Fuu's face, and she looked at the Hokage with a hopeful smile.
"'Scuse me, lady," she started rudely, "d'you know where nii-sama is?" Shibuki balked, and hurried to apologise for his subordinate's impudence.
"M-My apologies, Hokage-dono! Y-You see, Fuu has been rather excited about visiting Konoha and hopefully meeting your jinchuuriki, Uzumaki Naruto. She is the jinchuuriki of the Nanabi no Kabutomushi, and due to their similar circumstances she considers him something of a sibling." Tsunade nodded understandingly.
"Naruto is away from the village on a mission in Demon Country at the moment..." she began, but a small smile came to her face at Fuu's crestfallen expression. "But I recently received a missive informing me that his objective had been completed and he'd be returning to the village immediately. After all, he's participating in the Chuunin Exams as well."
Fuu brightened up instantly. "You mean I'm gonna see nii-sama in action! Sweet!" She grabbed hold of Chinatsu's hands and danced around in a circle with her, surprising the other girl for a moment. She must have been used to it, though as she quickly recovered and joined in with Fuu's dancing, giggling girlishly. Hideaki scoffed and turned away, glaring at the wall so hard it might've caught fire.
"So there'll be at least four jinchuuriki in the village at one time?" Yugito wondered, confusing everyone who wasn't a Kumo shinobi. "I'm the vessel of the Nibi no Nekomata, and Bee-senpai has the Hachibi no Kyougyuu. Won't that make Konoha a target for the Akatsuki during the exam?"
"Tch," Bee scoffed, a grin breaking out over his cheeks. "No use keepin' them worries around, if Akatsuki shows up we'll beat 'em to the ground!"
"He is right, in a way," Jiraiya spoke up, everyone having forgotten he was there at all. "With so many powerful shinobi, including both Tsunade, myself, your groups, and at the final exam likely both the Kazekage and Raikage, Akatsuki would be rather foolish to waste manpower on such a useless endeavour. I don't believe they'll attempt an attack during the exams. Besides, they prefer to pick off their prey one by one, than take them in one fell swoop. It's a lot safer that way."
"We can only hope they'll think that way as well, when the time comes. Otherwise, Konoha may be in for another eventful Chuunin Exams."
Not feeling well?
A soft growl rumbled in her throat, but she refused to acknowledge the jeering voice inside her head. Unlike the voice she knew he heard it was not the deep, primal snarl of a barely restrained animal, hiding within his very soul until the moment it could latch on and leech the life from its host till it was nothing but a mindless husk. It was feminine, high in pitch and harsh in timbre, and filled only with cold malice and spite for its vessel. Both of them were as snide and mocking as each other, though.
It's useless trying to ignore me, Danielle. I know how to get inside your head.
"Be quiet, will you." It wasn't a question, but an order. An order without any power behind it, but an order nonetheless. After all, who was she, Danielle Baptiste, a simple New Orleans-born dancer without an ounce of strength to call her own, to demand anything of the Angelus, the age-old personification of light itself.
What's the matter, girl? Upset because your boyfriend went and screwed some other willing whore?
"Don't talk about them like that..." she hissed, hugging herself tightly. Of course the Angelus would know what she was thinking. She was sitting inside the girl's head, after all. It just sounded so horrible out loud; the other two, they had loved him for so long that she didn't hold nearly as much claim to him. There was no reason for her to feel so... so betrayed. And yet, she couldn't help but feel the same way that Neru was undoubtedly feeling at that very moment. Granted, Dani was far less vocal about it...
"Get back here, you... you bitch!" Dani felt herself flinch at the shrill shriek that tore through the air, punctuated by the twin flashes of lightning and fire igniting in the open air, filling her nostrils with the acrid odours of smoke and ozone both. She watched as Haku's slender frame twisted in the air, weaving gracefully around the gout of blazing orange flame and allowing the bolt of electricity to clash harmlessly against the shield of pure, smooth ice that formed from the very air before her, and buried her face into her knees. It was horrid, that something that she wanted to consider small and insignificant could cause the bonds the three of them had forged over the past three years as something almost like sisters to crumble so easily.
This can only be good, my child! This is your opportunity to tear away from his influence and strike him down once and for all! Do remember that he is not simply a boy, but the vessel of the Dar-
"Don't even say it!" Dani yelled into her thighs, wiping away the unshed tears on her jeans. "I don't want to hear another word about him being the Darkness... I don't care about that."
"That's nice to hear." Her head whipped round, sending long, straight locks of blonde splaying out through the air as her sharp blue eyes, rimmed with red, came to rest upon Naruto's tired form, threading a hand through his hair as he stepped up beside her. "You're not mad at me too, are you?" He didn't receive an answer. Not verbally, at least. "Yare, yare... If I could apologise for something like this, don't you think I would have already?"
"You're right, this isn't something you can fix by just saying you're sorry and leaving it at that!" Naruto gave a quiet hiss, and turned away slightly. "You made this happen! You vanish off the face of the earth for three fucking years, and the first chance you get you start banging girls in foreign countries? I don't care if it was Haku, that's still pretty fucked up!" Naruto gave her an odd look.
"You know, I don't think I've ever heard you curse so much in a single conversation." For a moment, she seriously considered splitting his head like a watermelon. Just one moment. "You seem to be the expert on fixing things, so hows about you tell me what I'm doing wrong! Tell me how to make it up to you!" He yelped in surprise when Dani's fist collided with the bridge of his nose, and his fingers flew to his face in an attempt to stem the swift flow of crimson blood from the battered nostrils. "I guess I deser- mmph!" And just as quick, the blonde angel gripped the front of his shirt and pulled him forward, body lurching uncomfortably as she did so, and pressed her lips forcefully to his in a violent kiss. She ignored the life-giving liquid staining her lips a bright cherry red, and allowed her arms to slowly encircle the taller blonde's neck, and his to snake around her waist. It wouldn't fix everything, but it was a start at least.
"Neru, please! Be reasonable!" It was a long shot, but at this point Haku would try just about anything. A mirror of ice branched out from the side of a building to halt the oncoming fireball in its path, and while it may have succeeded in dispelling the Katon jutsu, the roiling flames still managed to plough the chakra-reinforced ice like a gust to sand. "It was just the heat of the moment! I never meant to do something like that to you!"
"Heat of the moment, huh?" Haku immediately regretted those words, seeing the crazed gleam in Neru's luminous golden eyes as she moulded scarlet flame between her fingers. "Then you won't mind if just so happen to burn you to a crisp! It's just the heat of the moment, after all!" Her palms shot outward, propelling the basketball-sized sphere of fire toward her earthbound foe from her perch atop a building. Haku knew that rolling away from it would not be enough, not with how much chakra had undoubtedly been packed into it, and leapt for the building upon which Neru herself stood, her sandaled feet blurred as she raced up the wall and away from the small fireball as it collided with the earth in a brilliant burst of red, orange and yellow that expanded outwards and upwards, barely granting her enough time to sprint out of its rapidly increasing range. Haku spun as she felt her feet leave the firm wall, ignoring the rising heat behind her as she formed a hasty ice mirror to nullify the oncoming lightning bolt, but that didn't save her from the savage right hook that followed. The punch ploughed clear through her mirror as if it wasn't even there, slamming into her jaw with the force of a runaway freight train and throwing her bodily across the street and into the walls of an opposite building just as the fireball was about to reach her.
Neru grinned. She wasn't even close to done yet. She dispelled the rising flames with a flick of her wrist, lest they end her fun prematurely, and leapt on Haku like a wild animal. The white-haired kunoichi panted heavily as Neru pinned her into the wall, her golden eyes wide with fright as she sighted the familiar yellow glow in her fellow jounin's eyes. Neru's devilish smile grew and grew till it near bisected her face, baring twin rows of gleaming white teeth complete with long, fang-like canines. It was finally here! The day when she could put all these other girls in their places, and claim her own rightful place at her Naruto-kun's side! They weren't good enough, nowhere near, not compared to her! She, who had loved him all this time! He was hers! And she'd be damned before she'd let some frigid hussy take him away!
A scream pervaded the hot air, just as Neru was about to tear the poor Momochi limb from blood-soaked limb, and she looked about, her eyes flickering back to their normal dark hue for but a moment. But that was all it took, for in that brief instant she saw beyond the dark haze of emotion that had fallen around her, effectively blinding her, and felt her heart stop as she watched her beloved fall to his knees, and then collapse sideways uselessly upon the rooftop.
Haku clutched at her sore, reddened throat as she gulped down fevered lungfuls of sweet oxygen. She had been all but forgotten as Neru had literally vanished from close proximity as if she were never there, and rematerialised without any kind of warning at Naruto's side, throwing Dani aside like so much trash in her frantic bid to save her Naruto-kun. Such speed rivalled even Gai...
Neru ran her hands over Naruto's convulsing frame, hands alight with energy as she attempted to diagnose him even while she retained the effects of the Darkness' influence, growing more and more distraught with each passing second. What did it mean there was nothing wrong with him? Obviously that wasn't true! Healthy people didn't just fall down and start coughing blood all over the place, and-
Wait.
She glanced back. There it was, a messy spattering of blood upon the concrete, with a thin rivulet leaking even now from between his pale lips. It stained the ground crimson where it ran. She turned her eyes to Dani, standing only a few feet away, horrified, and they burned with fury.
"You did something, didn't you!?" She shrieked, torn between throttling the angelic whore and making sure that her beloved stayed on this side of Death's scythe. "If you had anything to do with this, you're gonna fucking NEED that halo, you bitch!" Dani didn't reply. She didn't even spare a glance in Neru's direction. In fact, she hadn't heard the possessed teen at all. Nevertheless, the thoughts running through her mind were near enough identical. Had she done this? Had her desperate need for affection brought the vessels of Light and Darkness far closer than they should ever be outside of combat? What if it was her fault, that she had caused this by goading him into kissing her and then accidentally letting loose the Angelus to wreak havoc on his body? Oh, god! She wouldn't be able to bear having him look at her after this if she had caused it! Scratch that, he might not even survive because of her! Oh, oh, god!
The light burnt his eyes.
His body ached, and the light burnt his eyes.
His head swam, his body ached, and the light burnt his eyes.
Would someone turn off that damned light already?
"N-Naruto-kun...?"
There! Just turn off the light, please! Just flick the little plastic switch, it's not hard, goddammit!
"Na-Na-Naru... Hokage-sama!"
He listened in anguish to the footsteps as they faded away. Why, why couldn't he catch a break!? More footsteps, this time moving very quickly and very close. He could feel someone's presence, towering over him like an omen of death, but strangely warm and opening, save for the lingering stench of alcohol. It was so strong he could have gagged. The presence placed a hand, firm but soft, flat against his chest and pressed. A faint hiss of pain pushed past his dry lips. It was all he could manage.
"Uzumaki Naruto, can you hear me?"
He hissed again. He daren't attempt a groan, or anything more taxing on his already sore throat.
"Uzumaki Namikaze Estacado Naruto, do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?"
"Shh..." he admonished lightly. To be honest, it was just coincidence that that had been what he wanted to say. A fortunate coincidence, because he wasn't sure that he would've been able to say anything else if he tried. He felt cool air on his cheek as they breathed a sigh of relief, and their presence receded slightly, he concluded that they must have stood up.
"He's definitely awake in there, but it doesn't look like he's in too good shape." Gee, you think? "I think at this rate I'm going to have to pull him out of the Chuunin Exams." Wait, what? "He can't fight like this, that's insane. He would barely be able to walk if he tried. I just can't even begin to imagine the number of people that'll be disappointed..."
"Ngh..." he coughed, and he felt Tsunade's eyes upon him once again. Pull him out!? No way in hell would he let that happen! There was no way... just no way... "There's... no way that... I'll let... Kiba outrank... me..."
He felt Tsunade sigh again, but it was a sort of amused sound. "You're a real fuckwit, you know that?" Well, that was surprising. It wasn't often he heard the Godaime Hokage curse, especially not in such a jovial manner. "You can't honestly think you can compete like this, can you? That's suicide! You'd have to be the luckiest guy on the planet to last three minutes in your condition!"
"Good thing I've got dumb luck up the wazoo... huh..." he wheezed, allowing a small smile to pull at his cheeks.
"That only covers so much, kid." She sat on the edge of the bed, inches from his leg, and he heard the slight clatter as she pulled the record from the railing and flip through its pages. "Some of this stuff is absolutely ridiculous, I don't even understand how I missed it before now. Multiple infections slowly spreading throughout multiple portions of your anatomy, several parts of your internal systems are just packing up and clocking in early without any discernible reason why. I just don't understand, unless..."
He didn't like the sound of that. "Unless...?"
"You were dead for three years, Naruto. Sure, your body was still technically 'alive': it didn't decompose or anything, and it developed as it would have had you been alive. It was more like you'd just taken a very, very, very long nap. But all that time, your body was just laying, defenceless, on the ground. We aren't even sure when Orochimaru got his hands on your corpse, so for all we know he could have had ample time to do something... untoward."
"So what is it you're saying... exactly?"
"I'm saying that right now, fighting on a grand scale is completely out of the question, as are the Chuunin Exams. Doing anything too strenuous will be a challenge for you from now on, so I'm not sure how you're going to continue being a shinobi... especially not at the rate with which these infections are progressing. You'll be out of action for the foreseeable future, so... I'm sorry. I wish there was something more I could do, but there's not. So I'm sorry."
Tsunade hurried from the room after that. Naruto didn't care that she essentially ran away. It didn't matter to him anymore. Nothing did.
"I can't... I can't fight anymore. There's nothing more I can do."
AWW... LIttlE NaruTo, aLL ALoNe?
Shut up. I don't want to hear it now.
wELl, AREn't yoU juSt A TREat? You'RE sO PathetIC i cOuld crY.
What the fuck would you know about it? You wouldn't have any idea what something like this is like... you're just a parasite.
You're RIgHt. I DOn't Know wHAT iT'S lIKE tO BE SO HElpLesS yOU can't eveN Take A piSs WitHOuT sOMEoNE tHERE tO hElP yoU AiM.
"I wish I could be of more help, Naruto."
Naruto flinched. "Kyuubi?" he said aloud. Thankfully, Tsunade's departure had left the room empty save for himself and the steady monotonous beep of his heart monitor. There was a voice he hadn't heard in a while. In fact, he wasn't sure he'd heard the old fox speak even once since he'd 'returned from the grave'. Why choose now to speak up?
Why did this happen now, Kyuubi? For days now I've felt right as rain, then suddenly I keel over like Chouji's sitting on my back. Why did it turn out this way?
"It's a little complicated, and it involves some kind of connection I don't even fully understand, since it's so otherworldly. You already know that the Darkness absolutely despises weakness in its host, and it won't let you die if it can help it, which, in many cases, it can. Up until now, it's been suppressing the symptoms of the disease the snake human inflicted you with, so that's why you've felt perfectly healthy."
And why exactly did that protection fail?
"Well... this is the part I can't work out myself. The people with whom you've shared the Darkness' power are literally connected to you through it - their Darkness and yours are part and parcel of the same, timeless entity. When that girl you're so fond of tapped into her latent Darkness abilities, the Darkness's efforts were divided between strengthening her - something that it isn't supposed to do, hence why it's so taxing - and suppressing your illness. Long story short, it wasn't enough to keep the symptoms under wraps, and with your body so unused to the sickness it reacted violently."
That's putting it lightly. I'm so fucked right now I can barely breathe, and to top it off even if I do recover I might never get to the point where I'm able to continue being a shinobi. This is so fucking unfair!
"Sulking like a spoiled brat isn't gonna help you, idiot," said a voice Naruto knew all too well, one that surprised him enough to tear him free from his mental tantrum. The newcomer tossed a plastic bag filled with instant ramen cups and comic books (he could tell the former by the plastic rattle, and the latter by the papery thwack) onto the bed, carefully enough not to cause the boy too much undue grief because of his wounds, and took a seat on the lone chair beside him. "Though to be honest, I don't see how you could get out of this by any other means either..."
"Aren't visitors supposed to cheer you up, Shikamaru?" Naruto questioned the lazy Nara half-heartedly. "Saying stuff like, 'it'll be fine', or, 'you'll be kicking ass again before you can say "decapitation"', or something like that?" Shikamaru waved the comment aside like it was nothing but a soft breeze.
"You're confusing me with the average visitor. As much as it pains me to admit it, I'm certainly not average by anyone's standards." He reclined leisurely in the wooden chair, grimacing slightly at the loud creak of its joints, and glanced out of the window to where the sun now dipped low in the sky, painting the horizon a blazing orange. "I just thought that... you'd probably be going stir-crazy right about now, stuck in here with nothing to do. You might appreciate some company, and a kick up the ass to get you better."
Naruto smiled. "Thanks, Shika. It means a lot to me." He gave a tired sigh, and let his head sink slightly into his pillows. "I just don't know what I'm gonna do anymore. Baachan tells me there's no way I can keep being a shinobi like this even if I were to recover enough to function almost normally. That's not even going near what might happen if things get worse and I have another attack."
"Let it never be said that Uzumaki Naruto didn't know to be melodramatic," Shikamaru droned, half-joking. "You act like it's the end of the world, when really it's nowhere near as bad as you make it out to be. You have a knack for getting yourself out of tight situations - saying nothing of your other knack for getting yourself into them - so I'm fairly certain you'll find a way. Fairly. Just remember that you're perhaps the only person in the world that survived death."
"Ha..." Naruto laughed weakly, smiling sadly. "You're right, I guess... but everyone's luck's gotta run out some day, right?"
"Geez, you writing a soap opera or something? You keep talking like that and I'll have to get your girls to knock some goddamn sense into you. Maybe you'll listen to them, eh?" Shikamaru looked back to Naruto, only to find the blonde's eyes downcast, shadowed by his fringe. "Naruto?"
Naruto thought about 'his girls'; those three (perhaps four or five, he hadn't quite decided where he stood with Karin or Shion yet) beautiful young women that had wormed their ways into his already hectic life. He thought of Haku and Neru, both irrevocably altered by the Darkness he'd unwittingly gifted to them to the point where even he didn't know how much of the damned beast's power festered within them. And of Dani, her horrified face as she watched him fall. Of course, she'd think this was her fault automatically, what with the Angelus still inside of her. Maybe if... maybe if he hadn't let his guard down to them in the first place, if he hadn't opened his heart and let them in, none of them would be in this mess. Neru wouldn't have died all those years ago, for one, only to be brought back practically a different person a week later. Haku would probably still be travelling with Zabuza, seeking their revenge on the Mizukage. And Dani... he had no idea what kind of change would occur in her life. Ultimately, all this was his fault.
fInALlY, He ReAliseS. yoU TOOk LOng enOugH, boY.
"...Troublesome."
What was she supposed to believe other than that it was her fault? It was the Angelus living inside her soul that had caused such a violent reaction against the Darkness' taint on Naruto's own, wasn't it? If she hadn't become so close to him, she would have never shown him affection in such a way, and he wouldn't have become injured because of her.
It was unknown to the blonde Baptiste just how closely her train of thought and Naruto's were running.
She didn't want to get near him, in case the Angelus did something more, in case it tried to finish the job. She didn't want to be too far away, in case something else happened to him and he... he... she couldn't bring herself to even think the words. It was all she could do to remain seated upon the low bench mere metres from the door to his room, eyes darting from side to side very few seconds and body twitching like a rabbit waiting for a chance to bolt back to its hole. No one came to assuage her concerns, to tell her that it wasn't, in fact, her doing at all, but the malevolent machinations of everybody's favourite pale-faced malcontent. Even Tsunade, and later Shikamaru, merely strolled right past her without even a single glance in her direction when they passed both into and out of the room. They didn't bother to tell her that it wasn't she who had put him there. So, Danielle's thoughts were left to boil and fester within the dark recesses of her mind, aided by the subtle prompts the Angelus whispered to her disguised as words of comfort, until she was absolutely certain that it was her fault. And in fact, it was right around the time when she had decided that it would be better if she were to leave right now, to put thousands of miles between her and Naruto, and never see him again - how could she even bear to look after this - when someone appeared who did see her, and did approach her.
"You seem a little distraught, miss..." Dani flinched in shock at the sudden voice, hoarse and grating upon her eardrums, and when she turned to politely decline whatever invitation this man wanted to give her, she recoiled in disgust at the figure looming over her.
To say looming, really, was incorrect. His greater stature was more to the fact that she happened to be sitting down, while he, back hunched and one leg stuck out at an awkward angle as if it had been shattered beyond repair and now hung uselessly from his knee, was standing at his full and rather unimpressive height. His gnarled, scar-ridden face repulsed her to the very core, locks of greasy, black hair matted to open sores and scars, a few of which even looked like they were rotting, as if the man was actually a corpse given life. His breath matched, filling her nostrils with the stench of rot and decay and death. To say that the man looked like death warmed up would be overestimating just how warm he looked. She didn't even want to think of the haze of sin, evil, and Darkness with a capital D that stuck to him like a shadow.
"O-Oh no, I'm fine, r-really...!" Dani stammered weakly, shrinking away from the foul man, who thwarted her escape by drawing closer, leaning over her with gloved hands rested upon the pommel of a walking cane.
"There's no need to fear me, miss. There's much better things to spend time fearing than ol' Victor." 'Victor' took a seat upon the bench, sighing exhaustedly as he took his weight from his legs. Dani stopped trying to escape, for now, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to stay as far from this man as possible. "Y'see, I walk through this hospital as I often do, and I sees a pretty young thing lookin' like someone just killed her puppy in fron' of her. Now, being the kind of man I am, I can't help but go over to this girl, see, and see if I can't make those troubles disappear." He smiled, but the way the gesture pulled at his warped flesh only made him appear even more disgusting. "So hows about it, miss? Y'mind tellin' old Victor what's the matter, so he might be able to give you a hand?"
"So this is the place you were talking about, right?" Suigetsu inquired, sheathing his new sword upon his back as he removed it from the body of an armoured soldier, one of the many that had dared attack their party as they approached. He looked to Juugo, the hulking monster of a man that for now looked very soft and good-natured, and the pair of them looked back to their de facto leader, his cloak billowing in the wind around his lean frame. Sasuke's Sharingan ignited with life as he eyed the enormous stone doors, built into the side of a mountain, and the gleaming red-orange insignia emblazoned upon it: that of a circle, bisected vertically a single, long line. He could sense the energy around this place. It was pitch-black, overbearing, and hungry, but most of all, familiar. He'd felt this same energy every day for Kami knows how long, serving on Team Seven. A look to the side, to one of the soldiers' corpses, only confirmed it. The armour they wore and the weapons they wielded were not those of ninja, not by a long shot. After all, not many shinobi can boast to have laid a hand on a firearm, can they?
As Uchiha Sasuke, Houzuki Suigetsu, and Tenbin no Juugo, looked upon the entrance to the Brotherhood's hideout, thunder cracked and lightning flashed in the darkening sky, as if in recognition of the dark events unfolding.
Howzit?
Been a while, my friends. I hope this chapter meets with your approval and all that jazz. Let me say right here that this chapter marks the beginning of a new arc that is definitely more Darkness than it is Naruto, largely because I believe that the Darkness side of things has been sorely lacking as of late, and it fits in nicely with the storyline I have sort of half worked out in mind without any idea of how events will fit with regards to order.
Sometimes, my brain really does piss me off.
Well, things happened, didn't they? The Shikotsumyaku Orochimaru put in Naruto back in chapter one comes back to bit him in the ass, and now he has to deal with his rapidly deteriorating condition as well as Akatsuki, Iwagakure, Hebi and now Victor and his Brotherhood. He certainly has a knack for getting people to the point where they want to murder him. Apart from that, I really don't have anything else to say, except for I hope you enjoyed this and will wait patiently for the next chapter! Goodnight!
Next time, on FSIR:
Down but not out! Naruto works to recover from his brush with death, while dark forces plot against him throughout the ninja world. When it all comes together, who will be left standing? Tune in next time, boys and girls! (Rolls credits with True by exist†trace)