A/N: This chapter isn't as long as I would have liked it to be, but I've been watching my niece this week and it's hard to get into it with a crying baby around . Anyways, thanks for all the feedback and hope you guys like this one.
A friend of mine on here asked me if I was going to update this weekly. The answer is probably not haha. I wish I could, but I'm busy a lot and I also like working on my other story, which I'm going to do now that this chapter is finished. I'd like to try getting out at least one chapter a week for one of the stories, then the next doing the other one, so it alternates. That way I don't favor one and both stories will get updated every other week.
"Where is this leading me? Where is Saizo?!" Izuna became frantic as he followed the trail of marbles. He had picked up at least two dozen or more by now. He hadn't realized he had so many, but was grateful at the same time.
The deeper into the forest he ran, the dark haired boy became even more nervous, wondering if this could be a trap. What if the person who could have kidnapped Saizo, had taken the marbles as a way to lead someone out here? It could be an ambush. After all, the adults had all been going on about something happening to the heir of another clan.
Picking up another marble, his dark eyes searched around for the next one to keep leading him. 'No...not here. Not there either... Where is it?'
Noticing something out of the corner of his eye, he froze turning and looking beyond the trees at something on the ground. 'What is that?' Is it a trap? Is it a person?' His heart sped up as anxiety took over, not ready for whatever it was. If it was a shinobi, did he have the skill to evade and defend? The only adult he ever trained with was mostly his father, since in the academy it was against other students his age. How would he be able to hold up against an experienced shinobi who wanted to kill him?
Izuna swallowed the lump in his throat as he looked around the trees and let out a breath of relief. "Saizo!" He ran closer, but immediately stopped seeing the look on his otouto's face. Saizo's eyes were wide, with a panicked look on his face. He was sitting on the ground, as still as possible and slowly shook his head, signaling to Izuna not to come any closer.
'What? Why?' Seeing that his usually mouthy otouto wasn't saying a word, he stayed quiet. Was someone around? He looked around Saizo for any strings or anything near him, but didn't see anything. Looking around their surroundings, he noticed them. Paper bombs were plastered on the trees around the boy and near him too. His eyes widened, realizing why Saizo wasn't moving or saying anything. They were boxed in, who knew what other traps were around them.
Trying to stay as still as possible, he heard leaves crackling and footsteps drawing close. 'Who is it? Please don't let it be an enemy!' Bullets of sweat began running down his face, the closer the steps came through the trees, approaching fast. He couldn't even breathe, waiting for the person, who was practically on top of them, to show their self. 'I need to protect Saizo!'
Before he could even take a step, someone emerged from between the trees, looking around.
"Mama!" Saizo cried out, without thinking. Izuna felt relief in his heart at seeing their mother. She ran over to his otouto, crying out in happiness as she held him close.
"Saizo...Saizo... I was so worried! You're here, so everything's okay now." The small boy didn't move or say a word, just let her do as she pleased.
'Oh no! Mom probably hasn't realized the paper bombs!'
"Did you see your brother? Someone said he came here, I need to find him as soon as possible." She leaned back, looking down at Saizo, who looked towards him, pointing.
'Mother, please...Take Saizo and get out of here!' Slowly turning around, her eyes widened, seeing the look on his face. He was panicking and there was no doubt it showed. Any second now, they can be blown to smithereens.
Her expression turned to one of horror, as she finally noticed the paper bombs around them. Gripping Saizo tightly to her, she looked at all the trees lined with them, seeing there was no clear exit.
One of the paper bombs lit up, and Izuna could only think of how they would die within the next few second. The only way to escape could have been to jump up, but who knows how far up the trees were lined with explosives. Not only that, but he wasn't in her reach to grab and jump up quick enough with both of them and he doubted he could get high enough to reach the branches on his own.
'If this is the end, at least I could spend the last moments with my family. If only I could have told them all how much I love them. Father... I couldn't do anything to protect them, even after all you have taught me.' Tears ran down his face, as the other bombs started lighting up.
His mother's voice was the last thing he heard, before the explosives started crackling, ready to set off. "Shit."
As the bombs start going off, though blurry eyes, Izuna saw his mother grab Saizo and runs towards him with a speed he's only seen his father capable of. She tackled him to the ground with his otouto, making them land a small distance away from where he was standing, and shielding them both with her own body as the explosions off.
All he could hear was her scream his name and then he was knocked off of his feet, before hitting them ground, knocking the air out of him. Everything happened so quickly, he didn't know what was going on until everything went black as he hit his head on the hard ground beneath them.
'...What happened?' He tried moving, but was pinned to the ground by something. Every breath he took, was strained and all he tasted was smoke and soot. The ringing in his ears was making it hard to register anything. It was so hard to breathe...Why couldn't he breathe?!
Something dripped onto his face, making him struggle against the weight on his small body. 'Oh no, oh no! We were about to die? Did we die!'
He felt lightheaded and confused, trying to focus and see. The ringing was beginning to die down, replaced with something that tore at his heartstrings.
"Mama! Mama! Wake up! Mama, please wake up!" It was his mother on top of him, not moving. Squirming from beneath her, he saw Saizo leaning over her motionless form with tears and snot running down his face.
Looking down at his mother, he started crying as well. There was horrible burns on her back, the clothing was torn and the skin was charred. Blood ran from the wounds on her legs, all the way up to the lacerations near her head, where she must have almost been hit.
Tears pouring out of his eyes, he leaned down until he was eye level with her, there was a trickle of blood running down the side of her face. That must have been what he felt dripping on him.
"Mom?...Mom?!" He nudged her body, with no response. "Mom! Wake up! Mom!"
Nothing.
Saizo kept tugging on her sleeve, weeping over her.
"Mom! Please...we need you!... Kou and Dad need you. Wake up!" Izuna couldn't stop the lump from forming in his throat as he could barely get the words out. No... He failed at protecting his mother...he failed at protecting his otouto. If she hadn't used herself as a shield, they both would have been dead. Probably burnt beyond recognition. How would they be able to live without their mother? How would father be able to live without her?
"Well, at least the brats made it. Let's grab them and get out of here." Hearing the foreign voice, Izuna spun around to see two men walking towards them. One was tall with dark, reddish skin and light hair. The other was shorter and much paler, with dark hair. Their shinobi uniforms were not ones worn by those of Konoha.
'Who are these guys?!' He quickly rubbed the tears away that were blocking his vision.
"Haha, yeah that was a stupid idea to use those paper bombs. What if the boys were incinerated? Then the whole mission would have been a failure and we'd have to go back empty handed." The short one glared at the other, pissed.
Izuna's dark eyes widened at what they said. 'They're going to take us? This was their mission? They did this to mom?'
"Like I said before, the little one probably won't be of any use, so he's disposable...but the older one's here, so we'll be in the good when we get back."
'These guys...did this to us. They're the ones who took Saizo, now they took away Mom too. It's all their fault.' A feeling he never felt before welled up inside of him, what was it? It was overwhelming and taking over his very being. All he could hear over the men's laughter was the rapid beating of his heart against his chest as he looked down at his mother's unmoving body and distraught otouto, then he knew what this feeling must be. Hatred.
"Arghh!" A searing pain in the back of his eyes caused him to yell out as his chakra flared and the emotions were becoming too much for him. 'It hurts...what is this?!' He could feel the chakra in his body gathering to his eye sockets as he reached up instinctively towards the cause of the pain.
"Izuna!" Saizo yelled through his tears, worried as he tried to crawl towards him, his legs were shaking too much to stand. Izuna put a hand up to stop his otouto, he didn't want him to come any closer or near those filthy men.
"Holy shit! That kid... We're in luck Zabi, that brat just opened his Sharingan! Looks like we made the right choice after all. Heh, the Raikage will be happy about this one, especially since that other snot didn't work out."
"Shut up, you talk too much. Although it isn't matured yet, we can work on that one... Oi, Uchiha brat! We'll be taking you along with us now. Don't give us any trouble of we'll stomp that other kid and leave him here in the dirt."
Izuna began to feel dizzy and disoriented from the sudden surge of chakra, falling to his knees. The taller man began walking towards him with a big grin on his face, obviously happy about his "prize".
'No, I can't go with them! But, what if they kill Saizo if I don't? They might kill him anyway, even if they get what they want. What do I do! I can't fight these men!'
"Come here you little shit." The dark haired boy felt like he could barely stand up, let alone run away. The light haired man was only a few feet away, a smug look on his face. He reached out as he closed in to grab him.
"Shannaro!" Izuna's fell backwards onto his butt as his mother leapt over him and punched the surprised man into the dirt, shattering the ground and making a crater.
"Mom!" He couldn't believe what he just saw. She jumped out of the hole in the ground, where the man was lying lifeless, covered in his own blood.
Never before had he seen someone with such monsterous strength. He knew his mother was strong, many of the adults had told him so, but this was the first time he had seen it for himself. Standing tall, she stood in front of him, blocking the other man's view.
"Are you and Saizo okay?" She glanced back at him with a worried face. Quickly, he nodded, unable to form the words he wanted to say. Turning back to the dark haired man, she scowled, ready to rip his head off at any second.
"You...you think you're going to take my boys? Away from me?... I'll kill you. Every single one of you that thinks you can just take my children away from me!"
Izuna jumped, hearing his mother growl out in such a menacing way. Her sweet, calming voice was gone and replaced with one full of such anger and malice, it sent chills down all of their spines.
'Mom's scary...maybe scarier than dad...'
Looking up at her, he noticed a faint green glow where her wounds were that had been bleeding. They were already mended and the burns were already beginning to fade. His mouth hung open, realizing what she was doing. He had seen that familiar green glow when she would heal their wounds from training accidents or playing outside. She was healing herself without weaving any signs or using her hands at all.
'Wow, mom is amazing... I never knew how incredible she really was.' He smiled, despite the bruises and cuts he had from the whole ordeal. Looking up her, he couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of pride at seeing how strong she is. After using her body as a shield and wounding herself badly, here she was standing, willing to do everything in her power to protect them. 'My mother...' Looking over at Saizo, whose mouth was still hanging open in awe, there was no doubt he was thinking the same way.
"Get the fuck out of my way, you useless woman!" The man pulled out shuriken and threw them at her, hoping to end this quickly. Without any hesitation, the pinkette pulled out a kunai and expertly blocked every single one, no letting a single one get passed her. He kept throwing one after the other, becoming more frustrated, with a murderous glare.
Taking a second kunai in hand, she threw it towards him in a split second, throwing off his rhythm as he tried dodging it. The blade slashed his cheek, digging into the tissue and causing him to howl in pain.
"Not much of a shinobi if that's all it takes to make you cry." The enemy fumed at her jab, enraged that someone who was so wounded had the gall to insult him.
"You'll pay for that, you bitch!" The man weaved hand signs almost too quick to see. Tiger, ssnake, dog. "Raigeki!"
Izuna saw his mother's eyes widen as lighting shot from his hand, towards Saizo. With quick reflexes, she jumped in the way, making the lighting hit her instead of the screaming little boy she was shielding.
"Mom, no! Stop this, you're going to die!" The jutsu faltered and the man pulled his hand back as smoke was coming off of it.
She grit her teeth from the pain, but made no noise indicating she was hurting. Izuna noticed how exhausted she look, anymore and that would be it. Before he went to the academy this morning, it looked like she was tired and now must be at her limit. Gasping for breath, she fell to her knees, unable to stand anymore.
"Hahaha, looks like you used up all your chakra already, huh? Good, this will make it easy then."
"Good thing you're as useless at using jutsu, as you are at capturing children... That attack should have killed me...but thanks to you being unable to use it properly, I'm still here. As long as I can still move, I won't let you touch them. Even if you rip off every limb on my body, no matter how much pain I have to endure... I won't let you touch them, you coward!"
'Mom...'
"Stay away from my mom!" Saizo yelled at the man, an angry look on his dirty, tear drenched face.
The man pulled out a kunai, walking towards her, with a malicious look. "I'll cut you up and kill these kids too. I don't need either of them, I'll just rip out the older ones eyes. That all we came for anyway."
'No, I can't let him touch her! I won't let him.' Looking around for anything her can use, he found a decent sized rock and wailed it, hitting the guy on the side of his head. He yelled out, cursing, holding the now bleeding spot.
"You little shit! You're next!" Before the man could take another step, someone jumped through the trees and kicked the man in the face. He was sent flying and crashing into the nearby trees, as blood spurted from him mouth.
A/N: I didn't want to spoil the chapter, so I decided to add this at the end. After seeing the whole "Mamakura" thing on tumblr and in "Naruto Gaiden", it gave me the idea for this chapter. I can see Sakura fighting till her last breath for her children, no matter what she had to endure. While beautiful and loving, if you mess with her family, she'll turn into "Mama bear" and smash you into nothingness.
I'm going to try to have the next chapter for "The Last Princess of Zhao" out by Friday or Saturday, so keep an eye out for it!