Rewrote Madara's prison to more accurately reflect what I wanted for him and his powerset. This was also the original idea for his prison, but I wasn't sure how I wanted to go about writing it and first drafts were awful. This new version is what I intended and I'm pretty proud of it tbh.
Like I said, the prisons reflect the powers the Uchiha's have. It's pretty obvious what Madara's is.
Be warned, there is heavy violence in here, so if that is something you don't want to read, feel free to PM for a sanitised breakdown.
The re-written part starts from 'Sakura kept running, glancing over her shoulder for fear that the darkness would catch her.' About a quarter of the way down if you don't want to re-read the whole chapter.
Enjoy.
Ghost Stories
Day 7: War Dance
Kakashi surveyed the small team Chief Nara had managed to cobble together for him and Genma. It was a ragtag group to be sure, but it was better than nothing.
Genma was busy bothering the paramedic they had pinched from Konoha General, following the tan man around like a little duckling. Kakashi would think it was funny if it wasn't his partner. Instead, it was just embarrassing.
The rescue team the Chief had managed to get in was from Kumo, visiting and now stuck in the city until the main roads could be reopened. It had been nice of them to volunteer, though Kakashi suspected it had something to do with the Raikage being Captain Minato's close friend.
"Are we ready to go?" Darui, the military sniper turned climbing instructor, asked, chewing on an old lollipop stick.
Kakashi wondered what it was with lollipops and grown men.
Did he miss a class in school or something?
"Yeah." Kakashi said, shaking his head. He finished tying down the last bag of gear they'd requisitioned. The grunt in the borrowed coast guard boat sighed, shoving Kakashi's hands away and redoing it himself. "I'll go and save that paramedic from my partner."
"Omoi, Karui, stop arguing-"
"What if it's a sign, boss-"
"It's not a sign, Omoi! Stop being such a baby and get in the boat!"
"But my horoscop-" The younger of the two climbers, a nervous young man with a shock of white blond hair, squealed as his partner shoved him bodily into the rescue boat.
Karui, the other climber, rolled her eyes and hopped down after him.
Kakashi smiled. They were a weird bunch. They'd fit in nicely with him and Genma.
Speaking of…
"Genma, stop harassing the poor man!" He called, snatching his partner by the elbow. The paramedic, a coolly collected man by the name of Iruka smiled wanly at him, black duffle bag slung over one shoulder. "Sorry, he hasn't had his meds this morning."
Iruka's smile faded quickly and then he wasn't focused on Kakashi anymore, instead looking Genma over with clinical eyes. "What medications-"
Genma elbowed him in the side. "Shut up!" He smiled at Iruka. "He's just trying to make a joke."
Iruka looked between them. "Oh."
"Sorry, sorry, go ahead, I didn't mean to keep you here talking." Genma said hurriedly, waving the other man over to the black rescue dinghy, where Omoi and Karui were in another heated argument. Omoi was trying to show Karui something on his phone, eyebrows creased with worry.
Darui was sunbathing, apparently asleep.
"You good?" Kakashi said, snatching Genma's arm before his partner could walk away.
As much as he picked on the uptight idiot, he did care about Genma. They were best friends, and he trusted Genma with his life. His partner was taking this case too hard, and no matter how well he hid it from other people, Kakashi could tell.
Genma looked at him for a moment. "Yeah, I'm fine." He said.
"You're not." Kakashi snapped. "Genma, you need to know what we're going to find up there."
His partner looked distressed for a moment. "I'm not an idiot, Kakashi." He said. "I know. I'm fine."
Kakashi wasn't convinced, but they didn't have time to argue about it. They only had a four hour window before they needed to be off the mountain and it was already close to midday. If they left it any later, they'd be transporting a body and six people in the dark. Not an ideal situation on a flooded river.
He followed Genma back to the boat. He had a feeling he'd need to corner his partner later on and physically drag him off to the gym or a restaurant or something.
Maybe a nice bar.
Sakura missed the cool grass and lush trees of Itachi's prison. It had been the least horrifying and stressful of all of the prison. At least there, she didn't feel like she might be attacked or killed at any minute, and she had been able to sleep, relax, calm down just a little bit.
By contrast, the desert that she was walking through was hot and smoky, dust clogging the air and turning the white moon a rusty red.
She paused, glancing behind her. She could see the demarcation of where Itachi's prison lay behind her. It was a stark difference, seeing the green grass and gently rolling hills behind her, dotted with tall trees and cheery bushes.
Itachi had told her that once she stepped into Madara's domain, she couldn't come back, but Sakura thought maybe he was just saying that to scare her. She knew that Itachi wanted his brother freed and had been cautious of all of the cute, innocuous stories he had shared with her about his brothers.
"…mother was most displeased when she learned what Sasuke had done, she threatened to hang him off a tree by his shirt-"
"Shisui enjoys talking to people… It often gets him into trouble…"
"Chess? It sounds like something I might like to try-"
She knew that those stories were meant to endear the Uchiha to her. But it was just a little too on the nose. The more he told her, the more she began to think about just… not, letting the last Uchiha out.
She had known for a long time that the Uchiha were not benevolent gods locked down here by jealous humans. Obito's rage had been present for humans for a long time, ever since he had destroyed that village. No god did that, not a good one anyway.
Sakura clutched the rock from Shisui. But Shisui had… he had promised her he wouldn't hurt anyone, and Itachi had seemed sweet as well.
Perhaps they weren't all bad-
She shook her head immediately. She knew that wasn't true. Shisui might have promised not to hurt anyone, but she still remembered the way he'd talked about his prison, the venom in his voice. And Itachi… No man took what he had endured lying down.
And if she didn't let them out, then she would never go home, she would die down here.
What about the people they might hurt? A part of her demanded, what about them? How could she let them free when she knew that people would die? Was she that selfish to think that her life was more important than theirs? One life could never stand above hundreds.
Sakura bit her lip, thinking.
Another part of her was terrified of dying, begging her to just find the last one. Because it wasn't her fault that Sayaka and the Uchiha's were bad people, was it? And if she died down here, she wouldn't be able to help anyone at all-
She shook her head violently, trying to dispel the thoughts. They had been swirling around her brain ever since she had left Itachi behind. Around and around they went, disparate and pulling her different directions.
Sakura slowed and then turned to look at the line of green grass and trees behind her. She looked back at the desolate wasteland and then made up her mind.
She was done being a pawn in someone else's game. She might die down here, of starvation or lack of water, but surely that was better than being responsible for the deaths of other people.
Mind made up, Sakura stomped back towards Itachi's prison. If she was going to die, she was going to do it in the peace and quiet of Itachi's prison- where she could lie down-
Sakura gasped, steps faltering when the green line of Itachi's prison fell away, the trees dying and curling up into jagged, pained looking shells of themselves. The grass turned brown and then black, and then into dust. The rolling hills heaved, tearing themselves apart and she could hear the crash and groan of the trees falling.
It collapsed in on itself and she was reminded suddenly of Kagami's mirror and how that had destroyed itself as well.
The rolling hills and the sharp cliff face even further beyond them began to be absorbed by darkness. It rolled over the dead land, consuming everything in its path. It surged over the dead trees, picking them up and turning them into sticky, black tar.
On and on it oozed, clawing and creeping across the ground.
Sakura expected it to stop where the red wasteland started, but it didn't.
Instead, it flowed on, displacing rock and dragging them back into its depths. She could hear a loud hissing and she stumbled back a step, afraid.
It was moving quicker now, and Sakura didn't have the resolve to let it just eat her.
So she turned tail and ran, heart thrumming frantically under her ribs and legs shaking with hunger and exhaustion. She glanced over her shoulder, terrified of being absorbed by the darkness rushing towards her.
It was keeping pace with her, so Sakura forced herself to run faster.
The ground was uneven, pockmarked with craters and dips and it made Sakura stumble several times, thighs burning. It was slowing her down, but the thick dust made it difficult to see where any holes might be.
On and on it chased her over the dusty ground. She could feel a chill coming off of it and whenever she looked behind her, there was just darkness, eating away at the ground, making it fall away into chucks of sticky tar.
She remembered the mud and felt terror choking her.
She pumped her legs faster, for once, grateful for the training she put herself through. Her body, though exhausted and hungry, easily fell into the rhythm of running along. She didn't enjoy the jolts of hunger or how pockmarked the ground was, but it was better than being swallowed alive.
Sakura kept running, glancing over her shoulder for fear that the darkness would catch her.
Her foot landed on something solid, not sand. Sakura stumbled, confused, and when she looked around, she wasn't running through a featureless desert, but instead through a ruined city. A city that was on fire, that was crumbling around her-
Something whistled overhead and Sakura looked up in terror. The sky was blue, but a sickly, grey kind of blue, from the haze and smoke. When she looked behind her, there was no darkness chasing her, only the ruined street of a city.
"Drone!" Someone screamed.
Sakura was thrown forward, barely managing to stay on her feet when something exploded behind her. The shockwave felt it like was crushing her lungs, and the heat of the explosion seared her shoulders and arms. She screamed, collapsing.
"No, no, don't fall!" Some cried, high pitched and terrified.
A small, wet hand grabbed at her shoulder, her bicep, her hand. "Up, up, hurry, oh hurry!" They blubbered.
Sakura staggered upright, and she gasped in horror at the sight of the tiny boy, maybe four or five. He was covered in dirt and there was blood on his head. He was so small, dark haired and dark skinned, eyes huge in his dusty face. "Oh god, oh god, there are children here!?"
"Run!" Someone roared from behind them and Sakura and the boy ducked automatically when gunfire rang out behind them. She could hear the sound of bullets impacting the concrete of the ruined buildings behind them.
"Drone!"
Sakura acted without thinking, scooping up the boy and sprinting with the rest of the people that had swarmed out of the buildings around her. Her sandals slapped against the ground and for a moment, Sakura was confused.
Sandals?
Her dress was tight around her legs, and she was wearing a heavy shawl too.
Elsewhere in the city, she heard the horrible whistling and a moment later, the ground shook as another explosion roared through the sky. Her ears hurt, ringing with the sound of it and she could feel her heart thundering away.
The boy was wailing, squeezing too tight, but Sakura didn't have time to think about that.
The people around them were screaming, crying as they ran away from the war behind them. They were pushing, and Sakura felt someone tear at her shirt to get ahead of her.
There was another explosion, closer this time and it actually did knock Sakura off her feet. The boy went flying and someone screamed.
Sakura landed hard on her chest, bare arms and collarbones scraping painfully along the rocky ground. It burned, and she could feel the heat of the fire licking at her.
She couldn't see anything, her vision ringing from the shockwave of the explosion. There was dust everywhere and she couldn't breathe-
Where was the boy-
"-soldier! No time for sleeping on the job!" Someone yelled, and Sakura was grabbed by the collar and heaved over a hard shoulder. "Fuck me, you're fucking heavy, you know that?!"
Sakura groaned, confused.
She could see army fatigues, the dusky beige of Konoha's armed forced. A soldier?
What the hell was-
"Down! Grenade!"
The solider carrying her dropped immediately and Sakura rolled off his shoulder. As she did, she became aware that she wasn't wearing the sandals and shawl anymore, but a heavy army uniform, bulletproof vest and all. there was a gun strapped to her thigh and the helmet strap was digging into her neck.
"You good!?" The soldier yelled, covering his head as the grenade went off behind them. "C'mon, we gotta get inside!"
Sakura was so confused.
She looked around wildly. The ruined city and the boy were gone. Replaced instead with sandy stone buildings, many of them ruined. There was a colourful blanket lying on the ground near her.
Why was she dressed like a soldier?! Was this…
But she rolled upright, sprinting after the man. She ducked automatically when more sharp staccato sounds of gunfire echoed behind her. A bullet embedded itself in the ground beside her and it sent a shock of fear through her like nothing else.
The soldier she was following yelled, and Sakura saw blood explode from the back of his thigh. He went down like a sack of bricks.
Sakura acted without thinking. She lunged for him, grabbing the back of his vest and dragging him upright. He howled, clinging to her.
"Gun! Gun!" He cried, scrabbling at the scary looking weapon slung over his chest.
He half turned as Sakura half carried, half dragged him towards the nearest building. Sakura's ears rang, and her teeth rattled in her head when he returned fire, snarling something she couldn't hear properly.
Sakura didn't know what the Hell was going on, but she was more focused on getting him to safety- maybe then she could and find the boy.
The door to the ruined sandstone home slammed behind her and she set the man against the wall as gently as she could. Her muscles were shaking with adrenaline and she was sticky from sweat.
The other man groaned, clutching his thigh. "Fucking got me-" He hissed through clenched teeth.
Sakura fumbled in the numerous pockets on her pants and vest, looking for bandages, saline solution, alcohol, anything. She was wearing black gloves, emblazoned with the symbol of the Konohanian military, and there was a big, ugly gun hanging over her back, the same one the man had.
She finally managed to fumble a roll of bandages free from the pocket on her pants, but when she looked up, the man was gone, replaced with a woman and child, huddled against the wall.
Sakura recoiled and then looked around when the world around her began to shift.
The sandstone building, the ruined chairs and colourful banner by the crude fireplace melted into a humid, lean to The woman and child were huddled by the wall of a dilapidated shed, and she could smell burning meat.
"Please, please, don't hurt my son, please, I'll do whatever you want!" The woman cried, and Sakura drew back even further.
They were afraid of her?
Sakura looked around, and then down at herself. She was still in Konoha fatigues, but they were… older, and her vest wasn't nearly as high tech. There was no gun on her thigh and her boots weren't heavy duty.
The shed was on a lean, and there was a rickety cot to her left, a dirty mirror hung above it. The air was humid, sticky and she could hear the whine of mosquitos.
"Shut up!" Someone behind her spat, male and rough. "God, I fucking hate this country. Where are they!?"
Sakura turned, horrified. There was another soldier behind her, this time, dirty and sweaty. He was dark haired, thickset, angry.
"I don't know, I don't know!" The woman cried, cradling her son closer. He burst into tears and the woman swallowed, looking around for help. "Please, I don't know where they're hiding."
The solider behind Sakura spat angrily and opened his mouth to reply but he was cut off when there was a shrill alarm and the sound of more guns.
Sakura hated it.
The boy screamed.
"Shut up!" The second soldier roared. "Kid, with me!"
The other soldier split out of the shed, pounding away, shouting orders, whipping the rifle off his shoulder.
The woman whimpered.
Sakura turned.
Can't leave them here. A male voice insisted.
It sounded like young, like a boy. Sakura looked to her left. In the dirty mirror, above the bed, she could see a lanky boy, maybe twenty, sandy haired and skinny.
Sakura grabbed them both. "Come on." She said softly. "I'll get you somewhere safe. Trust me."
The woman looked hunted, eyes wide. "If you hurt my son, I'll kill you." She warned, voice filled with the wrath of a terrified mother.
Sakura believed her.
She nodded once and then turned, pulling them out of the shed.
Outside was chaos. The village was in a panic- there was a dead man, right there- and Sakura could see Suna soldiers running past, interspersed with more soldiers from Konoha. The air stunk of gunpowder, blood, fire.
Sakura's hands moved on their own, pulling the gun off her shoulder as she ushered the woman away from the main street.
"Kid, the fuck are you doing!?" Someone roared- the soldier from before.
He grabbed Sakura's uncle by the shoulder, wrenching them around. The woman cried out and Sakura shoved her behind herself as best she could.
"We have a fucking war to fight!" The soldier from before roared in her face, shaking her by the vest. "You forget that?!"
"I can't leave them here!"
"The fuck you can't!"
They struggled. Something exploded nearby, someone screamed and then the sound was cut off with a loud gunshot. More gunfire rang out, again and again and again-
The tang of blood was heavy in the air, and the humidity was only making it worse. She couldn't see properly, sweat dripping into her eyes and the second soldier ripped her gun from her arms, smacking her in the face with the butt of it by accident.
Ratatatata the guns yelled.
"Forget about them! They'll be dead tomorrow anyway!"
The boy wailed. Around them, the village was in chaos. There was planes roaring overhead, the sound of people screaming, so many gunshots it sounded like some sort of demented orchestra.
Sakura refused. "No, I'm getting them to safety! We're supposed to protect people!" She grabbed for the gun, and they fought over it-
It went off-
-Sakura felt a dull thump and then hotness spreading through her chest.
The soldier looked horrified.
The woman screamed again, sobbing. "Oh god!"
Sakura tumbled backwards, falling in the dirt. It forced the air from her lungs and Sakura wanted to cry. He was a boy! He was just a kid!
Sakura's chest bowed, and she gasped, eyes closing in pain-
-when she opened them again, it was to dull, rainy grey skies and a vast expanse of muddy soil ahead of her. She was eyelevel with the soil, and there was water seeping into her boots. She could see bodies out there, limp and unmoving, soaked by the rain.
Something whistled overhead and Sakura became aware of the gun in her hand, the slickness of the handle. She was freezing and starving, and her clothes were soaked through to the bone, weighing her down.
She was shivering.
"Hang on kiddo! We'll get them!" Someone roared to her left.
She glanced over.
It was a big, burly man, eyes like the sky and a big hat. He looked ridiculous and out of place.
Sakura knew this. World War 2.
It had to be.
A bomber roared overhead, and Sakura ducked.
The man next to her laughed. "Calm down, its us, kiddo! And that's our cue!"
Cue?
Sakura gasped when the men in the trenches surged up, and over it, sprinting over the muddy field, guns in hand and completely without protection. As soon as they did, gunfire rang out and she covered her mouth in horror, feeling sick when wave upon wave of man went down screaming.
"Up!" The burly man roared, and Sakura found herself hurled over the edge of the trench by the back of her collar.
She scrambled up just as the bombers started firing their big guns.
It made so much noise.
Sakura didn't see where she was running, there was mud everywhere, rain in her eyes. The gun was heavy, and her boots were filled with water. She sprinted blindly, tripping and stumbling and praying to whatever god might be listening that she didn't get shot.
Someone screamed near her and she saw a man fall, clutching his leg. He landed on another man, writhing.
"Keep running!" Someone cried.
The guns kept going off, around her, at her, above her, there was so much damn noise! Her heart was thumping a mile a minute in her chest, adrenaline making her shaky.
She tripped over something, felt it squish and move beneath her foot, but she refused to look at it. She knew what it was.
The burly man kept her up, hand on her elbow. He was yelling incoherently, firing from the hip, face twisted in a snarl.
It was complete chaos- there was no order here, just death and the screaming of dying men-
Sakura's foot slipped, and she tumbled over into the enemy trenches, crushing a few men beneath her. They were yelling in German, shoving at her, but it was too late, the other soldiers she had been running with swarmed over the trenches themselves, roaring and wailing.
The man beneath her stared up at her, and Sakura could see he wasn't a man, but a young boy. He was sixteen, seventeen? Far too young to be here.
He was terrified, shaking as he raised his hands.
Sakura screamed when he jerked, and blood splattered her face when someone shot him. She staggered back, bumping into someone. They yelled but she was too busy staring at the boy in horror. He was so small, lying there in the mud of the trench.
When she looked up for his killer, she was on a boat.
It made her stumble, the sudden change of scenery. It wasn't raining anymore, but it was windy. The sky above was blue, tinged with a haze, and the clouds hurried by, pushed by the strong wind.
Someone was shouting orders. She could hear more planes above, the sound of waves and the sputtering of the boats engine.
"Go!" Someone roared.
The boat juddered to a halt and then the back of it fell open, slamming down into the water like a giant ramp. The men around Sakura surged forward, running headlong into the water. Sakura caught a glimpse of six white stars on a navy background-
She was swept forward as well and into the water.
It was warm. The tang of salt stung her eyes.
The wind whipped the water into motion, and it splashed Sakura, white capped waves slamming into her side and back, getting in her eyes, in her mouth.
Gunfire was raining down on them from above, the hills above them, where she could see rabbit holes dug deep into the countryside. The water had already turned red from the blood of fallen soldiers.
Still, she ran forward, thighs burning as she ran through the water.
The beach was no better, already littered with the bodies of too many men. Some were taking shelter behind rocks, driftwood, other bodies.
"Up the beach, men!" Someone barked.
Sakura ran blindly, clutching her gun. She was so afraid. She was wet, and she could smell the blood in the air, the gunpowder, and the greasy smell of diesel.
Someone was running alongside her, pack clanking with every step he took.
Finally, finally, they reached the base of the hillside and the gunfire couldn't hit them, hidden as they were by the rocks and earth. The man next to her wretched, hands on his knees and pale beneath his helmet.
Six stars on his shoulder. Six on hers.
Sakura looked up and then ducked when more bullets whistled by. She looked back out over the sand. The boats were leaving, speeding away towards the giant warship out to sea. The ocean was red with blood and the sand was too.
The beach should have been beautiful, but it wasn't because it was filled with dead and dying men.
"Fuck I hope the rest get here soon-" The man said, only to be cut off by another man crashing into the two of them. Sakura fell on her face, getting sand in her mouth and she could hear rough swearing.
"Fucking dammit, the hell you doing!?"
"We gotta take out those gunners on the hill or the others'll be slaughtered when they land!" The second man cried, crawling off them. "We gotta get up there and get those bastards outta their hidey holes-"
"The fuck you propose we do that? They didn't give us shit to use!" The first man roared, obviously terrified.
"You wanna fucking die here?!"
"Shut up!" Sakura cried, covering her ears.
The ground shook under them, and she heard the cries of surprised and terrified men. The earth rumbled, and the hillside shook, sending small clumps of rock and dirt rolling down onto Sakura and the men she was sheltering with. They showered over her, getting in her hair and blinding her momentarily.
When she uncovered her head, the two old fashioned soldiers were gone. And instead of the roar of guns and machine guns, it was the roar of thundering hooves that filled the air.
Sakura stared in shock at the advancing wall of horses and men, unable to quite understand. They were flying a banner she didn't recognise, horses plated in gleaming silver, manes streaming behind them. The men held spears aloft, wickedly sharp and glinting in the sun.
Sakura scrambled up and ran for her life.
She could hear them singing war chants as they chased her, and it sent a thrill of primeval fear through her.
The ground she was running on was pockmarked, more mud than dirt and it made her stumble several times. The air stunk of death, hot and heady.
She became aware of the clanking as she ran, the feel of a heavy padding constricting her chest, the thin shield on her back, the heavy boots she was wearing.
Sakura stumbled, breath ripping through her lungs, and she barely managed to dodge around a dead horse and rider, speared through the heart. There were dead riders everywhere- something that spoke of a horrific campaign of violence.
She felt as if there was a target on her back, that she was the next one to be speared through.
There was no way she could outrun horses, and she imagined the feel of their hooves beating down on her, crushing her, killing her.
She glanced over her shoulder and saw just how quickly the charging army had gotten. They were holding spears out in front of them in a bristling show of force. Their army gleamed in the sun. Huge feathered wings streamed out from behind them, connected to their saddles, so bright it was almost out of place.
At their head, a young man with a shock of red hair.
She knew him.
The Conqueror.
The Winged Riders from Suna.
He raised his spear-
-his men roared-
-and then the left side of his army was slammed into by another, equally sized one. This one, helmed by a fierce man with dark skin and catlike eyes. She knew him too, The King with No Name the huge man who ruled Kumogakure with an iron fist, turning the country from a small village into a bustling metropolis.
Kumogakure's Immortals.
His army was black and gold to the Conqueror's red and silver and they clashed fiercely, horses screaming and men yelling incoherently.
Sakura fell over, landing heavily in the mud. She got mud and blood on her face and she spat it out, swiping at her eyes.
She scrambled backwards, staring in confusion.
These two military powers- they existed at different times, evidenced by the more advanced armour on red and silver calvary, so how could they be meeting now?
The Winged Riders turned, re-grouping. The Conqueror raised his spear and they thundered back towards the other force.
The Immortals of Kumogakure braced.
The clash of steel and horses was so loud it shook the air. Sakura screamed and then shoved herself up when the fighting spilled over and turned into chaos. Horses ran past, screaming and wheeling. Many without their riders.
The Immortals didn't have nearly as many horses, more men on foot, but their blades were sharper, thinner, and the armoured horses legs were an easy target.
Sakura dodged around a crying horse and the headless man on his back, gasping. Her heart thundered in her chest, and her limbs were shaking.
Someone fell in front of her, a spear through the heart.
The sight made her cry out, stumbling back.
She had to get away from here. She would be crushed if the Winged Riders charged again-
She heard the Winged Rider's horns go off and leapt over the man without a second thought. She had read about their tactics, how their horses and their spears crushed every defence with ease, how they broke a city in one afternoon. There was no way she would survive between these two armies.
A's army cried their defiance to the sky, readying their shields, raising their banners, but Sakura dodged between them, heart pounding out a frightened beat against her ribs.
A screamed of terror went up.
Against her judgement, she glanced over her shoulder.
Men and horses were screaming, running for their lives. Behind them, the darkness was back, swallowing the ground, pulling man, beast, and war machine alike into its depths. It was larger now, rising high enough to block the horizon, seemingly alive as it took more and more.
"Up!" Someone cried, and Sakura was grabbed the back of the collar and yanked bodily onto the back of a charging horse. She scrambled, clinging to her unlikely saviour, grabbing at their arm, shoulder, anything she could to get her balance.
She finally managed to get her leg over the back of the horse, still clutching the man in front of her. The horse was lightning quick, muscles bunching and coiling under them as it galloped across the muddied field.
The Conqueror stared back at her for a moment, dark eyeliner making him look mysterious and otherworldly. And then he was staring ahead, urging his charger on.
Sakura glanced over her shoulder.
The darkness had consumed the majority of both armies, sweeping and swarming over the land in a sticky, grasping wave. It rolled and roiled, bubbling like tar as it reached for them.
The gold horse beneath them tossed its head, baying in fear, but military general held him steady. On and on they ran, the horse never seeming to slow at all.
But still the darkness gained on them.
Was this it? Was Sakura really going to be swallowed by this darkness? After all she had done?
The darkness swelled higher, gathering up in a giant, bulbous lump. It rose into the air, blocking out the sky and darkening the world as it blocked the light from the sun.
Sakura's eyes widened when she realised what it was about to to.
She turned around, grabbing at the man in front of her. "It's going to-"
She was too late. The giant wave of inky blackness slammed into the ground behind them. The Earth and mud rippled like water, cracking and exploding upwards.
The horse screamed and so did Sakura as they were knocked over. She was thrown off the back of the horse, flying through the air. She caught a glimpse of the remnants of the army in the darkness, nothing left of them but broken feathered wings and gold chariots before she hit the ground.
It knocked the wind out of her and she only just managed to cover her head. Her back burned with pain and she felt a sharp, jagged pain in her side.
She rolled, head over heels, dirt and mud everywhere. She didn't know which way was up-
Finally, she hit something and came to a stop. Groaning, Sakura lay there for a moment, stunned and breathless.
The sound of a horse screaming made her open her eyes.
The Conqueror and his golden horse were trapped in the oozing darkness. His sea-green cape flying, the red haired man tried to urge the horse free.
The gold horse reared, screaming and tossing its head. The red head kept his seat, mouth twisted in a snarl. He didn't see the darkness reaching for him and Sakura's gasp of warning went unheard.
Man and horse vanished under the roiling weight of the darkness. It seemed to pause and then, as if it was alive, it looked at Sakura.
Aching and terrified, Sakura scrambled backwards as it surged forward to eat her too. Her hand met nothing but empty air as she crawled backwards and with a gasp of surprise, Sakura tumbled down a steep incline.
Head over heels again, she rolled. Dirt flew as she rolled, and she desperately tried to catch herself on anything, but the mud had turned to sand, and it slipped through her fingers.
She slammed into something hard, coming to an abrupt stop that made her side burn with fiery pain and her stomach roll with dizziness. Sakura groaned, flopping limply on the sand, unable to muster the strength to get up.
Let the darkness eat her then.
She could feel her heart beating, could hear the blood rushing in her ears. The fall had disoriented her to the point where she didn't know what way she was facing.
Sakura blinked the sand away, staring down at whatever she was lying on.
It was jewel blue and hard. White fur. Black.
Sakura shook her head gently, rolling it to the side, not quite sure what she was seeing.
She saw a chin, a sharp nose-
Gasping, Sakura threw herself backwards, slamming into the steep hill behind her and showering herself with yet more sand when she realised she was lying on a body. She stared, heart pounding once again in her chest.
He was lying on his back, old fashioned armour gleaming dully in the low light of the sun. He obviously came from a higher echelon of warrior, judging by the white fur collar and steel head-plate he was wearing.
There were two sharp lines on his cheeks, and in his hand, a big, tan gourd shaped fan, ringed in black. A black chain attached to the top, rippling down to a sickle shaped blade half buried in the sand.
Sakura blinked when she recognised it as the fan weapon from the mansion.
But… what was it doing her?
The darkness!
Sakura spun around, half expecting to see the darkness oozing towards her. But instead, she saw that it came no further than the start of the hill she had fallen down. It wasn't oozing or rippling now, only still and empty.
It was somehow worse, because it made Sakura think of nothingness.
Sounds of metal meeting metal made Sakura look around. In the centre of the bowl shaped dip she had tumbled into, she could see two figures fighting viciously, both long haired and tall. The dust they kicked up kept her from seeing them properly, and she only caught glimpses of an arm, a leg, a blade.
The white haired man in front of her wheezed, breath rattling in his throat.
Sakura nearly kicked him in the chin out of fright.
Adrenaline made her shaky as she stared at him, afraid he might jump up and try to tackle her. But he didn't, he only wheezed and gasped for air, prone and paling rapidly.
Still a little apprehensive, Sakura crept forward, keeping half an eye on the warring pair. She didn't want to get their attention and end up dragged into another fight. She had seen enough combat to last her a lifetime.
The man was feverish under her fingers when she touched his wrist gently. As she leaned over him, she saw that there was a darkening bruise on his temple and she winced at the power behind the blow.
Sakura wondered what she could do. She had nothing to help him, and he was already unconscious, something that worried her. A blow to the head resulting in unconsciousness was never a good thing.
Still, she could get him on his side so that if he did vomit, he wouldn't end up choking on it.
Sakura got her arms under his back with some difficulty, making a face at just how heavy he was. It was that movement that saved her life, because as she bent down, a jagged piece of wood whistled over her head, slamming into the sandy hill behind her.
Sakura threw herself over the man in fright, eyes wide and heart in her throat.
The two men fighting had moved closer, and now it was less of a fight and more of a brawl. It was messy and crude as they grappled with each other, snarling something in that same, unrecognisable language Obito and Kagami had used.
Sakura shoved herself up, grabbing the man by the collar. She needed to get away or she'd been killed by something.
The man was so heavy though, his armour weighing him down to the point that Sakura's exhausted frame could barely move him. Grunting, Sakura strained harder, ignoring the painful twinging in her side and the spinning in her head. "Come on!" She hissed. "Come on, come on, come- Ah!"
A giant blue behemoth exploded out of the sand, sending one of the men flying backwards. The shockwave of it knocked Sakura flat on her face and she snarled, sick of being knocked around. Spitting out sand, Sakura looked up and baulked.
The giant was huge, blue and monstrous, with four arms and a snarling, horned face with glowing eyes.
"Oh…"
"Madara, please!" The second combatant cried, sounding so desperate and hopeless. "Please, just listen to me-"
"He was my little brother!"
"Madar-"
"You have already killed one brother and crippled another! I will not listen to anything you have to say, Hashirama! They are my family!"
The blue giant loomed over Sakura and the white haired man. Inside of it, floating like a ghost, was a dark haired man, dressed in red armour and black underclothes.
This had to be Madara, the one Itachi had told her about.
She never imagined he would be…
"Watch, Hashirama!"
"Madara, no!"
Sakura had no time to react, no time to think. She just moved. Her hand was still on the white haired man's, and she yanked the handle of the fan from his. It was heavy and then as if someone else was helping her to lift it, it lightened to be no heavier than a feather.
The blue arm rose, sword rippling with blue flames.
Sakura swung the fan over her head with a snarl of effort.
A white light, the ringing of steel in her ears and then a loud crack and a shockwave that exploded outward from the impact of the blue sword on the fan.
Sakura's arm bowed, and she felt the blow ripple through her entire body. Her shoulder screamed, and she felt all of her muscles straining, she couldn't hold it-
"So what do you do, Shisui?" Kana asked, leaning on her palm. He was fascinating to talk to, even if he did keep looking off in the wrong direction. But that almost made it cuter, because she kept having to tap his arm to get him to look at her.
"Ah… I am a bit between things at the moment." He admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "I am taking some time to… do some introspection."
"Oh like a gap year?" Kana said. She had done the same thing before deciding she wanted to be an economist. It had been the best decision of her life, since she'd gotten Danzo interested in her and managed to squirrel away enough money to fund her university education when she did, inevitably go back.
Shisui tilted his head. "Yes…" He said. "But, I am not very interesting." He said. "What about you, what is such a nice girl like you doing all by yourself?"
Kana laughed. "Laying it on thick, aren't you?"
"Everyone needs a little flattery every now and then." Shisui said, leaning back in his chair. He was stirring his tea absently and Kana marvelled at how practiced his movements were. He wasn't smacking the spoon against the sides of the cup at all. "Besides, was it untrue?"
Kana giggled. She knew she was attractive, and she wasn't afraid to be proud of how she took care of her skin and hair, her work in the gym and planning out her meals. But it was still nice to be noticed. Especially by such a handsome man. "I was out shopping. I have a date tonight."
Shisui's hand paused. "Oh…"
Kana hid a smile, though there was no need. She knew what he had been angling for. "Date's probably the wrong word… Business meeting, maybe?"
Her dinner with Danzo was anything but a business meeting. Of the traditional sense. Of course, she wouldn't meet with an old man for kicks, and he was paying for her time and company, for the 'girlfriend experience' with his money and influence.
But Shisui didn't need to know that.
Not many people looked kindly upon the kind of arrangement Kana had with Danzo. But she didn't care. He had money and Kana had expensive tastes. It was a mutually beneficial agreement.
"What kind of business?" Shisui wanted to know, missing the sugar bowl with his spoon completely.
Kana found him so cute. He was like a little puppy. "Nothing important." She said blithely, guiding his hand to the bowl gently. "But that's later on. I've got time."
Shisui smiled at her widely. He was very handsome, even behind his still askew glasses. "How much?"
-Sakura's arm drooped heavily and she gasped, dropping the weapon onto the sand heavily, gasping for air. She felt so suddenly exhausted and she had to blink a few times to keep from falling over. Even so, the world around her spun sickeningly.
"Ugh…"
"What- Who are you?!" Madara roared.
Sakura looked up, just in time to see him straighten. The shockwave had sent him reeling back, his feet leaving deep furrows in the sand. He flicked out his hand, a sharp black blade falling into his palm and then he was streaking across the dirt.
"Madara, no!" The brunette man cried, reaching out for Sakura desperately, eyes wide in horror.
Sakura had no time to think.
One last time, she begged her battered and tired body, just one last time-
-she swung the weapon as hard as she could, hoping against hope that it would be enough.
It connected with a fleshy clang and Madara went flying backwards. The effort made Sakura stumble and then trip over the body at her feet and she only just managed to avoid stabbing herself in the eye with the weapon in her hand. Her heart was pounding too fast and she was suddenly breathless and shaky, as if she had just run a marathon at a dead sprint.
There was a loud bang and the sound of falling rock.
Sakura looked up, eyes shaking and vision blurry. She was shocked and confused when she saw that Madara had gone straight through a large spire of rock in the centre of the depression they were all in.
She didn't understand.
She was nowhere near strong enough to do something like that, not as tired and dizzy as she was. for a moment there was silence and then the spire of rock cracked and collapsed. Sakura yelped, covering her face with her arms when it kicked up a wave of dust and sharp, tiny pebbles that pelted her skin.
It lasted for maybe thirty seconds, and when she opened her eyes, the depression was empty of Madara and his adversary. The spire of rock was gone too, and in its place, a giant, perfectly spherical boulder that was far too smooth and even to have been made by nature.
Sakura stared at it and then turned around quickly.
The white haired man had disappeared from where he had been lying behind her.
"Who are you?"
Sakura jerked, jumping in surprise. That was definitely Madara's voice, but it seemed to come from where at once, reminiscent of Kagami's voice when this had first started.
"Answer me!"
Sakura pushed herself up warily, looking around. She had a fair idea of where Madara was, but even so, she trusted nothing in this mountain. After all, she had seen a forest and the moon, a giant lake and even a dungeon. Nothing was going to take her by surprise now.
"Girl-"
This one seemed as nasty as Sasuke. "I am not a girl. Don't speak to me like that." She snapped. Her head hurt, and her ribs were hot and tender under her shirt from her tumble off the horse.
"Insolent."
Sakura took a deep breath in, trying not to get angry. But it was hard. She was at the very limits of her patience, what with her hunger, exhaustion, and pain. "Why were you trying to kill that man?"
"Answer my question first."
"That's not how it works!" She said, almost whining.
Madara said nothing and she clenched her fists. For a moment, she contemplated throwing herself into the darkness and ending it all like she had planned before the darkness had swept over everything.
When she glanced back at the sheer nothingness behind her though, Sakura knew she couldn't do that.
She was too much of a coward for that.
"Who are you to wield my weapon and demand answers from me?" Madara demanded again, more imperious this time around. "Answer me."
Sakura sighed heavily, and sat down. Her legs were shaking, she noticed numbly, her arms too. "I'm Sakura." She said.
"Cherry blossom. How… fitting."
Sakura didn't really care what he meant by that. "Why were you trying to kill that man?" She asked, afraid of the answer she might get. She was stalling. She knew why Madara had been trying to kill the white haired man- she'd heard him yell it.
"Retribution for a crime he committed against me and mine." Madara said darkly. "It was nothing more than he deserved."
"He was defenceless!" Sakura said hotly, defensive out of principle. She may not be big or strong, or confident like Ino and Naruto, but she hated bullies just as much as they did and the thought of Madara, a… whatever he was, trying to kill a man who couldn't fight back… it rubbed her the wrong way.
"He killed a defenceless man! Are you saying he deserved mercy when he did not show it to Izuna!?" Madara shot back. "You do not understand the things of which you speak- so keep your tongue still."
Sakura bristled at the condescending tone. He was much worse than Sasuke. At least with Sasuke, he had been at least somewhat tolerable, but this one seemed more combative and less receptive to her words.
He didn't want to listen to her.
"It wouldn't have brought… Izu-na back." Sakura said, stumbling over the unfamiliar name. She hadn't heard it before, but it sounded very old fashioned indeed.
"No, but it would have avenged his memory." Madara said shortly. "Your judgement is misplaced, mortal. You cannot judge me for my revenge when your own kind leaves blood wherever it goes. You saw on your journey, the carnage left by humans in their pursuit of dominion, did you not?"
Sakura stared, and then looked up at the boulder in surprise. The things she had seen… lived, experienced…? All of those conflicts, was that what he was talking about? But…
She thought.
All of things she had seen had felt so real.
"They were."
She glared. "Stay out of my head."
"You telegraph yourself, I do not even need to read your mind."
Sakura fought the urge to flip the boulder off. "I was never in those wars, they can't be real."
"Just because you never experienced them does not make them untrue." Madara said smugly. "Humans and warfare go hand in hand, as they have always done. Such a violent species, you always were, warring over everything from land to conflicting, useless ideologies and yet you judge me for honouring the memory of my brother."
Sakura had stopped listening to his smug words, tuning him out in horror. What she had seen, the drones, the little boy, the soldier who had tried to help her, the soldier boy who had been shot by his comrade, he had really died then?
And that boy in the trenches, with the shaking hands and big eyes, the men on the beach, dying and crying out for help-
Sakura swallowed. Now that she wasn't terrified out of her mind, she began to recognise them from her history lessons as a child.
"You cannot judge me when your own kind has done the same for years." Madara hissed.
"W-we… we fought those wars-"
"For honour? For the righteous?"
Sakura took a shuddery breath.
"You saw the atrocities there. How was any of that different?"
It wasn't. And that was the thing that Sakura didn't want to admit. She had always been a bleeding heart pacifist, but she had never been in a war, she didn't know what it was like. She had always had the privilege of standing on the outside, judging from afar when she really didn't know anything.
"Hm. Nothing to say?" Madara asked. "So easily silenced, just as easily as you have been manipulated."
Manipulated.
Sakura looked up at the boulder with wide eyes. "What… Manipulated-"
She thought back… trying to remember the catalysts for each of the conflicts she had seen. Back and back and back she went, and the men who fought in them never started the wars, it was always someone above them, someone far removed, with something to gain-
A horrible thought crossed her mind.
She already knew that whatever it was that Madara and his brothers were, it was powerful… powerful enough to influence wars and genocide?
"You, all of that was you, wasn't it! All of that fighting!" Sakura accused, suddenly furious. All of the death, carnage, and suffering she had seen, it was him all along. His rage and love of warfare had killed countless people, and all because he enjoyed death and destruction.
She actually felt disgusted.
She knew that he was a bad… person or whatever, but Sakura was physically repulsed by the idea of someone like him, who revelled in death and warfare. She despised the idea of pain and suffering, of enforcing hurt and death on innocent people and to hear him talk about it so casually, to know he took pleasure in it.
It disgusted her to the very core of her being.
"I was wrong." Sakura said sharply, shaking from rage. "I was wrong. There is nothing, nothing good in you-"
"So quick to pass judgement." Madara hissed back, just as angry. "Before you do, Sakura, know this. I did not incite those wars, I did not start them, nor fight in them, nor kill any combatant in them."
Sakura narrowed her eyes.
"Your bloodlust and desire for conquering others, for domination and dominion," Madara said coldly, "is all your own." He scoffed. "All I have ever done was amplify the bloodlust that was already there."
"So you did interfere! It was your fault!" Sakura said, jumping on that small admission.
"I have done nothing but allow man to show his true colours!" Madara said icily. "You look down on me for enjoying the thrill of combat and yet here your species is, standing on the bodies it has left in the past."
Recoiling at the venom in his words, Sakura floundered, trying to think. Was he lying to her? She knew that many people were… not always good, but… but no one enjoyed hurting others, did they?
"You are so unbearably naïve." Madara said. "You may not relish in it, but others do. There is no shame in that."
"There is!" Sakura cried. "How could you want to hurt people!?"
"I do not. I enjoy the fight, the thrill of it-"
"But that's not true, is it!" Sakura interrupted. She was so angry. So angry. She hated this Uchiha. He was a sick monster. Enjoying combat? Enjoying death and pain? "You were going to kill a man who was unconscious, where there was no thrill to be had, weren't you?!"
Madara was silent.
It was a stunned sort of silence and Sakura felt smug. "You're a hypocrite." She accused. "And you know what? I feel sorry for you. Because you can't even see past your own hypocrisy, because you have so little in life that all you can get pleasure and any meaning from is hurting other people."
Her chest was heaving by the end of it.
The boulder was silent.
She stood up shakily, dragging the fan with her. "I'm done with these games." She said strongly. "I'm done. I may have let the others out and that, is on me, but I'm not going to let someone like you out, someone who lives for only hurting other people."
The fan made a dull scraping noise as she dragged it across the sand. There wasn't very far for her to go, what with the darkness around, but she staggered up to the edge of the bowl shaped depression anyway. The hill was steep, and she was exhausted by the end of it.
The darkness didn't seem so scary now.
"Sakura-"
She ignored the call. The fan hit the ground next to her and finally, she rested, shoulders slumping. She was exhausted and every part of her cried out for respite. Her whole body ached.
A sharp crack split the air.
Sakura spun around, and her eyes widened at the sight of a jagged crack running down the centre of the giant boulder. Scrambling up, Sakura watched as the crack split, further and further down the boulder, until it met the sandy ground it rested on.
For a moment, nothing happened.
And then with a loud groan, the boulder split into four even pieces, like a giant watermelon. The rumble and shaking made Sakura slip and she half fell, half stumbled down the incline again. The fan fell along with her, slamming into the back of her knees. She barely noticed it, too focused on the yawning space between the split boulder.
"What… No- No, I didn't do anything!" Sakura cried, rushing forward, as if to reverse what had been done.
It was a mistake.
With a low, heavy groan and the rumbling of grinding rocks, the four pieces fell. When they hit the ground, it was with an explosive boom that made Sakura's teeth rattle in her head. The shockwave of it knocked her clean off her feet and she threw her arms out behind her automatically in an attempt to catch herself.
She landed funny and with a wet crack, her wrist snapped. A flame of hot pain arched up her arm and Sakura howled.
Curling up in an attempt to protect herself, Sakura hit the ground hard. Her burning arm and aching ribs twinged angrily, and the pain took her breath away. Her head smacked into something hard and immediately, her visions shuddered.
She could feel hot blood soaking into her hair.
Her eyes weren't working… properly-
There was a shadow standing over her-
Sakura passed out, vaguely recalling the sensation of being pulled into the air.
Madara stared down at the strangely combative girl who had just collapsed at his feet. She was… strange.
Frail and not in any way physically intimidating.
And yet…
He looked at the Gunbai in his hands. She had picked it up with ease, had had the strength to block a blow from Susanoo's might, had hit him with it. Feats that other Ancients struggled to, especially not without draining themselves and risking madness.
And this tiny, frail little mortal named after flowers had done it.
He rested his Gunbai on his shoulder. she had challenged him, seemingly unafraid and unbroken by her trails in his brothers' prisons. A rare mortal indeed, to face him down and attack him with his own weapon.
Her head was bleeding, turning the odd pink colour of her hair a rusty brown.
She was a fighter, that much was clear from the bumps and bruises adorning her arms and the way her whole body was limp with exhaustion, but muscles still coiled tight with worry and stress.
Most mortals would have gone mad or died from the pressure.
She was an angry little thing. Angry at him, at what he stood for.
Madara crouched, running his fingers through the hair at her temple, brushing it back from her head. Even in unconsciousness, she was still frowning.
What was it about her that made her so special? He could sense no residual Ancient's power on her, no blessing that would grant her enhanced strength of body or mind.
From the fact that he was free from his prison, he knew she had to be kind of heart, but that alone, did not make her special enough to wield his Gunbai.
The darkness around them hissed, roiling and snapping impatiently. Madara held it back easily, his power thrumming beneath his skin for the first time in a millennium. It would wait until he was ready to leave.
He picked the mortal up.
After the way she had spoken to him, he was inclined to let her be consumed. But then, that would go against the sense of honour that he and his family followed, not to mention…
Madara frowned and then let the girl be swept into the air. She rose into the sky, hands dangling limply and short pink hair falling over her face. A drop of blood from her cut landed on his cheek, blazing hot with fever.
He wiped it away, examining the red liquid. As he did, he saw a small pebble lying on the ground where the girl had been lying.
The darkness hissed, howling.
Madara scooped up the rock and then shadow stepped away before the darkness could touch his skin. He had no intention of letting it consume him, not after his freedom had finally been granted.
"Careful, its slippery, Karui-"
"I know that, Omoi! Shut up and let me work!"
Kakashi sighed. Next to him, Genma eyed the young men and woman with flat eyes and an unimpressed tilt to his lips. The whole ride up to the compound, in the boat they'd borrowed from the coast guard, in the car as they drove up the mountain, the trips carrying the equipment inside, the whole damn way, the borrowed climbers from Kumo had argued.
Iruka, the paramedic Chief Nara had borrowed from Konoha General, rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly.
Darui shushed them lazily, but his eyes narrowed enough for them to take notice. "Enough!"
Kakashi wished he'd done it earlier. He had the beginnings of a headache and he wasn't really in the mood to listen to more whinging from a bunch of twenty somethings. "Are you ready to go down?" He asked sharply.
Genma smacked him, but there was no heart in it. His partner was just as tired and irritated as he was.
The two young climbers stiffened. Karui looked at the well, apprehension in her gold eyes. Her partner, Omoi looked stressed, chewing on his toothpick furiously.
"You don't have to go down there, Karui." Darui said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I can do it."
She shook her head shortly. "No, no. It should be a woman." She said. "She deserves a gentle touch after what-" She looked away. "I'm the only one that'll fit if it narrows." She said instead.
"It won't be pretty." Iruka said plainly. "I know you've retrieved bodies before, but fall injuries are-"
The experienced climber set her jaw. "No, no, I can do this." She said firmly. "We ready?"
Her team nodded solemnly. Kakashi and Genma moved back to give them room, as they went over the last of their safety checks. The last thing they needed was Karui falling herself. The lines were tested and retested, as was the anchor point on the far wall that the lines ran through.
Karui's headlamp was tested a few times, but Omoi had already told them they might not be able to see much with how deep the well was estimated to be. According to a survey the city had sent them, the well was nearly a hundred meters deep and the industrial headlamps the team were using only had a range of around forty eight metres.
When Genma had heard that, he had gone a sickly white colour. There was no way Sakura had survived a fall that high, and even if she had, it had been almost a week. Iruka had nodded, resigned and disappointed.
The harnesses the young woman was wearing clanked as Karui stepped back over the edge of the well. Her face was set and resolute, no trace of fear in her eyes as she slowly began her descent down.
On her back, a backpack with a sling and some ropes inside to secure Sakura's body. Kakashi didn't envy the young woman and wondered again, if they should have just waited until some of the more veteran of Iruka's climbers was available to go down.
It seemed so cruel to make a young woman, so close to Sakura's own age, go down there.
But down the red head went, head lamp flashing as she glanced behind herself, breathing smooth.
She disappeared down into the well, her partners monitoring the ropes running through their own carabiners with eagle eyes. Darui was watching the little monitor in his lap, the feed displaying what the camera on Karui's helmet was seeing.
Down and down she went, switching between watching the hand letting out rope and where she was placing her feet on the slick, black wall of the well. Her headlamp didn't illuminate all the way down, and Kakashi felt uneasy looking at the inky darkness below her.
Karui seemed calm as she eased her way down, but she gasped and Omoi braced unnecessarily. The wall anchor hitched and then caught with a hiss. Karui fell maybe a few centimetres before she stopped the flow of rope through her hand.
Kakashi didn't breathe.
"It's okay." Karui said. "I'm okay. Just some moss."
"Be more careful, Karui." Darui said into his headset. "Slowly."
"Yes boss."
She resumed walking down the side of the well. It only took her a few minutes, but when she looked down, Kakashi saw his first glimpse of Sakura.
She was sprawled at the bottom of the well, hair haloed out around her head. There was blood in it and Kakashi hated the way it stained the pink locks. She was half on her side, right arm clearly broken and several cuts on her face and arms bare. Her shirt was torn, and she was filthy.
She looked surprisingly peaceful, but then, fall victims always did until you moved them. And then they just fell apart.
Genma looked away. Darui muttered something in his native language, eyebrows creasing.
"Oh." Karui said quietly, easing herself down onto the damp surface of the well floor. For a moment, she didn't move, just looking at Sakura. Then she knelt and pulled the backpack off, unpacking the sling and ropes that she had stored there.
Her movements were practiced and easy and Kakashi was reminded, that despite her and Omoi's young age, they were experienced in rescue and retrieval. This probably wasn't a new sight for either of them.
"Alright, Omoi can come down now." She said.
Omoi moved up, the unease on his face nowhere to be seen. Darui handed the monitor to Genma and strode over to help the young man check his harnesses one more time.
And then Omoi's white hair disappeared down into the well. Unlike his partner, he wasn't wearing a camera, but Karui was looking up and soon enough, Omoi appeared.
They waited until he reached the bottom and then he and Karui began passing ropes to each other as they prepared to lift Sakura's body onto the sling. As they worked, Kakashi could only think that it was a small blessing that Sakura had probably not suffered from the fall, she had most likely died on impact.
It wasn't much of a consolation at all, but it was all they had.
They prepared to move the young woman, Karui muttering a less than kind word for Sayaka as she touched Sakura's hair gently.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Omoi shouted, voice echoing up and down the well.
"What?!" Karui snapped back, her composure breaking finally. "We can't leave her down here any longer, Omoi, stop being such a baby!"
"I'm not!" Omoi cried. He stripped off one of his climbing gloves and touched Sakura's arm. "She's warm-"
"Omoi…" Darui warned, closing his eyes.
"No, she is!" Omoi insisted, feeling around for Sakura's wrist. He pressed two fingers against it, leaning forward over the young woman they were just about to move. Karui shifted as she watched her partner.
Genma's eyes were wide, worried.
Kakashi didn't know what to think.
"I have a pulse." Omoi breathed. "She has a pulse, boss, she's alive, she's alive-"
"What?!" Karui demanded. She shoved Omoi's hand away and replaced it with her own, gentle despite her harsh words. For a moment, the basement was silent. Darui stared at the back of the monitor with narrowed eyes and Genma leaned heavily on Kakashi's shoulder. "He's… She's alive." She spluttered finally.
"Check again." Iruka ordered quickly, shoving Kakashi aside to grab the monitor. "Do not jolt her."
The two climbers did as they were told, checking Sakura's pulse on her arm, and then again on her neck. Finally, carefully, Karui leaned down to press her ear against Sakura's mouth. It was very faint, but they could all hear Sakura breathing through the camera.
Iruka leaned back. "You need to listen to me very carefully…" He started
Genma reeled back, turning to look at Kakashi, eyes huge in his face. Kakashi caught his partner by the shoulder, steadying him.
She was alive.
Against all odds, against the week long ordeal, the fall, everything, she was alive.
He didn't know how that was possible.
He could hear Iruka telling the two climbers how check for Sakura's injuries without moving her, that they would need to come back up and collect a wooden board, so they could bring Sakura up on a stable surface, but none of it really registered.
"She lives?" Hiruzen asked gently, watching Itachi watch the outside world below them. His office, high on the hill above the city, was quiet and dark.
"Indeed." Itachi replied, just as quiet. He was always a quiet, calm young man. He had always carried himself with a sense of quiet confidence, and none of the swagger and arrogance of Sasuke or Madara. "Not unharmed, but alive."
Hiruzen looked at his desk. "Well, for that I am grateful."
"As am I." Itachi said. "I was unsure of how Madara would react to her. She hit Sasuke, and given their personalities…"
Hiruzen smiled at the thought of big, powerful Sasuke getting smacked.
Itachi sighed, moving away from the window. "You knew this day would come." Itachi murmured, taking a seat in front of Hiruzen's desk. He looked, for all the world, like any other young man, handsome and well dressed. There was no hint at the power he was capable of.
They had expected the day to come. They had put precautions in place, wards on the compound to scare away curious humans, had passed laws against removing the artefacts left in the compound, had scrubbed all mention of the Uchiha from the history books. They had burned all of the mentions of the magicks used to lock the Uchiha below the mountain.
And yet, humans were the most enterprising, curious beings Hiruzen had ever seen. They were tenacious and stubborn and somehow, someway, one of them had discovered the necessary seals to undo the lock on the cage.
Wonderful, bullish things, they were.
"An inevitability," Itachi murmured. "But unlike your teammates, you did not run from it."
Hiruzen folded his hands over his stomach. "Where could I run where you could not find me?"
Itachi inclined his head in agreement. His expression darkened as he looked at Hiruzen's computer, where the message from Homura was displayed. "They ran. They dread what comes for them. But the end will always arrive." He looked pensive, eyes sympathetic. "And it is here."
Hiruzen raised his chin. Of all of them, Itachi was the most difficult for Hiruzen to read. Inscrutable and quiet.
"Or should I say…" Itachi murmured, turning, just enough to look out the window of Hiruzen's office. The mountain was visible from here, and Itachi paused, tilting his head.
Hiruzen's closed his eyes briefly, when, with a loud boom and a flare of blood red lightning, the mountain split, right down the middle.
"We are."
All of the battles except the very last on before Sakura meets Madara, here have some root in real life. In order they are, Syria, Afghanistan, Vietnam, WWII, WWI (Gallipoli). The last two armies are based on real life ones though.
Winged Riders = Winged Hussars
Kumogakure Immortals = Persian Army under King Darius
Also none of you mentioned any of the pop culture easter eggs (YOU GUYS). So I tell you instead.
- Kakashi's 'You good?' line to Genma was inspired by Fred-034's line to Chief in Halo 5.
- Sakura blocking Madara's blow - Captain America vs Thor in The Avengers
- Madara's 'You are so unbearably naive (formerly, you are unbearably naive)' is Ultron's line to Vision in Age of Ultron.
- Hiruzen and Itachi's conversation is pretty much a word for word rip off of Thanos' monologue at the start of Infinity War.
YOU GUYS I SPENT AGES PUTTING THOSE IN AND NO ONE CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARED.
Anyway, I do hope you enjoyed the updated version of this. I am much happier with it, because it was definitely the one I was most unhappy with and the overall execution was fairly bland. I know that Kagami's and Shisui's prisons seemed to be the most popular, so I tried to go for that sort of feel, with something a bit out of left field.
The only issue I have with this, and I had it with the other version too, is that its very... noisy? I was going to say busy, but noisy seems to fit better.
Please let me know what you all think of it!
