***]Heartache and Echoed Memories[***
please…I'm…right here…help…me...
bum-bum, bum-bum.
look at me…I'm dying and…you…don't even see me…
bum-bum, bum-bum.
why…why am I never good enough…why is it…always him…
bum-bum...bum-bum.
I…I…love you…I've…always loved you…so please…I beg you…
bum-bum...bum-bum.
look at me…just once…see me and ignore him…
bum-bum...bum-bum.
look at me…look at me…look at me…look at me…look at me…look at me…
bum-bum...bum-bum…
look at me…
bum…
…LOOK AT ME!
***][***
Explosions rocked the village as the frightened populace dashed away from the epicenter of the blast their faces bathed in the crimson light of the dawn. One man rushed towards the destruction, the populace paying him no mind. Perhaps they hoped that whatever it was would leave his cold corpse to as feed for the crows. This man ran barefoot through the crowded streets, his one eye keeping watch for a clear path through the chaos, His single arm gently demanding passage from the populace. His clothing as simple as they were dispensable, in fact it wasn't even proper clothing for a battle. But it could be said that was the nature of a surprise attack, catching one off guard and ill prepared. His clothing was a white one armed long sleeved shirt that was now dirty and torn in places from catching onto things as he ran, and a loose pair of gunmetal gray shorts with tapered orange stripes down the sides, and his barefeet pounded along the red dirt streets of Konoha. Sometimes a panicked civilian would grab him in order to warn him of his folly, or to beg for his help in some matter or another, but as soon as they caught sight of his vibrant red hair, fallen out of its braid and down his broad shoulders tangled and twisted in its descent, and his amethysian eye they spat in his face and turned away. The man didn't let this deter him, nor did he allow himself to become enraged. No, what he did was wipe it away and continue on his journey. For this was no ordinary man, this man was none other than Naruto Uzumaki and he was used to such treatment.
As Naruto ran on he searched the rooftops for the Anbu that should be responding to the attack on Konoha, but he saw none. Either they had already arrived or they where focused on some other attack elsewhere and this was a simple diversion and therefor a waste of his time. But the continued explosions of violent jutsu and the fear on the peoples faces told him otherwise and he soldiered on through the frantic streets, quickly wading through the river of hatred the fleeing people managed to spew at him even as they ran for their lives. They blamed him for what was happening, what else could it be but the demon in their midst. They didn't care that he was running towards the fight not away from it. They didn't care that he was sworn, even in retirement, to protect them. All they cared about was their stubborn ways of hate and fear towards a innocent child. To afraid to realize that not all his scars where made far from home, and placed on a innocent child. One sacrificed to save them. The Yondaime sacrificed the innocence of a child, his happiness, his dreams, the love of a family, and the camaraderie of a home to save them from the monster at their door. And all they could do was despise the one who was the key to their salvation. Its a wonder they weren't dead already.
A mother dropped her son during a violent shockwave and, in her panic induced state, kept on running. Naruto past her by and swiftly captured the boy in his arms, just as the building beside them collapse he sprinted through the smoke and passed the child to her arms. Only to receive a slap to the face. The mother screamed curses at him before he yanked her out of the way of an errant water dragon, which slammed into the front of a restaurant to obliterate the area. The mother looked on in shock as she realized what he'd done and turned to look at him, but he was already gone disappearing into the smoke.
***]a few minutes later[***
Naruto slid to a stop in the remains of what was once the northern gate of the village. The bodies of the defending Ninja was littered like trash around the charred and shattered remains of the once imposing gateway to the wondrous city of Konoha. A few of the bodies where unmoving, while others gasped and writhed in pain. Fire littered the area and smoke choked the air. Naruto had exited the street directly adjacent the gate, his eyes worrying over the ones who lay scattered about but they lowered to a glare and his lips pulled back into a snarl as he spotted the one left standing.
In the center of the battle ground, appearing out of the smoke, stood a lone figure. Nearly as tall as Naruto and where Naruto was the scarred dawn the man could be said to be the flawless dusk. His hair was black as pitch, spiked to the back, and his skin pale as the moon. A loose shirt was open to reveal his pale chest, flawless as porcelain and muscled, his dark blue pants and blue mantle was secured with a large purple rope belt, thick as a mans arm, tied into a knot. His arms was hidden by his shirt up to his hands, his forearms where protected by bracers, his hands bare to allow for a greater feel on his long sword that hung from his rope belt in the back. This man was one Naruto hadn't seen in years, yet he still radiated an aura of arrogance. Sasuke Uchiha in all his pride and arrogance.
Although Sasuke was a major reason for his problems in romance, and the state of his fellow shinobi was questionable at best. The reason for Naruto's anger was the female grasped in his left hand.
Yukie Fujikaze, formerly known as the legendary actress Koyuki Kazehana the now the ruler of the land of spring, her incomparable beauty was marred by blood and bruises. Most of her face was covered in a massive multicolored bruise as blood trickle from her swollen lips and she appeared dead, but with a weak moan she lifted her head and smiled her million watt smile, still beautiful in all its glory even through the coating of blood. Her left eye was swollen shut and sported a large purple bruise while the sky blue of her right eye gazed fondly at the former shinobi before her.
"Naruto." She muttered softly past her blood stained smile despite the macabre changes forced upon him she still recognized the handsome man before her. No man she had ever known had ever made her feel the way she did towards the shinobi she felt…at peace whenever she thought of him. She hadn't seen him since he left with his team but the feeling still pervaded. NO man had ever fought as hard for her as he had. NO man had helped her without some ulterior motive. He had fought so hard his own body forced him to stop, he had saved her country, her forgotten home, no matter what anyone said, no matter how much praise they laid at her feet it was this one man, then a child, who had secured the future of the land of snow/spring. And he had done it for her, not for wealth, or fame, or even because she wanted to. He somehow knew, deep down, that she wept for her nation. Sure, he said it was for the good of the people but he only said that in order to make her realize what she herself wanted. He saved her from herself, and for that, even though he was so much younger than her, he would always be the love of her life. She saw the way he looked at the girl with the pink hair, and she saw the way she looked at the one with black hair. Sakura was utterly and totally in love with Sasuke, but Naruto was to stubborn, to eager to save someone from herself, that he couldn't see that in her eye's, he would always be last place. But to Yukie/Koyuki Fujikaze/Kazehana he would always be number one so she kept up with him after he left, fully intent on saving him from himself(i.e. for Herself.) Every mission, every achievement, even every town and village he went to during his three years with Jiraiya and the power he found she kept tabs on. Reading the reports every night before she went to sleep, clutching her little redheaded plushy. But then he was gone, stolen right out from under her. She nearly abandoned her nation just to look for him, but didn't only because of the blood shed for her to snatch it away from the clutches of her treacherous uncle, blood shed by her father, her manager, those loyal Shinobi, and most importantly Naruto. So she went on, focusing all her energy into the nation, treating it like a child, nurturing it and watching over it like her child, her's and Naruto's. Totally resolute to her task.
But then, a miracle! Naruto had returned alive, bathed in blood and barely hanging on but he was alive!
Now it was only a matter of bringing him home. She knew the way the village treated him and as soon as she received the missive from the Hokage of him return and his discharge she had set out in preparation. It had taken her a week to draw up the necessary items for her plan. She was dead set on bringing him back to Kazehana. Since he was no longer a shinobi he held no ties to the village and could leave whenever he wanted to, but she was fully prepared to handle any problems that could come to pass. She had been so eager to begin the near month and a half journey she only procured the barest minimum of her guard in order to travel faster. Her Uncle had grown the country considerably in her absence, using cunning and guile he tripled their holdings. But she had nearly doubled that since she took the throne.
"Happy birthday, where's the cake?" Sasuke said with his cold and arrogant tone as he dropped Yukie to the ground beside him." Oh wait, I forgot. No celebrates loser day." Sasuke looked down at the unconscious princess besides him, ignoring Naruto's glare as he slowly slide out his blade."Guess I picked up this bitch for nothing. Oh, well time for her to die." He said, before bringing the blade down. But he was caught just before the blade pierced her pretty little neck. Looking up he saw that golden chains had wrapped themselves around the blade. His eyes followed them to their source and found Naruto standing with his hand thrust out, a golden chain sprouting from his shoulder to snake down his arm, wrapping around it over and over the bulging muscle of his arm until it reached his fist, pulled back to stop the blade that was connected to him by the chain.
"So the dead last has learned a new trick, good boy." Sasuke said, not noticing the chains snaking around his legs until he was violently wrenched back and slammed into the village wall. These new chains sprouted from Naruto's back, thicker and stronger than the first.
The battle ensued anew as the Uchiha shot out of the crater his body made. His sword sung through the air on the way to Naruto's head but was blocked by a tendril of chains. Sasuke began to barrage the Uzumaki with several strikes but for every swing of his sword their was a golden chain to meet it head on, causing the two to sing in a song of protest. To the outside observer it seamed as if the Uchiha was hummingbird dancing around a blazing fire, Naruto's hair dancing in the wind created form their struggle. Eventually a strike made it through only to be stopped dead by a golden barrier around the redheads torso, he had wrapped the chains around him in a makeshift armor. Several smaller links sprung from the main body to wrap the blade as the Uchiha attempted to pull back only to receive a knee to the gut for his trouble.
During the confrontation several Shinobi had arrived and taken the wounded, including the Princess away, for treatment. Among those that had arrived was Kakashi, Kiba, Shikamaru, Hinata, Ino, and a few other Jonin of the Rookie 12 with their former instructors. They, excluding Kakashi, where visible shocked to see their crippled friend hold his own against an S ranked missing nin(due to his killing of Orochimaru and Itachi) as well as the chains he used to do it, he didn't have that ability before so how did he have it now. Amidst the swirling crescents of steel and dancing chains he stood like a rock, his face frozen in a glare of determination and resolve. His brows furrowed and his lips pressed into a thin line of concentration as a fire burning in his eyes. When Naruto kneed the Uchiha in the gut only to throw him back they moved to help only to be stopped by a barrier of chains that sprung up from the ground.
"Deal with them!" He shouted before bull rushing the Uchiha, confusing them until a massive sword buried itself in the ground at their feet, slapped of its original course by the whirling chains it was over seven feet tall and shaped like a butcher knife with a semicircular cut out near the hilt and a circular cut out near the tip, this was the legendary Head cleaver. Looking towards the Gate revealed the presence of three others. The lone female of the group had hair just like Naruto's but only much shorter, short and spiky on one side while slightly longer and smoother on the left side, and wore black framed glasses, her crimson eyes kept flicking back and forth between watching them and gazing at Sasuke, who had just landed a kick to Naruto's side sending the Uzumaki back. An androgynous white haired male had his arm forward in a throwing motion, a grin on his face revealed shark like teeth. Behind the two stood a man that dwarfed the rest of his team.
Following Naruto's order, despite them all out ranking him, they moved to engage. While Ino moved to help Naruto but was stopped by a thick golden chain erupting from the side to block her path, the chain had small blades sticking out from the sides and glowed with a brilliant aura of gold.
"Go help Yukie!" He shouted at her, but kept his eyes on the Uchiha."You could be killed if you stay here!"
"I'll be fine, It's you I'm worried about, Now get this thing outta my way!" She demanded, trying to push past the chains that kept springing up to stop her path.
"I am far less important then the princess of the most advanced nation in the world and the Heiress to a prominent clan, now get your ass to the hospital now!" He ordered, yet still she kept struggling. Naruto had no idea what she was thinking but it was going to get her killed. Knowing he couldn't keep her from staying out of it Naruto decided to remove the temptation. He rushed towards the Uchiha just as he was finishing a set of handsigns, and shoved a fully formed Rasengan directly into his stomach which sent the Uchiha flying for a few feet before he was snatched out of the air by several chains then slammed into the ground before being tossed over the wall and far into the forest.
"There, now there's nothing for you to worry about so, would you kindly get your blonde butt to the evac so you can help the other trained medics." He said with a sarcastic smile before he leapt after Sasuke, using his chains to propelled himself over the wall and through the forest outside.
Ino stared after him dumbfound, how could someone missing both an eye and a limb be able to stand up to a fully trained shinobi, much less one that killed two S ranked criminals. Where did those chains come from? Was he always able to use them? No, he didn't have them before he left so he must have gained them during his trip. Whatever the case Ino felt that familiar tension building up in her belly and she knew, hero worship or not, she loved one Naruto Uzumaki.
***][***
Karin Uzumaki was having a bad day. Not only had she been forced on a death march towards Konoha for a week, while on her period she might add, she just recently learned that her clan survived the war with just barely enough members to even be called a clan. Orochimaru had kept her in the dark most of her life, forcing her to heal his most valuable assets and isolating her to keep her clan from learning of her existence and vice versa. She was again shocked to discover that they where here to kill one of the few remaining members of her family, Naruto Uzumaki. When she first heard he was an orphan she figured he simply took their name for some reason or another, but the hair said it all. She had only met one other Uzumaki, and that was Tayuya. A foul mouthed flutist that sought no comfort from her family ties. Karin had heard that after the invasion three years ago she was taken in by the Uzumaki clan, who wanted her even when she was in a coma, and she now served as a guard for the royal family.
She loved Sasuke but her fellow clansman seemed to demand her attention during the fight. He moved with such graceful ferocity and stood his ground against the Sharingan. She figured that he was some long lost member of the royal family, His use of the fabled adamantine sealing chains proved this even if she couldn't get a good look at the color of his eyes. She herself could use a broken form of the chains since her great-great-great grandfather was the former clan head. Which she used to defend her self from the lightning enhanced katas of the Gentlefist.
***]fifteen minutes later[***
Karin hit the ground with a thump, writhing and screaming in pain from the electricity running through her body, delivered via the chain in the shoulder of the Hyuga princess. Thus was exploited the major weakness of the broken form of the Adamantine sealing chains, they did not produce the aura that the royal chains did that protected the user from any chakra channeled through the chains.
Hinata herself huffed irritation as she nursed her wounded shoulder, the redhead had dared say her love for Sasuke would trump all opposition. The little hussy didn't realize she was digging herself a grave saying her love for Sasugay was stronger her love for Naruto-kun. Showed her. Hinata gave one last jab to Karin's temple, effectively knocking her out before she stood up and looked around for Naruto. She saw that the others in Karin's little group had abandoned her to run as she looked she caught a glimpse of Sakura running head long out of the village gates.
"Now where, oh where could she be going?" Hinata wondered, a little tiffed that she was being ignored when she was obviously injured in her little gamble. The sound and sight of a massive firestorm in the distant forest was her answer and for a moment she wondered briefly who that could be before her eyes snapped open and she attempted to chase after that idiot only to be reminded that she was currently bleeding out, spotting a glowing rebar laying in the burning remains of a house she gritted her teeth and moved towards it.
"I swear if that bitch is doing what I think she is I'm going to fry her flat chested ass." The normally refined an graceful Hinata thought as she seized the opposite end of the rebar and brought it to her shoulder. Forgive me Naruto-kun. she prayed before pressing the hot iron to her porcelain skin.
***]with Naruto[***
Naruto spidered up a tree so fast that he was able to avoid the storm of fireballs that chased him up through the branches, his chains whipping behind him to slap away any and all that got to close. once he reached the top he kept going, using his momentum and the eight thick coils of chains on his back to propel him into the air. Whipping around he formed a Rasengan on the tip of each coil and hurled them four at a time into the forest below, first right then left. His shirt had been torn to shreds by a hailstorm of kunai, thankfully stopped by his chainmail. Out of the forest below a massive ethereal hand shot out of the trees and slapped Naruto back to the ground.
As Naruto fell he fired chains off in a number of direction, seeking to break his fall, and as soon as he felt on of the chains sink deep into the trunk of a tree he heaved himself in that direction just as a enormous sword blasted down from above, cutting a deep trench into the forest. Spinning around the trunk he sawed through it and flung it towards Sasuke's general direction, only for it to be slapped out of the air by the massive skeletal figure Sasuke called Susanoo.
"What's wrong Dobe, does the great Susanoo scare the little loser? Oh poor baby, why don't you run home to mommy! Oh, wait she didn't want you either, just like the village, your father, and just like Sakura! How does it feel to always be in last place? Tell me you clan less bastard!" Sasuke mocked from inside his monstrosity. Every word grated on Naruto's fragile psyche but still he fought on, ducking and dodging the mighty Susanoo, tearing trees from their roots and hammering at the spectral warrior.
"Just die already!"Sasuke screamed after a while."Hurry up and die so I can get started on rebuilding the Uchiha with that little whore Sakura! Tell you what I'll even through in that blonde slut Ino and the Milk cow Hyuga, give their pathetic lives some meaning by being the mothers to the mighty Uchiha!"
And that, as they say, was the straw that broke the camels back. Naruto's brilliant amethyst eye dulled for a moment before splintering like glass, the shards peeling away from the center to reveal a glowing crimson hell beneath. His body was enveloped in a malicious crimson aura of damnation and he whirled his body around, a hateful scarlet claw bursting forth from the remains of his shoulder and grasps Susanoo by the body, completely wrapping around the chakra construct and lifting it from the ground and dragging it kicking and screaming towards the infuriated Uzumaki. Great barbed chains, red as blood, sprung forth to tear the mighty Susanoo asunder. The lumbering giant was soon freed from the burdens of his arms and legs, drawn and quarted like a thanksgiving turkey. Sasuke screamed in pain as his surrounding where crushed by the wicked fist before he was suddenly slammed downward.
Sasuke looked around his crater dazedly, thinking it was over, until Naruto began beating him with Susanoo's arms, the Uchiha to dazed to cut off the flow of chakra to the construct. Again and again the legs, arms, and chains beat down onto the torso of their origin, seeking to shatter the outer shell like a lobster to get at the meaty insides, all the while Naruto slowly advanced on the crater with murder in his eyes. The outer shell gave way and the mighty Susanoo faded away, leaving the heaving Uchiha waiting for his reckoning.
Naruto leapt from the lip of the crater and slammed into the ground next to the all mighty Uchiha and grasped him by the throat with his spectral claw and lifted him skyward with little effort.
Sasuke gaped in horror and pain at the intent in the Uzumaki's eyes as he lowered his left hand and grasped him roughly by the testicles.
"Lets just see about that, shall we!" Naruto roared in a voice like a thousand demons as squeezed Sasuke's testicle to near bursting. In a desperate move Sasuke attempted to use the Tsukiyomi on Naruto but a barbed chain shot out from behind Naruto and yanked out the corresponding Mangekyo Sharingan.
"Ugh ugh Ahh." Naruto said with a grin."I'll be taking that." He said as Sasuke screamed in pain and humiliation, to which Naruto laughed as he tightened his grip.
"Now…where were we?" Naruto grinned.
Just as Sasuke was to be sterilized forever a massive sword appeared, slicing though the spectral claw and forcing Naruto to drop the Uchiha. Naruto whirled around to face a fleeing Suigetsu, chains sprouted from his body and seized the white haired swordsman by the legs and shattering them. Suigetsu scrambled to get away, dropping his sword in the process, clawed at the dirt as he was pulled towards the crimson demon, who laughed merrily at his struggle before a lightning covered fist exploded from his chest, a chidori courtesy of one Sasuke Uchiha. The crimson glow evaporated from around him as well as the chains and claw, the vermilion blaze in his eyes was snuffed as the shattered amethyst slide back over the gateway as he slumped to the ground.
***]Sakura[***
Sakura dashed through the trees, heading towards the battle field of her paramour. She had thrown caution to the wind as soon as she heard the name Sasuke. She didn't care that he was attacking the village, and she didn't care who he was fighting. She was eager for the chance to convince him to come home. She was sure Naruto would thank her for it, where ever he was. She was sure he had been evacuated with the other invalids and patients. He was probably foaming at the mouth trying to get free of his caregivers in order to get at Sasuke.
***][***
Naruto was indeed foaming at the mouth, but this wasn't because of some desperate attempt to free himself, this was because he was choking on his own blood.
"Happy birthday loser." Sasuke expressed as he held the one eyed man aloft as he slowly slumped, Sasuke's arm once more buried deep into his chest. "Such a fitting present for a failure like you."
With little effort the rouge tossed his once upon a time teammate away like trash before he turn towards the sound of running feet, his arm dripping with the blood of the fallen shinobi, he was met by the green eyes of Sakura Haruno, widened in disbelief as she looked upon the face of her crush. Unmindful of the downed form of Naruto behind him as blood pooled beneath his stilled body. It was like she had developed tunnel vision because her entire world consisted of one person, and it wasn't Naruto.
"Sa-Sasuke? wha- why are you here?" Did he come back for her?! Sakura felt hope blossom in her chest. He did. He finally came back. She was so ha-
"Sasuke your bleeding!" Sakura bellowed, rushing in to help. Sasuke himself just stood their for a moment before he slowly raised his scarlet hand, and began to play with the slick life blood of his former teammate. His eye was long stanched with what little he knew of medical jutsu and was hidden beneath his fallen hair. Sasuke chuckled softly at Sakura's stupidity as she reached him, her hands aglow in preparation for whatever was needed.
***][***
Sakura…please…I'm…right here…help…me...
bum-bum, bum-bum.
look at me…I'm dying and…you…don't even see me…
bum-bum, bum-bum.
why…why am I never good enough…why is it…always him…
bum-bum...bum-bum.
I…I…love you…I've…always loved you…so please…I beg you…
bum-bum...bum-bum.
look at me…just once…see me and ignore him…
bum-bum...bum-bum.
look at me…look at me…look at me…look at me…look at me…look at me…
bum-bum...bum-bum…
look at me…
bum…
***][***
"No, actually its-" He was interrupted by several bladed chains exploding from his chest, sending out a geyser of blood onto the face of a horrified Sakura before they retracted back into his chest to allow his body to fall.
"Mine." Naruto said flatly as he came into view from behind the falling body of Sasuke. Naruto looked like hell, covered in his own blood that fell from his mouth as well as leaking from the gaping whole in his chest and several other open wounds on his battered body, but his eye looked at her with such deep and writhing anguish that she herself felt like crying, miraculously forgetting the Uchiha for a moment until she collapsed to her knees, crying and screaming for Sasuke to stay with her, ignoring the man who loved her for the one she loved.
All the while Naruto looked on, tears falling down his face as his world collapsed around him. Literally, blackness was creeping up around the edges of his vision until the only thing he saw was Sakura healing Sasuke, Naruto had made sure to avoid any of the important parts. A courtesy the Uchiha had not returned, blood filled his lungs and he breathing came in shallow gasps, similar to rapid hiccups. But still he stood, gazing down at his world as she once again pushed him aside. Forever last place.
***]Hinata Hyuga[***
The Fulgarian Princess arrived to a scene strait out of her nightmares. A war torn landscape, trees uprooted and victim to all manner of carnage. Blood and the weapons who shed them littered over the scene. Sakura kneeled over a unconscious Sasuke, and the Piece de resistance, an abandoned Naruto laying in a pool of his own blood. This was her nightmare, this was her hell, and this was a moment when the normally taciturn and graceful princess felt like tearing someone apart with her bare hands. But she had more important things to worry about then the murder of useless trash.
Hinata rushed towards Naruto's prone form, falling to the ground and staining her expensive attire with Naruto's blood, her hands aglow in a green light. She had prepared for just this occasion. Somehow Sakura had come back to her senses enough to notice Hinata's presence.
"Hinata, help me! Sasuke wont wake up!" Sakura begged, causing the Hyuga princess to freeze for a moment before turning her head eerily towards the offending banshee, her Byakugan flaring. Sakura felt an ominous aura flood the area and she wondered why until a swift backhand knocked her aside.
"Shut your mouth!" Was all Hinata said before turning back to Naruto, her eyes softening as she did so.
"But-but its Sasuke! He needs help!" Sakura scrambled back up, holding her burning cheek. This time Hinata didn't even deign to look at her.
"I know who it is. I just don't care." Hinata focused on reattaching the severed veins and arteries.
"B-But-" Sakura began but Hinata cut her off.
"Name one good thing he's done, for your or Konoha." Hinata demanded, causing the pinkette to stop and think.
"He saved Konoha during the invasion." Sakura offered, remembering how Sasuke chased after the Ichibi.
"Wrong, that was Naruto. He defeated the one-tailed Jinchuriki." Hinata shot that down.
"How would you know, you weren't even there!" Sakura huffed, causing the Hyuga princess to fixed her with a short, but powerful, glare.
"My family is the most powerful clan in the nation, and I'm the Heiress. We did not get this without knowing the who, what, when, and how. Try again." Hinata returned to her work as Sakura thought it over.
"He saved us from Zabuza!" Sakura gave with a smug smile, which faded when the princess spoke.
"wrong again, Naruto." Sakura deflated.
"He said he thought my forehead was beauti-Oh come on how could that have been Naruto?! I was right there!" She shouted when she saw the look in the Hyuga's eyes as she drained the blood from Naruto's lungs.
"What are the three basic techniques that all Shinobi must know in order to graduate the academy?" quizzed the yamato bishoujo.
"kawarmi, bushin, and Hen-" Sakura slapped herself on the forehead."Idiot."
"Exactly, I was there when he changed into Sasuke and I know why." Hinata looked Sakura dead in the eyes."He wanted to know what you thought about him, and you said he was annoying and was destroying your happiness when all he's ever wanted was your happiness, he devoted himself to bringing back that little bastard because you wanted Sasuke. Even when he knew that with Sasuke back he would never have a chance with you, He cried himself to sleep both times. And how do your repay him? by ignoring him while he's bleeding to death five feet away from you, you little fanwhore. Now why don't you take your little Sasuke-kun back to the village so he can be put in a cage where he belongs and ill take care of the man I love." Hinata declared, flashing her chakra three times in a set pattern. Almost immediately a group of Hyuga shinobi appeared to carry Naruto away. Not even looking at the fallen Uchiha as they stepped over him on their way back to the city.
***][***
Once again Naruto lay unconscious in a hospital bed and he was once again alone, the demand for talented medics forcing the Hyuga princess to leave him. The room was dark and the only noise was the sound of the heart monitor. This peacefully drone was interrupted by the sucking sound of a vacuum as a portal appeared in midair, spitting out the masked form of the one known as Obito who spoke no words as he produced a black vial from beneath his cloak. He did, however, observe the metal construct that took the place of Naruto's right arm. Various symbols were etched into the metal apparatus, likely to allow the boys chakra to flow through and allow him the use of his jutsu.
Obito chucked, even after all he's been through. Both at the hands of his organization and those of the village, Konoha still refused to allow their trump card a peacefully retirement. It was just as well, Obito supposed, for what Izanami had in store for the boy he would need his strength. Obito looked at the vial in his hands, yet another gift from she-who-invites to the boy. Obito still remembered how the boy screamed when she ripped the Kyuubi from him, quite differently from what they had planed, and he, Obito, had tried to ease the boys pain but the beating he received at the hands of Izanami quickly curbed future urges. But still, he mused, the reward Naruto had gotten after was seen as a great price to pay… that was until the screaming began again...
Obito shook himself free of his memories. It was no time to reminisce. Obito tore away the bandages around the boys chest and opened the vial, the substance inside writhing in vile anticipation as he lowered it towards the raw cavity of the boys chest. After pouring it in Obito was quick to vanish, he had enough of what came next.
Just as he disappeared Naruto's eye shot open as he was covered in a black film that spread out from his chest.
The screams echoed down the halls of the hospital and out into the night.
