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CHAPTER 6: FEARS
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Sasuke found himself alone when his vision was clear enough again for him to be able to see the place he was now.
Glancing around, he found the place both familiar and strange at the same place. He was sure he'd been there before, but it didn't look like a place he judged important enough to mark his memory. He wondered what had happened to Sakura in that specific place that could be transformed into a nightmare.
Trees were vast in that place, and although at first sight everything seemed calm and peaceful, Sasuke felt some uneasiness standing in that place. Everything was just too calm.
Close to the trees where he was standing, there was a suspension bridge, linking two lands separated by a deep depression. He looked around and tried to sense the presence of the young Sakura, but because she had no chakra it was impossible to track her.
Then, he sensed movement coming from his side of the bridge, and soon after quick steps could be heard, coming straight to his direction.
''SASUKE, RUN!'' the young Sakura screamed, running past him in full speed and grabbing his arm to pull him to cross the bridge.
An enormous explosion was heard, the heat it emanated so strong that Sasuke could feel his most superficial layer of skin being burnt. The rope on the side of the bridge from which they were running away from gave in the next second the bridge started to fall, taking both of them down with it. Sakura yelled loudly in fear and Sasuke quickly released the Cursed Seal's wings, stopping their fall just before they hit a large piece of wood from the bridge.
They landed on the same side they had run from, just because it was obvious that Sasuke had job to do on that side. Sakura, though, wasn't very eager to return to the source of the explosion.
''I don't want to go back there! We felt the explosion from here, what could possibly happen if we are anywhere close when another one happens?!'' she shouted, suddenly all the environment around them seemed noisy just like in a battleground, and Sasuke had to try his best to maintain his focus.
''What exactly did you see there?'' he asked her.
Just as Sakura opened her mouth to reply, though, they heard the sound of a loud roar and some trees started to be thrown from the exact same spot from which Sakura had come running from.
''Well maybe you should go and look for yourself then'' she said, looking at that direction with a frightened expression.
Sasuke didn't waste any other second and rushed to that direction, running until he reached the source of the explosion: a few meters ahead of him, in the middle of a field with burnt grass around him, was Naruto. Right behind him, one tail was moving violently.
Just wonderful, he thought to himself.
The world around him had been painted red, and bubbles were coming from the ground and rising up to the sky. Every tree became dark and leafless, and suddenly it felt like all life had been drained from that place. The only sound to be heard were Naruto's growling, the bubbles surging from the ground and the wind howling.
Before Sasuke had time to think or say anything else, the figure before him released a loud scream and boosted in his direction, sharp claws aiming at his neck. He blocked every attack, feeling the heat emanating from Naruto's skin almost burning his own when he was close. He noticed that during sometimes while they were fighting, fast images showed up around him, a flash so fast that he couldn't really picture what they were.
After long minutes battling, Sasuke finally managed to attack Naruto strongly enough for him to lay on the ground, still. His last attack with Chidori had been so strong he felt his chakra waver slightly. Which was not good, he thought to himself, there was still much left to be done.
''I like this sound'' Sasuke smirked as Naruto shrieked, showing the first phase of the nightmare was over. A dark, black and red sphere was formed around Naruto and it was beating like a heart, getting bigger by the instant.
''Hide yourself!'' Sasuke commanded to the young Sakura. She didn't need any more incentive and quickly fled to hide in the woods, somewhere she could still watch the fight, but at a safe distance.
A big explosion happened, and had Sasuke not protected himself with Susanoo, his skin would surely have been left with second-degree burns. The dark smoke made it hard for anyone to see what was going on inside it, but Sasuke had not only the Sharingan, but also the Rinnegan. There was nothing those eyes couldn't see.
From behind Naruto, four tails could now be seen, his skin taken by red and black colors and his features from before completely unrecognizable. On his forehead, the crystal shone in a brighter tone of red.
Sasuke did what he was used to doing, of course, cut through his problems. This time, though, just like on the previous nightmare, that didn't work. The problem here, however, was different: Naruto would be hit by his attacks and growl in anger, but that was pretty much everything Sasuke's jutsus were doing to him: angering him. They didn't seem to hold any effect in them in any other way, he was as strong as before and not even slightly more hurt.
After a while, Sasuke finally convinced himself that his attacks were causing no damage at all on him, and that endlessly attacking an enemy in which his attacks caused no harm wasn't the smartest thing to do.
A flash appeared quickly on his right and this time he forced his sharingan to see what it was better. It looked like a memory. It was Naruto younger, at the academy, trying to prank the professor by placing a board eraser on the door in hopes it would fall on the professor's head once he opened it. Sakura was on her seat pretending to find that ridiculous, but inwardly feeling amused by that kid's audacity and actually finding his plan quite funny.
What is that? Sasuke asked himself.
When Naruto attacked him again, he was forced to retreat and attack him with Chidori once again to put some distance between them so he could think. This time, though, the attack threw Naruto many meters away, a small crack appearing on the crystal on his forehead.
Sasuke widened his eyes and realised he was on the same spot as the memory he had seen was, the images he had seen appearing around him. Sasuke thought about it for a moment. Naruto became Sakura's nightmare because the rage that made him release the 4 tails were too different from his usual behavior, from the Naruto she knew. She was afraid of him because he wasn't the Naruto she thought of like her best friend and brother. Those memories were Sakura's happy moments with Naruto, things that reminded her of the real Naruto, that's why they held such strong feelings. And such strong power too. The only way to stop the fear of this Naruto was to use the real, bubbly, sometimes stupid, one.
Sasuke smirked. He knew what to do.
After that, he tried his best to stand where each and every happy memory of Naruto was, attacking the 4-tailed-Naruto with everything he could, feeling his chakra, his energy and his will be replenished by the good memories.
When he finally reached the last one, a day both of them were laughing loudly at Ichiraku's and telling jokes, Naruto smiling widely at Sakura as she lightly punched him on the shoulder, he felt something different on his Chidori. Looking down at his hand, he saw the element of wind was also there, a Rasengan being formed. He looked to his right and saw Naruto's memory standing right next to him, his figure white like a ghost, but his smile warm and true, eyes filled with determination.
''Bring her back, Sasuke.''
Sasuke aimed ahead and the jutsu pierced through the crystal, destroying it.
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''You did it!'' Sakura skipped on his direction ''I must say I was actually worried this time, especially because your attacks weren't harming Naruto in the slightest''
''Thank you for putting so much faith in me'' he ironized, picking up the crystal pieces that were left on the ground.
''You're welcome!'' she replied, taking the crystals from his hand ''we've got no time to lose, can we go?''
As soon as Sasuke nodded in agreement, Sakura used the crystals, and Sasuke felt their bodies being teleported again.
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The place where they landed gave Sasuke a feeling of uneasiness. It was like a big cave, rocks all around them and some parts of the floor were wet.
''Oh man'' Sakura said, drawing Sasuke's attention to her.
''What is it?''
Sakura didn't reply, but she made a face and brought her hand to a region of her belly Sasuke was well familiarized with. He had asked Sakura many times about that day, the day he almost lost her. Sakura had always insisted in saying it had been nothing and that she had had everything under control, but he just didn't buy it. Also, Sakura was a very, very skillful medic-nin, but still she kept that scar that could easily be removed by a single movement of her hands. Which could only mean to Sasuke that it meant something to her, it was a strong memory. He felt agitated by the thought of finally understanding some parts of what had happened that day.
Some of the rocks on the other side of the cave broke and from them emerged a red-haired shinobi, wearing the robe which belonged to the Akatsuki.
''You know what to do'' Sasuke told the young Sakura.
''Run and hide, gotcha'' she replied, turning her back to Sasuke and running away from the fight that was going to start.
Sasori boosted against Sasuke in full speed, attacking him with many of his puppets. Sasuke dodged the attacks and used Kusanagi with chakra on it to cut through the chakra strings that connected the puppets to Sasori. Taijutsu helped him greatly in defeating most of the puppets and slowly approaching their master, who tried to escape while charging more of his dolls against the Uchiha. Using the scroll on his arm, Sasuke summoned an enormous quantity of shurikens and threw them all on the puppeteer, but Sasori skillfully dodged all of them. Before Sasori could escape again to summon more puppets, Sasuke set a trap right where he stood and used his rinnegan to switch places with his opponent, so Sasori fell right on the trap he had set. As soon as he was trapped, Sasuke grabbed Kusanagi again and the sound of Chidori made itself heard, and he attacked his foe with all he had, inwardly wanting to avenge Sakura's wound.
After a round full of attacks against Sasori, Sasuke put some distance between them, wanting to re-evaluate their position in that fight. Sasori was breathing with difficulty, holding his chest with his left hand while with the right one he held a sword.
''Do you think this is over, boy?'' he said, half his face deformed by the attacks Sasuke had aimed towards him.
Sasuke felt a chill run through his spine, but tried not to let it show.
Sasori bit his thumb and used a summoning jutsu to bring two coffins to his side, and with a side smile, he opened them. Sasuke waited patiently, eyes examining his every move with caution. From inside the two coffins, two bodies arose, and Sasuke's eyes widened. It was them. Naruto and Sasuke. Their bodies were hurt, with holes on their chests where their hearts once were, and they looked so real, so like real corpses, that Sasuke felt ill to look at them.
In a moment, Sasori summoned more coffins, and from each and every one of them came people that Sakura held dear, all looking like they had horrible deaths, their bodies looking real corpses, some with worms wandering through them, some missing an eye, with large wounds or even with parts of their bodies missing.
From inside Naruto's belly and Sasuke's eyes, there was a familiar red glow.
Sasuke tried his best to fight them, but it looked like even though he charged his most powerful attacks towards his enemies, all the puppets were immune to his attacks.
When one of Naruto's Rasengans stroke him on his chest and he fell on his back many meters away from the corpses he was fighting - and among the ones he had already defeated, which he found disturbing - he decided it was time to stop attacking and start thinking.
When he looked around to see what could be the key to that one nightmare, he noticed something that he hadn't noticed before: it was a puppet, laying on the ground far behind him, on the opposite side of Sasori. But not just any puppet, that one looked exactly like Sakura, and it wasn't in possession of Sasori.
Sasuke dodged the next few attacks Sasori aimed at him and ran towards the puppet, his fingers automatically releasing strings that connected to Sakura's puppet and giving her life. Sasuke noticed then that whatever movement he did with his own body were mimicked by the doll.
He smirked and charged against his foes again, this time his attacks effectively causing much damage on them.
He killed - if one can actually kill corpses! - all the puppets he could, leaving his own and Naruto's to the end. He didn't notice, though, that those weren't among them anymore, they were gone, and when he was almost killing the last of the corpses, he felt a sword piercing through his own belly. He looked back to find Sasuke and Naruto holding Kusanagi tight against his chest, but he himself felt no pain. The Sakura's puppet though, screamed of pain as if it was alive, and it fell on the ground.
''With no Sakura, there's no way you can harm us'' he heard Sasori's voice echo in the cave, though the place turned so dark suddenly that even with his powerful eyes he couldn't picture where the voice was coming from. He ran let Chidori run through his body, and even though that didn't harm the puppets in the slightest, it at least served to make them retreat a few meters so Sasuke could run in the direction of Sakura's puppet.
When he approached her, though, pink hair started to turn red and when he turned the puppet around, Sasori was smiling at him.
''Boo!'' he said, and then pierced Sasuke's belly with the sword he was holding on his right hand. This time, Sasuke felt the pain.
Sasuke clenched his teeth and retreated, watching as his blood spilled on the ground beneath his feet. The surroundings became clear again and he realized Sakura's puppet was nowhere to be found.
''Now, there's no way you can harm me'' Sasori's wide, maniac eyes were glaring straight at Sasuke as he charged against him again, and this time there was nothing Sasuke could do but to try his best to avoid being hit by any of his attacks. Every attempt of his to try to strike Sasori was useless, he couldn't fight him by himself, and Sakura's puppet was gone. He was done for.
Then he saw a glimpse of pink from the corner of his eye. It was the young Sakura, hiding behind some rocks.
If only Sakura could hurt him, then so be it.
Sasuke retreated so he was out of Sasori's reach, then threw a Kunai on Sakura's direction. Just before it hit her, he used his rinnegan to change her place with the kunai's, and she was thrown on his lap, his arms wrapping around her to absorb the impact so she wouldn't get hurt.
''Hey!'' she protested, but he didn't pay attention. Quickly, he made the same moves he had done previously and from his fingers strings showed up, making their way to Sakura's direction until they were connected to her joints just like they had been to the puppet ''What are you doing?!''
Sasuke got ready to attack and Sakura's body followed. He charged against the only two puppets left, dodging their attacks and getting closer and closer. When he was close enough, he charged himself against them, preparing to attack Sasuke's chest, but right when the puppet prepared to defend his chest, he switched places with Sakura and she craved two kunais in his eyes, breaking the crystals inside them. Sasuke didn't waste another second and quickly charged against Naruto with Sakura's body, despite her complaints, and after a few blocks and hits with taijutsu, he finally managed to get close enough to strike him on the stomach. The crystal broke at the same instant in which Sasori screamed loudly in anger and his own heart started to pump, exposed on his chest, and a red crystal shone from inside it.
Sasuke attacked him mercilessly through Sakura's body, then when Sasori almost hit her, Sasuke let go of her body and started to attack him himself.
Sasori smirked as he prepared a final blow on Sasuke, but he never managed to hit him.
Blood came from his mouth as the crystal started to break in his chest. He turned around just to see Sasuke and Sakura behind him, Sasuke holding Sakura's hands and her hands holding Kusanagi, the blade craving against his chest from behind, piercing right through the crystal. The Sasuke in front of him, who he was fighting, was gone as the clone was dismissed.
Sasori shrieked and then his body dismantled.
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''That was close'' the young Sakura commented as she took some steps back, handing Sasuke his blade again and looking in shock at the place where Sasori stood a second ago.
''Yes'' he agreed.
Suddenly, the place around them started to dismantle like pieces of glass being vaporized. From the furthest place from them to their feet, everything turned black and white and then quickly started to disappear.
''Let's get this done then, we can't waste any more time'' Sakura said, uneasy. She grabbed the fragments of the crystal on the floor, cleaned them a bit with her hands and raised them in front of her.
The world started to twirl and on the next second, they were back at the place from where they first came: the Dream World itself.
''Is it here?'' Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow.
Sakura looked back at the crystal with a confused expression and tried lifting the crystals again, but nothing happened.
Sasuke waited patiently while she tried again and again, but decided to stop her when she came to the point of biting the fragments to try to make them work.
''Why is it not working?''
''I don't know… But this is bad, Sasuke'' her voice was full of fear.
''You mean we can't reach the nightmares anymore?''
Sakura shook her head.
''The brain is connected, so are the memories. If we choose the right paths, we can certainly get to whatever dream we want to reach. All nightmares are here, in this world, somewhere, but it seems like we'll have to find them on our own now''
Sasuke clenched his jaw.
This was probably the shadow's doing. They would waste far more time if they had to reach each and every nightmare all by themselves all the time.
''Do we have at least a clue of how to find them?'' he finally asked, trying not to feel defeated. Sakura needed him, and he would never fail her.
Sakura nodded and looked determined ahead.
''The crystal is still attracted to others of the same kind, so if we hold it high like this…'' she rose her hand high and suddenly a straight red light started came from the fragments, pointing south.
''That's a start'' Sasuke said, looking determined to the direction they were headed ''let's go''
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OKAY I'M SORRY I'VE BEEN GONE
SCHOOL HAS JUST BEEN SUPER HARD AND I'VE BEEN SUPER SUPER SUPER BUSY
But I'll try to write more as soon as I can (I wrote this entire chapter today, meaning I can do it if I try hard enough! I just need inspirationnnnnn)
But anyway
Thank you very much for reading! S2
And now replying to my awesome guests:
- monsuno power: Thank youuuuuuuu! I'm trying hard at school but it's just so difficultttttt! ),: I'll do my best to most more chapter soon!
- Bleach power: Are you two brothers? Hahahahaa OMG I JUST CAN'T DEAL WITH YOU TWO, YOU'RE TOO CUTE AND AWESOME! I can't say much more because I'm afraid I'll give you spoilers hehehehe Hope you enjoy this chapter !
That's it, boissssss
Thank you for reading!
Big hugs!
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Blackfan Diamond
