Chapter 8: Friends and siblings
Hinata looked confused to the direction of the call and saw Naruto with Sakura in front of a smashed door, a smile on both of their faces.
Naruto went towards Hinata, completely ignoring Sasuke's presence.
"Naruto!" Hinata cried happy and weak at the same time.
Suddenly he got hit by a Chidori.
Sakura gave a startled cry, tears filling her eyes.
"How come you ignore me when we haven't seen each other in a long time?" Sasuke said calmly, seeing Naruto falling to the ground.
"Naruto!" Hinata screamed.
"Sasuke…w-what did you do?" Sakura cried, tears rolling down her cheeks.
But he said nothing.
"No! Why? I told him to stay with me but I'm crying instead of healing him."
She remembered his fight with Pain.
"He defeated Pain but couldn't even touch Sasuke. I was right but I couldn't help at all. I just watch and cry. I wait for others to help me without being able to help them," she thought sad, remembering her thanking Naruto for defeating Pain and saving the village without ever being a help to him.
She ran over to him and decided to heal his wounds.
But suddenly there was a puff.
"Don't worry, Sasuke! You were on my mind from the day you left the village. There's no way I'd ignore you," he said and stepped through the door.
All looked at him in surprise.
His eyes were yellow.
"How can you be so rude as to interrupt the conversation? You know I have a guest," Sasuke said, and had a smile on his face.
"Good that I came. It was about to escalate. And I'm sure she wants to go home now," he said and formed clones.
"You want to stop me?" he asked, knowing that Naruto was about to attack.
"Stopping you isn't enough," he said and charged, but missed him closely.
Sasuke lifted him and threw him towards the other clones, making them disappear.
"I have to defeat you," Sasuke heard Naruto say.
Naruto was behind him, his Rasengan about to hit his back.
"That's not enough," Sasuke said and activated his Chidori Nagashi.
There was a bright light and his Rasengan disappeared.
Naruto fell to the ground.
"Sasuke!" Sakura shouted angrily.
He turned around…an impassive expression on his face.
"If you dare to hurt him once more…I'll make sure you'll pay," she said, hands clenched to fists.
He smiled and said:"You won't have the time do anything. You're next."
Sakura clenched her teeth and stepped forward.
"Sakura! This is my fight and I'm the only one who can beat him. Stay back or he'll kill you," Naruto shouted all at once.
They saw him standing up, almost unharmed.
"I thought the fight was boring but you seem to have improved since the last time we met," Sasuke said, almost surprised at his strength.
"I'm improving everyday, Sasuke! Until I haven't got stronger than you, I won't stop improving," Naruto said, smiling and summoning more clones.
"Too bad that all your training was for nothing," he said self-confident and charged.
The clones charged too, one after another.
But Sasuke was too fast, evading them with ease.
One after another, they disappeared in a puff.
"Naruto's losing," Hinata thought shocked.
The last clone disappeared and Sasuke wanted to turn to Naruto – when all of a sudden four at once attacked him and tried to hold him down.
Sakura noticed that Naruto took out a kunai.
"What does he want to do?" she thought with anxiety.
"I know how you feel. I know how hatred feels and how revenge will make you feel. And because I care about you, I want you to come back. If you don't, there will be great suffering for you and everyone else. Don't let your hatred out on innocent people," Naruto said, trying to calm him.
But Sasuke only laughed – a bitter laughter.
"The people are not innocent. They all knew what happened but still let it happened. My family died because the villagers were afraid. They have to pay – to understand what they did. I don't care what happens to anyone – not even myself – as long as I'll make them pay for their crime," he said, anger and hatred in his voice.
"Then…I'm forced to make you understand. There is no other way," Naruto said in a low voice and concentrated chakra into the kunai.
Sasuke activated his Mangekyo Sharingan, black flames surrounding him and defeating the clones.
Naruto lifted the kunai, trying to aim at Sasuke.
Sasuke turned around – and saw Naruto throwing the kunai.
He moved away, making the kunai only scratch his face.
The kunai went deep inside the wall and formed a big crack, taking Hinata and Sakura by surprise.
"He wasn't even throwing hard and…still, the kunai hit the wall with such power," Hinata thought surprised.
Suddenly there was a hissing sound and bright light surrounded them.
Sakura noticed a screeching sound.
"I can see you, Naruto," Sasuke said and charged at him.
"This is for you," Naruto said and charged too.
The light went and Hinata and Sakura saw that Naruto's Rasenshuriken was close to Sasuke.
Suddenly Sasuke jumped, causing Naruto to hit the wall.
"And this is for you," he said and used his Fireball Jutsu.
Naruto tried to evade but the attack was too close.
"I won't die," he thought angrily, the huge flame almost reaching him.
Suddenly there was a strong gust of wind, causing the fire to change direction.
Sasuke and Naruto jumped back so they wouldn't come into contact with the enlarged fireball.
They turned towards the door and saw Neji.
A smile appeared on Hinata's face.
"Neji…came too?"
"Next time it will be a direct hit," Neji said.
"Sakura! Neji! Get Hinata out of here! I'm starting to get serious," he said and formed his Rasengan.
Sasuke formed his Chidori.
Sakura went towards her and placed her hands on Hinata's shoulder.
"Wait! There's a tag," she said and touched it.
Suddenly numbers appeared, starting from hundred and counting down.
"It's a bomb!" she shouted, alarming all – except Sasuke.
Naruto cancelled his technique.
Sasuke saw his chance and attacked.
"Watch out!" Neji shouted but Naruto didn't move quickly enough.
In fact, he wasn't moving at all.
Neji quickly stepped in between and used his rotation to save Naruto.
But he couldn't stand the huge pressure and fell to the ground.
He slowly stood up, limited on chakra reserves.
"Neji!" Naruto shouted and went towards him.
"I don't understand you. Why do you risk your life for someone even if you have no chance?" Sasuke asked.
"I, at least, stopped you from killing Naruto. Without Naruto we might not be able to rescue Hinata," Neji said, trying to get his energy back.
Sasuke smiled.
"You want to save someone as weak as her?" he said mockingly and pointed at Hinata.
"Watch your mouth or you'll have no tongue anymore," Naruto said angrily.
"I know I used to be cruel to her but I have to protect her…from people like you. She's my cousin…I even see her as my sister and that's why I'll do anything to keep her safe – even at the cost of my own life," he said.
Hinata's eyes opened wide.
"Neji!"
"You leave me no other choice," Sasuke said and charged at him.
Naruto pushed Neji away.
"That's what I expected," Sasuke thought and drew his sword, aiming at Naruto's chest.
Suddenly Naruto blocked his attack with his Kunai.
"A kunai can't stop me," Sasuke smiled and concentrated chakra for his Chidori.
"Sasuke! Stop!" Sakura screamed, tears in her eyes.
"Don't worry, Sakura! It's not the kunai that'll stop him," he said with a confident smile, making Sakura look at him in surprise and admiration.
"I won't die! I told you that, didn't I?" he thought.
Suddenly a clone came from behind and punched him in his face, causing Sasuke to fall.
He stood up.
"It's my skills," Naruto smiled.
Suddenly the ceiling began shaking wildly and a rock came falling towards Sakura and Hinata.
They jumped back.
"Give up!" Neji told Sasuke.
"That's what you will do. You don't know what forced me to turn against you. You don't know how it feels to loose your loved ones – all at once. And then you find out that your brother did this – because he was forced to," Sasuke said, looking at them angrily.
"I lost my father as to avoid a war. That caused me to hate Hinata and the main branch of the Hyuga Clan. But he did it on his own free will. Hinata's father tried to stop his brother but he refused. He accepted death as a sacrifice for peace. And Naruto showed me that hatred harms only yourself," Neji said.
"How would you feel if he would be forced to die?" he asked.
He remained silent.
"Now you might know why I turned like this. But still you try to stop me. You don't care about me at all!"
"We do! That's why we want to stop you – to save you from the harms of hatred," Naruto shouted.
"You don't feel the same hatred as I do. The way we feel is different and that's why you'll never understand me and you'll never bring me back to this filthy village," he said, eyes at Naruto.
Naruto felt anger burn him up.
"I will! Even if you try to refuse…because I don't feel hatred anymore," he thought, remembering that he, also, had a darker side.
Suddenly the room shook again and 2 more rocks fell, one towards Hinata and one towards Sakura.
"Look out!" Naruto shouted.
Hinata had no more energy to evade it.
Suddenly she felt herself being pushed out of the way.
Neji wanted to help but he was too late.
The rocks fell on them already.
Hinata looked towards the rock and saw Naruto under it.
"No!" she cried but suddenly he disappeared in a puff.
Sakura opened her eyes, seeing that Naruto held the rock high and then threw it away with ease.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
Both girls nodded relieved.
Suddenly the ground shivered.
"What's this tag?" Neji asked angrily.
"It's a bomb, what else? Every 20 seconds a tag in this tunnel will cause an explosion and there are 5 tags in total. Starting with the one in the dungeon and ending with the one that Hinata has on her back," Sasuke said and disappeared.
"Wait!" Naruto shouted but he already left.
"We have to get out too...or we'll die," Neji said.
