AN: Chapter 8 begins! Just so you know, I'm tired of numbering the translations of the jutsus, so the previously mentioned won't be translated anymore. Only the ones I haven't mentioned previously are the stuff I'm going to translate. Thanks for understanding.
Also, this chapter seems shorter than the rest. Nothing much happens here… just another flurry of action. I'm sure you guys must be too bored now.
Just a side note, I noticed I kind of made a little weirdo thing about alternate couples in the last chapter (KibaSaku, ItaSaku... the works.) Just so you guys know, this is a straight SASUSAKU. All the way man. Kiba and Itachi-sama will be set aside for OCs. (And I promise they won't be Mary Sues. I LOATHE Mary Sues. And only for plot development.)
Thankies go to: sweetmaiden, edakumi-sama, PrincessChii (one of my fave scenes was the one with Kisame-chan and Ita-chan), Kakaru, Apple-Mei-Mei (between you and me, your guess is quite near), Flames Of My Heart, Little Minamino, Sakurachild (what's a good fic without cliffhangers?), Dragon Man 180 (I don't know either, since it's Hinata who's trapped), Green Tea, SoulShine, YoungSasuke, Hinata-hime, Mistress DragonFlame (hee, I'll stick to how I interpret the manga (KAGE BUNSHIN!). And spotted the hinty-winty of ItaSaku, have ya? - giggles-), 2sidesof1soul (I love your review! I love all the really long ones!), Sakura's Hope, Jays Arravan (he'll do nasty things, but not in this chapter), Dust-in, neu chi no nai u, karmen, Celestartial Blossoms, Queen Cow and Steak (nothing too harsh. But still harsh all the same), Great Saiyaman (what's a Narutoepic without NaruHina?), kyuubichick2486, Uzamaki-Girl, Matt and T.K, Cherry Arrow, sillymail, Princess Yang Fa, MyLittleCougarPaws, warprince2000, Lady Evilness, Shannarogirl, Only Secret (when you said you were upset, I almost got a heart attack), DarkNightDreamer, Niebezpiczny Ksiezyc, Mimiru-Sama, itchinhi, AkkirakoChikuro (that's Tsukuyomi. And no one can fight the Tsukuyomi, not even Sakura. Well, in the anime. But here... - evillaugh-), Lorryl, Sirus183, Moopstar, Jack Inqu, cDhAaStS, josie-chan... andall the rest of the good people out there!
Meep,45 reviews! You guys are too good to me. For that, Ieach give you...a miniature Dancing Drunk Lee, completewith un-Lee-like cursing andtipsiness!
Chapter 8: Pain Beyond Pain – An Avenger's Choice
The commas of Itachi's eyes swirled, and Sasuke stood rooted to the spot, hypnotized by them. "Tsu-"
A flash of pink, a shout of a familiar flower name, then the world stopped.
"-kuyomi."
It took a few moments more for Sasuke to realize the sacrifice made.
"Sakura!" he yelled as her gasp got caught in her throat. Itachi's eyes widened for a second, then narrowed.
"For all her smarts about the Mangekyou, she's quite stupid."
Sasuke's mind, numbed by the action, was sluggish, but he managed to catch Sakura as she fell to her knees. "You bastard!" he yelled, realizing the gravity of the situation fully. "She had nothing to do with this!"
Itachi closed his eyes, looking more exasperated and tired than ever. "Shut your blind badmouthing, little brother. That attack was meant for you. She just saved your pathetic ass."
"Teme-" he began to say, but Naruto grabbed him away from his brother. "Naruto, what the hell-!"
"We have to keep calm, remember?" Naruto reminded him, growling as his cerulean orbs began flashing to red. "Sakura-chan said so." He glanced at Sakura, her brow creased in unconsciousness. "What's going to happen?"
"I don't know," Sasuke said, panicking. "The effects are only supposed to last a second, but she isn't-"
"She isn't waking up, is she?" Itachi asked coolly. "Do you know what's going to happen to her?" Both boys glared at him, and he closed his eyes without expression. "The Mangekyou works on those with the Sharingan for only about a second, but it's different for those without the Sharingan."
He opened his eyes. "Without the Sharingan, she won't be able to take the mental torture. It will take her five minutes to escape the jutsu, and…" He savored the suspenseful silence for a moment, "…another to two minutes to die."
"You're lying!" Naruto yelled. "You just want to provoke us! That's not going to happen! It's just a dumb genjutsu-"
"He's right," Sasuke interrupted, his eyes wild. "She won't last…"
Naruto's eyes went wide, and he whispered, "So Sakura-chan's just going to… die?" Sasuke didn't answer, only staring at Itachi with intense loathing. "But Sakura-chan's stronger! She's the best in genjutsu in our team! She can't just-"
"Naruto, don't you understand!" Sasuke yelled, facing him. "It doesn't matter how great she is in genjutsu or how strong she is now, she won't be able to take the mental beating! When I was trapped in that jutsu, I was out for about a month! And I have the Sharingan! She doesn't!"
Naruto shook his head. "I just can't believe it. I – I just can't!" He clenched his fists, his veins becoming visible against the skin and red chakra forming more around his body. "Sasuke – I think I understand you now. Revenge – that's what it is, isn't it? To make someone suffer – for the suffering your loved one is dealing with."
Sasuke only grunted in reply, still glaring at Itachi. Naruto watched them stare at each other for a while, until he burst out, "Dammit, this isn't a staring contest! This is a battle!" Giving a battle cry, his Kyuubi chakra flared a bit, and he rushed to Itachi at breakneck speed.
The Uchiha genius was ready for him. He caught Naruto's incoming fist in his palm and made a motion bring it down to the ground. The younger one, however, twisted just enough so he could kick Itachi in the face. He only managed to graze it with the red hot chakra before Itachi caught his foot in his other hand.
He threw Naruto off him, with slightly more effort this time. Naruto flipped in air, skidding backwards as he landed. Sasuke ran to him, Sakura in his arms. "You! Why don't you follow your own advice! Don't rush to him without a plan!"
Naruto eyed him with red eyes as he lay Sakura on the black surface of the dimension. "And I suppose you have one?"
"Do you think I was only staring at him, not thinking of anything?" Sasuke asked harshly, black marks still covering his body. "We're not going to play into his hands. Listen."
Itachi was starting to feel the strain of the battle. He couldn't understand how these two brats could push him this far. So Deidara was right, he thought, watching the shorter of the two, the Kyuubi boy. He's rather strong if pushed. I hadn't seen much of his skills the other time, but this time, I'm actually going to have to give this battle a little more effort.
"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu(1)!" Naruto yelled, and he was immediately surrounded by about a hundred clones of him, all Kyuubi-fied. Itachi rushed forward, knowing that only the bunshin were going to attack him. They enclosed him in a circle and, with lightning-quick moves, began punching and kicking him.
The use of the Mangekyou twice had weakened him considerably, and his movement was slower than before. Five by five the bunshin attacked him, throwing powerful blows. Some of them actually managed to break his defenses. Itachi tried to block each attack that came at him with kunai in hand, managing to make each clone disappear.
The two aren't attacking me, he thought as he fought the bunshin. He felt that change in chakra flow. It was almost subtle, considering a lot of chakra was flowing out of the two, but it was clear. There was change in the concentration of the chakra flow.
Itachi made more bunshin disappear, and he felt the murderous intent emanating from his two younger adversaries, who were rushing to him.
"Chidori!"
"Rasengan!"
He realized they were going to attack him with their trump cards. He read their movements quickly, though it was getting increasingly hard as the two were moving at a speed Sharingan couldn't follow that smoothly. Naruto's coming forward, Sasuke's going to jump, he realized belatedly as the shadow clones occupied him so that he didn't move away.
It happened so fast that it took Itachi a few moments to realize that he had been hit by the two jutsus. He managed to deflect some of the attacks with a kunai in each hand, the knives taking most of the damage. He flipped away, clutching his side, his head bleeding slightly.
"Damn!" Naruto cursed as he and Sasuke retreated to the other side. "Why is he so stubborn?"
"Don't worry, he's weakening," Sasuke said, but they knew inside they were both starting to weaken too. Instinctively, they glanced at Sakura, wondering if they could still keep on protecting her, or if protecting her was in vain. About two minutes had already passed since she fell into the jutsu. It all happened so fast, Sasuke thought.
Then they noticed it. Sakura was breathing hard, her expression pained. Then she started mumbling incoherent things, the volume of her distressed voice increasing.
"Sakura-chan…?" Naruto asked worriedly, rushing beside her limp form and wrapping her arms around her.
"The jutsu in its middle stages," Itachi said calmly as both boys began panicking. "Do you even wonder what she's seeing, if I'm not the one controlling the illusion?" Sasuke's eyes widened in horror.
"Shut up!" he yelled. Itachi seemed to take some delight in taunting the younger Uchiha.
"She's trapped in a cage of her own memories," he explained further. "Memories that haunt her nightmares and even her waking hours."
"I told you to shut the hell up!"
"And do you know what those memories are, little brother?" Itachi let the question hang as Sasuke paused in his yelling, dreading the answer.
"Auuuuuuuuughh!" Sakura screamed, clutching subconsciously onto Naruto's jacket, tears streaming down her face.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed worriedly.
"Those haunting memories…"
Sasuke stared at Itachi, and Sakura shuddered in Naruto's arms.
"…are of you, foolish little brother."
Sakura felt an invasion of her inner thoughts, and she felt her privacy breached, her mind left naked to the world. She looked around, the colors clashing, yet she could make distinct discernment – everything was red, black and white, harsh against each other. "What's going on…?"
"You're trapped," a deep voice replied, and she whipped around. It was Itachi. "For the next forty-eight hours, you will be wandering in and out of your own memories – memories that have haunted you."
"W-what do you mean?" she asked, immediately dreading his answer.
"Think," Itachi said quietly, fading away from view. "What memories have you been afraid of remembering?"
She opened her mouth to reply, but the older one disappeared. Instead, the landscape changed, and she found herself staring at a battle. Her was long and she was shorter; she was twelve once more. Mist surrounded her, but she could still see silhouettes, their shadows dancing on the ground. She ran – she didn't know how fast, but it seemed so slow – and found herself staring at Sasuke's broken body, pierced by many needles.
"No…" she whispered, her heart pounding wildly. "NO!" She knelt beside him, scared to death. She tried to force chakra out of her hand to heal him, but she couldn't. She felt around for a pulse, but there was none.
She hadn't felt this powerless before – not since when she first became a genin. "No no no – my chakra, it won't come out!"
She felt nauseated and faint, and she wanted to fall unconscious, but even if she closed her eyes, the vision of Sasuke's death was still there. Tears leaked out from her eyes, and she screamed in pain, wrapping her arms around her, the horrible throbbing pain of losing a loved one in her chest. She screamed to let it all out.
Then the scene changed. Traces of tears still in her eyes, she looked around. She was in the Forest of Death, and she felt the bruises, cuts, and the tiredness cover her. She saw Sasuke standing, transfixed, and her eyes traveled to where he was staring.
She had the painful feeling of knowing she could've stopped it, had she been quick and strong enough. But Orochimaru's face, which had melted off slightly, revealing gray skin underneath, rushed to them, and he bared his fangs. She screamed as the Snake Sannin buried his face into Sasuke's neck and sank his fangs into it.
"He will seek me," Orochimaru seemed to say over and over again as she screamed to drown out his voice, more tears bursting forth from her green orbs. He seemed so menacing to her that she couldn't move in fright.
Then he disappeared. Sasuke was yelling in pain, and she rushed to his side, wishing with all her might she had something to soothe him. But all the calm had left her. She heard loud, pained shrieking, attempting to drown out Sasuke's yells, and realized a moment later the shrieking was coming from her own lips.
The Sasuke in her arms melted away, and once more she felt exhausted. She found herself surrounded by the Sound nins, smirking at her in a cruel way. Her body was bruised, and her hair was short. One of them suddenly looked startled as he spotted something behind her.
Sasuke was standing up, but an evil aura wrapped him. Purple chakra was swirling around him. "Sakura – who did that to you?"
Sakura wanted to say not to attack them, but the conversation went as it had been in what seemed like a past life. Nothing she hadn't said before came out of her mouth now. She was powerless in every sense of the word.
Then the attacks started. She watched in horror as Sasuke cruelly beat up the Sound nin who had hurt her. She waited for strength to come into her legs, because she knew she had to stop him. But it wouldn't come. "Sakura! Stand up!" she screamed at herself. Tears burst out of her eyes again, and she felt helpless.
The scene faded away, and she found herself hurtling deeper and deeper into woodland. She knew she was supposed to be looking for something – and she looked down to see Sasuke's body prone, his skin covered in black marks.
She landed beside him, trying to stay calm as she tried to look for a way to ease his pain. Her chakra wouldn't come out of her palms – like she had unlearned everything she had learnt under Tsunade.
"We're going to run, everyone!" Naruto yelled worriedly in the background as Sakura struggled to pump healing chakra out of her fingers. How could she be so powerless at this sort of time, when Sasuke needed her most? She panicked as her old phobia of the curse seal started kicking in.
"Die, Uchiha Sasuke!" a murderous voice in the background said. Her breath caught in her throat, not knowing what to do. More than the fear of the curse seal, there was the fear of being useless.
She turned to face the horrible monster rushing towards them, and she rushed in front of it with a kunai, determined not to be useless, yet she shook in barely-hidden fear.
The hand came forward, wrapped around her, and slammed her painfully against a tree, and she felt more than ever the sharp shards of wood digging into her back. Her breathing constricted as the hand squeezed the life out of her.
Then her breathing was easier, though her heart still beat in dread. She opened her eyes, and she found herself staring at Sasuke's back; the red and white fan was barely visible behind the knapsack strapped on him.
Then the desperation she felt during that time multiplied now. He couldn't go… not again! "I love you with all my heart!" She was desperate to keep him here; she knew it wouldn't work, but she didn't know anything else to keep him in the village. It was like she forgot how to fight.
He turned to her, sighing. "Even after all this time… you're… still annoying."
"Don't go!" she shrieked, her vision unclear because of the tears. "If you go, I'll scream and-"
There was that whoosh, and that sudden silence. She knew she could've stopped it, but somehow her muscles would not obey her. "Sakura…" he murmured. "Thank you."
It was as though a hundred swords ran through her body as she heard those words again. They pierced her ears; she couldn't bear the dull, cold pain that surged in her nerves. She wanted to scream, but her body didn't respond. She knew what was going to come next: that painful hit on the base of the neck.
Thud. It came. It wasn't painful physically, but she wanted to shriek and writhe with the hurt she was nursing. She fell, wanting to be unconscious as to not feel the stinging ache in her chest. Her eyes were not drying out yet.
But she didn't fall unconscious. Instead, she opened her eyes again and noticed she was back in her older body. She watched as an older, curse-enhanced Sasuke walked to her. She felt weary – she couldn't move a muscle. But the weariness was accompanied by fear. Sasuke brought his hand down to hear and slammed her against a tree by the neck, choking her.
He began yelling at her, but she couldn't understand. Her vision was blurring at the loss of oxygen. She was losing. She was going to die, and she didn't have the strength to fight it.
"So you're just going to give up, just like that, aren't you?" someone was screaming hysterically, and she wondered how she could understand the shrieking but not the words Sasuke was saying. She tried to open her eyes, and spotted something she didn't think possible.
She saw herself.
"Why you!" Sasuke yelled, running forward and abandoning all logic. He activated Chidori again, but Itachi saw it coming. Sasuke let the Chidori graze his brother's chest area before Itachi caught his wrist. The shorter of the two focused chakra to his feet and kicked Itachi on where the Chidori had struck him, forcing him to let go of his wrist.
"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, but the prodigy didn't heed him. Itachi punched him, and he flew and hit something, presumably a tree shrouded by the darkness. Still, he got up and rushed to Itachi, fist aloft.
The brothers fought fearsomely, trading blows that could be perceived as blurs by the human eye. It was certain, however, Sasuke was getting the worse of it, judging by the way he kept flying away from his brother.
"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled again when Sasuke skidded to a halt beside him. "We need a plan!"
"Aa," Sasuke said. "Go and stop him. I'll think of something." The red chakra-covered boy didn't need any prompting as he rushed to the young Akatsuki member.
Here, at last, was more of a challenge, as Itachi couldn't keep up with speed of Naruto's punches and kicks. One tail had appeared, and Naruto was growing more and more animalistic, growling slightly. There was a bestial hunger in Naruto's eyes as he fought with apparent ease, though his body was having a hard time coping with all the power.
"You evil bastard…" he snarled as he swiped a clawed hand at Itachi, who dodged to the left, but got caught by Naruto's foot. "I'm going to make you pay!"
Naruto, with one tail formed, didn't need any jutsu to come close to Itachi. His fists and feet, enhanced with Kyuubi chakra, were enough. His movements became faster and faster that even Itachi's superior Sharingan couldn't keep up with it for longer periods of time.
Finally, Itachi had no choice but to stop dodging and start fighting. Naruto gave him a punch, which Itachi blocked by kicking out his foot. But Naruto grabbed this foot with his other hand, hurling Itachi out of the way. He sprang after the older Uchiha, catching him with a punch to the head.
However, there was a small pop, and the Uzumaki saw it was a Kage Bunshin. Skidding on the ground, he looked around to see Itachi managing to avoid the punch. The Uchiha threw several shuriken, and Naruto deflected them easily with a wave of his hand. He didn't see Itachi jump above the shuriken, however, and paid for his inattention.
There was the Tora In(2), and it was too late for Naruto to realize it.
"Katon: Karyuu Endan(3)."
A great wall of fire came toward the Kyuubi blond, and he had no means of escape.
Neji fought Kisame vigorously, his stamina decreasing, but he knew he had to keep going. He had to rescue his cousin. She was his responsibility, and he never forsook his responsibilities.
He was relieved, at the very least, that she figured the secret of the Samehada. Kisame, however, was a hard opponent, and to his dismay they had to fight one on one since his Mizu Bunshin kept springing up, getting to his other teammates.
Where does he get all his chakra? Neji asked himself. Could it be that he uses the chakra he sucks out from other people? He gave a grunt, and pushed chakra into Kisame's system. The shark man pivoted on his foot and swung the Samehada to hit Neji's back.
"Too slow!" he sneered as the Samehada neared Neji's back. The captain ducked lower and swung his foot under Kisame's feet, but the Akatsuki managed to jump over it. Neji succeeded in getting out of the Samehada's way.
Elsewhere, Kiba and Akamaru worked to get rid of the Mizu Bunshin waylaying them. "Dang," he grumbled to Akamaru. "We're the farthest to Hinata. But we have to rescue her." Akamaru barked in agreement. Eating a pill each, Akamaru transformed into Kiba, and Kiba's features were a little more dog-like.
The spun in air to do the Gatsuuga, aiming for the water clone, but all it had to do was kick Akamaru out of the way to stop the attack. "Akamaru!" Kiba yelled, and getting distracted, got punched in the face. He flipped in the air, however, and his dog, still in human form, caught him on his back.
"Thanks Akamaru," he muttered, and dog and master crouched down to spring into another attack.
Shino, in the meantime, was having a hard time with the bunshin he was foisted with. Directing his bugs, he went for an all-out attack on the bunshin. However, each time he sent a swarm of Kikai, the water copy only had to swing his arm to render all his attacks useless.
Jumping over the incoming sword, Shino hit upon a plan. He ran to the bunshin and aimed a direct hit on it with his punch. The bunshin dodged it, but Shino managed to graze its collar. The clone swung its arm, and hit Shino, who was sent hurtling into a tree. But the hooded boy managed a very small smile, having accomplished his task.
He engaged the bunshin once more, only dealing it cautious attacks. Soon, he realized his plan had worked, as the bunshin's power was getting lesser. He only hoped Neji was keeping Kisame busy enough not to let him create more Mizu Bunshin.
Meanwhile, Tenten's weapons littered her place in the battle ground. So far, her weapons, ranging from senbon to halberds, had all been proven useless. As she dodged the bunshin's punch, she thought to her inventory of weapons.
Let's see, the weapons mistress thought as she threw kunai to deflect another incoming kick. She pivoted on her foot to hit the clone with her morning star. Ah, I haven't used my scroll of bombs yet! As she discarded her morning star quickly and used a tonfa in her right hand to block a kick, she opened a scroll quickly, bit her thumb to allow blood to flow, and summoned a bomb of cold air. Using her hand as leverage, she flipped away quickly, sticking the small bomb onto the Mizu Bunshin with senbon.
There was a small explosion, and when the cold air cleared, Tenten grinned. In the place of the Mizu Bunshin was a block of ice shaped like the shark man himself. "I win," she murmured triumphantly.
She turned around to see where she could help, and saw that Kiba and Akamaru had defeated their Mizu Bunshin. Shino's had the Kikai surround the clone, eating the chakra imbedded into it. "Wow, how'd you guys manage it?" Tenten asked.
"Just two powerful Gatsuuga attacks," Kiba replied, winking tiredly. "It took up a lot of chakra though…"
"I put a female bug on the clone," Shino said. "The males were lured out one by one and formed around the clone slowly that it didn't even detect them until it was too late." They all turned to the other battles, trying to find one in which they could help.
Lee traded blow per blow with the Mizu Bunshin, moving at incredible speed, having taken his weights off. He managed to get in some good punches, but it threw him by the foot towards a tree. Lee landed on the tree and leapt down. He ran towards the bunshin, kicked its chin to send it flying upwards. He leapt up, cried, "Konoha Senpuu!" and kicked the Mizu Bunshin back into water.
He landed and wiped his brow. He grinned. "Gai-sensei will be so proud of me!" he cried, dramatic tears streaming down his eyes. "I've defeated an enemy he couldn't do much against!"
"That was the guy's Mizu Bunshin, Lee," Tenten sighed exasperatedly.
"Speaking of which," Lee said, taking a glance at Neji, who was getting more and more beat up, "I have to help Neji with the real one. Coming, Tenten?" The bun-haired girl shook her head.
"Kiba and Akamaru need tending to, I think," she replied. "I'm going to see to their injuries."
Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji ganged up on one bunshin. Shikamaru had it on Shadow Bind, while Chouji was preparing to steamroller it with Nikudan Sensha(4). Ino, however, was rather useless since the bunshin did not have a mind of its own.
"Yo, Ino," Shikamaru called in between concentrating on the bunshin. "We'll cover you, and you use your Shinranshin no Jutsu(5) to get Kisame off Neji's hair."
"Sure, Shikamaru," Ino said, moving to the left to avoid the bunshin's punch. "But first I have to get out of here!"
Meanwhile, Lee had joined Neji in the fight against Kisame. "You…" Kisame growled. "You're that Wild Beast's student. You look just as stupid as he does."
Lee glared at him. "What was that?"
Kisame smirked. "You have the same ugly haircut, the same weird eyebrows… and the same taijutsu. Yes. You're very stupid looking."
"Why you!" Lee yelled, and rushed to the shark man with lightning quick taijutsu.
"Lee, stop!" Neji yelled, but it was to no avail. Lee could not take the insult that the shark man gave to his great teacher. Using a very quick succession of kicks and punches, Lee fought to bring down the swordsman Akatsuki.
But if the Mizu Bunshin were one-tenths as powerful as the original, it was certain the taijutsu expert could not bring this down easily. Kisame parried each attack of his with swings of his sword. Neji decided to help his teammate.
Running to Kisame's other side, opposite Lee, Neji readied himself to attack. Kisame swung his sword towards Neji, but the Hyuuga ducked and swiftly pushed chakra into his leg. As Kisame paused as he felt the pain, Lee delivered a kicking spin onto Kisame's head.
The swordsman fell. Neji rolled away to avoid being fallen over by the body. Lee helped him up, and they readied themselves to deliver another series of attacks on the gray-skinned man.
Meanwhile, Hinata kept herself alive and breathing with the use of chakra. She used her chakra to create air bubbles in the Suiro. But she knew she couldn't keep it up for long, since she would be depleted of chakra before her teammates managed to help her out.
I can't rely on my teammates all the time, she thought in determination. She closed her eyes and calmed herself down. Now, what should I do…
She contemplated on all possibilities. I still can't do Neji-niisan's Kaiten, but…
She opened her eyes. This will take a lot of chakra, but at least I can get out of this prison. She activated her Byakuugan, and focused her chakra to be released in a straight line out of her hands.
Shugohakke: Rokujuu Yonshou!(6)
Using her natural flexibility, she whipped her hands around so quickly they became blurs. The string of chakra effectively sliced and diverted the water imbedded by chakra, and slowly, she released herself from the prison.
Meanwhile, Neji noticed that his cousin had somehow almost freed herself from the Suiro. She's taking up a lot of her chakra. She won't have any left to fight that Mizu Bunshin. "Lee," Neji said. "I'll leave him to you."
"Roger," Lee nodded. He turned to Kisame, and the battle between them raged on again.
Neji rushed to the heiress, who was giving the bunshin a hard time keeping her in the water bubble. Finally, with a few more slices against the walls of the watery cage, she destroyed it. She collapsed on the ground, her hair and clothes waterlogged. She was panting heavily at the loss of air.
Immediately, Neji rushed in front of her, and with all his might, pushed chakra into the bunshin, disintegrating it into harmless water. "Are you all right, Hinata-sama?"
Hinata nodded and took the hand Neji offered her. "Yes, Neji-niisan. Thanks."
But Lee was already having problems with battling Kisame. More than once, he had been caught by the Samehada, and he had sustained numerous wounds. If only I can get that sword away from him! Lee thought.
His prayers were answered when Ino's voice crackled into the transmitter. "Lee-san, just bring him close to that beech tree on your left. I'll use my Shinranshin on him."
Lee nodded, and kicked the shark man towards where Ino was. Before Kisame could realize it, the flower blonde had him in her line of view. "Ninpou: Shinranshin no Jutsu!" she cried.
Her mind connected with Kisame's, and she controlled him like a puppet. She knew Kisame was aware of what she was doing. The shark man was fighting her mind control, but she had enough chakra to at least make him throw away his own sword into the wilderness.
She immediately let go of the mind control, and before Kisame could react, Lee sent in a flurry of kicks and punches towards him and made him collapse.
Lee jumped towards his teammates to regroup as Kisame stood up. "Are you all right, everyone?" he asked.
Kiba rotated his shoulder, aching to finish the fight. "Yeah," he replied. "My chakra's almost gone, though."
"Let's maximize the chakra we have left, then," Neji said. "We'll have to finish this as quickly as possible."
"But what about Sakura and the boys?" Ino asked worriedly.
"We'll worry about that later," Shikamaru answered. "Right now, we have to concentrate on that shark guy."
Meantime, the shark Akatsuki regarded the situation. Because of making so much Mizu Bunshin, my chakra has depleted significantly, he thought. If I use anymore of my chakra just for that, I might not be able to stop these brats. And they've made me lose Samehada, and they won't let me near it. Looks like I'll have to fight the old-fashioned way.
He formed his seals, and the team scattered in case it was a big one. "Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu(7)."
They all felt the rumbling underneath their feet, and suddenly, a huge tsunami came upon them, threatening to submerge them all.
The great wall of fire engulfed Naruto, making him shriek in the painful heat. The jutsu, which had lifted him off the ground slightly, dissipated, and he fell on the floor.
Itachi surveyed him, and he was unmoving, but not dead. Is he unconscious?
Naruto stood up quickly, smirking. "I can take much more, you asshole."
Itachi blinked. Even the most powerful Katon (8) couldn't take the Kyuubified brat down. The chakra healed his most serious injuries and protected him from harm.
But his body is getting stressed, the ninja genius thought. His body can't hold in that much power, and he will start losing control of it. If his body gets stressed, and he dies, the Kyuubi will come out and we can capture it to harness its power.
If his face muscles were capable of smirking, he would've. And Karyuu Endan isn't the most powerful Katon, after all. There's one more that's more powerful. But it will take an immense amount of chakra. Nevertheless, if it means I can end this battle, then so be it.
He formed seals, and immediately, in his hand floated black flames. "Amaterasu," he said simply.
He started throwing these flames towards Naruto, and the blond, getting the Kyuubi's skills, dodged each flame easily. Itachi aimed for his feet. He jumped away on all fours, and appeared over Itachi's head. He swiped his claw against Itachi's, but the missing nin evaded it, though barely. He threw another ball of black fire, and it caught Naruto's one tail.
It reacted like normal fire would to a normal tail. The red chakra fluctuated, and it threw off the fire. Naruto jumped towards Itachi again, determined to do damage.
"SHANNARO! Is that the best you can do?"
Sakura struggled to open her eyes, and through her blurry vision, beyond the Sasuke of that memory, she saw what she never thought was possible.
There was the same pink hair, same clothes, even the same scratch marks. But the eyes were different. Instead of wide, soft green ones, they were wild, harsh, and scary. And across the wide breadth of the forehead, words were stamped.
"YOU! You pathetic weakling! Get out of that grasp and push it out of MY domain!" the girl was screaming and ranting. "This ain't HIS turf, it's mine! SHANNAROOOOO!"
She began pulling the Sasuke of her mind away from Sakura with a strength she couldn't imagine was possible. It was probably what they called strength of mind.
Inner Sakura had come to the rescue.
Next chapter…
Sakura: Itachi has finally decided to take Sasuke-kun and Naruto more seriously than ever. I think they're definitely going to win this time around. But are they really going to use their strengths together? I just hope so, since… oh, no, it's curse seal level 2 again! And Kyuubi level 2 as well! They might lose control of themselves!
The rest of the team is still busy taking Kisame down. I hope they do better this time… Fight on, Team Neji!
I wish I could be out there too. But I'm too busy getting out of this harsh genjutsu. Thanks to my inner self, I might actually survive this thing.
Next chapter: Akatsuki Defeat? Tsukuyomi Breaks.
Ooh, can't wait to kick some genjutsu ass!
AN: (1) Multiple Shadow Clone Technique
(2) Tiger Seal
(3) Fire Skill: Fire Dragon Napalm
(4) Meat Tank
(5) Mind Confusion Technique
(6) Guardian of Eight Divination Seals: Sixty-four Strikes
(7) Water Skill: Grand Waterfall Technique
(8) Fire Technique
