Naruto rushed forward in a blind furry, wanting nothing more than to into tear the flesh of the retreating enemy before him. To show him fear, to show him the extent of the mistake he had made, by coming after him.
The blonde was fast, much faster than he had ever moved before, running on instinct alone. A moment passed and he was already upon his enemy, lashing out wildly without form or reason, every swing heavy.
The missing nin was still in shock. This child, who moments before had been on the brink of death, was now attempting to eviscerate him. The ninja had to desperately dodge and weave around the blonds attacks, each of which could easily rend flesh and break bone.
More shocking still was the aura that he was sensing from the boy. It was an overwhelming, almost palpable, desire to kill. The orange chakra that came out in fumes from the Konoha nin was unfamiliar, something a normal human should not have possessed.
And there was madness in his slit eyes. An animalistic bloodlust, beyond what humans should be capable of feeling.
In short, this battle had taken a turn for the worst. Cursing, the missing nin regretted his decision to not simply kill the blond earlier and be done with him. Thankfully, the fight still seemed to be in his favour. He didn't have any openings to allow the use of jutsu, though didn't need any- the blonde was fighting without style, without thought, aiming only to immediately connect. Slowly the feelings of fear and panic previously brought on by the boy's changes, began to fade.
If Naruto had still possessed a sense of reason, he would have recognized the face of the nin steadily morphing, from fear to something else entirely. Contempt.
"Is this it?" he said, more to himself than to the blond, all the while dodging the sloppy, haphazard swings of the blonde "Where is the warrior that was fighting with thought and cunning? Where is your blade? Is this what you have been reduced to? Some animal?"
The nin sidestepped yet another wide punch, grabbed the blonde's hand, and threw him a good 10 meters away. With a sneer, he went through a short set of hand-seals before slapping his hands on the ground. Walls arose from the ground, trapping the savage boy in an earth box. Dull scrapping could be heard from within as Naruto mindlessly clawed at the walls, his finger nails bleeding and breaking only to be healed instantly by the strange power he was exuding.
"Pathetic! You don't deserve respect boy." the missing nin mocked, the distaste clear in his voice "Humans are deserving of respect for their skill" he started a new set of hand-seals "while animals, need to be put down!"
More hand-seals followed before the hand of the missing nin was placed on the steadily eroding trap from which roars of fury and madness could be heard. At first nothing seemed to happen. But soon the roars of rage transformed into howls of pain. The walls of dirt crumbled revealing the blond pinned to the ground, pierced by a multitude of earth spikes. Blood seeped into the surrounding ground, his wounds healing and reopening as the boy thrashed around, without any successful result.
"Be glad that you have this inhuman regeneration boy." the nin said, a deep frown on his face "Few are lucky, or perhaps unlucky, enough to survive this."
Slowly the boy's struggling started dying down. His eyes turned back to the recognizable crystal blue once more as the strange chakra dissipated, with almost a sense of reluctance. With it, the feeling of dread and power disappeared too, leaving a child, beaten and broken, bleeding out on the ground.
Hopeless...
XXXXX
The mind of one Uchiha Sasuke was a strange, dark place. Few were privy to his thoughts and even fewer would understand them.
Even on his best days, the raven-haired boy was not among those who understood.
And now the boy dreamt. He knew that there was something important going on, at this very moment, but the knowledge was far away. Inconsequential to him.
After all, the dream world was rarely bothered by the real world.
Darkness surrounded him, with patches of blood and voices screaming in terror and pain. Blood sprayed around him, but he could not move, could not help. He was powerless, as always.
Being familiar to a nightmare did not make it any less horrifying.
Moments after, which had felt like an eternity to the child, the screams stopped.
Only darkness remained.
And in the darkness two eyes, blood red, opened. Eyes, that he knew only all too well.
The eyes of the one who had made him what he was today.
His brother.
Those eyes made him thrash in anger, though he had no body. Those eyes made him bellow with rage, though he had no mouth.
There was mocking in those eyes. Contempt and pity, for the weak little boy who could only watch as his world burned around him.
"Still weak." came the disembodied voice, in an infuriating monotone, emotionless and uncaring. "Once again you can only watch as everything burns around you."
Sasuke tried moving, tried speaking. Anything, anything at all to prove that man wrong. He would have died a thousand times over before. Now though, he would not let this man step all over him.
"So very, very weak." the voice came again.
"Won't you try this time?" the monotone broke, this time, the voice gauging.
"Or will you be late once more?"
The voice silenced, the eyes went away. With one final push the darkness went away, replaced with crushing pain.
A moment passed and Sasuke realized that he was now awake, the source of the pain being the impact he made with the tree. His head was hurting, his vision was swimming. He could barely move, bruised beyond belief, his chakra almost depleted.
Slowly he turned his head. He saw nothing, at first, his eyes unaccustomed to the darkness. Soon his eyes could see once more. And the scene before him horrified him.
There was the form of Sakura, lying on the ground barely moving, her pink hair splayed out wildly, her breathing slow and shallow.
There was Naruto lying on the ground, seemingly peaceful, with the enemy nin standing next to him talking. He couldn't make out the words, but then again, he just could not bring himself to care.
Because he could see why Naruto was laying still on the ground.
Spikes of what appeared to be rock were skewered through his hands, his legs, his torso.
Naruto, his only friend in the world, laying in a pool of his own blood.
The only one who understood him and the one he understood best.
He was too late.
Again.
Once more he looked on at someone close to him, dead, without being able to do anything about it.
Some unnamed man, who fought and killed for nothing more than money, had taken away his only precious person.
Again!
Tears welled up in the Uchiha's eyes, tears of rage and sadness.
Tear of hopelessness.
The boy tried moving, but his body betrayed him, exhaustion and pain too great to overcome.
Still he refused to just sit there when the one who had wronged him was within sight.
He tried to get up, but his body refused.
It was relatively well known in the Uchiha clan that their bloodline, the Sharingan, was unlocked by moments of extreme emotion. There was not a specific set of circumstances, skill or age that caused it to manifest.
Sasuke again tried to move his body, his whole being screaming in protest with the attempt as he began willing any strength he had left, to come to him now.
When a clan member was pushed beyond their limits, when placed in a situation with no escape and no hope, their eyes would unlock, bringing with them a great and terrible power.
Finally, finally, his body moved. Sasuke stood on unsteady legs, glaring daggers at the enemy standing before him. He could feel a dull, burning sensation behind his eyes, his head pounding more than ever. He thought it was the effects of the impact and the last of his tears.
He was wrong.
It was his bloodline, which had morphed his pupils into twin orbs of crimson, with two tomoe like shapes at the center of each pupil, madly spinning. His mind had also jump-started, shifting into overdrive as his brain received alien information at an advanced rate, from the eyes.
And then suddenly all the pain stopped. All thought was erased, time itself seemed to halt.
Sasuke's gaze swept over the battlefield, drinking in every detail.
He saw Naruto's sword, lying on the ground in front of him, right in the middle of the path he would take.
His body started moving.
He could see his enemy in front of him, still talking, his vision not registering the Uchiha heir coming for his life.
Sasuke ran, his form slouching lower and lower.
The boy grabbed the sword in his right hand as he passed it, grasping it in a reverse grip. Brandishing it in front of him, he continued his charge, red eyes burning with purpose.
Finally the missing nin turned, but it was too late.
Using all the momentum he had accumulated, Sasuke swung the blade.
The man could only raise his hand in defense.
Steel met flesh.
Flesh lost.
The blade cleanly severed the missing nin's left arm, the blade continuing its arc, a trail of blood following it through the air.
An inhuman shriek tore it's way from the throat of the man. He desperately lashed out with his right arm, back-handing the Uchiha away from him. The boy flew back, landing harshly on the ground.
Without delay, the man took out a length of metal wire and clumsily tied it tightly around the stump of his left arm, using his mouth to pull the other end. He then turned his murderous gaze to the fallen raven-haired boy, who was desperately trying to get up.
Slowly, swaying slightly from the sudden loss of blood, he made his way to the boy.
Sasuke tried to lift his right hand, which was still holding the blade.
The man stomped on his barely lifted forearm, breaking it with a sickening crunch. Sasuke screamed in terrible pain.
The sword lifelessly fell to the ground.
The missing nin turned his ire to the blade, also stomping on it, also breaking it.
He crouched down, looking directly into the pain-clouded eyes of the fallen boy before him.
"The Sharingan?" he said between clenched teeth "You would have fetched a nice price, Uchiha."
He drew a kunai from his pouch with his remaining hand, arching the blade for the boy's throat.
"Too bad, you die NOW!"
The kunai swung down, aimed to lodge itself in the boy's throat.
Sasuke closed his eyes in resignation.
He felt something wet and sticky fell on his face, but he didn't feel any pain.
Slowly, the boy opened his eyes.
Before him was the missing nin still, his eyes wide and a trail of blood trickling from his mouth.
And an ethereal green blade, sticking through his chest, exactly where his heart was located.
The blade ceased to exist, seemingly disappearing into thin air. Something flung the man aside revealing Asuma, cut and bloodied, but alive with his trench knifes at the ready.
"Help... them..." was the only thing Sasuke could think to say before his body finally succumbed to the pain and gave out. The exhaustion and pain proving too much for him as his consciousness again faded into the darkness.
XXXXX
Asuma looked around the clearing. There were obvious signs of battle scarring the surrounding area. The bodies of his Genin lying on the floor reminded him of the many scenes of carnage that he had witnessed during his life.
It was not a pleasant reminder.
With an almost robotic like manner he checked on both Naruto and Sakura. Thankfully both of their vitals checked out positive, if only barely.
Sakura had lost a fair amount of blood, but not enough to be dangerously life threatening - the kunai had missed her heart which meant he would just have to stem the flow of blood.
Naruto on the other hand was in critical condition. The moment the enemy had died, the spikes piercing the boy's body had disintegrated with him, leaving him with many gaping holes littering his body.
Every jounin was required to be somewhat experienced in field of first aid, so Asuma did his best to clean and bandage their wounds. Neither Sakura nor Naruto were bleeding too badly, but he had to hurry to Konoha, or it might be too late for both of them.
He turned to Sasuke, who was seemed to be in the best condition of the three of them, his arm being the most serious wound he could see.
As he set the broken limb, his mind started to wonder. His team had survived, if barely, against a vastly superior opponent. The jounin had tried to finish his own battle as fast as he could, but his opponent had been tricky. He eventually managed to catch up to him, but he had taken much too long for his liking.
As he began racing in the direction of his genin, he had sincerely thought that he would find them dead. He thought he would be hunting a missing-nin to take revenge for the death of his team. That he would have to come back to the village carrying the bodies of 3 of the most promising children he had ever seen.
But they had held off the enemy jounin, somehow. And they would survive to see the next day; he would make sure of it.
A small trickle of pride wormed its way into his chest, despite the horrible situation his team was in.
His team was strong, and they would become stronger still.
They survived.
Quickly popping a soldier's pill in his mouth, he created two shadow clones, tasking each of them with transporting one of the genin, as fast as they could, to the village. He himself took Naruto, careful not to aggravate his wounds.
He took off, much faster than the speed they had embarked on the way to the forest.
Soon they would be in Konoha.
Soon his team would have help.
Soon everything would be ok.
But something told him that the problems, had only just begun
XXXXX
Naruto awoke to the sight of an unfamiliar ceiling.
Remembering his fight, he immediately tried to get up, but the sharp pain racking his body made him reconsider the action. Slowly he bent his neck, turned his head. He was in some sort of hospital room it seemed. With bright light streaming through the window in front of him, illumination the rather plain looking room. The walls were painted white, which combined with the light coming from the window made for quite the blinding display. The room itself was very empty – aside from the bed on which the boy way, there wasn't much furniture. One chair, probably for visitors and a painting showing an unfamiliar landscape.
The door gently opened. Naruto turned his head to the sound and saw the Hokage enter, followed closely by a man dressed in the standard medic-nin gear.
The Hokage, seeing that Naruto was now awake, nodded briefly to the man who bowed and closed the door as he left room leaving the two shinobi alone.
Sarutobi took a chair next to the bed of the injured boy and sat down gingerly, his age clearly showing in his movements. But there was still an unexplainable grace to them, sign of a lifetime spent training his body for battle.
"Hello Naruto," the Hokage said, not unkindly "how are you feeling?"
"Hey old man." Naruto groaned with a rusty voice, his throat dry and haggard.
The Hokage chuckled ever so slightly at this and handed Naruto a glass of water from the bedside table, which was gladly received and drank in one go.
Now feeling much better, the blond managed a weak smile, glad to see the man before him. Glad to be counted amongst the living.
"I see that you are well enough. Surprisingly you are the first one to wake up." the man said displaying how tired and old he was "Unfortunately, despite your just having woken up, I have to ask you exactly what happened, in your own words."
Naruto, quickly set aside the feeling of slight worry at the mention of his teammates having yet to wake up before briefly and accurately retelling the events of the mission.
How they had reached the bandit camp and started observing it.
Their first kills.
How everything had gone so well.
About the two missing nin they had then encountered.
How they ran,
how they fought,
how they had…..failed.
When it came time to inform him about when he had stood up, strange power pouring from him, he hesitated. He vaguely remembered how he had fought.
The intoxicating feeling of absolute power.
The need to kill and destroy…
But this was the old man, he would understand.
He always did.
"And then I felt... strange, like nothing could stop me. But it wasn't really me. I couldn't really think, I just so badly wanted to hurt him." the blond said, his voice little more than a whisper "I was so strong and fast. But he still beat me. I thought I was going to die.."
The blond lifted his head to meet the eyes of the man he considered a grandfather, unshed tears in his own blue eyes "Am,..am I weak old man? I tried and I tried and I still couldn't do anything."
The Hokage just looked at him for a moment, before starting.
"Naruto, you are very special. That... power you felt, that is the thing you have wanted to know about." the old man said sighing. Hearing this Naruto instantly straightened, causing the old man to chuckle. "No Naruto, I'm still not telling you until you make chūnin."
"But I want you to think about something." Said Sarutobi, licking him lips before continuing.
"Yes, that power did make you strong and fast… But you couldn't think, you had no reasoning. Was that really you? You were acting like someone, likesomething, different…. Yes, you might have lost, but you are not weak. You survived. Your team survived. That is all that matters." The Hokage took a moment to collect his thoughts, before finishing the conversation
"Remember Naruto, You are yourself, you are strong, and you are not alone."
The Hokage then stood up and made his way to the door, leaving the blond alone to think upon his words. Just as he was about to exit the room, he stopped and his demeanor changed as if he was just remembering something before he turned to the blond.
He reached into his robes and pulled something out before leaving it on the chair he had been sitting on moments ago.
"I believe this belongs to you. Rest easy Naruto, I will come back later."
The door shut behind him, as he left the room.
Naruto turned to face the chair.
The ninjato, which the Hokage had given him lay there, broken in two, its sheath missing.
He stared on at the two pieces of metal. At the broken pieces of what had been more than a sword for him.
Something inside him shifted, started to morph, to transform.
He had forgotten about the sword in his mad rush, in his indulgence of power and dominance, he had forgotten about it.
The sword that was had been a comfort, a link to the old man.
And it now lay broken.
Because he had forgotten.
The power had caused him to forget.
It would not happen again.
Simply, because he would not let it happen again. That power, whatever it was, would never again blind him.
And inside him, a new resolve was forged. Slowly, very slowly, he became like steel.
His blue eyes shone with a newfound purpose, with such intent that would have shocked anyone who had walked into the room at that moment.
With each heartbeat he changed.
And without him knowing it, as he drifted to sleep, content with the answers he had made for himself, he became the blade.
And never again would it lay broken.
Author's notes: Phew, sorry for the delay, but real life caught up with me. Well, whatever, new chapter is up as of now, enjoy. Many thanks to my beta IncludeYourBanana. Cheers, Simon
Author's notes: Phew, sorry for the delay, but real life caught up with me. Well, whatever, new chapter is up as of now, enjoy. Many thanks to my beta IncludeYourBanana. Cheers, Simon
P.S. Response to my story makes me happy (hint, hint).
