Yo! Here's Chapter 10, and I'm so close to completing writing the story so soon I'll only have to upload chapters so if there's any problems, like the ideas sounding awfully similar to something else, message me so I can change it before I'm done. I'm getting some major hits to this but no reviews! That just depresses a person but I like this too much to drop it...Enjoy!
X. Pink like Rose Petals and Gold like the Sun
The sight that Kakashi's group stumbled upon three days later was one that had caused tantrums, shock and oceans of fear with mingled relief. Their advance team had set up camp in the middle of a field, obliviously conspicuous and hosting a variety of creatures and people that had never before been seen in good company.
Neji and Shikamaru had plotted out a chakra arena that had a fifty meter radius. Inside was a tent and it was presiding over a perfect seven thousand eight hundred and fifty meters squared of scorched land. A trio of tents were outside of this circle, a single fire before them. Logs were moved from the forest for benches. Two of the four were on these, apparently preparing dinner.
The other two were with a host of creatures too bizarre to be seen together. A fox yipped at Naruto's heels, Akamaru was playing with the fox, Gamakichi was on the dog's back, and the two humans were conversing with the King Snake Summons, Manda.
It was very needless to say that even Kakashi was temporarily stunned.
"Kakashi-sensei! We've got really super important news!" Naruto's voice easily carried over the flat land. The traps they had to have set up around this obvious camp must have been incredible otherwise a whole legion of shinobi would have rained down upon him.
"That's rather obvious." Kakashi beckoned them over to get the full details. "And where did you learn that array? I don't believe it was included in any training that could be offered in Konoha."
Naruto began to rub the back of his neck, uncomfortably. The others simply looked at him, the apparent leader of the Advance Party. "That's the thing. The good news is that the mission is completed."
"You killed Uchiha Itachi without us?!" Sakura demanded, moving closer to throttle the blonde.
He shook his hear vigorously. "Not us. See, when we arrived here, he was already engaged in combat."
"Who?" Kakashi's eyes were always sharp. He caught the unharmed appearance of the jounin that were assembled before him. An ally. One simply because of the Akatsuki's unpopularity in the nations no doubt.
"My master, human, who else would have the right?" Manda was small compared to a time before but no less intimidating. The serpent slid to drape around Naruto's shoulders comfortably, yellow eyes hard and wary.
"I think it's best that they see first then you can tell them the story you told us. We can leave tomorrow to get back to Konoha. Another day won't be too bad and we have Kakashi, Sakura, and Ino here now." Naruto had briefly touched the scaled tail that was wrapped around his arm. "Could you do that for them as well, Manda?"
It tilted its head and narrowed its eyes in irritation. The blue eyes were unwavering, like they were when the serpent first met them. He hesitated in trying to outright deny the simple request. But, the raven had been friendly. If you knew Sasuke anyway.
"I could." He conceded. The head dipped in a very shallow bow. "But only because it would be detrimental to his health if I did not explain the events that led up to this point." He fell from the tall and broad shoulders to proceeded to the array carved into the ground.
Naruto motioned for them to follow after him and the serpent, the other three staying behind.
"You can't touch him. No matter what. And don't get into the array. It's tuned to his chakra and the only one who can get in and out is Manda. His chakra is viral now and try not to scream." The snake slid through a barrier that rippled like water as he passed inside. Naruto stopped at the edge and placed a hand on Sakura's arm. He squeezed it tightly, but not enough to hurt, when the purple king snake slid through the tent flap.
"I'm coming, Manda. I'm coming." The serpent slid back through, looking particularly happy, proud and satisfied. He was bigger, the entire length of two horses. The yellow eyes were gleaming with a previously lacking sheen and he wound into a pool of scales and muscles.
A clawed hand pushed the curtain aside, easily recognizable markings tracing elegant fingers. Then a thin yukata sleeve that held aside the thick canvas as a slender malformed body entered bright sunlight.
"Sasuke!" Sakura jerked forward from shock, Naruto holding her back. Shino's eyebrows shot up. Ino's mouth dropped open and her hands reached forward. Kakashi's visible eye widened.
The Uchiha extended a hand for Manda to glide over. The serpent cheerily balanced himself on thin shoulders. He approached them slowly, letting the wings flutter as he moved. An eyebrow rose, shifting the black styles on his face slightly and he nodded to them.
"Sakura. Kakashi. Ino. Shino." He met their eyes, careful to keep one closed. The other had the sharingan spinning languidly. Sweat dripped down the side of his face but he made no move to brush it aside.
"Sasuke!" Sakura strained at Naruto's hand, desperately trying to reach the elusive Uchiha. The red eye flickered down and then up to blue eyes. The other mouth of fangs was set in a hard line. Sasuke's became no different.
"Don't Sakura. You can't come in here. You can't even touch me." His single eye met her shimmering green, tears forming as he spoke. It was to her credit that they didn't spill over. He moved as close as he could though.
"Sasuke, we need to talk." Kakashi seemed to settle down into his place, his expression yet to relax.
"We have all day, Kakashi-sensei. Neji and Shikamaru are making lunch, and I'll bring some over to you guys when it's done." Naruto let Sakura go and turned around, walking back towards the main camp.
Sasuke watched him leave with both eyes open, frowning heavily and absently petting the snake. "That would be kind of you. Thank you, Naruto." The kyuubi-boy faltered, a shiver arching up his spine before he nodded back to him and continued.
Kakashi watched the exchange, disturbed. Naruto must feel it too. Sasuke was too different. And there was more to it than the additional appendages and the tattooed skin. A clawed hand made a sweeping gesture and they settled down on the ground.
"I'm assuming that you learned this array with the sharingan." Kakashi began as an opener. Sasuke nodded and gathered the King Summons into his lap.
"Orochimaru used this barrier when he was experimenting. He conditioned it to his chakra. When inside, no one else could enter. It suppressed his chakra, so it made the pain dissipate when he practiced jutsu. It's a similar situation now." He sat cross-legged so that he could lean back a bit.
"And why do you need it?" Sakura was beside Kakashi, as far forward as she could be.
"The mark's always active now. Orochimaru did something to it before I killed him."
"Start from the beginning. Why would you kill him? I thought the exchange was fair enough for you?" Shino pushed and was seated on Kakashi's other side.
"Fine." A single red eye flashed at them and it seemed he was more aware. "It started when Orochimaru raped Kabuto. Then it progressed to making comments to each and every person within his walls. He loved to torture and break anyone and everyone. He turned his eyes onto me. I refused to break and we fought."
The story seemed to end there until Sasuke took a breath and began again. "I taunted him and he activated something within the Heaven's Seal. It began with the marks spreading. Then I gained a wing. When I fought Itachi, it made a complete possession. I gained another wing, fangs and claws. My chakra's poisonous now."
Sasuke smiled at them lightly. "And I have Mangekyo now."
"Food!" Naruto brought Sasuke his plate and Manda took it through the barrier. He opened both eyes to see Naruto and smiled again, fangs showing prominently.
"Thank you, Naruto." The blonde barely flinched at all.
"Aren't you tired, Sasuke?" The black and white head titled slightly, eyebrows drawing together in confusion. Then he nodded absently.
"Yes, I suppose I am. Say good-night to me later, Naruto." He stood and began walking back, the yellow eyes unabashedly glaring at the blonde.
"I promise, Sasuke." He nodded and watched the raven slip into the tent. "Come on, we'll have Manda fill you in. He's not exactly in his right mind."
Naruto had to pull Sakura away but the others came willingly.
"Naruto, what the hell is going on?!"
He seemed to deflate then. The look in his eyes haunting, drawing sharp notice that he had seen much in his eighteen years alive. They were the eyes of a war-hardened man who never learned to accept killing.
"Sakura. This is my fault. All my fault. I could have been here faster, sooner. I could have been there to help fight Orochimaru. I could have been there! This is all my fault! Damn it!" His body was tense with kyuubi-chakra. It swirled dangerously around him. "The first words out of his mouth were, "About time, dobe. I'm ready to go home.". I'm such a damn dead-last when it comes to Sasuke!"
His shoulders shook but he refused to cry again. Not again. "He isn't like himself at all. I can't stand him like this. It's warped his mind! And that damn snake! It said…It said that Sasuke only has seven months left before that damned curse seal kills him! I hate this!"
Sakura was beginning to sob now. It wasn't right. None of this. Naruto wasn't supposed to give up. Sasuke was supposed to fight with him. Sasuke wouldn't die before he was twenty. He wouldn't be so horribly disfigured and pained. Naruto let the chakra dissipate, and she ran forward to hug him tight. He shook very slightly against her.
"We're going to make things right. I promise Naruto. That's my nindo, my ninja way, and I never take it back." She whispered into his back, arms tight enough to grind his ribs together. Her voice shook and her body quivered but her words were strong.
"I know we will, Sakura. I know it." He twined a hand in hers and squeezed it. Ino bit her lip as she looked back at them and then returned to questioning Neji.
"You said that the chakra around his mind and eyes was mostly fine, right? It was protected?"
He nodded. "It should be his native chakra. Perhaps fueled by the sharingan." He glanced over to Kakashi to see the man nodding.
"It was strongly resistant, even when it reached stage two. I don't think that he would be composed enough to even remember our names otherwise." He nodded as he tipped his head sideways. "Manda-san, could you please enlighten this mortal on the happenings of your master before and after this cursed affliction?"
The serpent had started slightly, before narrowing his eyes and hissing at the silver-haired jounin. "Do you mock me and expect nothing to happen? I'm not one to let such trifles be permitted."
Kakashi bowed his head to the creature's further surprise and satisfaction. "I do not dare to mock you. You are the companion to a man I respect and one I care for. To mock you would both insult you, Manda-san, and him."
The serpent smirked lazily, in a way they knew was an affected trait. "So you want to know about my master's past a bit and our journey together? Rather personal information. I could not tell his secrets. You do understand."
"It would be detrimental if we did not know how deeply the trauma at Oto and the months following have effected his mind. If his mind is too fractured, then there would be little chance of survival." Kakashi let the serpent glide over to him and settle around his shoulders.
"Very well. I wish to start with my first summons then. My loyalties switched on that day.
Orochimaru was teaching my master the summoning jutsu on the night of the third-quarter moon. The raven had already been subject to several experimentations at this point. His chakra output was finessed so there would be no excess when performing the summons. Unlike Orochimaru, he did not summon a lesser spirit and begin to wrest command. I was the first he summoned.
He did not offer me an exchange for my services. He made it clear that I was the servant and he was the master. All bluster and pride but he was unflinching before me, chakra-exhausted and blood-splattered. He was so beautiful covered in blood."
The serpent's voice took on a dreamy tone that described the battle he briefly fought with the raven before he accepted the mantle. It had sounded disturbingly like the serpent was in love with the raven. But it was simply animalistic possession towards what one considers its property.
"My summons came more frequently and I watched over him as he was subjected to numerous nightmares and training sessions. Orochimaru summoned me only twice in this time, and I demanded payment. When I refused to bow to his wishes like I would to the master's, he grew angry. I believe that was the first night he took the silver-haired man. He wished to prove he was still controlling and dominant.
He turned his eye upon my master, the only one in the entire grounds that would not heel like a bitch. No offense at all to you, little fox." The serpent leered at him with unmistakable hostility, proving his placation false. "But master still refused. It escalated into a full battle when the sannin tried to force compliance. It was a glorious day of bloodshed. Oto fell that evening. Orochimaru impaled upon the sword he had bequeathed to the raven and those he had tortured, finally eased."
The serpent heaved a small sigh. "But then the bastard activated the Seal somehow. Chakra-deprived as he was, he should have been capable of nothing. But he started the wheels spinning in a way I could not allow. I took my master to Shinkan the Caster Sage, and he treated and diagnosed the master. He had twelve months left when we began the pursuit to slaughter his enemy and five have elapsed.
Upon the third month of those five, his chakra began to turn brackish and pour from his body each night for two days. On another of these happenings, he was given flight with the growth of a wing. We pursued still and we eventually caught the elder. They fought here and master was eclipsed into a total possession. He gained one more wing and the pinwheel-eyes. These four appeared at the end and proceeded to bind my master, claiming to wish to aid him."
Naruto glared right back when those eyes locked onto his. He wasn't sure what he'd done to the serpent but he was not going to sit there and be looked down upon by the belly-crawler.
"I did not approve of them but master treated them civilly. I took the unspoken command that I too should act in this manner, though it curdles my blood to be civil to the undeserving." Yellow eyes still blazed at him, hell-fire spewing pure and unadulterated hatred. "I am only gracing the fox-child with kind words because master does so. Whether in his right mind or not."
So the serpent had noticed.
"His behavior was not in a similar manner when in Oto?" Kakashi quickly interrupted the words that would have erupted from Naruto, had he allowed them.
"Of course not. He was very much in control of himself. Nothing was outside of his control then. Orochimaru began to warp his mind with that seal. He increased it and it only gained more foothold. Controlled but still increasing. If the sannin had the ability to take the master's body, the curse seal would have been voided. Obviously that is not what happened."
"So his mind is strongly resistant even now then?" Ino's question turned even the yellow eyes upon her but she was resolutely looking into the fire. She took a breath in the silence. "Neji said that his mind was mostly channeling his native chakra. I think that he has control of his mind but not his body. I want a chance to see for myself."
"No."
Surprised, she looked up into the various eyes that had all given voice to the statement's answer. "What? Why not?"
"Do you have any idea what you're proposing? Going inside his mind with his chakra as it is now? Do you want killed? His chakra is poison now. He will kill you."
Pale blue eyes hardened. She stood, pale skin, lavender fabric, and platinum blonde hair. She glared at each one of them and her lips thinned. The serpent turned eyes between her and the other blonde. He had refused as well.
"What could you do for my master, little girl, that would be nourishing?" Dry lips were wetted by a thin pink tongue that raced around the sprouted fangs. She looked to him without flinching.
"I could enter his mind and ask him myself what we could do to ease his journey to Konoha. I could speak with him without bringing him outside the barrier."
"That won't matter because it's not happening. He'll kill you. He won't recognize you."
"Think this through, Ino. He'll try to drive you out and you'll be hurt."
"He would destroy your mind. Don't suggest this."
"I want you to." Stunned eyes turned to the serpent.
"What happened to sharing his personal life?" Naruto spat.
"I do not want you any closer to him. That is all that means. You. I don't care what master thinks of you honestly but I will treat you as he wants because it is his will. If she can speak to him then I support her. Sometimes, females are smarter than males in these situations. You cannot help."
Each word was like another epitaph carved into his grave. He was so useless. Even the serpent thought so. He turned to look at Ino. She had chased Sasuke forever when they were genin. She had been so in love with him. What he saw in her wasn't love in the romantic way. She seemed that she was protecting a brother. He glanced to Sakura.
He had made a promise to bring the Uchiha back because of Sakura. She was so in love with him too. But she was sitting beside him, looking depressed and forlorn. Her eyes were dull and broken. She had spoken and reminded him of his nindo. But where had that strength come from? Did she not care about the raven in a romantic way anymore?
She looked up at him to meet his eyes. They hardened with resolve. They filled with purpose and life. But she wasn't staring back in an adoring way. Merely a determined manner. She was protecting him as a brother too, he realized. She squeezed his hand hard.
"I want you to do it too, Ino." Her hair fluttered like true cherry blossoms. It had gained a few shades of darker highlights over time and it paled in some places too. Green and blue eyes measured each other. "I'll use some of my chakra to keep you supplied so you have enough time without worrying about exhausting yourself, okay?"
It hadn't mattered what they said. The girls were sealing their promise now. To protect those they cherished as brothers. To protect those they cared about.
And there was nothing he could do to help. No way he could protect either parties. He couldn't protect Sasuke. He couldn't protect them when they tried this stunt either. He pulled his hand away from Sakura's gently and reached out to scratch the fox's ears. To give him a pretext if nothing else.
He'd never felt so damn useless and helpless in his entire life. Nothing compared to this clench that ripped his chest. It ached so much. His throat tightened and his eyes bled red as Kyuubi tried to ease him with soothing balmy chakra waves. Self-hatred made him bite his lips with ivory fangs. The taste of blood in his mouth did nothing to erase the bitter taste guilt and hatred left in his throat either.
"We're doing it now. Would you bring him out to us, Manda-san?"
"Absolutely." The serpent shot another poisonous glare at the fox-child. Would he do nothing to spare them the agony that would surely follow this? He did not know if the girl would be able to stand the raven's intense mind. He didn't know if the chakra would target her like an enemy. But did the fox-child believe that they could? Perhaps he had been shaken more than they thought. He took in blank empty eyes. Perhaps not.