Kabuto began his way down the cold, stone steps of the basement with a smile on his face. The lighting was dim, as always, and his report was already written, ready to be transported.
He was surprised to see the serpent waiting for him.
Kabuto made to hand over his scroll, but the snake's tail raised menacingly. Kabuto's eyebrows raised a fraction of an inch.
"In person?" he whispered, frowning.
The snake dipped its head, and began to cough up an object much larger than its body. When it had fully finished, the reptile disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving only a summoning scroll behind.
Kabuto hardened his resolve, and summoned his smile back again. Now was not the time for insecurities. He whipped open the scroll with a flourish, and in a rush of color and wind, he found himself in a large earthen cavern.
The stench of decay was everywhere.
A tall, slim man, oddly handsome in his smooth features and pale skin, sat waiting for him, in a simple yet ornate chair atop a rising plateau of rock. His long hair was sharply reflective, and its faint movement at the underground breeze looked almost like water, flowing in long sharp bands.
He smiled pleasantly, and folded his fingers.
"Come. I'm very interested to hear what progress you've made," Orochimaru said with a smile.
Kabuto maintained his calm air, but something deep inside prepared to run, no, sprint as far away from this man as possible.
"Ahem," Kabuto said, pulling open his message, painfully aware of its lackluster contents.
"Still… Still no confirmation in regards to the Kyuubi Host, however-"
"I think I've heard enough," Orochimaru said, cutting him off. The false smile was gone. Now, there was only irritation. Underneath the dark, reptilian eyes, Kabuto could see the great well of rage just beneath the surface.
"Master, I'm making progress. If you'll just allow me a little more time-"
"Time?" the man asked silkily. "Walk to my side. Tell me what you see."
Kabuto did so immediately, with long, purposeful strides. He maintained control, because that was what his master wanted to see, but the stench grew more powerful, and when Kabuto reached the top of the ridge, a wave of the smell hit him, and his eyes narrowed.
The bodies stretched backwards into the shadows. He couldn't see where they ended, or the ground underneath the heaps of arms and legs. The only commonality among the bodies were dark, forest green vests, color almost lost in the low light.
He felt the prickling, cold feeling of fear overtaking his body.
"Perhaps you do not fully understand the sacrifices made. We die by the hundreds a thousand miles from Konoha, and you're busy playing with children. What have you been doing, Kabuto?"
Kabuto flinched.
"I think she could be useful to us," the young teen said. A single bead of sweat ran down the left side of his face, to hang on the edge of his jaw.. "Her chakra control is incredible. With the right encouragement, there is little doubt-"
"Chakra control? I did not mobilize our forces to acquire above average chakra control. I paid for a Nine. Tailed. Demon. And thus far you have utterly failed to extract the information we need in order to capture it."
"Our other objective is moving forward smoothly though," Kabuto said, not relenting. "Sasuke Uchiha is almost entirely disconnected from the village. Once Itachi dies, there will be nothing to keep him bound to Danzo."
"A side project." Orochimaru hissed into his ear. "As magnificent as the Sharingan is, there are dozens of Uchiha with active bloodlines. While this one presented an interesting opportunity, that was not the objective of this mission."
Orochimaru's hand gestured at the long stretch of bodies.
"We are losing. Every second we spend in open combat our position weakens. We needed something to swing the tides weeks ago, and it will still take unbelieveable time and energy to harness the Demon's power properly. It may not even be possible."
"You faith was not misguided, Master." Kabuto knelt, and bowed his head, his pride crawling somewhere deep inside, away from prying eyes.
"I can perform. I'll deliver the Host to you, and Sasuke. Even the girl. Once she's with us, I'm sure you will come to see her value. I may not have any proof, but I am confident that we have found the container, and it is a failed one. Nowhere near the strength we would expect. The age and appearance is what we would expect. It's our best lead."
Orochimaru made a soft, shimmering sound. Kabuto recognized it as laughter, even before it rolled out into a more obvious mockery.
"My ambitious, foolish young student. You think I'm leaving this up to you still?"
Orochimaru gestured with a wave of his hand, and out from the shadows approached four figures, each wearing the same uniform. Long, full body cloth, with a massive knotted belt to hold it in check.
Kabuto's eyes widened.
"Them? Master, a direct assault is doomed to failure. I understand your impatience, but even with their capabilities we can't act with so little information-"
"I trust I do not need to tell you what will happen if this mission does not proceed flawlessly?" Orochimaru asked. "And weren't you just saying how promising this lead is? Surely, under their command, you can fulfill your promises?"
Kabuto gritted his teeth, and bowed his head further, the smell of death filling his nostrils.
"Of course. As you command, master."
"Good. You will make your assault tomorrow night, with the objective of locating and capturing the Kyuubi host. I would suggest not returning without something of value. Dismissed."
Sasuke trudged towards the building, hands in pockets again and wearing his usual lack of expression. He stepped into the great wooden structure, still nearly as bare and run-down as it had been when he'd first stepped into it. Now, he saw it for what it really was. A mockery.
A cruel joke by their teachers, telling them how little value they actually had.
Sakura was the only one there. For once, Sasuke mused, she wasn't with their grey-haired veteran. She looked almost surprised to see him, bright green eyes twinkling, hinting at the intelligence underneath.
He felt the urge to use his Sharingan, and investigate closer. Something told him that if he willed it, he could see past those two dark pupils to something… beyond, but he stopped himself.
"Hello," she said, uncertainly.
Sasuke nodded, ignoring the fire in his back as he did so. "May I sit?" he asked, pulling a chair before she'd even answered.
"Of course! Uh… How are things going?"
Sasuke struggled to focus on the table before him. The Sharingan sang to his mind, begging to be used. He ignored it once again.
"Same as they always are."
He leaned back, and studied Sakura for a couple moments, realizing he'd never really looked at his pink-haired teammate. She'd always been just a person, who occasionally said unimportant things and could use a Kunai.
Now that he was alone with her, it was almost like his mind was finally acknowledging her existence.
"Why?" he asked, curiosity digging at him. He frowned. "Why choose this? This life? Endless battle, fighting if not the enemy, ourselves. Nobody cares about us. We're faceless, or will be soon anyway."
Sakura bit her lip, and was silent for several moments.
"I'd always imagined being a Shinobi was about helping people," She admitted. "It didn't hurt that they're the most highly paid of any profession. The Hokage always talks about how important it is for Konoha to be able to defend itself. I guess I just…"
Sakura looked embarrassed.
"I just wanted to help people, and this seemed like the best way to do it."
Sasuke nodded. It sounded like Itachi's reasoning.
And look where it got him, a treacherous voice whispered in his mind.
"I see. I'm a…." He stopped, remembering a painful truth he had almost forgotten. "Was an Uchiha, and we've always been Shinobi. Our bloodlines are extremely potent on the battlefield."
"Oh yes, the Sharingan! I've been reading all about that. It sounds like the sort of ability that would be useful in any profession." Sakura chattered. "After all, you can learn practically anything. If you knew the right people to copy, you could easily become a master carpenter or blacksmith in days!"
Her eyes were shining in excitement. "Just think of everything you could learn with a power like that. I'm very jealous."
Sasuke, for a moment, was totally at a loss for words.
"I… suppose." He said, the words trickling out. His mind tried to wrap itself around the image of an an Uchiha being content with a life as a carpenter.
Albeit a very competent carpenter.
"It's a real shame about the trauma involved in unlocking it." She said, tapping her fingers in thought. "I've always wondered. How do the Uchiha deal with the fact that all their strongest Shinobi have experienced significant emotional trauma? It just sounds so awful."
Sasuke, once again, found his mind running into a brick wall.
"We… Well… It hasn't really been an issue."
Even as he said it, Sasuke realized it wasn't true. Not even close.
Father had always been, while not unkind, prone to very sour moods, and Itachi during his training had seemed to spend every day in miserable stupors.
Sasuke wondered how long it would be before he was like that.
Then, in a surprising feat of self-awareness, he remembered a complete lack of social relationships, or even a vague sense of the people around him for the past two years.
That… might be an issue, he admitted. It was at that moment that Kiba arrived.
The boy slipped into a chair spaced away from the pair of them, letting his head rest against the table. Akamaru climbed off it, and yipped amiably, wagging his tail in a way that slapped Kiba in the head several times.
"These battles will never end." he grumbled.
"Actually, I think we're reaching the end of them," Sakura said, lost in thought. "It's almost been the month Mizuki warned us about, and they've stopped rewarding us for victories."
"You know his name?" Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I asked him about what his job was exactly. He wasn't very polite."
"Go figure," Kiba's muffled voice said.
"That means, in not too long, they're going to put us on the battlefield. We've been doing better against Shikamaru, but to fight actual Shinobi so soon…"
"We're not ready," Sasuke agreed. "We haven't even beat the other team yet."
"That's what worries me," Sakura said. "If we haven't beaten them, and the battles are almost over, then we can't be the graduating team, can we?"
There was a tense silence as this settled in.
Sasuke's face had gone hard as stone, and his formerly dark eyes glowed a cruel, bright red. Inside, a familiar fire crackled and sparked, ignited once again.
"Sasuke, we can-" Sakura said.
"Enough. Enough of this chit chat. We have to plan."
And I have to win.
Dark storm clouds rolled over wind-swept plains.
Sasuke didn't even bother to question where the scroll had sent them. The ground was rocky and barren. He couldn't see a single piece of life, plant or otherwise, across the flat expanse. It was flat rock for miles.
The sky was a golden orange, with the sun mostly to the horizon, glowing brilliantly.
His armor felt heavy, and the purple bands of bruises he had across his thighs and arms ached. His breath was hot, the dark fabric covering his mouth and nose trapping the heat. His dark-grey cloak flapped in the breeze.
Sakura appeared, then Kiba, then the much taller figure of Kabuto. Shino was last, but the buzzing sound made him distinct.
The Uchiha noted, with a humorless smile, that they were mostly indistinguishable already. In fast combat, how difficult would it be to tell them apart?
They were counting on that.
Across the almost flat landscape, he saw another group. Six shapes on the horizon. They ran towards it, feeling the cold wind brush past.
As they grew closer, it became clear that the other group looked almost identical. The same uniform, but the shapes varied. Shikamaru's narrow, calculating gaze was immediately noticeable, and Sasuke locked eyes with him.
He saw nothing. The itch to use his Sharingan came back, with fervor, but he suppressed it. He'd need every last bit of his chakra. This wasn't the time to take stupid risks.
The itch persisted.
"Now that everyone's arrived, I have exciting news," Mizuki began, rattling off in his usual cruel tones. "This time, the losing team walks, or more likely, limps off for the last time. No more practicing."
So. It was as Sakura had predicted. And they were facing Shikamaru.
Not the worst situation.
"I'm sure you've all heard rumors about fighting to the west by now, and I can assure you that I am not allowed to say it's extremely brutal, and that Danzo wants to send you over there as soon as possible."
Sasuke glared at the man, but it only made him smile wider.
"We're going to be a little more lenient about stepping in to prevent injuries. Wouldn't want you to go down without having your abilities tested, but you should be able to handle yourselves. This isn't a game, but you know that by now, right? I've rambled enough. You," Mizuki said, pointing at Sasuke. "Your group stays here. They're coming with me."
"How will we know the match has begun?" Sakura asked.
"The ground will shake."
Mizuki began running off in a direction. Shikamaru and his group, Yoroi towering above, followed.
Sasuke frowned. The older boy hadn't even bothered to look in his direction. He turned back toward his assembled teammates, and spoke.
"This is the best situation for us. We're not ready to go up against whatever those two masked ones are, but we're on an even playing field here. We've beaten Shikamaru before, and there's nowhere for him to hide this time, right?"
Kiba stepped forward, flicking back his hood so Akamaru could hop to the ground, where the small animal morphed into a fanged copy of him.
"Something wasn't right about them," he growled seriously, his voice already changing as body took on more animal characteristics. "I could smell it. I don't think it's just the costumes either. They've changed."
Sasuke frowned. He wouldn't put it past Shikamaru to pull something, especially in a match as critical as this.
"We should be careful then."
"Thanks for the tip, Genius," Kiba growled. "Let's put them in the ground. Akamaru!"
The ground shook, rattling gravel near their boots. It was like an impact had taken place, but nothing was visible for miles.
A ninjutsu? Sasuke thought, as he and Team Seven sprinted toward the approaching figures of the enemy team.
The ground's rumbling didn't stop. Running was disorienting, but he pushed through, and glancing upward he could see their opponents had done the same.
Sasuke put his head down and continued forward, using Shunshin's subtle speed increase. His legs, had anyone been able to see effectively enough, would have blurred every half second, accelerating his knees forward. He soon overtook his team.
Then, something nagged at him. Something he had seen. He glanced up again. The other team was almost at them, Shikamaru in the center running forward to meet him.
Shikamaru.
Running.
Sasuke's eyes flew wide, and his Sharingan whirled into action, in time to see, captured in perfect detail, the henge fall away,
the white mask revealed,
and the monster spin into a blow that could shatter mountains.
It will be quick.
Kiba skidded to a halt, seeing a massive streak of shadow fly overhead. It took him a moment to realize it was Sasuke, and a second longer that it wasn't just him.
Something had grabbed on.
Kabuto slid to a stop, and began to step backwards, his dark eyes focused intently on the blurring shapes of Sasuke and code-named Nami, rushing past with the force of a cannonball.
This was it. His opportunity.
Would the monster reveal its true colors?
He never even felt the blow.
For Sasuke, the world slowed down. What felt like seconds passed, while both their cloaks whirled. The great line of the horizon rotated like the hand of a clock. Shadows danced across Its mask, like the phases of the moon in motion. Shadow overtook, and then light returned, each curving across the pale surface.
The sky rolled like a ball, but they stayed constant. Sasuke darker cloak flapped and whirled, mixing with Its own grey one.
And then the ground hit them.
Sasuke bore the weight of the world on his back, and It on his front. The monster gripped him by the collar of his cloak, and rotated like a screw, whipping his light cloak into Sasuke's face.
The world rotated again, in slow motion, but this time, the ground came straight at him, like a wall, shaking and cracked.
He met it.
Broken.
The ground retreated from him, like a mighty glacier. Then it ran at him. Even faster.
His own shadow opened up before him, like a black pool.
It enveloped his world.
I'm sorry.
There were only three figures left. The two desperate, and the monster.
Its mask never moved. Only its body did.
Damn it to hell.
"Kabuto! How much longer!?" Kiba roared.
He met the monster again, but it was with a futility he could feel in his bones. It was too heavy. That was what he had noticed first. Trying to knock the smaller figure down was like pushing against a mountain.
The damage was one-sided. Always. Kiba's clawed hand came down, and was deflected with the flick of an arm. The impact sent his own flying away, followed after a brief moment by sharp, piercing pain. It left him so open Sakura could have destroyed him.
The monster didn't even bother to follow up. It walked towards the crouching, beaten figure of Kabuto, and the unconscious Sasuke underneath.
"Hey! You're still fighting me!"
You've lost.
Kiba put himself in Its path again, and It sent him flying. The monster brought its elbow back into its cloak. Kiba crawled up from the ground again.
"That the best you can do, bastard?"
He didn't have enough chakra for a Fang Technique. He'd already used it all fighting the damn Hyuuga. The wetness underneath his bent breastplate reminded him of the other consequences.
This was the end anyway, and he'd be damned if he went down without a single step forward.
He screamed something indecipherable, and charged at the masked monster. It turned its blank face towards him, and stopped.
It raised its hand.
The ground beneath Kiba's feet cracked and split. The Earth was pushed up and crushed, flying apart from invisible geysers of air. He leapt from crumbling face to face with all the grace of a wolf, while his own cloak flapped behind him like a cape.
It lowered its hand.
Gravity came down on his back like the ocean had been dropped on him. He was pinned to the platform he stood on, while, under this new force, it cracked and crumbled, falling into a pit of its own creation.
The ground Kiba laid on sank deeper, and the world tumbled in on top of him.
"What the hell are we fighting," he muttered, closing his eyes and accepting oblivion.
The monster flashed towards the medic, and kicked him in the head. Kabuto crumpled. The monster kicked him again, and was satisfied.
He walked a few steps off, and sat down to meditate.
Are you satisfied, Master?
Sasuke felt cold.
He clenched his gloved fist, which he could see lying across from him. It obeyed, but it was wrong. He couldn't feel it. It was like the spaces between his muscles had been stuffed with cotton.
It felt dead.
He pulled up to his feet. It was easy, like gliding. Something was charged. Despite the numbness, he'd never felt so much…
It was impossible to put into words. It was like electricity, flowing through his body. It was all he could feel, and there was lots of it.
Kabuto was lying at his feet, eyes closed and mouth hanging slightly ajar. Blood trickled from his forehead.
His Sharingan welled up with an explosion of electricity, and the world spun into focus. There were cloaked heaps all along the barren rocky expanse, and scattered weapons. Underneath the cloaks were bodies.
Why the hell hadn't they been teleported out?
Then, Sasuke saw him. Sitting, head bowed, several yards away. The monster's light grey cloak curled and floated like wisps of smoke in the breeze. Its back was to Sasuke.
The monster got to his feet. Its head angled, revealing the mask.
Don't make me destroy you.
Sasuke crouched, and stepped to the left, like a scavenger circling a predator. The monster didn't bother to move. His enemy would come, in time. Sasuke continued his steps until he was angled away from the bodies, and the sun was at his back. His shadow reached past It.
Its mask turned towards him, but otherwise it did not move.
Nanashi attacked.
Shunshin breached the distance between them in less than a second, but through the Sharingan, it felt like gliding. He flew through the air, and the world slid by around him. The monster's arm came up in a casual block.
Sasuke met it with his hardest kick, and there was a echoing, deep sound when they clashed. The monster's arm didn't move, but Sasuke's entire leg coiled like a spring at the impact. It folded up, until his thigh met his ankle. He kicked off, and shunshined backwards.
He hadn't even been able to move It. Not with his hardest blow.
It was impossible to win.
Sasuke realized it with a frightening coldness, that this time crept deeper into his gut. It had let him set up the perfect blow, with all the power he could summon.
And it had done nothing.
Now do you see it is hopeless?
Sasuke's world fell around him, while the highest tip of the sun met the horizon. He simply wasn't strong enough.
He had failed himself. He had failed his team.
Itachi...
"Just what the hell are you," Sasuke whispered, face twisted in shock. "That's not human. That's not possible."
I am.
"FIREBALL TECHNIQUE!"
He pushed all the wind he could out of his lungs, and it shot forward, creating its own shadow as it flew over the ground.
The monster blurred. It sailed past where he had been.
Fast. He could destroy me in an instant.
Why hasn't he?
Sasuke started moving. He tried throwing Shuriken. It sidestepped them without even bothering to move its head.
Try this on for size then.
They ignited in a massive explosion. A wave of charcoal-black smoke rushed out, hiding red explosion underneath. The ground rattled.
The monster was gone.
Futile.
Sasuke felt it behind him, and whirled, in time to watch its fist bury into his gut. He doubled over. It was like a steel battering ram, hitting just under his ribcage to impact the vulnerable organs beneath.
He fell to his knees, coughing and holding himself.
The masked monster stared down at him, with the slight tilt of its head.
Surrender.
"To hell with you," Sasuke muttered, getting to his feet, still holding his chest. "Are you enjoying this? Did you just want to watch me fail? To give me hope to snatch away?"
I don't want to hurt you.
"Answer me!"
Sasuke began attacking. The monster caught every blow. It was faster. With every impact he felt his strength weaken. All his attacks were worthless.
Time to take it up a notch.
His body slid into the forms he had memorized. The flashes of memory associated appeared in his mind. Shisui, one eyed, flowing like water in a blur.
Sasuke's fist blurred forward, accelerating beyond what space would allow.
It was caught, but the monster moved. He felt it. There was a tense moment as both of them considered this fact.
Then, the battle began in earnest.
Sasuke was weaker. He could feel it in every blow, but now at least, he could compete. He was slower too, but as fast as the monster's reactions were, he could see everything. The movement of his arms, the weight shifting to account for every meeting of their bodies.
While the sun set, they danced on the littered battlefield, fighting blow after blow, neither knowing anything but the heat of battle. Neither knew how long they fought, or noticed the sky turning a deep purple as the sun passed the horizon.
It hit him across the jaw, spinning Sasuke's head. He hit back, knocking the mask slightly ajar, and revealing a flash of paper-white skin.
A blow to Sasuke's ribcage.
A kick at the monster's knee.
A strike across Sasuke's face.
The pain had ebbed away. All the Uchiha could feel was the electricity, and it filled him up. His arms were numb, and cold. His face could have been lying on a pillow for all he could sense.
The electricity wove around his arm, and helped him push it at his enemy, knocking its arm back.
The electricity itched to be used, and Sasuke let it out, in bursts. He gripped the monster's arm by the wrist, and twisted. It remained solid as if it were concrete.
Accelerating one part of your body without the rest of it is extremely dangerous. Many thought it impossible to use safely.
"Shunshin," Sasuke muttered with a sharp, feral smile. He turned towards the horizon, and blurred, moving faster than should have been possible, with Its arm in his grip.
The monster came along with him.
He rocketed forward, feeling a lurch and shudder go through Its entire arm, as he suddenly pulled it away from Its body with speeds beyond natural physics. It was heavy, and Sasuke's arm rippled from the exertion, but he pulled anyway.
And the monster was thrown to the ground.
Sasuke didn't give him a moment. He was at his head, fist blurring down on the mask. It shook slightly with every blow, but it wasn't enough. He began to use the electricity to carry it forward and back. To go faster.
It slammed into the white face of the mask faster and faster. With every thump, Its body jolted, disrupting its attempts to rise.
But it didn't stop trying.
"Just die!"
Sasuke fired harder, and harder, but feeling was creeping back. It had been held dormant for too long, and now, it was coming back, with passion, and fire. It crept from the edge of his knuckles.
He drove it away by hitting harder.
With one final blow, Sasuke drove his fist into the mask, and it cracked in two, splitting across the monster's face.
The Sharingan looked down, and saw a flash of half a face.
It was paper white, and dead looking. Dark, sunken circles surrounded an eye, piercingly blue. Pale-dry blond hair, almost white, fell across its forehead like straw, stringy and weak. Long indentations ran along its cheek, scar-like and feral.
Their eyes met, and Sasuke glimpsed something he didn't expect to see.
Regret.
I was weak.
Forgive me, master.
Sasuke got to his feet and brought his arm up for his last blow.
It didn't move.
With cold, sudden panic crawling into Sasuke's heart, he tried again. His two red eyes peered over at his right arm, looking at it for the first time. It hung limply.
A drop of blood fell from the damp fingertips of his glove.
No. It would move. He would make it move. He called up the electric energy again, calling it to move.
Another drop fell.
He gripped it with his left hand, and shook it.
Agony.
He didn't know how long the moment lasted, but it felt like eternity. He unclenched his teeth, and tasted blood. Pain spiked on his tongue.
The monster rose, and Sasuke kicked it in the head.
Its arms raised, and Sasuke brought his foot down again. And again.
"You're not human," he spat out, spraying blood. A trickle of it ran from beneath the straw, pale hair.
Its arms fell.
Sasuke took a few steps away, and suddenly met the ground. He pushed himself up with his left hand, having fallen on his right.
His arm gave out.
Sasuke laid on the ground, the few bits of rock grinding into his cheek breaking through the numbness. It was beginning to fade, replacing itself with fire.
His Sharingan whirled a final time, and grew still. Staring at nothing.
He didn't hear the roar, or feel the tremor. He didn't see the burst of red chakra, spiraling out in a shower of rock. He didn't feel the presence of something truly inhuman. He didn't see the Silents appear in an instant, and disappear along with it.
But lying on his side, eyes open just a fraction, heart-rate lowered artificially,
Kabuto did.
I've found you, Nine Tails.
Akamaru poked his head onto the bed, wagging his tail. Kiba rubbed him on the head, and groaned.
"Someone's in a good mood."
Kiba rolled out of the bed, feeling at the bandages wrapped around his torso. Pain twinged, and he stopped.
"He got me, didn't he. Bastard."
The Inuzuka glanced around, taking in the smells of cleaner, death, and sickness. A hospital.
He hated hospitals.
Walking was a pain. He had to hobble, like some old fool, bent over and shuffling with minimal up and down movement. The few people who met his eyes were hit with an irritated gaze, and quickly looked away.
Akamaru came trotting along, bright as ever. Kiba shambled down the hospital hallway, glancing around.
"Young man! What were you thinking, getting up in your condition!" A stern looking older woman walked towards Kiba, easily outpacing his hobbles. He glared at her.
"Can it grandma. I need to find out what happened in the fight."
"Good grief. You won, if that's what's bothering you, though not without cost. Damn that Hokage, creating such unnecessary injury."
Kiba felt sudden panic, and glanced down.
"I'm not dying, am I?"
"You'll be fine. Rather fortunate you were wearing armor. Hyuuga attacks tend to leave lasting damage on anyone foolish enough to meet them."
"And the others?"
She pursed her lips, and went silent for a long moment. "Your friend, the Uchiha. He's in the worst shape."
Kiba laughed, and immediately felt bad for doing so. Friends, were they?
He supposed they were.
"Pushed himself too far? Damn him. I don't know what he did to bring down that monster, but he deserves a medal."
"For stupidity perhaps. He'll never fight again."
Silence hung in the air. Kiba's face went slack. He stopped moving. The entire world ground to a halt.
"What."
She rolled her eyes, mouth curving into a disapproving frown. "He caused extensive nerve damage to his own arm. It's in several pieces. Really, how he mustered past the pain is beyond-"
"Where is he."
They were underground by the time they reached the door. Kiba could hear the screaming from the moment he stepped into the hall.
"Shut the hell up!"
"Hold him down! Please sir, we need you to be calm. I know this is stressful to hear-."
"Do your damn job then! FIX IT!"
There was a crash sound, and the clattering of metal on the floor. Kiba approached the door's window, and saw only a mass of white coats surrounding a bed.
"You've reattached arms, so stop feeding me this bullshit! Heal it!"
"The bone fragments make traditional methods impossi-"
"LIES. STOP LYING TO ME. DO YOUR FUCKING JOB."
Kiba turned away from the door, and buried his face in his hand.
"Oh fuck. Fuck. Fuck. God Damnit."
"Idiot," the nurse muttered, crossing her arms. "Really, doing that to himself, it's-"
"Do you want your face rearranged, lady?" Kiba growled, looking up at her. He was still hunched over, and despite being nearly a foot shorter, the look in his eyes made the woman step back.
"That's my friend in there, so you can stuff those opinions up your ass where you got them from."
She opened her mouth to retort, but shut it seeing his murderous expression. With a huff, she turned and walked away, leaving him there to listen to the screams.
"MOVE, YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF GARBAGE. FUCKING MOVE!"
"Fucking hell," Kiba muttered, slumping against the door.
Sakura arrived next. She sat down next to Kiba eventually, not saying a word. Together they listened to the explanations, and the science, and to Sasuke disregarding all of them.
Then there was Shino. He paced, back and forth, up and down the hall, buzzing like an angry beehive.
The screams continued.
By the time Kabuto arrived, a bandage around his head, the explosion had died down. They all sat, listening to the quiet mumbling from beyond the door. Words drifted through.
"...but I'm afraid with our current capabilities, it's not within our ability to…"
"This guy," Kiba muttered, clenching his fist. Sakura nodded, saying nothing. Shino walked slightly faster.
Kabuto felt a presence behind him, and stepped aside, allowing the dark-cloaked man to stride forward. His black hair flowed behind him.
He stepped to the door, then stopped. His single eye, glowing red, glanced down at Kiba and Sakura.
"Will he..." the man began. He frowned, and clutched his head. "When you see him, tell him the motion passed. He's an Uchiha again. So is Itachi."
Shisui Uchiha looked like he wanted to say more, but stopped himself. He returned the way he came, past Kabuto, and up the stairs without another word.
The crest of the Uchiha flapped behind him.
"I guess he got what he wanted," Sakura said. "This was his goal, right?"
"His brother better be fucking happy," Kiba growled.
Kabuto turned away, and allowed himself a smirk. Things were for once, it seemed, going his way.
Now, for the temptation.
Worthless.
He was worthless now. His ability to fight was all he'd had to bargain with, and now…
Worthless.
How could he repay the debt on his heart now?
Sasuke opened the door with a slow creak. His right arm, casted, hung from a sling. His eyes were downcast, but with a deep breath, he brought them up as he stepped in.
Itachi stared back at him. His eyes glowed a dull, but piercing red, and his face was hardened in unspeakable rage.
"Sasuke," he said, his word cutting like a knife.
The boy wanted to look away. No, he wanted to sprint away. To never look back, and never have to see that face, and the disappointment, betrayal, and anger.
But he couldn't. Itachi's gaze was magnetic. His body froze.
"I'm sorry-"
"Sorry?" he asked. Itachi looked above all, betrayed. As though Sasuke had committed a sin that could never be forgiven. Like the man had been wounded in a way he'd never expected, and was bleeding now. Silently.
Miserably.
"Tell me it isn't true, Sasuke," he said, not even looking at the arm. "Tell me this is a misunderstanding."
"I…" Sasuke stammered.
"Tell me that you did not do this to yourself," Itachi took a breath, but it was a feeble defense against the storm. "Because of what you thought I wanted."
And in that moment, it clicked into place.
"I... " Sasuke said again, faintly. "...You deserved-"
"All my sacrifice," Itachi continued, ignoring the words. "All I have given to you, and all I have suffered. You threw it all away."
"I didn't mean for it to happen!" Sasuke cried. "It was an accident. All I wanted was to give you-"
"What?" Itachi thundered. "A change of location? A last name? What made you think I wanted this? Tell me, how could I have failed so utterly in communicating with you, that you thought I was anything less than happy? Tell me."
Sasuke's heart stopped.
"Tell me how I asked for this!"
Itachi ripped off the attachments on his arms, and sat up. It was a hideous sight. Long, stringy muscles quaked and rippled over bone.
"Stop it brother! You're going to kill yourself!"
"All I ever cared about was your safety, and you throw it away without a care in the world. Foolish little brother."
A luminescent, skeletal hand appeared with a crash of hospital equipment. It swept across the room, knocking through furniture and woodwork alike.
It backhanded the boy like a ragdoll.
Sasuke was sent flying out of the room in a high, long arc, and landed on his back, all the wind gone from his lungs, huddled with his arms to his chest.
He gasped for breath, panic overtaking his whole body. His breath was ragged and deep. All that was left was the animal, scared and cowering.
Itachi hovered in his room, all bone and blood, with streams running from his eyes and surrounded by a massive ribcage.
His eyes were black pits.
"Run."
Sasuke scampered away like a wounded dog, thoughtless and flailing. He fell down twice on his way to the stairs, and nearly down them in his haste.
Itachi slowly, carefully touched down on the ground again.
He lurched, revealing just how little weight he had left. He looked frail, and old again. A strong wind, it seemed, could have knocked him over.
With a trembling lift of his legs, he stepped back to his bed amid the wreckage, wiping bloody eyes with a trembling hand.
"How could I have failed you so much, Sasuke," he whispered.
From the shadows, dropping his technique, Kabuto stepped forward, while two lenses reflected a setting sun.
"Itachi Uchi-
"Tsukuyomi."
Kabuto was on a cross, bound at the foot and wrist. The world was warped. Colors become their inverse. The moon glowed a bright, ominous red, and on it, the pattern of the Sharingan stared down menacingly.
And Itachi Uchiha stood tall, and strong. Gone were his human frailties. Gone were the tears. In this world, he was a god. A force of will. Indominible.
Kabuto closed his eyes, and grinned a dangerous smile.
"As expected, from the great Genjutsu Master. I'd always been curious what this technique was like on the inside, to be hon-erk"
A sword impaled the grey-haired teen at the navel. It made an awful, wet splash as it cleanly pierced through bone, organ and flesh.
It sat there for an eternity.
When it was gone, Kabuto's legs twitched at odd intervals.
"I'll... c..cut to the chase then," Kabuto said, eyes narrowing. "It isn't over for Sasuke. I can guarantee the repair of his arm. That's what angered you so much, isn't it? That he threw it away so carelessly-"
Kabuto's body slammed back into the cross suddenly, silencing him.
"And why should I believe you?" Itachi replied. His mangekyo whirled, and the black of his pupil contracted ever so slightly. "All your words. All your lies. The Sharingan can see beyond all of them. Perhaps, even farther than you can."
Kabuto felt panic surge, but suppressed it. He shook out a laugh, willing his smile back again.
"What better reason to trust me then?" the teen said, but his smirk was lessened. His body tighter. "If you can really see so far, you know that I will succeed."
"No. Your attempt is doomed to failure. Danzo's forces are insurmountable, and you know this. That is why you are here, attempting to barter with ends you cannot meet."
"But I can meet them, with your help."
"Fool."
A sword slid into Kabuto's arm at the elbow, in a spray of blood. Kabuto screeched and writhed, His eyes wide in panic and fear.
"This is his only chance! Don't you see?" He couldn't lose. Not here. Another nameless, faceless, body in the crowd.
It wasn't fair.
"Without me, Sasuke has no future! Danzo has no use for him. He's just a broken Shinobi now. I can fix him. I can take him away from here."
"You underestimate Orochimaru," Itachi said.
A new sword pierced through Kabuto's ankle. He screamed.
"You underestimate Danzo,"
His other arm came off in a flurry of strikes.
"And you underestimate me. You think you can play all sides, and remain in the shadows, uninvolved and safe. That you can provoke the Resistance and Konoha against each other, and be there to pick up the pieces once the world has fallen to rubble. You are a fool."
Itachi stepped through the air, carefully and precisely, until he was just in front of the twitching Kabuto, their eyes perfectly level.
"Orochimaru is far more dangerous than you give him credit for. He knows what you are doing, and he allows it because it amuses him. How much longer will that last, if you fail this mission? You stand on the precipice of death, and it is due to your own actions."
Kabuto's mouth curled up into a smile once again, his lips stained with blood.
"No. I will be there when he falls, and when he does, I'll be all that's left to turn to. You threaten me Itachi, but you need me just as much as I need you. So why don't we cut the charade and discuss what's going to happen next?"
This was it. The final gambit. While his mind knew he had won, something deep inside began to cower. There was the fear that maybe he had misjudged.
Then, the cross was gone, and Kabuto was standing on the plains of eternity with Itachi Uchiha.
"I pity you," Itachi said coldly. "You follow in the footsteps of great men, but you are nothing more than a scavenger, hopelessly trying to imitate power."
Kabuto smiled, but the shivering of his body lessened its effect. He'd won the moment he offered for salvation. For all his posturing, the great Itachi Uchiha was nothing more than a sad old shinobi, with nothing left but a broken brother and a history of violence.
"We will see."
And on the field of imagination, two broken shinobi stared at each other, and neither could see what the other saw.
"Sasuke! What the hell did you do?" Kiba asked, seeing the young Uchiha stagger into the hospital lobby. He had a wild look in his eyes, and he trembled.
"I hurt him," he muttered, still staring at nothing. "I hurt him more than I've ever hurt him before. I…"
He clawed at his hair, gripping it tight enough for Kiba to see his forehead go white.
"How could I have been so stupid!" he yelled, hunching.
"Sasuke…"
"How!"
Sasuke ran, tripping over himself, onto the street, and pounded down the pavement, half off balance. Onlookers peered after him curiously.
"Wait! You idiot, you're going to break your other arm!" Kiba growled, lurching after him. Akamaru followed.
Sasuke ran without any idea where he was going. He had to get away from that place. The sun was setting, leaving the sky in an orange glow. Already, it had been a day since he'd won.
And lost everything.
He looked up and found himself on a grassy hill just before a forest. He glanced around, wildly. A park. Just a place to be with nature.
To the right, he saw a tall, rocky monument, covered with names. He didn't bother to read them.
"Finally!"
Kiba half-hobbled, half-limped up the hill to meet him. Blood ran through the bandages around his torso.
"Fuck this hurts."
"You shouldn't have followed me," Sasuke hissed. "Go back. Get someone to look at that. You'll end up like me."
"Like hell I will." Kiba finished panting, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "What's going on? And look, the thing with your arm sucks, but you shouldn't make things worse then they are."
"They can't get any worse."
"Yeah right."
"All I've done is hurt him," Sasuke whispered, shaking. "From the day I was born. He was always better than me, and mother and father knew it."
Kiba blanched.
"That's... I mean, are you sure they felt-"
"And then, he throws himself in the fire, destroying himself, for me. He threw away everything! He could have been the greatest Uchiha there's ever been, and all he got was a worthless, untalented bastard like me."
Sasuke covered his face with his hand, while his broken arm swung in the breeze, as if to taunt him.
"All I wanted was to give him something back. Anything. He could have been Hokage, and now there's just me. Now he's..."
Kiba's eyes stretched wide.
"I should have died in that fire."
"Don't you fucking do that to yourself!" Kiba roared at him. "He made his choices, and how the hell do you know his life would have been better?"
"Than living out of a hospital? Weak, and feeble, never knowing if he's going to last another day, with nobody but me to keep him company? Hated by everyone?"
"Yes!"
"You understand nothing," Sasuke bit out. "I was a burden, because of my existence. If I'd never been born, he'd never have had to do what he did."
"He didn't have to do anything, and you don't know what would have happened without you, so stop acting like you do!"
Kiba gripped him by the shoulder, painfully.
"The arrogance, to think you can predict the past. Get over yourself Sasuke, and go make up with him. I'm sure he'll forgive you."
"He'll never forgive me," Sasuke muttered, and the hand fell away.
"Not for this."
The world shook.
A deafening wave of sound erupted, followed by a billow of red and black smoke. Up north, near the Hokage mountain, a trail of it stretched up into the sky.
Then, there was another explosion. This one further to the right. Then another. The ground rumbled and quaked.
The sky was a dark purple now, the sun invisible beyond the forested horizon.
"Are we under attack?" Kiba muttered. He winced, and clutched at his side. Sasuke let the Sharingan spin into action, and felt an ache. The electricity was nothing more than a few sparks now.
His vision shivered, and then melted back to normal.
"We can't fight right now," Sasuke said. A coldness crept over his emotions like a great frost.
"Should we go back to the hospital?"
Pain.
"No. Not there," Sasuke said firmly. "We should get as far away from those places as possible. To the middle of the village, if we can."
"The shit I have to deal with," Kiba muttered, hobbling in the right direction, albeit with more energy and pace. Akamaru hopped onto his head.
Sasuke followed, glancing up at the sky.
It was a full, blood moon.