MLMPMS CHAPTER 10
Some time had passed since Sasuke and Naruto stormed out of Tsunade's office. They were still in the same place after what seemed like an hour and a half. Naruto had remained on the ground next to Sasuke, who was on the swing. After some time, Naruto fell asleep and his head leaned towards Sasuke's lap. Naruto gave a light airy moan of comfort amongst his sleep. Sasuke was a little amused by the noise Naruto had made.
Sasuke was experiencing those waves of cold. Even as the warmth of Naruto's body was next to him, the empty, falling feeling, it was radiating. His stomach was lurching, something it's gotten almost used to doing now. He hated this feeling. So much hate for this feeling, yet the inability to change it. It made him feel hopeless. Add to that the other feelings pulsing through his being. Sasuke bit his finger as he notice his eyes even begun to water.
"…This is nothing compared to what happened before… so why am I crying..?" Sasuke whispered lightly into the air, as to not awaken Naruto, and then looked down at the ground. After a while, he looked a Naruto's face. The cold stopped immediately, but he still felt the falling sensation, as if he was so far away from what he was looking at. Sasuke, puzzled, continued to stare at his face.
'His face is so… different… right now…' Sasuke thought 'it looks… like its hiding something sad almost…' Sasuke got a little closer to Naruto, a little shocked at his findings. He found he was more comfortable and at ease closer to Naruto, but Sasuke ignored it and thought "must just be some of the side effects of that seal…"
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"…Did you get him?" the hooded figure, who had been standing on the Konoha faces, spoke to a figure coming up behind him in an ANBU cloak.
"Yes sir, I managed to take his form as well. Also, the messenger to the two members of the Akatsuki was returned dead, along with a reply to the scroll." He handed the hooded man the scroll, which then put on a pair of glasses and started reading.
"Excellent job. Burn the messenger's body. Now the fun begins… Write a message to our lord that I'm about to get Sasuke with the help of an old friend of his…" The hooded ninja leaped off the Hokage faces, and ran to a nearby park. The one Naruto and Sasuke were in.
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"..mm Sasuke..?" Naruto groggily woke up from his nap to look up at Sasuke, his face very close to his. Naruto immediately blushed and scrambled up.
"Uh I mean I'm sorry Sasuke! Hey... If you want I'll talk to Tsunade ok?" Sasuke nodded a yes. "Well would you look that, its sunset already!? I'm … going to go……… hom..." Naruto was suddenly slumped on the floor sleeping.
"What the hell?" Sasuke immediately turned around, his sharingan a bright red. He quickly dispelled the genjutsu that had just been cast. "Come out of there!" Sasuke growled menacingly.
"Well well well… it seems you're up and at it already, Sasuke-kun…" a tall hooded figure climbed out of the bushes and started walking towards Sasuke, kunai in hand. The wind blew off his hood, revealing silvery hair with a sound headband, a boy with glasses and a sharp expression.
"Kabuto… what are you doing here?" just as Sasuke said that, he was shoved back and suddenly two ANBU were in between him and Kabuto.
" Halt, under the command of Konoha, you Kabuto, are placed under custody for espionage, betrayal, and working with enemies of Konoha, come quiet…" just as the first ANBU was about to finish talking, he quickly glanced up and promptly jumped out of the way. In the same spot, where the other ANBU was, there was a sudden blast that shook the ground and cracked it into large crater, flints or rocks still falling or skipping, amidst it a large man in a black cloak with a large sword.
"He he he he he… hello… Konoha…" the large blue man struck his sword through the crippled ANBU's head, noticing the remaining ANBU, Naruto and Sasuke. Just as Sasuke stared at Kisame, he immediately glanced back at where Kabuto was, only to find he wasn't there. In the whole mess, Kabuto had gotten behind him. He formed a quick hand sign, and shoved his palm roughly into Sasuke's back, making him feel drowsy and fall to the ground next to Naruto. The remaining ANBU made hand signs of his own, and summoned a dog.
"Pakkun, go call the others, quickly!" As soon as the masked ANBU spoke, Kabuto turned to him, shocked. "So Kakashi… I assume you saw this coming?"
Kisame lunged forward at shocking speed and just managed to punch the ANBU, breaking his mask and revealing an unmasked Kakashi. He unsheathed a sword and proceeded to fight. Sasuke was on the ground and his eyelids were slowly closing as the jutsu was taking over him.
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"… What is this place…?" Sasuke got up from a sort of invisible floor in a dark realm, and tried to stand, as he felt that he was going in every direction, making him very dizzy. His voice echoed for what seemed forever, and eventually subsided into the silence.
"Ugh… what a sickening feeling…" Just as Sasuke said that, he was immediately thinking what had happened. As soon as he thought about how he and Naruto were on the swing, the image illuminated every direction and corner of the realm. A sort of light then illuminated next to him, revealing a second Sasuke, nearly identical to him, curled up on the floor.
"What the hell…?" Sasuke, frustrated and a little worried, activated his sharingan. As soon as he did, he found himself looking at a reflection of himself.
"Wait… could this be…my mind…?" Sasuke deactivated his sharingan and looked at his reflections eyes. He immediately found himself being lunged into the dark center of his eye. After he was enveloped by its dark color, he hit a sort of unseen floor in a pitch black place like before.
"Ugh what a sickly feeling this place gives me…now let's see what I can use this for…" He remembered before his thoughts had turned the whole dark realm into that same memory. Sasuke closed his eyes and started thinking of something to test out what he could do in this place. He flinched lightly as an idea crawled into his head, and he thought of a memory.
As Sasuke opened his eyes, he was immediately engulfed by the bright reds and deep blacks of the bodies of all the Uchiha family, him standing facing his former smaller self as he was in terror as Itachi tortured him. Sasuke immediately yelled along with his younger self, and the images all around him promptly shred themselves.
Sasuke was on the floor panting heavily, trying to catch his breath "God damn you Itachi…!" Sasuke shook as he lay curled up on the unseen floor that seemed to float in the middle of a large pitch black sphere. He finally caught his breath and took a deep breath.
"Ok… let me see…if I can do this…" Sasuke closed his eyes and thought of a memory again.
Sasuke immediately hit firm ground with his feet. He opened his eyes to find himself in dark stone corridors. Many corridors and other clearances in the labyrinth were seen far away from Sasuke's position. Sasuke tried to move a foot, but found he could not walk.
"What the hell is this!?" as Sasuke struggled, it became harder to concentrate. Worried that he might lose this state, he calmed down. He found he still couldn't move his feet, and tried to think of a possible cause. As soon as he did, he heard a familiar voice. It was his voice as a child, whispering something.
"I once learned… to find something you truly want to find, you have to constantly work hard to get it. Even if it means you can only think of it…"
Sasuke shivered as he noticed it was his mouth that had said that, shock of this insane place getting to him. He stood there quietly, thinking about what that had meant…
A few minutes had passed before it finally hit Sasuke. He concentrated and thought about what he wanted to find. As soon as he did, his body started moving on its own, taking slow, long steps that sounded loud and echoed several times before subsiding. He watched his own body walk and walk through corridor after corridor. After what seemed like a long time, he stopped. Sasuke wanted to yell as he realized he was exactly where he started. His mouth opened though, and instead of yelling in frustration, the little Sasuke's voice bellowed.
"I once learned… if you want to succeed, you really must desire to succeed…"
Sasuke nodded, and tried again, this time trying really hard. His body took one step, and Sasuke immediately got a nauseous feeling after a sudden rush. That one step suddenly took him forward through the corridor, which had somehow turned into a room whose floor was made of water. Sasuke found he could move again, and immediately fell to the floor. The previous trial had taken a toll on his mind.
He recuperated himself and stood up. He was in a peculiar room that had a watery mirror like substance for a floor. He found that even though he could see his reflection, to the top left corner he could see a body identical to his floating as if it were in water.
"Looks like I need to get over there… but how? Still, all these defenses to stop me from removing a seal in my own mind, this is a very strong jutsu." Sasuke tried to break the mirror, but he felt his reflection hit him with a hand in the exact place he had tried to hit the mirror. Sasuke then tried to use the Sharingan, but found he couldn't activate it.
"How the hell do I get through this?" Sasuke then looked around the room. After searching a bit, he noticed a red arrow drawn on the wall that pointed upwards. Sasuke then looked up and saw a mirror. In less than a second Sasuke was floating in what seemed like water, looking up at a mirror that was reflection him and a body identical to his that seem to be spread out on mirror as if he was sleeping on it. It then hit Sasuke.
"That mirror switched my body…! Just what the hell is all this…?"
"I once learned…never forget what you're looking for…"
Sasuke's body had spoken in the child voice again. Sasuke closed his eyes and thought of what he really wanted to see.
When he opened his eyes, a door had fallen through the surface of the watery mirror above and floated to just where he was. It was an ordinary door, but with a knob that didn't have a keyhole and it was boarded up and chained. He tried to use the knob, but it wouldn't budge.
"What now..?"
"I once learned… that if there is a step in between you and what you want to find, and you can't seem to reach it, go beyond it…"
Sasuke nodded as he floated for a few seconds, then took a deep breath and lunged himself through the door. He went through it like if it wasn't there at all, and found himself in a white sphere where he seem to be floating in the middle of it and not too far off was a large padlock that had chains going off in many directions, blurring into gray as they go on endlessly. On the padlock, the word SEAL was engraved.
"Finally… why do minds have to be so complex?" Sasuke took a breath of air, and feeling victorious, walked slowly towards the padlock. Halfway to the lock, Sasuke felt a rush of instinct and jumped out of the way.
From his shadow a hand with a kunai had emerged, and then the rest of the metallic goo substance came out of his shadow. After moving and squirming in a large black-silver like glob, it took his form, and then it then mirrored his every move.
"I once learned … that one is only as good as his worst mistake…"
"And also…"
"Remember… I once learned that if you truly want to find something… you'll truly do anything to get it…"
Sasuke stared at his mirror clone, and attempted to throw a kunai at it. The clone copied his move to the very way they breathed, and they both dodged the kunai unharmed in exactly the same way, down to distance they each moved. Sasuke attempted to use the Sharingan, but found he couldn't activate it.
"This is almost like Shikamaru's shadow hold… a little sacrifice should take care of that…" Sasuke took a kunai and stabbed himself, as did the clone. They were both however, still standing and seemingly unbothered by that stab to the hand. "God damn it… what was it that I was supposed to remember?"
"Remember… I once learned that if you truly want to find something… you'll truly do anything to get it…"
"I see… I have to kill a mirror clone to get past him. If I kill him, I kill myself. And who knows how that can play out in this realm… so what should I do?"
"Remember… I once learned that if you truly want to find something… you'll truly do anything to get it…"
"Ok I get it but how do-"
"Remember… I once learned that if you truly want to find something… you'll truly do anything to get it…"
"Fine! I get it already!" frustrated, both Sasuke and the clone preformed the hand signs and made a lightning blade. "Here goes nothing…" as both strikes hit with crunching and splashing sounds as the blade cut through flesh bone and blood, both the clone and Sasuke fell to the ground.
"No… what now…?" Sasuke's body would not move for what seemed like an hour. "Did I kill myself too? Am I dead…?" Finally, Sasuke stood up to find he was alive and well. There was a pool of that liquid mirror goop in front of him and his shadow was reattached to his body. After observing the remains of that final mental defense, he slowly walked forward and touched the padlock.
The lock immediately opened and fell with a loud clang almost an explosion in the silent realm that echoed many times before disappearing, and then the chains suddenly burst into dark sparkles that revolved around Sasuke's body. They then exploded brightly, splashing color and life to the white realm around him.
"well it's about time I finally remove the seal… looks like I didn't need Tsunade after all…" just as he finished talking he clasped his head as he suddenly had a painful rush of memories, all playing in fast motion in the dimension around him. As soon as it was done, he found himself in the original black room. He slowly sat down quietly and took a deep breath, then tried to remember what happened. His thoughts conveniently played in the darkness around him, as well as his memories.
"Now I can see EXACTLY what happened, what Tsunade had hidden from me in my own head…" Sasuke stared at the thoughts around him with a sad solemn face as the memories he just unveiled played slowly.
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Kabuto, Kisame, and two sound ninja, each carrying one of the two ninja, were panting, facing a pile of defeated or tired ninja. In front of them were 10 ANBU, 12 Jounins, and 3 Chuunin, amongst them Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma, and others. They were about a few meters away from the Konoha gate.
Kisame turned to Kabuto, his partner for this assault. "Heh… nice one. Looks like we're done here, lets scram before more bugs find us. I won't kill you here, because you helped us get the nine-tails, but when it comes time for us to kill Orochimaru, I will not hesitate!" The blue shark brandished his sword in a stance of proud victory towards his "team-mate". He took Sasuke from one of the sound ninja, and turned around opposite to Kabuto.
"You will not take those two anywhere." Jaraiya stood there, and just as all four ninja noticed him, he made a hand sign and the two frogs that were near their feet opened their mouths and from them came a huge surge or what seem like frog stomach. Jaraiya then grinned and walked into the intestine, parting like water for Jaraiya.
Inside all four ninja and the sword were up against a wall, being held by the strong jutsu. Naruto and Sasuke were slumped one on top of the other in the opposite wall's floor.
"Now… let the interrogations begin…" Jaraiya smiled menacingly towards the other ninja, which were held up on the stomach walls in this order: Kisame's sword, Kabuto, the two sound ninja, and Kisame. "Let's start with you Kisame."
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After what seemed like an hour, and three of the four ninja killed during the interrogations of Jaraiya, only Kabuto was left. Just as Jaraiya walked back into the frog stomach prison, ready to question Kabuto, Kabuto screamed out.
"NO I CANT DIE HERE! OROCHIMARU WONT ELT YOU KILL ME. IF YOU KILL ME HE WILL KILL YOU! OROCHI"
Kabuto immediately shut his mouth as the wall to his right, opposite from Jaraiya, burst into black flames and a round hole was made. Slowly and in an eerie godlike manner, Itachi walked into the prison. Kabuto just stared in disbelief, Jaraiya took an attack pose. Itachi stopped and silently took in the area. He stared at Jaraiya, then the quivering Kabuto. He then saw the crippled wounded and dead bodies of the two sound ninja, and his dead partner Kisame. He then noticed the slumped bodies of no one less than his little brother Sasuke, and on top of him the nine-tails. He then proceeded to walking in.
"…my, what an intriguing situation I've walked myself into… wouldn't you agree, Jaraiya-san?" Jaraiya took a few steps back as Itachi slowly strolled in. "I could take so much advantage of the situation, finish so many goals… Sasuke is here… You are here… Kabuto is here… Naruto is here… and my original job is here as well…" he kept on walking until he was right next to Kisame's dead body, having passed Kabuto and the two children. "This is the best kind of luck; wouldn't you agree…Jaraiya-san? I know you fear me… I know you cannot fight me…"
Just as Jaraiya was about to protest, he found another Itachi behind him, threatening him with a kunai to his throat. "I also know I have not rested my power to full yet… so I cannot take advantage of the wonderful situation… so if you would just hold still, I'll take Kisame's ring… and be on my way… agreed…?"
"Just what do you need Kisame's ring for?" The kunai to his throat got a little closer. "That's a question you know I can't answer…" Just as he said that, Itachi, in a flash, used the concealed kunai in his sleeve and cut of the finger Kisame's ring was on. He then pried the ring from the dead finger and threw the finger back at Kisame's corpse. He then turned around, an angry Jaraiya to his back, and proceeded walking. He stopped next to Sasuke and Naruto, and looked down on them.
"GET AWAY FROM THEM ITACHI!!" Itachi only grinned and whispered.
"Revenge Sasuke. You need more power my sweet little brother…" Itachi then kept on walking and just as he was next to Kabuto, who had kept quiet this whole time, Kabuto screamed and begged.
"PLEASE ITACHI, TAKE ME WITH YOU!! DON'T LET ME DIE HERE! PLEASE!!" Itachi just kept looking forward but spoke. "Your Orochimaru's precious assistant, am I right?" And as if the silence answered Itachi, in a flash he struck a kunai right into the middle of Kabuto's forehead.
"Jaraiya. I heard Konoha is going to have a terrible storm in 5 days time… I do hope your foolish little village is prepared. Sayonara, Jaraiya-san…" Itachi burst into a swarm of crows, one with Kisame's ring in its mouth, and with the clone behind Jaraiya having disappeared, Itachi made his ominous exit. The hole in the wall repaired itself, closing the prison. Jaraiya just fell to his knees and palms. "Itachi is stronger, colder, and more ruthless than ever…" He glanced at Sasuke "Revenge is impossible Sasuke. For you alone anyways…"
If Jaraiya had said that any later, the slowly waking Sasuke might just have heard him.
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Authors notes
I think i have been one of the authors to take the absolute longest to update a story in the history of fanfiction. i wont even bother telling you the excuses, they go on and on and on. its still areat story i want to finish, and i do hope you all enjoyed that very important chapter please correct me for any errors, and review if you enjoyed it.