Insanity's Slip
Chapter Nine
By Boejangles
"Zabuza Momochi, demon of the hidden mist." Kakashi responded in the same cold voice the now named Zabuza had used.
"Didn't think I'd get to fight the copy cat ninja." Zabuza said with a smirk, "Or you can always step aside and let me kill the old man."
"Not going to happen. Squad surround the bridge builder, protect him and stay out of this fight."
Sasuke clenched both of his fists, but decided to ask questions later and do as he was told. Naruto also took up a defensive stand around the bridge builder holding a kunai. Sakura was shaking at how much killer intent was in the air, but stood her ground.
Kakashi waited and watched for Zabuza's move as a thick fog gathered. He deflected the giant sword with his kunai standing his ground. The fight went on each blocking the other's attack until Zabuza got the upper hand with a well-placed kick to Kakashi's stomach, sending the gray haired nin to fall into the water. Which led to him being trapped in a water prison.
Kakashi cursed as he watched the ex mist Nin create a water clone that handed for the others still on shore. "Run! You can out run him since the clone has to stay close to the maker. Just run!"
Naruto bit the inside of his cheek in anger before looking over at Sasuke. He knew that look; his brother wasn't going to back down. The blonde was about to say that they should make a plan but was too late when the dark haired boy started running. "Wait!"
Sasuke ignored his younger brother and continued running throwing two kunai at the clone while he ran.
The water clone deflected the kunai and smirked as he blocked the attack and kicked the boy away. "Kid, you are going to get hurt trying to play ninja." He stomped on the boy's stomach causing Sasuke to cough and a droplet of blood fell onto his chin.
Naruto growled seeing his older brother being hurt. "Asshole! Leave him alone!" The blonde charged the man but right before he reached him he caught fire and disappeared. He reappeared in front of the real Zabuza before bursting into flames causes in small explosion.
Zabuza was forced to let go of the water prison and jump back not to be scorched. As he did this he lost his focus and the water clone became nothing more then a puddle.
Sasuke was looking over at where the explosion had just gone off. 'How…how did he…when…did he learn that?'
The real Naruto appeared again next to Sasuke helping him up "Are you okay?"
"How did you do that?" The raven asked confused but a slight accusation laced his voice.
"You little brat! I'll teach you to mess with me!" Zabuza hollered racing towards Naruto.
Kakashi jumped in front of him, "Your opponent is me!" He said before slashing down his kunai.
Naruto scratched the back of his head more focused on finding a way to appease his brother then the fight going on in front of him. "W…well, you see. I, um, well."
"Well?" Sasuke asked fixing him with a stare.
"That was amazing!" Sakura said running over to where the two boys were.
Naruto smiled, both at the compliment and being saved, "Thank Sakura."
Sasuke gave him a look that said he would have to explain later. And Naruto nodded before looking over to watch Kakashi and Zabuza fight.
Kakashi had pinned Zabuza to a tree and was about to lash the killing blow when a hunter Nin showed up and took the body after a quick thanks.
Naruto blinked in surprise at how the fight had ended.
Kakashi turned and looked at his team with proud eyes, "Very good job, I go, sleep." He muttered before falling forward onto his stomach.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura hollered as Naruto ran over to where his teacher had fallen.
"Aniki, help me." The blonde said lifting up one of Kakashi's arms and throwing it over his neck. Sasuke came over and did the same on the other side and together they carried the gray haired ninja to Tazuna's house.
Kakashi was on a mat that was laid on the floor. When he had finally woken up he had told them that he had used too much Chakra from the Sharingan. The next thing he said was that Zabuza was still alive.
Sasuke however was more concerned with something else. "Kakashi, why do you have the Sharingan of the Uchiha?" Naruto perked up to listen interested in hearing the story if there was one.
The gray haired Nin looked at his hands pondering whether or not to tell the two boys. "If you are concerned that I am related that I am an Uchiha, I am sorry to tell you that I am not. It does not concern you how I received this eye, all that matters is I have it."
Sasuke was not at all happy with this answer, "I think I deserve to know."
"I will tell you when and if I feel like you should know." Kakashi responded looking the dark haired teen directly in the eyes.
Sasuke grunted and turned leaving the room. He headed to the kitchen where diner was getting ready to be served.
Naruto bowed his head slightly, "I am sorry Kakashi-Sensei; he is a little touchy on such topics. I think diner is ready." He said offering a hand to help his teacher up.
Kakashi gave a nod, "I can understand." He took his students offered hand and stood up grabbing the crutches resting against the table.
The dinner was fairly quiet with chitchat every now and then. Naruto was focused on a little boy who was sitting across from him and heatedly glaring at his food. For some reason the boy interested the blonde, maybe it was because of the boy's eyes.
Naruto looked to his side when an elbow met his arm, it was Sasuke, "Yes?"
"What was that thing you did when there was that big explosion?" He asked the look in his eyes showed that he had been thinking about it for a while.
The blonde began thinking and he was thinking fast he needed a good reason he couldn't just come out and say that he lied and hid things from his older brother that would make him angry. "Well, I call it the fire clone."
Kakashi raised an eyebrow and looked at his student. The fire clone after all was a very complicated technique. He had no idea how the boy had learned it and where he learned it.
"How did you learn it?" The dark haired boy asked.
Naruto licked his lips, "Well I got the idea when I was working with the fire flicker and I kept scorching myself. So I worked on it until I was able to combine the fire flicker with a clone, thus causing the clone to explode." He hoped that his answer was bought.
Sasuke evaluated the blonde's face, "You are lying."
"No I am not."
"I can tell it in your face."
"I swear I'm not." 'I don't want a fight.'
Sasuke frowned, "Fine, but why didn't you show me before?"
"I wanted to surprise you."
"You didn't think I would like to now how to do it?"
"Boys, boys calm down and enjoy dinner." Kakashi said trying to calm both them down.
Naruto looked down at his food and kept eating. Sasuke grumbled under his breath but then too began to eat.
"Alright, since you all know that Zabuza will be coming back, I am going to train you in the time it will take for him to recover."
Sakura raised an eyebrow, "But Kakashi-sensei you are in crutches."
The gray haired Nin looked down at the wooden crutches supporting his body, "So I am. However I can show you how you will be training and then you can continue on your own." His right eye upturned signifying that he was smiling. "Now, you will be tree climbing."
"Tree climbing?" Sasuke asked as if it was the most non-sense thing in the world.
"Yes, of course you are not allowed to use your hands. It will teach you to control your Chakra. Here I will show you." With that he began climbing the tree using only his feet crutches and all. "See, now it's your turn." He said once he was back on the ground. He threw a kunai at each of their feet. "Mark how high you can go and then try and go above that line until you can go all the way up the tree."
Naruto picked up the kunai and looked at it before looking at the tree. He took in a breath and ran at the tree. He made it up three steps before falling back to the ground. Grunting slightly on impact he got back up.
Sasuke watched as his brother fell to the ground. He looked at the tree in front of him and began running making it up four steps before the wood cracked under his foot and he had to jump back to the ground.
"Ah well one of you seems to have gotten it." Kakashi spoke in an almost teasing manner.
Both boys looked and saw their pink haired teammate sitting on a higher branch of the tree. Naruto was shocked at first but then grinned giving her thumbs up. Sasuke on the other hand frowned before running back at the tree he was at. Sakura smiled back at Naruto, but then felt kind of bad with how Sasuke reacted.
"Well keep working on it. Sakura I want you to run up and down until you cant anymore." The gray haired man said before turning and leaving for the bridge.
Naruto was tired; he had been working all day and still couldn't make it half way up the tree. It was just so hard for him. Sasuke could make it to the halfway point but not much further.
"What's the point of even training, you are all going to die anyways!" The boy that had intrigued Naruto the other night had yelled.
"Inari!" Tsunami reprimanded. The lovely lady had been finishing the set up of dinner.
"What! It's true! You are all going to die, Gato will kill you!" The now identified Inari shouted.
Naruto furrowed his eyebrows. "What makes you so sure?"
"Because it doesn't matter how strong you are or how hard you try, Gato will just kill you. There's no point in even trying. The weak always lose!"
"Well at least when you are trying there is a chance of you succeeding, but when you give up there is none." Naruto spoke, in his mind talking about two things.
"What do you know! You are just some kid that's had everything go your way! You know nothing of this place! You don't know what it's like to suffer! You know nothing of pain and loss!" Inari snapped tears threatening to fall from his eyes.
Sasuke almost growled but just gripped the end of the table. Who the hell did this kid think he was?
Naruto stood up slamming his hands on the table, "You have no idea what you are talking about. I've had to deal with pain you probably couldn't even imagine. Next time think before you talk." With that he turned and walked out of the house.
Sasuke glared at Inari from where he was sitting, "Not everyone is like you. Not everyone gives up when things get hard. Not everyone's a baby!" The raven stood and walked up the stairs of the house.
Sakura looked from where Naruto walked off to where Sasuke walked off. "Sensei, I am going after him." She said before heading towards the door to look for her blonde haired teammate.
Kakashi sighed and looked at Inari, "I am sorry for that, they didn't mean to be harsh. It's just that those two have gone through a lot. They lost their entire family when they were younger. They have lived just the two of them since then. They shouldn't have yelled, but they did have a point." With that Kakashi left to go talk to Sasuke.
Sakura found Naruto sitting with his legs hanging off the dock just looking out at the water. "Hey, are you okay?"
The blonde looked up as if he hadn't noticed her coming, "I'm sorry about that, I just got upset."
The pink haired girl took a seat next to the younger boy. "Want to talk about it?"
Naruto looked back at the water as if pondering if he should say anything. "I don't know it's just that I miss them."
"Your parents?"
"Yeah, and my brother."
"What do you mean?" She asked confused. Sasuke was right inside the house why would the blonde miss him.
Blue eyes widened catching his mistake, "It's just that he hasn't been the same since the incident. Sometimes it's like it isn't even him."
Sakura set her hand on the younger boy's shoulder, "Sometimes pain can do that. When you lose something it is hard to deal with. I'm sure he is just really hurting inside. But do you know what heals that pain inside."
Naruto looked up wiping a tear away from his eye that he had failed to hold back. He hadn't talked to anyone like this in so long; he hadn't talked to anyone about this at all. "What?"
She gave him a bright smile, "Love."
"Love?"
"Yes, when someone is hurting deep down inside the only thing that can heal them is love." She gave his shoulder a squeeze.
Naruto looked down at his hands in his lap. He always loved his brother, maybe he wasn't doing it right, or maybe it wasn't good enough. He looked back up at Sakura his eyes holding almost a pleading, "Can you love him too? I love him with all my heart, but maybe he needs more. Will you do it?" He looked hopeful.
Sakura blushed a bright red knowing he wasn't talking about that. "Yes, I will." She answered but the voice in the back of her head reminded her that he would have to let her love him first.
The first time since they started talking a smile graced the younger boy's face. "Thank you!" He said pulling his teammate into a hug.
"What are big sisters for?" She asked hugging him back.
Naruto froze at the comment, "Big sister?"
"Well if you want me to be." She said hoping she didn't say something wrong.
The blonde just smiled again before squeezing her tighter, "Of course neesan!" Naruto felt better now that she had come out and talked to him, he didn't feel alone. He almost felt like telling her the truth, about well everything. "Neesan?"
"Hmm?" Sakura looked down at the boy still in her arms.
"About helping Sasuke." He started.
"I'm perfectly fine." Sasuke spoke from where he was leaning against the building startling the both. "I don't need any help."
"I'm sorry, I was just worried. After everything that was said an all." Naruto said talking about what happened at dinner. He stood up and walked towards the dark haired boy.
Sakura watched from where she was sitting, "Sasuke, I don't think he meant any harm."
Sasuke ignored the girl, "Well you don't need to worry about me, and I'm fine. Let's just head to bed."
"Yes Aniki." The blonde responded hurrying to his brother's side to walk into the house. He turned and looked over his shoulder and Sakura, "Thanks, for the talk and all."
"No problem." The pink haired girl said back as she started walking in with the two boys.
Sakura was laying on the ground her head against the tree she had just been running up and down. Her chest was pounding and her heart was beating rapidly. To put it simply she was very exhausted.
"Very good Sakura. I think that is enough for today, why don't you go guard Tazuna. I'll meet you at the bridge shortly." Kakashi said from over his book.
"Yes Sensei." The pink haired girl responded before getting up and making her way to the bridge.
"Naruto, Sasuke, you have both improved a lot over the past two days. Just keep working on it. I am going to the bridge. Go back to the house when you are done." The gray haired Nin gave a nod before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
"Bye Sensei." The blonde called after his teacher disappeared. He turned his attention back to the tree. He was proud of his progress but it still wasn't good enough, he wanted to reach the top.
Sasuke ran at his tree again barely acknowledging that almost everyone was gone. He made it four-fifths up the tree before flipping off of it and landing back on the ground.
Naruto was close to getting where his older brother was on the tree. He took in a breath before running at the tree again.
They went at it for hours; the sun was now lower in the sky. The blonde had a huge grin on his face as he looked over at his brother.
"We did it!" Naruto proclaimed still clutching to the top of the tree.
Sasuke had a smirk on his face, but that quickly vanished as both of his hands went to his head holding onto it tightly; however when he did this not only did he let go but he also lost his concentration which caused him to fall backwards.
"Aniki!" The blonde screamed jumping down from branch to branch as fast as he could. He crouched on the ground and grabbed a hold of his brother before he made impact with the ground. He gave a slight grunt as he slid with the dark haired boy's added weight.
"Are you okay?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke still had booth hands on his head and his eyes closed tight in pain. Then his hands fell limb to his side and his eyes relaxed.
"Hey?" The blonde gave the boy in his arms a shake, "Hey, wake up." Panic slowly started to build in his chest, as his brother wasn't moving.
Suddenly black eyes snapped open.
Naruto gave a slight jump, "Geez you scared me."
Sasuke scowled looking around, "Let. Me. Go."
The blonde scrunched up his eyebrows, but let go of his brother. The older boy stood up and looked down at the smaller boy.
"What the hell are you doing just sitting there?"
"Umm, nothing." Naruto answered slightly confused, "Am I supposed to be doing something else?"
"Watch how the fuck you talk to me!" Sasuke snapped before slapping the younger boy across the face.
The blonde pulled his hand to his cheek and stared at the ground. 'Damn it! Not now.' "I…I'm sorry."
"Damn right you are sorry! Now get over here." The dark haired boy growled.
Naruto took in a breath to calm himself and slowly stood up facing his older brother.
Sasuke grabbed the front of the blonde's shirt before shoving him into the tree. "You are useless! I should have killed you when I killed the rest of them."
Blue eyes widened in surprise, "You remember…" He was silenced by a slap to his cheek.
"I didn't give you permission to talk!" He lifted the smaller boy off the tree and slammed him back against it. "Let's see if I was right in letting you live." He let go of the younger boy. "Run!"
Naruto looked at his brother with fear and shock still in his eyes. 'Run!' He turned and pumped his legs as fast as they would go twisting through the trees making a zigzagged path that would be harder to follow.
Sasuke stood in the same spot looking up and the sky before closing his eyes and popping his neck to the side. He opened his eyes and had a twisted smile on his lips. "Here I come." Were the only words that left his lips before he took chase.
The blonde was running as fast as he could. 'Please let me do this.' He prayed silently as he kept running the speed he was straight at a tree and then ran right up it. He stopped once he felt he was high enough up and sat on the branch leaning against the trunk of the tree. 'Be quiet, just stay quiet.'
The older boy was following the smaller ones trail and listening for noises. He stopped in a small clearing surrounded by trees. "I know you are here!" He called out, "Well Mr. Perfect, I thought you would be able to do better then this. Your pathetic I know you are there. So just come out already!"
Naruto clutched his knees to his chest. 'He is just trying to get me to come out; he doesn't know where I am. It's just a mind game.' He was shaking slightly in fear. He could feel the hate in his brother's eyes it was different then before. The only time he had ever seen his brother like this was the night his parents died. Part of him just knew his brother wouldn't hesitate in killing him.
"Ha!" Sasuke screamed right next to the blonde's head causing the smaller boy to jump before the dark haired boy pulled his arm back and punched the blonde out of the tree.
Naruto head was spinning from the hit and he barely had time to register he was falling. He twisted so that he landed on his feet. However the force at which he was falling caused a crack to be heard. The blonde cried out as pain surged up his left leg from where his anklebone had snapped.
Sasuke laughed as he watched the younger boy fall onto the ground clutching his left ankle. "Awww, did the little baby get hurt."
The blonde started scooting back away from his older brother. He went to get up and hollered in pain as he put pressure on his left leg. However his survival instinct over powered the pain and he started limping away using the nearby trees as support. "Help! Somebody help me!"
The dark haired boy gave another laugh as he walked slowly towards the limping boy. "No one can hear you. We are out in the middle of nowhere." He lifted his arms towards the trees to prove his point. He sped up slightly and grabbed onto the locks of blonde hair before jerking back.
"Ahh!" Naruto gave a scream as he was yanked back. He stumbled which made him put more weight then he intended on his left leg, which made him scream out again.
"You are useless. Completely utterly useless." Sasuke said before throwing the smaller boy to the ground. "I don't see why you are so special."
Naruto let the tears fall down his cheeks. If he was going to die here there was something he wanted to know, no, needed to know. "Why…why did you kill everyone? Why did you kill mom and dad!"
His question was answered with a swift kick to the stomach. "Shut up! You know nothing!" Sasuke pulled his foot back and kicked his younger brother again. "They deserved it!"
The blonde grunted in pain, "How can you say that? They never did anything wrong."
Sasuke kneeled down on the ground grabbing the smaller boy's collar, "Never did anything wrong! Are you kidding me? Of course you would say that, you were always so perfect. You disgust me!" He pulled his arm back before smashing his fist into the blonde's face.
Naruto struggled to hold onto consciousness. His vision was blurry and everything was spinning. "W…why do you hate me?" His voice was a little shaky.
The dark haired boy just growled before bringing his fist down again effectively knocking out the younger boy. "Never even fought back, useless." He stood up and started to walk away. "And to think mom loved you more, pathetic."
Sasuke made it halfway to Tazuna's house before he fell onto the ground clutching his head. Then his body went completely limp. It was five minutes before he groggily opened his eyes. 'What the hell?' He looked around confused as he stood up.
"Where'd otouto run off to?" He looked behind him towards where they were training, "Probably still going at it." He shook his head before continuing to the house.
"There you are I was worried!" Sakura reprimanded as soon as Sasuke made it through the door.
Kakashi looked up and raised an eyebrow as the dark haired boy closed the door and no one was behind him. "Sasuke, where is Naruto?"
"He is still training. He will be coming pretty soon."
"Alright. Well you two head on to bed after you get something to eat." The gray haired Nin said as he made his way to the living room.
Kakashi sat up with a start and looked around. He couldn't believe he fell asleep, he didn't even remember closing his eyes.
Getting up he made his way upstairs and opened the boy's door. He clenched his fist when he only saw Sasuke. He had already walked through the kitchen and knew the boy wasn't there.
Kakashi grabbed Sasuke's sleeping form and lifted him up, "Where is Naruto?"
The dark haired boy opened his eyes looking towards where his brother should be sleeping. "You mean he didn't come back last night?"
"Don't play stupid with me!" Kakashi gave the boy a shake, "What did you do to Naruto?" He was angry with himself for not questioning the boy last night. Now something could have happened to his student and he had been out the entire night.
"I didn't do anything Kakashi. Put me down." Sasuke growled angry at being accused of something he didn't do. "Maybe he just fell asleep after training too hard. Why don't we just go look for him?"
The gray haired Nin lifted the younger boy up higher, "You better hope to God when we find him nothing has happened to him." He set the boy back on the ground.
"Is that a threat Kakashi?"
"No, it's just a little advice." He said before leaving the room. "Come on. I'll wake Sakura and then we are going to find Naruto."
A/N: Okay there you go. Hope you like. I couldnt figure out where to stop it, but decided to give you an update then making you wait for me to finish with Wave completely. So tell me what you think.