Chapter 10: The Battle Begins
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A/N: To those who don't know, the names and bijuu of all the jinchuuriki have been revealed, so "Sajin" (the five-tails jinchuuriki from Iwa) is now "Han." -sigh- seriously, I should just stop naming canon characters. It seems like as soon as I do, Kishimoto comes out with a name for them (okay, it's only happened with Sarutobi and now Han, but still)! At least he had good timing with letting us know what all the different bijuu look like, that would have been a painful rewrite if he'd waited another month or so. Still, couldn't he have at least used a real animal for the Gobi? What the heck am I supposed to call that thing? Dolphin-horse? Horse-dolphin? Dorse? Horphin? -sigh #2- I just know as soon as I get into the next chapter with having my version of Han's powers explained and in use, Kishimoto is going to start a long flashback in the manga explaining what all of them could do and it will be nothing like my version… oh well, somehow I'll live…
Thanks to whoever left the anonymous review letting me know about the new art book, the information was extremely helpful.
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Hinata stared at the window Naruto had jumped out of for a few seconds and then sighed, sagging against one of the apartment's walls. It was easier to think now that he was gone… but only just barely. The emotional strength it had taken to refuse him left her feeling winded and unable to hold back the questions that had been built up during the past few minutes, while he was talking with her and then when he was moving so tantalizingly close. Now that she couldn't keep them back, they rushed forward all at once, each demanding an answer that she was ill-equipped to provide.
What had he been doing? Why now? Would he really have done what he seemed to be intending to do before she stopped him? And, most importantly, why had she said no?!?
The last one, she suspected, was the pitiful result of the lovesick heart that had held onto unrequited feelings for far longer than was healthy. Still, it seemed to be the question that kept coming up most often.
The answer, of course, was that she didn't believe that Naruto wanted to kiss her, only to keep her away from Hiroshi. That was a terrible reason to get all her hopes up, to let herself fall in love with him all over again, and yet…
"You are a stupid, stupid girl," Hinata sighed to herself as she pushed away from the wall and straightened her shoulders.
She turned reluctantly towards the door. She needed to leave before Naruto came back. If she was still here, there was no telling what would happen. If he stepped close to her again, she doubted she'd have the strength to refuse him a second time, no matter how stupid she knew giving in to be.
Before she reached the door, however, the floor under her feet rumbled as an explosion went off somewhere in the village. In an instant, all thoughts of Naruto – or most, anyway – flew from her mind as she crossed the room and looked out the window, trying to find the location of the disturbance. She couldn't see much in the gloomy rain, but she could see the light of fire and the smoke rising from whatever was burning towards the northern part of the village.
For some reason, the relative location gave her pause as some thought tried to fight its way to the surface.
It took a few seconds, but finally it broke free and Hinata's eyes widened. If she traveled in a straight line towards the fire, she would be heading right for the Hyuuga clan's compound. Hinata started to climb out the window, but stopped as Naruto leapt from the roof of the building across the street and landed on the wall next to the window.
Despite the awkwardness of the situation they'd been in only a few minutes earlier, he didn't blush or give any hint that it was affecting him in the slightest. It was a strangely comforting sight for Hinata. Ever since he'd been rescued, Naruto had been distracted, angry, and confusing. It was a relief for her to see him suddenly looking so focused during a time when he needed to be just that.
"Come on, Hinata-chan, I need to get you back to your house."
Hinata climbed the rest of the way out of the window, pushing chakra into her feet so that she could stand on the wall with him. "Naruto-kun, I can get home by myself. I'm sure you have somewhere—"
"I'm already doing all the other stuff I need to be doing," he cut her off abruptly, his eyes darting to the side as another explosion rocked the village from a different direction than the first. He gave her a small smile and a wink and said, "I can be in lots of places at once."
She understood immediately what he was saying and, rather than continue to argue about whether or not she needed his help in getting home, jumped out and up so that she landed easily on the rooftop across from Naruto's apartment. She turned her eyes towards home and swallowed hard. The first explosion hadn't just come from the direction of the Hyuuga compound.
It had come from the compound itself.
No words were needed as Naruto landed next to her. The two of them sprinted towards the edge of the roof and leapt towards Hinata's home.
ooo
"Do you understand what is required of you?" Danzo asked calmly as he leaned forward and watched Naruto with a dark eye that didn't seem to miss anything.
"Yes," Naruto answered in the same calm voice. "I will meet the Nibi in front of the Hokage Tower and fight her for as long as I am able."
Jiraiya, Tsunade, and a number of other jounin and even several of the village council members stood behind him. He was the last to receive his orders; he suspected that most had actually received their orders and been dismissed before he even arrived. Naruto could feel Jiraiya's eyes on his back and was certain that if he turned around he would see Tsunade and him fidgeting.
He didn't turn around, however.
They certainly had to know that Danzo was looking for ways to manipulate them. In fact, Naruto was certain that at least part of Danzo's plan of having a young, supposedly inexperienced, and very out of shape chuunin take on the enemy's strongest fighter was meant to maneuver Jiraiya and possibly Tsunade into the position Danzo wanted them in. Certainly it had at least had some bearing on keeping the two of them in the village after Naruto was rescued. Konoha needed two of its strongest shinobi and Danzo was not above putting someone like Naruto in danger to get them to do what he wanted them to.
"You understand that she has killed many of our chuunin and jounin during this war?"
A soft grumble reached Naruto's ears. Jiraiya was not happy with this plan. Naruto needed to send him some sort of message to let him know that it would be fine, without turning around and being obvious about it.
"I'm Konoha's weapon," he replied with an almost emotionless voice. "The Fourth gave his life to make me; I will give mine to make sure that I destroy whatever I am pointed at. It doesn't matter what she has done before, she won't be allowed to do it again. If I can't defeat her, I will push her to the point where another can step in and finish the job."
Danzo offered him a small smile. "Good. Keep in mind, however, that another stepping in to finish the job won't happen unless you fail. No one will come to save you," his eyes briefly shifted over Naruto's shoulder, at Jiraiya and Tsunade, and then returned to Naruto's face, "This is your mission and no one else's. The rest have their roles to play; they can't afford to worry about fixing your messes until after they are done with their own assignments."
Naruto did his best not to frown. He understood that Danzo was basically telling Tsunade and Jiraiya (and anyone else who cared to help Naruto) that they had to do their own jobs quickly if they wanted to help him. Which probably meant that the two Sannin, at least, were being sent into an area that was expected to have some very heavy fighting.
Even if he was trying to get some of his more powerful ninja to take out the largest groups of enemies before worrying about their friend, for him to basically say that he would allow no one to help someone in Naruto's condition with a fight that he had to be expected to struggle with… it was pretty outrageous. Even if everyone in the room understood that ninja were tools, what game could Danzo possibly be playing at that he would announce that the Hokage saw them that way? What good could it do?
And then realization struck. This wasn't part of a game; this was how Danzo saw everyone. He wasn't the Third, he wasn't Naruto; he didn't see the shinobi obeying his orders as people first, he really only saw them as tools. He didn't care if someone died, so long as they accomplished their mission because, to him, the mission was the important part. If they wanted to survive, that was something they could worry about after the mission was finished.
In some ways, Naruto didn't completely disagree with him – there were definitely some missions where the mission's completion even at the cost of the ninja's life served the greater good. He just didn't like the fact that Danzo seemed to hold that view without feeling any remorse for the lives lost.
"I understand. I won't fail."
Danzo nodded and lifted his one visible eye so that he was addressing the whole group. "Dismissed."
In an instant, the room was empty.
Danzo waited for a moment and then turned towards the window at the back of the room and let the frown that had been just below the surface appear briefly on his face.
"He understands more than he lets on," he mused as he watched the rain coming down and the occasional burst of light as the battle raged along the edges of the village, slowly working its way inward. "However, so long as he is loyal to the village, there will be no reason to adjust my plans."
He turned towards the corner of the room and motioned with his hand. "Your job is the most crucial of all, don't disappoint me."
A masked ninja stepped into view and bowed his head. "There will be no problems."
"Good, go get into position. She will most likely be here shortly."
The ANBU nodded and vanished in a small plume of smoke. Danzo turned back to the window and then glanced up at the pictures of his predecessors hanging on the wall. "Your foolishness led us to this point," he told them, "but I will turn even your stupidity into gain for Konoha."
ooo
For the life of him, Gaara could not understand Han.
Well, that wasn't really true. He understood the bloodlust, the desire to destroy anything or anyone who got in his way just because it was fun and somewhat fulfilling.
What he couldn't understand was Han's way of fighting. He was impressively fast for such a large man and incredibly strong, but that seemed to be the extent of it. There had been no less than three times when Gaara had intentionally moved into a position that should have caused Han to use some sort of ninjutsu, but each time he simply charged straight ahead and continued to rely almost exclusively on taijutsu.
A part of Gaara wondered if perhaps Han simply couldn't use ninjutsu.
The sands carried Gaara higher into the air, far enough to stay out of range of his opponent so that he could destroy him at his leisure. Han tipped his red conical hat back a little so he could look up at Gaara. For a moment, he just stood there, staring almost thoughtfully up, and then he shook his head and cracked his neck.
"Trying to get away from me, huh? As if I'd let you!"
His knees bent and then he shot into the air, jumping far higher than Gaara had thought humanly possible. Even still, he wasn't going to get up high enough. While he was in the air, Han would be completely vulnerable. He couldn't change direction, he couldn't really attack; all he could do was wait until he came back down.
Gaara had no intention of letting him live long enough to touch the ground.
His right hand shot out and the sands followed, forming into the great clawed arm of Shukaku. The claws closed around Han and drove him into the remains of a nearby building.
Gaara had seen Han's strength and speed, and had no desire to let such an opponent escape now that he had him pinned down. His right hand still extended and clenched in a fist, he lifted his left and brought his fingers tightly together. Sand that had been swarming over his head like hungry locusts tightened to form a spike. Gaara held that pose for a second, and then his left hand stabbed forward. The sand spike instantly pierced the spot where Han was being held.
In that split second, Gaara felt the sand surrounding the other jinchuuriki explode as wave after wave of what looked like pink chakra erupted from the spot.
Despite being nearly a hundred meters away, Gaara had to lift his arms to protect himself from the flying debris being tossed around by the energy.
"Damn," Han grumbled as his large frame stepped out of the cloud of dust and sand he'd created, "who would have thought you'd push me this far already? Kind of pisses me off." With a wave of his hand, the cloud drifted away and settled. "I thought you might let me use a little bit of power before you died, but I didn't think I'd have to use that."
Gaara's dark-rimmed eyes widened at the sight of the giant. He was now surrounded by a definite pink aura that flickered in the wind like smoke as the three tails extending from it curled back and forth around his body. There were about four points extending from his head almost like horns.
"I frickin' hate this thing," Han continued with a sigh. "Goddamn Gobi will never let me forget that I had to borrow so much of its power just to kill a kid." He looked up at Gaara and shook his head. "Such a sissy way of fighting too…" The weird object on Han's back suddenly began to give off a large amount of what looked like smoke.
Gaara's surprise was forgotten instantly. He'd been trained since the day he could stand to be a ninja, he wouldn't just sit back and let his opponent attack, now when he was so uncertain about the outcome of the battle. He began forming seals as the sand beneath him lost its cohesiveness and he fell through it, dropping almost all the way to the ground before the sands once again caught him, slowing his descent just enough to keep the fall from hurting. He timed it so that he finished forming the seals at almost the exact moment that his feet hit solid ground.
A wave of sand erupted just in front of him, rising almost to the heights of the tallest remaining buildings, and then crashing down on Han. It had barely had a chance to settle before Gaara moved to slam his hands down onto the ground, intent on dragging Han as far underground as he could and then crushing him.
"It's already too late for that," Han's voice called out.
In spite of himself, Gaara looked up in shock. Han had not been swallowed by the wave of sand as he should have been, but instead was standing above the sands.
Not on the sands, but above them, about ten centimeters above them.
With an almost disgusted look on what little of his face Gaara could see, Han waved his hand and the smoke or steam that was swirling around him, flew at Gaara. Gaara placed his hand on the ground and then waved it towards the sky. A wall of sand leapt up between him and Han, blocking the cloud.
Or so it seemed.
"Like I said, too late," Han said in a voice that sounded much farther away all of a sudden.
To Gaara's horror, the cloud began to pass over, around, and even through the sand wall.
"Much as I wish you would, you can't stop this shitty cloud," Han told him. "I'll be sure to give you a good death when the time comes. I'd prefer to fight more honorably, but," he snorted contemptuously, "let's face it, honor's not worth shit in a fight. Besides, I have a goddamn contradiction living inside me; you can't expect me to live up to my own ideals."
Gaara took a stumbling step backwards, choking on something he couldn't even smell or taste, and then the world around him began to grow black as the wall of sand crumbled and fell.
ooo
Jiraiya didn't think the word 'hate' was strong enough, not by a long shot. He didn't hate Danzo. He didn't despise Danzo. He didn't even loath Danzo. He ultra-hated Danzo. He super-despised Danzo. He mega-loathed Danzo…
'I should be able to come up with something better than that,' he grumbled to himself as he headed towards the spot he'd been assigned. 'No wonder my books don't sell unless I sex them up, I can't even come up with a better verb than hate for this feeling. Maybe there just isn't a real word that actually describes it. Eh, I'll just have to make one up at some point. "Despouthate" has a nice ring to it.'
Word construction was, perhaps, not the best use of his mind at the moment, but he couldn't bring himself to focus on the plan because that would only lead him back to thoughts of what he ought to have told Danzo to do with that plan. He was fairly certain that he could handle Yugito on his own; certainly he and Tsunade would be more than a match for her.
But Danzo didn't want them there. He'd rather have Naruto, who still looked so skinny he was practically transparent, fight against a seasoned jounin who happened to also be a jinchuuriki.
To be fair, Naruto had been Hokage in a future that would never be, and was also a jinchuuriki, but he wasn't that man anymore. He was a boy who had just had the crap kicked out of him for two years and was nowhere close to right in the head.
Besides, Danzo didn't know anything about what Naruto actually was. All he knew was that Naruto was a jinchuuriki and extremely weak at the moment. There was no logical reason to have him fighting someone like Yugito.
No, that wasn't true; there was no reason that would be logical to a normal person. Without a doubt, Danzo had a very logical reason for putting Naruto in this position. Just like he had a very logical reason for sending people who actually stood a real chance against her, namely Jiraiya and Tsunade, to the far side of the village where the main thrust of the invading Cloud-nin forces would be, putting them in a position to help a lot with the battle, but unable to help Naruto in the slightest.
Jiraiya was tempted to turn around and go back. Screw the plan, screw the village, screw it all. If he went back and saved Naruto, he could accept the consequences of being a missing-nin. Even after all these years, there was almost no one in the whole village who could track him down and kill or capture him.
But Naruto had his own plan. That was the only thing that kept Jiraiya from going back. As crazy as Naruto was, he had a plan. It might be the plan of an idiot – in fact, if it was Naruto's plan it was guaranteed to be the plan of an idiot – but it was a plan that he expected to be followed. Naruto didn't object in the slightest to anything Danzo said, he didn't squirm under the gaze of the Hokage, or give even the slightest hint that he wasn't completely loyal to Danzo.
He'd told Naruto, back when they'd talked about Naruto's lack of real friendships amongst all the people who would have been his friends in a different reality, that he and Tsunade would back him up. In fact, the only reason he was really willing to participate in this war was because he wanted to make sure that Naruto survived the battle despite his weakened state. When Naruto didn't even glance at him before, during, or after the meeting with Danzo, he knew the blond was telling him to play his role, but he didn't like it.
Not only was Naruto not ready for this fight, he wasn't nearly right enough in the head to make a good plan. For all Jiraiya knew, this was just Naruto's way of killing himself without letting the others feel very guilty about it.
'No,' Jiraiya thought with a shake of his head, 'he wouldn't do that. He might get himself killed doing whatever the hell it is that he's planning, but it won't be on purpose. The dumbass thinks he has too many people's lives to run for him to let it all slip away now.'
It wasn't a terribly convincing thought, but he chose to believe it anyway. Naruto would not only not go into the fight planning on dying; he would win, because he was Minato's son.
The tall wooden wall in front of Jiraiya exploded as the battle began. Jiraiya pushed his fears for Naruto out of his head and brought his fingers together, preparing to summon one of the toads.
As he slammed his hand down on the ground, his brain offered one last amendment to his thoughts on Naruto.
Naruto wouldn't win because he was Minato's son; he would win because in his heart and head he was Konoha's Hokage.
"Common on, Gamahiro," Jiraiya said as he crossed his arms and looked down from his now-elevated position on the invading Cloud-nin army, "a Hokage is expecting us to carry this plan out perfectly so we can meet up with him after he finishes his fight, let's not keep him waiting."
ooo
Feet sloshed through the wet mud as the Cloud-nin forces moved through the streets. Most had orders to kill as few civilians as possible, especially while Konoha's ninja were still a threat, and most followed them. There were a few, however, who remembered the last war with Konoha and still recalled the death of their Councilman, Sinobi Gashier, at the hands of Hyuuga Hiashi. Receiving the body of the murderer hadn't softened their rage over an attack during what were supposed to be peace negotiations. It had been over a decade, but anger was still there, just waiting for the chance to bubble up again.
Because of this, and plenty of other injustices by Konoha, but real and imagined, many of the Cloud-nin were less discriminate in who they targeted. Before long, more than one area of the village soon found its streets muddy not only because of the rain falling from heaven, but also from the blood of bodies that did not find shelter quickly enough.
Yugito felt none of these things as she and Samui's team moved swiftly through the village. She had been very young during the previous war, too young to really participate and already ostracized for the monster within her. Back then, she might have felt that same anger and hatred and wanted revenge, but she'd grown too jaded over the years. She would do her duty, but she felt no hatred towards Konoha... no more hatred than she felt towards anywhere else, at least. They were enemies in this war, but, given enough time, they might be allies in the next. There was no reason to hate them for being born in a different village and being forced to follow the orders of a different leader.
A young man, or possibly woman – it was difficult to guess in such a short period of time as the rain splashed down on them – stepped in front of her, a kunai in hand. Without a word of instruction, Omoi and Karui had crossed paths in front of the ninja. By the time Yugito stepped over him, a great red X had appeared on his chest as he fell, wide eyed, into the street and his blood began to mix with the rain and mud.
There was a cry of anguish off to their left as a child ran out into the street and threw himself over the body. Younger sibling? Child? It was impossible to tell and Yugito was already too far down the street to make more than a guess. It didn't really matter. If the child was smart, he would realize that his loved one had been dead before the body even hit the ground and would find cover before he met a similar fate. If he wasn't smart... well, sooner or later some revenge-minded moron would find him and they could fight over whose village was responsible for more bloodshed.
All of the Cloud-nin had orders to alert her if they came across Konoha's jinchuuriki before they engaged him (so that even if he killed them, she would at least know roughly where he was), but unless summoned elsewhere, she was going to head straight for the Hokage Tower and begin her primary mission: destroying the village's leadership.
It was possible, likely even, that they would already have evacuated, but that was fine. The Tower was a source of security for the villagers, just as the great stone faces on the mountain behind them were; its destruction or capture would be a demoralizing blow to Konoha.
If it was Kumogakure that was being attacked, Yugito was certain that she would have been called to protect the Raikage and the village council (though the Raikage certainly didn't need her protection). Perhaps she wouldn't have to worry about finding Konoha's jinchuuriki; maybe he would find her when she reached her target.
They rounded a corner, sprang onto a rooftop – quickly dispatching the three ninja they found up there – and then leapt into the air and dropped down in front of the Hokage Tower. There were only a few lights on in the Tower as well as a few lamps in the area surrounding it, but the moment she landed, Yugito didn't care about it or any other building.
A young blond man wearing a blue shirt and orange pants stood in front of her, his arms folded across his chest. He ignored the rain beating down on him as he stared at her through the blond bangs hanging partially in front of his eyes. The light of a nearby lamp made it impossible to miss him and also allowed her to see the three lines on each of his cheeks that resembled whiskers.
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto," he told her softly, his eyes not quite meeting hers. "I'm the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki."
Yugito frowned, instantly suspicious. "Are you an idiot? Why would you announce something like that?"
"You're looking to fight me, right?" he asked. "If you know who I am, you won't hurt anyone else."
"You make it sound like you think you're going to beat me."
"Nothing personal," he replied. His words were those that should have been delivered with a cocky laugh or perhaps even a calm boredom that showed how little he thought of her, but instead they came out as if he was reading a script. He wasn't bored with her; he was simply not engaged in what was happening. His mind was elsewhere and his spirit wasn't such that it could sustain any sort of emotional response to what was happening around him. "To me, you seem like the sort who would be beaten by one or two members of an organization that I'd wipe from the face of the earth." Despite his words, he had a look of defeat on his face.
Yugito almost asked what he was talking about, almost asked what was wrong with him, but decided that neither mattered. Her orders were to take out Konoha's jinchuuriki and Konoha's leadership, starting with whomever she met first. If the boy was a jinchuuriki (and he matched the description of the reports) then her job was clear. Letting the conversation go on any longer would only give the Hokage and/or village council more time to run and hide.
"Stay here and watch for traps or reinforcements," she told Samui and her team. "If you see the Hokage or anyone else who looks like they might be running this village, kill them."
They nodded in understanding and leapt back towards the nearest building, taking up positions that would allow them to watch the fight in case she needed help and also to spot anyone trying to leave the Hokage Tower.
Yugito ignored them as she charged towards Naruto, her hand already holding a kunai.
ooo
Sasuke didn't turn back to get Sakura after the first explosion, though it was tempting to make sure that she was okay. He knew, of course, that she was fine since there were no attacks happening in their immediate area and she couldn't possibly have run to where there were some in the brief moment between when he left her at the restaurant and when he felt the first explosion. Still, he felt the small tug in the back of his mind that said he should go check on her just to be sure.
He couldn't allow himself to let those feelings rule him. Two years ago he'd told her that there wouldn't be anything between them and he'd meant it.
Well, it seemed like he'd meant it. The truth was more complicated than that. He and Sakura were friends, after all, and he hadn't been strong enough to push that bit of comfort away. Unfortunately, because they were friends, they spent time together. Bound tightly by the fact that they were on the same team and that they were both at least slightly obsessed (he leaned more towards "totally") with saving their friend, they spent a large portion of their free time training or eating together. Kakashi occasionally joined them, but for the most part they were alone.
Being alone with Sakura made it hard for him to keep thinking of them without using the words "we" and "us," as he'd warned her not to do shortly after the first, failed, mission to save Naruto.
He'd told her that there was only him and his missions. He'd said it to hurt her so she would stay away or at least not demand – even if she never voiced the demand – more of him than he could give her.
She hadn't really taken the hint and, as the months and years passed, he found that rather than demanding things of him, she was simply taking them little by little. Sometimes he didn't even recognize the changes in their relationship until they'd been happening for so long he couldn't really stop them without turning it into a fight. He would just be sitting quietly in his apartment and suddenly would realize that without his permission or her requesting it, they were scheduling training sessions, together, during most of their brief periods of free time or were planning on having lunch and dinner together whenever they were both in the village.
What she'd said a moment earlier in the restaurant, about it looking for all the world like they were dating, she was right. If anyone described their relationship to him, without using their names, he would have assumed that it was a committed couple being described.
How the hell had she done it?!?
The answer, apparently, was: Naruto.
Naruto had given her the idea. Naruto had pushed her in the only direction that would make her less annoying and more… what? Appealing? Interesting? Useful?
Naruto, who had lost his nerve and had delusions of being from the future, had spent a lot of their early time on Team Seven badgering him to train, trying to get him to bond with his teammates…
…who had offered to teach him jutsu that he shouldn't have known yet…
…who had decisively beaten him in a taijutsu sparring match when he'd never shown himself to be anywhere near capable of doing something like that…
…who had spent a long time training Hyuuga Hinata when she should have been better than him…
…who had mopped the floor with the competition during the Chuunin Exam…
…who had used no less than three different types of elemental jutsu in Sasuke's presence, something many jounin weren't even capable of…
'It's stupid,' Sasuke grumbled as he leapt onto a rooftop and continued moving towards the Hokage Tower, where he'd been told to report if and when a battle started in the village. 'Now I'm the one who's becoming delusional. Naruto being from the future is about as likely as…'
…about as likely as Itachi telling Orochimaru how to gain the Mangekyo Sharingan and Orochimaru passing it on to Naruto.
Sasuke sped up. The sooner he finished his mission and Konoha kicked the invaders out, the sooner he could corner Naruto and demand to hear the story again and again and again until it started making sense.
In his mind, it was really going to be that easy, but the reality of the situation was quite different. Sasuke barely made it a hundred meters before he started seeing enemy ninja moving through the village. Some were fighting Konoha's forces, while others hurried towards whatever objectives their commanders had given them.
Sasuke scowled. How annoying of them to get in his way when he had his own mission that he wanted to accomplish. Technically, now that the battle had begun, he had an actual assigned mission to get to as well, but in his mind the Hokage would be fine without him until after he'd found Naruto. Certainly Danzo had enough ANBU around him to keep him alive for a few extra minutes and that was all he expected it to take for him to find Naruto.
The sucking sound of a foot moving through the mud just behind him woke him from his thoughts. Sasuke's eyes were red before his head had even completely turned towards the person sneaking up behind him. The young woman's eyes widened, her pupils dilating as he forced an image into her mind.
Sasuke's sword slowly slid out of its sheath, flashed through the air in the blink of an eye, and then slowly slid back into its resting place as the woman's Cloud hitai-ate dropped into the mud while she fell backwards in a shower of blood.
He barely made it five more steps before another enemy came at him, this one quicker than the last. Quick, but still easily read by the Sharingan. Sasuke's kunai was in the spot where the man's head would end up almost a full second before the head moved into place so it could be impaled.
As he continued to make his way towards Naruto's apartment, it quickly became obvious that it was a wasted effort. Naruto wasn't deaf, he wouldn't miss the battle raging outside and Sasuke could see that he wouldn't make it to the apartment before it had to be assumed that – even with his most unflattering estimates of Naruto's cowardice – the blond had probably joined the battle.
He would just have to go to Danzo, the way he'd been instructed to, and demand answers form Naruto later.
A part of him wondered if Naruto would actually survive that long, given his current mental and physical state, but Sasuke dismissed those thoughts instantly. Naruto might be a dumbass who had become a coward during the last two years, but he wouldn't die. He was still Naruto after all, even if he had mentally broken down during his two years of imprisonment and torture. He might be weak and an idiot, but certainly he would be fine.
He had to be.
Sasuke ducked under a sword slash by a Cloud-nin, drawing his own sword and nearly cutting the man in half without even slowing down.
"You better not die, dumbass!" he growled as he made his way towards the Tower.
ooo
Kakashi groaned as his one eye slowly opened. His head felt like it had been slammed in a door… a heavy one… probably made of lead.
He moved his aching head ever so slightly, just to make sure that the movement itself wouldn't damage him further and then sat up. The sound of clinking metal accompanied the movement and alerted him to the fact that his hands were bound behind him. His eye instantly widened and the fog of pain that had surrounded his brain vanished as if it was never there.
Something was wrapped around his head. He couldn't see it, of course, and with his hands bound he also couldn't reach up and feel it, but it was definitely there. With nothing but the sensation of its presence to go on, he could only guess at what it might be, but it felt like a bandage of some sort that was pressing against the side of his head where the majority of the pain was originating from.
Moving on from that, he began to take stock of his surroundings. He was still in what ANBU called "The Dungeon," where many of the dangerous criminals were kept while they were going through interrogation or were waiting to be executed. However, he was no longer outside the cell, but inside one. His hands were chained behind him in a way that kept the backs of his hands up against each other so he couldn't form any seals or even manipulate a tool to pick a lock. Outside of his cell, he could see a man lying face down in a small pool of blood, stripped almost completely naked. Though it was difficult to tell from the distance, there didn't seem to have been much of a struggle before the man was killed.
Kakashi's eye shifted towards the man's shoulder. He sighed and shook his head. The ANBU tattoo was clearly visible.
He looked around briefly, just to confirm what he already knew.
Rin was gone.
It was hard to remember what had happened immediately before he lost consciousness, but it didn't seem likely that Rin had escaped, knocked him out, and then killed the ANBU. She was good, really good, but she couldn't have pulled that off. Not in her condition and not while she was being constantly watched. Her "interrogation" wasn't nearly so bad as what some went through – thanks in part to a favor being called in with Ibiki after it became obvious that she didn't know anything of use – but it was bad enough to keep her too weak to break down the cell door and get the drop on an ANBU who would have been facing her anyway.
Kakashi closed his eyes and tried to push through the fog that surrounded those key moments. Had he unintentionally passed in front of the ANBU and given Rin a chance to somehow escape during that brief instant? Had she done something that would force the ANBU to release her?
He frowned and opened his eyes, scooting as close as he could to the bars and looking down at the corpse. Kakashi didn't know his name, but he recognized the face. He was ANBU, but that didn't change the fact Kakashi could dimly recall him moving strangely just before the blank space in his memory occurred.
Whatever had happened, this man – or at least his body – was the key.
Unfortunately, Kakashi noted, the key didn't happen to have any actual keys on him, which would make escaping from this situation somewhat problematic.
In the distance, he heard a rumbling that definitely did not sound like thunder.
Kakashi rolled and slipped his legs through his bound arms so that his hands were now in front of him. He definitely would not be able to form any seals like that, but there were jutsu that didn't require seals.
Chakra began to swirl in his palm.
"This isn't going to feel nice," he muttered under his breath as he prepared for what was to come.
ooo
Sakura didn't even think about turning and running after Sasuke when she heard the first explosion. It wasn't until the fourth or fifth that such thoughts started going through her head, but by then it was far too late. Besides, he'd been in enough battles by now that she knew he'd be fine.
No, that wasn't true. She'd seen too many people come home in body bags – or not at all – to know that even someone as powerful as Sasuke could be killed. Though not nearly as strong as Sasuke, one of her teachers while she was in the Academy, Suzume, had been killed in a battle by a genin despite being considered a very skilled chuunin. A lucky throw of a kunai, an unfortunate slip at a bad time, it didn't take much to kill a human and Sasuke, Suzume, and everyone else in this battle were most definitely human.
No, she didn't know that Sasuke would be fine, but she trusted him to keep himself alive.
He had to live and she had to trust him to do so. She'd given him far too much of her heart for her to seriously consider what would happen if he died. It was simply unthinkable at this point.
Pushing Sasuke as far from her mind as possible, she hurried into the hospital and up the stairs, taking them two at a time as she headed towards her small office which would have her med kit. No matter what happened, people were going to be hurt and killed during this battle, and she had to be ready to keep as many of them out of the latter group as possible.
As she rounded the corner, she came to a screeching halt.
Hospitals, by necessity, dealt with blood on a very regular basis…
But it wasn't supposed to be in the hallway…
The very empty and quiet hallway.
Sakura's hand dropped to her kunai holster as she looked around. "Hello?"
She walked down the hall and glanced into one of the rooms, a young doctor was sitting in a chair next to a patient's bed. Both had had their throats slit.
Sakura cursed under her breath as her fingers drew a kunai and then curled around its handle. As she stepped out of the room, her eyes caught a hint of movement to her left. She spun on her heel, already bringing her weapon up, but stopped when she saw who it was.
"Fuki-chan!" she exclaimed hurrying forward to the young woman who was still mostly wrapped in bandages, most of which were soaked in blood, as was the once-white robe she wore. Fuki was tightly gripping her side, blood covering her hands as well, as she limped forward.
"Sa… kura," she whispered, and then dropped to her knees, too weak to move anymore.
Sakura was at her side instantly. "What happened here," she asked as her hands began to check the extent of the injuries on her childhood antagonist. Most seemed to be the injuries that she'd already been treated for, but there were a few new ones.
Sakura was just starting to check the red stains up by Fuki's neck when her eyes registered what the young woman was wearing. She wasn't in civilian clothes or even a patient's gown; she was wearing the robes of a medic-nin.
"Sa… kura," Fuki whispered again, as Sakura's eyes darted towards the left breast of the robe where she spotted a nametag that filled her with fear. "Run."
ooo
Naruto spun away from Yugito's initial strike, then threw himself backwards as her foot shot out and nearly caught him under the chin. He landed in the mud and slid across the ground for nearly a meter before he was able to push off and get back to his feet. Yugito was already right there. The kunai in her hand slashed across his chest, fiery pain trailing just behind it as blood splashed in the mud.
Naruto skipped back, his hand pressed against the wound, trying to judge just how badly he'd been hit. The cut hurt, but it wasn't deep. Still, the fact that she'd even managed to hit him so early in the fight was a little disconcerting.
Yugito's fingers flashed through a series of seals and she leaned back, preparing to send a great burst of fire in his direction.
Naruto was extremely thankful for the rain as his own fingers formed seals.
The fire jutsu came out first, but it had to cross the distance between Yugito and Naruto while the water only had to rise about a meter and a half off the ground to do its job. It wasn't powerful – Naruto had never been really great at water jutsu – but the jutsu was close enough to equal with her fire jutsu that the elemental advantage remained his. The wall of water was reduced to little more than steam, but no heat reached him.
What did reach him, however, was her hand as it shot through the cloud of steam and caught him by the collar of his shirt, dragging him forward as her kunai shot towards his chest. Naruto was off balanced, but he managed to get his hands up. Her kunai cut through the middle of his right forearm, and he cried out in pain as she started to twist it in an effort to break the bones in his arm. He grabbed hold of her with his free hand and used his grip to push himself into the air and get his feet up so he could kick her in the chest. She lost her grip on the kunai as she was flung away from him and he ended up back on the ground, once again adding some blood to the mixture.
Naruto slowly pushed himself up, mud dripping from his hair and face, and pulled the kunai out of his arm. With a flick of his wrist, he sent most of the blood still on it down towards the ground and then curled his fingers tightly around the handle.
He gingerly flexed the hand on the arm that had been stabbed and was relieved to find that he could still move it. It hurt like crazy, but the fact that it worked at all was something of a miracle.
'I'm not ready for someone like her,' he sighed to himself. 'She's too powerful and a week ago I was rotting in Orochimaru's dungeon. Even if he hates me and just wants to get Jiraiya and Tsunade to help in this war, this is a stupid plan.'
But Naruto knew that Danzo was not stupid, just sneaky. The moment anyone thought he was being stupid was the moment he had them right in the palm of his hand. So whatever his plan was, it had nothing to do with Naruto fighting and losing against Yugito.
So, what was the real plan?
Before Naruto could even begin to try to unravel that question, Yugito was attacking again. Her leg swept up near his head and then quickly came back around and almost took his feet out from under him. He ducked and then leapt into the air, slashing at her with the kunai to keep her from taking advantage of him being off the ground.
She blocked his attack with her own kunai and then stepped in closer, her free hand swinging at him with an open-hand strike. Naruto pushed harder against her kunai with his own, moving his body slightly farther away from her as he curled in his stomach to avoid the attack.
It seemed like he should have gotten enough space, but for some reason, fire still erupted along his abdomen as he felt blood rushing out of his body.
He landed hard and looked down at his stomach. This one was worse than the first. Five ugly red grooves were cut deep into his skin, four of them about the same length, but the fifth started about three centimeters after the others. They looked for all the world like scratches from someone's fingernails.
He looked at her hand and frowned. Her fingernails weren't abnormally long; in fact, they were probably no longer than his own, but the blood dripping off of them seemed to say otherwise.
This was definitely a fight that he needed to end quickly.
Again she charged, but this time he went on the offensive, throwing a punch at her face – which was dodged – and then spinning into a kick at her midsection.
She hopped away from him, sliding through the mud, and prepared to charge once more, but before she could, his hand made a sharp chopping motion.
Naruto hoped that he wouldn't kill her – so long as she didn't move, he was fairly certain that the damage wouldn't be fatal – but he couldn't afford to keep fighting her. Already his lungs were on fire and the wounds on his chest and stomach ached painfully. Under normal circumstances, they would have been only a little more than minor irritants, but he wasn't anywhere near ready to fight someone like her from a physical standpoint.
Yugito's eyes widened fractionally and then she twisted to the side. The blade of wind chakra cut through her wet blond ponytail that was tied tightly with a strip of cloth, but that was all that he'd managed to hit.
Naruto felt his heart sink a little. On a clear day, she might not have seen it coming in time – certainly she would have been hard-pressed to spot it before it was too late to dodge – but the downpour of rain would give away the location of his wind attacks from the moment he created them.
Yugito reached back, felt the shortened end of her hair, and frowned.
"I spent a long time growing my hair out," she informed him, "I don't appreciate the haircut."
Naruto tried to grin, but it was a losing effort, much like the fight so far. "If you'd have held still, I wouldn't have touched your hair."
She regarded him for a moment and then said, "This isn't a fight you can win."
Naruto rolled his eyes. "Please tell me you aren't going to ask me to surrender."
She shrugged. "Of course not. My orders aren't to capture you," she sent a kunai flying at his face, "I came to kill you."
Naruto twisted to the left and arched his back to avoid it, but even as the projectile passed by, Yugito was in front of him. Her foot shot out, kicking his feet out from under him so that his arching back now caused him to fall. Her right hand chopped down on his injured stomach, slamming him into the muddy ground.
Naruto gasped as the air was driven from his lungs, but didn't hesitate as he rolled away a second before her foot crashed down where his head had been. She didn't let her miss distract her, however, and kept coming after him, forcing him to continue to roll.
Even disoriented as he was by the fighting, rolling, and lack of air in his lungs, Naruto knew that there were stone steps not too far away from him. If he kept rolling until he hit them, he would be slowed and she would probably crush his skull under her foot. Rather than let that happen, he rolled once more, lifted his knees and kicked hard against the ground so that he slid forward.
It would have been great if he could have slid completely away before she managed to hit him, but Yugito wasn't nearly slow enough for something like that. Her foot came down on the back of his leg and probably would have either broken bone or torn some ligaments were it not for the soft ground. Sinking into the mud kept him from being seriously injured, but it also stopped his forward movement, leaving him open to further attacks.
Naruto twisted slightly so he could look over his shoulders and found Yugito's fingers racing through a series of seals. His own hands, still extended out as part of his slide, began to form seals as well. Yugito lifted her hands over her head as flames danced up her arms towards her palms while Naruto twisted almost completely around so he was looking up at her and let his arms spread wide, his hands turned down, digging into the mud.
Just as she brought her hands down and fired some sort of fire jutsu at him, Naruto jerked his arms in front of him, dragging two large sheets of earth with them that formed a sort of tent over his body. The fire jutsu slammed into it, the heat from the blast baking the mud, but not passing through it.
Naruto offered up a small prayer of thanks to the Neji from the future who had spent so many hours helping him work on earth jutsu and then pulled his trapped leg out of the mud.
He grabbed the top of his earth shield, doing his best to ignore the way the still-hot mud burned his skin, and pushed himself out from under it, quickly rolling to his feet.
Yugito did not look pleased. If anything, she seemed to be extremely frustrated with the fact that she couldn't seem to kill him despite clearly dominating the fight from the beginning. It would have been nice if her frustration would cause her to yell at him, or do some other time-wasting action that would allow him to catch his breath and figure out what the hell he should do to finish things, but such was not the case.
With what sounded like a cross between a screech and a growl, Yugito charged forward.
The two jinchuuriki seemed to move about the area around the Hokage Tower in a delicate and deadly dance. Hands and feet meeting, then parting, then meeting again as they attacked and defended. Naruto landed two punches during the dance. Yugito landed about twenty. As they stepped back while Naruto caught his breath and she reassessed her strategy, Naruto scowled. He was better than this! Even as out of shape as he was after two years in Orochimaru's dungeon, he was better than this.
Yugito was strong, but he had been Konoha's Hokage.
Temporary-Hokage, anyway…
The Temporary-Hokage who'd gotten his friends killed.
The Temporary-Hokage who presided over the death of the village.
The Temporary-Hokage who was messing up this timeline even more than he'd messed up the original one.
Naruto attacked, but his movements felt sluggish. In his mind, he kept seeing his defeat and Konoha's destruction hanging over him. He tried to push such distracting thoughts from him mind, but they'd had two years to take root and didn't depart easily.
"You're nothing."
"You haven't grown at all."
"You're weak."
"You can't win."
"You are going to fail."
"You're a loser."
"You can't save anyone."
"You always fail."
For two years those words had been pounded into his head. For twenty-four months he'd denied them. For over one hundred weeks he'd pretended that those words couldn't affect him. For more than seven hundred and thirty days he'd lied to himself. He thought that he hadn't broken. He thought that he'd won because Orochimaru hadn't gotten the information he wanted.
But the truth was, he had broken. He hadn't given up the big secret, but he'd allowed those words to take root in his mind. He'd accepted Orochimaru's argument. He'd accepted Orochimaru's version of the truth.
He was nothing. He hadn't grown at all. He was weak. He couldn't win. He was going to fail. He was a loser. He always failed.
Yugito's hand batted away a weak attempt at a block, leaving him open.
Time seemed to slow down as Naruto saw the victorious smile on her lips as her eyes lit up at the opportunity before her. He knew he had to close up his defenses. He had to block the next attack or the fight would be over. He knew he had to get on the offensive or she would just keep battering away at him until he couldn't defend himself anymore.
He also knew that none of those things was going to happen, because in his heart he was certain that Orochimaru was right about him.
Yugito's kunai stabbed into his chest. Naruto gasped in pain and shock as blood sprayed from his mouth. He stumbled back, but Yugito didn't let him get away from her. She stepped forward and drove her knee up into his stomach, doubling him over as she spun on her heel and drove her foot into his downturned face.
Naruto flipped in the air, landed face-down in the mud with a splash, and didn't move.
ooo
The Kyuubi's enormous mouth smiled almost gleefully as its hungry eyes stared down at Naruto. "Back so soon?"
Naruto closed his eyes and lowered his head.
"You need power, right?"
Again, Naruto didn't speak. There didn't seem to be anything to say.
The Kyuubi's gloating chuckle rumbled through the tunnel, shaking the walls and causing the water to tremble. "I'll give it to you, of course, gladly even. All you have to do is say the word."
"I need your power," Naruto whispered.
"No," the giant fox said with a shake of its great head. "I want you to beg for it. If you just ask and I give, you'll think things have remained the same, that you can use me when you need me and then ignore me the rest of the time. I want to hear you say it; I want you to tell me that you need me. I want you to beg me for the power to save your friends and village." He paused and his huge lips pulled back into an evil grin. "I want you to tell me who owns your heart."
Naruto's foot started to rise, ready to step towards the cage and beg for what he needed to win, but for some reason his toes refused to lift from the ground. He knew what taking this step meant; he'd been tempted by that road before, taken a few steps down it even. He knew what the Kyuubi would give him and what it would take from him. This time, he wouldn't be allowed to only take a few steps, he'd have to go all the way. He was too weak and too mentally tired to resist the way he had so many times in the past. Once he took this step, there would never be another path for him to travel. He knew that the power would flow into his veins and he'd never be able to get it to leave; more importantly, he'd probably never want it to leave.
The fox would own him this time.
Because he was weak… because he always lost… because he couldn't protect his precious people without the Kyuubi's help.
"Worthless," he whispered to himself. "So worthless." He lifted his hand, ready to take the step, ready to beg for the power…
He'd said that he would protect his friends. That he would get stronger and keep them safe while letting go of all of his stupid plans and machinations and actually let himself really be their friend. Was he really so pathetic that he couldn't even go more than just a few minutes without having his worthlessness proven to him? Had Orochimaru so totally beaten him that he couldn't even stand against someone like Yugito without being forced to fall back on the monster within?
More than that, could he really save his friends… could he even have friends when he was forced to give his heart to this dark power residing within him? Sasuke, Sakura, Hinata, Kakashi, Shikamaru, all of them, could he be their friend if he couldn't give them parts of his heart?
Did he really want their friendship or were they just pieces on a shogi board for him to manipulate as he pleased? When Jiraiya had said that they weren't really his friends, had it annoyed him because he disliked hearing the truth or because he disliked the truth itself?
If he took this step and begged for this power, his chances of ever having any of them as friends would be gone.
"I… I don't want it," he whispered, shocking even himself with the realization.
The Kyuubi was silent for a moment and then shook its great head. "You know what's going to happen if I don't help you, don't you? You'll die."
Naruto looked up, feeling a strange weight lifting from his chest. "I said I don't want it."
"It doesn't matter if you want it or not, you need it. You need me."
"No," Naruto replied, his voice slowly gaining strength. "No, you're wrong."
"Am I? Look at you. Pathetic. It's unsightly for my host to be so weak. I'll fix it for you. I'll fix all of your problems."
"No."
"You want to die?"
"I don't care if I die or not, I won't give you a foothold in my life a second time. My heart doesn't belong to you."
"Your opponent isn't just some ninja. She's a jinchuuriki as well. She'll destroy you without my help and then she'll wipe this pathetic village off the face of the map. That's the power of the bijuu."
Naruto's hands closed into fists as a fresh wave of determination, of confidence, swept through him. "No, she won't."
"Are you going to convince her to stop? Are you going to help her see the light the way you did that idiot Gaara?"
The blond smiled, he couldn't help it. For some reason, everything seemed like it was going to be… fine. "I don't know."
"You don't know because you don't have a plan," Kyuubi growled, "because you are weak and foolish. You care about everyone, but you won't do what's necessary to save them. I'm offering you the power you need and you're saying 'no' like an impudent child. Did you live a whole lifetime and learn nothing? Power is the only thing that can save you. My power. Give yourself to me and we'll win this war and protect everyone precious to you. None of them have to die, none of them have to suffer; we can fix this timeline… all you need to do is ask for my help."
"I don't want your help," Naruto replied, chuckling now. "I'm stronger without you."
The Kyuubi rolled its enormous eyes. "Yes, you've proven that time and again."
Naruto shook his head. "My heart doesn't belong to you."
A claw slammed into the cage, rattling the bars. "Your heart has belonged to me from the moment Sasuke left the village!" the fox roared. "After that, all you felt was one painful moment after another. You couldn't save Sasuke, you couldn't save Gaara, or Jiraiya, or Tsunade, or Sakura, or Fukasaku, or any of the others. You never had the power to help any of them because you never accepted that we were joined and that you needed me constantly. It's time to grow up. Power is at your fingertips, take it and let's kill your enemies."
The rush from the swell of confidence had mostly passed now, leaving behind the firm determination that had produced it in the first place. "No."
"You are a fool."
Naruto nodded. "I am a fool. I'm a fool who believes that his friends will be strong enough to help him. I'm a fool that knows he's going to win this fight without you. I'm a fool who's going to be Hokage of this village and save the world from whatever Orochimaru is planning. I might be a fool for not taking your power, but I'm also not stupid enough to take something I don't need when I already know how terrible the price is."
With a casual wave, he started to leave, ignoring the frustrated roar that erupted as soon as he turned his back. After only a few steps, however, he paused and looked over his shoulder. "The next time you see me, I will be coming for your power, but I won't be asking. You were wrong when you said my heart belongs to you. The truth is, your heart belongs to me! You'll never see me begging for your help again. The next time I'm here, will be when I'm ready to slap you in the face and tell you to sit down and shut up."
The tunnel shook with outraged laughter. "Even an idiot like you can't possibly think that you'll ever have that sort of power. Have you forgotten who I am?"
Naruto smiled. "No, but I've remembered who I am. I am the Sixth Hokage, and I don't go back on my word."
o
o
A/N: Well, it's been a while since I wrote a lot of fighting, hopefully I haven't lost my touch any. I tried to have at least a few "character scenes" in there as well, though lately those have been the scenes that come off as the most depressing.
Speaking of that, any of you who thought throughout the chapter that it was pretty depressing watching Naruto get his butt kicked, hopefully the last scene with the Kyuubi was a decent payoff for all the depressing stuff I've put you through. Honestly, you have to thank TimeShifter for its inclusion in the chapter. I wanted to start the next one with it and end this one with Naruto face down in the mud! Hmm, maybe I really do get some sort of weird kick out of torturing poor Naruto. Actually, I just wanted this chapter to be the death of the depressed unconfident Naruto so that the next one would start with his rebirth as… well, as the Naruto who is more like his old self. Oh well, I think it still works well like this and it definite is a much happier ending. Plus, if I'd kept the original ending, that would have been four cliffhangers with main characters in peril and that's kind of a bit much.
Speaking of being a bit much, sorry about the wait for this chapter. The next one should be better. Between going to DC (really great - if slightly infuriating due to most of the politics of the last... 100 years or so - trip), recovering from going to DC (I could barely walk my feet hurt so much), getting sick, and then the Fourth of July, time just seemed to slip past me. Add the fact that this chapter was pretty tough to write and I fear it was inevitable that the chapter would be late, I just didn't think that it would be this late!
I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Review and let me know what you thought.