Thanks for your reviews!! Hope you enjoyed the story so far!
Well since hearing the AMAZING new plotline in the latest shippuden manga, I thought it necessary to include some elements of that in the upcoming chapters, not all of it of course.
(If you do not know about the latest in the manga then please be aware that there is SPOILERS in these chapters and also note that I do not own Naruto and wouldn't want to as Masashi Kishimoto and his staff are BORN to write Naruto for as long as it exists...so jealous!! lol!)
NOTE: If you do not know what has been happening in the Manga and are not aware which are the spoilers and which are simply ideas I came up with for this chapter then ask when you review. Enjoy!
--
14: Whisper to me softly
Sakura looked over to Sai with a sympathetic expression. He was still working on his emotions. So finding out that his "brother" was in fact alive must surely open many emotional doors.
"Suigetsu..." Sai began quietly. His black eyes seemed to be the only thing showing emotion. His face was blank, his lips a thin line.
Suigetsu smirked as he crossed his arms. "A lot of things have changed, right?"
Sai gave a nod of his head. "You...you look different."
"Yeah? Well you haven't changed," Suigetsu answered with a wink. "Still same old shy Sai."
Sai blushed.
Naruto just stood there gawping at the two of them. "Well I've seen some ironic things but this one takes the cake! Sai on my team, Sasuke on yours! What are the odds? Well that's just really-"
Sakura glomped him then. "Baka! We don't have time for this! Sasuke is about to fight Madara and you're expressing your past experiences with irony?"
"Right...well since team Hebi have joined us, we have a better chance of finding Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed, placing his hands on his hips.
"About time we got going!" Choji said impatiently.
"Karin..." Suigetsu prompted her.
Karin huffed before using her tracking jutsu. "I-I got him! They're surrounded by powerful chakra, they must be in the Akatsuki hideout!"
"In that case, let's head out," Kakashi announced.
--
Sasuke and Madara walked into a dark cave, the ceiling jagged and hanging over them menacingly. Coils of weeds were growing in the ground, seeking the sunlight that never washed its way through this place.
They were both on alert. Sasuke, his senses heightened, was never more aware of his surroundings than right now. The sound of a pebble falling seemed as loud as an avalanche, echoing and ringing against the soundwaves. The smell of mud and soil, almost making him feel dizzy and light headed. The taste of...revenge. And of course, that feeling of anticipating delight at the thought of gaining that revenge. But he had those fears also. Fear of losing, fear of failing. Fear of Madara claiming the last Uchiha name. And was that even what he wanted? What they both wanted?
"You hate us...don't you?" Sasuke asked the figure before him with dark eyes and a vacant expression. The sharp wind blew his black tresses of hair across his face.
Madara merely looked up at the young Uchiha with a slight confused look.
"The Uchihas...you have something against us?" Sasuke asked, his voice quieter than before. "And is that why you and my brother killed the clan?"
Madara paused. "You're still asking that question...aren't you?"
Sasuke gave one slow nod. "Why did you let me live?"
Madara chuckled. "I didn't Sasuke...your brother did. His emotions plague his heart, as yours does, must be genetic between you two. The bond between you two is not broken and will live on in death."
Sasuke gritted his teeth. "The bond of hatred is the only thing that lives on and don't even think about comparing me with Itachi!"
"But you are so like your brother...that glare, those powerful eyes. And now, thanks to your brother...your eyes are equally powerful as mine, which makes you such a good candidate..." Madara placed a hand to the back of his head.
Sasuke took a step backwards, his expression hardening. "What do you mean by that?"
"What? By Itachi making you even more powerful and making you an even better candidate? He didn't do it purposely of course...he thought that by giving you all he had it would keep you from me, but unfortunately...he did me a grand favour..." Madara took a step forward and slowly began pulling off his mask.
Sasuke widened his eyes as his left eye suddenly began to burn. He placed a hand over it. "Guh...what...what do you mean..." Sasuke fell to his knees.
"If my assumptions are correct...when I do this..." Madara pulled off his mask halfway to reveal a wrinkled eye with a powerful sharingan blazing around it. "You..."
Sasuke's left eye began to seep with blood as his eye began to change.
"Do that..." And then Madara quickly placed his mask over his face.
Sasuke's eyes turned back to their normal sharingan state. He sat there breathing heavily. "What just-"
"As I thought...Itachi was one skilled Uchiha...and more so...in death. He lives on in you now, shame...this is going to be much more difficult..." Madara shook his head hopelessly.
"Stop playing around with me!" Sasuke screamed angrily, standing up. "What just happened to me and what do you really want?"
Madara shot him a glance. "I really want...hmm...I don't want to fight you at all..."
--
"We're almost there now!" Karin exclaimed suddenly.
"Whoa...even I can feel it!" Naruto said.
"That...chakra!" Ino added.
"It's him," Sakura added with a glare. "Kakashi...how much do you know about Madara?"
"Skilled. He fought the first hokage and they were basically on equal terms. But many thought he died. I had no idea he was still...well, living...his sharingan exceeded any other Uchiha."
Sakura gulped. "So Sasuke is dealing with..."
"That's right, the most powerful Uchiha ever known to the shinobi world," Kakashi finished for her.
"We're here!" Karin announced suddenly as they reached an opening.
The four teams landed on the ground and gazed at one of the many Akatsuki hideouts. This one was hidden amongst the marshes and swamps, a large cliffside, with no entrance to be seen.
"Their main one is in the rain village, but there are definitely powerful chakra signatures residing within this area," Karin explained.
Sakura had seen this type of cave before, it resembled the one where Deidara and Sasori were hiding Gaara. It was only a matter of time before Sakura would be in a similar fight with whoever they discovered lurking within the cave. It was then she began to deeply worry about Sasuke. He would have kissed her, right? If it wasn't for the change in atmosphere.
"I don't see an entrance," Suigetsu said with a huff, placing a hand on his hip. "If you ask me...it looks like a great big cliff."
Sakura rolled her eyes. "Then we'll just make an entrance..." Sakura infused chakra within her right fist and took a few hops backwards.
"I take it you don't want to go for stealthy?" Kakashi said in amusement as he stood out of her way.
Sakura smirked at this. "Last time we tried stealthy, we ended up getting caught, right Naruto?"
Naruto blinked a few times before remembering how they had tried to be stealthy in Orochimaru's lair, but had been caught by the snake himself. "Oh yeah! Yeah! We may as well let you punch your way through!"
Sakura gave a sharp nod, before charging her way towards the cliff. With all the power she had she collided against the cliff, the rocks cracking like bone. Splitting into shards, it exploded around her. Giving a thumbs up at the teams, they nodded before following her inside. Running straight into a neverending darkness as light seemed to get smaller.
They followed the chakra signature until a large gaping hole approached them, a small light glowing ominously, the foreshadowing of what they were about to witness.
Kakashi widened his eyes as he skidded to a halt. "I-I finally know..."
Sakura stopped just behind him, her eyes widening at the sight of Sasuke and Madara. To her relief, they had not begun fighting. Sasuke was not happy with their presence, he clearly wanted this fight to just be among the two Uchihas.
"What is it Kakashi?" Sakura asked, breathing heavily.
"B...but how? How did you survive?" Kakashi asked the man before him.
The four teams behind him merely raised a brow in confusion at Kakashi's wide eyes. It was rare for him to express this amount of emotion, but he seemed to be nervous now, and his fingers were on the verge of trembling.
"Kakashi, this is Madara!" Sakura told him, placing a hand on his shoulder.
Sasuke shot a glance at Madara, who was merely standing there, watching as the white haired man spoke.
"No...he's...Obito! An Uchiha-my teammate, who I witnessed dying!" Kakashi exclaimed.
Madara chuckled before clapping. He seemed to enjoy taunting them, as if this was all a little game, of which he could stop playing whenever he wanted. "I'm surprised you all haven't quite worked it out..."
"Worked out what?" Sasuke demanded, gritting his teeth. "What is all this?"
Madara turned to face his fellow Uchiha. "You have a sharp mind, but not sharp enough. It's true, Obito, or more rightly, Tobi, is indeed half of me."
"How is that possible?" Sakura shouted.
"Still not figured it out?" Madara pushed on. "Hn...how else have I been able to live this long? You're a medical ninja miss Haruno, you should understand the jutsus that surround the prolonging of life."
Sakura clicked her fingers in realisation. "Of course! It's impossible for you to have lived this long without using some kind of forbidden technique, and the "Seeping jutsu" must be the one you're using, am I not correct?"
Madara gave a slow nod. It was not as if them finding out would become a weakness to him-he overpowered them in every way. "You are clever."
"What's that?" Naruto asked.
"Given the name, you can probably guess roughly what it's all about. Picture a soul seeping into another person's body, it sort of works that way, but there's more to it. And with every forbidden jutsu, there comes a flaw as well. This one, for instance, is the fact that it cannot last unless you perform it numerous times within your immortal life, and it takes a lot out of you. The other flaw being, they have to be of your blood, or at least a member from the same clan. Madara has been able to live this long by absorbing himself in Uchiha's bodies, be they living or dead. He chooses a worthy host and they almost become two people, sharing personality and life. However, that body they absorbed themselves into will begin to die and decay; that is when they choose another host," Sakura explained.
"But that doesn't make any sense!" Sasuke protested. "If you needed to absorb yourself into Uchiha's bodies, why would you kill the whole clan? And why didn't you ever consider Itachi?"
Madara took a step towards Sasuke, causing the other four teams to immediately become alert, in case he struck.
"After my fight with the first hokage I realised what power was all about. Growing weak I had hid in the shadows for a long time, knowing I could not show myself in Konoha until I was ready. But then I got lucky. You see, the fourth hokage's team were happening to do a mission and one of the team members' was an Uchiha. Naturally, I took my chance to use the Seeper's jutsu for the first time. It was a shame to find that he only had one eye of the sharingan, but with mine combined the powers tripled so it wasn't too much of a nuiscance I suppose. After this, I did countless research on this jutsu and I happened to find a way to overcome its flaw..."
He paused slightly, knowing all attention was on him. "I kept many secrets from Itachi and it was what kept me alive, you could say. If I had told him then he would have done what he could to protect his dear brother from this little fate."
"Protect him?" Sakura questioned, eyeing Sasuke who merely lowered his head.
"Yes. The thing is, I wanted Itachi and Sasuke to fight to see who would end up being the strongest. The winner's prize...is to become my host."
Sasuke widened his eyes.
"It all makes sense!" Kakashi said suddenly, drawing his kunai. "Why you seemed to have a split personality! Tobi, or Obito, was your other half, acting like himself but his dialect and actions would all be controlled by you, but you cannot control the soul of the host fully, especially their personality."
"Correct," Madara sneered. "But Sasuke is so similar to me, I don't think we'd have much of a problem...heheh..."
"You stay away from me! You're going to be dead before your fingers even make a single hand sign!" Sasuke threatened.
"Oh, you really think it requires a hand sign? With my skill Sasuke..." Madara activated his sharingan. "It only takes a look..."
Sasuke suddenly dropped his katana, his fingers trembling. His eyes were wide as his body became as still as a statue. Then, he felt incredible pain inside of his body, as if a beast was tearing him to pieces from the inside to the out. He screamed out in pain, falling to his knees.
"Sasuke!" Sakura cried out, about to run to him when Kakashi stopped her.
"Not yet..." He assured her.
"It's going to be difficult granted...you are the last Uchiha, therefore the one who will give me immortality without me ever needing to perform this jutsu again. This is why I killed the clan Sasuke...unfortunately that little curse mark Orochimaru placed on you has made itself a host within your body so if you're feeling immense pain right now...it will probably be nothing compared to when the jutsu's power reaches your neck and mutulates the beast that resides within the curse mark."
"Wait a minute! If you said Itachi wanted to protect him then why did he let you do all of this?" Sakura demanded as Kakashi held up an arm in front of her to stop her from charging.
"I told you, I kept many secrets from him...and as to why he wanted to protect Sasuke, well, some things need to be left to the imagination, am I not right?" Madara teased her. "Right now, my body is slowly being absorbed in Sasuke's and soon we will become the same person and my sharingan will double its triple..."
"No...I won't let you..." Sasuke said, struggling to stand. "I'm not done yet!" He could feel Madara entering his mind, his memories combining with him. It was almost to horrible for him to bare, the feeling of someone forcing themself to become you, taking up your memories, your skills, your future. Sasuke only had a few minutes left.
He would have to make them count.
That's the end of this chapter! Hope you liked the Seeper's jutsu idea! Please review and please note I do not own Naruto, all work goes to Masashi Kishimoto and his staff!