Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi.
As Sasuke stood before Asakura, a weak voice climbed over his shoulders. Turning his back, Sasuke was filled with assurance and worries to see the girl in his Susanoo hand to weakly lift her heavy eyelids and her slightly opened lips behind the messy pink curtains.
"Sakura…"
Sasuke looked down as his remaining hand reached out to move the curtains and feel that slight warmth on her left cheek. That warmth brought him back to the time when he first saved her from Gaara's sand grip years back. Then and now, it gave him a relief that she is still breathing out her life in this world of cruelty.
"Sa…suke..." Sakura blinked as she tried to fight her body's need to sleep.
"Don't talk. Just rest."
Following his words, Sakura closed her eyes to indulge in that warmth of his and the soft obsidian she briefly saw. She however could not sense the reality or feelings in them as her mind was not in its right state and her former teammate would never do that to anyone, at least in her current perspective. Even if it was brief, that false comfort has lifted her spirits and consciousness back in place.
"Roda." Sasuke called out.
"Your orders, Sasuke-sama." The long purple snake approached his master.
"Take care of her." The Uchiha pulled his reluctant hand away from Sakura's bruised face.
"Yes, Sasuke-sama." Roda glided along with the injured kunoichi who was placed on one corner to follow his master's orders. Despite its rough appearance, the arm gently laid Sakura against the wall like a feather and returned to the Uchiha's side. Sakura opened her heavy eyelids to see the back of the Uchiha facing her.
"It's…really Sasuke-kun…" Sakura gratefully thought of the presence of her loved one.
She tried to focus her chakra but her body could only do less than expected. "So this happens when the Yin seal is forcefully released…It feels so heavy in my head…but I have to hurry up."
Shutting her left eye tightly, the Haruno gave all her strength and will to meld chakra to heal her wounds, hoping to remove her tarnished image as soon as possible and fight Asakura by Sasuke's side. With that in mind, the bleeding began to stop by the green chakra enveloping them while her emerald eyes were set at forth. All she could do now is to wait.
To see Sakura regaining her consciousness in front of his mismatched eyes gave the man a slight relief from his anger. If that never happen, Sasuke would have jumped onto his feet and kill the man with madness flowing in his veins. He could not bear to have her witnessing his darkness once again but even Sasuke himself cannot guarantee his sanity in battle after remembering every wound and stab inflicted on her body through his Sharingan. To the perpetrator in front of him, there is no word called forgiveness. Nothing but revenge.
Sliding his foot slightly to the side, Sasuke faced the long-haired man with fury burning in the two dojutsu but the man was unfazed by them. The latter merely kept his stance but tentacles started reaching out for the Uchiha at once. With every movement calculated in the crimson eye, the chokuto was pulled out and black flames were engulfing the blade along with all the swings Sasuke took against the lengths. The several burns and cuts occurring had the tentacles retreat to their master, with the remains to decorate the cavern like a black forest.
"Su…sugoi. To stop their movements with the fire…as expected of Sasuke-kun…Just a little bit more…" Sakura was at awe with the Uchiha's swordsmanship as her chakra almost reached its limit.
Asakura then grinned and applauded lightly "As expected from the sole Uchiha who defeated Gojou. It's a pleasure to meet you after my years of slumber."
"Then, you should go back to that sleep of yours, for good."
Sasuske teleported himself right in front of Asakura and slashed across with his flaming chokuto. But what it should have happened did not do so. Like a mere illusion, 'Asakura' was fluttering in the air while being slashed across like a separated burning paper floating in the air. Sasuke frowned as Asakura faced the Uchiha with an evil smirk.
"Well…it's time for my part now…"
Through the Sharingan, Sasuke sensed a sudden flow of a familiar chakra colour on the ground and leapt a distance from the man. In front of his eyes, the ground in front suddenly cracked with a burst of fire soaring through the air. With more fire pillars bursting through the ground like grand fireworks, the burning sensation was scorching within the confined cavern and even the non-sensor Sakura could felt the overwhelming chakra streaming in the pillars. Holding his guard higher, Sasuke's right eye transmuted in its final phase of black and scarlet at the enemy's sight.
"What's the meaning of this? I'm sure that…"
"…Gojou was killed and destroyed by you, is what you saying, young Uchiha?" Asakura voiced out.
Sasuke remained his composure as Asakura held his hands wide like one who brings others and himself to a rise. As such, four earth figures began forming from the brown soil with their shapes moulding by themselves. One, in particular, was recognised by both the Uchiha and Haruno. The figure was formed similarly like Gojou whose body was definitely destroyed by Amaterasu, followed by other humanoid clones. Sasuke's eyes narrowed and his hand firmed onto the chokuto.
"Behold…my kekkei genkai."
Halfway through the run, Naruto and Sai gasped at the sudden gust of wind and incoming plants reaching for them like preys. With their speed, both dodged the points easily but their expressions showed their confusions, especially Sai.
"What is it this time!? I thought we got that person down, Sai!" Naruto shouted about Nana's death in Sai's hands. Sai kept his silence before a flash appeared among the plants and he quickly held his tanto in a defensive position. A clinking sound was then made with the clash of two blades and Naruto's mixed pupils followed the clink at shock.
Right in front of the Konoha shinobis' eyes was an earth-like Fuga firmly advancing his sword against Sai's short tanto. The dark-haired shinobi flung the sword aside and the earth Fuga jumped backwards next to the newly appeared Nana in a similar form.
"He's stronger than before." Sai thought of the enemy's strength as he glanced at his newly blunt tanto.
Naruto then spoke out "Sai, those guys aren't alive."
"What?" Sai gasped.
"I can sense their chakra in them but…"
"But?"
"I can't sense any emotion or life in them."
"Could it be Edo Tensei?"
"It doesn't feel like it though. There's another chakra inside them and it's the same as the one Kurama told me."
"That means…they are merely earth dolls with theirs and possibly that other chakra residing them."
"Yeah, and they probably won't stop fighting until…" Naruto nodded.
"The real mastermind is defeated, which would be…" Sai turned his dark eyes to the Uzumaki.
"Asakura Yujo."
"Naruto, we'll have to destroy the man first. If he's reanimated with his chakra intact in them…"
"That's mean Konoha…!" Naruto gasped at the realization.
On the Hokaga tower rooftop, Kakashi, Tenten and Lee were gasping for air after knocking all their controlled comrades. After taking a deep breath, Kakashi was then approached by Genma who appeared from the other side.
"What's the situation?" Kakashi asked.
"All except the southwest and north is under-controlled for now. It however appears that the hospital has taken the most damage however. Most of the medical-nins are injured heavily and the unaffected citizens have been evacuated. Tsunade-sama has taken charge of the place." Genma reported while kneeling on one knee.
"Hmm, for them to launch such a scale, their main target must be the hospital to weaken our support forces." Kakashi placed his chin on his hand.
"That would be likely, Hokage-sama." Genma agreed.
"Hokage-sama!"
Tenten's warning had the two higher ups to turn their heads to see the once-defeated shinobis and kunoichis rising from the ground. One by one, each of them spoke in broken but connected sentences while facing the four shinobis.
"Do you really think…" "…it's all over…" "…after you kill Fuga?" "Well...in fact…" "…you'll now have to kill me first!"
"You're…Asakura Yujou?" Kakashi muttered.
"In the flesh. And now…" "You should die in your own hands!" Half the group charged forth towards their opposing force.
Standing behind Tenten and Rock Lee, Kakashi stretched his hand down and channelled his chakra into a large electric ball of chakra in his palm. With an air punch, the electrified chakra ball extended into an electric hound emerging in between Tenten and Rock Lee, followed by Kakashi's loud words.
"Raiton: Raijuu Tsuiga (Lightning Hound)!"
Instead of aiming at one target, the hound simply dodged every person, but leaving its electrical mark on them by the static created by the hound itself and its connection with the Hokage. The static eventually escalated into electrocuting them and left fainted on the ground. The electric hound then disappeared with a string of spark from Kakashi's hand.
"Woo! As expected of Hokage-sama!" Rock Lee praised the Hokage with his signature smile and thumbs up, just like what Kakashi would expect Gai to do if he was present here.
"Don't get excited just yet, Lee. I only knocked out half of them and we still have tons to do so." Kakashi spoke in a serious manner and positioned himself for battle. Kakashi could feel it. Inside, his body could not deny the boiling blood and agitated muscles with battle commencing in front of his dark eyes. However, he will not show it in his eyes. All he could think at the moment was the ones on the other side.
"Fufu…let's see how long will you Konoha dirts last!"
The two groups finally clashed with sounds of punches and kicked heard. With taijutsu and bukijutsu in place, it was an easy win for the last four shinobis, despite their reluctances to harm their comrades. Down the last controlled shinobi, Rock Lee asked the higher-up.
"What should we do now, Hokage-sama? Should we go after the real enemy at this point?"
"No. Manpower is needed here and going after the enemy will take too long. For now, we'll have to stay on guard here and keep things under control. Lee, Tenten, go to north and southwest to keep things down. Genma, you'll stay here with me to watch over them." Kakashi glanced at the defeated group.
"Hai!" The two Team Gai members vanished while Genma kept his eyes on the group. Kakashi, on the other hand, took a look at the chaotic matter in the village and thought.
"What's taking you all so long?"
"Kekkei genkai?" Sasuke repeated with doubts rising on his eyebrows.
Asakura grinned at the repeated words and replied "That's right. My kekkei genkai allows me to control people with my parasitic chakra. By blood-related, mine and Fuga's parasitic chakra are connected and I can use his jutsu over as mine even after his death. These puppets here are earth clones with mine and their own chakra intact. With that, we'll be unstoppable!"
"Hn. You're one blabbermouth, aren't you?" Sasuke declared.
"Fufu, young Uchiha, why not we make a deal here?"
"A deal?" Sasuke frowned with an unsettling feeling trilling in his head.
The silver eyes kept their stare onto the Uchiha while his right hand was held out for a joint "Join me against Konoha and Senjus. I know you Uchihas have a long feud with them and I don't see a reason to refuse."
"Hn. Then I still refuse." Nothing about hesitation struck his mind. He has long ended the Uchiha curse and there was no reason for him to do it again. Not only he released his vengeance at Naruto's persistent acts but Sasuke could only wish to atone for those hateful sins he committed blindly. All to stand in this world with true freedom in his heart but also to prove his worth next to that person.
"Fufu, that so? Then…" His one finger pointed at a direction Sasuke saw to be behind him. "Hand that over to me."
Having Sakura to be referred as 'that', his one hand firmly gripped the chokuto "Like I'll let that happen!"
The dark-haired shinobi leapt towards Asakura when two earthly shinobis stepped in front in defence. Sasuke channelled Chidori into the blade and slashed the two shinobis with the thought of having his lightning chakra to prevail the earth nature clones. With his body followed the flow of the slash to the ground, his dojutsu saw through the hidden actions from the enemies. One shinobi, while being slashed across its right shoulder, blew razor winds towards the Uchiha who managed to dodge.
In his dodge, an arrow pierced through the left side of his poncho, missing its target with the absence of his left arm. Sasuke noticed that his poncho started eroding from that spot and cut through that part with the Sword of Kusanagi. After falling on the ground, the piece began to erode quicker into mere dust. Through the chakra colour from the erosion, Sasuke turned his head to see a female archer readying for another shot.
Asakura's voice and laughter twisted the Uchiha for an eye contact "Hahaaha, what do you think of them? They're one of the finest warriors in my days."
Sasuke gritted his teeth when his figure was overwhelmed by an enormous shadow. He had his head turned to his left side to see a dark muscular shinobi with his hand ready for a strong punch. Instead of punching him, the earth shinobi was being punched and thrown to the other side of the cavern. Towards the outcome of the punch, Sasuke's eyes widened and his mouth opened to voice out in complain.
"Didn't I tell you to rest, Sakura?"
Sakura stood up after bending her body that followed the swing of her punch. While Sakura was being covered with scars, Sasuke could see her body recovered from any possible bleeding when the kunoichi spoke "Let me fight with you, Sasuke-kun."
"I got things under controlled here."
"I'm a kunoichi. I'm not gonna sit there and let you fight alone. I'm…not weak anymore, Sasuke-kun." Sakura demanded with her fierce green eyes reflecting upon the Uchiha's onyx eyes, though her bruised, bloody figure was contradicting her healthy state. But then…those eyes, that tone. They were the same as when she demanded her part with Naruto and him right before their ambush on the Juubi. Back then, he could not care much of her well-being but his mind would not leave her unattended with care. The Uchiha's mind cannot take anymore stabs to see her getting hurt. Despite that, there will be only one solution to the problem.
"Alright." Only one word was reluctantly uttered and the Uchiha walked in front of the Haruno. He then sent Roda back to his own world to preserve his chakra.
Deep down, Sakura appreciated Sasuke's trust and surrender to her selfish demand. As part of Team 7, Sakura has grown to only watch his teammates' backs but at this moment, she will make them watch her again after the war. She then realized that it would be the first for only the two of them to work together which she secretly looked forward to. There came a dizzy spell in her head, which caused her to frown. She then clenched her fists and bit her lower lip to distract her mind into concentrating what was in front of her.
On the other hand, Sasuke was concentrating his dojutsu upon Asakura and his four earth shinobis.
Reopening his right eye with focus, blood seeped out with Amaterasu. With the white tendrils shielding him, Asakura stood there unfazed while the other four diverged to different directions. The dead Gojou was the first to clash his sword with Sasuke before the muscular shinobi appeared next to them. However, Sakura stepped next to the Uchiha and lowered her body from its incoming punch. Pressuring her foot harder on the ground with both strength and chakra, Sakura threw a high kick onto its chin, throwing the muscular shinobi like a cannonball blasting through the rocky ceiling.
One down. Four to go.
Sasuke was left impressed by Sakura's vertical silhouette with her leg straightened upwards. Knowing that he cannot put himself behind, Sasuke swung his chokuto aside along with Gojou's and crushed the body with Susanoo's fist. In midst of that, Sasuke watched Sakura jumped in front of him with her left fist swung downwards against an approaching arrow. While twirling in the air, the kunoichi then grabbed the other end of the arrow and pierced it through the wind shinobi, which eroded it into dust.
Two down. Three to go.
Seeing that the archer was far from their reach and Gojou would launch a few more fire pillars, Sasuke decided to finish Asakura once and for all. Through his eyes, Sasuke then saw a great disturbance in the man's chakra, disorderly circling in his chakra pathway system. Seeing how the last fight commenced, Sasuke contemplated in his mind.
"This guy…why did he not command all four to attack us at once? What if, he's sharing his chakra in controlling people with that Fuga guy? Then…"
"Any jutsu has a weakness." Itachi's voice echoed silently.
"Ah, Itachi." Sasuke looked up at Asakura with a firm frown "His jutsu's weakness and risk…is me!" "Sakura!"
"What, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura responded at the Uchiha's sudden call. She was then given his idea through the Sharingan genjutsu to avoid Asakura lip reading their plan. The kunoichi nodded and Sasuke immediately ran towards Asakura.
"Whatever you're doing is pointless!" Asakura shouted with his hand held out in a form of order.
The archer shot several arrows but they were futile against Susanoo's ultimate defence and Sakura's impressive reflex. Gojou formed several hand seals to create more fire pillars and aimed them towards the Uchiha who countered them with Kagetsuchi. Both red and black flames clashed, with the dark overwhelming the light and enveloped Asakura's side. As usual, the tentacles emerged around Asakura as shields when he suddenly gasped in shock. Among the wildfire, a pink figure appeared right in front of him and threw a punch against Asakura who crossed his arms as defence. The punch's impact had Sakura flying across the cavern and destroyed Asakura's tough arm gauntlets.
"Hehe, that's too bad but is that all you go…!?" Asakura grinned sadistically before a sudden pressure was felt within his body, causing him to wobble backwards while holding himself in pain. All of a sudden, he could feel the other chakra dispersing out of his body, leaving only his to obtain the peaceful flow.
"What the…!" A collapsing sound echoed in both ears and his eyes turned around to see the earth archer and Gojou reducing into mere rocks and sand. Overwhelmed by disbelief, it could only mean one thing in his mind as Asakura turned his silver eyes to glare with enough burden to his body.
"What…did you do there, Uchiha!?" Asakura questioned with a painful frown.
"Just as I suspected. About your jutsu's main weakness."
"Weakness?"
"Ah. No matter how vast your chakra is or how much you absorb from Sakura's Yin Seal, you're still a normal human being who can't do many things at once with his mind."
"What do you mean?"
"Even since you created the earth shinobis, they all carried that man's chakra other than yours. The one called Fuga. That's where I thought, if you're sharing his chakra with yours to control the ones here, same goes to the ones in Konoha then. It is a possibly that while controlling those in Konoha, your mind was so strained to control the ones here because you were only controlling two at the same time."
Asakura gritted his teeth with more disbelief "A…possibility!? Then…what did you do to my body?!"
"Hn. You didn't notice a rain of Chidori Senbon behind Sakura, did you?"
"Senbon!?" Asakura repeated. He then realized his ignorance on the little sparkling lights amidst the black flames behind the kunoichi before he succumbed to her punch's impact.
"With these eyes, I had aimed Chidori Senbons on your tenketsu which stopped your chakra flow, and hence, your controls. Your plan…has failed, Asakura Yujo." Sasuke told the undesired truth to the weakened man as the former stabbed his chokuto into the ground and channelled his lightning chakra into Chidori.
"What…are you planning to do, Uchiha?"
"With this much of chakra concentration, your body wouldn't be able to handle this much of chakra merging with the rest inside yours. It's over!"
Sasuke lunged forth towards the struggling Asakura with Chidori in his sole hand. As his left arm stretched in full length, it met with the expected warmth. But it was not what Sasuke wanted. With hair swaying to one side than both, blood was splattered and leaked out of the intersection of the two heating bodies. With the warm blood leaking from his arm intact through the body, his eyes dilated at the sight and contact of the intersection.
Reflected to his eyes was his electrifying hand piercing through Sakura's chest and her expression of shock and fear. At the first cough of blood landing onto his cheek with a painful sound, that was when his world began to crumble.
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Hi again, thanx for the fav, follows & reviews once again^^
I'm guessing most of u are abit shocked at the last part. After having a great battle with Sakura against Asakura and his earth lackies, all Sasuke had the end was him stabbing Sakura. Just imagine them in Kakashi & Rin's last scene together. It will be a major breakdown to Uchiha Sasuke from here onwards.
Pls fav, follow & review once more to show your supports & opinions on this chap & story^^
Hope u enjoy^^