Chapter 19: In Which They Clash
When brothers agree, no fortress is so strong as their common life.
~ Antisthenes
o0O0o
Fukasaku frowned up at one of his many children. Gamabunta may have been the largest of his offspring, but that didn't mean Fukasaku was going to be lenient by any means.
"And you just left Naruto-chan there?" demanded the old, wizened toad.
"What he said was right," Gamabunta rebutted. "Orochimaru was countering every one of our attacks, and the only damage we were doing was to the forest around us. Naruto is strong enough to take on Orochimaru now, and he has tricks that snake doesn't know about."
Fukasaku hummed thoughtfully, but he refused to agree with Gamabunta's point. At least verbally. But Naruto had been very dedicated during his time on Mount Myokubazon. And the boy was just as creative as Jiraiya had been. Not only had he come up with a technique that allowed him to keep his existence secret from all of Konoha — or almost all — Naruto had also created a jutsu that would allow him to dispense entirely with Pein's rain jutsu and mastered or perfected his father's techniques.
Fukasaku had been a very surprised witness to how much Naruto had grown since he had first encountered the boy, trying so desperately to save everyone he could all the while feeling the world he knew slip through his fingers. But Naruto had found a way to reconcile one he considered his brother and the village that he loved, even at great cost to himself. And then, Fukasaku had watched the boy take on students of his own, treating them many times like his own children rather than the genin students he might have had.
"Very well," Fukasaku grumbled. He didn't like it, but Gamabunta had a point, and Naruto was much more capable now than he had been in years past.
"He said he might call for a reverse summons if things get bad," Gamabunta said in his deep voice.
Fukasaku's eyes narrowed suspiciously at the giant warrior-toad.
"Does he expect things to get bad?"
Gamabunta let a low grumble escape from the back of his throat, more of a croak than a real displeased sound.
"He had that look on his face," Gamabunta finally said. "He's going to do this even if it kills him."
Fukasaku thought of the boy that had first come to the mountain, barely sixteen and determined to trade his life for everyone he cared for because he had to protect them. Naruto had died before, in the eyes of those who saw what he was doing, and had come out all right once he had gotten over the effects of his kage tensei.
"We'll trust that Naruto-chan knows what he's doing," the old toad sighed.
Fukasaku only hoped that such a dramatic escape wouldn't be necessary for a second time.
o0O0o
Orochimaru could still feel the skin on his right arm pull tight over his muscles, singed from the jutsu that Naruto had thrust toward Manda. His seals for his summoning jutsu were basically useless now unless he took the time to heal his body, which would drain his chakra considerably. And he had other things to worry about now.
From what he had seen, Uzumaki Naruto had indeed learned the Yondaime's Hiraishin. He would have to take that into consideration, especially now that Naruto stood upright in a tree close to Orochimaru. He could easily be behind Orochimaru's back in a flash. Orochimaru studied his opponent's eyes but only saw the gold and black that Jiraiya had mastered long ago. He would have to approach this a different way.
"I am surprised that you sent your summons away, Naruto-kun," he said slowly.
"Yeah. He woulda really liked to smoosh you like a bug, hebi-teme."
For as much as the corners of Naruto's mouth were pulled up, Orochimaru didn't dare call the flash of teeth that ensued a smile.
"But then," Orochimaru continued without regard to Naruto's mood, "you have always been a certain kind of strong."
He could still remember fighting for his life against a creature that looked like a cross between human and fox, covered in a living, tangible chakra that was the same color as dried blood.
"Do not believe that I have forgotten the power you contain."
Naruto glared at Orochimaru, who quite ignored that piece of information. As long as the young man's eyes stayed away from their crimson color, Orochimaru had some time. But nothing was guaranteed.
"You have managed to avoid the very power determined to contain all the bijuu," Orochimaru stated, watching Naruto's eyes closely. "And I hear that Raiden was instrumental in destroying the group known as Akatsuki."
Naruto quickly lifted a kunai from his pouch and launched it toward Orochimaru. The man easily ducked it, but he was hard-pressed to dodge the stream of scalding water that followed after the weapon. Letting the bones in his limbs transform only partially to the multi-linked vertebrae found in his summons, Orochimaru snaked his arms around the tree and vaulted around the trunk so that he had something of a barrier between himself and the attack. He heard the hiss of steam as it hit the wood in front of him, but then a soft sound from behind Orochimaru caught his attention.
Orochimaru steadied himself on the side of the trunk and twisted his neck quite easily to look behind him. Naruto was suddenly crouching upside down on a large branch, his hand wrapped around the handle of a tri-pronged kunai and his red-rimmed eyes closed in concentration. Frowning, Orochimaru broke down what had just happened. The kunai he had dodged had obviously been more important than he had originally thought. Then, the attack of water — possibly heated with a seal or explosive tag — was a distraction while Naruto executed the activation of the seal that would carry him faster to his destination faster than any jutsu or chakra trick could possibly do so.
Naruto had needed that distraction, Orochimaru realized as he released the tree to block the new attack coming from his back, dropping down to a lower branch. As strong as the young man was, he wasn't at Yondaime's level yet. He still needed that moment of concentration to find the seal, and he kept his eyes closed. For a moment, he was blind when he traveled.
Orochimaru could use that.
"A pity that you had to kill all those within Akatsuki." Orochimaru grinned widely as his plan formulated solidly in his mind.
Naruto scowled down at him.
"I'm supposed to believe you're sad because your old comrades are dead?" Naruto spat. "You never cared about any of them."
"Perhaps not," admitted Orochimaru. "But sometimes they do come in handy. You have seen what I have been able to accomplish with the chakra of only one bijuu."
"You forced that chakra into those people," growled Naruto. "Do you even know what the chakra of a bijuu can do to a human?"
Orochimaru suspected that Naruto knew from personal experience, and yet the young man stood before Orochimaru stronger than ever. Orochimaru affected a careless attitude and waved one hand through the air.
"They are not true jinchuuriki anyway," he said. "They have less control over what they contain than you ever did, Naruto-kun."
Naruto looked offended at the reference, but he did not move. Orochimaru thought he saw the boy's knuckles tighten around his kunai, growing steadily whiter as Orochimaru continued to smile.
"You, I think, are the best example of what was meant to be," Orochimaru suggested. "You have the power within you to destroy an entire settlement and not leave a witness to betray you."
Naruto's knuckles were definitely white now.
"You are exactly what the Yondaime intended—" Orochimaru's eyes narrowed as he hissed in a breath through his teeth. "A perfect weapon."
Naruto surged to his feet, holding the kunai tightly in his fist.
"He never intended that!" Naruto shouted down to Orochimaru. "He never saw any of his family as weapons. Not me, not his teammates, not anyone!"
Personally, Orochimaru thought that view was rather naïve, but then Uzumaki Naruto had always been so. But slowly, Naruto was getting angry, which would cloud his judgment. Orochimaru didn't know how well he could handle a demon fox if Naruto decided to truly let go of his control, but he knew he could handle a hot-headed Konoha-nin.
"Then Yondaime was a fool," Orochimaru declared. "Such power as contained in a bijuu can only be a weapon. Yondaime refused to see the potential you could have, Naruto-kun, if he was so focused on his own naïve dreams."
Naruto still stood rigidly on the high branch. Orochimaru wondered how much it would take to snap the boy's resolve. With the way the Uzumaki defended Yondaime, Orochimaru wondered if Naruto was aware of his own bloodlines.
"He couldn't even create a jinchuuriki without losing his own life," hissed Orochimaru softly. "Konoha's shortest-reigning Hokage, still a failure."
Orochimaru blinked, just once. And Naruto was gone.
o0O0o
Sasuke glanced above the canopy and saw the gathering dark clouds in the sky. None of his fireballs had even scorched Danzo; all of them had passed through the man as if he were a ghost.
"I see now," Sasuke declared, forcing Danzo to tear his attention away from his right arm.
"Do you?" Danzo asked lightly. He didn't sound at all bothered by the fact that Sasuke might have figured out his agenda.
"You discovered Izanagi."
Sasuke had only ever read about Izanagi in his research on the Sharingan while he had been trying to discover the secrets of the Mangekyou. Izanagi was a technique forbidden even among the Uchiha secret scrolls, but it basically was able to turn the body into a physical illusion at the cost of blinding the eye for every 60 seconds of use.
Danzo had ten Sharingan on his right arm, all but one of them closed — to say nothing of the eye implanted in his socket, the one he always kept covered. Sasuke knew enough about medical jutsu to know that any organ meant to act as a substitute had to be placed surgically inside the host body very soon after being harvested. Cells could not live outside the body without serious help. Since Sasuke hadn't read of any Sharingan eyes going missing on any missions in which an Uchiha had been a casualty, Danzo had to get his eyes at a time when many Uchiha eyes were available for harvest at the same time.
The Uchiha Massacre.
Danzo had already stated that Sasuke's father was responsible for planning a revolt against the Sandaime Hokage. Sasuke didn't know if that was true, but the massacre itself was problematic in that regard. If the Uchiha Clan were indeed traitors to Konoha, then Sandaime would have the right to expose them and sentence all those involved to death. By keeping the coup and its consequences secret, Danzo had the ability to manipulate the aftermath to his benefit. He probably had enough access to the bodies afterwards to harvest all the eyes he wanted.
So Danzo had not only ordered Itachi to kill Sasuke's clan, the man had desecrated the bodies after it was all finished. Sasuke glared at the man standing in the midst of the forest.
"So now you know all the Uchiha's dirty secrets," Danzo noted as Sasuke came to his realization.
Sasuke wanted to make some comment about how Danzo seemed to know his family's techniques very well for one not connected to the Uchiha, but he didn't know if he even wanted to defend his family any longer.
"It seems Senju Hashirama should have never formed his initial alliance with the Uchiha Clan," Danzo continued. "But I cannot fault his judgment. It would have been much harder to wipe out the clan if they were not a part of Konoha."
Sasuke crunched his molars together and thought his initial assessment was correct. Danzo was much more of a traitor to Konoha than Naruto was, as if whatever Naruto had done could count against the good of Konoha. Naruto had once sacrificed himself for the good of his village — to say nothing of Sasuke himself — while Danzo plotted to destroy Konoha's citizens from within.
"You have destroyed part of what every shinobi of Konoha is entrusted to protect," Sasuke spat. He couldn't quite find it in himself to insult the man the way he knew Naruto would.
Danzo looked unbothered by the accusation.
"If there is blight on the tree," he said, "the diseased part must be cut away before it affects the entire plant. It was for the good of the village."
"For the good of the village," Sasuke repeated, his palms growing hot.
"The Uchiha have proven themselves to be untrustworthy without exception," declared Danzo. "They have discovered ways of perverting their own bloodline to create the ultimate powers, uncaring of the madness such techniques would drive them to."
Sasuke wanted to ask Danzo if he included himself in that statement, seeing as he was using techniques that the Uchiha themselves were forbidden to use. Sasuke glanced down at Danzo's right arm and saw two of the Sharingan eyes open. Silently, he cursed his own distraction. One of Danzo's stolen eyes had recovered in the time Sasuke had spent conversing with Danzo.
"You should know best the truth of this axiom, Uchiha Sasuke?"
Sasuke frowned at Danzo, puzzled, even as he channeled as much natural chakra to his drawn kodachi as he dared to.
"You yourself sought power without thought to the consequences nor the risks," Danzo continued. "You are proof the Uchiha will always be traitors to any who dare to befriend them."
Enough of this. Sasuke raised his sword and quickly launched his Chidori Senbon towards Danzo, making the number of Lightning needles larger than he usually did. Danzo did not move, as Sasuke predicted. As one of the Sharingan eyes closed, Danzo ripped through the seals for an attack. Sasuke dodged the wind bullet that emerged from Danzo's mouth and lifted a hand to his own mouth to blow out a stream of fire.
Danzo's final open Sharingan on his right arm closed as the Gouryuuka passed through Danzo's body. Sasuke saw his chance and seized it. He jumped to plant his feet on a particularly high branch so that he could look out over the forest with Danzo down below him standing on the original wall of wood that interrupted the natural growth of the forest. Sasuke called up a handful of Lightning chakra as if he were readying his Chidori. Then he held his left hand aloft, toward the storm clouds overhead.
Sasuke felt it before it arrived, the charge in the air as he called the gathering lightning to himself. He felt the power of the lightning bolt zip down to his hand and focused on channeling the sheer power toward the man standing in the forest. The lightning zipped toward Danzo with deadly accuracy.
Suddenly, Sasuke's view of Danzo was blocked by a surge of wood yet again. The lightning ravaged the tree-like growth that emerged beside Danzo, which presented a much larger and easier target than a mere human. But Sasuke could still feel the chakra through the lightning bolt. And wood was a fair enough conductor of electricity to serve Sasuke's purpose. He directed the lightning using his Sharingan to trace the chakra in the growth of wood back to the natural chakra that existed within Danzo's body.
He was rewarded with the smell of burning flesh.
Sasuke dropped his left hand before the lightning could exhaust his chakra reserves and drain him as well. With the lightning gone, Sasuke could now smell fresh blood as well. He jumped to a lower branch to get a better view of his victim. The growth he had assumed was a defense looked more like a rather deformed tree. Sasuke almost thought he saw a face embedded within the thick trunk. Danzo crouched beside the new tree, his left hand barely grasping a bloody kunai as he clutched his empty, bloody left shoulder. Had the man cut off his own arm?
Sasuke dropped onto the solid path of wood that led to Danzo and walked forward calmly. Then, Danzo's head snapped up, and his Sharingan pierced Sasuke suddenly. Sasuke felt a throb at the front of his mind, almost like the realization that something was wrong, like the genjutsu battle he still remembered participating in with Itachi.
Sasuke had barely realized that Danzo's Sharingan had changed slightly, now looking like a four-pronged windmill shuriken, when Sasuke felt a twinge in his right eye. His eye suddenly felt like it was watering, like he was crying. As Sasuke watched, black flames sprouted over Danzo's body, fire that gave no light and yet it still burned. Danzo's screaming was the proof.
Sasuke felt suddenly and inexplicably weak. He lifted his hand to cover his right eye. His hand came away bloody.
o0O0o
Omoi drew his jian back and held his left hand close to his face in a swordman's pose, with his first two fingers straightened and pointing in the same direction as his sword.
"These ones seem more determined than normal, nii-chan," said one of the identical figures before him.
His twin waved a hand carelessly through the air.
"It doesn't matter," the other Inashita stated. "They'll just take longer to die."
Omoi decided he didn't particularly like the way this conversation was going. Far too morbid for his tastes. He glanced to his side, where Karui was kneeling on the concrete of the roof beside him. She was panting slightly and the skin on her left leg was red and blistered.
"You all right?" Omoi asked shortly.
"Fine."
He wouldn't get a better answer than that, Omoi knew. He and Karui had been teammates ever since Bee-sensei had taken them both on as students, long enough for him to know when to push her and when to duck her outbursts of temper.
"We need to lure them in together," Karui declared. "One in front and one in back."
Omoi knew immediately what she had in mind, but he also knew that it wasn't a very well-thought out plan.
"My back will be exposed," he murmured, his lips barely moving.
"I'll guard your back."
It was enough. Omoi darted forward without nodding. Karui would understand simply by his actions. One of the Inashita brothers charged forward to meet Omoi's blade with a long, thin rope of eerie green chakra. Omoi blocked the attack, careful not to let the chakra touch his skin, as he heard the clash of blades behind him as well. Karui was at his back, dueling with the other brother who had somehow gotten imbued with a bijuu's chakra.
For a while, it was almost like battling another kenjutsu user — this parry and thrust between him and Inashita. But really, it was nothing like trying to battle Bee-sensei when he was fighting full-out with his eight-sword style. Omoi had had a better teacher than this fake-jinchuuriki had, he thought. Inashita abruptly pulled back for another lunge, and Omoi took his opportunity.
"Kumo-Ryū Uragiri!" he cried to let Karui know what he was doing.
Omoi swung his straight sword the full length of his arm, creating almost a half-circle in front of him. As expected, the Inashita in front of him leaned back to avoid being cut, but Omoi didn't stop. He let his momentum swing his body as he felt an arm wrap around his waist. Karui spun with him as Omoi kept his sword straight, sailing over Karui's head until the blade sunk into the ribcage of the Inashita she had been fighting.
Omoi's new opponent held up a hand to stop the sword from slicing him cleanly in half, but Omoi only smiled and shot out a hand, flat. He could feel his flesh searing as he struck the flat of his palm against the other man's chest. Then, Omoi drew back, pulling his sword out from the man's chest. The seal that Hatake-san had given him, he left stuck on the man's bloody shirt.
Omoi watched the green chakra that surrounded the man flicker and falter as it withdrew slowly. The Inashita looked vaguely concerned about that.
"Raijū Hashiri no Jutsu."
Omoi recognized the name of the technique and jumped away from the man who was slowly bleeding out. As he bounded away, a white dog-like form took his place, racing for Inashita with a gaping jaw wide open. Inashita reached out a hand as if to command the Lightning creature to stop in its tracks. But the creature only continued until in enveloped Inashita's body in white, crooked beams of light. Inashita's muscles froze in spasms from the electricity, and the last of the green chakra disappeared.
Omoi kept his sword raised, but then Samui jumped in and caught Inashita's body with a sweep of her tanto. The man's neck was slit before his body ever hit the ground. Samui caught Omoi's eye and nodded. Satisfied that his captain had things under control, Omoi quickly turned his attention to the remaining enemy.
The living Inashita still had the glowing chakra surrounding his body. He, too, was using the extensions of his chakra like blades against Karui, who wasn't struggling to keep up with all of them.
"You killed nii-san," shouted the younger Inashita.
The man's eyes shone an unearthly white for a moment, like an animal's eyes caught in the dark. Then, a burst of chakra threw Karui off her feet and backwards. Omoi leaped to meet her mid-air and wrapped his free arm around her body so that he took the brunt of their fall back to the ground.
Samui kneel down and laid one hand flat on the concrete beneath her.
"Raiton: Jibashi."
The course of lightning flowed through the rock in ripples. It extended down the wall of the building Samui stood on and across the street, up the next wall to wrap around the green humanoid with three tail-like appendages behind him. Omoi roughly pushed Karui off of him and scrambled to his feet. They had to find a way to help—
"Samui-san, keep holding him!"
Omoi looked down the street and saw Hatake-san standing on top of a pile of dirt that Omoi suspected had once been the earthen wall they had all hid behind. Hatake's hands were just in front of his chin in a meditative pose, but only one of his eyes was open. Omoi had to look very carefully before he saw the way Hatake's pupil was changing shape. The black parts were merging together and spinning ever so slowly.
"Look!" Karui pointed up to Inashita with her jian.
Omoi's head snapped back around to see the air around Inashita's head compressing, as if it were being sucked in a whirlpool in mid-air. Inashita shook his head from side to side like a beast, and his arms strained against the bonds of lightning around him.
Omoi plunged the tip of his sword into the ground by his feet. With one hand on the handle of his sword, Omoi ran through one-handed seals with the other until his jutsu mimicked Samui's.
"Raidton: Jibashi."
Omoi felt the lightning plot a specific course through the hard ground and up the side of the building, joining Samui's in binding the enraged Inashita. Soon, Karui's chakra joined both of theirs. Inashita could not move.
Setting his jaw firmly against the strain of chakra drain, Omoi watched as the whirlpool in the air shrank to include Inashita. The beast-like face twisted into a spiral. The spiral got tighter and tighter, until it seemed like Inashita's head would rip right off of his body. Then, inexplicably, it collapsed on itself, like water down a drain, and a headless body fell to the rooftop with a sloppily severed neck as the only remnant of the spiral.
Omoi cut off his jutsu abruptly and pulled his sword from the ground. He looked over to Hatake again to find the man bent over with one hand on his knee while the other covered his left eye. He looked suddenly tired.
"You took off his head?" Karui said in a disgusted tone.
Omoi had to admit that he was almost impressed. Hatake didn't even have to touch his opponent to decapitate him. But it obviously cost him a good deal of power to use.
"Aa." Hatake straightened and slowly removed his hand from his eye. "My aim's gotten better since I first could use that jutsu."
"What jutsu?" Omoi asked, because he was curious.
Hatake looked at the two Kumo-nin as the colors in his eye shifted again.
"Kamui."
o0O0o
Danzo gasped and tried not to focus on the sensation of his skin peeling back from his bones. Then, as suddenly as the black flames had appeared, they vanished, leaving Danzo struggling to breathe as the very air around him pained his burnt skin.
He was lying on his back on a plank of wood, but he managed to lift his head just enough to look down the wood to his opponent. Uchiha Sasuke stood no more than two meters from Danzo, his stance slightly uncertain as he held his palm against his right eye while his left stared at Danzo's ruined body. Uchiha walked forward again and pulled his hand away from his face slowly. Danzo remained silent as Uchiha stood over him and froze.
"It seems your borrowed implants are no match for a real Uchiha."
The boy looked down at Danzo. His eyes were red with a tri-pronged kaleidoscope design spinning slowly in their centers. Blood streamed like tears from his right eye.
"Mangekyou?" Danzo breathed. "How . . ?"
He was sure that Uchiha Sasuke had never performed the required steps necessary to awaken a Mangekyou level of his Sharingan. And yet, Danzo was equally sure that the black flames that had ravaged his body had been a result of the Amaterasu technique only available to Mangekyou users. Perhaps that explained his current state. Danzo had been sure that Uchiha Shisui's Kotoamatsukami would be his salvation if he could only convince Uchiha Sasuke not to kill him.
Uchiha lifted the kodachi in his right hand as the blade danced with the blue light of Raiton.
"I may have betrayed Konoha with my actions," said Uchiha. "I did hurt those who called themselves my friends. But I will never betray the one who pulled me out of the darkness."
Danzo couldn't acknowledge Uchiha's words, even if he knew — vaguely — what they meant. It seemed Uchiha was as loyal to Uzumaki as Uzumaki was to the Uchiha boy. Danzo could only close his eyes and hope that Uzumaki would never become Hokage as the boy had always foolishly dreamed. He almost dreaded to think what would happen then with Uzumaki as the leader of one of the most powerful shinobi villages in the world and Uchiha as his loyal shinobi. Those two would shake the foundations of the ninja world.
Danzo felt the blade pierce his burnt flesh, recognized the burst of pain that came directly from his heart, and then he surrendered to the darkness.
o0O0o
Naruto was getting really sick of Orochimaru's voice. All the talk of bijuu and power and weapons, Naruto thought he could handle. After all, he knew how wrong Orochimaru was. But when the snake-man had started talking about Namikaze Minato as if he had been a failure, Naruto decided he really needed to cut out the snake's vocal cords.
As Orochimaru stood and declared the Yondaime a fool for giving his life for his son, Naruto stood stock still on his perch and stretched out his senses. There— he could still feel the faint signature of his own kunai still in Orochimaru's possession. This was going to be hard, but Naruto dropped out of his sage mode in preparation for what he was about to do. The fox's chakra wouldn't work with the natural senjutsu Naruto relied on.
Without moving, Naruto concentrated on the Hiraishin kunai and forced his body to move to the seal. It was a strange sensation. He had never jumped this way with his eyes open before. For a moment, he thought he had been blinded by the chakra that was required for the transportation jutsu, but then he was in front of Orochimaru.
Naruto saw Orochimaru's eyes widen in sheer shock at the same time he felt a sharp pain shoot through his chest. Ignoring the pain for now, Naruto raised his right hand and jabbed his weapon into Orochimaru's left shoulder, driving the kunai in so deeply that he pinned Orochimaru to the tree behind him. Orochimaru sputtered a mouthful of blood out from the force of his back against the tree and hung his head loosely on a neck that didn't seem to support the weight of his head.
"How?" Orochimaru struggled to hiss out.
Naruto drew back his left hand from the cloth pouch attached to Orochimaru's hip. He held the Hiraishin kunai in front of his face.
"You shouldn't steal other people's things, hebi-teme," said Naruto through gritted teeth. That pain in his chest was getting a little more annoying now.
Then, Orochimaru lifted his eyes once again to Naruto and smiled through the blood.
"You seem to have missed my heart, Naruto-kun."
Naruto finally looked down at his own body. A long straight sword slid through his chest, two inches or so below his right collarbone.
"So did you, bakayarou."
The sword seemed to be attached to Orochimaru's left arm, which meant the man had been raising it while Naruto jumped. In the blink of an eye, Orochimaru didn't have the time to pierce his true target of Naruto's heart.
Suddenly, a brown snake shot out of Orochimaru's right sleeve, rearing up its head like a cobra poised to strike. Naruto knocked Orochimaru's hand up with his wrist and drove the kunai he had stolen back through both the snake's body and Orochimaru's wrist. Orochimaru grit his teeth against the attack. He had to be weaker than normal if that was the best he could do, but Naruto knew he had to finish this quickly.
"So," Orochimaru coughed wetly, "what will you do now, Naruto-kun? Bite me to death?"
"Bleah." Naruto stuck out his tongue in a disgusted face that belonged on Mako or Kaito, not an adult. "I'd probably get food poisoning."
Naruto kept his eyes closed just long enough to find the lines he never wanted himself to cross and forcefully pull out the chakra he needed. He snapped his eyes open again, knowing what Orochimaru would see: crimson eyes with pupils slit like a wild animal's.
"I'll just kill you here," declared Naruto.
Naruto couldn't feel the effects of the red cloak of chakra that slowly wrapped around his body from the inside out, but it appeared Orochimaru could.
"What are you doing?" Orochimaru's eyes grew wider as the red chakra continued to grow. "Are you going to destroy your entire village?"
"You don't know what I'm capable of." Naruto narrowed his eyes into a hateful glare. "You're the only one who's going to die here."
As the Kyuubi's chakra grew and shaped itself into a sphere around the branch, Naruto heard Orochimaru screaming in his ears. It was kind of good to know the bastard still feared some things. Naruto's hands were red and wet with blood that seeped from every one of his pores. Naruto closed his eyes, but he could smell the sharp, sickening scent of burning flesh and hair.
Orochimaru wouldn't survive this. And even if Naruto couldn't fight anymore, he knew the village would be all right. Mako and Kaito were good kids; they would take care of Mei. And he had gotten to see all his friends once again, to see them on his side, fighting along with him to defend their home and all the precious people within it. Naruto had no regrets.
o0O0o
Sasuke tore through the forest, ignoring the way his right eye still throbbed and his leg wouldn't respond immediately to his commands. He supposed the drug Sakura had given him was burning its way through his system faster than usual with all the chakra he had used up already. But he was still determined in his quest toward the west, where Naruto was still battling.
His blade was still drawn, slightly damp from Danzo's blood, when Sasuke saw a figure in a red and black coat and absurdly bright hair running across tree branches in his direction.
"Sasuke!" Naruto drew to a halt on the branch where Sasuke paused just long enough for Naruto to catch up.
"I'm all right," Sasuke growled, cutting off any demands for information about health or wellness that he knew were coming. "Danzo's dead."
Naruto's blue eyes widened until Sasuke was sure they were popping out of his head. Then, with a more subdued look, Naruto reached up and tapped his own face just underneath his right eye.
"You're bleeding," he noted.
Sasuke swiped at the drying blood on his face with his free hand impatiently.
"Never mind," he ordered. "Where's Orochimaru?"
Naruto didn't answer; he just cast a quick glance over his shoulder that smacked of guilt or nerves. Sasuke took the look to be answer enough.
"Don't tell me you couldn't kill the snake yourself," Sasuke scoffed as he pushed past Naruto.
"Sasuke, wait!"
Sasuke heard the call, but he didn't bother to wait for Naruto to catch up. Danzo was no longer an issue, so he and Naruto would kill Orochimaru. It wasn't as if Sasuke was low on experience. Naruto would probably need his help, the idiot.
As Sasuke passed through a section of the forest that had been destroyed — flattened by a giant toad, no doubt — he felt an increasing amount of pressure bearing down on him. This was almost like what Sasuke felt every time before Kirin; like a tangible amount of chakra was about to explode in his face.
Suddenly, Naruto vaulted over Sasuke's head and landed directly in Sasuke's path.
"Sasuke, stop!"
Naruto planted both his hands on Sasuke's shoulders to hold him back physically from going any further. His eyes seemed determined, as hard as they had ever been when Naruto had declared that he wasn't giving up on Sasuke or he wasn't going to run away from protecting his precious people.
But then, Sasuke's eyes wandered past Naruto's shoulder to a thick branch low on the largest tree within eyesight. With his Sharingan, Sasuke could just make out the sight of Orochimaru standing with a long chokuto in his hand. In front of the man, a blade through his chest and sticking out his back, was a figure in a black and red coat and bright, sunshine-y hair. Sasuke scoffed as he turned back to Naruto.
"Are your clones having a contest?" he demanded. "Seeing which one of them can die the most often?"
As Sasuke met Naruto's eyes once again, he realized that the determination had leaked out of them, replaced by a kind of sad resignation. A look like that didn't belong on Naruto's face and made Sasuke dread what Naruto had just found out due to his clones. Surely, he would get the information as soon as the clone in front of Orochimaru's sword dispelled.
"Sasuke," Naruto said slowly, "that one's not a clone."
Sasuke's eyes widened as his gaze darted from the figure of Naruto standing right in front him to the identical figure standing in front of Orochimaru, clutching a kunai that pierced Orochimaru's arm even as the sword ran through his torso. Then, a hand gripped his tightly and tried to turn him the opposite direction.
"Go back."
Naruto's voice sounded in his ear. Which was impossible, because Naruto was bleeding out from a sword wound. And it seemed wrong to have Naruto stabbed through without Sasuke being in front of him.
"Stupid teme, come on!"
A warm hand planted itself between his shoulder blades and shoved. Seeing a red and black coat running beside him made it easy to stop thinking and just run, but then the pounding adrenaline singing through Sasuke's veins faded just enough for him to realize that he was running the wrong way.
"Wait!" he called to the clone ahead of him.
Without waiting for a response, Sasuke bolted upwards into a large tree just on the edge of the forest, near Konoha's western wall. Perched on a large branch close to the canopy, Sasuke trained his eyes to the clearing at least a kilometer away, where he could still see Naruto and Orochimaru locked together by virtue of sword and knife.
"Sasuke."
The call was so soft that Sasuke had to turn just to make sure his imagination wasn't playing tricks on him. He had run out of the hospital awfully fast after being poisoned. But the clone of Naruto, with blue eyes and a soft look on its face, stood beside him.
"Whatever you do, stay far enough away."
"Away from what?" Sasuke demanded.
But the clone disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving Sasuke with the feeling that he had been speaking to a ghost. Bewildered, he turned back to where Naruto truly was, fighting Orochimaru. He felt his eyes burn with the force of the chakra he kept flowing through his Sharingan, but it enabled him to see the cloud of red mist that slowly surrounded Naruto.
No, that wasn't mist, Sasuke realized suddenly. It was chakra. Red, malevolent chakra that Sasuke had only seen a few times before — always in association with the demon locked away inside Naruto. Naruto's own words came back to echo in Sasuke's ear.
"I took the fox's chakra and wrapped it around me, like I was the center of Rasengan. Then I just . . . pushed."
Sasuke watched in horror as the red chakra started to spin around Naruto, slowly expanding to encapsulate Orochimaru as well until both of them were hidden by the swirling globe of red chakra that grew ever larger.
o0O0o
"What the hell—"
The cry was more shocked than horrified, but it was enough to make Tsunade's attention snap back to the immediate present. The chuunin beside Shukaku was pointing out the large windows behind Tsunade's desk, his attention directed toward the west. Tsunade followed his finger and saw a glow of red in the forest below the storm clouds. For a moment, she thought the forest was actually on fire, but then Tsunade realized there were no flames to go along with the crimson glow.
"This feeling . . ." Shikaku stared out the window without finishing his sentence.
Fed up with her staff and their inability to make complete sentences, Tsunade threw open the wide doors that led to the rounded balcony overlooking her village. As soon as she stepped fully into the charged air, she could feel it. An overpowering chakra heated the very atmosphere around her as the glow grew to the proportions of a far away sunset. The rounded edge of a crimson sphere rose just beyond the canopy of the forest, carrying with it a strange feeling in Tsunade's gut — like she had just lost her entire savings as well as several internal organs to a debt collector.
Even though Tsunade hadn't felt anything even remotely like the dreaded, oppressive chakra in years, a part of her still recognized what she was seeing. Something that resembled a force of nature more than any kind of beast, capable of mass destruction with a swipe of its tail or flash of its paw, and something that had always been tied to either the Senju or the Uzumaki line. Carried within a human being.
"Kyuubi?" she murmured.
"Hokage-sama!" The voice of the attendant outside the double doors interrupted any further thoughts of Tsunade. "Someone to see you."
Her attendant, whose real purpose was to introduce guests, was a young woman from the Yamanaka clan, a few years younger than Ino. Besides — or perhaps because of — their tendency toward mental jutsu, the Yamanaka were often good at reading people and their intentions. It was a good way to let another person get a first impression on foreigners coming to visit the Hokage. But now the young Yamanaka sounded half surprised and half exuberant. The only thing Tsunade could think of was that more reinforcements had arrived, but Temari had said they were the only ones—
"Oi! Hokage-baa-chan!" The boy who burst into the Hokage's Office was apparently unworried about his manners or the many guards that surrounded the Hokage herself.
Tsunade was momentarily distracted by the title.
"Baa-chan?" Her temple throbbed. "You little brat—"
But Mako only raised his right hand and jerked his thumb over his shoulder to indicate the ragged bunch of kids that trailed after him while his left hand stayed where it was, keeping Kaito's arm slung around Mako's shoulder in place.
"We got 'em here!" Mako declared triumphantly.
Tsunade fell silent as she surveyed the kids behind Mako and Kaito, Naruto's two oldest students. The kids ranged in age from nearly-genin-age to much younger. One of the boys looked like a snotty-nosed six-year-old Tsunade had seen before walking into the Academy doors. The identity of the group of children slammed into Tsunade suddenly.
"Us and these students got separated from Iruka-sensei in town," Mako explained, oblivious of Tsunade's sudden revelation. "We couldn't find the way to the Mountain, so we came here. So, you got a tunnel or something in here?"
Both the chuunin and jounin were gaping at him by the time he was done. The jounin looked surprised and relieved, while the chuunin was a bit more flabbergasted. Tsunade could understand the abject shock from the chuunin. It wasn't quite every day in Konoha that a very new genin tromped into the Hokage's office leading a slew of kids as if they were a child army.
Besides that, Mako's demands for a tunnel showed that he was in complete control of the situation. He knew where he needed to be, but instead of panicking upon the separation, he had gotten all the younger kids to a point of safety and then acted as if he was determined to lead them even further to where they were supposed to be in the first place. He wasn't even turning the kids over to one of the chuunin or jounin within the Tower. He was determined to carry out his mission.
Tsunade wondered if Mako had learned that from Naruto or if the boy was simply determined to prove himself to a village that had adopted him, as well as the place that his sensei loved.
Before Tsunade could order the chuunin to take the Academy students—as well as Naruto's three kids—somewhere safer and out of the way, Kaito suddenly lurched forward. The boy didn't make it far; it looked like his left leg refused to support his weight properly.
"Hey!" Mako shouted as he jumped forward to stand alongside Kaito. "Where d'ya think you're goin', baka?"
Mako quickly pulled Kaito to a standing position again, trying to get his friend to lean his weight on Mako again. But Kaito's eyes were fixed firmly on the large window that faced west.
"Sensei," Kaito murmured for Mako's ears only.
Mako followed Kaito's wide eyes to the window. It was hard to miss the still-growing sphere of red chakra.
"That's sensei?" Mako's voice was much less subdued than Kaito's had been. "What the hell is he doing?"
"Kamikaze."
Tsunade frowned at the unfamiliar name. She had heard of the divine wind that was supposed to descend from the gods, of course, but she doubted that Naruto really paid much attention to mythology. Besides, from the way Mako's jaw dropped as he turned his face back to Kaito, Tsunade guessed that this kamikaze wasn't anything beneficial.
"That's Kamikaze?"
Tsunade had to strain to hear Mako now, but she could still discern the abject fear in his voice.
This couldn't be good. But Tsunade could only deal with what was directly in front of her. She turned to the chuunin standing beside Shukaku.
"Take the kids downstairs," Tsunade ordered the chuunin.
They didn't have anyone to spare to take the students up the steep steps on the face of the Mountains to the caverns that served as bunkers in Konoha. But younger ones would be much safer on the ground level than in the Hokage's office. Not to mention less in the way.
"Wait!" cried Mei as the kids around her started obediently for the door.
Mei dashed around the chuunin that lunged for her, dodging the outstretched hands with all the expertise of a kid used to running away. Tsunade almost blamed Naruto for that before she remembered that Mei had been a war orphan before Naruto had ever gotten to her. Kids could pick things up quickly when they needed to.
Mei skittered around Tsunade, eyeing the woman warily, and attached herself to the Hokage desk, literally. By the time Tsunade thought to stop her, Mei had her arms wrapped around Tsunade's chair and her ankles hooked around the legs. Tsunade doubted that anyone less than Naruto could pry her off.
"Mei-chan," Kaito called as he stumbled after the young girl.
"I'm not leaving without sensei!" Mei screwed up her eyes as she shouted.
Tsunade felt her eyebrows knit together over the seal in the center of her forehead and wondered just what a Hokage was supposed to do in this situation. She glanced back at the two boys. Some of the Academy kids looked very uncertain whether they should stay or go while most of the younger ones were nothing but eager to follow the chuunin and leave the little girl to her tantrum.
Mako, meanwhile, was rooted to his spot. Tsunade saw his eyes fixed on the window just beyond Tsunade, his gaze intense. He had to know that his sensei was somewhere out there, doing something that was apparently causing Mako some degree of distress. Mako looked torn between carrying out his responsibility to the kids behind him and racing out to meet his sensei in battle and stand beside him.
Tsunade already knew that wasn't a good idea.
Beside Mako, Kaito looked practically mutinous. Tsunade didn't doubt that Kaito would jump out of the room and stand next to Naruto if it hadn't been for his obviously injured leg. Tsunade lifted her eyes up to the chuunin who hovered over the kids by the doorway.
"Take the Academy students downstairs," she repeated. "And send someone up here who can perform first aid. I have at least two genin who have minor injuries."
She hadn't missed the bloody bandages tied off half-heartedly around Mako's left arm. As easy as it would be for Tsunade to fix it, she couldn't afford distractions quite yet.
Mei's eyes narrowed into a glare as Tsunade glanced at her again and then pointed a long finger at Mako.
"You and your little band can stay," she muttered. "As long as you stay out of trouble."
Eyes wide, Mako nodded eagerly.
"We're good at that," he declared.
Tsunade didn't really want to wonder why Kaito was scoffing behind her. Satisfied that Mako and Kaito would remain where they were until they got some sort of medical attention, Tsunade turned back to the window, glancing at Mei as she did. The girl had released her death grip on Tsunade's chair, but she didn't look any less determined to stay.
The glow on the western horizon grew larger as Tsunade marched out to the balcony overlooking her village. Naruto had made his kids wards of the village, hadn't he? Was he anticipating something like this? Did he think he could just leave and the kids wouldn't miss him at all?
In all the stories about the hero who was the Yondaime Hokage of Konoha and how he had stopped the Kyuubi no Kitsune in its tracks, Tsunade thought, everyone spoke of the man's bravery and dedication to his village. No one ever spoke of what he had left behind.
o0O0o
"I'm scared!" a child cried inside the dim light of the cavern within Hokage Mountain.
"Don't worry," Iruka said with a smile he hoped the kid could see.
Perhaps it would have been a good idea to keep Kiba and Shino with him while he darted up to the safe hiding place just behind the ANBU headquarters, but Iruka knew that his two former students would be needed elsewhere, not babysitting Academy students.
Although Kiba might have been extremely helpful with Haru. The six-year-old was one of the Inuzuka kunoichi-hopefuls to come through the Academy, and she was chomping at the bit to go out of the cavern with her small companion, Ookami, and kick some butt. Never mind the fact that she was well under half the size all of her opponents would be. Maybe Kiba, with all the authority of a clan member and a jounin, would have been able to convince her to stay still. Her antics were making the other students nervous.
Suddenly, all the hair on Iruka's arms stood on end. He wasn't even sure what had caused it until he tore his attention from the students and cast his meager senses beyond the stone that separated him and his students from the outside world.
"Something's out there!" Jirou cried with one finger pointing shakily toward the entrance of the cave.
"It's okay," crooned Moegi, who had at least three first-year students attached to her limbs. "We're safe inside the Mountain. All the Hokage faces will scare the bad guys away."
Her smile calmed some of the students while Udon made funny faces at some of the other kids, apparently pretending to be a stern and vicious ghost of a Hokage. Konohamaru, though, was ignoring his teammates as he stood in the dry, dim cave and crept silently toward the entrance, where two other chuunin stood guard.
"What do you see, Konohamaru-kun?" Iruka called.
He didn't doubt that something was still out in the village. Iruka could feel the wave of sakki that had washed across the air so harshly that he could feel it even within the mountain. Konohamaru's voice came from beyond a curve in the cavern, leading to the entrance.
"Sensei, I think you need to see this."
Iruka stood immediately, more anxious because of Konohamaru's scared and timid tone than anything he had encountered yet. Not even the man in the kimono who had the chakra of a bijuu had made Konohamaru sound that nervous. Iruka rounded the corner to look out the entrance. The rock that usually covered the gaping mouth of the cavern by virtue of a Doton jutsu was absent, and the two chuunin guards stood in the open doorway with Konohamaru just behind them, frozen in place. Iruka stood beside Konohamaru and surveyed the scene.
The village below them was more or less intact. A few places looked particularly devastated, littered with rubble and smoke, but the main areas of damage were the center street, south of the Hokage Tower, and the eastern wall, near the Academy. When Iruka turned his eyes the other direction, though, he saw what had everyone transfixed.
The sky to the west was thick with clouds, like a thunderstorm about to burst. And just below the clouds, the forest was turning red. Iruka felt the chakra before he saw the visible glow of crimson energy, a chakra he had last felt on a night when he had screamed his throat raw for parents that could no longer answer.
"Iruka-sensei," Konohamaru's voice seemed so far away, "what is that?"
Iruka knew what it was. It had to be the Kyuubi no Kitsune. But the Kyuubi couldn't be free because its host was already dead. But hadn't Kiba said that Konohamaru could see Naruto again if he lived through the attack? Which meant that the source of that evil chakra was—
"Naruto."
"What?" Konohamaru snapped his head around at Iruka's breathy whisper. "That can't be nii-chan! He died protecting the village."
Iruka glanced at the teenager beside him uncertainly. Konohamaru didn't know about Naruto's status of a jinchuuriki. Iruka knew that Naruto's peers did; most of them had figured it out without anyone having to break the Sandaime's law, but no one had told the younger ones the reason behind so many people's hatred of the Kyuubi orphan. As if Naruto had been the only one to become an orphan that night.
Either way, Iruka didn't want to launch into a lengthy explanation of how he knew that had to be Naruto out there. Never mind that he had no idea how to refute the argument that Naruto had already died.
"I'm sure everything will become clear." Iruka tried to don his classroom voice, the one he used when handing out assignment that had to be completed or else. "Right now, we have to protect those entrusted to our care."
Konohamaru glanced over his shoulder, back into the cave. His face fell, although Iruka wasn't sure if he was more disappointed that he had to baby-sit the students with Iruka or angry that Iruka wouldn't give him a clear answer about Naruto. Iruka only hoped that he hadn't lied to Konohamaru and determined that one way or another he was going to get some answers when the battle was over and done with.
o0O0o
"He is dead," Shino announced.
"Good riddance," Kiba spat toward the human remains in a large crater in the center of the street.
Yamato nearly shook his head at both of them, but then decided it wasn't really worth it. He hadn't cared any more for their opponent than Kiba and Shino had.
Suddenly, a hot breath of air made the hairs on the back of Yamato's arms all stand on end. He could feel the chakra that washed over his as if it were a physical blanket.
"Great!" Kiba raised his hands in front of him in an aggressive pose. "Don't tell me there's another one!"
Yamato only searched around their small band for the source of the chakra. It didn't feel quite the same as the man they had just been fighting. This feeling was more concentrated and more powerful.
"No," breathed Shino.
Kiba glanced at his teammate as if he was waiting for Shino to continue, but it seemed that Shino had fallen silent. Then, Yamato's eyes caught sight of a red glow on the horizon, like the color of a sunset over water. With a sinking feeling, Yamato realized what he was feeling.
"That is not one of Orochimaru's," he murmured.
"What?"
Kiba spun around, looking very frustrated with all the half-answers. But then, he faced toward the west with Yamato and stared up at the red sky.
"Naruto?" he called, barely a breath louder than a whisper.
Yamato's mind raced even as he checked the palm of his hand. There was no sign indicating that the jinchuuriki of Kyuubi had released his hold on any of Kyuubi's nine tails. And yet, he remembered clearly this feeling of burning pressure, of killing intent so severe that it seemed to choke the life out of the very trees.
"Are we needed here any longer?" Yamato demanded of Kiba swiftly.
"No," Kiba all but growled.
In a flash, Kiba leaped from the ground to the nearest roof and vaulted toward the western edge of the village with Shino following quickly after. Yamato followed their path. If Naruto was an agent of Orochimaru's, Yamato may have been the only one who could stop him. And if Naruto wasn't an agent of Orochimaru and he was losing control . . .
That meant Naruto had to be alive, didn't it?
o0O0o
Kakashi heard the thunder before he felt the shift in the air. His first thought was that it was only a by-product of the oncoming storm, but this didn't feel like a natural pressure in the air.
"Samui-taichou!" Karui pointed with her straight sword toward the west, making Kakashi face the same direction. He saw the red glow just below the clouds and recognized the chakra before anyone could say anything more.
"What's that?" Omoi asked, a little more wariness than curiosity in his tone.
"It feels almost like Bee-sensei," answered Karui.
Kakashi's mind worked quickly to identify "Bee-sensei" as Kirabi, the Yondaime Raikage's brother who also held the position as jinchuuriki of the Hachibi no Ushi-Oni. Apparently he and Naruto had somehow formed a friendship in Naruto's absence, according to what Sasuke had to say after his brief visit to Kumo. Kakashi wondered just how much Kumo knew about the man who lived behind Raiden's mask.
"No," Samui answered her teammate. "That's Raiden."
Naruto. That was Naruto, and that chakra was Kyuubi. Kakashi glanced over to Samui with his regular eye squeezed shut so that it wouldn't throw off his sense of perception.
"Have you ever seen him in this form, Samui-san?" Kakashi held out a bit of hope that Naruto knew what he was doing, perhaps something that he had learned from his fellow jinchuuriki—
"No." Samui kept her focus on the red glow for a moment more.
As Kakashi turned his attention back to the west, the chakra outside of Konoha seemed to change. It wasn't just that Kyuubi's chakra was being used, he realized. The crimson chakra was forming a shape, a dome that was slowly expanding over the top of the canopy. Kakashi nearly opened both his eyes when he remembered: Kamikaze. Naruto was using Kyuubi's chakra as if he were performing a Rasengan that encased his full body.
But Naruto had said that jutsu was extremely damaging. And Kakashi himself knew the effects it would have on any victims within the area. He had read the reports on Asahi. What was Naruto planning, letting so much of Kyuubi's influence out when it would be sure to cut off his lifespan? But then, Naruto had always been willing to give his life in defense for those he considered precious to him.
Naruto had wanted his kids to be wards of Konoha in case he had to die.
Kakashi closed his Sharingan eye and opened his regular one as he turned to Samui swiftly. The squad captain from Kumo was already looking at Kakashi, and he had to take a moment to adjust to the sudden shift in his chakra reserves. He was already drained from using Kamui.
"Once we are finished with the bodies," Samui said, gesturing to where Omoi and Karui were tying the twin corpses into bundles, "we will report to your Hokage with the results of our battle."
She was giving him an out. Kakashi wasn't that surprised that she could read his desire to join whatever conflict was going on outside Konoha's walls.
"Ah, I trust you know the way." Kakashi allowed his eye to crinkle, the only sign of his friendly smile.
"Of course, Hatake-san." Samui nodded without a glance at her teammates.
Kakashi didn't even wave them off as he jumped onto the roofs of the village, following a path that would bring him to the western edge of the wall surrounding Konoha quickly.
o0O0o
Neji's eyes tracked the tunnel under the ground that led from the main road down and under the gate that led into the village behind him.
"It's all quiet, taichou," he reported to the ANBU captain beside him.
"Good." Saru-taichou raised her hand in a quick signal to the rest of the team to join them both on the top of the main gate to Konoha.
Below them, no one was fighting any longer. Various figures in white aprons scurried about the remains of the battlefield, tending to shinobi who lacked the strength or the consciousness to get up themselves.
"The iryou-nin Corps will need help getting the wounded to the hospital," Saru-taichou noted before she turned back to the four-man ANBU team. "Two of you will have to stay here while—"
Neji felt the reason Saru had ended her sentence so abruptly immediately. As one, the entire ANBU team looked just to the northwest. Beneath the gray clouds that rumbled above them, a red glow colored the sky. Neji quickly activated his doujutsu behind his mask and stared into the forest. He could see the cause for the crimson glow. It was a sphere made entirely of chakra. He could see the way the chakra circled around and around the circumference of the sphere like a gyroscope with thousands of axes. Neji's eyes strained as he peered through the chakra itself to the center of the sphere. Two figures were locked, unmoving, at the very center of the red chakra. One had a chakra system that looked very familiar.
"What the hell is that?" Inu spat out.
Neji eased up on his eyes for a moment and saw that the sphere had quickly grown to such proportions that it was clearly visible above the canopy of the forest.
"That chakra . . ." began Saru-taichou, "belongs to the Kyuubi no Kitsune."
Well, Neji knew that already. A part of him wondered how on earth Naruto had ended up in that position when Neji had last seen him trying to find Uchiha Sasuke. On sheer reflex, Neji scowled at the thought, but he doubted that Sasuke was responsible for such a large break in Naruto's control over his own seal.
"That can't be," said Uchi. "The host was killed."
Neji wasn't quite sure he liked Naruto being referred to as simply a "host," but Uchi would surely recognize something like that. The man had been in ANBU longer than anyone else on the team, even Saru-taichou.
"Orochimaru has been known to call back the dead," Saru-taichou said thoughtfully.
When Neji realized what the ANBU captain suspected, he felt all the muscles in his legs tense. It was a logical thought, given what Saru-taichou thought she knew about Naruto, but her thoughts were wrong. She was thinking of Naruto as an enemy.
"Quickly."
The captain gave the signal to move out. Neji was already two feet ahead of everyone else when Saru-taichou turned to him.
"Tori, you stay here."
"No," Neji answered immediately. He was the only one to know that the host of the Kyuubi wasn't as dead as they thought. "I must—"
"I gave you an order, didn't I?" Saru-taichou interrupted firmly.
Neji stood his ground, his fists clenched by his sides.
"Taichou, my eyes—"
"Will be better suited to working alone," his captain finished for him. "Your range makes up for the partner you won't have."
Neji could feel his fingernails dig through the thin fabric of his gloves and into his palms.
"Relax, tori." Inu tapped Neji on the shoulder. The man was only a few years older than Neji was and took to acting like Neji was a friend more often than naught. "We'll take care of the enemy. Leave the loser to us."
Neji stood frozen as his teammates took off, directly for the sphere of red chakra. He couldn't remember ever wanting to disobey a direct command. Respect for authority and proper manners were drilled into him too deeply; he had never dared disrespect Gai, either, even when he secretly wasn't impressed by the man. Neji tightened his fists once more as he stared after his team.
"He is not a loser," he whispered.
He didn't even know if Inu had been referring to Orochimaru or to the host he believed to be a puppet. Really, Neji was only protesting it if Inu believed the latter. Naruto could never be a loser.
o0O0o
"Is this going to be a habit with you?"
Shikamaru rolled his eyes at Temari as Baki knelt down on the ground next to Chouji, opposite of where Ino was still working, although less furiously than she had been. The worst of the danger was passed, and all that was left was to make sure there was no permanent damage to Chouji. With Ino distracted, Shikamaru fished his cigarettes out of his front pocket and placed one of the sticks into his mouth as his free hand lifted an old lighter to his mouth. Temari watched his actions but didn't berate him like Ino would have if she had been paying attention.
"Thanks," Shikamaru muttered around his lit cigarette, the smoke tickling his nose slightly.
He hardly needed to say more than that. It was a long-standing arrangement that Shikamaru would be the only one of the two of them to express any gratitude. Temari only scoffed, which was expected. Then, a streak of light seemed to break through the clouds that darkened the sky overhead. Shikamaru almost thought that the sunset had appeared beyond the thunderstorm, but then he felt the pressure, like sakki radiating on his back.
Amid the silence that suddenly pervaded the atmosphere of the ruined battlefield on Konoha's east side, Shikamaru looked directly up to the sky. The clouds were still gathering, laced now with bony fingers of lightning. But there in the west, a red glow emanated from just beyond the village of Konoha. Shikamaru frowned and jumped toward what was left of Konoha's eastern wall.
"Shikamaru!"
"Stay with Chouji," Shikamaru called over his shoulder to Ino. It wasn't like she needed to see this if it really was what Shikamaru thought it was.
He reached the top of the concrete wall and surveyed the village quickly. The real point of interest, though, was the red dome on the other side of the village. The pressure was greater now that the jutsu or chakra or whatever that was laid directly in his view.
"You can't help him," spoke a voice just beside Shikamaru.
Shikamaru turned and frowned when he saw Temari standing on the wall next to him. The woman could be sneaky when she wanted to be.
"What?"
Shikamaru may not have been on the mission that had eventually returned Uchiha Sasuke to Konoha, but he had heard about it. And he had seen the flickers of red chakra escaping from Naruto in Orochimaru's lair. He knew what Naruto held back from the rest of the world.
He also knew what bijuu chakra could do to a human body.
"You can't help him," Temari repeated. "It's a fight between demons. What can you do in this kind of battle, Issun-boushi?"
Shikamaru didn't glare at her, but he did kind of resent the implication. Especially when his own shadows could thread through skin and bone. Shikamaru pulled the cigarette from his mouth and crushed his hand around the lit tip to put it out.
"If I have to fight a monster from the inside out, I will." His teeth clicked around his words succinctly.
Shikamaru dropped the paper and tobacco on the ground and jumped onto the roof into the village. Naruto would never forgive himself if anything happened to Konoha because of Kyuubi. And Shikamaru would never forgive himself if he didn't do everything in his power to keep that from happening.
o0O0o
Sasuke held one hand over his forehead in an attempt to shield his eyes, but he refused to drop his Sharingan. Even with the chakra burning his eyes and drying the blood on his face to a crust, he would not look away. He couldn't.
The crimson sphere was bright to his Sharingan, and Sasuke could see the individual streams of chakra flowing in opposite directions, like a kaleidoscope, all around the circumference of the sphere. He was still standing on the same branch that Naruto's clone had left him. The red chakra was too hot — like liquid heat — for him to get any closer, and with his Sharingan tracking the way the red chakra moved and swirled, Sasuke couldn't see within the sphere to what was happening with Orochimaru and Naruto.
Then, suddenly, the sphere shrank back in size, like a ball being compressed by a pair of hands. Sasuke leaned forward, hesitant only because he didn't want to be caught in some kind of backlash of the crazy jutsu that Naruto had invented and named after a divine wind. But the sphere only continued to shrink so quickly that it pulled with it the air around it. Sasuke felt the breeze hit him cool on his back while his face was still warm from facing Kyuubi's chakra. Then, the red chakra was gone, and Sasuke's ears almost roared in the silence.
It took him a moment to realize the roaring wasn't in his ears. It was the thunder from the storm that he had conjured for Kirin.
Sasuke bolted forward as raindrops began pelting his back. It was only a few drops until a peal of thunder signaled the rending of the heavens, and the downpour began. Sasuke was soaked by the time he reached the branch with a pale figure was pinned to the tree trunk by two different kunai. The head lolled forward while long, dark hair covered the face like a ghost.
Sasuke stood in front of the unmoving body and set the blade of his kodachi under the chin in order to lift the face up. Orochimaru's glazed, vacant eyes stared back at him with no trace of life behind him. A thin line of red bloomed on Orochimaru's neck as Sasuke's grip on his sword tightened. Sasuke sneered through the rain and drew his blade across Orochimaru's neck, satisfied to see the man's blood still flow from his slit neck. Turning his back on the body, Sasuke scanned the branch where he knew he had seen Naruto stabbed through the chest.
"Naruto!" he yelled, angry at Naruto for causing this much trouble.
The rain fell into his eyes as Sasuke twisted his head around, scanning the branches that were on eye-level for a figure in a red and black coat. Sasuke scowled and shook his head to one side to try to cast off the raindrops that clung to his eyelashes. As his head snapped to the side, Sasuke caught a glimpse of a patch of red below him on the forest floor. He jumped down from the thick branch, leaving the body pinned to the tree behind him.
"Naruto!" Sasuke called as he knelt beside the still body.
The straight chokuto Sasuke remembered as Kusanagi was still embedded into Naruto's body at an angle that would pierce his right lung. Sasuke dropped his short sword and pressed a palm next to the blade in Naruto's chest. He had to get the sword out of Naruto's body, but if he did, there was a chance Naruto could bleed out. Sasuke gritted his teeth and pulled the sword, gently and straight. As the tip exited Naruto's chest, the body beneath Sasuke's hand gave a little shudder, and Sasuke heard a wet cough, almost like a choke.
Sasuke cast the chokuto aside quickly and planted his free palm over the bleeding wound. Naruto's head flopped on his shoulders as he rolled to lay flat on his back. Sasuke wasn't sure he was breathing as Naruto cracked his eyes open and peered through the rain at Sasuke.
"Hebi . . ."
"Orochimaru's dead," Sasuke interrupted before Naruto could do more damage to his lungs than he already had.
Sasuke poured his concentration into the two hands he kept over Naruto's wound. He didn't know much above the most basic medical jutsu. But all of Konoha had surely seen that giant sphere of chakra, red and burning. There had to be some sort of back-up coming. Sasuke pressed a little harder, silently summoning help to get there quickly. Naruto squeezed his eyes shut and gave another deep cough, spraying blood over his chin and onto Sasuke's hands. Where did he even get the breath for that? Naruto spat out a mouthful of dribble from the corner of his mouth and met Sasuke's eyes.
"Kept your promise," Naruto rasped out as his mouth curved into a tired smile.
"I never promised you anything, dobe," Sasuke hissed back. Where the hell was his back-up?
Naruto's shoulders started to shake, and Sasuke wondered what he was supposed to do with a weeping man who was also bleeding out. But then, Naruto's body shifted under Sasuke's hands. He could see Naruto's right arm slowly rising off the ground, shaking like an old man's with the effort Naruto was putting into his gesture. Sasuke leaned down until he was inches away from Naruto's face and glared at the stubborn idiot.
"Stop moving," he ordered.
Naruto only grinned even wider through his own blood and spit. Then, Sasuke felt something tap twice on the metal plate over his forehead.
"Your turn," Naruto said.
Naruto's hand fell away from Sasuke's forehead, and Naruto closed his eyes as if it were too much trouble to keep them open any longer.
"Naruto," Sasuke called.
"Thanks, Sasuke."
Sasuke had to strain to hear Naruto's almost-whispered exhalation before it ended in a rough, wet rasp.
"Naruto."
Sasuke froze and watched — he was sure his Sharingan was still activated from the way his eyes burned — but Naruto's chest didn't move, didn't rise and fall with his regular breaths.
"Open your eyes, dobe," Sasuke demanded, his teeth clenched together.
He pushed harder on Naruto's chest. Surely, Naruto would bolt upright from that and start chewing Sasuke out because he wasn't doing it right, he'd much rather have Sakura-chan next to him 'cuz Sasuke was a bastard anyway and shouldn't be trusted with something like—
"Now it's your turn." A ghost whispered in Sasuke's ear.
"This is a damn stupid prank," Sasuke growled in Naruto's face. The unmoving lips were turning slowly blue. "Open your damn eyes!"
"Sasuke!"
Sasuke heard his name but didn't turn from staring at Naruto, willing him to pop his eyes open and start laughing uproariously at catching Sasuke in such a good joke. Then a pair of hands grabbed Sasuke's shoulders and jerked him away.
"Let go of me!" he snapped, grabbing Orochimaru's sword from where it lay beside Naruto.
A hard hand clamped over his right arm, stopping the sword mid-swing. He stared into a pair of mismatched eyes peering out from above a half-mask.
"Sasuke, let the med-nin work," Kakashi ordered firmly.
Sasuke swallowed back the bile that rose in his throat. He suddenly felt dizzy, like his legs wouldn't support him. Perhaps that wasn't too surprising considering Sakura had only given him a quick fix. He could feel his body moving, but it didn't seem to be on its own power. Kakashi had an arm around his waist now, leading Sasuke away from the body on the ground.
Sasuke tried to remain upright as he watched two shinobi in ANBU masks kneel on either side of Naruto's unmoving form. The damn fool was going too far with his prank, and it wasn't like his words had meant anything.
"I didn't promise," Sasuke protested.
Why should Naruto be so concerned with thanking Sasuke if Sasuke had never said anything in return? He knew what had been asked of him, but Naruto was the one who had vowed never to go back on his word. Sasuke had no such compulsions when it came to lying. How was Naruto supposed to know that Sasuke was going to protect the village unless he was awake to hear what Sasuke had to say to him?
A man in a white yukata and cap covering his head joined the ANBU on the ground. The apron around his waist held the sign of the Medical Corps. He started shouted instructions at the ANBU, but Sasuke couldn't discern the words through the haze in his mind.
"I never promised," he murmured at the still body on the ground.
Sasuke licked his lips and tasted salt. It must be raining hard.
A/N: Dear readers,
I. Am. Evil.
Thank you,
Fia
Gouryuuka no Jutsu – Great Dragon Fireball Technique; what it sounds like, and a necessary step to Sasuke's Kirin.
Issun-boushi – Because Kishimoto-sensei seems to like integrating Japanese mythology in his work, I decided to do something of the same. Issun-boushi, or the Inch-High Samurai, is a Japanese folk tale about a couple who prays for a child, no matter how small. When the son is born, he is no higher than the man's fingertip.
Izanagi – A Sharingan technique that only Danzo uses in the manga, Izanagi grants the user the ability to turn wounds and disadvantages into nothing more than dream. It also makes attacks and advantageous maneuvers real, thus giving one complete control over their own reality through an illusion cast on themselves. It is named for the god (together with his sister-goddess Izanami) responsible for the creation of Japan.
Kamui – I think you already know this is Kakashi's Mangeyou technique. Kakashi focuses on an area of his target. The surrounding area will then warp and collapse in on itself, quickly reducing the surrounding area to nothingness. The technique will transport the focused area away to another location.
Kirin – Sasuke will first launch fireballs into the sky above using his Gouryuuka jutsu. These fireballs will warm the atmosphere and create a powerful rising air current, which in turn generates thunderclouds. Sasuke will then form Chidori and raise his arm to the heavens. This will allow him to channel the lightning down upon his target. Because he is merely channeling the naturally created lightning, he is able to utilize a power greater than what a ninja could create with his own elemental chakra. Because this is also natural lightning, it will travel more quickly than any ninja could dodge. Upon calling down the lightning, it will create a powerful impact with a large amount of destruction.
Kotoamatsukami – Kotoamatsukami, named for first of the Japanese gods, is a Ninjutsu technique which uses the Mangekyou form of the Sharingan eye to control the minds and opinions of others, without the victim's awareness. It is regarded as Uchiha Shisui's ultimate Genjutsu of his Mangekyou eyes. Not that Kishimoto is biased or anything, naming all the ultimate Sharingan techniques after gods.
Kumo-Ryū Uragiri – Cloud Style Reverse Beheading; The user does a powerful spin, generating the momentum needed to slash at any opponents behind them. The user can also utilise this spinning motion to trick an enemy that's in front of them. The enemy is fooled into thinking the user will attack them, but instead the user attacks the targets behind the user.
Raijū Hashiri no Jutsu – Lightning Beast Running Technique; By manipulating lightning chakra into their hand, the user can make the lightning expand to create the form of a hound. The hound remains connected to the user's hand, allowing them to control it during its attack.
Raiton: Jibashi – Lightning Release: Earth Flash; This technique allows the user to create a wave of electricity from their hands. The user can vary its power from a small surge to shock an opponent to a powerful stream of lightning capable of ripping through solid rock.