The Atma Chronicles

By

Narakusnoone

Disclaimer: I couldn't do it. It seems that this was the only thing on my mind as of late. Who knows? Maybe I'm only meant to write this story. But if that's the case, I'll take it because I honestly like this fic and the direction it's heading. I mean there could be more character development. That's something I plan to work on as I progress. And some of the chapters could be longer so I'm going to try for in between 3000 and 6000 words from now on. I could also spend some time budding some romance between the characters. I'm announcing some pairings right now.

Iruka x Anko

OC x Itachi

Sai x Ino

Chouji x Ayame

These are some of the pairings I'm leaning towards. I also promise to work on my sasuke bashing. But I actually plan on him getting better. But that doesn't mean I'm not making him an asshole at some points. Anyway, What was I trying to say. Oh yeah, I Don't own anything. Anyway, on the with the story

Chapter 19: Life or Death

The Trio was well into their second day alone. Their first day hadn't been too bad considering all that Anko showed them but there was still the Forest at night that scared the shit out of them. They kept looking for any hidden sanctuaries that Anko may have not mentioned. It also seemed that the beasts in the Forest became much bolder now that Anko wasn't around. They were actually chased from a few places by things much bigger than they were. But that didn't stop them from giving in to a sense of adventure that had been taking them over as of late.

In fact, it was about this time that Sasuke realized that it had been a little over three weeks since he had thought about Itachi. Then he started to hate himself for forgetting what he was supposed hate. But at the same time he wondered if he should hate himself as he was because this was probably one of the few times he didn't let his brother rule his every thought since that night almost five years ago. And he was confused as to why he felt this way. Was it was because of this forest, or was it because of the people he was braving this living wilderness with? He had to admit, Naruto was not lying when he said he could make a good distraction and got Sasuke out of a few bad situations so far. And he always had that way of lifting a persons spirits whether it be with a few wise and well placed words or by making himself out to be an idiot and doing something stupid just make them laugh. Sasuke had the strong idea that Naruto would truly have his back no matter what circumstance. And then his thoughts drifted to Hinata.

Now in the beginning, he had thought her no better than a piece of cannon fodder. But it was after he really started to train under Anko and with the team that he realized that Hinata was in truth, and though it sounded girly in his mind to admit this, Like a butterfly. While Kakashi was letting this team stagnate, they were never forced to work together for more than the missions and the teamwork exercises. He really didn't encourage them. But Anko showed them no quarter. She demanded their absolute best and more. It was obvious that this was making Hinata's abilities improve by leaps and bounds. While she still had a long way to go, he had to admit that she was definitely a good friend to have.

'Friend?' He looked at Naruto who was taking point. And then his gaze went to Hinata. He spent a little bit of time looking in between each of them. 'Are we friends? But, what if Itachi finds out? Will I be strong enough to face him and save them? Or would he take them too?' He was so deep in thought that he didn't realize that the others had stopped. "Something wrong Sasuke?" asked Naruto.

Sasuke snapped to his senses and realized that he was in a circle of glow fey. "Why are we stopping?"

"It's close to sun down and we don't want a repeat of last night. I am not spending another night in the trees." Said Naruto a little crossly. Sasuke didn't mind considering that the trees were uncomfortable to sleep in.

"Who gets what tonight?" asked Sasuke.

"I'm setting up tonight." said Hinata. "So it falls to Naruto to get firewood and you get to get the food. We still have fresh water so we don't need to worry about that. But we only have an hour until it gets fully dark." said Hinata, albeit a little quietly, but still loud enough to be coherent.

"Besides," started Naruto, "What we really need to worry about is who gets first watch tonight. I'm not getting the first watch again, that's for damn sure." He made his way to leave to take care care of his assigned chore.

Sasuke decided to leave to find food leaving Hinata alone to set up the tent. He was about ten minutes away from the campsite before he let his thoughts overtake him again. 'What am I doing?' He wasn't even looking for food now. 'I've let myself become vulnerable. I allowed myself to let these two people into my private world. I've let myself forget about my reason for living.' He grit his teeth and let out a small growl. 'Why can't I get them out of my head? I mean sure, they are both strong in their own ways, but, We're nowhere near strong enough to face that man. Wait a minute. Where's this we stuff coming from. Itachi is mine and mine alone to kill. I can't put them in danger. And I really can't afford to have them around me when I go after him.' He let his thoughts stop there for a minute. When he went after him. That thought kept running through his head. When would he go after Itachi? Would it be soon? All the time since the death of his clan, nearly every person he came in contact with told him that he was the strongest of his generation, that he was the best. But Naruto threw all that hype out the window by beating him not just once, but twice now. Sasuke kept wondering exactly how strong he really was.

Only recently did he start to realize that in terms of strength was he truly lacking. Anko had done her damndest to beat the arrogant thoughts out of his head as well as beat into him a sense of respect that he never even had in the beginning. But she helped him recognize his limits, which was much more than almost anybody else ever did for him telling him he had no limit. But what would he do to be stronger? Would he dare to go as far as Itachi did in the name of power? Could he go that far? And what would he do if he went that far? The more he thought about it, the easier the conclusion came to him. 'Am I really willing to become what I hate?'

He was brought from his thoughts by a rustling to his left. He went to inspect the cause of the sound. The rustling sound happened again, this time from his right. What was going on? It was about this time that Sasuke realized that he didn't even know where he was. He had been so engrossed in his own personal thoughts that he went and got himself lost. "Great." he said to no one in particular. "Well Sasuke, I think we've hit one of those situations where we should've thought less and just should've been on alert. Now you're lost and probably in danger." He heaved a little sigh. And then there was another rustling sound, this time come from right in front of him.

Suddenly, out from the bushes in front of him came a little Nidoran. It was pink in color. And from behind it came another Nidoran, this one bigger and looked to have a bigger horn but it wasn't as big as its sire, which could probably be seen as a good thing. But that raised the question, Exactly what were they doing so far from their nesting grounds?

Suddenly from behind Sasuke came a loud roar. He quickly turned and found himself facing off against a big bear, black in color with several scars all over its person. And it was moving towards them slowly as if relishing their feeling of inferiority. Sasuke grabbed a kunai from his holster and got into a defensive stance. The bigger Nidoran also got into an aggressive stance in front of its smaller counterpart. They knew they were grossly out classed here but right now there only option was to give themselves some sort of advantage. Sasuke looked at the Nidori, the smaller one shaking in fear the and larger one giving a look of defiance. Suddenly the Nidoran ran forward intent on at least wounding the bear enough so that he and its little brother could make a run for it. But the bear didn't make it this long without being able to hold its own. With one swat of its massive paw it knocked the charging Nidoran out of the way and made to charge the other two targets. But Sasuke was already finished preparing his jutsu and unleashed a massive fireball that hit the bear full on in the face blinding and burning it. He picked up the small Nidoran and then ran over to the other. It looked to be only dazed by the mighty blow but it was recovering quickly. When it noticed its brother in Sasuke's arm it took just a small minute to look at Sasuke's eyes before giving a small snort of approval before getting up and running. Sasuke decided to follow it. He wasn't sure how long the bear would be fazed before coming after them but he was determined to be as far away from that thing as he could be before it regained its senses. He wasn't sure how long he had been running but by the time he stopped to catch his breath he realized that he was even more lost than before. But that also meant his teammates would be looking for him soon. What if they came across that thing while looking for him? It was about that time that the little Nidoran started to struggle in his grasp. Gently he put it down and it ran to its brother. He surveyed them for a second.

Now even in nature one can recognize the signs of familial bond. The bigger Nidoran was trying fuss over his little brother but it seemed that his little brother was doing more fussing over its slightly injured brother. It almost reminded Sasuke of all the times he fussed over Itachi in much happier days. Then he heard a twig snap behind him. He quickly turned kunai at the ready until he caught the sight of Naruto coming into the small clearing where he had stopped to catch his breath.

"There you are! Do you know how long you've been gone? We expected you back twenty minutes ago." said Naruto. "Oh. I didn't realize you were playing with the bunnicorns." And then there was a loud roar coming from far off. "Let me guess. Big, mean, and dangerous something?"

Sasuke was done catching his breath. He looked at Naruto and said, "Let's just get back to camp. I'll keep my eyes open for some food on the way." They started to make their way from the clearing when the same bear had come upon them. Sasuke got into a defensive stance and Naruto did the same. The Nidori had started to shake but the bigger one still started to growl as threateningly as it could. But the bear seemed unfazed. All it saw was more meat to eat. "Dobe. This thing seems too motivated. I really don't think we can take it."

"The most we can do is run then but I'm not about to show my back to it as long as it's conscious." It started to advance slowly almost as if it was relishing every moment of fear that it could sense. Then it stood up on two legs standing at its full height of just a little over eight feet tall. "so Sasuke. Any plans?"

Suddenly two huge shapes entered the clearing. It was Needle and Rapier. Both let out mighty roars and charged the black beast intent on taking it down. But the bear was by far stronger than them. It swatted its mighty paws one after another knocking back Rapier and then it caught Needle in it bear hug. It gave a loud roar and sank its fangs into Needle's left shoulder. But before it could rip out a chunk of the Nidori, Sasuke threw a kunai and caught the bear straight in the eye. It roared in pain and let go its grip on Needle who took the chance to ram its long horn into the bears right arm. Suddenly Rapier tackled the Bear and knocked it off its feet. It took a minute to get back on its feet. But it didn't seem fazed. It started to rush the two large Nidori. But just as it reached them, it was slammed in the side by a ball of compressed air and knocked over. That's when it turned its attention to the two humans.

Suddenly Sasuke had a moment of inspiration. "Dobe. You asked me to trust you. Now I'm asking you to trust me. I'm going to prepare a fireball. When I do, I want you to focus one of your air blades at it."

"If you're sure." said Naruto.

The bear began to rush towards them as they both began to go through handsigns. Just as it was about to overtake them they yelled out, "Katon: Grand Fireball/Futon: Air Blade!" Sasuke realeased his fireball and Naruto released his air blade simultaneously. The air blade caught the fireball and sent a blade of white hot fire towards the bear and hit it square in the chest. The Bear let out a loud roar of pain and stopped rushing them to roll on the ground in pain. Suddenly the two Nidori rushed up on its side and both tackled it and knocked it into a tree. The impact shattered the bark. Then the bear got on all fours, gave an indignant roar and walked away from the clearing defeated. Then the two little Nidori ran up to their sires who were looking at Naruto and Sasuke. Then they gave the two a small nod and began to walk out of the clearing. But the smallest one turned and ran up to Sasuke and gave him an inquisitive look. "Go. Go to your family." said Sasuke gently. It nudged him and went back to its sires.

As Naruto and Sasuke made their back to camp, Naruto asked, "Alright. What was all that about? I've never seen you so fraternal."

"It's nothing, alright. I was just in the wrong place at the right time. That's it." said Sasuke a little haughtily.

"Yeah, sure. Well anyway, I already found some food when I collected firewood. I was coming to get you so we could eat."

"I would've got something eventually. But still, thanks for the save, Dobe."

"No problem. Just so long as you have my back if I get in a bind." They returned to camp in a comfortable silence.