Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters in any way, shape, or form.
Chapter 21: War Pt. 2
The sound of water began to slowly wake her.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
It was dark, pitch black in all actuality, although she had expected it, and the kunoichi's eyes opened slowly to look at her surroundings. She was laying in a pool of water -shallow enough so that she could simply lay upon it and still have her head above it.
How long had she been out? She couldn't pinpoint the time even if she wanted to. However long it had been, it was rather irrelevant. Her awakening was not her doing, she knew, and for it to have been now meant that she would be needed soon.
She stood, paying no heed to the fact that she was stark naked. She instead found her hands more interesting, memories of her last time on earth, so to speak, racing through her mind.
The pain of being burned alive had been unmistakably the worst thing she could have ever felt -at one point it had had the opposite effect and had made it feel like her blood was liquid ice. Although her brain had shut down halfway through it, she could still feel the lingering effects, despite her smooth, porcelain skin now, unmarred and untelling of the Amaterasu she had taken full on. Irregardless, it had been her bellflower to take her place, but the pain was still so very real.
Her hands tightened into tight fists quickly, swallowing the memories down.
"Kikyou..."
Another drip of water indicated her arrival, and the pink-haired kunoichi turned to look at the only source of light within the personal dimension of Sakura's head, a woman with blue hair and icy blue eyes before her. "Matsuro-sama." she greeted her Mother Kami courteously, bowing in her direction as Matsuro approached her. "I take it that it's time, then." she frowned slightly. The next twenty four hours would be crucial, and they would determine whether they had succeeded in their forty year mission or not.
Matsuro smiled slightly. "It will be soon." As she said this, she waved her hand, some of the water on the floor lifting to form a circular reflection in front of Kikyou, and shortly afterwards images began to form within it; images of Sakura and her comrades fighting. "You know your queue to act." Matsuro merely stated.
Kikyou's expression turned more serious -perhaps even a little remorseful. "Hai, I know."
Matsuro nodded and began to slowly fade. "Fear not, my child. Everything will work out."
Kikyou did not respond -she surely hoped so, for Sakura's sake.
Even with the promise of reinforcements, a promise given to them by Katsuyu who already guaranteed to them that Tsunade and Naruto were making their way there speedily, their future seemed relatively bleak right now.
They had split up to handle their opponents, and even if Orochimaru joined the fray, Madara had remained atop the tree, watching on in what could be seen as a bored manner, although his focus seemed to be elsewhere -she was sure he was somehow keeping tabs on how the battles elsewhere were fairing.
But her opponent had been chosen for her, one Suna, red-headed boy-ish like puppet before her, although this time she would have the pleasure of having Himawari's help in defeating him a third time.
Kakashi and Itachi had split from the group to handle Kakuzu, a man not at all too difficult to defeat (given the fact that Kakashi had done it once before), but he was simply a hassle to defeat. Sasuke and Hiroto had thusly been required to fight the silver-haired nin by himself, which had left Kisame and Sayuri to handle Orochimaru, and, although strange in nature, Kabuto had been called for by Orochimaru, although none could decipher what it was that they spoke about. He had nodded and disappeared, and although they knew it was not a good idea to let him leave, they had no choice but to, given the enemies before them.
Despite not having the element of surprise against Sasori this time around, he lacked the deadly puppets that made him such a fearsome opponent, seeing as she had destroyed them all, and as such Sakura felt confident that this battle would not differ from their previous interactions by much. And although the nin was inclined to agree that he perhaps could not beat her this time around either, he had not specifically chosen to fight her with this thought in mind. "I've had a lot of time to think about your words, kunoichi." he had began, at first contemplative. "Perhaps in another life I'll truly understand the value of your faith in friendship."
Sakura pitied the man; had his upbringing not been so hard, perhaps there would have been a second chance for him, perhaps as a comrade from Suna.
But it mattered not, in the grand scheme of things, she supposed.
Shisui stared blankly at the male before him, accompanied by his female counterpart and six other figures, apparently under the control of the scrawny red head currently in a wheelchair and several pairs of metal rods seemingly inserted inside of him..
"Konan?" his eyes fell on the blue haired female, and he could instantly see the resemblance she held to that of Marika, although he knew them to simply be cousins.
Konan had not sensed the shinobi until he had spoken, and although casual, she turned carefully to examine the nin. He bore no hitai-ate, his clothing all black. "You must be Shisui." Konan nodded at him. She examined his physique, noticing that despite his several years of living in hiding, she could still feel the raw power pulsing within him. "Itachi's cousin." she added as an elaboration. Sakura had explained to her briefly that he would be helping with the war effort, and for now he would accompany her in relocating Nagato, and afterwards he would follow her into the war.
Shisui nodded, his eyes falling on the nin with his Rinnegan eyes; dangerous eyes by all definitions of the word. "I won't pretend to know where we're going." Shisui spoke honestly, approaching her.
Nagato's sensor abilities are exceptional. He we'll lead us to a safe location where he could impact the war." Konan responded.
"And what of being sensed?" Shisui asked. "Surely Madara must expect you to be coming."
"I can negate sensor ninjas from locating me as well." he finally spoke. "The only way for him to do so would be to come searching for me personally."
Shisui nodded, and although he did not know Madara well enough, he had a feeling he would do just that, and anything else he had to, in order to get those eyes. "And the chances of him doing just that?" he asked seriously.
The red-head stared at Shisui grimly. "I'll destroy these eyes before he even gets the chance to." He spoke seriously. Despite the value of them, he would destroy them in a heartbeat if it meant making sure Madara would not have them. But as it stood now, since there was no imminent danger, the eyes in his sockets were better left to combat the aforementioned Uchiha.
Shisui nodded in acceptance. Nagato was playing with fire for simply being here –as such, he had to know exactly what he was getting himself into.
Obito was disinterested with the fighting -fighting he knew the reincarnated shinobi would eventually lose, but it had been necessary in order to tire them, even if just slightly. Plus, unbeknownst to them, he was stalling; stalling until his clones could locate the remaining Jinchuuriki, and locate the Rinnegan that Madara so desperately desired and needed to see his plans to completion. And not to mention the Impure World Reincarnation Technique was incomplete: and without Kabuto, then they would not be able to resurrect whom he wanted to without any problems. As such, they had instead tasked him with making last minute alterations, especially upon Kabuto's statement that he knew exactly what was wrong with it.
A pleasing development, one which he had to thank Orochimaru for.
But, with great disappointment, he realized that the likes of Hidan, Sasori, and Kakuzu would soon fall -they had never been the strongest in the organization, unfortunately, and without aid they would not be able to stall for Kabuto long enough.
His eyes narrowed in irritation, his eyes falling first on one Uchiha Itachi, the reason for Kisame's betrayal, and then the Haruno heiress that had been the root of all of this mess.
He wouldn't mind personally killing her, he decided swiftly.
Plus, it didn't help that Madara had tasked him with eliminating every Haruno over a decade ago.
'Pesky Harunos' just don't want to die.'
Whether coincidence or not, Sakura and Himawari had defeated Sasori at the same time that Kakashi and Itachi had defeated Kakuzu; and even though they were getting ready to collapse on Hidan (the immortal bastard was just beside himself with joy at the prospect of killing once more) and Orochimaru respectively, suddenly they sensed movement, movement from the one shinobi who had not taken a step from the tree he had first appeared in.
But he had not simply stepped down -no, he had moved with purpose and with perfect killing intent directed at one Haruno Sakura. Had it not been for Sakura's sheer speed, and not to mention her cherry blossom tree, she would have been completely caught out by the enormous shuriken that seemed to emerge from his eye. Luckily for her, the killing intent behind her had been enough, and while she took the time to push Himawari away, her contract had attempted to stop its path. Although it had failed, it had slowed it down just enough to barely miss both Himawari and Sakura by mere inches, and with narrowed eyes Sakura looked onward toward Madara.
'So he's finally making a move.' Her blood pulsed a little faster.
Although displeased, Obito knew that there was no way this attack would have defeated the kunoichi that easily; if he wanted to kill her, then he would have to try a little harder, and with that thought in mind he used his Kamui to access one of his many stored weapons. "Just like rats you guys refuse to die." as he said this, a sword began to protrude from his eyes, and he grabbed it slowly. "But you won't be so lucky this time around, Haruno Sakura."
The malicious killing intent could have left Sakura frozen on the spot if she didn't feel the same hatred towards the nin. But she ignored him and quickly stood, alongside Himawari who would have been dead by now had Sakura not sensed the nuke-nin attacking. Just by that one attack, Himawari began to really understand why Sakura did not want them here; by Kami, this man was so far out of their league that, even if Sakura could stand to look at him, there she was, trembling with fear she didn't know she could feel.
Her blood had frozen over, and the crushing, evil chakra of the man before them, finally let loose, seemed to nearly suffocate her.
Had it not been for Kakashi who thusly came to her side to yank her up by the arm and pick her up, she might have remained in that state of shock for who knows how long. Truth be told, even she had struggled against Sasori, and could not help but notice how Sakura had handled him with a certain finesse that she lacked -whether she could contribute her success to having already fought him before or her raw strength, she didn't know.
But now their difference in strength -not just between herself and Madara, but rather, between her and Sakura was so glaringly obvious and it intimidated her.
Truly, she, Hiroto, and Sayuri perhaps had no right to have signed up for this battle, a belief perhaps shared by the other nin here.
Himawari had been brought to the sidelines to stand next to Katsuyu, the small slug almost instantly latching onto her and focusing some healing chakra into whatever wounds she had acquired throughout her fight with Sasori. "You should sit this one out, my dear." Katsuyu warned, looking onward towards Kakashi, Itachi, and Sakura, now standing before Madara, with Kisame and Hiroto just a way's away fighting Orochimaru, and Sayuri and Sasuke fighting Hidan elsewhere. Truth be told, she could even see Hiroto struggling, although Sayuri was keeping up well enough, although perhaps this was simply because Orochimaru was clearly the deadlier opponent between the two.
"How long until Tsunade and Naruto arrive?" Himawari frowned, looking down at the small slug.
Katsuyu hesitated. "They're at least an hour away." she admitted reluctantly. It truly was a shame that they had been so far away, especially now that the situation called for it, but what could they do now but stall? Himawari frowned, but said no more, staring onward towards the battle ready stances of Sakura, Kakashi, and Itachi.
"You okay Sakura?" Kakashi looked over his student with a clinical eye.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Needless to say, she had hardly racked up any injuries with her fight against Sasori, and thanks to her cherry blossom summon she had regained all of the chakra she had used up during their fight. Needless to say, she still had a ways to go before tiring.
Even as she spoke, her eyes did not waver from that of the enemy Uchiha, whose exterior seemed bored and uncaring, his katana in his hand twirling casually. "I must thank you for making my job easier. I won't have to go through the trouble of tracking any of you down, although it seems to me we're missing a few of your kinsmen. Are they dead already, perhaps?"
Sakura knew he was merely trying to rile her up, so she ignored him, lest she give him the pleasure of reacting negatively. She would not be affected by him, no matter how much he tried.
"And you." he directed this statement to Itachi. "I'm surprised Konoha even let you step foot in the village. Although this perhaps has more to do with your little time travelling girlfriend here, doesn't it? How many strings did she have to pull to get you guys in?" Similarly to Sakura, Itachi seemed cold and unfazed by his words, his figure tense and his Mangekyou Sharingan eyes swirling deceptively, looking for any sign that Obito (as he knew him to be) would strike at any given moment. "I guess it matters not. I'll kill you guys and take the Jinchuuriki."
Sakura snorted. "You don't even know what will happen if you do." She glared. "But I don't suppose Uchihas' ever listen anyway."
Despite being curious of her words, 'What is Madara ultimately planning?' he didn't let the kunoichi's words affect him. Madara had told him he would create a new world –why was the kunoichi under the impression that something totally catastrophic would happen otherwise?
Deciding he no longer cared to continue talking to them (surely Kabuto would be done any minute now, right?) his body finally tensed into that of a fighting stance, his cold, trained eye closely watching their movements.
He knew his former teammate and his student perhaps had superb teamwork, and the same could probably be said about Itachi and her too. And although he adamantly wanted to kill each of them, the kunoichi was first on his list, but he knew that both her counterparts would do anything and everything to save the kunoichi.
He would either have to split them up, or defeat them individually first.
And with a sudden dark, malevolent thought, he decided he wouldn't mind making the kunoichi suffer before disposing of her permanently.
Sweat trickled down Kisame's brow, taking a momentary pause from his battle to look towards Sakura's direction, where she, Itachi, and Kakashi had just engaged in battle with Madara –or Obito, as Itachi had clued him in on.
His heart thudded strongly against his chest, although this didn't have much to do with his own battle as it did Obito, as he had learned the nin to be after a little bit of inquiring on his behalf.
If I fail to defeat him, you surely will.
Itachi's words echoed in his mind hauntingly.
"Kukuku, you should pay attention to your own battle, Kisame. Your teammate won't be able to hold me off for long." His eyes had widened, his attention returning to his battle with a second to spare, immediately bringing his Samehada to block Orochimaru's own Kusanagi. He glanced towards Hiroto's direction, and true to his word, he was beginning to tire, and the injuries he had sustained were beginning to catch up to him.
-Perhaps things only became a little more difficult once Kabuto had once more re-emerged in the clearing. And with a nod towards Obito and a lift of his glasses, he spoke. "The technique is ready for use, whenever you desire it."
Madara grinned in satisfaction, even though none could see it. "Then I guess it's time to get rid of them. How about we start with the Second Tsuchikage?" And almost as if he had commanded it so, a Zetsu clone began to emerge from the ground.
Sakura's eyes widened alarmingly, but from her position trying to avoid an onslaught of Madara's attacks, she could not even approach Kabuto. If he began to summon shinobi with the now perfected technique (as he had said), then these shinobi would prove overwhelmingly harder to kill. After all, they had had the advantage of having weakened resurrected shinobi to fight against with Sasori, Kakuzu, and Hidan.
Sayuri had seen what was going on and had left her battle (near its end) with Sasuke and Hidan, to try and prevent Kabuto from beginning the seals.
But almost as if moving in perfect and complete synchronization, both Orochimaru, Hidan, and Madara retreated from their battles to form a perfect barrier to protect Kabuto and simultaneously push Sayuri back, although this had given Team Sakura a perfect time to regroup.
What would they do now?
Upon Mu's resurrection, Hidan had been cast away, although this only slightly left them more at ease because Mu was perhaps infinitely more capable than Hidan (just perhaps not as deadly, because a drop of blood did not mean certain death).
And despite how capable Sakura thought that they were going into the fight, she began to realize that their previous battles (and not to mention their travels here) had clearly worn some of them down.
Sasuke had handled Mu, while Sayuri and Himawari dealt with Kabuto, which had left Kisame to return to his fight with Orochimaru. Hiroto had been left to sit out momentarily to heal his injuries, which had left Sakura, Kakashi, and Itachi to once more deal with Madara –and Sakura had had no choice on the matter either. Even if she had wanted it otherwise, Madara was clearly dead set on toying with her and only her for the time being (or up until her death, whichever really), which hardly even seemed like an advantage over him because he was able to handle all three of them at once superbly, in between his clones and his raw power. In fact, she had a feeling that, if he really wanted to, he could probably take them all on at the same time and still fare much better than any of them were.
But her Haruno Clan members were failing, and with much trepidation she realized it wouldn't be long until Sayuri and Himawari were either defeated or slain.
"Tell me kunoichi, did you really think that coming for me was wise?" Sakura's thoughts were brought back to reality upon hearing Madara speak once more –a lot closer to her than she would have liked him to be, and her golden eyes turned to watch the Uchiha charging at her.
It had been out of her control, truth be told, but she didn't care to converse with him any longer. "Bite me." She instead settled for, her eyes glowing brightly for a second before her cherry blossom tree emerged from the ground beside her.
Obito grinned, though none could see it.
"Tell me Itachi, are you starting to second guess your decision of double-crossing me?"
Although Madara had first been intent on doing away with the Haruno first, after their small regrouping Itachi had forced Madara's attention on him –he knew it was to hopefully keep the kunoichi safe, but even a mere clone would not stop her impending death.
But now here he was, both of them fighting and clearly deserving more room, because once their Susanoo's respectively had been summoned, the sheer force of their attacks had uprooted the trees before them and made the ground tremble for kilometers on end.
"You're pulling out the stops so early on. That's not like you, Itachi." His eyes narrowed. Regardless, Itachi was not an opponent to take lightly –and doing so would only guarantee his victory over the elder Uchiha.
By far, Itachi was the greatest asset he had cut loose, and he was starting to realize it now. If he was not careful, his sword of Totsuka would be the end of him. And not to mention that, when partnered with the Yata Mirror, nearly all attacks were near useless. But finally he spoke, from his location in his Susanoo's ribcage. "I don't plan on losing anyone else to you, Obito."
Said Uchiha tensed, but clearly none could see the frown on his face. Although displeased, he was not at all surprised that Itachi had found out his true identity –he was too smart for his own good anyhow. Yet, despite him knowing of his true identity, it seemed like not everybody around them was, which he could still probably take advantage of. "Don't be foolish, Itachi. We both know you won't have the stamina to keep this up for long." He taunted Itachi. "I'm assuming you're trying to tire me right? To distract me so I can't dispose of your kunoichi." As he said this, his hands lifted towards his mask, and tentatively he pulled it off. His eyes looked at the battlefield around them. Despite how tauntingly he spoke, he knew he could not touch Itachi in this state. Furthermore, because he lacked both eyes, his Susanoo was far inferior to Itachi's own, and he knew this, and clearly he was exploiting the fact.
But as strong as he was, he would not be able to keep it up for much longer. He had been holding back until now, but Itachi was definitely trying to focus his attention on just him.
An act he would have to exploit if he wanted to get anywhere.
The battle of the titans, as Sakura would like to call it due to their enormous size, had leveled most of the ground around them and had made it difficult to fight, although she had had no choice on the matter.
And even though she was trying her best to defeat what she knew to be a clone, the aforementioned clone seemed to hardly be trying –an infuriating thought, although she tried to not let it get to her. "Alright, I've tired of playing with you, Haruno-chan." Madara mocked. Almost as if taking these words extremely seriously, the languid posture he had taken turned deadly. "It's time to say goodbye."
Sakura's eyes widened, but she had had no time to react as he appeared before her with a well-placed kick to her chest. The blow had completely knocked the wind out of her, but she had successfully landed on her feet nonetheless, her eyes darting around frantically to try and watching the Madara clone, with speeds so great that not even her Hanabira-me had been able to help her.
She had finally found him behind her, barely missing a punch aimed for her face by ducking, and as she attempted to go for a counter kick, her cherry blossom contract also went on the attack. But the clone sensed this and jumped a few feet back, making some hand signs that Sakura hadn't quite ever seen before. "I won't pretend to be so useless anymore, kunoichi." He finally spoke before doing the last seal. "Wood Release: Smothering Binding Technique!" Sakura's eyes widened in confusion, but in an instant the branches that had been darting towards Obito turned instead.
'Mistress I can't control myself…!' she could hear her contract speak to her, and Sakura could discern her voice to be struggling, but part of her was still in awe at the fact that somebody was using Wood Release. It took her a second to recover, but she instantly took a step back, and by pumping chakra into her hands, used chakra scalpels to cut down the tree's several dozen branches.
Her eyes were still wide in alarm after the fact, tensing at the fact that Madara could use her own lineage against her. And even though she could not see his face, she could tell that he was very smug from that very same fact. But he did not even spend the time to gloat. "Let's see you get out of this one, kunoichi." He seemed to chuckle, but moments later the clone vanished, and it made Sakura turn with much confusion to look at the real Madara (Kakashi's own Madara clone had disappeared too, it seemed), his Susanoo still activated. "Wood Release: Great Spear Tree!"
Sakura tensed –in fact, everyone around her tensed, as they began to feel the ground around them shake. Her eyes looked down and she could feel the raw pressure –and not to mention chakra, that was slowly building up, and without a moments notice roots began to break through the dirt, enormous in size, which made everybody have to jump to evade their onslaught. But they kept growing and growing, and Sakura realized with trepidation that these roots were not meant to bind; they were meant to crush. She turned to look at Sayuri and Sasuke, both using their respective tantos to cut the roots as they came (Sasuke enlisting the aid of his lighting affinity and Sayuri her lilies), and Himawari jumping alongside Hiroto and using her Sun Flowers to create a massive barrier between her and the roots, their razor sharp petals cutting the roots as they approached and tried to subsequently smother the barrier flat. Kisame himself had effortlessly morphed himself into his sword (a sword which simple roots would not break), and Itachi seemed untouched from his location in his Susanoo. Orochimaru, Mu, and Kabuto had rightfully so retreated to stand within the safe confines of Obito's Susanoo, not at all affected by the magnitude of Obito's attack.
But Sakura was not as lucky, and upon realizing that she could not use her cherry blossom tree, she had to simply duck and weave and evade the roots as best she could, running up their length until Kakashi suddenly appeared before her, pulled her in with his arms, and in an instance they were gone, teleported away with the safety that his Kamui promised.
Although Sakura felt the wind knocked out of her, they once more emerged within the safe confines of Itachi's Susanoo, who was doing away with the roots as they came. He inclined his head towards them for a few seconds, his eyes roaming their bodies for any indications of injuries; finding none, he turned back around and focused back on the real Obito.
"Kakashi, once he drops his Susanoo, he will return back to his previous fighting style. Once it happens, you must use your Kamui to transport yourself into the other dimension." He informed.
"And from there?" Kakashi spoke seriously.
"From there you must defeat him." He spoke seriously, his eyes turning to stare at Kakashi. "They are twin eyes."
"What-" But suddenly it all made sense to him, why he had asked about the inner workings of his Kamui while trying to save Utakata, and why, above all else, this supposed Madara had not taken off his mask to use the gift of both eyes –he only had one.
And Sakura understood this too, and with an exasperated sigh, she spoke. "This isn't Madara, is it?"
"No, but he has every intention of bringing him back, and we can't let him get to that point." Itachi ascertained. "This is your teammate, Kakashi." He finally revealed, although Kakashi already knew this, and was simply staring in hurt confusion at his former teammate –another Uchiha that had fallen so far from their former selves.
Kakashi nodded wordlessly, his cold eyes staring at the man attempting –and oh so very willing to, kill them all off. A man he had cherished and thought of as a best friend. It had taken nearly five whole minutes, but eventually the roots began to recede and withdrew back into the ground. And although Sasuke and Sayuri were exhausted, they stood still and looked on to make sure that all of their teammates had made it out safe.
Slowly but surely, all of Himawari's sunflowers began to slowly peel away, and although she was barely standing, the force of the roots having been too much to hold on her own, she and Hiroto were unscathed.
Similarly, although not at all strained, Kisame finally emerged from his sword, looking around to make sure everyone had survived the deadly attack –the likes of which none had ever seen nor expected to ever witness.
And despite the tension, Itachi wasted no time to attack, knowing that after a jutsu of that scale, his Susanoo could not hold off for much longer. He had pooled chakra into his stomach and released it around him, and as if this was enough, his Susanoo lifted his hand to its mouth and from there emerged Fire Dragons, terrifying in size. But Obito seemed not affected, as Kabuto and Orochimaru stepped up to erect a tall Water Barrier, Mu simultaneously concentrating chakra into his hands into what they knew would be his Dust-Release techniques. Although the Fire Dragons were successful in breaking the Water Barrier, his Susanoo was able to withstand the blow –but just barely, which gave them great hope.
But then to top it all off, Obito began his own set of hand signs, and just from the initial seals they all knew it would be another Wood-Style technique.
Would it be just as deadly?
"Wood Release: Advent of a World of Flowering Trees!"
They didn't know what to expect of the technique, but to see dozens upon dozens of trees suddenly spawn around them was of no surprise, given the extensive size of the previous jutsu. But suddenly pollen began to spew forth from the flowers that blossomed.
Sakura's eyes narrowed –it was a toxin, but what were its effects? They tensed, watching as the roots tried to capture those it could. Sayuri and Sasuke dodged them efficiently, but it wasn't until the pollen spread to the Susanoo that they became terribly alarmed.
Although they had thought the Susanoo a perfect counter, clearly that was not the case, and almost immediately Itachi broke off his Susanoo, forcing them to jump back, because the pollen had gone completely through it and with just one whiff of it they realized this was meant to knock them unconscious. Just one simple waft had caused debilitating numbness and it had forced all three shinobi to hold their breaths and try to run away from the pollen –but it was gaining on them, and fast. And with this realization, they turned back to Sasuke and Sayuri who had now learned the same thing they had –but they had no way out of this, and Sakura turned warily towards Kakashi. Himawari and Hiroto had also identified this, but in between Hiroto's injured state and Himawari's chakra-exhausted one, all they could do was weakly jump away, and Sakura identified with dull fear that if Kakashi could not get to them, then they would succumb to the pollen.
"Get them out of there." She spoke, although still not breathing, and Kakashi nodded wordlessly and disappeared within the confines of his eye.
Sakura jumped alongside Itachi and held him close, and within an instance a cherry blossom tree emerged, 'Please don't use this one against me.' she prayed silently. It's hollow trunk opened up to reveal a small enclosing, and she and Itachi quickly made their way into it. It immediately shut closed, and Sakura and Itachi took a tentative breath –upon realizing that there was no pollen, Sakura breathed a heavy sigh of relief, never mind the fact that this tree was meant for one –as such, she was tightly pressed against Itachi in what could almost be seen as an intimate way were they not in the midst of war.
"Mu's Dust-Release will be done any minute now." Sakura stressed. "Once it is, we won't be safe here."
Itachi knew this of course, and he was already trying to think of a way out of this. "The only way to stop the pollen will be to destroy the flowers."
"Well that's going to be a lot harder to do if we can't breathe." Sakura frowned. The only one probably capable of doing it would be Kakashi with his Kamui, who would be able to pop in and out of the battlefield, but she knew his eyes had their limit and he must be nearing it soon, what with him not only saving Sakura, but now Sayuri and Sasuke, and Himawari and Hiroto if he was able to reach them on time.
-Unless she could do it from here, which would not typically be too hard. "I can try it, but Obito can take control of my trees. Even now we're not safe."
"We'll have to try something." Itachi stated seriously. He would be able to handle Mu, but they had to get rid of the pollen first.
Sakura nodded and closed her eyes, putting her hand on the base of her tree and concentrating chakra into it. 'Tree-san, is there any way we can take this out?' sweat beat down her brow, concentrating her chakra to form a clear image of the battlefield in her head. There were two dozen pollen flowers scattered everywhere –and of course it was no coincidence that there was absolutely no pollen where Obito and his shinobi stood, for he was sure that he could control where they went. But with much forewarning she noted that Kakashi had been unsuccessful in reaching Himawari and Hiroto, as they know lay unconscious in the corner of the clearing. But Kakashi, Sayuri, and Sasuke were gone, and it seemed to her that Kisame had buried himself deep underground.
'I can try.' Her contact stated in agreement. 'It is that man I'm worried about.' And Sakura knew this posed as a threat, and with Himawari unconscious, this left it as Sayuri's responsibility. Obito might be able to control her tree, but the same would not hold for flowers, after all.
"Obito will know something is up the moment I do something. Once he realizes, we won't be safe here." She commented seriously.
"Our best bet is to destroy them at once." Itachi agreed. "But to do that we'll need Kakashi." And of course, Kakashi was a brilliant man in his own respects –he would eventually realize what had to be done, and acting together gave them a much higher chance of success than going in one by one.
Sakura nodded, understanding that they would have to simply wait. And so they sat there was the minutes ticked by, until she could finally feel a pulse of chakra, an indication that not just Kakashi, but Sayuri and Sasuke had also emerged from the alternate dimension.
In an instance, Sakura began acting. "Get ready." They would have mere seconds to leave the tree once she began her attack.
Itachi didn't need to be told, and as he began to feel the tremors around them, this one Sakura's doing, his eyes once more developed into the Mangekyou, no matter how much it strained his eyes.
'You need to leave now Mistress.' Sakura contract forced them out, and with one last inhale of air, they jumped out. Sakura herself had already destroyed four, and Kakashi and Sasuke were running around with their tantos slicing what they could, and sensing the sudden movement Kisame appeared and began to take a similar action as his teammates.
But Sayuri and all of her lilies perhaps did the most, her plants beginning like little seeds and entangling themselves around the flowers. Simultaneously, they latched onto the flowers with a vice grip and completely sliced them. And although Obito tried to stall them with his roots, clearly neither him nor his shinobi could risk stepping into the battlefield.
Itachi, having already foreseen this, had gone to the edge of the clearing with a Body Flicker technique, and using one of the strongest Wind techniques in his arsenal, attempted to blow the pollen up and away from the battlefield.
It had been damn near a minute before any of them could have a breath of fresh air, but once they did their lungs burned and yearned for that sweet oxygen.
Obito seemed displeased, but at least two Harunos' were now successfully down for the count.
But Obito was growing weary of the fighting, and Madara would be displeased if he took much longer to progress his plans. As such, he had to hurry up and kill them and capture the Tailed Beasts. He turned to see Mu's technique nearly at its peak, and with a grin he realized he would end this now.
The five remaining shinobi regrouped, exhaustion beginning to show for the Mangekyou users, but seeing the size of Mu's technique wasn't the slightest bit calming.
"Sayuri, I want you to go and get Himawari and Hiroto out of here."
Sayuri scowled, clearly displeased with the order, but upon seeing Sakura's face expression, knew this was not something to argue against. With a nod, she withdrew from the group and went to carry her cousins to safety, of course not before making sure that they were only unconscious.
"I don't mean to alarm anyone but we have to deal with Mu." Kisame stated, his eyes narrowed.
"I have an idea," Kakashi stated with a nod, "although I will require a strong genjutsu." He looked at Itachi for help.
Understanding what he meant, he gave a small nod. "We'll have to work quickly, lest Obito catches on."
They had had mere seconds before the technique was shot. Kakashi had disappeared, and the remaining shinobi dispersed to avoid the cubic Dust-Release attack. Once captured within it, it would be near impossible to get out on time, especially not in the proportion that Mu had concentrated it.
But Itachi had no intentions of actually running away from it, and despite feigning to have eventually been caught, his Mangekyou eyes spun wildly in his direction.
But just a second's glance was all Mu needed before he was swept away in the genjutsu, and that gave Kakashi enough time to appear behind him, a dangerous act given his close proximity to Obito.
But he had noticed this, and with alarmed, wide eyes he instinctively jumped away, nary missing the Dust-Release jutsu that previously been around Itachi and had now promptly enclosed around Mu. Any millisecond longer and it would have gotten all of them too, and with the remaining time Kabuto had left, he made Mu split into two, one emerging out of the jutsu before it went up in a puff of smoke.
Before any of them could consider engaging on Kakashi, he was already gone, quick as lightning, and with irritation Obito realized he should have perhaps gotten his eye back from his former teammate before he had become such a hassle.
Nevertheless, it was too late for that now, although he was pleased to find that Kakashi had absolutely overused his Kamui for the time being.
He, along with the two other Harunos', and the third that had gone to take them to safety, were down for the count. "Let's finish this."
And as he spoke this he finally charged.
Even if he had been surprised and nearly decimated by Kakashi's Kamui and Itach's genjutsu, Obito had seemed unperturbed and if anything slightly fueled to fight more.
Sakura could tell, with growing uneasiness, that their fighting would be done soon, and she had not a clue what that meant for her or her teammates.
Kakashi, despite being weakened, refused to stop fighting, even as Kabuto came at him with the intent to kill.
Kisame had taken over fighting Orochimaru, while Sasuke finished off Mu, half his strength gone (and as such a much easier target), which had left Sakura and Itachi to handle Obito.
Sayuri had returned to battle after five minutes and had planted a lily upon Kakashi, which, although slow in its efforts, would heal Kakashi and help smooth over the exhaustion he was feeling from the use of his Mangekyou. But he had not lasted long, and as such she had forced him to retreat for now. Her lily would help him with the effects of the Mangekyou, and until he felt himself good enough to fight, he should remain in the sidelines.
But even though Mu was at half his strength, Kabuto had barely fought, and was as such able to easily repel Sayuri. Even Sasuke was struggling against the Iwa-nin, and although Kisame was holding his own fairly well, things only got increasingly harder once Obito created more clones to aid in their battle.
'Kami help us.' He thought, looking at the battlefield. This would not last long.
"Your teammates are failing, kunoichi. What will you do now?" And despite how much she wished his words to not be true, she couldn't help but look around. Itachi was across the other end of the clearing, drawing away the real Obito's attention from her, and Kisame was slowly being pushed back by the joint efforts of the Obito clone and Orochimaru. And despite how capable Sasuke was, he was perhaps nowhere near as strong as he had been in her original timeline due to Orochimaru's guidance.
"How about you surrender and let me kill you now, and I'll make sure they have a painless death?"
Sakura could have snorted, but she didn't want to give him the satisfaction of getting a reaction out of her. "So long as I can stand I will not let you hurt my friends."
But Obito merely laughed. "You think you have a say in this?"
"I must commend your commitment to try and keep her safe, Itachi. A long time ago I may have been just like you –foolishly and unconditionally in love. A mere slave to the woman who captured my heart." Itachi would not pretend to know Obito's past, but the way he spoke made him realize that the elder Uchiha was definitely not born evil. "But love only gets you killed in the long run. I'm doing you a favor, really."
Itachi's eyes narrowed. "You will not lay a finger on her."
But Madara simply laughed, his cold eyes staring straight into Itachi's. "But it's already too late."
There was an explosion at the other end of the clearing, one strong enough to make her turn away from her battle to see what had happened –clearly it had been the joint attacks of Itachi and Obito, but for some reason Itachi was not at all focused on his battle. In fact, his eyes were dead set on her.
'What the-' but she had no time to ponder it. The Obito clone (what had been the clone anyhow, for now he was the real thing) appeared right in front of her, and even though she prepared to counter, he went right through her, although the shackled chains (which had not been there before, so why were they now?) to his wrists persisted in their physical state. He seemed once more tangible once he had passed all the way through her, just as she felt the tight chains press against her throat, the force on her larynx near crushing as he wrapped their long length around her neck several times.
"Say goodbye, kunoichi." he knelt down, if only for his un-masked mouth to be pressed up against her ear, speaking malevolently. Her eyes widened in panic as he held her up, and she could see it, clear as day (it seems he wanted her to witness her own death), the Obito clone which had swapped places with him making hand signs to a jutsu she knew would kill her. It had seemed to her at first to be a piercing arrow of light slowly forming in the palm of his hands. Upon further analysis, she realized it was a tightly condensed spear-like lighting technique, one she had never seen before, not that it mattered anyhow. Her eyes would not save her here.
Sakura turned frantically to her left, seeing her sensei badly beaten and on his knees, panting heavily with blood slowly sliding down from his lone Sharingan eye. Even Sayuri, who had refused to sit in the sidelines, was now alongside Kakashi, trying desperately to prevent Kabuto from getting any closer to them, although Sakura could only be thankful at this rate that Obito had not done away with them yet.
And across from Itachi, currently trying to regain his senses from the strong attack, she could see Kisame caged dangerously by a water prison technique, slowly drowning him.
There was no one to save her now.
She had to free herself
And even though she said this and she fought against the restraints at her neck, the more she resisted the tighter they got, to the point where her vision blurred simply from the lack of oxygen.
Her cherry blossom tree was rendered useless, if only because of Obito's own overwhelming Wood-Style technique which had literally turned her own contract against her. She tried her best to claw at the chains, to try and break them, but apparently Obito had thought ahead, fortifying the bonds with his own chakra. And even though she tried to kick him from his position behind her, she could hardly reach him, especially not after the dirt she stood on morphed into wood bindings that kept her in place. "Wood Release: Tree Bind Flourishing Burial" Obito grinned in sadistic glee.
She heard the technique -through her hazy eyes, could see it coming her way, and for a second the gravity of the situation was gone and outwardly she couldn't help but wonder if this was what the prophecy had foretold. For her to be choked to death and subsequently shot with lightning.
It happened faster than she could register as a figure dashed in front of her, simultaneously grabbing onto her figure and stabbing Obito with a kunai, although he didn't seem the least bit threatened by this as he Body Flickered away, to stand alongside his clone, the chains at Sakura's throat gone with him. Sakura looked up at her savior, her lungs filling with oxygen once more, although her eyes were filled to the brim with tears after having gone so long without air, and not to mention the painful pressure at her throat.
He tried to push her away, to pull her from the impending attack, but the roots had already enveloped her, nearly entirely up to her waist. He noticed this with trepidation and his eyes looked up at her.
She had understood, even as she could see the imminent attack. "Itachi, move." she commanded breathlessly, trying to regain her voice, but he made not a sound or slight action. Instead, his arms wrapped more securely around her, and by the mere action her eyes widened alarmingly. "No! St-!" But it was too late. She heard the sound of ripping flesh, felt the wind knocked out of her by the sheer force of the attack as Itachi's full weight was suddenly upon her. In fact, she also felt a burning at her side -not nearly as painful as it should have been had she hit the jutsu full on.
Kisame, nearing his last seconds of consciousness, watched on with confusion at the sight before him. His oxygen-lacking brain could not register completely the sight before him, the sight of the Lighting technique piercing through his teammate, but within the next second he felt the water prison go down -aid from Sasuke, he could recognize, and with a deep inhale of air he forced himself up. With a Body Flicker to Obito and a swift swipe from his Samehada, he was able to momentarily distract the Uchiha from continuing his attack. His shoulder had been shredded severely from his sword, although he seemed not the least bit concerned. Despite this, it had been enough to cause the Wood Bindings around Sakura to recede into the ground, but even so he did not look away from his attack, which had forced Kisame to due the same, mostly out of morbid curiosity.
Because he had been too late, Sasuke had saved him too late, and the damage had clearly already been done.
Even if Sakura was released from the wood bindings at her waist, she dare not move, her eyes wide and confused.
Time seemed to slow down, almost to an excruciating stop. 'No...' Her eyes were wide, all fighting and sound but a buzz in her ear as she saw his figure fall limp before her, and she could do nothing but try and cling on to him as they both fell to their knees, Itachi's weight fully on her, blood pooling around them. But this was not her blood, and she knew it just by seeing the look in his eyes, his normally deep onyx pools suddenly being drained, turning grey and lifeless at an alarmingly fast rate, in a manner she knew could only mean one thing. His eyes hung low and his head rested upon her shoulder, as if the weight of the world was willing it down. "I-Itachi...?" she was almost hesitant to call out his name, in fear he wouldn't respond –couldn't respond.
But her voice had seemingly shocked him back into attention, and even though it had taken him nearly all his strength, he lifted his head to look up at her. "Sa-" but if he was attempting to say her name, he never got to as blood splattered from his mouth and onto her chest, although all Sakura could stare at was his eyes, his usual beautiful deep eyes neither as beautiful nor as deep.
'No... NO...' Tears welled up in her eyes and streamed down her cheeks, mixing with the blood on her face. "Itachi... Itachi say something... You'll be fine, okay? Bear with me..." But the more she spoke the more she could tell Itachi couldn't quite understand her, and it made her heart drop to her stomach. "Itachi... please..." It was a feeble, desperate attempt to see some fleeting sign of life within him, to capture his attention, as her hands immediately darted to try and heal his injuries, but frankly, there was nothing to heal -a clear hole in his midsection, an indication that she could not help him no matter how desperately she wanted to. The jutsu which Obito had used had gone directly through him, and had even injured her, but not to a severe extent (then again, she couldn't even feel the pain right now, too distracted by the sight before her). But even though her brain knew this her heart did not make the same concession, her hands turning green to try and heal the damage. "Onegai... Itachi... Itachi you promised..." she pleaded once more, her heart breaking at the mention of their oath, even as she saw him lift his hand slowly, its quivering movement slowly making its way to her forehead until it placed but two fingers upon said facial feature.
"I'm sorry, Sakura..." There seemed to be a ghost of a smile on his face, as if he were at peace with what had just happened, and within the next second his hand fell limply to his lap, and suddenly it was all gone, every ounce of life she had ever seen in this man, any sort of emotion, whether good or bad, any sort of strength left in the man lying before her.
And so she sat there, lost and with no meaning, almost as if the realization could not sink in, as if she would not allow herself to acknowledge the sight before her. 'Itachi... Itachi is... he is...' The thought made instant tears stream down her face as she got the urge to shake him, to wake him from his slumber because Kami, this could not be it. This could not be the last time she would see him, especially not after everything that they had gone through. "Itachi... wake up, onegai..." her voice cracked, and it was the last desperate attempt she could muster, her hand cupping his cheek as she stared into his eyes.
Cold. Hard.
Dead.
She could hear Sasuke in the background, and could distinctly see him finally stand from his position alongside Kisame, clutching on to his wounded arm. But the sight of Itachi on the floor with blood pooling around him had been enough to stir within him more energy, even as Kisame tried to hold him back with a tired but firm hand on his shoulder. Sasuke looked down at the nuke-nin in question, Why won't you let me save my nii-san? But he would not let himself be emotionally attached to the situation, hell, he knew it was coming, and as such he was not at all idealistic of Itachi's true status. If Sasuke approached the man, it would only make it harder for them to retreat, Kisame knew, and now more than ever they needed to regather their strength, especially now that he could distinctly feel Tsunade and Naruto's strong chakra signatures approaching their location.
And there Sakura sat, seeing all of this in slow motion, but unable to move even a fraction of an inch as she held onto Itachi's body -utterly lifeless.
"NO! ITACHI. YOU CAN'T DIE. GET UP. ITACHI! ITACHI-NII!" It was a desperate attempt on Sasuke's behalf to try and stir some sort of response from the elder Uchiha, but his begging fell on deaf ears as tears streamed down his face, his blazing Sharingan suddenly manifesting into something entirely different than its original form. "LET GO OF ME. I'LL KILL HIM. I'LL FUCKING KILL HIM!" he shouted in anger, his eyes suddenly shifting to his target, Obito standing several meters away in near boredom. It had not been his intended target, but it had been someone equally as deserving to die for causing this whole conflict anyway, he supposed. He always knew Itachi was a wildcard.
'Itachi...' Sakura turned away from her temporary distraction of Sasuke, her eyes once more falling on the figure of the Uchiha she cared for so deeply. She was hopeless and lost and utterly unbelieving of the sight before her, her hand slowly lifting off of his face and onto her lap.
It wasn't supposed to end like this.
It was all she could think, the only sentence repeating over and over in her mind.
They were supposed to defeat Obito and Madara and he lifted of his charges for the slaughter of his kinsmen, and welcomed to Konoha. He was supposed to be carrying Saki on his shoulders one sunny day and march his way to the Ichiraku's ramen stand where Team 7 was waiting for them.
But this...
She could physically feel her heart and mind tear at the sight as it dawned on her.
None of that would happen now.
And with that realization suddenly a throbbing pain erupted in her body, rippling through her and coursing through her veins like a toxic poison, her hanabira-me spinning wildly out of control as its petals changed into a design all their own, unique from anything any of her Haruno Clan members had ever seen, until she suddenly fell limp alongside Itachi, her tears falling to the dirt beneath her and mixing with the pool of blood now surrounding the two of them.
'Itachi...'
Tsunade didn't know what to expect when walking into the clearing –or more like crater that her shinobi had formed during battle.
But certainly the destruction before her was not it.
Nearly all of her shinobi, save for Sayuri and Kisame were either on their knees, defeated, or already unconscious on the floor. But that had not been what had caught her attention. It had come to her in the form of Sasuke's screams as soon as she and Naruto had entered the clearing, but she didn't understand it until she finally saw Itachi's fallen body on the floor, and Sakura's own falling shortly afterwards.
She and Naruto tensed almost immediately, although it seemed to her that Naruto took the scene before him much harder than she did. 'But of course… this is his first real interaction with the bloody truth of war.' Her apathetic inner thought, although she had no real time to mourn Naruto's innocence.
It was all beside the point, as things stood now. She and Naruto were the only ones capable of fighting right now. And given the fact that only Orochimaru, Kabuto, Madara and a deceased Mu stood in the clearing, she knew they would need a hell of a lot more than just them to hold their own.
"Naruto, I know this isn't what you want to hear right now, but we need to retreat, before Madara gets to his senses." Because from where he stood, he was currently clutching onto his shoulder, seemingly severed although he did not bleed, oddly enough.
Naruto had snapped back a lot quicker than she had expected him to, and with a nod, he made the appropriate handsigns and made multiple shadow clones. "I'll grab Sasuke, Himawari, and Hiroto." He spoke solemnly.
Tsunade nodded and looked wordlessly to Kisame all the way across the clearing, who seemed to understand what they were going to do. Consequently, he looked at Sayuri gravely "Go get Kakashi kid." She nodded anxiously and retreated to pick up the silver haired nin. Kisame turned and jumped towards Sakura's location, just as Tsunade had arrived alongside him and began to examine the pink haired kunoichi.
Tsunade could feel her pulse, knew she was alive and stable, but what had prompted her fainting spell? Although upsetting to note, her medic mind could identify with the fact that this was entirely too much blood, but none much of it was Sakura's, despite the nasty burn at her side. Nevertheless, this was a question to be answered when they were not in imminent danger. As such, she picked up her student, grimacing at the blood coating the girl, but ignoring it. Similar to her own train of thought, the Kiri-nin began picking up Itachi's lifeless body and retreating with her, as Himawari, Sasuke and Hiroto were being carried off by the Naruto clones, and Sayuri was helping Kakashi limp away from the scene.
The three remaining shinobi did not move from their location, Obito examining his wound and watching it with mild irritation, and Orochimaru and Kabuto standing alongside him, a few meters back.
"Are you okay with letting them go?" It had been Kabuto to ask his question after watching them disappear within the forested expanse, taking this time to lift his round glasses from the bridge of his nose, Orochimaru approaching Madara as he did so, not a care in the world that Mu lay defeated on the floor (he was already dead anyway).
Obito frowned slightly, but did not seem overall affected. "It's not like they're going anywhere where we can't follow." He stated decidedly. His senjutsu would track them whenever they went, if he wanted to follow them. "Besides, we should take this time to prepare the jutsu." He spoke seriously. His clones had yet to find the Rinnegan, and without it he could not revive Madara, save with the Impure World technique. Madara would be displeased, but it would have to do if he could not locate the damned Rinnegan wielder soon. "Mu will make a good conduit; I'm waiting for more Zetsu clones as it stands."
"Very well then."
End of Chapter
I know in the Naruto-verse, you technically need both Mangekyou Sharingan eyes to be able to use Susanoo, but for the sake of my plot all you need is one, although it will be greatly weakened from its original version :)
But other than that, the chapter is out! It's a little shorter than usual but I kind of wanted to end on the cliffie of Itachi's death.
Please don't kill me :). If you want to find out what happens next, drop a review, and the more I get the faster I'll update
And again, my fight scenes have never been the best so any pointers will be graciously taken
-MarzSpy