Uchiha Corporation Building
I grasped Naruto's hand, fully understanding what we must do. The chances of us getting out of this alive were slim, but since we knew the real truth of the crystals I had a feeling that we might just beat this. Madara might have his own truth, but it was a sham as far as I knew. We would find out whose reality was true soon enough as Madara pushed us towards the tenth steel pillar.
"Both of you are going to hold onto that pillar, understood?" He asked as he roughly took our arms into his hands.
"Don't you need the crystals around the pillars? From the looks of it, that's what you did for the rest of the nine," Naruto observed while his cerulean eyes glared holes into Madara's skull. It was true; all nine pillars contained a crystal atop it.
At Naruto's question, Madara gave a slight low chuckle. "You see, there were people there once, in the same position you are now in. But their power from the crystals they obtained has been Extracted already."
"So you hunt down those people too?" I grounded out. "You're a monster."
"It is all a matter of perception," he said simply and with that said, he roughly placed our hands onto the steel pillar. As soon as our hands touched it, the crystals around our necks immediately jumped forward to where their tip was touching the sides of the pillar. The steel was freezing to the touch, my fingers burned at the foreign feeling. Upon closer inspection I could see little engravings carved into the pillar that would be impossible to see from far away. If we weren't in so much trouble, the carvings would actually be very pretty to look at right about now.
"Those pillars have a great amount of spiritual energy sealed inside them. And to answer your question from earlier boy, I need you two since the crystals energy has seeped into your bodies. The crystals alone do not hold all the power I require for true peace," Madara explained while he circled us like a vulture.
He then clapped his hands together and smirked, "Let the Extraction begin." As he walked towards the center of the circle that the ten pillars surrounded I turned to Naruto. His eyes determined eyes found mine; he was unwavering in his confidence, knowing what was going to happen. Even though our lives were hanging in the balance, I could see no regret in those eyes.
"You ready for this Sakura?" Naruto asked, the honorific now dropped.
"Yeah, Naruto. Together till the end of the line right?" I asked softly, ignoring Madara's chanting from the side.
His hand on the pillar brushed against my fingertips lightly and he smiled the sunshine smile that only he could give. "Right."
The room started to shake suddenly, so I peeled my eyes away from Naruto to look at the madman in the center. All the engravings on the floor and pillars, including ours, began to glow. Madara grabbed the Yomi crystal from his neck and quickly smashed it into the center where all the sealing engravings met. The moment he did this created a gust of wind around us, and the carvings glowed even brighter. My pink locks blew around my face, but I was determined to keep looking Madara's way, I refused to turn away now.
"Now for the Extraction," Madara called out over the wind as he turned and walked our way. His eyes held a deep darkness in them as he glided towards us; he was far beyond any reasoning at this point.
He put his thumbs on our forehead, and pressed down harshly. I could feel the burning sensation the moment his finger brushed against my head. It hurt, damn, it hurt like hell. I clenched my teeth at the pain, refusing stubbornly to call out in pain. Now was not the time for weakness, no I had to pull through and so did Naruto. I couldn't see how he was fairing due to my eyes being sealed shut because of the pain, but knowing him he was probably fighting to not scream either. Tough as nails we both are and that knowledge was the only hope I had that we could make it out of this.
The burning from Madara's thumb was white hot now, and I couldn't help but to let a whimper of pain out. It felt like his touch was burning me from the inside out, setting my organs and blood on fire within me, burning anything of importance on the inside. For all I know, my body was really on fire and I was just in too much pain to notice.
I could feel my energy rapidly leaving my body, it was getting to the point where I would have nothing left. But, I stood my ground and endured the pain. If Naruto could do it, then so could I.
And with a final press from the thumb on my forehead, Madara screamed in concentration. It was blinding, the pain. For all I know Madara could be feeling the same pain as we were from the Extraction. Good, he deserved it and so much more.
Suddenly everything stopped, the pain, the wind, everything just stood still. What was agonizing to open my eyes, but I had to see what happened. The Extraction couldn't be over, we were still alive right?
Looking past Madara I could see two figures, shrouded in light. My body was in too much pain, overcome with exhaustion, to be able to make out what the figures looked like. But, I could hear their voices.
"Who dares to remove our powers?" An angry, yet melodic voice said. A female?
"It is really you isn't it," a deep voice asked, I could immediately tell it was Madara. Slimy bastard.
The two lights moved closer to us as my breathing became labored. I was getting to the point of not being able to breath. This was not how it was supposed to happen right?
"So it is you," a booming voice said, "You have no right to remove us from our crystals human."
"But you are the embodiments of the power of Izanagi and Izanami, I'm freeing you from the prison they put you in," Madara tried to explain.
"Only to put us into another prison," the deeper voice from the light exclaimed.
The steel pillar? That has to be what he meant, unless…
"My body is not a prison. With you two and the power of the nine others I have collected inside of me, we could bring true peace to this world. That is why you were created," Madara shouted in conviction.
Not being able to take the pain racking my body, I fell to me knees, but my crystal and hand stayed glued to the pillar, unable to fall with me. If I could hold on for just a little longer…
"You are a fool to remove us from our home," the female voice scolded, "Without us in those crystals, our vessels will die."
"But they are useless human thieves!" Madara cried out as he pointed at us, or was he? I could barely make out anything with my blurry vision. "Do what you were created for, combine your powers with the nine inside of me and bring about true peace!"
"Peace? We were not created for such a thing," the deeper voice scoffed.
At this I could hear a cough next to me. Naruto!
"Heh, knew….you…were an idiot," Naruto painfully coughed out.
The black mass that was Madara in my vision whipped around and slammed Naruto's head into the side of the steel pillar. "You will be dead soon enough boy, you have no place in this conversation with great and respected powers."
"No, it is you that has no place here," the deeper voice from the light said.
Gathering up as much strength as I could I heaved out, "You…don't know…their true…ugh, nature."
Madara whipped over to me and grounded out, "What exactly does that pertain to?"
The figures enveloped in light came closer. "What the child means, is that we were not created for peace, that is not our nature at all," the melodic voice said forcefully.
"No," the deeper voice stepped in, "we are balance. Izanagi and Izanami personified their power into us to create a balance. Nothing more, nothing less filth."
"No," Madara whispered in anger, "that's impossible that's-"
That's when the lights shone brighter than anything I had ever seen before. It was blinding, but cool and soothing compared to the fire that coursed through my veins. I couldn't see anything, nothing but the white light. I wonder, is this what it's like to die?
~Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, just the plot of this story
Hi guys it's been a while! I hope none of you have your pitch forks out ready to burn me for being so fucking late. I ask for your forgiveness since I now can regularly update this story I hope. Plus it is nearing its end so thank you to all that have stayed with it!
Your reviews are what inspired me to finish this so please keep them up!