Yo -Kakashi handwave-
-sigh- this always happens ( when i say always i mean its happened before :') ) i lose inspiration and the will to write towards the end of the ff.
Disclaimer: Naruto mine? Bitch please. PAHAHAHHAHAAHA, HAVE YOU READ THIS! Kishimoto would spit at my feet.
O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.
Call it instinct? Looks like denial to me.
O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O
Madara whipped round to see Sasuke darting forward, chidori in hand. His eyes narrowed quickly and he rolled to the side before jumping away.
Sasuke had since learned from that spat with Naruto on the hospital roof how to control his Chidori, and stopped before hitting the helpless girl on the floor, letting the electricity fade.
Thank kami-sama the rain had let up. He remembered the last time he had trained with his chidori in the rain. Kabuto had then treated him for third degree burns.
"Traitor," Madara spat, his fist clenching at his side. Sasuke smirked.
"Nothing i havent heard before."
A small whimper from beside him made him glance down to see Sakura blinking through half lidded eyes, looking up at him. Her mouth was moving yet no words seemed to be spoken.
"I have grown tired of you Sasuke, if i have to, i'll just make you on the brink of death, then use your eyes," He said darkly, his eyes glinting.
Sasuke watched as Sakura's eyes widened slightly and her hand twitched by her side.
"D-dont," She whispered, clenching her eyes closed with the pain of speaking.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed momentarily before he turned his head slowly away from her.
"Does she mean that much to you?" Madara spoke suddenly, his head cocking to the side slightly.
"Hn," Sasuke turning his head away from the man slightly, though never losing eye cotnact.
As Sakura looked up at him, her eyes falling in and out of focus, she thought she just saw a glimmer of the boy she used to know.
"Bonds make you weak." He chuckled darkly, leaning back slightly, Sasuke could feel the smirk oozing from him.
'Bonds make you weak, little brother,"
"Itachi!"
Sasuke's eyes narrowed dangerously, as he turned his head back to the man. The blood flowing readily around his body boiled and bubbled within his veins as his anger seemed to intensify.
"Was it something i said?" Madara said airily with mock innocence.
"What did you say?" He hissed.
"You heard."
"You knew about the mission," Sasuke questioned quietly, "You knew about Itachi's mission."
"And if i did?" He said quietly, shrugging slightly.
"BASTARD!" Sasuke roared, his anger reaching its peak as he lunged forward, katana drawn.
Madara smirked at the reaction and waited for Sasuke's attack. The boy slashed the sword towards him and Madara simply stepped to the side, merely evading the fatal attack.
Sasuke roared in frustration as his moves became erratic towards the man.
"Now now Sasuke, dont be reckless," Madara said, his voice strangely empty and void of any real emotion despite the dire situation.
They fell into a pattern of Madara dodging to the right when Sasuke attacked and then the left, and so on.
But suddenly, when Madara was meant to fall to the right, he simply disappeared.
...And re-appeared standing a few feet from the fallen girl.
He was at a loss of what to do.
He froze.
And you can never do that in battle, it costs lives.
"Raikiri!" A loud, sharp voice echoed into the surroundings and a bright flash of light passed in front of Sasuke's eyes, snapping him back to reality.
A man in a Jounin jacket slammed into the man kneeling beside the fallen girl, knocking him backwards and away from her.
Sasuke's widened gaze followed the men as they tumbled backwards, the bright blue light fading as quickly as it came.
"Kakashi?" He said, under his breath.
"Sasuke, i suggest you get your act together!" Kakashi called out to the younger boy sternly.
Sasuke resisted the urge to 'tch' at the fact he was treating him like a child as he used to.
He shook his head lightly quickly darted towards the girl.
She looked at him blankly as he slipped his arms under her knees and neck and pulled her into him.
He spotted a large piece of debri just to the side of the clearing and dashed towards it, earning a pained gasp from her.
He set her down, only to find her hand was weakly attached to his shirt.
"5 minutes... 5..s-seconds."
He looked at her for a few moments before closing his eyes dismissively and wrenching, maybe slightly too hard, her hand away from his clothing and jumping back to beside Kakashi.
Sakura's green eyes quivered as the tears gathered in them, one already sliding down her cheek and soaking into the ground beneath her.
"Kakashi."
"Sasuke, if we're going to even have a chance of beating this guy, we need to work together. Is that understood?" He said seriously, neither male taking their eyes off the figure who was shakily getting to his feet.
"Hn."
"Sorry, didnt catch that. Pardon?"
"Oh shut up, Kakashi."' Sasuke said coldly, flicking a glance towards the man on his right.
"Oh, i thought you said okay, but nevermind." Kakashi shrugged.
No, Madara is the one to kill. Not Kakashi. Not Kakashi.
Madara swayed momentarily, placing his fingertips to the mere scratch on his forearm where Kakashi's ninjutsu had nicked him. His finger's slid against the sticky, red substance gathering there.
"Impressive," He muttered under his breath, rubbing the blood between his thumb and index finger.
"Why thank you." Kakashi offered politely, Sasuke however, nearly, nearly, rolled his eyes.
"But if you think thats going to be enough, you are sorely mistaken." Madara stated, his arm dropping to his side.
"Of course we know that." Kakashi said seriously, pulling his mask off his sharingan eye.
His personality can change within a matter of minutes...
"Oh another Sharingan wielder, how ... interesting." Madara said darkly, his eyes narrowing as a smile graced its way onto his hidden face.
"But, alas, even that shall not suffice. I've met many ninja here, and the sharingan copies techniques. You can only imagine the fun i've had."
The two other shinobi stayed silent, closely watching the man.
" Falcon Needles." Sasuke barely caught it, his acute hearing coming into use.
"MOVE." His voice boomed, and both males jumped or rolled to the left as a giant bird appeared in sky only to screech loudly and befall a flurry of senbon onto the scene below.
"He's trying to separate us, how do we get to him." Kakashi said quickly, trying to locate the man through the dust.
The dust only started to clear as Sasuke started to speak.
"Sakura," Kakashi looked at him instantly, "she broke his mask."
"She worked out how to touch him?"
"So it would appear." Sasuke said coldly, images of the beaten girl entereing his mind.
He let out a small, frustrated breath, not going un-noticed the Jounin.
"She said something about 5 minutes and 5 seconds."
Kakashi's eyes visibly narrowed in confusion before they were forced to jump away from each other due to another flurry of attacks, this time from a flurry of various weapons.
The jutsu looked familiar somehow, but neither had time to think about it.
O.O.O
Sakura watched the scene play out from afar and from the dusty ground, slipping in and out of consciousness.
Normally, she could have written a mental list of all the things wrong in her body and which should come top priority when fixing.
But this time,
She had no energy at all.
There were so many things to fix.
Yet no chakra to fix them with.
She couldnt even get her mind around the fact her old sensei and her ex? not ex? team mate were fighting side by side for the first time in years.
Let alone the biological issues going on inside her.
She probably had about 10% of her chakra left. But what did she fix?
O.O.O
"Sakura Haruno," Her teacher said sternly, snapping her fingers.
"Hai Shishou?" Sakura breathed, exhausted.
"As you know a shinobi cannot do much with broken bones and no chakra."
Sakura nodded, gazing up at her teacher. "So, remember this. If you are ever in that situation, no matter how much chakra you have or do not have, send it straight to your brain. Got that?"
"Uhhh, yes Tsunade-sama."
"Really Sakura? You're a 14 year old girl, use your common sense,"
Sakura bit her lip and her eyes suddenly brightened.
"To keep you conscious?" She asked hopefully, Tsunade frowned ever so slightly.
"Yes... I suppose. But its to make sure you're brain starts to immediately replenish chakra."
Sakura's green eyes glimmered as she nodded freverently.
"Ah of course! Because it would then stimulate the cerebellum and-"
Tsunade shook her head at her students ramblings and clumsy calculations and smiled at her.
She's certainly got something, this girl.
O.O.O
Sakura gasped slightly at the memory causing shooting pains to erupt through her chest. She hissed and slowly raised her hand and placed it on her own forehead. Every movement was such an effort, leaving her breathless.
Punctured lung, another problem to fix later.
She let the small amount of chakra gather in her hand and then flow through her skin and into her head.
The girl instantly started to feel the effects, both good and bad.
Good, as endorphins were now being created in mass amounts due to her brain suddenly realising how messed up she is.
Bad, as it takes time for the new chakra to start replenishing meaning for a while she would have no chakra at all. Making her feel nauseous and hot.
She watched dazed, her hand laying lazily over her forehead, as Kakashi and Sasuke took hit after hit from Madara, never really getting close to him. She was only about 50 feet away from them so she could still hear the clash of every weapon.
Sakura watched, confused, as she felt a powerful surge of chakra spike the air.
"Sasuke-kun..." She muttered as she heard Madara chuckle and make some sort of snide comment.
O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O
"Neji! What is the situation?" Lee said, jumping beside his team mate onto an empty, delapidated roof.
"We appear to have the upper hand, although, i'm not too sure why." Neji stated, his pale eyes scanning over the surroundings.
"That is brilliant news!" Lee exclaimed brightly, watching Leaf shinobi chase after backing away enemy nin.
"It would seem, yes." His eyes still scanning.
"What about the Akatsuki?"
"The only Akatsuki here were Deidara, Pein, Madara -apparently, and the woman Konan." Neji stated, looking at his green clad team mate.
"Details?"
"Deidara was mainly used as a primary attack, to bring down buildings and create panic and confusion. He is not a close combat type."
"Pein?"
"Pein's body was found in pieces, we think it was Naruto."
Lee frowned considerably "and the others."
"Konan fled when Pein was killed, it seemed they were ..close. And Madara, along with Sasuke, Kakashi and a severely injured Sakura Haruno have been spotted to the West of town."
"Injured? We must help, Neji!" Lee exclaimed, already ready to jump off in pursuit of his 'cherry blossom' only to be yanked back by the collar by Neji.
"Dont be so foolish, do you not think we should look for Tenten first?" Neji scathed.
Lee sobered.
"Tenten's where-abouts are unknown?" He said quietly, his brows furrowing.
"Hai, she hasnt been seen since she met with Kakashi earlier." Neji frowned, resuming to scan the surroundings.
"THEN WE MUST LOOK-"
"I'm. Looking," Neji spat, successfully silencing the boy.
The silence engulfed them for a few moments before Neji let out a low hiss, barely audible under his breath, his eyes widening momentarily.
"There."
He jumped across a few demolished buildings, followed closely by Lee, and jumped to ground and there laying in the middle of the street was Tenten.
Both boys, one more gracefully than the other, ran and dropped to her side.
"Tenten," Lee said quietly, his eyes scanning over her.
Neji's frown deepened and he clutched her shoulders, carefully pulling her into a sitting position, leaning against him slightly.
Her eyes were half lidded, though open. The girl looked dazed, her chesnut eyes not focusing on anything.
"Tenten," Neji said firmly, looking at the girl.
His pale eyes scanned over her body and concluded she didnt have any real flesh injuries, nothing to make her bleed, just a few nasty bruises.
But something had definitely happened to her.
As he said her name, her eyes fluttered slightly and glanced towards them.
"Lee..." She whispered, her dull eyes looking past the boy holding her up and towards the bowl haired one behind him.
"Ah Tenten, my youthful, fiery friend! What happened!" He asked concerned, crawling closer to her.
Her breathing was shallow and she closed her eyes.
"Sha-...rin-ga-"
She never finished her sentence as she fell unconscious into Neji's lap, the Hyuuga still holding her up.
"Sharingan?" Lee questioned, looking from Neji to the girl.
Neji gazed back, before also glancing at the girl.
"But which Uchiha?"
O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O
Sasuke smirked as he watched Madara's chest rise and fall more rapidly, and for his posture to slouch slightly, his ability slowly running out of time.
4 minutes 37 seconds
Kakashi also relaxed ever so slightly, sending an encouraging glance towards his ex-pupil.
"This is ridiculous!" Madara roared.
"Then do something about it," Sasuke stated, slight cockiness edging into his tone.
The elder Uchiha was not impressed with his smugness.
"So be it."
Sasuke's eyes narrowed which only intensified the flames lapping viscously at the mans skin causing him to grunt in displeasure.
"Where do you're loyalties lie, Sasuke?" Madara chuckled, which turned into a bellowing laugh.
Kakashi hissed under his breath, his eyes widening considerably as they both saw the same thing.
Madara's visible eye flickered deliberately towards the fallen kunoichi behind the two men. Sasuke mentally scorn himself for not thinking of the loophole.
To save Sakura he would have to end his Amaterasu therefore potentially letting Madara go, but to kill Madara, he would consequently be killing Sakura.
Oh there was that feeling of being torn again.
"SASUKE!" Kakashi's voice roared above the flames and as Madara started forming the familiar signs he had seen on that weapons girl in his genin days, he turned on his heel and bolted for the girl on the sidelines.
He blamed instinct.
Damn Genin days.
O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O
Sakura watched the man jump into the air and manipulate a scroll in his hand.
Her green eyes quivered as she saw Tenten's technique form in the air above him and weapons suddenly point in her direction. She could do nothing but watch as they held in the air for a while before shuddering slightly and pelted towards her.
Her chakra had slightly replenished, meaning more energy still not nearly enough to get up or do anything useful she had earlier thought, bitterly.
She swallowed down a scream in her throat and threw her arms up painfully to her face, waiting for it to come pummelling down into her.
Does Sasuke not care?
She couldnt resist just stupidly glancing from the gap in her arms towards where he was before.
She could hear the blades cutting the air now.
Her green eyes widened as she saw the boy running towards her but she was forced clenched her eyes closed again as she felt a few senbon pierce her legs and arms.
She screamed, like any other sane person would do in that situation.
But after a few moments, the pain didnt come, in fact, nothing came at all.
Until she felt something warm pool on her stomach and then her arms, and then her face.
Sakura brought her arms away from her face, to see Sasuke's bloody face staring down at her from above, his face inches from hers.
"S-Sasuke-kun?" She whispered, her voice quivering as the realisation hit.
There the Uchiha boy was, crouched over her form, protecting her from her from the flurry of weapons moments before.
Her breathing quickened and her glassy eyes widened as her gaze flickered between his bleeding eyes. Blood dripped from his head, eyes and lips and fell onto her.
One single blood drop falling just below her eye.
The weapons - shuriken, senbon, kunai, double edged blades, all forced into his back, ripping his flesh apart.
"Sasuke-kun!" She shrieked desperately as he groaned and blood spewed from his mouth, she weakly knelt up on her elbows, her face now closer to his.
"Annoy-..ing." He said quietly, before clumsily leaning his forehead to hers, their noses touching for seconds before his arms gave way and he fell to the ground.
She stared, wide eyed and horrified, at his limp body on the ground beside her, blood pooling underneath him and the array of weapons littering his back.
"Sas-Sasuk," She muttered dazed before the horror hit her, "SASUKE-KUN!"
O.O.O
Kakashi turned momentarily at her stomach churning scream, seeing the girl leaning slightly over the fallen, bloody boy.
"Sasuke!" He yelled, not previously seeing what had happened to the boy. He had told him to take care of Madara.
Madara
He turned to see a black, purple swirl, vortex behind the man. Madara was breathing heavily and his skin looked painful, blistered from Sasuke's Amaterasu.
He lifted one arm up removing his mask, Kakashi's eyes widened.
The man smirked triumphantly before falling backwards into the vortex thus disappearing, the swirl wavering and finally diappearing also.
He turned again, to see the girl's face contorted in anguish and started to make his way over to them, dragging his most probably broken leg.
A shinobi appeared beside him suddenly, an anbu, he glanced at him.
"We won, all enemy forces have been dealt with and or have vacated."
"Hai, tell teams we need serious medical attention here, serious casualties." Kakashi deadpanned, his eyes not leaving his students, watching Sakura slump to the ground next to the ebony haired boy.
"Hai Kakashi." The bird masked Anbu said seriously before disappearing from beside him.
He walked to his two fallen students and fell down to his knees beside them, taking in the severe damage of both.
"I could never have the easy team." He sighed tiredly, closing both his eyes momentarily and slowly pulling his mask up to cover his eye.
"Typical but atleast I taught you both well."
-sigh-
Well, c'mon did Sasuke atleast make up for his being a bit of prick atleast a litttttttttttttle in this chapter?
Also, i apologize for my rudeness in the last chapter note at the end :') clearly, i hadnt had enough sleep over a period of weeks.
Well Review please. Oh that reminds me.
OMG. Over. 100. Reviews.
You lot are absolute baaaaaabes ;D