The Temple of Izanami: The Road

Naruto remembered, when he was thirteen and just as obnoxious, the roads he had traveled with Jiraiya. Sometimes he'd complain all day, just to do it and to see how much of his heckling the sannin could take before that white hair frizzed out and sensei really looked like an angry grizzly bear.

It was his own odd, juvenile way of weeding out potential friends from people who didn't give a real rat's ass. At the time, Jiraiya had been insufferably persistent, and it made Naruto grin on the inside like a fool.

Naruto had had a pattern to his complaining. This road was boring as all hell. It was too freakin' hot. It was too freakin' cold. All Naruto had was that damn pervy sage to throw a moth-eaten blanket at him! What did Jiraiya want Naruto to do, freeze his ass off? Not that he'd be caught dead scooting closer to feel a little warmth. Now the road was too damn long! Who the hell made such a straight road without ever putting a bend in it? God, it was taking forever! This was so boring! If they walked any longer doing nothing but walking, Naruto would lose all the muscle he'd worked so hard for and he'd never bring Sasuke back!

Jiraiya had smacked him over the head so hard his eyes had watered, and told Naruto to shut up for once. Cherish the journey when you can, it's the only peace you'll get for now. Know when to respect the road, Jiraiya had said solemnly. Naruto had shut up. He'd turned his head to glare and say something equally annoying because he was in a bad mood, and dammit, that smack had stung! But one look at the man he was supposed to call sensei and Naruto hesitated. His voice seemed to crawl down to his stomach.

In the autumn twilight, Jiraiya had suddenly lost all the funny about him that made Naruto laugh and look at him like that never-boring, crazy uncle instead of a potential father figure he should listen to. It made a silence settle over them like a shroud and stole the sneer from Naruto's face, leaving him humbled and quiet. He'd turned his head, narrowed his eyes, watching the sky. He tried to see the journey instead of the destination.

Maybe he'd been looking too hard.

Then Jiraiya had cracked a grin and shot back, "Tch, not that you had much muscle to begin with! How are you gonna bring back Sasuke with such skinny arms, eh?"

The memory still made Naruto grin. The peace of the journey had been hard to see then, and on this road, it was harder than hell to see now. Funny, how memories of Jiraiya seemed like eons ago. Somehow, Jiraiya was gone and Naruto was older, more alert, more weighted down and battled roughened by war and spite and love. It left him a little hollow, like a part of that once exuberant boy he'd been had chipped, leaving a weariness sleep couldn't cure. He missed the old sage like he would have missed his father had Naruto known him, and a little more of that boy he used to be chipped away to reveal the young man underneath. He looked to the sky.

Even after all the death it had seen, the sky never once changed. It looked exactly the same as it had three years ago: still bright and placid blue. It promised some sort of tomorrow Naruto really wanted to believe in. The type of tomorrow that could bring him a little hope, Sasuke, old friends, and some peace for once.

The sun glared back at him, fierce and defiant from its corner as it sank. If sensei had been alive, Naruto could almost imagine him saying-

"Move your ass! Some of us have children!"

Naruto was jabbed in the side with just enough force to make him hop a little as he broke out of his reverie. His memories snapped clean in two, washing away with the noise of the world he was really in. It burst through his eardrums in a steady roar, the bodies on the road pressed too close and reeking of sweat and dirt and grass.

The sunlight made him squint. He held up a hand up against the dying evening glare, and when it cleared, he eyed the sea he was adrift in warily.

The masses of people made the road seem like a living thing, stretching more than his eye could see if he turned his head. It was so tightly packed Naruto was gritting his teeth at all the closeness. Before them all, finally visible in the distance, the Temple of Izanami loomed like a solemn vow, the pale glint of its marble walls barely visible behind the mist that snaked through the Sun Mountain's forests.

It was so close. So ridiculously close, and somewhere beyond it, Tsunade was waiting grimly for the evening Kage meeting to take place. The thought made Naruto's blood boil, and he clenched his fists, rocked on his feet impatiently, trapped. The tension was licking at him like fire. How long had it been now, he wondered. How long had he stood there, wondering if he could forgive the people closest to him who seemed to betray him at every turn? Now there was no time to wonder. Only act. There was only one way Naruto could act.

He couldn't be there to protect her, to help her, in person. He couldn't be there for old Gramps Tsuchikage. Or Gaara. His stomach twisted, leaving a bad taste in his mouth. He had clones, sure, as many as he dared send off, but would they be enough? He grimaced.

An annoying pressure was building on his shoulder. A hand was gripping Naruto's shoulder so tightly the fingers bit into his skin like teeth. Reflexively, as the line jostled forward a few steps and people screamed and shouted and wept for the Temple walls, Naruto reached back to hold onto those fingers as tightly as he dared. He held on as if the next wave might rip Sasuke away to drown in the sea of gnashing teeth and frightened, dirty faces.

The temple was close, but Sasuke was closer.

Naruto looked over his shoulder, and their eyes met. His hold didn't loosen. Sasuke watched Naruto from under the shadowed brim of his hood, dark eyes glinting, mouth set in a hard line. And of course, making heads turn. It wasn't hard to do when you were Sasuke, and a woman at that. Erring on the side of caution, the two had taken up their more feminine disguises once they'd lost the group they'd traveled with. Fukasaku had wandered ahead, just far enough to appear alone, but close enough to still look back.

Every time Sasuke activated the Sexy no Jutsu, Naruto was always caught, just a little, by how beautiful a womanly version of hardass Sasuke was. No one would have been able to imagine that a man hid behind those rosy thin lips and flawless skin. They couldn't see that underneath, Sasuke still hadn't shaved the stubble off his face, much to Naruto's amusement. He almost missed looking back to lock eyes with that rugged face, the grim mouth, the bright eyes. But being a woman had done nothing to Sasuke's hair, and the black mess was beginning to peek out from the sides of the hood to frame his face, like weeds reaching past cracks in pavement.

Naruto didn't say a word, and neither did Sasuke. They didn't have to. When they were younger, Sasuke had said no talking. We do that with our fists. And Naruto had heard Sasuke say more with a punch and a kick than he'd ever heard his teammate actually say. Somehow, that silent, intimate level of communication had breached even that. It had turned into something that could be read with a single glance or frown or hidden grin. Naruto noticed Sasuke's intensity, his doubt, the way his dark eyes cut into slits as he watched the masses around them. He knew, without having to ask, what Sasuke was thinking.

More or less.

Naruto wondered how much longer he'd be able to look back again and still find Sasuke not too far behind. But that was something he would never be able to find in Sasuke's eyes, or in the way his lips curled downward, just slightly.

The peace between them was so new, so fresh, after weeks of nothing more than the cold shoulder treatment, unsaid challenges, and the enraging thought that Sasuke would continue to betray him. Yet, Naruto had had to grudgingly admit that he had needed more than just himself, and so he bore Sasuke's trailing gazes, bore everything left unsaid. Bore it all until those cutting glances did nothing but nick his skin. The thought of losing it all again, of going back to that, chilled Naruto to the bone, made every move seem desperate and too rushed, their destination a mere daydream that couldn't exist outside of their minds. It had been slow, it had been grueling, but he and Sasuke were yet again on a mutual understanding, some level of trust Sasuke had gained back by finally deciding to let Naruto back in. Still, Naruto hadn't abandoned his wariness. Soon, he thought, it would all go away again, one way or another. How much longer would he have Sasuke beside him-?

Someone to his side tried to knee him in the shin in an attempt to cut past him, and Naruto avoided the kick easily with an irritated grunt, defending his spot in line and snapping his head to the side to look for whoever the hell wanted to mess with him now that Fukasaku had wandered.

Fukasaku had left them alone to gather some insects for a little on-the-go eating. The old toad hadn't been stomaching the energy bars very well. "I'm going to starve," Naruto had heard him mutter, "can't find a fly bigger than my little finger!"

Somehow Fukasaku's absence made their places in line worse. The old toad had kept a lot of scathing remarks and physical jabs at bay. People didn't know how to react to a talking toad. And they certainly didn't know how to react to his angry looks and sharp tongue. But without him just ahead to distract others? It was a miracle someone hadn't yet tried clawing their way through Naruto and Sasuke, just to get a few steps ahead.

Times of war called for desperate measures, and the Temple of Izanami, the people said, was the only safe place left on Earth.

"Are you freakin' blind, lady? Can't you see the line is moving?! Move!" a stick-thin woman behind Naruto shouted, shoving her palm roughly into his side. Inside him, the child kicked awake, and Naruto shot her an annoyed were rising, and every person had been moving with the line for at least the past day and a half.

The woman cowered when Sasuke whirled around to look at her, all white-faced with anger and hissing at her to wait her fucking turn, the line was moving slowly, and there was nothing they could do about it. Some people wouldn't be so nice to her next time, he warned. She blinked quickly, pulled two small boys close. Naruto sighed, cursing, grabbing onto Sasuke's shoulder and pulling him back. He looked at the two scared boys and felt his irritation give way.

He couldn't hold his place in front of two little kids. He shook his head and sighed again.

"Some of us have children, please," the woman pleaded, sofrer this time. Sasuke hissed in Naruto's ear, angry and impatient, when Naruto gently took her elbow, squeezing her and the boys ahead of himself and other strangers.

Those around them spat and booed and Naruto's could feel Sasuke's tension by his side as a man said "tell that whore to wait her turn! The rest of us don't get cuts! Hey, bitch! Did you hear what I said?"

"Thank you," the woman shouted over the din, holding her boys tight.

"Hey, girl!" the man called again, and Naruto turned to flip him off, tell him to shut up and get over it, irritated now by how tightly Sasuke was gripping his shoulder. But he didn't get the chance. Sasuke pulled him close.

"Don't taunt him. I don't feel like flaunting the fact that we're more than we seem. We want to disappear, remember? And stop with the hero act. That's what? The fifth person today you've taken pity on?" Sasuke hissed in Naruto's ear. Naruto frowned, ignoring the new enemy he'd made in line, who was still shouting at him.

"I wouldn't say pity. C'mon. The old man from before had a broken leg, the guy before that had a very sick wife the monks could help And this woman? Those kids-"

"Kids huh? Remind you of anything?" Sasuke cut in. When Naruto pulled a face and said nothing, Sasuke continued, "If she had a half a brain she'd be able to pick out your soft spot and manipulate you to get ahead." He was so close Naruto could feel the brush of his lips scrape just slightly over his cheek. Naruto stood his ground stubbornly, ignoring complaints and outraged cries.

There was the slightest tug on his sleeve, barely noticeable, and Naruto gently swatted away one of the many pickpocketing children weaving through the crowds, not one to part with what little money he had left. But he helped the bar from his pocket when the kid skirted around him again so quickly for his age, had Naruto not been a ninja, he would have never noticed. Naruto had to grin.

Sasuke scowled.

"Like I said," Sasuke insisted, and he grabbed another boy by the wrist before his fingers could slip expertly into a pocket. The kid squealed in pain. Sasuke shot the kid such a dark look the little thief wet his pants and fell on his face when he tried to bolt.

"You're too lenient. You think you helped that kid by pretending not to notice? When he gets caught just think: you could have corrected him. Saved him a couple fingers." Sasuke shook another pickpocket, cursing about the orphans being worse than the mosquitoes.

"And when do you think he'll eat again?" Naruto wondered, memories of a childhood where nights passed with a stomach seeming to concave on itself springing vividly to mind. Sasuke said nothing. His frown deepened, and he fidgeted

"Don't get all noble on me," Sasuke replied coolly, and Naruto snickered at his side.

"You know that bastard side of you actually likes it," he joked, and he was relieved to see Sasuke grin, just a little. But then it slipped from his face as the line moved forward.

Sasuke said, "You always think like that. Like you can actually save them."

It stung, fueled Naruto and made him think of the child, hidden from the world in a safe, dark place. Someone he'd sworn to protect like a reflex, purely because it was what he did. He thought of Tsunade, of the Kages, of Gaara. Of Sakura, and Kakashi, and the Rookie Nine, out there somewhere without him. He opened his mouth to fling something back, but Sasuke was gripping his shoulder, lighter this time, fingers digging into the hollow by his collarbone.

A little contact couldn't soothe him completely, but it did steady him. Naruto let out a breath and bit his tongue.

"But," Sasuke said suddenly, and they moved together in perfect sync like they hadn't parted since their days on Team 7, "You're the most stubborn person I've ever known." There was a laugh in his voice, a little breeze of breath. Sasuke's fingers gripped his sleeve.

The Temple loomed a little closer, and Naruto smiled. Just a little.

The snake was whispering in his ear. Soft, soothing, reassuring. Norio was helpless to deny its word as the wagon rocked and jostled, working its way over stones on the road. He had jammed himself and a few, trusted men into a small space, hidden in its cargo. The rest of his "army" as the others liked to call it, were stationed nearby, waiting for a signal outside the Temple walls.

Norio squirmed. It was uncomfortable in the crate, and the air was too close. It stank like stale sweat.

The driver was a recent convert to the Brotherhood's cause, and had smuggled the men on the road with other refugees, hiding them in crates along with bales of hay and human cargo.

In his little dark place in the cart, the snake whispered one final secret as the wagon came to a lumbering halt.

Genjutsu may seem to be the art of a god, but the truth is it's only the illusion of one. In every genjutsu, there is a neat, clear little path. Small, tricky to find, harder to follow, but it is there, and I am here to show you. It's always in a distinct, similar pattern in every illusion, no matter its degree of skill. Like a road on a map.

The ninja think they have the stuff of gods, but we will show them how mortal they really are. You are a strong man, Norio. If there is anyone who can accomplish such a feat, it is you. Why else would I have been sent to you? However, to fulfill this destiny, you must promise to heed me, every word, or all we've worked for will be for nothing. The ninja will not truly be defeated if you fail to do this.

Norio nodded, steely with resolve. "I understand." The wagon finally came to a complete stop. He gripped the handle of his dagger, and thought of Saiyuri.

"And what of Sasuke Uchiha? How will he be punished?" he rasped out. The snake coiled tighter around him.

Justice will be had. Patience, Norio. Inside the temple, we will find the Jinchuuriki, as promised, and we will end him, and this war., as promised. But he is more than that. More to Sasuke Uchiha than others could believe. Hidden inside that boy lies more than just a demon. A demon child, already damned, wrought by the powers of the Nine Tails. Sasuke Uchiha has been protecting this hellish child and his lover, but we will kill them all in one clean strike.

Norio was silent as the words punched and registered into his brain. "How is that possible?" He was unsure if he was disgusted or intrigued. Maybe both.

There are few things out of the reach of a demon, came the hissing reply. Fewer still for a genius with ninja skill. It is all for the sake of power, of course.

For a fleeting moment, doubt gripped Norio. Vivid, brutal images of his wife, his Saiyuri, sprang to mind unbidden. They had been so close to meeting their first child. He hadn't wanted to leave the village that week. He'd been too afraid the labor pains would start while he was away, but he'd gone, as was his duty.

Norio tried to imagine Sasuke, Akira, bent over the bloody mess of his not-quite-started family, but instead, Norio only remembered his own. He could remember it so clearly he could almost smell the dirt, the blood, the chicken and the oil Saiyuri had been frying on the stove.

He'd rushed inside, grabbed her. And she was just stirring chicken as the oil popped, calm, singing a tuneless lullaby, blissfully unaware of what had just breached the village walls.

"Shh, shhh, shhh."

He'd stuffed her under the floor while she wept, white-faced with fear, pulling up that trap door he thought he'd never have to use for anything but storing odds and ends. She was gripping his arm so tightly her nails had broken his skin. She was pleading, begging him. Hide with her. Don't fight. Please. He'd put a hand to her mouth and ordered her to stop crying.

"Shh, shh, shhh."

She'd been so beautiful, even as she wailed when the trap door snapped shut and the monsters crept inside. There were two. One was small, just a boy with skin as dark and gray as a dolphin's, but his left arm was grotesquely elongated and covered in odd, plate-like spikes that sprouted like crystal. The other was large and had fangs like a snake. Once he'd been a man, but Norio could not see the humanity hidden behind his twisted face and scaled tail that thumped on the floor as it dragged.

Its eyes had flicked over Norio with a hiss, and locked on the floor past him.

Norio ran towards it thinking he was going to die as he slashed and yelled, that his blood would cover the sound of Saiyuri's beating heart. The larger one picked him off, and the smaller one skulked in the background dumbly. Norio kept watching for it, waiting for it to take a bite out of his back. Norio had seen it sniffing the air like some kind of animal.

It happened too fast. The scaled monster lunged, pinned him to the floor, tried tearing out his throat with its teeth. It straddled Norio in a death grip, snapping its jaws while Norio held its face, pressing his thumbs into its eyes. He kept it at bay by mere inches with nothing but brute strength.

Its breath had smelled like rot.

He heard a noise, a creak like an unoiled door flying open. He turned his head, just for a second, when a scream rent the air. It was so quick, so sudden, he almost didn't register what he'd seen. Just a fountain of scarlet that splashed on the floor and a soft thud.

He screamed. Screamed like he never had in his life, and popped the eyes of the monster above him in his rage, kicking it away while it blindly fumbled and shrieked. He didn't register thought. Only pain and hate as he stabbed it between the eyes.

The little one was still standing over her, his Saiyuri. It had ripped her open from throat to belly button, its face speckled red. It reached out to her with a long finger as if to stroke her cheek, but the crystals on its arm activated once more and slashed, shot out. The crystals were glowing. Some were embedded in the wall.

The monster staggered then, as if some human train of thought had finally burst into its brain. It blinked dull orange eyes at the mess by its feet. A low moan came from its throat, something inhuman and pitiful. It turned its head to find Norio's gaze, and for a moment, Norio saw a boy he thought he knew as he lunged for it. A boy lost in gray skin, sharp teeth, and a mind that was no longer his own.

Shou, Saiyuri's younger brother, who was supposed to be dead. Just a genin. Thirteen years old. He'd had a knack for mischief. The boy's whole team had vanished weeks before on a C class mission. Gone without a trace. And yet, Norio could see the ghost hiding behind the monster's eyes. He stalled, shaken. Norio's eyes drifted, and he caught sight of the dark mess behind it.

Bile burned the back of his throat.

"I-" the creature who used to be a boy started to say, but Norio slashed out its throat, and then it was just another monster. It kept trying to speak in a gurgle the entire time he beat it. Wanted. She. Please. Finally it stopped twitching and nothing came from its mouth but a slow trickle of blood.

He hadn't been able to look at it after. But some nights, when memories of Saiyuri faded into dreams, Shou's young face still burned the back of his eyelids.

The snake on his shoulders tickled his cheek as it moved, and Norio blinked away his thoughts. "I don't kill kids."

He didn't know why he said it. Akira, no, Sasuke, had killed his men, betrayed the Brotherhood. He could have helped lead the very group that had killed Saiyuri. But for a fleeting moment, Norio paused.

All he saw was Saiyuri and Shou, dead at his feet.

You would have pity on a man like Sasuke Uchiha? You? The snake seemed amused. Sasuke Uchiha is a killer, it seethed. It snapped its mouth and spat a hiss. Those monsters that killed your family, those people who are no longer people, who do you think helped Madara capture them? Keep them? You would take pity on his cursed demon child?

Norio gripped his dagger, a rage and pain he knew well swallowing him whole. He tried to imagine Sasuke bent over his dead family, torn apart by the same injustice Norio had had to endure. This time, Norio forgot about his own nightmares. He remembered the faces of dead men, of friends, of boys who just wanted the goddamned war to end.

Sasuke deserved it. All of it. Sasuke was a murderer.

It is not a child, Norio. An unholy demon will burst from Uzumaki's skin. Would you rather unleash it? This thing will only ravage your world like the ninja and the demons. Will the lives of your wife and child go unavenged?

Norio closed his eyes. This time, he relished what he saw. He opened his eyes, a good grip on his dagger. "No," he said. The snake seemed to chuckle, in a way that only a snake could, by flicking its tongue, laughter in its eyes, as it curled around his neck.

Outside, Norio could hear voices. He began to count, and he thought of Saiyuri as he waited.

One.

Without the monsters, they would have named their baby Kenta for a boy, after his grandfather. Kiyoko for a girl, for the purity of her new soul. The wagon seemed to do a little hop as the refugees filed out of it.

Two.

The day he'd left for a mission, Saiyuri had laughed at him for being so worried. Relax. I'll still be here when you come back, she'd said. She'd held his hand in her small one. Her delicate little hand that felt as fragile as a bird's wing in his own. He could still see her lips moving, the feel of her skin against his. And she had been there waiting for him. For five whole minutes. Some quick words were being exchanged between the driver and a guard, ripping Norio away from the thought. He'd also brought some supplies to take into the temple, if the guards would have a look?

Three.

"You're not afraid to take risks. To do what you believe in. It's the first thing I ever noticed about you. And when I saw it, when I saw you, I knew. I knew I would love you, because you would make me believe." Saiyuri had whispered on the night he'd whisked her away. He'd kissed her, laughed with her, run across a valley to the village of his birth.

Footsteps. Someone was making their way over, and Norio tensed as a crowbar worked the top of his crate.

He sprang and slashed the moment it popped, and the guard crumpled. Someone began to scream. The other crates burst open, and the little group of guards overseeing the south gate were quickly overcome. The refugees scattered.

When he was done, Norio wiped off his dagger on his pants. He looked to the Temple of Izanami and took a breath. The spring air was sweet. There was a whimper, and Norio noticed a little boy cowering by a splintered crate, sobbing at the sight of a dead guard.

"Norio," Huang barked, but Norio held up a finger, crouching before the child. The boy shook, shying away from the snake on Norio's shoulders.

"Shh, shh, shhh." Norio patted the child on the head, ruffling his hair.

"It will all be over soon."