Sasuke's sharingan eyes flared at the dark smoke surrounding them.

When he met Akio's attack with his katana, he was sure he cut his enemy's torso in half…until it exploded and created a barrier of smoke around them.

If there were things he learned about the potential enemies in Nanashi Village it was that one, they manipulated chakra in a whole new level; two, they could be pretty unpredictable because of that fact; and three, his sharingan might not be as useful as it should be when it came to their own style of genjutstu.

Sasuke quickly felt the air in his right shift.

He hastily wielded his katana, hitting a monstrous bony arm attacking him from the smoke. The arm was hurled back, but not wounded.

Sasuke felt another attack from his left and defended himself from its hungry sharp claws.

Two.

The smoke around him could be sucking chakra out of him that very minute. He would need to attack Akio before his chakra levels dropped…or before he drained what little chakra Sakura had left.

Three. Another arm attacked him from below him. He jumped up in the air to avoid it.

Sasuke's temper flared. He remembered what Sakura looked like when he reached the town square – tied helplessly to a pole in a burning pyre...Yoake should be in those flames, not Sakura. And he will make sure Yoake died the most horrific death.

Four. Another arm stretched from above him – claws ready to stab his skull. Sasuke vanished, the claws digging deep into the ground.

Akio felt the air around him shift. Uchiha was moving…flying…around him. Then sparks of warm light appeared in his vision – balls of fire flying toward him.

Akio snarled throwing them back with his new limbs – limbs Yoake had given him for being a highly esteemed cousin. He was a bastard, an estranged son of one of the branch members of the clan. But only the chief and Yoake's half brother, Hideaki knew about it.

Another set of fire balls attacked him from various directions. He growled and hurled each one of them away.

He was taken into the household as a servant. He was tasked to give Yoake his daily ration of food. Yoake treated him as a friend…a brother…something Hideaki didn't do. Kaitaro was kind to him. Hideaki didn't talk to him. He just stared at him like he was a parasite that had to die.

"Why do you hate him anyway?" he remembered Kaitaro ask Hideaki one day in the garden.

"He's a murderer."

Akio felt his blood boil. It wasn't his fault. Hideaki's mother was crazy. She wasn't supposed to be part of the family. That was why his mother poisoned the chief's wife – something only he and Hideaki knew.

Everyone else thought Akio's sick mother fell in shock when she found Hideaki's mother dead in the bedroom.

Akio felt Sasuke swiftly move around him again – the balls of fire he hurled back and vanquished flying back at him in greater numbers. He growled. Uchiha was a coward.

So when Yoake told him about killing Hideaki, Akio was ecstatic. Though it took him years to finally see Hideaki suffer the death he deserved, Akio felt grateful that the honor of guiding Hideaki to the grave was given to him.

Yoake needed a sacrifice to awaken his powers as Houren's heir, according to the artifact they found. Hideaki was that sacrifice. In return for ripping Hideaki's heart out and for Akio's loyalty, Yoake gave him power.

Just as Akio hurled the last fireball back, flames flew toward him from almost everywhere. He tried to leap away and escape, only to find that wires…layers of wires…trapping him in place. It was on those wires that the flames crept swiftly to attack him.

Sasuke watched Akio growl in fury – his limbs thrashing to free himself from the flaming wires.

He was up in the air, his katana tucked in the saya leaning straight against his back and his eyes aiming for Akio's head.

Akio glared up at Sasuke, who was diving head first with his hand ready to pull out his katana. Akio growled again, this time shattering the earth below him.

Sasuke cursed as dust and smoke filled his vision. He quickly pulled out his katana, slashing the massive flying debris that took Akio's place.

He landed on the ground half kneeling – the katana slipping back into its scabbard that was already leaning against Sasuke's waist.

His eyes quickly glared at the smoke around him. The flaming wires he set up were falling on the ground like leaves.

Sasuke kept his ears on guard. Akio was half the size of the nine-tailed fox demon. There was no way he could vanish that quickly.

Then he felt something looming above his head. He gasped as he felt the air press against his back. He quickly pulled out his katana, sliding his feet to the rhythm of his wrist, and slashing the entity that was about to fall over him.

Akio's open mouth was slashed in two – his face bursting into smoke.

Sasuke cursed as the idea hit him hard.

The smoke…the darkness…everything around him was part of Akio.

Sasuke began to whirl the katana around, defending himself from every claw, limb, and bone that emerged from the smoke.

He smirked, feeling the faint chakra signature he came for beyond the void he was in.

Akio wasn't sucking his chakra like he expected him too. Perhaps that was one thing Yoake didn't teach him.


"Houren, can you see them?" Kaitaro anxiously asked his grandfather who was gazing out at the massive dome of smoke.

Much of the dust and smoke had cleared. And from where they stood they could see the remaining soldiers and fright-stricken villagers in the square, the corpses of men, women, and children who didn't survive the explosion, and Yoake standing in front of the dome of smoke – a smirk painted clearly on his face.

"Yes," Houren answered. He raised his finger to point at a part of the dome. "That's Akio's butt right there."

"HOUREN!"

"But that's really it, right there. And there's his pe-"

"OI!" Daiki shouted.

Houren and Kaitaro stared at Daiki.

"I was going to say pectoral muscles," Houren explained, still looking serious at Daiki.

Daiki tried hard not to blush. "You look like Yoake, you know Dr. Kayuki, Dr. Kayuki can use magic to heal, you're supposed to help Sakura, AND SAKURA IS DYING! MIND FILLING ME IN ON WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?"

Kaitaro turned to Houren. "You have to unchain her."

Houren sighed and knelt back down to look at Sakura. "I'll need a knife."

Daiki quickly knelt down beside him, handing him a knife from his boot.

"Very hygienic," Houren muttered as he held the blade in his bare hand. He closed his palm, making sure the sharp end of the blade touched his flesh. Then he quickly pulled the blade away from his hand, pouring blood on the sizzling chains.

"WHAT THE-"

The blood began to melt the chains – the scent of burning flesh drifting from the decaying metal.

"Your blood is acid?" Daiki gasped.

"One more idiotic word from this idiot and I will cut his head off," Houren said looking at Kaitaro.

Kaitaro ignored him and instead checked Sakura's pulse. "She's alive," he said. "I'll start healing her burns." He looked up at Houren. "Can you save her?"

Houren looked grimly at Sakura's wounded face.

"Well?" Daiki said. "Can you save her?"

Houren placed his hand on Sakura's chest – a green light flashing from his palm.

"Houren..?" Kaitaro asked.

"He can't save her," they heard Yoake's voice echo from the square.

Daiki and Kaitaro looked up to see Yoake smirking haughtily at them.

"Sadly, not even killing me will save her, dear cousin," Yoake said.

Kaitaro glared at Yoake. He stood up, fully decided on getting the justice his wife and the innocent villagers who died in the plague deserved. He didn't care about dying anymore.

"Sit down," Houren ordered.

"I've had enough," Kaitaro hissed.

"So have I," Houren answered.

"Then let me pass through this barrier!"

"Kaitaro," Houren said looking up at him. "I chose you as my heir not just because you have the gift."

Kaitaro and Daiki stared confused at him.

"Stay," Houren answered. "Have you no faith in the man you believed would save Sakura?"

Kaitaro stiffened and looked at the black dome in front of them. He could hear nothing but the furious growls of Akio.

Does he think Sasuke will die in the end?

Kaitaro looked down at Sakura. "He killed my wife," he hissed.

"He killed most of my family," Houren said. "Leave this to me."

Kaitaro only looked at him – his trembling fists tightly clenched in fury.

"Heal her wounds," Houren said.

Kaitaro closed his eyes, knelt down beside Sakura and concentrated on gathering chakra from the woods.

Yoake laughed. "You've always been a coward, Kaitaro," he said.

Kaitaro cursed as white light flashed in his hands. He opened his eyes and glared at Yoake. He lifted his glowing hands, commanding the snow around him to rise-

Another explosion, this time coming from the dome, shook the earth. Kaitaro and Daiki watched the dark dome burst like a pricked bubble revealing a towering monster and Sasuke, up in the air. There were sparks of electricity everywhere.

The monster hunched over the ground as Sasuke landed on the ground behind him.

Kaitaro watched Sasuke face the monster, pulling out his katana from its saya. The blade proudly glimmered behind the length of his outstretched right arm – sparks of lightning making it glow amidst the darkness of the town square.

Houren smirked as he watched Sasuke from the corner of his eyes. Akio was given the ability to morph into a fluid – to a dark smoke that devoured anyone who feared it. The only way to get out of his grasp was to make him turn back into his solid form.

Akio couldn't tolerate that much pain. For Sasuke to cause a blast that massive, he must have used quite a huge voltage of electricity, or lightning, or whatever it was he was using. Too bad Akio didn't learn how to use another human's chakra. He was after all, only adopted into the clan.

Sasuke watched Akio turn to face him. He could see the burns on the monster's deformed face and skin…smell the stench of its burning flesh…

Sasuke glared icily at him.

…Just like what Akio did to Sakura…

Then Akio was on his feet, charging Sasuke with a deafening growl – the wind around him formed into spears rushing to stab Sasuke.

Daiki watched Sasuke skillfully wave his katana in swift curves and waves, slashing the almost invisible spears that the giant hurled against him. Sasuke slid closer to the monster with every move he made.

Then the monster leaped up, stretched his sharp claws and crossed his arms over his chest. From its body flew sharp white shards…bones?

Sasuke hit most of them with his katana, hurling them away from him and into the ground. But they were too many and too quick. Some of the shards hit his arms, legs, and even scraped his cheeks.

"SASUKE!" he heard Kaitaro yell as he leaped up and slashed another set of shards. He waved his katana and saw Akio's barged teeth inches away from his face…his claws stabbing Sasuke's torso.

Daiki gasped as the monster buried his claws on the ground, pinning Sasuke by his chest.

That was it. Sasuke, their only hope of defeating Yoake was dead.

Yoake smirked. Akio howled in triumph.

Sasuke's body burst into smoke – a log replacing his corpse.

Everyone else in the square stiffened. Houren just rolled his eyes.

"Up here!" Akio heard Sasuke from above him. He looked up to see Sasuke's lightning enforced katana ready to slash his neck.

Sasuke landed his feet on the ground, his katana outstretched on his side. He swiftly slipped the katana back to its scabbard, the lightning surrounding it vanishing as it slid further into the saya.

And when the hilt touched the scabbard, the monster's head touched the ground spilling blood all over the square.

Sasuke looked up at Yoake who was already glaring daggers at him.

Daiki swallowed. He suddenly felt thankful that Sasuke wasn't his enemy anymore.

Yoake's scowl slowly turned into a smile as Akio's body dropped on the ground.

Sasuke kept a straight face, preparing himself for another avalanche from Yoake.

"NOOO!" a woman shrieked.


Haru-chan's scream echoed in the house. Her cheeks were drenched with tears. Her face reflected nothing but agony.

"Haru-chan," Nae crooned, anxiously cradling the infant in her arms. "What's wrong? Haru-chan…"

She had tried feeding her, but she just pushed the bottle away. Nae just changed her diaper so needing a change could not be the reason why she burst into tears. Nae had also applied ointment on her chest, and even her tummy. It was supposed to warm her and keep her from tummy aches.

Keiko watched Haru grimly. She took a deep breath before she stood up from her seat on the floor and approached Nae.

"Can I hold her?" Keiko asked.

Nae, realizing how Keiko seemed to know what was happening, handed her the infant. "Do you know what's wrong with her?"

Keiko held the screaming infant against her chest. She sat down and placed her hand on Haru's chest.

Nae gasped as a warm green light glowed from Keiko's palm.

Haru's cries slowly stopped, her face looking like she was telling Keiko about something that hurt her.

"There now," Keiko hushed. "It's okay. We won't let anyone hurt you."


Sasuke quickly stepped back, avoiding the screaming woman who suddenly attacked him.

She fell crying on the blood-stained ground. "HELP ME! HELP ME!"

More villagers walked into the square, all of them screaming for help and attacking Sasuke.

Sasuke avoided their attempts to punch him, kick him, slap him… He stared confused at the villagers as they tripped on the ground, wailing in fear.

"What the hell are they doing?" Daiki gasped. "Couldn't they still understand that Yoake is the enemy?"

Kaitaro's face looked grimly at the square. The villagers and the soldiers ran to attack Sasuke. Those who were buried in the snow crawled out to the surface wanting nothing but to kill him.

"WHAT'S HAPPENING?"

"MY BODY!"

"WE'RE POSSESSED!"

"HELP!"

Then they were throwing stones and knives, and slashing swords at Sasuke. Sasuke just avoided their attempts, staring confused at the frightened and baffled expressions on his attacker's faces.

"The first strain of the illness was a basic chakra manipulation technique. By that I mean a basic step to manipulating another person's chakra. Yoake planted some of his chakra into the chakra circulatory system of many of the villagers…The only way to cure it was to use chakra to confine the parasitic chakra."

…Confine…the parasitic chakra…confine

Sasuke's eyes went wide. He glanced at Houren who he was sure was in the corner with Sakura, and saw him looking sadly back at him.

"STOP!" cried an old man about to stab Sasuke with one of the spears from Akio's body. "HELP ME, PLEASE!"

Sasuke quickly skipped out of the man's way, immediately facing the other villagers, the remaining soldiers, and several dead-looking people trying to kill him. The more he avoided them, the more skillful each of them became.

Soon, he would have no choice but to fight them, and probably kill them all.

He saw Yoake across the square – a wide smile on his face.

Sasuke glared at him as he slipped away from the slash of a sword. The shrieking crowd began to attack him faster than they did before, as if their bodies had enhanced their reflexes with every defensive move he made.

Upon hitting a woman at the back of her neck to push her down the ground, the people around him attacked him at once – each of them holding a weapon or two, most of the mstruggling to stop themselves.

Sasuke stepped back, currents of electricity quickly filling the air around him – each spark and strand paralyzing the screaming villagers.

Yoake burst into laughter. "Uchiha Sasuke," he said. "You're being too kind."

The shrieks grew louder.

Sasuke froze as he watched the villagers' limbs move and contort in inconceivable ways, breaking their bones. Their arms and legs began to stretch…to grow…into something similar to Akio's. Their necks followed, their faces contorting to form snouts, their teeth growing into lengthy fangs-

Soon all of them appeared like smaller versions of the monster Sasuke beheaded.

Daiki swallowed. He looked down at Kaitaro who had focused on healing the burns on Sakura's wrists.

"Is this…Is this…what you meant when you said something horrible would happen once Yoake was provoked?" he asked.

Kaitaro closed his eyes.

"Is there a way to save them?" Daiki asked.

Kaitaro remained silent.

"IS THERE A WAY TO SAVE THEM?"

"Kill them," Houren answered.

Daiki froze.

The monsters growled and thrashed against the electric currents keeping them in place until they were able to move again. They quickly rushed to kill Sasuke.

"Kill them," Sasuke heard Houren's voice echo inside his head. "Set them free."

Sasuke unsheathed his katana.

If the only thing Sakura could do was confine the parasitic chakra, Houren was right. The only way to help the villagers attacking him was to kill them all.

Sasuke swiftly slashed each monster that attacked him, tearing necks, stabbing chests, tearing torsos, slashing heads-

Daiki looked away at the blood-drenched town square, his clenched fists trembling. Everyone he wanted to protect…

He gasped. "Choko-san and the others!"

"They're safe," Houren answered, his eyes fixed at the light in his hand that was still on Sakura's chest.

He kept Choko and the others in an abyss where they would lay unconscious until everything was finished. He couldn't let them get back to their homes, not when Keiko was still too young to protect them all from Yoake's puppets.

Keiko can handle Haru, but a full-grown human turning into a ghoul would be too much for her.

Sasuke was bathed in blood by the time he beheaded the last monster – a short one that could have been one of Keiko's playmates. His blood-red eyes glared icily at Yoake.

"Tired?" Yoake asked, smiling at Sasuke who was slightly gasping for air.

"Damn you," Sasuke hissed before he charged to send Yoake to hell.

Yoake burst into laughter.

Just as Sasuke raised his katana to slash Yoake in half, he felt something grab his feet. He slammed on the ground, dropping his katana. Whatever grabbed him was already dragging him back.

He winced and turned his head to see what it was that stopped him. His eyes went wide at the sight of another monster, as big as Akio.

But it wasn't its size that shocked him.

It was the chunks of flesh that formed it – pieces of body parts he slashed into pieces, morphed with Akio's remains to form a headless monster. The severed human faces of the villagers contorted in agony stared painfully at Sasuke – each one of them plastered on the monster's chest.

What grabbed Sasuke's legs were hands – Akio's hands morphed with the arms of the humans Sasuke slayed. Each human hand grasped his leg, his clothes, his mercy.

Yoake's laughter echoed in the square. Screams and shrieks of horror, and furious growls filled the gloomy air.

Daiki fell down on his knees – his jaw dropped in shock.

Kaitaro could only stare at the horror in front of them.

Houren looked grimly at Yoake who was still laughing proudly at himself.

Sasuke swallowed.

"Help me!"

"My baby!"

"Mama!"

"Help!"

"Please!"

Sasuke could feel their cold hands tugging the ends of his pants, dragging his sandals, pulling his leg… And it gave him chills – horrible chills.

"Imagine it, Uchiha," Yoake began. "A monster like that for your own, only yours would have the face of everyone who wronged you in Konoha. Wouldn't it be just grand?"