Chapter 23: Our Cruelty

Obito

"Rasengan!"

The taste of blood swims in his mouth, nearly making him gag as Naruto's blast hits him with full force.

'You underestimated me.' Naruto's words ring throughout his head, pounding. Endless.

And he had; this boy but a mere teenager had already known of his plans months ahead of time. Slowly and carefully he had been creating a way to stop him before any of his plans had come to fruition.

There was something as well mixed into that rasengan of his as it his face, a fine powder or dust that stings at his eyes and is soon burning from his lips down into his throat...

Whatever it was soon distorts his vision, he and Kakashi becoming warped blurs even with his heightened sharingan.

'Poison?'

The thought makes his stomach fleetingly churn, calming his breathing to relax. No, Naruto wouldn't have knowledge of toxins even with all his apparent preparation to come up against him.

But the Yamanaka family did.

Did they still run that botanist/flower shop? If so, it wouldn't be hard for Naruto or the Hyuga women to visit and learn of the most poisonous flowers in the area or that they kept hidden away from the public…

Flowers that can be crushed and grinded carefully enough to be hidden.

His vision begins to fade in and out, however his hearing isn't gone and he directs a spiral of fire as soon as he hears Kakashi's voice questioning what exactly Naruto did.

'Don't think I'm done, nothing you throw at me is going to stop me!'

He takes a step forward, ready to enclose the whole area in roots until they are both stabbed and bleeding out when a tightness closes in on his chest.

'What is this, damn it!'

Naruto steps up beside him as this paralysis kicks in and Obito swallows, trying to catch his breath.

The pain that was coiling at his stomach just minutes ago becomes a fire, encompassing his body in sweat.

Naruto catches his arm before he can launch another blaze of fire or escape back out of this realm, twisting his arm until he gasps.

"I want to end this quickly, if only for Kakashi-sensei's sake. Oleander and Monkshood, two of the most toxic plants known to both humans and animals were the fastest options to use to have you breath in and absorb. You're going to suffer now, just as you made my parents and so many before as well." Naruto murmurs by his ear.

Obito casts a gaze to Kakashi or at least the blurry image he decides is him.

His stare is unmoving from him, helping his student to quickly pin him in place with the kunai and shuriken he had launched at them in the beginning of their fight.

"You shouldn't be alive Kakashi, not after everything you did to me, to Rin…" Obito manages to spit out.

A pained expression flashes across Kakashi's face, memories he's never been able to truly bury. "I know. It crosses my mind every day and every night, but even so I can't let you kill any more people because of the actions I did. Innocent people that weren't even involved in this incident."

"Don't blame Kakashi for this Obito. I never wanted you to hurt him or anyone else." Rin voices, image forming beside Kakashi.

She gives him a sad smile and Obito's eyes widen taking in her appearance of chestnut hair and violet streaks to her cheeks. Rin looks just the same as she did when she was a teenager.

When she died…

He moves a hand out to touch at her figure, cursing as she moves in and out of focus.

Rin was always out of his reach, even now with all he's done.

Naruto frowns at Obito's trembling, his mind swerving between reality and illusion. He pushes his hand back down in case he still had some fight left in him, sighing. "Just try to relax."

Obito ignores his order, thrashing out of his grip. He grinds at his teeth as his heart pounds desperately to break out of this hold he and Kakashi have on him. Eventually, it gives up; beating falling down to a quiet thrum.

"Let me…Let me at least hold Rin one last time." He whispers at seeing her figure begin to disappear once more.

The numbness catches up with his throat, breathing shallowing before he slips into darkness.

-X-

Kakashi

'Rin?'

Even in Obito's last moments he thinks only of her and what they could've been…

Naruto remains silent, checking his pulse as Obito grows a pallid white. "He's going into cardiac arrest; it won't be much longer now."

"Be very careful with handling these flowers. The entire bodies of Oleander and Monkshood can be deadly even in small dosages from their petals to their stems and leaves. How exactly do you plan to even get this Tobi fellow to ingest it?" Ino questioned the pair once the shop had closed up.

It feels eerie to still be here in the store after hours, petals and leaves shining silver in the moonlight that slips through into the greenhouse from the skyline. The sweet scents of the flowers mix with that of water and dirt and Ino resists a shiver, Naruto and Hinata are so calm about this!

This garden sanctuary has been in their family for years, but rarely have they ever used said plants for battle, for war…

Because these were the flowers Father had never let her touch as a child, the ones she always had to handle properly with gloves.

Hinata studied the light pastel pinks and yellows to the deep lavenders and reds of the flowers surrounding them. They each looked so pretty from a distance but they each could provide a level of harm. The research she and Naruto collected found they could elicit skin irritation and dizziness in mild cases and at their worse, seizures, vomiting, hallucinations, and heart failure in mere minutes…

"Oleander we've read can even be deadly when inhaled. Naruto's nature affinity is wind as you already know. All he'll need to do is catch Obito off guard at the right moment and get him to inhale just enough to stop him from using his Rinnegan or anything else that could give him an upper hand." Hinata explains.

They can tell Ino is uncomfortable with the idea, blue eyes hardening.

"That endangers everyone in the area! Oleander is one of the poisonous flowers known to both humans and animals." Ino relates.

Naruto nods, Hinata squeezing at his hand in agreement.

It was a risk they were willing to take.

And said risk had paid off.

There's a somberness to Naruto's tone despite the clear tartness that had been in his voice earlier regarding the man below them.

Most people don't take a life for the fun of it.

Especially when Obito reminds them both of Sasuke and everything that could've twisted him in the same manner.

Kakashi nods, Naruto stepping aside to give him a final moment with his old friend.

'Do you hate me?' Kakashi wants to ask, Obito's eyes slowly becoming glassy as his sharingan melts away back to familiar black. A trail of blood slides from his lips down to his chin, droplets echoing out into void of this space.

"I never planned to take Rin away from you. I knew how she felt, but I rejected her feelings." Kakashi admits and he imagines there was just a flicker of shock that registered in Obito's expression.

He swallows at his cracking voice, pushing himself on.

"When you died…or at least I thought you died I took on your philosophy. To never leave any teammate behind on any mission even if it meant the assignment would be a failure. I visited the memorial stone every day, heh my students never did like that since I always lied about my reason for being late to meet up." Kakashi weakly chuckles.

Obito is still studying him, though his eyes are starting to close, steady rise of his chest gradually stopping…

He hopes his words are reaching him, he's never said them aloud before.

"Just know when it's my turn to finally kick the bucket I won't get in the way of you and Rin. All I want is for you to have some peace, peace that you could never have here in life with the way so many people corrupted and manipulated you. Ah, and can you say hello to Dad and sensei for me?" He finishes quietly.

He shuts his eyes, forcing the knots in his throat away.

When he opens them again, Obito is gone.

"Ready to go?" Naruto asks softly beside him.

Kakashi nods, straightening himself up; this war wasn't over yet.

"I'm not sure if he even heard me." He mutters as they prepare his body to transport back out of this realm, though Naruto shakes his head with a grin.

"Seems like he did!" He beams.

Because a tiny smile rests upon his face, reminding him of the same boy he grew up with once more.

-X-

Naruto & Hinata

'It's finished.'

Obito hadn't suffered for too long, but the rest of the Akatsuki wouldn't be the same.

Naruto meets up with her back at his apartment, exhausted. Weary.

Bright cerulean eyes are sunken in, skin clammy as he lets Hinata guide him into his kitchen and take off his jacket.

Killing comes with the territory of being a shinobi, words alone hadn't been enough to save Obito or change his mindset...

And so he watched as he died, an active participant in his downfall.

Hinata makes him and herself a bowl of his favorite miso ramen, but still Naruto picks at it and only takes a few slurps.

"I know it hurts, but we've just saved so many lives by taking this option. According to what your future counterpart said, he would have initiated the Fourth Shinobi World War and resurrected all of the fallen jinchuriki along many other old war heroes. I'm glad you and Kakashi got out of the fight mostly unscathed as well." Hinata reiterates.

Naruto takes a bigger gulp into his soup then, nodding. "True, it hurt really to see Kakashi-sensei look like that, another friend he has to watch be buried. Obito too looked a bit remorseful in his final moments, maybe realizing the full magnitude of his efforts wasn't going to bring Rin back."

Hinata studies her reflection in her broth, pursing her lips.

Obito is the reason Naruto's parents are dead, the reason Neji would've been dead as well if his plans had continued.

'Naruto is kinder than me.' Hinata notes.

Because she pictures she might've ensured his death was prolonged shutting down his chakra pathways one by one, that he truly felt the suffering that he put so many others through and would continue to do if they hadn't intervened.

She shakes the images away before they grow any darker, grislier.

'I won't let the ugliness of this warfare change me.'

"Have you checked in with the others progress or heard word yet from the other nations?" Naruto asks to change the subject much to her relief.

Hinata nods her head. "Gaara said he plans to meet with Chiyo and Kankuro to discuss all the ways puppets can be used in battle and how to counteract them for dealing with Sasori while the Raikage reports that B is safe and he plans to send his best shinobi out as backup against any of the Akatsuki as needed."

"Good, I'll send a messenger toad out to them in the morning to let them know Obito is dead and to notify us of any new changes with their plans." Naruto remarks, unable to hide a yawn.

Hinata giggles, taking his half finished bowl from him to the sink.

Sleep was winning out over hunger.

But Naruto presses close to her in the darkness of his room hours later, wide awake with all pent up tension leaving him as his hands skirt along her breasts to her nether regions making her squirm and flush.

"Are you okay?" Hinata whispers, pressing feather like kisses to calluses of his hands to the deep burns Obito managed to land on his skin.

Naruto grunts at her touch, nodding. "It's going to get a lot bloodier before it gets better, I don't want to have those thoughts in my mind tonight."

She doesn't either he knows, wrapping into him to forget the smells and sights of crushed bones and blood.

They're becoming more and more like their future selves who used to make them blush at their sneaking away moments to be together like this...

And Hinata feels her skin warm right down to her toes as Naruto takes her figure in, slipping his fingers underneath her bra to thumb at her hardening nipples. He soon pulls the garment down enough for it to be out of the way of the warmth of his tongue and Hinata gasps at feeling his erection pushing up against her.

She reaches a hand down to slide into his boxers, guiding the head out while brushing along the rest of his member.

Naruto hisses, then curses before taking her hand in his to increase the friction of her movement.

"Hinata, fuck." He catches his breath just before he can release into her hand, pushing Hinata gently back into his pillows before hovering over her.

The second time doesn't hurt as bad, the mistakes they made during their first time no longer an issue. Naruto thrusts into her without abandon when she's ready, digging into his arms as the wave of pleasure hits.

"I promise I won't let anyone harm you." Naruto hums into the curve of her neck.

"The same for me Naruto, trust in me as well." Hinata murmurs back.

Because tomorrow is a new day, a new enemy for them to face.

-X-

Sasuke & Sakura

"Play it safe out there Sakura. Sasuke may be going with you, but he won't have your knowledge of how to treat any serious injuries if you get hurt." Tsunade advises.

Sakura forces a laugh, frowning at the half empty bottles surrounding her. So this is what Shizune meant when she said Tsunade couldn't attend their morning rounds to each unit or help with the more basic scheduled surgeries of the day. Leftovers of clear cocktails and dark liquids lay scattered about her desk and floor shining in late afternoon sunlight that's managed to creep in through the closed blinds of her office.

She's nursing another hangover, the 4th one this week already.

"Why are you drinking so much lately? Even Jiraiya asked me to talk to you." She remarks carefully.

Tsunade snorts in response, waving off her concern before pressing said hand back to her throbbing head. "That man has never had problems with talking to me before, hell he goes out of his way to try and see me naked if he knows I'm paying a visit to the hot springs!"

And Sakura nearly bites her tongue to just let this topic go at her clearly rising ire, deciding against it at the last second.

She needs to keep digging, dropping her title for a moment.

"What's worrying you Tsunade?"

Finally her amber eyes meet her emerald, weak grin crossing her lips.

"I've been getting lucky at the slots lately; more than ever before..."

Lady Tsunade rarely voices her concerns to her, not wanting to add to her already full plate of issues. She wouldn't have minded though, anything to take this burden off of her of trying to prepare the village and herself as the leader for the warfare that was coming.

Because winning in her gambles only signifies bad omens, the danger of knowing lives are at risk.

In her hands.

'Focus. Lady Tsunade would let me know any major plans she had ahead of time.' Sakura reminds herself.

Now wasn't the time to be distracted.

"Kabuto is an expert in medical ninjutsu as well as acquired most nature affinities. It might be best to try and catch him off guard if possible by you going ahead first." Sakura notes.

Sasuke shakes his head, turning his gaze back to her. "Kabuto already knows we're coming. There isn't much in the way of sneak attacks that he won't already be on to."

He's already killed at least two of his tracker snakes, golden eyes having followed their every move...

Going by what Anko has told them, he has taken not only to Orochimaru's abilities, but his likeness as well from using what was left of his remains. Just how far though he had honed his skills they would just have to find out for themselves.

They reach a grove within the forests, Sakura halting as she scans the area. Greenery surrounds them on all sides, only a light breeze in the air and the faint smell of dew/fauna.

Sasuke points silently through a series of curves and twists in the trees, sharingan flaring.

"He's in a cave to the northeast, Shino's bugs have picked up on his scent."

Sakura nods, preparing herself for however corrupted this man has become. Katsuyu's clones having surrounding the area as well, nodding to her they are ready when she is.

A pair of larger snakes slither out from the shadows, burned away by Sasuke before they can even strike.

And as soon as she catches a glimpse of Kabuto's onyx eyes does she launch a fist to the ground, uprooting trees and the earth to collapse him in while Sasuke moves to strike at him from above with a blast of fire and electricity.

"It's going to take more than that to contain me!" Kabuto taunts as Sakura dodges out of the way of his chakra scalpel only to be seemingly pierced by a spear of rocks he slams into her side, collapsing to the ground.

He glances up to Sasuke then, releasing a large blast of water back at him to counteract his vortex of fire. His affinities can perfectly handle anything the Uchiha has in his arsenal, especially now with Orochimaru's DNA coursing through him...

"I've studied both of your skills quite well, there is nothing you can throw at me that I won't already have knowledge of." He smirks, interest shifting from Sakura to Sasuke.

He'd succeed where Orochimaru hadn't and truly take those eyes of his for his own.

"Your last mistake will be forgetting about me like that." Sakura muses abruptly by his ear and Kabuto pauses before quickly sliding out of the way and piercing at her chest again with a chakra scalpel.

But there is no blood spilled no matter how many times he cuts into her carotid artery or strikes at her major organs.

'She can use genjutsu as well? This advanced?' Kabuto soon realizes at repeating the same attack over while analyzing as Sasuke approaches, a trail of black flames approaching.

Amaterasu.

They have both trapped him in.

"We know how much you love to steal other people's DNA, that's why it was so important we found you before you took any more from the Sound Four or from any other wanted shinobi running about. Looks like you're not as perfect or strong as your master as you originally thought." Sakura smiles, coiling her hands around his neck before squeezing. Choking.

She doesn't stop even as Kabuto's skin turns a shade of blue, as his eyes slowly start to roll back coughing up blood...

"Sakura, we still need to interrogate him." Sasuke warns and he frowns at Sakura's lack of answer, how clouded her jade orbs have become. He's always seen her hands as ones for healing, not killing.

But right now she no longer sees him or anybody except for this monster before them.

"Lady Sakura, an incident has come up back in Konoha regarding Madam Tsunade. Your presence is needed." A new voice intervenes.

Katsuyu.

Her voice is soft, but urgent. Having slid up her shoulder without her even realizing.

And Sakura freezes, allowing Kabuto to let out a faint wheeze and garbled laugh.

"Ah, so that old woman is finally getting what's coming to her! I'm glad I considered she could get in the way of my plans again just as she did with master Orochimaru. I-"

Sakura presses into Kabuto's neck again before he can dare say anything else, crushing until he begins to wrinkle under the pain. The lack of oxygen is surely making him dizzy now, pleased when he can no longer hide fear dancing across his face.

Death is coming, but not before they get answers.

"What did you do?"

-X-

Hinata

'Where is Sakura?'

She's sure Katsuyu has passed along her message, but the hours have passed and Lady Tsunade's condition grows critical.

"Why did you use up so much chakra, especially without telling anybody what you planned to do?" Hinata whispers under her breath, maintaining her composure at seeing the worried looks of her fellow co-workers and patients alike.

The head medical director has just collapsed before their very eyes...

Even with moving her quickly into a private room out of the public's sight, their whispers still pervade her thoughts.

"Is Lady Tsunade sick? What caused her to collapse like that?"

"It must be all the stress from dealing with all this talk and rumors of a powerful group about the invade the village."

"Tsunade is strong though, I've never seen or heard about her struggling against an opponent!"

"Well I hope so, I would hate for another Hokage to die in the line of duty..."

Had Sakura known about this? No, none of them had expected a sudden influx of patients coming in with extensive poison or traumatic injuries. Tsunade has been expending her chakra to heal them all over the days as best she could, but it was more than the hospital or she herself could handle when even shinobi from outside villages were being admitted into their already nearly full units.

And around the early hours of this afternoon that exhaustion finally began to show, clear skin gaining wrinkles as it turned a haggard gray.

Her true age was beginning to show.

'This was clearly planted by the Akatsuki or someone helping them. To weaken or better yet kill off one of Konoha's strongest shinobi with this distraction. There is only person Naruto and I did research on that has such an extensive knowledge of poisons...' Hinata concludes to herself.

Kabuto.

"I'd forgotten what Lady Tsunade looked like in her real form, she always wanted to keep up with a youthful appearance no matter what anyone said to her about it." Shizune remarks beside her with a choked laugh, drawing Hinata's attention back to this scene before her.

Hinata nods, tacking on a weak smile in return. "I don't see any of her chakra pathways have been obstructed or damaged at least, but she's very dehydrated and the bolus of normal saline we've given her doesn't seem to be helping to improve her vital signs either."

Shizune swallows and she hates the look of pure dread in her expression she's unable to hide.

Lady Tsunade means much more to her than just being her attendant and companion, she is her family even if Dan is no longer alive.

"Let's slow down the rate of fluids then, we can see once her blood work comes back if infection is potentially the cause and if so, begin a treatment of broad-spectrum antibiotics." Shizune decides calmly, quiver and hoarseness in her voice no longer there.

Another hour dredges on far too slowly and Hinata considers requesting Naruto to send out a messenger toad until there is a sudden knocking at the door, Masami one of the nurse practitioners peeking her head in as soon as Hinata cracks the door open.

"Sakura has arrived."

And Hinata feels her chest tighten as Sakura indeed slides in after the woman. She passes a silent look of communication to Sasuke who hovers by the door, frustration evident in his posture before he sighs and steps back out of sight.

'Their assignment. Did it go bad?'

Coral pink hair resides in a messy bun, streaks of scarlet they all know is blood line the sides of her arms down to her hands. Verdant orbs look misty and haunted for a long minute before focusing as she approaches Tsunade's bedside and gets a full report from Shizune.

Sakura turns her attention back to Hinata once she gets the update and washes up, nodding to her thankfully at the care she's done so far. Despite the ache of all her muscles screaming at her and a queasiness resting in her stomach, she will take over Lady Tsunade's case and see it through to the end.

No matter the outcome.

"What happened?" Hinata mouths to her, lilac eyes skirting over remnants of dried and cracked blood that's stained her clothes a deeper burgundy red.

But Sakura shakes her head quickly while Shizune's back is still turned, mouthing back all she needs to know.

"I did what I had to."

-X-

Elsewhere

"No good deed goes unpunished." White Zetsu murmurs to himself with a faint smile. It's better to smile in cases like these than dwell on the negatives...

He should merge himself with Black Zetsu once more, before any reinforcements find him.

No matter how much Naruto and Hinata have tried to impede or stop bad events from occurring, they will in correlation create new ones in the process.

Obito had known that throughout all his years in battling alongside him. It was why he desired so strongly to create a new world for them all.

News of his death hadn't taken too long to reach him, if he knew then it wouldn't be long before the rest of Konoha's allies knew as well if they didn't already.

He sighs, gathering his thoughts.

This was fine, they wouldn't be the only ones facing casualties. Lives had to be sacrificed for the greater good, even if so many didn't see it the same way Obito and Madara did.

'Don't worry Obito, I promise to carry out your plans in your place.'

-x-

I miss hearing from more of you guys; even just saying hello would make me happy! It's hard to improve without hearing your input! The best way is getting any feedback, send me your thoughts as it's always good to know ways to fix my writing for this story as it reaches it's peak with the war arc and any future stories I create. Continue to stay safe out in this chaotic world if you have to be out and about!

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