AN: Note that I do not own Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, or any of the characters from either Anime. This work is a fanfiction written out of my love for the series and not in any attempt to make a profit.
Proofread by: Author
This chapter contains character deaths, gore, and horrifying implication. You have been warned.
Chapter 86: Betrayal, help the ANBU
Sakura reached the edge of the balcony where the stands up as the ANBU arrived to help the Hokage. As if to confirm her suspicions, fake ANBU Heikō had identified as Kabuto hadn't joined them. Instead, he was standing in front of Kakashi and Gai. Suddenly, from the stands, four more figures joined Kabuto, having masqueraded as civilians up to that point.
Smiling to herself, Sakura felt like she had the element of surprise as she jumped forward, drawing a kunai with her right arm, intending to strike at Kabuto's back and eliminate him and give her two superiors an opening. The next moment, Sakura felt an incredible pain blooming from her arm and chest, her vision colored red as two of the Otogakure-nin had turned around and thrown a shuriken each into her chest, while Kabuto had cut her arm up from the palm to the elbow before she could even react.
Time seemed to slow down as Sakura realized not just her mistake, but also how she had just burdened Kakashi with her failure. She should have known better. A true Shinobi was always on guard, and in hindsight, she had failed to do anything to conceal her presence. Kakashi's wide eyes, however, showed not disappointment or worry, but something that, to Sakura, felt indefinitely worse. Surprise, guilt, and sorrow. Sakura could feel Heikō's horror at how they had managed to delude themselves so utterly, and before she could begin to regret her decision as well, she felt something else. Self-loathing, but not from her, but Heikō. Next, came remorse, and a desire for forgiveness, as Sakura heard Heikō speak. "Forgive me."
Sakura didn't have the time to even put together the meaning between the words as she felt Heikō take complete control of their body, breaking their connection to the Natural energy they had been sustaining. A memory floated through Sakura's mind, as they had vented Natural energy outwards as an offensive technique to protect themselves from Shino's bugs. Sakura could feel that in the slowed state of the world, her body suddenly changed as if millions of miniature pores along her skin suddenly opened, and Natural energy began to leak out. It didn't make any sense. Without the seal, or connection to the Natural energy around them, there was no Natural energy for them to draw on. The small amount still in their body, yet to be converted to Senjutsu chakra would only last for a moment, so Sakura had no idea what Heikō was doing until suddenly, the plan struck her mind like a hammer.
It was a terrible plan. An impulsive, stupid plan, that if it worked, would bring them the world, but if it failed, would most likely knock them out, probably resulting in their death at the hands of the enemy in front of them. It was a viable plan because regardless if they failed, or didn't do something to fight back, they would die. The only thing they could do was to act. With this realization, Sakura felt comfort in Heikō's decision. She trusted her sister, and her acceptance and agreement to the plan brought Heikō immediate comfort and confidence.
"Do it," Sakura told her, and felt something in their mind change. Something seemed to snap out of place, and obstruction of some kind was suddenly gone, and a torrent suddenly ran wild through their minds. Sakura felt cold, yet in that very same cold, she found the comforting warmth of Heikō, and for a moment, they were closer than they ever had been before. Together, they pushed past the obstacle they had to overcome and opened the floodgates.
Suddenly, the distance between their body and the Natural energy surrounding them was gone. Within a moment, their body was full to capacity, and it hurt. However, this time, unlike the times when they had been training with Fukasaku, the overflowing energy had an outlet.
It felt as if steel wool had been heated up to the melting point and been forced through the smallest of holes within their body. They felt ready to burst like a balloon, riddled with holes. Yet, gritting their teeth, they turned their eyes on their opponents, because unlike before, they weren't unconscious. And neither were they afraid to let go.
From an outside perspective, it happened almost in an instant. As soon as Kakashi realized who it was that had tried and failed to ambush their opponent, he couldn't do anything but stare in regret at the injuries Sakura had already acquired. He saw her meet his gaze in what seemed to be fear and regret, only to suddenly shift into a terrifying crazed snarl of elation. Grinning, despite still obviously being in pain, her skin suddenly turned a solid, charcoal black, while her hair turned a dirty, oversaturated, and dark pink-red color. Kakashi would have compared it to what she had done during the preliminaries for the third exam, but this time, it was more. Kakashi had barely managed to uncover his Sharingan in time to see the four Otogakure-nin suddenly explode in a shower of gore, while Sakura continued falling over the edge where she had come from. The traitor, or rather infiltrator wearing ANBU gear slumped in front of him and fell to the ground as if his strings had been cut.
With the enemy seemingly defeated, Kakashi rushed over to the railing and looked down, but Sakura was nowhere to be seen.
Sakura decided that life or death situations were frightening. Compared to training, one learned so much more when their life was on the line. Part of Sakura wanted to thank Otogakure for having decided to attack them, as she otherwise wouldn't ever have gotten the chance to learn all she did the last few seconds.
Apparently, letting loose a large amount of Natural energy like she had against the five enemy Shinobi had given Heikō and her some semblance of control over the wild blend of Natural energy coursing through their body. Their previously black skin had become a less impressive, sickly looking, light gray color instead, and their body no longer hurt as they managed to regulate the flood of Natural energy surrounding them.
The experience had been intense, but oh so worth it. The stinging of her wounds called her attention to the shuriken still embedded in her torso, prompting her to remove them while looking over the injury on her arm. It looked deep, but thankfully only a flesh wound. The pain was nothing compared to the overwhelming sensation of bursting from inside, so Sakura could deal with it for now. The blood-loss on the other hand, she needed to deal with, she decided.
Maneuvering herself in the air so that her feet reached the wall, she pushed off and twisted her body so her legs were beneath her as she landed on the ground. Being able to feel her surroundings, there was no need for Sakura to look around to see what was going on. The other two Sunagakure Genin had joined Sasuke's opponent, Gaara in the arena, and an adult Suna Shinobi had appeared in front of Sasuke. It seemed there was more than one village attacking them today. The fact that the Kazekage had taken the Hokage hostage confirmed it. Sakura felt it was a bit wasteful that the ANBU had been reduced to sitting ducks outside of a barrier.
Since Genma had stepped up to protect Sasuke, as the Sunagakure Genin left, Sakura decided to trust the proctor and assume Sasuke was safe for now. She wanted to see if she could help the ANBU get inside of the barrier, using her Natural energy.
Pushing off, Sakura was immediately shooting towards the direction of the ANBU, giving her a clear view of the Kazekage ripping off his own face as she reached the roof, revealing Orochimaru to be the impostor. Sakura smiled as she unleashed all of her Natural energy forward, towards Orochimaru.
Much to her surprise, Orochimaru managed to dodge. Sakura wasn't sure how, but either Orochimaru had sensed her, or something else had tipped him off, but he had managed to jump away from the Natural energy she had unleashed at him, leaving her frowning at the absence of his death like she had intended.
"Kid! What are you doing here?!" One of the ANBU next to her demanded to know, only for Sakura to spare him a glare that made him freeze in place. Satisfied, Sakura instead turned her attention towards the four Shinobi keeping the barrier in place, while the Hokage began speaking with Orochimaru about whatever he was trying to accomplish.
Sakura smiled as she realized that all four of the Otogakure Shinobi keeping the barrier up were sitting ducks. At her mental command, another four spikes of wild Natural energy shot forward. The two Shinobi keeping the barrier up closest to her choked and screamed in pain as their already odd bodies began to suddenly convulse and harden into stone. The one on the right was a dark-skinned teen with black, shaggy hair tied into a ponytail and black eyes. His attire consisted of a black, sleeveless shirt under a sleeveless grey tunic, black arm-warmers, traditional black shinobi sandals with calf-length leg warmers covered by bandages, and a purple, rope-like belt tied in an inverted bow around his waist. His arms began to bend in unnatural angles as the muscles swelled and pulled his bones apart, his eyes bled out of their sockets, and his throat swelled up like a balloon, while his skin turned purple before he began to harden and grey as he turned to stone.
The one on Sakura's left had two heads, with the second one, protruding from his upper back, hanging limply, making his hair cover his face while it apparently slept. Fair-skin and straight, light blue-grey hair, with long bangs that covered each different eye, their bangs were on opposite sides. The main head's bangs over the left eye, while the other head's bangs covered the right eye. They both wore a green shade of lipstick, and had dark markings around their eyes, giving them an androgynous appearance. As for his attire, he was wearing a black shirt under brown tunics with long sleeves and a completely white yin-yang symbol on the hem, and black skin-tight shorts. He wore black arm-warmers, traditional black shinobi sandals with calf-length leg warmers covered by bandages, and a purple, rope-like belt tied in an inverted bow around his waist. He wore a dark-red beaded necklace around his neck and carried a giant scroll behind his back through one of the loops of his rope-like belt.
The pain Sakura could only imagine compared to what she went through previously before killing five Otogakure Shinobi at once, was enough to awaken the second head. It tried to scream, only to watch in horror as its own tongue grew into some kind of horrible, multicolored limb that bled and oozed other different liquids. The main head seemed to grow oversized scales all over its face, covering its different orifices. The Shinobi raised its arms in an attempt to claw away at the scales, only to reach halfway before its limbs turned to stone, with the rest of the body following suit.
Everyone around Sakura simply stared in fear at the result of what Sakura had accomplished, except for Orochimaru and Sakura herself. For a moment, Sakura's and Orochimaru's gazes met, and Sakura could have sworn that Orochimaru was more intrigued than angry, disgusted, or afraid. It made her feel exposed and a little hesitant at the idea of getting closer to him, but before she could make up her mind, the remaining two Otogakure Shinobi leaped at her with a shout, only for the members of ANBU to recover and meet them halfway.
Sakura readied herself to kill the remaining two Otogakure Shinobi, only to suddenly feel herself overcome with nausea. Falling to one knee, she could feel something bubbling up from her throat, and looking down, she could see the crimson color of blood dribbling from her mouth, staining the orange tiles of the roof. She also noticed that her skin had returned to its usual, normal pale color. Apparently, despite her control, and immunity to Natural energy, there were still drawbacks to overusing her abilities it seemed.
AN: This chapter was rather thrilling to write. Sakura finally lets loose, but what exactly did Heikō do? How come Sakura is suddenly oh so powerful? Well, you were all aware of how deadly the Natural energy was, to begin with, were you not? Just like they did in the preliminaries against Shino, they did it again here, only on a far larger scale. Of course, nothing comes for free, so Sakura finds out the hard way that there's always a price to pay for power. Acquiring it the normal way, the price is hard work, time, and dedication. The fast and dirty way of Natural energy, the way they used it? It comes with its own dues.
As for Sakura being able to target the Sound four within the barrier, well… the barrier never accounted for Natural energy, did it? Although, Sakura was unable to kill Orochimaru, or all of the Sound four at once. The specifics of that however don't entirely have anything to do with the barrier.
Lastly, I realized while writing this chapter, that Maito Gai is probably the name I should be using, rather than the English version Might Guy... I will go back and edit it in previous chapters.
