Naruto, Temari and Kankuro bolt out the front door. Naruto uses his sword to slash chunks out of the enemies flesh. Temari, Kankuro and Gaara are armed with bows and arrows. Each arrow hits their target mark, landing with soft- thwumps!
I mange to fumble my way to the front door, only to fall flat against the frame. I hold my neck. The tender flesh feels like it's burning alive. Admittedly, being healed by the light from Naruto's shard is, in itself, a remarkable feat. I should be glad I'm still alive. Instead, I'm pissed that I'm too weak to join the fray.
"rAsAaAaA!"
The monster slashes at Gaara who parries with his bow. The fragile wood shatters at the base. The young red-head stares at the beast in alarm.
"yOu aRe rAsAsA!"
"No! I'm not my father!"
Gaara retorts, and suddenly everything is pieced together. The Sand Siblings are the children of the old Pope, Rasa. It appears that Rasa is dead. If he were alive, the siblings would not be orphaned like this. That, in turn, allows me to deduce that they had no idea this experiment was hidden under the church. Else they would have stopped it.
Besides, the horrified expression on Gaara's face proves he had no idea this monstrosity existed.
It goes to work attacking Gaara directly. It catches his wrist and the teenager is thrown down the sand hill into the village. The others follow as the battle is drawn into the center of the village. I trail behind. With every step my legs threaten to give out on me.
"F- fuck!"
Falling onto my knees, I'm feeling ashamed due to inept weakness. That's when a familiar darkness creeps up from my soul. Father. Ever since I killed him and absorbed all his life essence, Fugaku Uchiha has been teasing me with violent thoughts and evil intentions. When I'm weak, like this, he rears his ugly head. I try to push down the anger and rage but it bubbles over like a volcano about to explode.
"No! You bastard. Stay silent in my soul. I don't need you."
My hand clutches the fabric around my chest. I whisper to myself…
"I've felt the touch of light. I'm not evil. I'm not evil. I'm not ev-"
I can hear my fathers maniacal laugh in my head. It sends me to my elbows…
"No…"
Beyond my blurred gaze, innocent citizens in the village are frantically scurrying out of the monster's way as it destroys infrastructures. Naruto makes a daring move and slashes at it's hips causing it to stumble. A reflection pierces from Shard Of Water and sparkles in my eye.
I can hear my fathers wicked voice in my ear…"Steal the shard. Kill that fucking Uzumaki!"
But something else in my subconscious is helping me shut out Fugaku's hellish declarations. It's this idea that we are reincarnations. That I am perhaps, truly, deeply, in love with Uzumaki Naruto...
The idea of making a declaration of love sends my heart into overdrive.
A wave of adrenaline pushes me to my feet. I manage to slip down the hill, arriving at the city center. A block away, Gaara is hiding in a tavern while the others are steadily tearing away the water-monsters' flesh. It paws at Naruto causing a fresh scar to appear on his chest.
"Oh no you don't. Nobody hurts Naruto, but me."
No other choice. It's now or never!
I close my eyes and allow a surge of dark magic to explode through my entire body. I make an enchanting movement with my arms like a ribbon-dancer. Between the appendages stunning rows of lightning crackle like fire. I send a blast of magic directly into the fray and make contact with the beast. It flips through the air and lands on its back like a beached whale.
Everybody, including townsfolk peering from windows, stare at me in awe as I strut like a runway model towards the half-dead monster.
You want to see what a Witch can do?
I lunge forward allowing the beast to slash at my arms. As of right now, I don't feel the pain.
"Now's a good time to scream, wretch."
"RASAAAAA!"
"Good boy."
I place both hands on either side of it's bloody face. It groans in displeasure before letting out a blood curdling scream. I start sucking in any life-energy that I can. There isn't much left, but it's enough to make it's arms fall limp. I drop his head which has been reduced to a skull with thin layers of half-torn flesh. I crush his mushy jugular underfoot and stomp on his spine. Leaning over, I grip the shard in my hand, and rip it out of his spine.
All-at-once, my veins feel cold as sea-water and I'm enveloped in magnificent power. My hair swishes through the open air due to the blast of blue-hues erupting from the shard. A twisted grin explodes on my face, but I highly doubt it belongs to me. It must be Fugaku, sneaking his will through my body. I'll allow it for now.
The twisted experiment gives one last groan before his chest falls flat.
He's dead now…
Finally snapping out of my power-drunk daze I stare at Naruto. His brilliant blue eyes are filled with apprehension. He glances down at the shard in my hand before whispering.
"Sasuke...what are you going to do now?"
I tilt my head. Fugaku screams in my head. "Run with the shard! Abandon this loser, and come back to slit his throat in his sleep."
My body stiffens. Gaara comes bolting out of the house and points an accusatory finger in my direction.
"Witch!"
Temari and Kankuro join him in his rueful mannerisms.
"You vile being!" Temari spits. "You and your cursed brethren are the reason this war began! If it weren't for Fugaku and Itachi Uchiha, our parents would be alive and our village would be thriving! We should kill you right now."
Naruto intervenes.
"Wait!"
He approaches the siblings.
"Sasuke isn't evil. He's my friend. We are going to save the world together."
Kankuro scoffs,
"As if. Look at him! He's drunk with power."
Naruto shakes his head. That's when he shoots me a large, wide toothed grin. It makes me melt into butter.
"Nah. Sasuke is a good guy! Right, Sasuke?"
My lips tremble at hearing his genuine testimony. The vice-grip around the shard loosens.
"I….I-" but I can't speak. That's when I get an amazing idea. I need these people to trust us. Else they'll burn us alive. Or, me, at the least.
Tuning into the Water Shards energy, I command it to form a pool of water in my hand. I approach Gaara with my palm outstretched like a beggar.
"Please, allow us to take the Shard Of Water. In return, I'll fill the village of sand with a flowing river once again."
It must be something in my eyes. But he believes me. Gaara loosens up. He gives a slight bow, before turning to Naruto.
"This Witch is in your burden, Naruto Uzumaki. I pray you are putting your faith in proper hands."
The village doesn't ease up as easily. We are left standing alone in an empty dirt road standing next to a dead monster. I can't make eye contact with Naruto. For some reason, I feel ashamed for the brutal way I killed that beast.
I shouldn't feel this way, dammit! I'm a dark-Witch, not a magician.
"Sasuke, you went too far."
"Right. That's exactly what I want to hear right now!"
I snap at him.
"This is what I am, Naruto. A Dark-Witch. A human born and breed to suck life from others. I'm a monster myself. I won't treat other twisted abominations with compassion! Besides, I put the fuckin' thing out of it's misery."
With one last fit of rage I throw the Shard Of Water into his face. He catches it with his lightning-quick reflexes. I don't stick around to see his reaction as he connects with the refreshing magical auras.
That's right. I'm a monster. What am I doing here? I should have ran away when I had the chance!