- XXIV -
Rain
"What the hell are you doing here!?"
Though the anger in Kiba's voice was palpable, the gash on his leg prevented him from rushing Naruto. He began to stomp his way over to blonde, but Sakura stood in his way, arms out to her sides.
"Calm down, Kiba! We don't have time for this right now!"
"Can it, Sakura! I don't want to hear it! Did you forget what this bastard did to us last time?"
Naruto realized that she had not as her arms slowly fell back to her sides and her shoulders slouched. Kiba pushed her aside easily and reached Naruto, grabbing him by the collar, his eyes wide with anger and his fangs bared, ready to strike.
As Kiba pulled him in close, Naruto's gaze drifted to Shikamaru, who stood frozen. Their eyes met, and the dark-haired boy looked away.
"Once wasn't enough, huh? My sister, Shikamaru's dad, the Third Hokage…they weren't enough, huh? You had to come back for round two!"
Naruto swallowed hard, and his eyes wavered ever so slightly.
But they did not turn.
Sakura had a pained look on her face as she spoke quietly. "This isn't his fault, Ki—"
"How do you know!?" Kiba shot back. "How do you know he's not working with those orange cloak assholes!?"
Naruto was quiet. He recalled all too well trying to defend himself five years ago, and where that got him. If he closed his eyes, he could still feel Kiba's foot kicking him.
The grip on his cloak tightened. "I saw that fox, Naruto! I saw that light! What the hell was that!?"
The two of them only stared at each other for a moment, each of their eyes filled with pain. Eventually, Naruto pushed Kiba's hands away and backed up. Kiba gave him a look of disgust.
"Nothing to say, huh? I knew it…you're a monster."
"I'm not working with them," Naruto said calmly. "They're my enemies, too."
Kiba interrogated him with his eyes. Even Sakura tried to see exactly what it was he was doing in Konoha.
Shikamaru just watched.
"I don't buy it," Kiba said firmly. "Not one bit."
Naruto turned to him, blue eyes fierce, and the tension between the two of them made itself known in the air.
"Fine. Believe what you want. I don't care about you…I don't care about this village! I don't care about the Order!"
"Then why did you come back here!?"
Naruto fell silent. Kiba's question had gone straight to his heart.
It was only two days ago that he arrived in Konoha, but it felt like a lifetime. Why had he come back in the first place? Because Itachi wanted to? To find something about his father?
To find something about himself?
Naruto's emotions whirled inside of him, taking him from pain to sadness to fear and back again in a mater of seconds; but as Kiba's question hung in the air and his dark stared him down, Naruto felt the chaos give way to a flicker of light.
"I came back to see a friend."
Kiba was the only one who didn't understand those words. Sakura recalled his comment about the bunker, and Shikamaru recalled a conversation he had a long time ago, and they both recognized who Naruto was speaking of.
But they could not believe it.
"A friend…?" Kiba said. Anger flooded through him and built up like a wave off the shore. With slow steps, he prepared to bring it down on Naruto. "Here? You destroyed our village! You ran away! And now you're back to finish the job! Who the hell would ever think to call you a—!?"
"Kiba."
The brown-haired boy froze as he turned behind him. Naruto and Sakura, too, turned their heads to the boy with the high ponytail. Shikamaru had spoken for the first time.
His eyes were trained on Naruto.
"Let it go."
Kiba was appalled.
"Let it go? What about your my sister, Shikamaru!? What about your dad!? Don't tell me you trust him!"
Naruto and Shikamaru stared at each other for a moment, a look that was mixture of apprehension and hope on their faces.
Shikamaru released a breath through his nose.
"It doesn't matter right now. We have to—"
All of a sudden, his eyes widened, and the other three turned to see what it was that frightened him. From the stairs that Naruto had fallen down, a group of orange cloaks appeared, and after looking around for a moment, found the group of four. All of the white fox masks turned towards them.
Kiba's mouth fell.
"Shit."
Before the word even finished coming out, Naruto took off in the other direction. Sakura called after him before leaving to follow. Kiba filled with rage.
"Oh, no you don't, asshole! I'm not through with you yet!"
Ignoring the pain in his leg, Kiba ran after them, and Shikamaru joined. The four of them headed towards the next set of stairs that led to the upper village.
"Turn left, Naruto!" Sakura yelled. "It's straight to the bunker from here!"
"Right!"
Naruto did as he was instructed and the other three followed in pursuit, but all four came to a crashing halt as they reached the halfway point of the steps—just high enough for Naruto to see another set of fox masks approaching.
In only a moment, they were surrounded on both sides, the stone stairs the only ground they had to themselves. Kunai were pulled out from beneath the orange cloaks as the Order closed them in.
Sakura, Kiba, and Shikamaru stared their enemies down with nervous eyes. They had seen full well what the Order was capable of when they were together—but still they prepared themselves to fight. This was their home, after all, and they would protect it.
Naruto felt no such emotion. All that was inside of him was anger. Obstacle after obstacle after obstacle, a never-ending series of things that kept him from where he wanted to be.
His eyes narrowed on the orange cloaks in front of him as it sunk in that he would have to fight, and he remembered his weapons. Quickly he reached for the hilt of his sword. Thankfully, it was still there.
For some reason, though, he went to grab his father's kunai—and as he felt the empty pouch on his back, a sinking feeling came into his stomach.
The sound of a rolling river filled his ears.
- XXIV -
Perhaps Danzo really was stuck to that spot.
The Fourth Hokage of Konoha moved not even one muscle after Sasuke left him, lifted not even one finger to help his village, shed not even one tear for his people and his ninja who had been killed by the Order of Kurama.
And now, as he watched the newly created jinchuriki Hidan barreling his way through the village, destroying everything on the path to him, Danzo could not even be bothered to spare him one second of his time.
A presence filled with far more tangible rage approached silently from the stairs. A moment later, Danzo finally turned his head to see Itachi Uchiha arrive at the top of the mountain.
"Well," the Hokage began, "I would say I was surprised…but your acting could use some work."
Itachi took a few small steps in his direction.
"I suppose that makes sense," the Uchiha said, black eyes unmoving from the Hokage. "You were the one who taught me, after all…"
He reached behind him and swiftly pulled out his sword, the sharp blade now standing between he and Danzo.
"And you're a terrible actor."
"Oh?" Danzo said. "What's this? You would cut down your former master?"
"You lost that title long ago in my eyes."
A thin smile appeared on the Hokage's face as he finally uprooted his body from its eternal position and faced Itachi fully.
"So be it. I do not need your approval; or have you forgotten that I am Hokage now—not that fool Hiruzen you used to follow."
"Just one more title you don't deserve. What kind of Kage watches idly as his people are slaughtered before him?"
The smile left Danzo's face, and his dark eye turned fierce.
"One who knows what is best for his village."
Itachi was silent as Danzo began to move closer to the edge of the mountain. Hidan's orange chakra flashed across the village.
"You know," he began, "I sent you on that fake mission because I wanted to spare your life. Even though you belonged to a filthy people, you were always a good soldier. Loyal. Dedicated. Merciless. But there is one thing about you that I've always hated…"
Slowly, Danzo took off his robes to reveal his grey cloak beneath. He used his free hand to reach for the bandages that covered the right side of his body. One by one, beginning from his head, they fell to the ground.
"It's that you have always thought that you were the smartest person in the room."
The last wrapping fell to the floor, and Danzo turned and let the cloak fall to his waist. A white arm filled with dozens upon dozens of red orbs revealed itself. Each of them had four black dots: one in the centre with the other three circling like a wheel.
Itachi watched in horror as Danzo's sinister voice echoed across the mountaintop.
"But truthfully, Itachi…you know nothing."
The words called the Uchiha's dark eyes up towards Danzo's face, where he saw another Sharingan. As he stared, the three-tomoe eye morphed into a different pattern: the pupil shrank slightly and was now surrounded by a ring of red; outside of that, a four-pointed black formation appeared, like edges of a kunai all piercing opposite directions.
"Ah, that's right," the Hokage said, bringing his left arm up to the eye. "This belonged to a friend of yours, I believe…what was his name, now? Shisui?"
Itachi had to tear his own eyes away from the desecration of his clan that Danzo wore like a shirt. It was a moment before he lifted them again as they swirled into the Mangekyo. Rage dripped from his deep voice.
"Not…another word…"
Danzo simply stared at the Uchiha's anger as he lifted his Sharingan-filled arm, ready to destroy him with the power of his own people.
"I see you've lost your arm. I don't know what happened to you, but you've made a grave error coming back here. If you want so badly to throw away the life I gave you, then I will gladly help."
Itachi was still. Despite his anger, he forced himself into calm breaths. Upon the final deep inhale, his eyes closed, and the breath released through his nose.
"Arrogance cost me this arm, Danzo…"
With a lifting of his head and a raising of his arm, Itachi's eyes burst open, their red glow lighting the mountaintop.
"It will cost you much more."
Red chakra burst from the ground around Itachi's feet, and its presence carried an updraft around the Uchiha, blowing his robes and his hair as if they were in the wind. Slowly, the chakra carried upwards and surrounded Itachi like a small dome. Darker areas of it began to swirl together into bone-shaped structures; soon an entire skeleton and skull had appeared. The chakra continued moving. Wrapping over and around itself, the bones were covered by what appeared to be a cloak. A helmet formed over the head that consisted of a long-nosed mask and long wisps of chakra in the back. Through the hole where the mouth may have been, two yellow eyes pierced the dark light of day, and in chakra warrior's hands were a large shield and a sword made of yellow light. It was only half a body that sprouted from the ground, with Itachi in its ribcage—but still it was as if a god had appeared.
Danzo sighed with a closed mouth; this would not be as simple as he thought.
Itachi's bleeding red eyes looked firmly ahead as, little by little, they darkened...
But they were not out of light just yet.
"In the name of the Uchiha: die like the scum you are, Danzo."
- XXIV -
The stairway was not usually so small. Sakura, Kiba, and Shikamaru had walked up and down the steps so many times that they had hardly even thought about it, but it always seemed like there was more than enough room for people to pass each other by comfortably and carry on with their day.
But when a dozen people crashed into each other, each of them on the hunt for blood, with weapons clashing and limbs flailing all over the place, suddenly it didn't seem very big at all.
Back-to-back-to-back-to-back the four of them stood in a small circle, defending themselves and each other. Naruto was at the top, Kiba was at the bottom, and Sakura and Shikamaru took either side.
The bodies flew. Naruto just barely dodged a kunai a number of times, and after each made sure to send the attacker backwards so the knife wouldn't get one of the other three. At first hesitant to pull out his sword in fear of catching one of them unintentionally, as the defeated enemies rose back to their feet and came again, he soon found he had no choice. Carefully he swung the blade in front of himself to intercept the kunai that came towards him, and it seemed to be effective at pushing the enemies back; but he soon ran into another problem.
Sakura was locked in a struggle with one of the cloaks as she was pushed towards Naruto. She pushed back with all her might and sent the man flying before giving a quick glance beyond the blonde.
"Damn…they just keep coming!"
The fight happening in the middle of the village between the Order and Konoha raged, and from the little bit that Naruto could see from the corner of his eye, it seemed as though the Order was winning. An orange light that reminded him of Hidan flew across the rooftops, enthusiastically destroying buildings all around; the debris only seemed to spawn more cloaks heading in his direction, and as they arrived, Naruto began to be pushed further down the steps.
At the twentieth or so of these enemies, he finally found himself in the wrong position. A white fox mask came straight into his face, kunai thrusting forward. Naruto dodged, but just barely—not quick enough to send the enemy backwards.
An instinct told him that an orange cloak winding up in the middle of the four of them would be instant death, so he acted quickly: with a wrap of his hands around the enemy's arm and a mighty heave, he tossed the enemy over Kiba and to the bottom of the steps.
And then all of a sudden, he froze, eyes fixed on the bridge below them.
"Naruto, look out!"
Sakura's voice didn't reach his ears quickly enough—Naruto certainly would not have been able to stop the orange cloak from bringing a kunai down upon the back of his head.
But Naruto did not turn around.
And the enemy stopped as he laid his own eyes upon the bridge.
Suddenly, his hand started to shake. One by one, the other masks behind him began to tremble in fear, and slowly, the rest of the stairway took notice. Sakura and Shikamaru took down an enemy each before they realized that no more were coming for them, and they turned below. Kiba was the last to notice, sticking a kunai into the neck of a man who attacked him. As he did, he saw that the members of the Order that came from the bottom of the stairway were no longer facing him.
The man who stopped from attacking Naruto was the first to speak.
"That's…that's…"
It was only a second later that the Order let out a collective yell and ran away to the north of the village.
Sakura, Shikamaru, and Kiba all watched the bridge with curious eyes.
"Who is that…?" Shikamaru asked under his breath.
A man and a woman, he with orange hair and she with purple, both in black robes with red clouds, stood staring up at the four of them—but only the woman who was looking at the group as a whole.
The man was focused only on one of them.
He raised his hand, and before Naruto even knew what was happening, he was lifted off of his feet. As if pulled by gravity itself, he flew towards the man, swiftly and helplessly.
"Naruto!" Sakura yelled—but it was no use.
Nothing could stop him.
Naruto felt the force that was pulling him dissipate just before he reached the bridge, but his momentum carried him forward and crashing to the ground just in front of the pair of strangers.
As he lay still for a second, trying to comprehend what the world was trying to do to him, he heard a small sound. And then another.
And then a drop on his head.
And then another.
Finally, as if the heavens themselves were waiting for orange-haired man to arrive, the clouds began to cry.
Rain fell over Konoha.
Naruto, the weight on his shoulders so heavy, slowly got to his feet. When he finally stood upright, his blue eyes turned straight ahead, and they looked into a pair that he remembered from long ago. Black rings filled the lavender irises, as if waves spreading out from a drop in the ocean.
Under the dark clouds and the rain, they gave off a light of their own.
"I told you we would meet again…Naruto Uzumaki."
Sweet lord I've been waiting for this since chapter 6. I can't believe we're finally here.
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