I'm REALLY excited for you guys to read this one. In fact, once I dreamed the certain part (you'll know it when you read it) I had to finish it the chapter and upload it the same night! I really hope you guys like the turns in this one, and hopefully, you chuckle at least once!
Also, I forgot to address this last time, but YES I agree I depicted Kimimaro a little... durable lol. I was really looking for someone I could throw a new and improved Team 7 at and use as a punching bag, and it just wouldn't have seemed right to use Orochimaru at that time. So Kimimaro got one hell of an HP boost. Eh, he's dead now so whatevs.
Don't own.
Naruto staggered into the massive new house of his. He was sore, tired, and conflicted. After the meeting had taken place, Naruto had made his way over to the hospital to see Sakura and deliver the news. She was there alright, and the lady at the desk had even directed Naruto to the room Sakura had been assigned to for the day.
Naruto didn't expect to see Sasuke present. Apparently, he had somehow burned the majority of his forearms, and then he went in to get some attention from his lady friend. Overall it just made Naruto's job easier, but it was still funny to think about.
They were both ecstatic to hear that they had a mission together so soon after Naruto's return but quickly sobered when Naruto told them what the mission was. They weren't little kids anymore, and they were getting sent on a high-risk A-Rank mission. To the Land of Tea to top it off. There was a reason between all of them that they were hesitant to return.
Naruto had spent the rest of the day preparing in his big house while clones moved personal things in. Near the end of the day, though, Naruto tested out the training field to vent out whatever frustrations the mission had brought back up.
All in all, it had a passing grade and the dirt tasted just like it was supposed to.
Now, three hours later, Naruto was setting his scrolls on the living room table. Camping gear and clothes, extra weapons, provisions, and his sealing supplies. This was an important mission and his first as a leader. He'd make sure everything went fine.
Two days of travel brought Team 7 to Konoha's border with the Land of Tea. The trio had actually stopped at the same outpost Naruto had first been deployed to. Everyone there was unfamiliar, though, and a fair number of them were Hyuga.
"This outpost has a better map of Tea than we do, it should show us most of the villages we need to hit," Naruto explained as he led his team through the halls. He was impressed with them so far, especially Sakura. Neither of them had asked for a break during the trip, but that was expected of his team by now. What impressed Naruto was the fact that neither of them appeared to be any worse for the wear.
"Do they also have a cafeteria?" Sakura asked, more than tired of eating bland ration bars.
Naruto smiled although neither of them could see it. "Take this next left and you'll see the sign. You both can grab something to eat, I can read a map by myself."
"So he can learn," came Sasuke's dry reply.
Naruto turned around in confusion when they reached the hallway leading to food. "Sakura, when did you teach him humor?"
Said pinkette simply laughed once as she dragged her smirking boyfriend away. "We'll bring you whatever they have for Ramen."
"She knows me so well."
"Literally everyone knows that about you."
At the end of the hallway was the information center, and it held the map they wanted. Stepping inside, Naruto waved to the oddly familiar looking Hyuga (they all shared a look though so who knows) and made his way to the hanging Tea map.
The plan so far was to hit every town and village along the Western border and send them to the relatively safe South-East, towards the capital. Naruto planned on having the fleeing villagers go through any towns between the Western border and the capital, effectively clearing the region while resupplying.
"Let's see, there's one, two, three…" Naruto counted seven villages and one larger town in total along the path they would take. It shouldn't take too long at each, so maybe three days to reach the Frost Country border.
Naruto took a good fifteen minutes tracing a finger along the shortest and easiest paths to take, choosing the ones he preferred and memorizing what landmarks he could. Kurama pointed out a few things when he felt inclined to do so, such as a few of the swathes of forest in the route were marked for prime hunting grounds. Naruto took that into consideration and mentally marked such an area for one night's camp.
"We brought you the wet noodles," Sasuke announced as he and Sakura entered.
"Woah, insult me all you like, but you leave the gods' chosen food out of it," Naruto warned as he took the warm cup.
Sakura sighed at their antics, but she was happy that Naruto was starting to open up about being more lenient on missions. He used to be a real stickler about staying professional. "So what's the plan?"
Naruto took a long second, or nine, to slurp at the noodles before smacking his lips and turning to the map. "We're here, and we'll travel this way," he trailed his finger up the Western border, "and hit a total of eight settlements. They'll flee East, going through every village they can and alerting the rest. We'll camp here and here before we cross into Frost on the third night."
Sasuke nodded along with the plan, content to trust in Naruto's lead for this one. Sakura, though, took a closer look at the map. "Why'd you pick that second campsite? We could get closer to the border on that day and leave less ground to cover in the morning."
Naruto was honestly pleased that he had someone with him who would not only follow but also question him. He had been taught that it was the best way to learn to lead. "Kurama noticed that it was a marked hunting ground, so I decided to call that one early and get some real food in us before the big push. We'd be far enough from the border I'll feel comfortable with a fire."
That satisfied the pink kunoichi, and after that, they were ready to head out. Naruto let Sasuke take lead, telling him to watch for the next landmark. Knowing that they could keep up, Naruto pushed the speed a bit. With nothing more than a stirring of treetops, Team 7 was off.
The first village was in sight now, and not just to Sasuke's eyes. Naruto retook the lead since he'd be in charge of talking to the village leader. "Okay, we don't want to be here for more than half an hour. We offer our help to get people ready to leave, but we're gone in thirty."
"Understood," the other two members of the team confirmed.
Like most small villages, the trees were cut back about a hundred yards away from the walls. This let the watchmen see any approaching animals or people. Now, such a thing isn't too much of a problem for ninja at the level of Sasuke, Sakura, or Naruto, but the three walked into the clearing regardless.
A shout and a wave came from a lone watchman, and Naruto waved back, trying to convey his friendly intentions. A few Samurai appeared at the gate, and Naruto knew that they were just a precaution.
"Hello, travelers! What is your business in our home?" the watchman asked once Team 7 was within earshot. He sounded friendly enough, but he was definitely ready to signal the attack.
Naruto stopped walking once the question was asked. "We are shinobi from Konoha. We come as messengers, trying to save as many of your people as possible."
All of the Samurai moved their sword hands to their pommels, the collective rustle of their armor being impressively in sync.
"I apologize, stranger, but your message has the tone of a threat…" the watchman said warily. If these were honestly Konoha ninja there wasn't much this handful of mid-tier samurai could do to stop them, and the watchman knew it.
"Quite the opposite, sir. We come bearing the news of another looming war, and we would prefer if you and your people evacuated immediately. I would be remiss if innocents were caught in the bloodshed between Konoha and Kumo."
The watchman cursed then. "Another war? And you wish to use our home as a battleground? Why must you shinobi always trample on those beneath you? Are we not deserving of our peace? Is war that important to you that you would upturn the lives of every country between you and your enemy?"
Naruto bowed his head. This was a man who had seen at least one war in his time, likely at the feet of fighting shinobi. "I apologize, sincerely. It is not our intention to sully your lands with blood, but even if we are simply passing our armies through to fight on the enemy ground we may be attacked. I do not want your children to see something so horrible as a war for many years in the event that I can't ask for never."
Sasuke and Sakura stood in silent support of their friend and leader, and they heard the sigh the watchman gave. "Fine. Thank you for your warning, and may whatever gods be bless you on your travels. We will warn others on our travels East."
Naruto let out a sigh of relief as the Samurai went back to a neutral stance. "We can offer you and yours twenty minutes of aid in preparation, but we have many others we need to warn North of you."
Naruto was waved off. "Go, warn our kinsman. We are a poor village, and no one has much to prepare. We will be gone by noon."
Naruto waved one more time before leading his team into the Northmost trees. He let out a relieved breath and leaned against a tree. "Not bad for my first non-violent diplomacy attempt, eh guys?"
"Naruto, where did you learn how to do that? That was actually really well said," Sakura asked as she let her team leader regain his composure.
"Spent a year with sages, that's literally the only way they talk. You pick up a thing or two," Naruto joked lightly.
"You handled yourself well. Your masters would be proud."
"You good to get going?" Sasuke asked.
"Yup, we have extra time now, but we should keep moving."
The rest of the day was met with two more experiences that mirrored the first. Both of the other settlements in the day were small, and Naruto even let Sakura try talking to the third one of the day. Sasuke would take the last one tomorrow, but for now they were busy finding the night's campsite.
"I can see a clearing ahead, there's a large pond in the middle of it," Sasuke reported from the lead.
"We should be fairly close then," Naruto commented.
"You marked the first camp to be just north of the pond," Sakura added, and Naruto found himself grateful once more for her skills in memorizing things.
Sasuke grunted and led them a little way to the left, likely to get around the body of water.
There was in fact a good, flat area of land clear of trees just north of the water. Naruto gave the silent signal to start setting up camp, and as he set up his own tent a trio of clones took off into the woods to both scout and gather firewood.
Once the fire was going and everyone was eating the bland, heated travel meals, Naruto said, "I'll leave a clone on guard at night. It will be able to maintain Sage Mode by meditating all night, and that should give us a pretty good range of protection."
"The Sound Border is to the West, right?" Sasuke asked as he ate.
"Yeah, we have almost five miles between us and the border, though," Sakura answered, remembering such on the map.
"Hopefully Neji and his team are already in Sound and marking up bases. It will give us a bit of a cushion to the West, but we do have to watch out for Oto in fleeing this way. I'll have the Sage clone send out lesser clones to try and take out anyone it feels is a threat, but if things need a real ninja it'll wake one of us. Probably Sasuke since you can see in the dark."
"Damn."
"Life sucks, buttercup. Well, see you guys in the morning?" Naruto asked as he stood.
"Sleep tight, Naruto," Sakura called out, following the blond's lead and heading to her tent. She shared a quick kiss with Sasuke before they went to their SEPARATE tents.
Naruto sat up suddenly, not entirely sure why he had reacted but doing his best to wake up nonetheless. He always slept with one of his gloves on, and now a set of claws were extended towards the flap of his tent. When his eyes finished waking up, he saw that a 'lesser clone' had entered his tent.
"Hng? Guh," he was basically a Sasuke now, shit.
"Boss, we got a large group of shinobi fleeing Oto, they'll cross us about half a mile North. We could engage or go unnoticed."
"Wake the others," Naruto said lowly, putting on the rest of his clothes. "If they're in the same tent, I don't want the memories."
The clone gave a small two-fingered salute and disappeared behind the flap. Naruto finished dressing, going as far as to pull out his familiar black cloak and hood. The other glove went on, and he moved out by the remains of the fire to wait for his team.
Sasuke came out first, looking no different than normal and completely awake. He flashed through all the stages of his Sharingan as he walked, likely trying to wake up fully.
Sakura wasn't long after Sasuke, thankfully from her own tent. Naruto wasn't sure why he was so worried about that, it would be funny as hell to catch them in such a… compromising situation.
"Naruto why do I feel the need to hurt you?" Sakura asked as soon as the thought finished in his mind.
Thinking quickly, Naruto replied smoothly with, "Because I just woke you up in the middle of the night to go hunt down a group of Oto nin."
Sakura nodded and agreed, "Oh, yeah that'll do it."
"How many and how far?" Sasuke asked, cutting straight to business. So he reverts back to a twelve-year-old when he's tired, that was good to know.
"Fourteen, and they'll pass a half mile North of us in ten minutes. I won't force you to go since it's not part of the mission, but I thought I'd at least offer."
"Okay cool let's go," Sasuke didn't even hesitate to answer. Sakura shrugged and started to stretch for the coming travel and fight.
Naruto, while pleased for the company, couldn't help but throw in a jab at his dark-haired friend. "Wow, Sasuke! I didn't know you were so selfless that you'd go out of your way to kill people. The innocents at stake here must really be influencing you!" or he was tired and wasn't thinking straight, Naruto didn't know which answer was better.
"Not even close, dipshit," Sasuke snarked as he cracked his neck. "It's because you're our leader and our best friend. We don't care if it's a mission or if it's because you think one of them is a hot alien with three tits that your sensei wants a drawing of. Where you go, we'll follow you. Now hurry up so we can get back to sleep."
With that, Sasuke took off walking to the forest edge, leaving a stunned Naruto flapping his jaw in a futile attempt to understand what had just occurred. Sakura walked up to him, closed his mouth, and pat him on the shoulder in a show of comfort.
"He says these things when he's tired. Come on, let's get this over with."
"Stop, this is the spot the Sage clone says they're on course to cross," Naruto said, coming to a halt in the trees.
"What's the plan?" Sasuke asked lowly.
"I'll have a clone hide underground with a modified explosive note attached, and Sasuke you be in the trees above it. Once the first half of their group passes the clone, it will detonate the tag and hopefully take out the last two or three of them. Sasuke, you hop down behind the smoke to cut off their retreat."
"Will you not get the memory of literally blowing up?" Sakura asked with more than a little concern as Naruto placed the note on a clone's chest.
"Nah, I've learned how to disable the memory gain for specific clones. It's come in handy a few times," Naruto replied.
"Rest of the plan, guys? We only have a few more minutes," Sasuke urged.
"Oh yeah. Sasuke, you take lead on this one. In the dark, your eyes will be a pretty scary incentive to surrender. I'll have my mask on and eleven clones spread out, so you can just pretend we're like your 'faceless men' or whatever you want. How's your acting and improv skills?"
"My what?"
"You'll do fine. Just be as dark as you like to pretend you really are, and start ordering me to kill them off if they don't cooperate. Sakura, you be in the woods for a straggler or two. No offense, but you would kinda stand out in this situation."
Sakura moved into the treetops, "No, I get it. You boys have your fun."
"Cool. Okay, let's come up with a script for you, Sasuke. We only need one of them alive."
Iba had no idea how the base had been found. There was no trace of it on the surface, the hatch was even buried via Earth jutsu after every use! It couldn't have been by smell either, no one would be stupid enough to leave anything on the surface like that.
All Iba had been able to do was destroy what files he could, gather the thirteen most important experiments, and flee towards Master Orochimaru's new area in Mist. So far things were going okay aside from the fact that all they had was weapons and a bit of water. Iba surmised that they would have to hunt and steal for food.
Iba may have made a personal decision when he fled. In all honesty, experiment 7 wasn't vital by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, she was almost put down since the mark given her had been so defective. But she was so sweet… and she kind of reminded Iba of his daughter... and she didn't deserve to die at the hands of those Konoha douche bags.
Suddenly, the peace of the night was split by an earth-shattering explosion, sending everyone tumbling forward. Iba yelled along with his men, his ears ringing as he skidded to a stop in the dirt. Iba looked back the way they came, and his eyes grew with fear of what was hiding in the dark.
Smoke and dust were in the process of clearing, but it was easy enough to see the twin torso's impaled to tree trunks. Long, sharp shards of bloody bone stuck through the stomachs of each torso, only one of them still having a limb attached.
He knew both of them in an instant. It was experiments 1 and 2, Orochimaru's attempts at recreating the Kaguya bloodline. It had been a partial success, and both of them were capable of both elongating and strengthening the bones in their arms. The bones that now stuck them to trees.
As the dust finally settled and the remaining twelve of Iba's group huddled together defensively, an even more chilling sight became visible. A lone man stood, outlined against a moonlit background. He held the head of one of Iba's perished men in one hand and a long, deadly katana in the other.
"Who are you? Why have you attacked us?" Iba called out angrily.
"I," the figure started slowly, "am he who stalks the night. And you, are nothing more than my prey." The man tossed aside the head of whichever bone brother he held, the dull thump resounding much louder than it should have.
Iba felt a sense of relief then. This was nothing more than some ass hole trying to play the hero. "Oh really? Well, Mr. Night Stalker, we seem to have you a bit outnumbered here."
There came a low, dark chuckle, and the figure lifted his head. Iba didn't even know he had been looking at the ground and resented himself for not attacking when he had the advantage.
He hated himself a lot more for almost soiling himself at the new sight.
The man now stared straight at Iba and his group of refugees. With the eyes of a devil. They seemed to absolutely glow in the darkness, illuminated by whatever evil fire burned within this man. They were the eyes of a predator, the eyes of one who truly did stalk the night itself.
"I want you," the katana started drawing circles in the dirt, the grating of metal on dirt also seemingly magnified a thousandfold, "to look around you. Look, and see my pack that surrounds you. Ready to kill you at my leisure."
Iba didn't want to. He didn't want to take his eyes away from the glowing orbs of this demon in man's skin and have his head stolen from his body. That is until he heard a soft, feminine whimper behind him. No… she shouldn't have to die…
Iba looked to his left and blanched. Emerging from the very darkness itself were hooded, faceless men. There were beams of moonlight that illuminated one of their heads, and there was actually no face. More demons at the beck and call of their master.
"I shall allow one of you to flee, but you, speaker, must stay and be the one to choose," the katana never stopped its loud circles.
Iba did not trust this man. Demon. Thing. But if he was telling the truth… "11, head East."
A large, muscular man hesitantly stepped out of the group's circle. Iba had chosen him because he had the best chance of surviving the journey. His body had been modified the most, his skin replaced with armor-like, living leather plates. His bones were three times as strong as any man's besides Kimimaro. 11 was strong, he would be the one to tell Orochimaru everything
11 walked slowly to the western edge of the ring of Faceless Men, absolutely terrified of getting too close to one even though he towered a foot above them. Once he was past the circle, he broke into a run and disappeared into the forest. Iba felt a glimmer of hope.
That hope was immediately dashed when he heard a short yell, a loud, meaty impact, and rustling foliage. 11 came back through the trees, flying high above everyone's heads. He slammed into a tree above a Faceless Man, limp and unmoving. 11's body fell, only to have his head caught by one of the demons in black. And promptly crushed in one hand with a burst of strength and chakra.
The demon tossed 11 back to the group, and Iba saw that his ribs had been destroyed by a single, massive impact. He had been dead long before his head was crushed in. Everyone in his group shifted nervously and drew what weapons they had.
"I'm sorry, it seems that my associates did not agree with my mercy. How… unfortunate," the red-eyed demon drawled over the noise his sword tip made. "Maybe at some point, I will ask for what you might call a… surrender."
Iba felt his pride take a blow at the words. He was one of Orochimaru's lieutenants! Trusted with an entire base on his honor as a man! He would never go down without a fight!
"My eyes see your truth, dead one. They know your 'pride' will force you to fight. And as such, you will force them all to die."
Iba couldn't breathe too well now. He was so fucking scared, how does one fight a demon in the first place? This was a children's story type of stuff!
"Hmm," the low, menacing tone was back. Then the sword stopped the circles. The silence was absolutely deafening; even the surrounding bugs had gone to hiding, leaving Iba and his group to listen only to their frantic heartbeats. The Faceless Men didn't move, but blue, ethereal claws formed at their hands, in perfect sync.
The man lifted his sword and pointed it at the group. 4, 9, and 12 were pointed out, and Iba was stuck between fear and confusion. "You three will die. Now."
Iba didn't even see it happen. There were three blurs, and three Faceless Men seemed to settle back into place, their cloaks floating gently down. And then every person pointed at by the Red-Eyed Demon dropped to the ground. 4 was missing her head, 9 lacked most of his throat and the internal organs that littered the ground, and 12 had half of her brain exposed to the pale moonlight.
7 threw up directly behind Iba, and he moved directly in front of her so she couldn't be pointed at.
"3, 5, 6, 8, diamond formation!" Iba managed to call out.
3 shakily took the left flank, 6 the right, 8, faced the rear, and 5 took point. Five did his best to stare down the red eyes in front of them, but he couldn't meet their gaze.
The demon in charge let this happen, and when all four experiments activated a level one curse mark, he chuckled. "Kill all four of them."
More blurs of black speed, but this time there were grunts and a single scream of pain.
Iba watched in horror as one of the Faceless ones cut both of Five's hamstrings with his otherworldly claws, kneeling stock still behind the still living experiment. To Iba's continued horror, the being flickered from existence and reappeared in front of Five. Five was on his knees, so he was next to powerless to stop the being from reaching out with both hands, grasping the sides of his head, and ending his life.
Iba felt his heart stop when he saw 5's now lifeless eyes and face where the back of his head should have been. A hand was placed on the top of his head… and blood seeped from every orifice of 5's skull. Soon, it blew apart in a bloody, swirling mass of chakra, his brain having been blended from the inside.
"P-Please…" Iba choked back a sob. He couldn't take this nightmare anymore! He and all of his men were powerless to stop these demons…
"Yes… I see the fight leaving you. My eyes tell me much… but you two," the eyes and the sword both trained on first 10, and then 13, "Must still die."
Before Iba could say or do anything, the last two of his fighters were gone. Not killed before his eyes, just gone. The passing unnatural breeze gave the impression that they had been sped away, but Iba saw nothing…
"Kami PLEASE! . . . NO!" 13 could be heard just off in the woods, and Iba fell to his knees when he heard her loud sobs fall silent. That was it. He could do no more. He and 7 would die here… at the hands of these monsters instead of at the mercy of Konoha. At this point, it would be so much nicer to die. Iba had seen too many nightmares to ever wake up from.
"Now I see it. Your eyes tell mine all I need to know. You are finished, a slave to whatever whim I may have. But… you," the man did something new and pointed with his hand instead of his sword. He was pointing over Iba's head and at… 7?
"Yes, you, child. You were once pure. Taken from your world of light and plunged into a darkness not of your own making. You, I shall choose to save."
Two of the Faceless men parted, and from between them came what could only be a goddess.
"Yes! Please, she's innocent, I swear!" Iba confirmed desperately, the tears springing from his eyes.
"Silence, worm!" The harsh order from the demon sent Iba sprawling to the dirt, groveling silently to plead for his life.
The goddess seemed to glide into the circle of Faceless Men, her aura light and calming. Her arms glowed green with the telltale sign of healing, and she held out a dainty hand to 7.
"Come," was the only soft, soothing sound she made. Her steps were silent, and her beautiful pink hair covered her eyes with what little length it held. As quickly as she came, she was gone. Taking 7 and leaving Iba alone with the Demons of his nightmare.
Again, the sword was in the dirt. The unnaturally loud, grating sound got closer as the furiously calm red eyes approached with slow, powerful steps. "I see you. Your essence. You can hide nothing from me now, and you are broken."
Iba knew he was right, so he remained on the ground and placed his forehead to the dirt in hopes of appeasing this angry, dark god. He said not a word, and the clearing was filled with a heavy sense of Malice. It seemed to come from every direction, not just from his new Dark Lord.
The feet stopped in front of Iba, and his Lord paused before doing anything.
Iba felt the blade dip under his chin, urging him to raise his head. He did so eagerly, quick to try and please his new Master. He looked up and immediately into the blood red eyes of his Master. The intricate, swirling lines holding some dark, occult meaning that he may never truly understand.
"Surrender your life to me and my kin. Surrender yourself now, and I swear to you that your soul will never see the torment your body has known."
Iba nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, my Dark Lord! I am yours, from now until your need of me dies! I swear it!"
The demon rose to his full height and locked 'eyes' with one of his Faceless Men. Simultaneously, every member of the circle burst into a cloak of awe and fear-inducing red power. Their arms raised, and one of them appeared behind Iba, placing a cold hand on his shoulder.
"The Dark Lord giveth, so too shall the Dark Lord taketh away."
And Iba's world went dark. Vertigo. Pain. Extreme nausea. When he opened his eyes to discard the contents of his stomach, he recognized the walls of Konoha as well as the sitting form of the young 7.
"WHAT IN EVERY KAMI'S NAME WAS THAT SHIT?" Sakura screamed as Naruto smiled along with Sasuke.
"That was bad-fucking-ass is what it was!" Kurama laughed along although he knew she couldn't hear him.
"That was the single most badass example of roleplay I've ever seen!" Naruto shouted back, smacking his Uchiha friend on the back. "I didn't know you had it in you, Sasuke! You should quit being a ninja and work in movies!"
"Nah, my whole family just specializes in dark and broody, that's all," Sasuke tried to brush it off, but his smile was much too large to hide. "Besides, you read my 'improv-ed' signals perfectly."
"Improvised, and thank you! But that one line you said, 'Surrender your life to me and my kin. Surrender yourself now, and I swear to you that your soul will never see the torment your body has known' was just freaking perfect!"
"No, you guys," Sakura rubbed at her temples, "that was so. Fucked. Up."
Naruto looked at her blankly before responding with, "Uh, yeah. That's why it worked. That guy will be so easy for Inoichi or Ibiki to break now!"
Sakura actually swung at Naruto for that one. "That poor guy will NEVER be the same! That kind of trauma ends lives, Naruto! And that little girl couldn't have been more than ten!"
Naruto did sober a bit when the child was brought up. Luckily, Sasuke jumped in for him.
"That's why I focused all of the mind games on the guy who seemed in charge and gave you the signal to get her out of there as soon as I could."
Sakura narrowed her eyes at her boyfriend. "She watched everyone in her group get brutally murdered. She watched as her leader slowly descended into panic-fueled insanity. And you're telling me that since she was sent to Konoha before you started talking like some wannabe fucking deity that it's totally fine?"
Sasuke shied away from her after that outburst. She was really pissed. Maybe things did get a bit dark.
"Whys couldn't you just put them in a genjutsu?"
"If they broke it they'd know we were just shinobi and would have resisted a lot more."
"Why not just KILL them all at once and leave that guy alive? I've seen Naruto do it before!"
"His spirit wouldn't have broken the way it did, and Ibiki would have struggled to break him since he would be fiercely loyal to Orochimaru."
"DAMNIT SASUKE LET ME WIN!"
"No."
"Sakura," Naruto said soothingly, "she wasn't a normal little girl. She was one of Orochimaru's experiments. Nothing she saw here today will trump what happens in those labs, trust me. The important thing is that she's in Konoha now, and they can try and save her from a worse psyche than Anko's."
Sakura crossed her arms and huffed. "It was still way too dark. And you made Sasuke seem like a villain."
Naruto looked at Sasuke and tried to signal him with his eyes. Sasuke rolled his in understanding.
"Yeah, but was I at least a powerful and mysteriously sexy villain?"
Sakura blushed only a tiny amount. "Maybe a little."
Naruto laughed before heading back to the camp at a slow walk. "Come on, let's get what hours of sleep we can before daybreak. And for the record, Sakura, you played your part beautifully as well."
Well. You probably know which part I dreamt and wanted to write down by now huh? I mean, the thought of Team 7 just jumping into a dark roleplaying scenario just sounds awesome, and boy did it get dark.
Who's side are you personally on, though? Is Sakura right, and the boys took things a bit too far? Or are Naruto and Sasuke right when they say they just did an awesome job of mentally fucking that guy and breaking him for Ibiki? I'd love to know what you think!