Warning: The chapter is not edited there might be many mistakes. I'll revise once I get in touch with my beta-reader.
"Is this some kind of divine punishment? First being chased to a corner and then getting caught up in the crossfire between the two prominent clans of the fire country." The pink haired kunoichi sighed. 'It's as if we are martyr for a good cause, bestowed by the god himself. What did we ever do to deserve this?' She almost felt like crying in despair.
The fight before them was gruesome, a heated battle between two eternal enemies, no less than a blood bath. It was one thing being chased by the group of shinobi(s) but landing in the the middle of a full scale war was downright frightening. The earth was oozing of pure blood thirst. A normal person would easily be crushed underneath such pressure. It was even more upsetting when all that blood thirst was directed at you the next moment, sending chills down one's spine. Good thing Sakura and Hinata were not just normal people they were well bred and talented kunoichi of Konohagakure.
A mass of hostile shinobi(s) gazing down at them from the peak of the enormous hole with the dangerous glint in their eyes like a large pack of wolf hunting, Still it didn't change the truth that all the animosity was focused towards them and the fact that they were outnumbered is just an understatement, feeling gloomy at their situation since they didn't have any option other than to fight their way out. 'Well easier said than done.' On the positive side they couldn't detect Madara or Hashirama even their younger brothers were not in the line of sight.
People may call Sakura a monster but the real monsters are the god of shinobi Hashirama and the sole wielder of Eternal mangekyou sharingan Madara Uchiha. Luckily they are not in the range of Hinata's radar which can be several miles.
The pink haired medic sighed again.
"How very fortunate..." Sarcasm was dripping from each word.
If they can call being surrounded by thousands of shinobi that.
Witnessing the explosion before them all the shinobi in the battle field was baffled. It's not every day a meteor collides during the war. Other party assuming it to be a surprise attack. Everyone was in chaos. The scale of destruction was large. As the density of the smoke decreased they saw a silhouette moving. Most expected some kind of monster will emerge soon. They were bracing themselves for what might come.
People surrounding them could make out some noises from the center of the hole.
When finally the smoke dissipated the shinobi(s) were entranced by what they saw, Two women standing in the middle of the large depression. They rarely see such women with extraordinary features. So they were at a loss of reaction. Soon a voice from behind declared.
"They are the so called "mystical sisters we have been hunting down, finally landed in our trap."
That single statement pulled all the shinobi(s) out of their trance and regain their wits.
Hearing these words a vein throbbed on Sakura's forehead. 'Who came up with that stupid name again?'
The sky was as gloomy creating a sensation of dread within the two women. Surrounding them was a swarm of men glaring, their eyes filled with lust for power. Especially those blood red eyes oozing hatred and disdain. The sensation was spine chilling. They were beast in the human's skin. Like predator sizing their prey.
The crowd was agitated but didn't want to raise their arms against them. Of course it wasn't out of chivalry but they were ordered not to harm their targets and capture them alive. The loss of their kin sent to hunt these two down still deeply engraved in their hearts. They weren't some knights who were chained by some codes but shinobi who would do anything to achieve their goals.
Be it Senju or Uchiha they were all the same either would use any means to go get what they want even resort to deception and trickery.
Albeit, women were considered weak in this era and looked down upon but the smarter ones in the crowd were cautious of them while the individuals with the less intellect eager to charge at them head on.
An unnerving silence enveloped them. Only sound they heard was the nonrhythmic breathing of those fiends preparing themselves to attack just any moment.
They have been on the front line before but never been outnumbered by such a large gap. They were anxious and resolute, sweating hard despite the cold atmosphere, even if they didn't want to fight when they were at such a great disadvantage. It was as if the entire universe was against them, disadvantage of number, the terrain, dropping morale from pressure of killing intent. If they are captured here, they will probably never breathe the fresh air of the outside world freely. The thought was enough to steel their will. They synchronized their breath and readied themselves for the assault. And as predicted a loud shout followed piercing the silence.
"FIREEE!."
'Here it comes.'
'Here it is.'
A large cloud of kunai and shuriken were shot towards them from all four directions.
"Hinata take the defense." Sakura hissed as she tightened her fists.
The projectiles were renders useless by Hinata's kaiten.
A maelstrom of huge fire balls rain down, sizzling through the ominous sky. They braced themselves as the scrounging heat neared. They managed to dodge the fire balls but the crater they were stuck in turned into a pit of hell with the fire roaring everywhere.
People who charged at them were thrown in disarray with Sakura's cherry blossom impact as counter attack. These were the warning signs to the reckless once and also their last act of mercy. Most in the mob understood but with the advantage of their numbers they disregarded their warning.
The women were in synchronization with each other while attacking and defending. They have been to many missions together so it comes as an instinct to them and their bodies move involuntarily.
The arrogance and ego clouded these shinobi's judgment. The wiser refined their attacks and attached the bomb tags to their projectiles this time around yet unluckily for them the Hyuga woman before them her had mastered the Hyuga techniques over the course of years and thanks to Homuro's chakra that dwelled within her attacks were even more formidable among her peers. Her kaiten protected both her and Sakura from the blasts and shock waves were also reduced to certain extent. She was being more cautious this this time so that not to get poisoned again.
"Hinata let's move it's not good for us to stay surrounded for long."
"Yes."
The sheer number of the enemies was overwhelming. No matter how many times she cracks open the earth they would keep come crawling from the Abyss.
No matter how many they take down their number won't reduce.
'Damn these guys are really persistent. Why don't they just leave us alone and continue what they were doing before we arrived.'
'Why each of these guys has to be so damn strong.'
"Taking on this many is stupidity. Even if we somehow manage to pull if of it will leave us vulnerable."
"Yeah, let's just focus on escaping without wasting too much chakra."
They were completely engulfed but were desperate to break out. A wise man once said In a war never chase a desperate enemy. Thanks to their refined chakra control they manage to conserve a lot of chakra.
"Sakura lets head towards the west."
"Eh? Why..?"
"I'm sure that's the route to the valley of the end. If we cross the waterfall..."
"We will enter the Otogakure."
"Yeah and I doubt the enemy will peruse us once we are out of fire county."
"I'm getting your point Uchiha and Senju will not risk provoking a third party while they are at each other's throats."Meanwhile a Huge fire ball just hit the tree next to their position.
'Damn these Uchiha(s) we can't even hide.'
Suddenly a huge water blast was about to hit but they dodged it.
"Tsk, Why do Uchiha and Senju have to collaborate together now of all times?"
"Don't tell me they just awoken their dormant brotherhood simply because they found a common enemy." The pink haired konuichi mumbled in an irritated tone.
The chiming of the armors and the cluttering of metal followed as the sea of shinobi charged at them with the intent to swallow them whole.
She doesn't know as to how long they have been fighting but it was long enough for the battleground to be soaked with blood and gore arousing a nauseating vile stench. Regardless they kept marching forward slicing and ramming through the endless sea of enemies. The blood was flowing like Perennial River and spraying like rain. They never stopped for a moment painting everything red in their trail. They were exhausted and wary waiting for a moment for their foe's morale to shatter.
The reeking rotten flesh of the fallen shinobi make her ponder about for how long have they have been fighting. The odor made her insides churn bile rush her throat, all she ever wanted was to throw up and relive her stomach of such discomfort.
But whenever she heard those blood curdling screams and agonized cries of dying men she becomes more and more desperate to survive. She wanted nothing more than to go back home in the safety of the warm embrace of her husband.
'Naruto….'
They were running straight towards the direction Hinata mentioned earlier. The wave of shinobi that were ruthlessly assaulting them with combination of attacks suspiciously ceased their pursuit, only when they were about a few kilometers away from the spot.
'Why aren't they perusing us anymore?'
The forest ahead was covered by a blanket of mist.
"I forgot to tell you something Sakura."
"What is it?"
"Earlier, I saw two chakra signatures fluctuations."
"What? Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"It slipped my mind when we were being chased."
"Don't tell me those two are..."
Even before she could complete that sentence they once again felt the similar distortion in space and it was too late now they have already entered the territory of the two beasts.
'We are done for.' Sakura's face grimaced in frustration.
"Now I understand why those shinobi stopped chasing us."
"Exactly what were you thinking Hinata."
Despite asking that question she kept running towards the valley, she trusted Hinata's judgment.
"Listen Sakura this is our only chance of getting away."
"Yeah I figured. But you do understand the consequences of failure right?"
"Yeah but it's better than having no chance at all. If we had run to some other direction with army that large they would have caught us eventually."
'I can't tell you this but it's already over for us Hinata this time.'
They could literally see the sparks flying in the air even from such a long distance. No Matter how high the hurdle was they had to cross water channel in order to secure their freedom. As they ran towards the valley they could make out the enormous figures of Susano and a wooden golem. The two giants were fighting each other. The kunoichi(s) had concealed their chakra to the point where it is similar an ordinary civilian but now they decided to suppress in till it's almost completely not detectable.
Not wanting to push their luck any further. They persist in their advance.
If somehow they got fortunate then, the two legendary shinobi won't notice them during their intense dual. But if their presence were to be revealed not even the god himself would be able to save them.
After running a long way undetected their destination was right in front of them all they had to do was cross the waterfall along the valley. Fortunately for them they could clearly see the image of the two giants fight.
"Finally we did it Sakura." The dark haired woman was brimming with happiness.
"Not so fast Hinata we still have to cross the valley until unless we are on the other side we can't celebrate." The pink haired woman replied sternly.
'Why does it feel like something's not right?'
Before Sakura even think of the possibilities she found Hinata had already jumped down the valley and was in the middle of crossing the water stream."NO HINATA... WAIT..."
Just proving her intuition right a large screen of fire and wood separated the two of us lucky Hinata had already crossed over and was on the other edge of the valley. Much to her relief she was unhurt. But her relief didn't last longer, instantly the dark haired konuichi was under attack. She saw her friend dodge a very familiar gunbai. She was in a close combat fight with none other their worst nightmare Madara Uchiha.
'How is that possible? Weren't they just fighting each other a moment ago...'She turned her head in the direction where the two giants were battling each other, only then did she realized.
'Shit... The clones... we were already under their surveillance the moment we entered the battle field. No it started even before that even during the chase inside the cave it was all planned out just to separate the two of us.'
'It was a trap all along they were already inside our heads long ago.'
'How I badly wish Shikamaru was here right now.'
Suddenly a large thick wooden dome imprisoned her. She cursed herself for loosening her focus over and over since the chase began.
For the first time she felt this frightened after the war. Disliking the fact of being caged, she pumped the chakra in her fist and punched the wall, force was enough to bring down the entire dome. Now she was standing face to face with the man her entire village admired in her past life. Yes, the god of shinobi(s), Hashirama Senju. This was the first time she met the man personally. The chances of her victory against this man were low to none but she can't give up now after coming all this way. At least she had to get Hinata out of Uchiha's grasp.
Out of nowhere the thick vines and ivies shot towards her. She simultaneous dodged them all. His attacks were peculiar. For some reason Hashirama himself wasn't attacking her. It seemed like he wanted to capture her using wood without physically harming her.
'What is this? Is this considered some kind of chivalry or is he underestimating me?' That particular thought kept bugging her constantly. While she was backing away she didn't realized she was being led and was captured within the arms of a wooden humanoid. The humanoid was three times the size of an average human. His clutch was strong on her. No regular shinobi would be able to break free from its grasp. That was the final straw for her. Firstly, being underestimated and then being compared to an average shinobi really ticked her off.
Even her husband was cautious of her during a fight.
She gathered her chakra and stretched he arms the force caused the wooden golem to loosen it's grip. Sakura was now free of its clutches, grabbing one of its arm she spun it around a several times and flung it fiercely in its master's trajectory.
Hashirama was shell shocked at the woman's strength. Without wasting any time she sent a punch towards the brunette. She was quick on her feet but he was evaded it at the last moment with some difficulty. But the land that came in contact with her fist was shattered in into pieces. The man paled by the sight before him.
'It's better to avoid those fists. One hit and it's game over for me.' He sent a couple of wooden golems towards her again but as soon as her fist or kicks collided with them only the shards of the puppet remained.
'And people call me monster.' The man thought as if arguing with himself.
Taking a look at the man before her she smiled sweetly and cracked her knuckles. The expression on the woman's face sent made the fine hair on his neck stand. He had heard many rumors about these women. But when he laid his eyes upon them he was truly mesmerized. He had met many women in his life some were even more beautiful these two but something about them would make you unable to look away maybe it was the fire in their eyes or something else he didn't know. But now he could understand why his and Madara's father so desperately wanted them.
He was still against his father's decision, forcing the two women to do their bidding against their will but he can't go against his father's orders. Now that he finally realized that the woman before him was indeed deadly despite her looks he became serious. Now that he considered her a threat he engaged into a serious fight with her.
It was clear to her Hashirama wasn't showing all his potential and he looked at her as if he was looking at some fragile being who might break at the slightest touch. She frowned at that she knew it was because of her appearance. She had heard about it from many people she met during her travels and the notion annoyed her to extreme.
The fight between them became fiercer as the time passes, it reached to point where Hashirama had to use his mukutojin jutsu and Sakura was unwillingly forced to summon Katsuya. The size of both the summons was almost equal. He was could roughly estimate the size of her chakra stores by the size of her gigantic summon. It was obvious the summoned being wasn't weak either.
"Sakura once again congratulations on successfully signing the contract with me and being able to call me."
"Thank you Lady Katsuyu but I need your help in this fight right now."
"Of course I will assist you to the best of my abilities."
"I'll be counting on you Lady Katsuyu ."
The fight resume with attacks from both the sides. It only faltered when Sakura felt Hinata's chakra flickering from the other side.
That moment of confusion enough for not being able to dodge the attack from the giant structure she was thrown off Katsuyu and crashed to the ground. She wasn't prepared for the fall so the damage was considerably greater.
'Great Sakura it was a challenge enough to keep up with him and now this.'
Since she hadn't released her seal yet so she couldn't regenerate the cells to automatically fill her wounds without Katsuyu's help. But she didn't have time to think about herself and surrendered calling off Katsuyu.
'We can't run away.'
Meanwhile on the other side of the valley. On reflex Hinata's body dodged, a gunbai passed only a few inches above her head. The the Dark haired woman was struggling to keep up with her almighty opponent. Who continuously kept attacking her. But she was able to deflect them. When she retaliated he wouldn't even flinch. The cycle kept repeating a several times. It felt like the man was toying with her.
She had been wounded previously and the power of his attacks were on a entirely on a different league. Then she felt a pressure emitting from the man before her, it was enough to even crush a well trained shinobi, if not careful. Even though they had been engaged in a fight for a while now her body had been trembling from the very beginning.
'It looks like my body has already comprehended that my life is in danger before my brain could.'
"Haven't you realized it yet woman, your efforts are futile. Personally I don't like attacking women but you should give up while you still can."
Even though she had been on the same battle field as Madara before but she never confronted him unlike Sakura.
'At that time I wasn't strong enough, I'm still not as strong as Sakura but I can't give up now for the sake of our future I can't.'
She had seen the true extent of his power in her previous life this man was the true meaning of terror.
She decided to put everything on the line and fight him until the end. She can't let Sakura's effort go to waste, she had been healing her all the way since they landed in the battle ground. Taking on an entire army wasn't a joke. They have been severely wounded many times but thanks to Katsuyu sama, they had been able to heal without a rest.
'We will run away.'
"Lord Hashirama, I'm Sakura, Sakura Haruno. I know I'm in no position to propose this but I would like to ask for a favor."
Hashirama was stunned by such bold declaration looking at the blood covered woman prostrating before him, it didn't seem like the girl was trying to talk her way out or at least he didn't feel any sort of hostility towards him. Taking his silence for a sign to keep continuing she spoke.
"Lord Hashirama please protect my sister." The man was once again baffled by the request.
"What are you saying Sakura? Weren't you running away from us in the first place?"
"Yes I know but we can't keep running forever. In the end we are bound to get captured."
"Why are you asking me for this?"
"You are the only person who can protect her My Lord. As you can see Hinata is a Hyuga, if she were to be captured by Uchiha clan she would be executed immediately. If Hyuga get their hands on her she would be punished with the bird cage seal. If other clans catch her she would be tortured for information. And even if she we somehow manage to escape them there are slave traders and Hunters she would be Hunted for her eyes. She isn't safe anywhere I know she is strong but we will never find even a moment of peace like this. And I can't protect her from everything. No matter how much I wish for it. Even your own clan wants to use us as their tools right."
"If you know that much than why…?"
A genuine smile appeared on her face.
"Because I know you are only one who can keep her safe."
Senju heir was again taken aback by her trust in him. They were absolute strangers. This is the first time this woman has met him yet her word were genuine.
"I know I shouldn't be pushing my responsibilities on you but I can't win against you or Madara Uchiha. This is the only option I've left and you are the only person I can entrust her to."
He sighed and asked. "What about you?"
"I can't come with you if both of us were to come under Senju clan's custody. Uchiha won't take it well and the will become more and more disgruntled and then even the slightest hopes of peace will be shattered. Just like you even I wish for peaceful world."
"It's not like I want to do it but beggars can't be choosers."
"How are you so sure that they won't kill you?"
"It obvious they want to use us as a tool. And a tool is no use if it's broken."
"I see."
'And I can't really turn my back on my family.'
"So please I beg of you to protect my sister." After a long pause Sakura thought that Hashirama would decline started to doubt herself.
"I understand Sakura. I promise, I'll protect her."
"Thank you so much Lord Hashirama, I'll certainly repay this debt one day."
The overwhelming guilt she felt that day is still rooted deeply within her. Again all she could do was push all her burden on Hashirama just like she did to Naruto all those years ago when Sasuke left. But even now she couldn't do anything but believe in Hashirama and Hinata. It's not going to be any easier on her friend either. Since she is going to be the outsider in her own clan from now on she will have to fend off those ferocious beasts. She will have to fight for herself.
The medic nin was in the middle of thinking to ways to get to her friend and bring her to Hashirama's side.
Then she heard a huge explosion for where her dark haired companion was engaged with the Uchiha heir. She ducked in order to protect herself from the impact and the flying debris. Strong wind currents whipping her face. She crossed her arm in front of her head protectively. She cracked open one of her eyes a peeked at the other side. Amid the fog of dust she watched Hinata's figure in the mid hair falling down and a pair of bleeding red eyes burning with excitement.
Without thinking she formed some hand seals and shouted.
"Substitution jutsu"
Last thing she saw was those terrifying red-black eyes before she was trapped in the world of same hue, where the demons of her past awaited her. And she collapsed like a puppet.
For Hinata everything happened in slow motion she was about to be captured by Madara when Sakura used substitution jutsu and switched places with her and was placed under a genjutsu. She watched everything unfold before her wide eyed.
"This is not over Hashirama."
The sharingan user gathered the pink haired woman in his arms and disappeared while glaring harshly at him.
Hinata struggled in Hashirama's grip trying to reach out for Sakura.
"NOOOOOOO SAKURAAAAAA!."
And then everything turned black.
A/n : Thanks for the support guys but this year is especially unfortunate me. All the bad stuff keep happening one after another. It's like all the misfortune that I collected till now has been unleashed.
I'm sorry this might not be an interesting chapter, I'm bad at writing action scenes.
If you find any mistakes please do inform me.
Anyways please review and fav. It makes me feel encouraged.
PadfootPrince: Thanks for the support but well the evil spirits are still after me I guess. =_='
88: Thanks again. Here's a new chapter. Their cool enterence brought them a lot of trouble though.
kilau: Thanks here's the next chapter.
Nymphetamine0verdose: They are doomed. No point in running.
Charlotte: MadaSaku and Hashihina.
sumiko808: No problem. ^_^
thesunkunoichi: Thanks and don't worry I will keep writing.
Guest: Here, the update.
