Thanks to everyone who kindly took the time to review the last chapter. I really appreciate it. To all my silent readers, and I know there are many, many of you given the number of followers this story has, please consider feeding back at least every once in a while. It'd be so nice to hear from you, especially as the plot is really in full force now. Onwards with the story!
Chapter LIX
A curse so deadly, etched under the skin,
Seeping poisonous chakra deep within,
Its mark singed on the King of the Dead,
Corrupting the blood, the heart, the head,
Where can the remedy be found?
Not on the surface, nor underground,
A desperate plight, who so can tell?
Before it runs its course, he will know Hell.
The silence stretched on, tense and suffocating, as Sasuke pulled his sleeve back down over his forearm and slowly rose to his feet. Suigetsu clenched his teeth, wisely refraining from saying a word. He'd never seen the death deity look as categorically murderous as he did at that moment, could feel Sasuke's dark chakra signature coiling with fury and ill-intent, like a brewing, tempestuous thunder-storm, ready to obliterate anything that crossed its path. It hung heavily in the air, radiating outwards from his form, charging the atmosphere with smothering static.
His amethyst eyes moved to Karin, who looked nervous and concerned. Then they dipped to where Juugo was just starting to regain consciousness.
Orochimaru had tried to take them all captive to use in his twisted experiments. Suigetsu was outraged at his safety being compromised, incensed that Sasuke hadn't thought to brief them all well enough to know precisely what they were walking into – but he was equally as livid at the freak serpent who had attempted to capture them all, who'd arrogantly made plans to lock them up for observation like they were animals in a damned zoo.
He was the damn King of the Oceans. All the seas were his to command. The only reason he hadn't decapitated the snake's head from his shoulders was because he'd been forced to protect the useless bitch Karin to prevent Orochimaru from using her powers, and he'd had to save Juugo and Sasuke's hides, too.
Suigetsu told himself he'd only done it because he couldn't well obtain Samehada without Sasuke. The others, he'd had to bring along, because they'd been part of the assembled unit. He didn't care about any of them.
What he did care about now, though, besides getting his hands on the mythical blade, was getting even.
"Dismissed," Sasuke uttered flatly, indicating to Karin and Juugo that they were free to freshen themselves up then return to their posts.
"But… Sasuke…" Karin began uncertainly. "Your arm-"
"Is none of your concern," he responded harshly.
Karin flinched and gulped, but prudently chose not to protest again. Her chakra-sensing talents warned her against taking the risk of irking the Death God any further. Instead she walked over to Juugo, kneeling down to check on him.
Suigetsu, however, was not so easily brushed aside. He angrily called after the death deity as Sasuke spun on his heel, ready to walk away from them all - completely avoiding the issue of addressing what had just happened, much to the ocean god's vexation.
"Whoa! Hey!" he scowled. "Sasuke! Hold it! I said you owe me one for getting you out of there. You gonna tell me what the fuck Madara is up to, and what this shady deal you made with him was all about?"
Sasuke abruptly flickered out of sight, ending the conversation before it could even begin.
"Fuck you, Sasuke!" Suigetsu cursed after him, enraged. "You can avoid me for now, but I'll find you! Fucking asshole! Is that how you show gratitude? I should've left your sorry ass to rot up there!"
Karin shook her head as she helped Juugo stand. "You really think he'd tell you? Why would he, stupid?"
Suigetsu turned on her. "What, so you're telling me that you don't want to know what the hell is going on? Are you fucking serious?"
She looked away uncomfortably.
"We were all just attacked by that circus freak," Suigetsu glared at her. "Am I like the only one who has a problem with that?! Did you see Zeus and Hera up there?! This is some serious shit!"
"I don't want to get involved," Karin replied. "I never want to see that demon again-"
"Hate to fucking break it to you, Sunshine," Suigetsu retorted sarcastically, "but once you're on Orochimaru's radar, he'll be hunting your ass until he's got you locked up. And not in a fun, kinky way, either."
Karin looked deeply disturbed at the thought. "Shut up! I don't want to hear it! We're going back to Sasuke's palace, to change out of these wet clothes. Just- just give him some space right now, idiot."
The ocean deity blinked at her in surprise. She was giving him advice? About Sasuke? Karin was actually capable of displaying empathy and thoughtfulness? They weren't exactly qualities he would have ever expected her to exhibit. He watched as she supported Juugo, helping him to walk slowly forward.
Karin opened her mouth as they passed him, as if she meant to say something else.
"I, uh-" she began awkwardly, flustered.
"What?" Suigetsu shot a venomous look at her, thoroughly irritated. "Spit it out, bitch."
Karin bristled, aborting her intention to thank him for saving them, and instead huffed, "It's nothing! Just forget it! You stupid idiot!"
With that they walked off, leaving Suigetsu to fume to himself alone.
Sasuke strode purposefully into Chiyo's hut, not caring to dry off or change out of his drenched attire. He had far more pressing things to worry about.
His thoughts were riotous, like a frantic cyclone scattering in too many different directions to reign in. He was beyond furious at receiving Orochimaru's curse seal, beyond livid at his uncharacteristic moment of weakness in being caught off guard by the enemy, but he also was sure that there had to be ways to remove it, or at least to stop it from advancing in stages in the blood-stream. So long as he didn't use the chakra, so long as he didn't borrow it in any way, then Sasuke was confident he had the iron-will to keep its effects in check.
That didn't, however, address the issue of being tracked. Through the curse seal, the serpent would have an awareness of his location at all times.
Sasuke couldn't have that. He didn't know enough about how to counter that side of the seal – only its physical effects. And so he had come to the only deity he had access to who was older than Madara himself, in the hopes that she would assist him – whatever the cost.
The old crone was sitting by the fireplace, leisurely stroking a lazy-looking black cat. Her eyelids were closed, as if in meditation. In contrast to Sasuke's inner turmoil, she was perfectly calm. Sensing his arrival, her wise old eyes opened to inspect him.
"My, my," she croaked. "What a state you are in, little King."
"You knew this would happen," he bit out accusingly. "You saw it."
Her eyes narrowed. "Foresight is not always a gift, young Sasuke. If you are looking for anyone to blame for what has befallen you, then you have only yourself for that. You chose to engage in the trade, even knowing Cronus's nature. I did caution you to take heed in your path."
"You saw what happened," Sasuke brushed aside her criticism. "I was attacked by someone in a mask. They had the Sharingan. But Madara and I are the only Uchiha left."
"So you have been told," she answered simply.
"…" Sasuke shot her a look, frustrated. What did she mean by that? It was the truth - wasn't it?
Chiyo looked down at the cat slumbering in her lap, scratching behind its twitching ears. "If you have come to ask me who I think it is, I cannot say. I cannot see faces through masks, little King. But I suspect Cronus will have an explanation for it. In any case, that is not your most pressing concern," she nodded her head at him. "Show me the mark."
Sasuke's right hand balled into a fist. But she was right. The need to find out the masked man's identity was secondary to the issue of his seal. He wordlessly pulled back the sleeve of his top.
"Hmph," Chiyo observed gruffly. "Be mindful that this is likely no ordinary curse seal."
Sasuke frowned lightly down at it. What did she mean? How did she know that just by looking at it? He hated that Chiyo always had the effortless, irritating and downright unsettling ability to make him still feel like he was still just a young god in comparison to all the knowledge she held on the world.
"An ordinary seal would have no effect over a god of your abilities," she went on to elaborate. "The serpent would have needed to brand you with something more powerful to achieve his designs. Come here. Let me see it more closely. Give me your arm."
Sasuke stepped forward. Chiyo held out a hand, and wrapped it around his forearm, her wrinkled palm pressing over the black ink tattooed into his flesh. Closing her eyes, she focused, humming. Suddenly she stopped, her grip tightening on Sasuke's arm, and inhaled sharply.
He looked down at her hand, not sure what to think. Unbidden, his pulse began to quicken again, a knot of dread twisting in his stomach, giving birth to alien emotions that he despised experiencing. Weak emotions which he had always worked so hard to keep crushed beneath an icy exterior, to ensure he never felt again. He was always, always in control.
And yet the disturbed expression on Chiyo's face as she opened her eyes and slowly drew her hand away, made him feel anything but.
In an uncharacteristically quiet voice, he said, "What is it…?"
"As I feared. This is indeed a modified, evolved form of the Cursed Seal of Heaven," she explained. "Unlike its basic counterpart, which only spreads through its user's body when the seal is activated through the borrowing of Orochimaru's chakra, this one has been altered to remain active by default. It will steadily release the snake's chakra and cells in small doses, until it completely poisons your blood-stream."
Shit! Sasuke thought, staring down at his arm in horrified disbelief.
Chiyo continued, "It will not affect you at first, Sasuke. Your bloodline is pure and strong. Your body will be able to fight it. But the longer you carry this mark, the more damage it will do, until the seal releases enough chakra to overwhelm your own, contaminating your body to the point it will be no longer be under your control."
"Damn it," Sasuke cursed. Suddenly it all completely made sense. Madara did want him to inject himself with the senju cells, did genuinely wish for Sasuke to awaken the Rinnegan – but he had never intended for him to control it, had never planned to waive the Curse seal from their bargain. Because he needed it to complete his plans. Eventually, over time, Orochimaru's mark would do its dirty work and physically enslave Sasuke's body, paralysing it so that it took orders from the one who commanded the parasite chakra-flow.
He would essentially turn into Orochimaru's – and by extension, Madara's – puppet. Madara would use his Rinnegan to free him of his own seal and then Sasuke would be just another pawn in the Elder Uchiha's new war games. Just as his entire family had been in the past.
He had half-expected all of this, of course. After all, Madara never played fair. The death deity had just made the foolish, arrogant mistake of believing he wouldn't be caught in any circumstance.
No, he told himself bitterly. He just hadn't foreseen that another Uchiha could seemingly be alive – and working in league with Madara. If not for the masked individual's unexpected arrival and interference, Sasuke was confident that he never would have received the curse mark.
It hadn't been so much a lack of preparation, as a complete oversight on his part. But how could he have possibly known or anticipated it?
In a move that caught Chiyo quite by surprise, he sat down next to her, perching on the edge of the fireplace's elevated stone base, his head bowed low, his hands clenched furiously in his lap. It was a bearing so at odds with his usual, unruffled, stoic elegance, but betrayed the terrible weight he now knew he carried on his shoulders.
"How much time do I have?" he asked, staring down at the ground.
Chiyo observed him. "That would depend. There are things that can accelerate the contamination. Any form of weakness, be it extreme emotional stress, other poisons deadly to gods, physical fatigue. Whatever weakens your own chakra force, strengthens Orochimaru's."
"It can be slowed," Sasuke said. It was a statement, not a question.
"It can be," Chiyo nodded. "But I am not the one to do it for you. Seek out Kakashi Hatake. He studied the nature of seals under Zeus himself, and will no doubt have knowledge of the curse mark." When she witnessed Sasuke visibly tense at that, she quickly chastised, "Swallow that Uchiha pride. Your arrogance is what put you in this situation to begin with. You are powerful, of that there can be no contest. But you are not immune to this, and other tricks Cronus will have up his sleeve. He has the advantage of experience that far exceeds your lifetime. This is one battle you cannot fight alone."
The death deity was silent for a long moment, internally seething at her suggestion and words. Seek out a surface god for help? Him? And his old sparring teacher, at that! The very idea was ludicrous!
"You may waste time trying to research into finding your own solution," Chiyo added, as if reading his displeased thoughts. "You may try to draw the chakra out yourself. But this is a technique Orochimaru has perfected. You will only damage yourself in the process and accelerate the poisoning. Furthermore…" she grumbled, "slaying the daemon will not remove his chakra from your body. It is designed to infiltrate deep into your very cells and contains Orochimaru's consciousness itself. So long as his consciousness remains in the cells, he can never truly die or be removed. Nor can the seal be removed using the Evil Release technique; this only works for the basic version he gives to unremarkable test subjects."
Sasuke's thoughts were racing. Then how? Damn it, how?
"There are only two ways to remove it," Chiyo supplied. "If Orochimaru himself willingly draws out the cells – or one other way, which regrettably at present is no longer at your disposal."
Sasuke's head lifted, and he angled a questioning glance at the old crone. "That is…?"
"The Sword of Totsuka."
Sasuke inhaled sharply.
The Sword of Totsuka. A legendary blade known for its ability to seal any target it pierced away.
That had been Itachi's soul-reaping blade.
Thinking of his big brother for a brief moment caused a strange heaviness to climb out the deepest catacombs within Sasuke's chest. Itachi would have never fallen prey to such underhanded tricks. He'd always known precisely how to deal with Orochimaru. He would've gotten out of Olympus without as much as a single scratch.
That fact made Sasuke feel bitter. That fact made Sasuke feel angry.
He ground his jaw tightly. He had only one choice; he would go after the snake himself and find a way to force him to undo the seal. Killing Orochimaru seemed like a far less arduous task; he was notoriously elusive and cunning and Sasuke was certain that the serpent possessed many more deceitful, forbidden techniques that would make hunting him down a less than thrilling experience. Unlike the other surface gods, Orochimaru was a daemon-deity, meaning his spirit had the power to possess other bodies. It was what made him so difficult and slippery to deal with, as his chakra could occupy any number of beings. The only way to terminate him permanently, the only way to stop him from ever taking on a new body, was to extinguish every vessel that held his consciousness in the form of curse seals.
For that, Sasuke would need Karin's assistance. As a tracker nymph, she would be able to sense and locate even the smallest trace of chakra signatures.
Juugo still had remnants of Orochimaru's chakra in his body, too. He would perhaps prove useful in combat so long as Sasuke kept his rage in check, and a good subject to observe in terms of how the curse seal behaved.
That left Suigetsu. The ocean deity had been visibly incensed at being attacked. It was likely he'd be open to getting revenge – after Sasuke delivered on his part of their agreement, and helped him acquire Samehada. Though thoroughly irritating, Suigetsu was an excellent swordsman who possessed his own unique abilities.
Sasuke stood, a clear plan forming in his intelligent mind. It wasn't the time to lose his head. His end-goal did not change. He needed to regroup, re-evaluate and refocus. The Cursed Seal of Heaven was certainly a set-back, but he would make sure it would be his only one.
Madara wasn't the only deity who could fight dirty and break pacts.
He'd channel his wrath and he'd let it be the driving force that pushed him forward to gain his revenge. Madara had just made their quarrel a lot more personal, and Sasuke vowed he wouldn't stop until he destroyed every last one of the Elder Uchiha's allies on the surface.
There was still the matter of being tracked by the snake. That simply would not do.
"What of the seal's tracing ability?" he turned to Chiyo.
"It is true that Orochimaru's consciousness within the seal allows him to observe events through anyone branded by it," Chiyo replied. "But you are the Underworld's King," she reminded him. "You have the power to mask your presence from watching eyes, if you so wish it. As you know, the Helm of Darkness you possess cloaks even the faintest trace of chakra signatures from being detected. That has not changed. Orochimaru will indeed attempt to look through your eyes. The more of his chakra that infects you, the more often he will be able to look.
But if you are wearing the Helm of Darkness, he will not be able to sense your location, because he cannot sense even his own chakra. He will sense you on the surface, yes. And he may attempt to see, but his vision will be shrouded by shadows and unclear. The Helm is the pride of the Uchiha; it only allows its wearer the gift of sight, conceals only what its wearer wishes to conceal, and answers only to its ruler's chakra.
Even Orochimaru cannot bypass its powers. So long as you wear it, you will remain undetected. In addition, he cannot spy upon you while you are in your Kingdom. You have Cronus to thank for that. When he created the Underworld, he ensured no outside eyes could look in. It is only on the surface that the serpent's power of sight extends. He has not perfected his skills to see beyond – yet. So you see the seal is more potent in its aggression – but retains the same tracking powers as its original form."
Sasuke released a silent exhale of relief. So he would be traced, and seen on the surface, if he didn't wear the Helm. In that sense, so long as he did wear it, he had little to worry about.
"Sasuke," Chiyo spoke after a brief pause. "You must go to Kakashi," her eyes met his. "As I have said, he can slow down the seal's acceleration. But that is not all. You must tell him what you have seen on Olympus. You must tell him of Zeus and Hera."
Sasuke turned his back on her. Going to Kakashi? Telling a surface god about his own private affairs? Aligning himself, in some way, with them?
"You want the same thing, though your stubborn mind will not accept it," Chiyo reprimanded. "You wish to avenge your family, do you not? But you cannot do so without addressing the issue of Madara and his subjects. The surface gods also recognise his threat, and with the knowledge of what he has planned, will have enough reason to oppose him."
Sasuke shook his head. The thought of working with the surface gods filled him with discontentment and disgust. Madara had led his family to their dooms – but it had been the surface gods who had slain them on the battle-field, and that was something he would never forget.
Then Chiyo added, "You wish to protect the girl, do you not? The gods you so despise are her guardians while she lives on the surface. Revealing Cronus's designs places them in a much better position to protect her, do you not agree?"
"…" Sasuke's gaze lowered. For a brief moment, he allowed himself to think of her again. Vivid green eyes flashed in his mind. The hands at his sides balled into tight fists.
"The enemy's eye is already locked onto her, thanks to your reckless actions," Chiyo warned sagely. "Take heed of my words, little king. It is not my way to intervene or offer such free counsel – except when the balance of life and death itself is threatened. Were the seal to overrun you, this Kingdom would fall. Cronus cares not for it. He wants the surface.
There are things, still, you do not know, boy, things your eyes still cannot perceive. Orochimaru and Madara wish to possess your body and make it their weapon – but they are not the only ones who are after you. You already ignored my counsel once and have paid the price; go to Kakashi. Refuse to do this, and you will no longer have access to me or my hut, this I can promise you."
Sasuke turned back to her. He hated how much she always knew, and already knew she wouldn't tell him who else he had to worry about, without even needing to ask her.
Pulling the phial Orochimaru had given him, he handed it to the crone. "Karin verified this to contain pure senju cells."
He needed to make absolutely sure it wasn't rigged with anything else.
Chiyo took it from him, lifting the stopper, bringing the syringe to her nose in turn. She inhaled deeply, and paused.
"It is indeed uncontaminated," she confirmed. "He has not tampered with it."
"Madara means for me to awaken the Rinnegan, and intends to control it through the curse seal," Sasuke said.
"So it would seem. But if you choose not to inject it… they will be unable to wield it," she passed the phial back to him.
"…" Sasuke looked down at it, considering her words. He had risked a lot to obtain this sample. He needed the Rinnegan. It was the only chance he had of seeing everything. Not only the unseen, mysterious seal that plagued Sakura. But of understanding what had happened to him, and why he seemingly couldn't remember large fragments of his own past.
He had a difficult and important decision to make. If he injected the DNA, and Orochimaru's curse fully infected his body before Rinnegan was activated, then Sasuke would be assigning the entire planet to its doom. All the surface gods, all of humanity – Sakura included – would be either enslaved or massacred. The Underworld would be lost. Cronus would stop at nothing and spare none in his vengeful rampage.
If Sasuke injected the cells and was able to awaken the Rinnegan before the poison took hold, then he at least had a chance of removing the problem of Orochimaru, by using the eye's powerful ocular techniques to persuade him to remove the seal. He would then be free to use the Rinnegan's ability to see everything his Sharingan could not – and undo everything that needed to be undone.
But there was no guarantee which course of action would be successful. Chiyo, he knew, would not tell him the future, even if she had glimpsed it. She had already given him guidance and information enough – more than she ever offered anyone else.
It made Sasuke wonder why she elected to do so with him, specifically – but she would never disclose that, either.
"Choose your actions carefully, young king," Chiyo advised. "The balance of life and death will depend on it."
Sasuke met her gaze for a minute. Then he offered a perfunctory nod, in recognition of her time, and took his leave.
When he alighted at the shoreline, he found Suigetsu still loitering abound, sitting moodily on a boulder. The ocean deity was sharpening his Executioner blade with a rock, muttering something unhappily to himself about idiotic, haughty deities.
At the sight of Sasuke, he jumped up, instant irritation washing over his face.
"Hey! You fucking asshole! I'm not going anywhere until I get an explana-"
"Be ready," Sasuke interrupted him.
"What?" Suigetsu said, nonplussed. "Listen, I'm sick of your cryptic ass. I said you owe me one, and I want answers! Don't think I'm just gonna let that circus freak get away with what he tried to do to me – I couldn't care less about your sorry ass, or any of the others!"
Sasuke regarded him for a long second. Suigetsu glowered back, making it clear he would not back down.
"Fine," the death god finally clipped. "We'll talk. But first, Samehada. Tomorrow, at dawn."
The ocean deity's eyes widened, caught off guard. "Huh? For real? Already?"
The King of the Dead shot him an acidic look. "Would you rather wait?" he retorted sarcastically.
Suigetsu stiffened indignantly. "I'm not worried about me, you dumb bastard; I'm worried about your curse mark. What if it goes bat-shit insane on us in battle? Do you even know enough about it to stop it? You said yourself, we need to be at full-strength to take on the Eight Tails. Thanks to your shitty planning, we now have that seal to worry about, too."
"I said it's none of your concern," Sasuke replied coldly. "Be ready at dawn."
"And then you'll tell me what the fuck is going on?" Suigetsu pressed. "After?"
Sasuke turned away from him, moving toward where Karin and Juugo had returned to their posts, to fill them in on their next assignment.
This time he was going to leave no detail out about their mighty adversary. He trusted Juugo and Karin's commitment completely. After all, the two answered to him and were his loyal subjects. The ocean deity – well. He was a complete wild card, but Sasuke did believe that he was genuine in desiring vengeance against Orochimaru, which worked in his favour to execute the plans he had in mind. Sasuke would just need to keep making the right bargains to ensure that Suigetsu would both keep his loud mouth shut, and cooperate.
"After," he called back.
Orochimaru crouched by Kabuto in the throne room of Olympus, inspecting his injuries. His scorched flesh had begun to regenerate, but the process was slow. A light frown settled on the serpent's forehead. This simply would not do. He needed to work more on perfecting Kabuto's healing abilities.
"You did well," Madara, who was standing at the base of the steps leading up to the throne, praised his subjects. "Sasuke is branded with the curse mark, and it will now only be a matter of time before his Rinnegan is activated."
"We almost had him, and the others," the masked man beside him commented.
"Useful additionss they would have been," Orochimaru agreed.
"No matter," Madara dismissed. "I am certain they will come seeking you out again. You must practise vigilance. I have no doubts that Sasuke will look to retaliate. Serpent. Have you been able to observe what actions he has taken since leaving us?"
Orochimaru shook his head. "I have not yet looked. The range of my powerss are unfortunately confined to the surface. We will know his actionsss when he movess above ground. Since I cannot sense him at present, he mussst have returned to the Underworld."
"Be alert. It won't be long until he comes back up, and I want all his movements reported to me," the Elder Uchiha added. "He will no doubt be angry, but if he chooses to go to the surface gods, then we must adapt our own plans."
"Sasuke despises them," the masked man contributed. "Do you believe he will turn to them?"
"We shall see…" Madara replied. "I expect he will start asking questions, now that he has seen another with our eyes. It matters not what he chooses to do. His body is now nothing more than a ticking time-bomb and eventually he will lose control of it. He has grown swift and powerful indeed and will be an excellent asset once his body succumbs to the curse. How long will it take, serpent?"
"That is dependent on a number of factorss, as discussed," Orochimaru responded. "His will, his mental and physsical strength. Thiss is an accelerated curse seal. It should take no longer than a year at mossst to overrun his body entirely… sooner if he is forced to draw chakra from it…"
"That gives us plenty of time to put all our other plans in motion," Madara nodded, satisfied. "Even if his Rinnegan has not been activated by then; but I am confident it will be."
"There has been another development…" Orochimaru started. "My laboratories will be relocating to new testing facilities… far superior in size and ressources. They will allow me to build my zetsu army with no limitationsss on space."
"Oh?" Madara gave him a keen look. "And where were you able to obtain such a place?"
"At a large warehouse factory, hidden within the Ryūchi Caves district. It is owned by someone unexpected who paid me a visit… he has a proposssal I wish to discuss with you…"
Madara nodded. "Tell me."
[Dawn: The next surface day]
Cold mist hung heavily in the air like a thick curtain, shrouding the heights of Olympus from sight. Dawn had barely broken, the sky's canvas still caught between the remnants of night and the beginning hints of day.
Killer B, who had been sitting on dutiful guard in silent meditation, penning rhyming verses into his much loved book, glanced up as he suddenly sensed powerful chakra signatures he had never encountered before. He watched, through the oval-shaped black sunglasses concealing his eyes from view, as four figures slunk out of the dense fog and approached him.
This was unexpected. He rarely received visitors anymore. He and three others had been guarding the mountain ever since Cronus had been imprisoned on it. In that space of time, he'd had to ward off a fair share of attempts to traverse Olympus. Most had been peacefully resolved. Inquisitive humans who were looking for adventure and mountain-climbing excursions were often left disappointed by the realisation that most of the stairs were unusable.
Any non-human attempts had been swiftly dealt with. His three colleagues further up the mountain had never once been troubled. Such was Killer B's fighting prowess.
They drew closer. Four individuals. Three cloaked in dark grey, one in black. Killer B sized them up, taking in the sight of the tallest of them, with his shock of orange hair, and the slightest, a bespectacled young woman with choppy scarlet tresses. His gaze flicked to the pale-haired man to his left, before settling on the dark-haired man in the centre of the formation. Something about the one in the middle, about his gaze and bearing, captured B's attention and held it fast.
His chakra signature, Killer B noted to himself, was far more ominous and potent than the others.
Still not rising from his seat atop a worn away pillar at the base of Olympus's steps, he addressed his guests.
"Early mornin' visit, at the crack of dawn! You better state your purpose, or you'll make me yawn! Yeahhh!"
Karin scowled as she regarded the guardian. He was tall and muscularly built, with cocoa-skin, scraped back light blond hair and a goatee beard, his eyes obscured from view by the dark shades he wore. He had a tattoo on his right shoulder and left cheek, and was dressed in a white flak jacket and grey baggy pants. A thick cord of red rope was wound around his waist. His lower legs were bound with crimson and metal shin guards, stopping at his sandal-clad ankles. Matching arm-guards protected his forearms and hands and a long white scarf was wrapped around his neck.
So this was the Eight-Tailed Jinchuuriki? Despite his strange manner, there was no doubting the immense chakra she could sense was stored within him.
"You gonna tell me what this is all about," he rapped in a deep, booming voice, "or am I gonna have to kick y'all out?!"
"Killer B," Sasuke spoke up. "The Eight-Tailed Jinchuuriki."
"That's my name, don't wear it out, Killer B is me, no need to shout!" came the lively response.
"We've come for Samehada," the death deity stated.
"Hmm?" Killer B looked bemused. He was still holding his book, having not taken the intruders seriously - until that moment. "Fools! You want my blade? You think I'll just hand it over, I'll throw you some serious shade!"
He tucked his little book and pen away. Finally, he rose to his feet, towering over all members of Sasuke's unit.
Suigetsu glared, unimpressed. "What the hell's up with this guy? Can't he talk normally?"
"Eight-tails Jinchuuriki that be me," B pointed proudly at himself. "I'm the rappin', clappin', Killer B!"
"Suigetsu," Sasuke ignored the outrageous verses, keeping his gaze carefully trained on the Eight-Tails. "Take the right. Juugo, the left. Karin. Behind me. Watch my back."
"Right," she nodded, adjusting her glasses, as the others took their positions. This time, she vowed that she wouldn't be a liability. She wouldn't let Sasuke down!
"Yo, fools, you better turn back," Killer B gestured. "Before I give your asses some serious whack!"
In silent, pointed response, Sasuke drew Kusanagi from its sheath.
"What you babies want with my sword?" B demanded. "Hunting big boy toys you can't afford!"
"You don't even know who you're dealing with," Suigetsu sneered at him.
"Yeahh! Never seen your ass before! Don't matter, it'll end up on the floor!" B assured him.
"Shut the fuck up!" Suigetsu yelled, irked, and initiated Sasuke's pre-agreed instructions for battle, launching himself fluidly forward, hauling his hefty broad-sword behind him. Running at their opponent with great speed, he lifted his blade, bringing it down with aggression, aiming straight for B's head – only for B to halt his attack in mid-air, catching the end of his sword in both hands.
What power-! Suigetsu thought, grinding his teeth as he pushed hard against the resistance – but B's steady hold did not falter.
Sasuke watched closely, his mind analysing, calculating the situation. His unit's initial attacks were intended to give them vital clues about how Killer B engaged in combat. He'd given the others very clear instructions – to disarm and knock out B if required, not kill him. All they needed was Samehada; there was no reason to hurt the guardian any more than was necessary in order to obtain it.
Sasuke also knew that the longer the fight went on for, the more at a disadvantage they would be. As the Eight-Tailed Jinchuuriki, B had almost unlimited chakra to draw upon at his disposal – his own as well as that of his tailed beast. It wasn't going to be an easy fight – but it was one they needed to end as quickly as possible.
He also couldn't risk exhausting his own chakra supply too fast – certainly not now that he'd been branded with the curse seal. That meant his more powerful attacks – Susano'o and Amaterasu – could only be used as a last resort. Not only because they were likely to severely injure, if not kill the Eight-tail's host; both also required extreme amounts of concentrated chakra to summon and maintain – chakra he needed to build up before use. The black flame Amaterasu, in particular, was especially taxing to both cast and extinguish.
His eyes turned briefly to the mountain face behind B, cloaked in mist. Was Madara watching? Sasuke hoped so. He hoped both the snake and the Elder Uchiha were tracking him right at that very moment – so that they could see they had clearly antagonised the wrong immortal.
"Yo, you better cut me some slack! I won't be defeated by such a basic attack!" the Eight-Tailed host rhymed.
The ocean deity's eyes widened when he abruptly felt his Executioner blade being wrenched out of grasp, as B effortlessly disarmed him, causing the sword to spin violently up into the air. It landed with a loud stab right beside the Eight-Tails, who grabbed the hilt, and peered at Suigetsu through the circular hole near the weapon's cutting tip.
"I warned you stupid fools to run! Now Killer B's gonna have some fun! Woooyeaaaah!"
Suigetsu flash-stepped behind him, his eyes on Samehada. He reached out for its hilt, at the same moment Juugo ran forward to attack from the left. B swiftly slung the Executioner blade around his neck through the hole in the metal, and proceeded to spin furiously on his heel, causing the blade to rotate at savage speed. It struck both Suigetsu and Juugo as they closed in, throwing both men back.
Juugo, enraged, immediately retaliated, his left arm expanding and lengthening in size to monstrous proportions. He leapt into the air, aiming a debilitating punch at the Jinchuuriki. Killer B stepped aside and Juugo managed to grab hold of the hilt of the Executioner sword. B quickly ducked, freeing his body from it, and Juugo was about to fling the sword back to its rightful owner - before blinding pain assaulted his body, as B drove an aggressive uppercut straight to his midsection.
"Whooo, kabaam! Feel that body slam!" B intoned triumphantly.
Juugo was sent flying back, coughing up blood, winded by the attack. He landed roughly on the gravelly ground at the death deity's feet.
"…" Sasuke's dark eyes flicked down, observing the damage.
"Juugo!" Karin exclaimed. "Are you alright?!"
"Y-yeah," he wheezed, and slowly sat back up, wincing.
B leaned casually against the hilt of Suigetsu's blade, and gestured with a hand. "Told you my powers are flash! And I've got way more whoop-ass in my stash! Oh yeahhh!"
He quickly evaded as Suigetsu tossed shuriken at him. Grabbing the Executioner sword again, he launched himself off the ground like a cannonball, spinning horizontally at the ocean deity, using Suigetsu's own weapon like a slicing guillotine against him. Suigetsu liquidized, narrowly avoiding the attack, following up with four more whistling shuriken. But B effortlessly parried them away as he came to land on his feet again.
"Damn it," Suigetsu cursed, forced to draw back. He couldn't get close! B moved as quickly as any deity could, and his movements were erratic, difficult to predict. Quickly forming hand-seals, the ocean god summoned a shooting wave of spiralling water, sending it crashing down on the Eight-tailed host.
"Woooyeaahhh!" Killer B crowed, as he propelled himself through the air, somersaulting back to avoid the water-cyclone. "You're an elemental of the sea! But water aint got nothin' on me! Fools!"
With that, he put his hands together, summoning a bright stream of spiking lightning energy, which zig-zagged out, electrocuting the water upon contact.
Suigetsu swore, forced to dispel the waves immediately, his element rendered useless, at a disadvantage.
Sasuke's left brow lifted slightly as he observed the attack. So, he was a lightning type.
Pointing Suigetsu's Executioner sword at him, Killer B sang, "This battle you've initiated, is gonna leave you humiliated!"
"Stop your fucking rapping!" Suigetsu glowered at him. "It's annoying! Sasuke! Let's take out this witless pain in the ass!"
"I'm not witless, yo!" Killer B countered. "I got charming rhymes and rap in flow!"
Karin's eyebrow twitched. "Like hell! You- you absolutely suck!" she shouted, pointing a finger at him furiously. His corny lines were grating on her nerves, too. "You have zero rapping talent!"
B lowered the blade, looking genuinely insulted. "Shut up, fool! No need to be cruel!"
Sasuke's eyes lowered. He'd seen enough.
"…!" Killer B stiffened and whirled, just in time to find Kusanagi aiming straight for his right arm, seeking to free him of the blade he had taken from Suigetsu. Flinging himself aside at the last moment, B spun his body again like a tornado, swiping outwards with his blade, aiming to catch Sasuke as he barreled toward him.
But the death deity propelled himself up into a graceful aerial somersault, his Sharingan-engaged eyes tracking the blade's spinning movements beneath him. As he landed, he stabbed Kusanagi through the hole in the Executioner sword with lethal accuracy, preventing B from rotating it any further, and simultaneously delivered an aggressive kick to the Jinchuuriki's chest. The momentum of both motions forced Killer B back, disarming him of Suigetsu's blade, which clattered to the ground.
Sasuke tensed, as B lifted a hand – but to his astonishment, it was to pull out his little notebook. Humming to himself, he began to write something down. The death deity used the moment of distraction to flip the Executioner sword back up with his foot. Catching the hilt, he tossed it backward without breaking his gaze away from B. The sword landed directly in front of Suigetsu, who grinned and retrieved it.
"Sweet! Nice one, Sasuke!"
So cool! Karin lifted her hands to her blushing cheeks. Sasuke had timed his attack to perfection.
"I'm feelin' hella fine!" B declared, licking the tip of his pencil as he jotted down some more notes. "I just thought of the baddest rhyme! Yeahh!"
"What the hell?" Suigetsu gaped at him, appalled.
"This guy is crazy!" Karin shook her head in disbelief.
Juugo stared, equally as confused.
Sasuke, however, didn't wait for B to finish penning his poetry. He flickered behind him, stabbing at his side with Kusanagi – but Killer B hopped nimbly back. Closing his book, he accused, "Yo, fool, that aint fine! When I'm in the middle of writing a line!"
Then he shrugged, and drew out the swords behind his back. Seven katana blades, holding one between his teeth, a total of four balanced expertly on both arms, and two on his legs. Adopting a fighting pose, he announced, "Now I'll play with you tools! You incy, wincy, baby fools!"
Sasuke eyed the weapons. He clearly wielded Samehada last. Or perhaps was likely holding back from equipping it, knowing that was what they had come for. They needed him to draw it. It was the only way it could be snatched from B's possession. But Sasuke knew that even getting the responsive sword to cooperate was no easy task. It was no ordinary blade. It possessed a mind of its own, responding to chakra signatures it sensed. If the sword didn't like whoever touched it, it would not hold back on letting that person know.
A person didn't choose Samehada. Samehada chose them.
If they took it and it rejected Suigetsu, then Sasuke couldn't care less. The ocean deity knew the risk of being unable to wield the mythical blade. That wasn't Sasuke's problem. He was simply delivering on his end of the agreement they'd made.
"What's up with that stance?" Suigetsu frowned. "What a weirdo."
"Stare while you still can, soon you're gonna wish you ran! Yeahhh!" B hooted, and charged straight at Sasuke, launching himself like a ferocious, spinning bullet again, effortlessly commanding all seven blades simultaneously as he moved.
Sasuke's eyes darted frantically left and right, his Sharingan spinning to keep track of each sword's location, as he rapidly parried the blows away.
He's fast! Sasuke noted, dancing dangerously around the flying swords, knowing just one miscalculated misstep would spell a whole world of trouble.
Juugo, who had recovered, threw himself forward, swiping at B with his gigantic, mutated fist. Suigetsu followed with an angry swipe aimed at B's midsection. The Jinchuuriki leapt out the way of both attacks, and hurtled two katanas at Juugo, who blocked them with his arm. With a snarl, Suigetsu dropped low, and succeeded in delivering a savage heel-kick to the back of B's legs. B wobbled, caught briefly off balance, but stabbed a katana sword into the ground to anchor himself. Using it as a pivot, he launched his bodyweight forward, spinning quickly on the blade's hilt, aiming a crushing aerial kick straight at the water deity.
Suigetsu obstructed the blow with his blade, and Sasuke surged forward, a screaming stream of chidori flaring brightly in his right palm. Reading the threat, B grabbed the katana sword from his mouth and drove it upwards, aiming for Sasuke's gut. The death deity jumped over the attack, and directed a slicing stream of lightning at him – but B once again evaded, showcasing just how speedily he could move.
"Damn it, we're barely getting a scratch on him!" Suigetsu yelled – right before Killer B flickered beside him and connected a devastating kick to his midriff, sending the water god flying back.
"Lord Suigetsu!" Juugo leapt back, catching him.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "Katon!" Rapidly forming hand-seals, he raised a finger to his mouth, and expelled a raging fireball at B, following up with three more infernal spheres that tracked the Eight-tail's host across the battlefield, hot in his heels. Debris, dirt and smoke exploded off the ground where they landed – and B dodged every single one.
"Wheeee! That's flamin' hot!" B howled. "You stupid baby fool! That all you got? Ohhh yeeeah!" Rolling out the way of the final fireball, he jumped high up into the air, flinging his katana blades down at Sasuke, who agilely zig-zagged to avoid them. Channeling lightning into Kusanagi, Sasuke continued to dodge the remainder of the swords, and lifted his blade to block the crushing kick B directed at him upon landing.
Blue electricity flared out of B's form as he neutralised the lightning, simultaneously hurtling another katana blade that sheared so close to Sasuke's head, he felt and heard the metal whistle past the sapphire droplet in his earlobe. Launching up and quickly twisting his body in midair, Sasuke caught the katana sword as it passed him and flung it right back at B, succeeding in grazing his shoulder in turn.
Blood trickled out from the wound. B looked down at his shoulder, as if stunned to have been struck.
Suigetsu held his breath. Finally, Sasuke had scored a hit!
Killer B's gaze moved back to his dark-haired opponent. He was different to the others. But nevertheless, he was a threat that B was growing tired of indulging.
Forming quick hand-seals, the Jinchuuriki propelled himself forward.
"You're too stupid to see! I can sting you like a Killer Bee!"
Sasuke's Sharingan locked onto him, casting an immediate, devastating genjutsu. B's mouth fell open, and his arms grew limp by his sides as he fell with a heavy thud to the ground, seemingly immobilized by the illusion.
Flickering behind his fallen form, Sasuke aimed Kusanagi at the leather straps holding Samehada in place on B's back – only for the Jinchuriki to abruptly kick at his feet. Thrown off balance, Sasuke was quick to recover – but not before B had somersaulted himself back up, and launched himself bodily at Sasuke again, spinning swords in a flurried whirl.
Sasuke dodged – but felt a sharp pain explode in his sides. He looked down, stunned, to find two katana swords had been impaled into his midriff.
Karin's alarmed cry rang hollowly in his ears.
How-? He wasn't given a moment to process what had happened, or how he had failed to see the swords in time. An aggressive, chakra-charged kick connected with his chest, knocking the air clean out his lungs, the momentum so strong that it succeeded in flinging the death deity violently back. He landed with a crashing thud on the ground, momentarily floored and breathless.
Outraged, he yanked one of the blades out his sides – only to look up to find that B had somersaulted high up into the air and was rapidly descending on him, aiming a stabbing hit right at his head.
"FOOL!" B exclaimed. "Genjutsu doesn't work on a Jinchuuriki in harmony with their tails! Get that shit away from me, you baby-faced fail!"
Suigetsu dove forward, blocking the strike at the last second, the underside of the Executioner blade hovering inches away from Sasuke's face.
"You… fucking owe me… again!" the ocean god bit out, struggling to hold against the sheer force of B's attack.
The Jinchuuriki channeled lightning into the katana in his hand, which proceeded to start slicing into the metal of Suigetsu's sword. Sasuke reached up, neutralising the elemental attack with his hand, helping to support Suigetsu in bearing the weight. Juugo charged behind B, and succeeded in landing an aggressive blow to the side of the Eight-tail holder's head. B was thrown back from the force of it and skidded to a stop with a surprised look on his face. Then he jumped back to balance on the base of a half-crumbled column.
"You pesky little baby mice! I've thought of some rhymes that are hella nice!" he declared, pulling out his notebook again.
"Are you fucking serious?!" Suigetsu tossed a look of utter disgust up at him, as they all took a moment to regroup. "Shut the fuck up already!"
Sasuke sat up, displeased, and pulled the other katana out his right side, wincing at the discomfort. He could heal, but that would only expend more chakra. He didn't have any to spare.
Karin was at his side in an instant.
"Here, Sasuke!" she crouched down and pulled up the sleeve of her cloak, offering her arm. "I'll lend you some chakra to close your wounds!"
He grabbed her wrist roughly and bit into her blemished flesh, ignoring the muffled moan that spilled from her lips. Feeling his wounds heal and renewed by a fresh influx of borrowed chakra, he didn't take his eyes off B, who was still occupied scribbling down a few more ridiculous lines.
He'd underestimated just how powerful the Eight-tails was. It was the second miscalculation in the space of a day, and Sasuke was internally furious at himself.
But how could he have really known what to expect? He'd never fought a tailed-beast host before. And since they went up to nine, it was no surprise that the eight-tailed Jinchuuriki was a force to be reckoned with.
Juugo was a basic fighter. Suigetsu was at a disadvantage due to his water element. Karin was essentially just a healer and tracker. It fell to Sasuke, mainly, to get the job done, and he'd scuffled enough to have a clear idea of B's linear combat style now – though it had landed him more hits than he and his pride would have liked.
Since they clearly couldn't land any close-range hits, then it was time to resort to long-distance attacks to disable their target. They needed to wrap this fight up before Killer B reverted to his tailed form, which meant he had no choice but to engage his more demanding ocular techniques.
"Lord Sasuke," Juugo glanced at him as he rose to his feet. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Sasuke dismissed, as Karin moved behind him again.
"Oh yeaaaah! This rhyme is lit! Time to shake things up a bit!" B rapped, tucking his book back into his pocket. Then he swooped down at them, rolling to retrieve the blades that had fallen on the ground.
Suigetsu launched himself at him once again, liquidising each time the Jinchuuriki tried to land a hit. Juugo swiped at him repeatedly in turn. Sasuke clashed swords, forcing him on the defensive. Their moves were now much more coordinated as they timed their attacks in tandem. As B aimed a powerful roundhouse kick at Suigetsu's stomach, the ocean deity captured his foot as it passed through him, half in liquid form.
"Huh?" B tugged at his limb in confusion, losing valuable seconds of response time.
"Sasuke!" Suigetsu shouted "Now! Just hit us both!"
Sasuke didn't hesitate. He drove a screeching Kusanagi straight through Suigetsu's semi-liquefied gut, sending out shockwaves of electricity that the water conducted through to B's body. Both the water deity and B convulsed as they were fried with extreme voltage.
"Gwaaah!" Suigetsu fell back, too badly injured to solidify fully again.
"Gah!" Killer B toppled right, landing roughly on his back, winded.
Sasuke grabbed the hood of Suigetsu's cloak, hauling him backward out of harm's way as Juugo leapt into the air, smashing a hefty punch straight at a floored B. The force of the attack was so strong, a small, deep crater formed upon impact.
"Karin!" Sasuke called, pushing a semi-liquidized Suigetsu toward her. "Heal him!"
"Wh-what!" Karin screeched. At the warning death glare Sasuke whipped around to direct at her, she straightened her glasses, and conceded, flustered, "O-ok! Fine!" Pulling her sleeve up, she knelt by Suigetsu and angrily said, "Take some chakra, idiot!"
Suigetsu, too injured to mock her, grabbed her arm and bit into it. Karin bit her tongue, horrified to feel a rush of pleasure coursing through her body.
Juugo pulled his hand back, and Sasuke tensed. B was nowhere to be found. His eyes darted around their surroundings. Where had he gone?
Suigetsu gasped as he regained solid form once again. Still holding onto Karin's arm, he cracked her a teasing grin. "Hey. Thanks. Who knew you'd taste so good?"
"Ugh!" she shoved him in clear abhorrence, then tensed as Sasuke called out to her.
"Karin!" he ordered.
She nodded, immediately understanding his unspoken command. Lifting an index finger, she closed her eyes and focused, seeking B's chakra signature. She saw a flash behind her eyes, the tell-tale sign she'd picked up the trace.
"He's over there!" she pointed. "Hiding above those pillars, Sasuke!"
"Juugo. Give me a boost," Sasuke instructed, knowing that he needed to save every molecule of chakra possible as he prepared his heavier eye-techniques. Juugo obediently opened his giant clawed hand, and Sasuke hopped onto it. Drawing his mighty arm back, Juugo propelled the death deity up into the air, in the direction Karin had pointed in. As he soared through the mist, Sasuke focused chakra into his eyes.
There! His Sharingan could see Killer B's outline ahead, heading toward him – and it was oozing a red, bubbling liquid.
The Eight-Tail's skeleton was seeping out! Sasuke inhaled sharply. B had summoned it! That meant he would move faster, attack stronger-
He abruptly twisted and propelled himself into a mid-aerial somersault, narrowly avoiding a flying clothesline from a swiftly incoming Killer B. His heart pounded in his chest. That had been way too close!
"Lariat!" B crowed, whistling within inches of catching the death deity in a devastating, debilitating attack that would have blown his chest wide open. Realising, with great shock, that it had been evaded, he glanced back over his shoulder as he flew past Sasuke. "You really aren't like no other! Aint nobody dodged my Eight-Tail form, except my brother!"
Shit! Sasuke landed on the side of one of the taller ruined columns, and pushed off it, launching himself after B once more. Something twisted unpleasantly in his stomach as he read the Jinchuuriki's intent. Killer B was heading straight toward the others!
"I'll squish you all flat!" B yelled as he swept down toward Sasuke's three comrades. "Squash, squish, splat!"
"Fuck!" Suigetsu's eyes widened as he saw B charging in far too late. Karin grabbed him senselessly, overwhelmed by the frightening intensity of Killer B's chakra. It was off the charts, paralysing.
Juugo grabbed them, both arms now expanded and mutated, desperately trying to get them all to safety, but B was far too fast, his incoming attack like a nuking missile that was unavoidable-
A rushing wall of freezing blue-purple chakra suddenly enveloped them all, as a humongous skeletal fist closed about them, forming a protective barrier that strongly deflected B's attack.
"Whoa..." Suigetsu breathed, begrudgingly impressed.
"This is... incredible!" Karin whispered in awe, as the three looked around at the forcefield glowing around them.
With a yell, Killer B bounced off the Susano'o Sasuke had summoned to shield his comrades – but Sasuke wasn't done. Another gigantic, skeletal hand swiped at the Jinchuuriki, knocking him off balance as he fell through the air. There! The death deity spied his opening. Flash-stepping behind B, his own body cocooned within Susano'o's protective rib-plates, he closed his fingers around Samehada's hilt, feeling the sword pulsate strongly at his touch, and simultaneously sliced at the leather straps that held it in place. B twisted mid-air and aimed a ferocious, smashing left hook right at him, and was visibly shocked when Susano'o simply absorbed the attack. Flickering behind the Jinchuuriki again, Sasuke finally succeeded in wrenching the blade free from B's back, and tossed it down at Suigetsu – before Susano'o's fist closed around B, hurling him backwards to the ground.
Eyes wide, the ocean deity dove toward his prize – only for the huge, bandaged blade to bristle, spikes extending from its hilt as it sensed that it was no longer at its master's back.
"Damn it!" Suigetsu swore. "Give me a fucking break! I'm the god of the oceans and I've been looking for you for centuries!"
Samehada curved inwards, making itself unwieldable, hissing at him.
Sasuke looked away. He'd Susano'o the damned blade back to the Underworld if he had to. They had what they came for. It was time to-
"What is that?!" Karin shrieked, pointing upwards. It didn't look good! Sasuke's face turned as he came to land beside them, his lips parting as he saw that Killer B had landed and was transforming into his full tailed-beast form, his flaring nostrils exhaling smoke. The Eight-Tails was a mighty, mammoth ox, with eight coiling, enormous tentacle like tails that loomed hostilely behind him.
Tailed-B threw his monstrous head back, his voice thundering around them.
"You fools! Should've listened to what I said! 'Cause this is the part where you'll end up dead! Ohhh yeaahhh!"
Dark matter swirled in the air as his gigantic jowls parted, giving birth to an ominous energy ball, a condensed collection of devastating, concentrated chakra that grew to a terrifyingly large size – but Sasuke barely had time to register what this meant. With a huge, deafening roar, the black ball was unleashed at them, crackling so thunderously loud as it hurtled toward them that everything turned to a high pitched whine around them.
"Khnn!" Sasuke grit his teeth, his eyes wide in alarm – and for the first time in a long time, he felt a whisper of fear. His Susano'o swiftly solidified, taking its full, samurai form, an impenetrable barrier that protected them all from harm – but as the energy ball slammed against the defense, Sasuke felt it quiver and shake, as if straining to hold.
What was this awful power? He desperately pumped more chakra into Susano'o to absorb the immense shock of impact, to neutralise the incredible force, holding out both hands, his veins burning with the effort to keep the wall from faltering.
Burning… burning… his right arm was on fire.
Shit! He recognised that he was starting to run precariously low on chakra, that the last line of defense he had summoned to defend them all from certain annihilation was rapidly sucking all his reserves dry. But the dark energy vortex Killer B had set loose was still spinning violently, sucking up debris like a ravenous black hole, seeking to consume them all within its viciously whirling epicentre, and the Jinchuuriki was already preparing another follow up orb.
"Sasuke!" Karin shouted over the howling rush of air around them. "You're low on chakra! I have a little more – please take it!" she offered her arm.
Sasuke accepted, drawing as much as he could. It was just about enough of a top-up to briefly ease the strain on his body. Karin groaned then began to fall backward, fully depleted.
"Holy shit!" Suigetsu yelled, unthinkingly grabbing at her arm to steady her. "What the fuck is this?! I can't get us out!"
Sasuke realised, with a sinking feeling, that the ocean deity was right. The gravitational pull of the orb was making it impossible to warp away or move. Susano'o was locked in place. If he let it down completely, the black vortex would suck them all in and tear their bodies to shreds faster than any of them could warp. They needed to lessen the pull of the spinning ball first.
Sasuke knew he couldn't maintain the barrier on all of them if another hit. He had no choice but to unleash one final attack to disable B – before he obliterated them all. Who knew where the black spheres would end up if the death deity didn't take care of them? They looked like they could wipe out an entire city. Sasuke couldn't let that happen.
His eyes straining, he focused on the beast's tentacle tails, and summoned the dreaded black flame.
"Amaterasu!"
The fire burst into life on his focused target, and beast-mode Killer B screamed in immediate agony, the black ball at his mouth misfiring prematurely, hurtling to their left. Sasuke caught it with one of Susano'o's mighty hands, his Sharingan locking onto it. He could feel Susano'o's entire body shaking from the force of the vortex.
The ball erupted into flame at his will, quickly losing velocity and potency, shrinking until it was nothing more than burning black fire on the ground. Then Sasuke's gaze turned to the orb that was still pushing against the barrier he was holding up.
"Ghhh…" Sweat beaded his brow, his Sharingan burning, as he concentrated and once again commanded Amaterasu to devour the dark matter. It exploded into much more violent flame, writhing and briefly resisting – before falling to the ground in turn, crackling loudly.
"Sasuke!" Suigetsu grabbed again at Samehada, which had relaxed and lowered its spiking bristles. As if sensing weakness in its last master, it had felt the power of Sasuke's chakra, and in a curious, unexpected moment, allowed the ocean deity to take it.
The ocean king exhaled in awe as his fingers finally closed around his prized sword's hilt – but he had to savour the feeling of triumph for later. "I've got the sword! Let's go!" he yelled.
But Sasuke couldn't just leave. If he departed with the black flames still on Killer B, the Jinchuuriki would die. If he left Killer B compromised and unconscious, there was a chance Madara's subjects would seek to capitalise on his weakened state. Somehow, Sasuke knew they were watching.
Retracting Susano'o's protection from the others, he ordered Suigetsu, "Take Karin and Juugo and get out of here!"
The water deity's lavender eyes widened. "Huh? What the fuck, Sasuke? We can't just leave you to-"
The King of the Dead's face whipped around, and he glared daggers at Suigetsu. "Since when do you care?" he snarled viciously.
There had once been a time when they'd been civil to one another, and Sasuke had tolerated the loud-mouthed ocean king. But they had never been friends.
That had the desired effect, for Suigetsu frowned and bristled. Uncharacteristically speechless, he opened his mouth as if to retort something – but instead swallowed the words back, and then summoned a pool of water on the ground.
"You losers coming?" he told the others angrily.
"Lord Sasuke-" Juugo began uncertainly, openly concerned.
"Sasuke!" Karin gasped fearfully. "If you stay here-"
"Leave!" Sasuke commanded harshly. "That's an order, Juugo, Karin!"
They both tensed, and with one final moment of hesitation, reluctantly allowed Suigetsu to warp them out.
Sasuke exhaled in relief as they vanished, glad that he didn't need to worry about anyone else's safety anymore. Turning back to the black flames, locked his gaze onto the ones assaulting a writhing, howling Killer B, who was caught between his tailed and human form, trying desperately to put out flames that only Sasuke's Sharingan could diminish. He needed to extinguish them. Fast, before they spread from the badly-singed tails.
His eyes strained, becoming blood-shot with effort, rapidly consuming what little chakra he had left in his bloodstream to douse out the black fire. Sasuke's teeth clenched, as he willed the flames to abate. It worked. Killer B transformed back into his human form, and slumped unconsciously to the ground.
Susano'o flickered, and ebbed out. Turning his eyes to the remains of the black orbs, Sasuke extinguished the flames there, too. Exhausted, and completely out of chakra, he fell to one knee, breathing heavily, his gaze fixed on B's motionless form. Gripping his right arm, he felt the curse mark throb, inviting, whispering to him to draw from its chakra supplies. He looked down, pulling his sleeve up, horrified to find the ink glowing red like fire. It started to creep up his arm, snaking outwards, none of Sasuke's chakra left to contain it-
Shit! Sasuke thought, as his Sharingan receded. He fought against the seal, willing it to remain in place. It stopped advancing, his will able to contain it in its early stage, but Sasuke could still feel it, pushing against his own depleted chakra system, an indescribable burning pressure that left his head pounding and his whole body feeling like it was on fire.
He needed time to recover some chakra before he could teleport back to his Kingdom. Pushing himself back onto his feet, he slowly walked over to where Killer B lay. Thankfully, he had no significant burns on his human form, and was out cold.
Stabbing Kusanagi into the ground, he squatted down beside the Jinchuuriki, staring at him. What to do with Killer B? He couldn't lock him up in the Underworld. Sasuke had already learned that kidnapping anyone to his domain was never a viable solution to anything, really-
"You!" A feminine voice suddenly shouted. The death deity tensed, looking up – to find a sandy-blonde haired young woman dressed in lilac, bearing a giant, iron combat fan, standing high up on a section of the stairs leading up the mountain. "You attacked our comrade?!"
Comrade? Were these two of the other three guardians of Olympus? Maybe he didn't need to take care of Killer B, after all. His 'comrades' would protect him. But Sasuke also knew he couldn't risk starting another confrontation. And yet he didn't have enough chakra to teleport out yet.
Behind the woman, another individual appeared, dressed in a black hood, with war-paint markings on his face. "B!" he shouted, and leapt forward, hopping along the mountain-face, swiftly heading straight toward Sasuke. "You son-of-a-bitch! You'll pay for this!"
Sasuke sprang to his feet, grabbing Kusanagi as he slunk slowly backward, his mind racing desperately. If he stayed, he'd be caught. Having no other choice, and inwardly fuming at it, he drew the tiniest stream of chakra from the seal. It flared immediately at command, the inking snaking eagerly up to just below his elbow, lending him just enough to allow him to flicker silently out of sight.
He alighted at the entrance to his palace, and fell onto the front steps, leaning back, utterly exhausted. Breathing heavily, he stared at his arm, watching as the curse seal continued to glow, trying to snake further up his limb.
A cold sweat crept through his body.
Damn it, he thought to himself, pushing back at it, willing it back into its container. The poison was in his entire blood-stream, and he could feel it boiling like liquid lava in his veins when his own chakra supply was depleted.
Weak. He was too weak. The Sharingan, he starkly realised, wasn't powerful enough to contend with the sorts of opponents he was going to be going up against in future. He needed more power to face the likes of Madara, who was even more deadly when unsealed than Killer B had been.
And yet the full form of the Eight-Tails itself had pushed his ocular powers to their limits. The Rinnegan, Sasuke knew, would not have the same limitations. It would consume less chakra, cause less strain on his eyes.
He needed it. And he would have to find a way to accelerate its activation, while slowing down the advancement of the curse seal.
Retrieving the senju phial out of his supplies pouch, he pulled the stopper off with his teeth, and without blinking, without flinching, stabbed the syringe into the left side of his neck, pumping the serum contents into his bloodstream. He exhaled as he immediately felt a small surging return of his own chakra supply, as the dormant senju cells were instantly absorbed into his veins.
Everything Chiyo had told him was right. If he left the mark unchecked, the process of contamination would only accelerate. He needed more time.
She had been right. Though it was difficult to process, and gave him no pleasure to accept, he couldn't do this alone.
He had no alternative, or time to spare. Lifting his fingers to his lips, he whistled for his messenger hawk.
Author's Note
What a battle! I broke it off here, but the next chapter will be a direct continuation of this and there will be a time-skip to the winter ball. No Sakura and co. in this chapter, but this fight needed to get done, and I hope you all enjoyed it. I'm including some character growth for Sasuke too, so he will be going on missions that will support this.
What will Sasuke do next? Who is he writing to?
Big clue on who the other three guardians are – three more new sibling characters who have entered the fray!
Please be assured that every chapter is one closer to the SasuSaku meeting again and the wait WILL be worth it. I hope the plot is interesting you all enough to help build to that moment when their eyes meet again.
Please leave your thoughts and see you next update!