Quietus

by Seraphina Scribes

When first he laid eyes upon her, he thought her the very personification of spring. He watches, from the depths of shadow; waiting to steal her away from the land of the living. Waiting to make her Queen of the Dead. Hades/Persephone retold. SasuSaku/AU.

104. Chapter 103

Thank you to everyone who kindly took the time to review the last few chapters.

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Chapter CIII

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A puppet on strings, under Chaos's control,
Broken and bent and never again whole,
Seeks vengeance for a love long lost,
His retribution sought at any cost.

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~x~

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Two pairs of glazed eyes stared blankly into space, devoid of life.

Uchiha Madara coldly regarded the deceased at his feet, his lips curling into a haughty, derisive sneer as he took in the gaping mouths eternally frozen in silent screams of horror, the anguished features contorted in pain.

Two further jinchuuriki hosts had been captured in the battle against the Olympians and lay sprawled on the ground before him, no more than husks of their former selves. The extraction of their tailed-beasts had been swift, their powers sealed into the vessel that Obito's body provided. Only three were left to acquire. Three more, and the Ten-Tails - and all the monstrous powers the legendary beast offered - would fall into his hands at last.

An additional gift had been unexpectedly restored to him. The Helm of Darkness, one of his clan's prestigious heirlooms, an object he had not held in his hands for millenia, rested on a white pedestal behind him. Incapable of being wielded by any other but the Underworld's sworn ruler, it was nevertheless a powerful advantage to steal away from his insolent descendant.

The Titan's dark gaze swept up to regard the two subordinates who had yet to report to him from the battlefield, the extraction and sealing of the tailed-beasts having taken first priority. It was apparent that the prizes they had managed to wrestle from the fray had not been acquired without sacrifice. Obito's Byakugan had been completely destroyed, and the serpent's cherished mortal doctor was nowhere to be seen - as was the ocean king who had been under their control.

The loss of one of the Byakugan was inconvenient, and yet no disaster, for its second counterpart taken from the deceased Olympian seraph Neji remained. It was Kabuto and Poseidon's absences, however, that were a real cause of concern.

"Well? Where are the others?"

A shadow passed over Orochimaru's serpentine features. "Kabuto wasss fatally wounded in battle."

Madara sneered in disgust, "So your prized little experiment is no more."

Orochimaru appeared to choose his next words very carefully. "If any remnant of his DNA remainsss, be assured that I will do everything in my power to find a way to regenerate him."

Madara prowled slowly toward the pair, and began to circle them like a blood-thirsty wolf surveying its prey. "What of Poseidon?"

"The Olympians utilised Samehada in an attempt to remove the Black Zetsu from his bloodstream," Obito confirmed.

"The sporesss were programmed to release Achlys' fatal venom if any attempt to remove our influence from his blood was made. The Olympiansss locked him within a barrier forged from the chakra of a tailed-beast with a healing nymph and we could not retrieve him. However, they also failed in their attempts to heal him."

There was a weighty pause as Madara absorbed the surprising news. He drew to a stop before them again, coal-black, penetrating eyes burning with displeasure.

"He is dead? Where, then, is his body?"

"We saw no corpse," Obito admitted. "However, we believe that the blade likely devoured whatever remained of him, as is its way. The tides are unnaturally high, and their turbulence indeed confirms his passing."

"Hmph." It was a pity the enslaved ocean's ruler had perished so prematurely. He would have been of further use to their cause alive, and the Titan would have greatly enjoyed forcing him to defy his own function, before watching Kisame take the very crown that Poseidon so cherished.

"And precisely how intend you to re-animate him without a corpse?"

"I extracted some cells," Orochimaru assured him. "And locks of hair while Poseidon was unconsciousss in captivity. Both contain his DNA, enough to perform Edo-Tensei."

"You had better hope," Madara growled threateningly, "for your sake, that is the case. His influence over the oceans is integral to our plans. Until Kisame is released from his confinement and able to regain his rightful crown, we will require Poseidon's abilities to manipulate his element."

"It will be so," Orochimaru vowed. "I will begin to work on ressstoring him as soon as our forces regroup."

Madara's eyes narrowed into slits. "Empty promises for ones who have returned to me without a single Olympian hostage. The rest all survived then!" He released an exasperated breath, gesturing angrily into the air with a hand as he began to pace before them. "You had them all in one place. There for the taking! Yet you fled back here empty-handed? Spineless, wretched fools! How is it that you failed to win the battle when you had Izanagi itself at your disposal?"

Orochimaru tensed, a sliver of fear whispering through his veins. As well as two tailed-beast hosts, they had claimed the lives of an Olympian and a seraph, but without any bodies to present to Cronus, they had as good as returned empty handed. Obito had not explained to him where Kakashi was, and he dared not mention Kakashi's demise before Obito did. But why was he allowing Cronus to believe they had failed to kill any of their enemy? It was dangerous to rouse the fearsome Titan's anger.

"Sasuke has awakened the Rinnegan," Obito stated.

The breath stilled in Madara's lungs and he pivoted back around, staring hard at the pair.

"You saw this?" he demanded.

"Yes," Obito confirmed stoically. "We had poisoned him, and he was moments away from being dragged into my Kamui portal - when he vanished from the battle without warning."

Madara's eyebrows arched. "Disappeared, say you?"

"We know not where he went," Obito said.

"Explain," Madara ordered.

"We witnessed a curious blue light," Obito described. "And a cold mist which claimed him. When he reappeared, it was through the same light, and he had been fully healed of venom."

"He wass gone for some time," Orochimaru corroborated. "The tide of battle was almost turned in our favour in his absence. However, when he reappeared, he had the eye, and he struck down Kabuto. Such speed…"

He licked his lips with a forked tongue, recalling in awe how blindingly fast Sasuke's movements had been. The Underworld's agile king had always been amongst the swifter-moving of the deities - but the Rinnegan's powers rendered him untraceable on the battlefield. A threat that could not be seen until it was too late.

A vengeful, lethal reaper capable of decimating foes in a heartbeat.

It was delicious to think that he would soon inhabit that majestic body and have all its abilities at his disposal. To possess such immense power and chakra that roiled like a volatile storm, to have it answer to his command, filled Orochimaru with immense glee.

"It was magnificent to behold!" The daemon finished. "Yet we could not risssk lingering. We had no other option except to retreat."

"Then your base is forfeit," Madara glared.

Orochimaru held up his hands, as if to appease the Titan's wrath. "It is regrettable that it will be lost, yet I assure you, our most important resourcesss were transported away from the location first and remain intact."

At the contemptuous look the Titan shot his way, Orochimaru hastily added, "With the remaining ANBU's assistance, it is nothing that cannot quickly be rebuilt. I will use the Black Zetsu to enslave further humans and ensure they work tirelessly to re-assemble our forces."

Madara did not deign to reply, his thoughts turning instead to the recount they had given of Sasuke unexpectedly vanishing in the midst of battle, only to return healed and with an activated Rinnegan. Clasping his hands behind his back, he began to pace once more.

A blue light, a sudden disappearance into thin air; his suspicions flared wildly. Could it be? Had Sasuke been saved by some manner of intervention from The Moirae themselves? Had the cursed goddesses realised the full extent of his plans, and chosen that exact moment to intercede, in order to ensure that the death deity - and by extension, the Rinnegan - escaped his clutches?

A deep, smug smirk danced upon the Titan's lips. It was of no consequence what they tried to do, he told himself. They were forbidden to directly meddle, and had merely delayed the inevitable. The Rinnegan was Madara's right to claim, for Sasuke would never have been able to possess the sacred eye had he not offered him the Senju cells required to begin the process of its activation. And just as was the case with the Ten Tails, it would only be a matter of time until he brought his unruly descendant to heel.

Walking toward the crystals that confined Zeus and Hera's corpses, the Titan declared, "Sasuke has awakened the Rinnegan, and I will have it brought to me. It is time to put our plan into motion, at last."

Orochimaru and Obito exchanged a brief, silent glance.

"The Nine-Tails," Orochimaru confirmed. "It is sealed within Zeus's son."

Madara's sharp gaze locked onto Zeus's pale face as rage swelled within him. He had already seen undeniable proof of that fact before his view of the battle had been abruptly severed, and yet, failing to anticipate the Demon Fox's whereabouts for centuries made his blood boil with fury.

Then, to his watching subordinate's surprise, he suddenly threw his head back and laughed. A chilling, booming, disconcerting sound that radiated pure malice and dripped sheer glee.

To think that the damned Demon Fox had been with Apollo all along! Zeus had chosen to hide it within his only son, both the least and most obvious choice. The news was like a musical serenade to Madara's ears. It was poetic justice. The sweetest irony. A most delightful invitation to obtain the ultimate revenge - by destroying the very thing Zeus and Hera had always held dearer than their own miserable lives.

The Titan vowed that he would make Apollo suffer. He would make him beg for death, but it would not be Madara who delivered the final blow. He laughed louder, his eyes shining with relish, as they flicked onto Hera's ghostly face.

In the end, he would have the final laugh. Both Hades and Apollo, precious beyond measure to their kin, would be obliterated. And wherever the souls of Thanatos, Hypnos, Zeus and Hera had eluded him to, they would weep. They would scream and writhe in pain. They would know all their noble sacrifices had been for naught.

They had only managed to stall what could not be denied. What Cronus was on the cusp of achieving at last. No Fate, no god, no goddess, no power on earth would deny him. Freedom was so close, he could almost taste it.

Just as abruptly, his laughter cut off, and he turned back to Obito and Orochimaru. The chessboard was set. The time had come to release its final players.

Nodding at Obito's bloodied face, he coldly ordered, "Clean up that unsightly mess. Serpent, see to it that he implants the other eye, or another Sharingan, whichever is of most use. I care not. Make it quick. Then you know what it is you must both do."

"I have no need of his assistance," Obito replied flatly. "I already have another Sharingan within my possession."

Madara arched his eyebrows. "Oh? Is that so?"

"Kakashi is dead," Obito informed him. "He was dragged into my portal in battle and disposed of thereafter. After I restore my Sharingan, I will return his corpse to Orochimaru. It will surely be of use to us against the Olympians."

"Another puppet to add to our collection," Orochimaru smiled deeply.

A devilish, satisfied smirk danced upon Madara's lips, before he threw his head back and laughed again.

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~x~

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Sasuke alighted in his private chambers, his dark hair windswept, his clothing stained with blood, the adrenaline rush of combat still surging through his veins. Orochimaru's hideout had been decimated, and the death deity had parted from the others to make a brief stop at his kingdom. Long enough only to ensure that Sakura was well, and summon Chiyo to where she was direly needed on the surface. Then he would depart again to return to the company of Olympians to discuss matters of great urgency. Matters that included formulating a plan to retrieve Kakashi as quickly as possible from their enemy's clutches and solving the catastrophic problem of the world's angered oceans, bereft of their newly deceased sea king.

Finally alone and away from watching eyes, he allowed his shoulders to sag. A wave of exhaustion washed over his body, the burdens he carried a crushing weight bearing down upon him. Sasuke had barely had time to fully process every shocking truth he had seen and learned in the realm of The Fates, before he had been entrusted with the Adamantine blade and thrust back into the heart of battle, forced to school his warring emotions into a stoic mask of indifference once again.

He released a quiet breath, his mind still reeling from the implications of the deal he had struck with The Moirae, and his brother's involvement with the very same entities who had marked his own hand. But Sasuke knew he could not stop. He could not dare to dwell upon or agonise on it. The pact was done, his word given in oath. There was no way to revoke it. No paths back, only forward. Ahead, to an inevitable final confrontation with his war-mongering ancestor, to his confirmed doom.

The death deity lifted his palm, tearing off the damaged glove there to reveal the brand that condemned him to Clotho, Atropos and Lakhesis's servitude. Barely visible, and yet it felt like freezing ice, burning flame carved into his flesh. He swallowed, staring at it for a long moment. His brother and Zeus had carried the same marks. His heart ached, the distressing vision he had seen of Itachi tenderly cradling his infant self, of his sibling raising his blade in small hands to protect him, was permanently burned into his mind's eye. Mocking him. Haunting him. Tormenting him. Itachi, who had done everything to protect him, and had not thought twice about forfeiting his own life for Sasuke's sake.

Itachi who had been buried along with Shisui in Lethe's silent waters.

The ache in his heart became a violent stab of hurt. Sasuke strode into the bathing chamber, angrily yanking off his battle-damaged cloak and unfastening his tunic. He reeked of combat, of blood and sweat, of smoke and flame and sea-water and the elements, and everything their enemy had thrown at them.

Catching sight of his bloodied face in the mirror, Sasuke barely suppressed a grimace of distaste. Sakura, he had sensed upon arrival, was safely in the palace library, but he was an absolutely dreadful sight to behold. It would not do, to appear to her so bloodied, his clothing charred and in tatters. A quick bath and change of attire were in order. He could not approach her in such a ghastly state. She would worry, and no doubt jump to the worst possible conclusions, something he did not wish for her to do, even if any conclusion her mind might conjure would be nothing close to the horror of his reality.

He paused by the mirror, his heart drumming in his chest as he carefully directed chakra into his left eye, and watched, enthralled and with bated breath, as the Rinnegan obediently bled from his inky iris, bringing the world around him into sharper focus. It was a stunning, luminous amethyst with rings that radiated outwards, devouring the whites of his eyeballs whole. Six tomoe were arranged around the innermost two circles that were closest to his pupil.

A quiet, appreciative breath escaped his lips. The fabled, prized eye of legend itself. The exalted ocular gift, a gift that the old gods had murdered for, cast aside all honour and loyalties trying to awaken. Through intense physical and emotional pain, through immense suffering, he had acquired it at last. And he knew that Madara would stop at absolutely nothing to obtain it.

Drawing chakra away from it, he watched as his iris returned to charcoal, leaving behind no sign of the Rinnegan's presence. But Sasuke could feel it. The power that lurked behind, that thrummed in his ocular pathways. The abilities that were waiting to be unlocked and unleashed. He did not have the time to explore his new gifts at that moment, but as soon as they retrieved Kakashi safely, testing the Rinnegan out was precisely what he intended to do.

Before that, before anything else, he thought to himself as he turned away from his reflection to wash the filth of battle from his body, there was someone he had to see.

Someone who owed him answers.

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~x~

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With a heavy sigh, Sakura closed the leather-bound book on her lap and lifted a hand to the back of her neck, wincing at the cramp that had formed in her muscles. While waiting for Sasuke to return from the surface, she had visited the library to hunt down texts about ancient seals, old magic and potion-brewing, with the assistance of one of three palace attendants who were responsible for the upkeep of the library.

Taking the retrieved volumes to one of the study desks, she had leafed through page after page, book after book, scouring every piece of information she could find about the curse seal that plagued Sasuke and whether there was any possible way to forcibly remove it. But her search had only led her into a maze of further questions. The scriptures gave no mention of a miracle brew that could drive the seal out of the body, but they did reference the use of a sealing blade. The only other way to remove the mark was if its bestower willingly recalled it from the infected subject.

Sakura frowned in distaste. Tartarus would sooner freeze over, she knew, before Orochimaru ever relinquished his hold on Sasuke. That left only the alternative of the sealing blade - and Sakura didn't know much about how those were made. But she knew someone who certainly did.

Stacking the book in her lap on top of the others on the table beside her, Sakura rose to her feet, smoothing down the heavy velvet skirt of her deep crimson gown. The sleeves at the shoulders trailed down to the floor in length and her hair was gathered in an elaborate crown-braid, adorned with flowers that matched the hue of her dress. In her earlobes were garnet and gold droplet earrings and bangles of solid gold encircled her wrists.

She departed the library, lost deep in a flurry of thoughts. The curse seal, she had come to discover, acted in a manner similar to poison corrupting chakra pathways. If the mark was neutralised somehow, rendered incapable of being used, then surely there had to be some way to draw it out, even without the use of a sealing weapon?

Full of questions, she decided to pay Chiyo a visit. She wanted to learn more about brewing potions and the old goddess's hut possessed the perfect resources to do just that. Although the palace did have astronomy, alchemy and apothecary rooms - something Sakura had been delighted to discover on one of the maps Sasuke had provided to her - she wasn't anywhere near ready to experiment with mixing herbs and other unknown ingredients without appropriate guidance and supervision.

And who better than Hecate herself to tutor her?

As she made her way back through the grand entrance hall and exited the palace to head toward the stables, Sakura frowned. Still no sign of Sasuke.

He had been gone for a long time, and she could not help but worry about him and the others, filled with impatience for his return. A sense of foreboding was starting to creep into her gut. The longer Sasuke took to return, the more likely it was that they had run into some kind of deep trouble.

Pursing her lips, Sakura gave herself a mental shake. No. She had to believe in them, to keep faith that they would get the job done and return unharmed. It simply would not do to linger idly about with only her thoughts for company. They would eat her alive, and so would sitting around feeling helpless. No, she told herself fiercely, as she mounted Eos with a stable boy's assistance. Just because she was not out fighting on the battlefield for her own safety, that didn't mean she could not find other ways to be of use to her friends.

The journey to Chiyo's hut passed in a swift blur, the landscape streaking by her unseen. As Sakura dismounted her horse outside the hut and entered into the ancient crone's dwelling place, she was once again hit with the powerful aroma of brewing potions.

Pushing the heavy, vined curtain to the hut aside, she found Chiyo bottling a strange, luminous, pale blue liquid into small glass phials secured with cork-stoppers.

"Hello, Lady Chiyo," she greeted politely. "I hope I'm not intruding?"

"Sakura." The ancient goddess croaked, not looking up from her task. "Not at all. How kind of you to keep an old goddess company."

Clasping her hands behind her back, Sakura approached the bubbling cauldron and peered into it.

"What's that?" she questioned curiously, mesmerised by the shifting shimmer of the brew.

"Anti-venom, child." Hecate angled her head, gesturing toward the empty bottles beside her. "Since you are here, you may as well put yourself to use. Help me fill the rest of these."

Sakura readily obliged, picking up another ladle hanging beside the fireplace.

"Anti-venom? For which poison?"

"A most potent one," Chiyo replied. "That of Achlys."

"Did you know her?"

"I have known many," Chiyo remarked dryly. "Achlys was vain, cunning and most unpleasant. indeed. She had no care what mischief trading her blood would make. Fortunately, there is a cure, though it is no easy concoction to brew, and requires a very precise measure of ingredients and time to make."

"I started learning about antidotes with my mother on the surface," Sakura said. "Would you be able to teach me how to make some while I'm here?"

"You are welcome to visit my hut anytime, Little Flower," Chiyo said kindly. "It would please me to share knowledge of the healing arts with you. Your mother and I are old friends. Indeed, I have known her since the days of her childhood."

Sakura grinned at that. "Has she changed much since then?"

"Oh, she has always been most obstinate and headstrong. A gentle heart, wrapped within a will of steel. She was more carefree in those days of old… more prone to engaging in reckless impulses. But she began to settle once she met Hestia."

"They were really close," Sakura agreed.

"Yes. Hestia was more than a friend and sister to your mother. She was her balance, her anchor, and the one who first encouraged her to apply her gifts to medicine."

"She really misses Shizune," Sakura said sadly. "I do, too. I wish things were different. If only everyone's powers hadn't been sealed back then…"

"The enemy struck at a most opportune moment, indeed. It was unfortunate, and a great loss. But your mother now carries her powers within her. If she would only accept the grief, and allow herself to channel those gifts - she will realise that Hestia is not lost. Heart and the power of hearth are now Tsunade's to command. That will of fire lives on within her."

Sakura considered this.

"Such determination about her," Chiyo went on. "I see many of her qualities in you, young Sakura. The same drive and ambition. The kindness and grace. You, too, have the potential to become so much more than what you are."

The cryptic words gave Sakura pause. Was Chiyo referring to her goddesshood, or something more? But she knew from the knowing smile Chiyo gave her, that the old goddess would not elaborate on what she meant.

"I always wondered why she never went out and met people," Sakura confided. "While I was growing up, she was always busy working. She's so beautiful and smart and strong, but all my life I can't remember her bringing anyone back home for me to meet, or going out on even a single date."

"She never has done so," Chiyo replied. "As well as seeking to protect you, she has only ever loved one man." The crone paused, before amending, "At least, only one she cares to admit she loves."

Sakura blinked at her in surprise. That implied that her mother might harbour feelings for another man. "It's Jiraiya, isn't it?" she blurted.

It had not escaped her notice how Jiraiya often looked at her mother, doing his best to disguise the affection he carried for her by irritating Tsunade to no end with terrible pick-up lines, and flirtatious advances that Sakura was surprised had never landed him in hospital. Although he had grown significantly more serious in his bearing with the renewed threat of Cronus, Sakura was certain that he still had deeply rooted feelings for her mother.

Chiyo's expression crinkled with disapproval. "Even the blindest simpleton can see how hopelessly enamoured with her that old fool is. They have known each other for a very long time, child. He has held a flame for your mother even when she loved another, but for all his folly, his love of intoxication and merry-making, and his faults, when it comes to Tsunade, his heart is sincere and true. Your mother grounds him, gives him purpose and direction. An opportunity to be more than a carefree wanderer who revels in wine and women."

"Then why won't she give him a chance?"

"It is unfortunate that Jiraiya is a most incorrigible flirt, a free-spirit who used to shirk often from all responsibility. Theirs has always been a fiery bond. Your mother pushed him away so often, he believed she did not wish to know him at all, and for many years, he roamed the world and stayed away from her side. She held those years against him, unfairly so. But he has shown a great deal of responsibility since his return, and your mother is surely grateful for his presence. Though she will not admit it, perhaps she will realise his worth someday, and that loving another after loss does not mean you must love any less."

Sakura silently agreed. Jiraiya had been there for her mother over the course of the previous year in the events following her abduction, and despite everything, she was convinced he genuinely did care for Tsunade. Perhaps, when the war was over, if they all survived, her mother might give him a chance and finally allow herself a well-deserved shot at finding her own happiness. It would certainly put Sakura's mind more at ease, knowing her mother had a love to call her own to warm her heart during the difficult months when her daughter was in the Underworld.

"Have you heard anything from the surface?" Sakura asked, changing the subject. "Sasuke-kun's been gone for a while. Is everything okay?"

"We must wait," Chiyo answered, giving nothing away of the outcome. "Have patience, young Sakura."

"I hate it," Sakura admitted. "Sitting here when I know they're all throwing themselves into danger. I wish I could help."

"It is a great help to them, remaining safe here," Chiyo's dark eyes gleamed in the firelight.

"But there must be more I can do," Sakura handed another filled bottle to her. "I've been trying to figure out a way that the curse seal could be removed."

"And what have you discovered?" Chiyo scooped up more brew.

"Some of the books mentioned sealing blades, but they didn't have any descriptions that I could find. Not in detail, anyway. Could you tell me more about those? How are they made?"

"Hmm," Chiyo hummed, pleased to share her knowledge. "There are only two true sealing blades known to the gods. The Totsuka and the Adamantine, also known as the Adamant. It is possible to make ordinary sealing weapons that are less effective, ones that can lock away smaller targets, but there is always a danger of the sealed escaping unless the weapon is permanently destroyed. The Adamantine and Totsuka are divine weapons, and have no limits in terms of the powers they can permanently contain, nor can they be destroyed by the hands of any gods."

Sakura was intrigued. "Who made those swords?"

"That is debatable," Hecate mused. "There are those who believe that Kaguya herself first created them. Others contest that it was The Moirae. Either way, they are sacred weapons that can only be wielded by the ones they choose to allow to wield them."

"How exactly do they work?"

"They seal away any target they pierce. In Totsuka's case, the blade traps the souls and bodies of its victims within the confines of an eternal illusion. A sleep-like state from which they cannot awaken - unless the Master of the blade reverses the seal, willingly or otherwise."

"What do you mean, otherwise?" Sakura closed another bottle with a cork stopper.

"Were its Master to be enslaved and forced to remove the seal, for instance, but do not fret over such matters. The blade is lost. A pity, also, for it would have been precisely the weapon to remove the curse's blight from young Sasuke."

"But you said it seals whatever it stabs away?"

"It also has the ability to draw foreign chakra out from its target if its Master willed it to do so, without sealing away the body that holds it."

"Totsuka. That's the same blade Sasuke's brother used to seal away the Titans," Sakura frowned, recalling what Sasuke had told her about Itachi's noble sacrifice. "So… if it's sacred, how did he ever get hold of that sword to begin?"

Chiyo was silent for a long moment. Then she answered, "I suppose he was considered worthy enough to discover it."

Sakura waited for her to expand on her cryptic statement. When Chiyo said nothing else on the subject, she tried instead, "So what happened to it after the war?"

"Itachi used the blade to seal the Titans and locked them away inside a gourd, the final shape the blade took at his will. I cast Totsuka into the flames with my own hands after the princes' souls departed." She stared intently into the fire, as if reliving the memory.

Sakura's eyes widened. Sasuke had not spoken in detail to her about Totsuka before. She had known that the Titans were locked away in Tartarus, but had believed the sword used to seal them had been a separate weapon that might have been lost during the war - not what actually contained the ancient gods themselves.

"And there's no way it can be retrieved and used again?"

Hecate set aside another batch of potions. "It is sealed within the lowest level of Tartarus. A lightless place of ash and bone, haunted by the most damned and sinister of souls, that only the King can reach. When Itachi wove the death seal that ended his young life, the blade, tied to his life-force, became dormant. Even if the gourd were to be retrieved, it has no power now. It would only be able to return to life if the heart of its Master were to beat again."

Sakura released a sigh of disappointment. Impossible, then. "What about the other blade?"

"The Adamantine is even more powerful, a sword that seals its target in a state of eternal paralysis, and steals away their powers, transferring them to the one who wields the blade."

Sakura's lips parted in astonishment. "What? It steals a god's powers? But that could be dangerous in the wrong hands." Dangerous - and a blessing. Sakura thought of Cronus. If only they had such a blade.

"Quite so," Chiyo agreed grimly.

"So where is it?"

The crone slowly lowered her ladle. She did not immediately answer.

"Lady Chiyo?" Sakura peered at her.

Chiyo seemed to hesitate uncharacteristically, before supplying carefully, "The Adamant has been known only to exist in legend, child. It has never before been found or wielded, and it is a dangerous business to seek it. Many immortals have been driven mad in pursuit of what could never be found."

"So is it real or not?" Sakura blinked, bemused.

"It is real, although I have never beheld it. But it would be of no help in this case regardless, for it absorbs all the powers of any target it pierces."

Sakura's shoulders slumped. "Then the only way to free Sasuke-kun is to make Orochimaru remove the curse seal willingly. There's no other way we can make a new sealing blade?"

"Orochimaru's chakra is too powerful, and I possess not the craft to forge such weaponry," Chiyo shuffled along to another wooden table. "As I told you, a sealing blade that is made by our hands would only be temporary, nowhere near as eternal in power as Totsuka or the Adamantine, and so capable of failing. Just as the seal placed on Cronus is temporary in its nature."

"Is that the truth?" A slicing voice cut in, cold and hard-edged. "Or another of your lies?"

Sakura's eyes widened, and she whirled around to find Sasuke standing at the entrance of the hut. Her heart soared. Dressed entirely in black, he appeared remarkably well-groomed and unscathed, flawless even, for one who had supposedly returned from battle.

Setting the bottle in her hand aside, she flew to him, flinging her arms tightly around his neck as she pressed her face into his chest, her legs almost giving way from the magnitude of relief that flooded through her body. She did not care that Chiyo was there to witness her public display of affection. She had never been so glad to see him.

"Sasuke-kun," she squeezed her eyes shut, savouring his warmth and familiar, elemental scent. "I'm so glad you're safe. I was so worried!"

She felt his hand brush lightly over her right side for all too brief a moment in a fleeting touch. When she pulled back, she found that his jet-black eyes were not on her, but fixed instead on Chiyo - and they were simmering with anger.

"Sasuke-kun?" she cupped his face, and the skin-to-skin contact briefly drew his smoky gaze down to her. "What's the matter? What happened? Is it over? Is everyone alright?"

He gripped her wrists and gently lowered her arms, looking back at Chiyo as he stepped around Sakura. Instead of answering her questions, he seethed at the goddess, "You lied."

"I did no such thing," Hecate denied.

The searing intensity of Sasuke's probing, accusing stare was a thousand times hotter than the flames in the hearth.

"You told me their final resting place was Tartarus."

"That is where they last drew breath and fell," Chiyo answered calmly.

"You failed to mention that you buried them in Lethe," Sasuke snapped back.

Sakura's eyes darted between the pair, a hand clutched apprehensively to the base of her throat. A stampede of confusion ran riot inside her mind. What were they talking about? What in the world had happened on the surface?

"I chose to honour them with a burial. Would you have preferred I allowed their bodies to rot at the edge of that infernal pit?"

Sasuke's chest heaved as he grappled to retain his composure. He felt incensed. Betrayed. Played for a fool. He could not understand why Chiyo had chosen to keep something of such great significance from him. To deny him the right to mourn his kin properly.

"I spent centuries believing them to have perished on the battlefield, when all along, you knew their bodies were crystal-entombed within Lethe's waters. A river's edge I have patrolled countless times! Why did you not tell me?!"

"For precisely this reason." Chiyo lifted her chin. "For the hurt I knew it would inflict upon you. Your brother would not have wanted-"

"My brother is dead!" Sasuke spat. "His life ended far before the war claimed it, and you knew of it all along. His wants, his wishes, they all died with him!"

A weighty silence followed, in which Sasuke glared furiously at the old goddess, demanding she explain herself.

"You are wrong, Sasuke," she finally said quietly. "His wishes live on with you."

"Do not speak of his wishes as if you cared for them," Sasuke snapped, and Sakura's breath caught at the rage and disrespect that were loaded in the words being hurled at Chiyo like rocks. "You cared not enough to save him!"

"It was his decision to make. Upon my word, I have cared for your kin's wishes a great deal," Chiyo's eyebrows rose as she patiently indulged Sasuke's impertinence, born of an anger he had every right to feel. Like a mother too used to a child's raging tantrums. "Have I not kept my promise and remained in this Kingdom, honouring the vow I made to him?"

"You lied to me," Sasuke disregarded her words entirely. "You knew every truth and chose to tell me none of it!"

"I did it to protect you. How could I tell you of their resting places, before you knew of the circumstances of their death? And what would you have done with the knowledge, Sasuke?" Chiyo challenged. "What do you wish to do with it now? Lethe will not release them."

Sakura's thoughts sprinted, struggling to piece together understanding from the scraps she was hearing. Itachi and Shisui's bodies were somehow inside the Lethe river? The same ghostly waters they had passed by so many times? How was that possible? It was shocking to learn, and she couldn't even begin to imagine how devastated Sasuke was - but just how had he even found out?

"When our business on the surface is done, you will tell me where they are," he ordered. "You will take me to them."

"I will do no such thing. Lethe's waters have held them for over two thousand surface years, Sasuke. I know not where they are, and you cannot extricate them." Hecate shook her head. "The river does not relinquish-"

"The river answers to the king," Sasuke snarled back coldly.

There was a tense silence. When Chiyo next spoke, the stark warning in her tone caused goosebumps of alarm to surface along the back of Sakura's arms. A tone that suggested Sasuke was now pushing the limits of even her patience. "Listen carefully to my words, Sasuke. Your desire to see your kin is understandable, but it has been over two thousand years, and you know what becomes of those who sink into Lethe's depths. They are crystal entombed for eternity, swept away by the river's current. They can never again be found."

Sasuke opened his mouth to argue otherwise, but the goddess swiftly continued, "Were they mortal, nothing in the three realms could deny you. But your brother and cousin were gods. Their souls were never under your dominion. You have no claim over immortal afterlives. And so Lethe claimed them as her own. Do not meddle in what is not your domain. The river will not suffer their peace to be disturbed. You know this."

When the death deity simply fumed at her in silence, she shuffled slowly toward him.

"Leave them be. To be laid to rest in Lethe is the highest of honours, and it has been too long." Her voice, this time, was gentle. "You may scream at the waters until your throat is raw, until your lungs bleed, but the current will not bring them to you, boy. I did not keep this from you to hurt you. I did it because it would have broken you to know. You held such anger within you, and knew not the truth of anything. You were not ready to know. You would have searched the river until your ruin, and I had made a vow. I vowed to your brother that I would protect you."

Sasuke's hands balled into fists. How could she expect him to let it go, knowing his brother and cousin's bodies were hidden away in his kingdom? The yearning to see them one final time, to mourn them properly, tore at him. Did he not deserve that closure? What had given Chiyo the right to choose such a burial for them, without consulting him first? It did not matter that he had not been in the right state of mind back then. They were his kin.

Perhaps it had all been kept from him because he had not been ready to awaken the Rinnegan back then. To become a puppet for The Fates. Hatred burned deeply in his veins. Her answer, her excuses, were not justified. He was his own person, not simply a pawn to the throne who had to be sheltered in order to fulfil his duties. He refused to accept that Chiyo had known all along but chosen not to tell him simply to protect him. There had to be more to it than that. Something else she clearly wasn't telling him, just like every other piece of vital information she had chosen to infuriatingly omit in the past.

He did not trust her. He did not forgive her. But Sakura was in the hut with them, and he had already spoken enough. He could not express the rest of what he wanted to say without mentioning The Moirae and their involvement in Itachi and Shisui's fates. And that skirted on dangerous territory. He could not risk saying anything else. Besides, they had other more immediate priorities to deal with.

'Protect me?' He telepathically communicated to the old crone, his tone bitter, mocking. She knew that The Fates had summoned him. She knew about the damning Mark he now carried. She hadn't protected him from anything. She had merely delayed the inevitable, and they both knew it.

'Maybe it is not the promise you made to Itachi that has had you watch over me,' he thought to her. 'Maybe it was simply your loyalty to the ones who marked us both, who have stolen both of our futures.'

He had the small satisfaction of seeing pain and guilt flicker briefly across her dark eyes.

'We will finish this later,' he added. Chiyo merely stared unflinchingly back at him, her expression unreadable once more.

"You are needed on the surface." He said aloud curtly, referring to the deities that had requested her presence in the emergency meeting that was to take place shortly upon the surface.

Chiyo inclined her head, dropping the bottled potions into a fabric satchel. "I have completed my preparations here," she said. "Will you return with me?"

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura protested in alarm, not ready for him to leave so suddenly.

"No," Sasuke uttered frostily, refusing the goddess's invitation. Chiyo released a heavy sigh, cast an odd, sad glance at Sakura, then blinked out of sight.

He turned back to Sakura. Soft hands immediately cupped his cheeks again, and emerald eyes searched his face with urgency. That verdant gaze was like a soothing balm to his soul, calming the storm of his anger, and he finally allowed himself to lower his guard, thirstily drinking in the sight of her, swallowing as his rage shifted into something even more devastating. A stabbing pain. Knowing the fate that awaited him - and her - being powerless to change it, and to tell her, until the time neared.

This was the woman whom The Fates had foreseen would become Queen of the Underworld. His Queen. His wife, and the mother of his child. He slowly lifted a hand, as if in a trance, ghosting his fingertips over the lovely curve of her right cheek.

He blinked, spellbound, unable to tear his gaze from her, as if he were seeing her again for the very first time in the most brilliant clarity. How could he ever be worthy of her? How could his hands, which had known only destruction and ruin, be capable of possessing a thing so beautiful? How was it that she would choose to give her heart to him eternally, to cast her light upon such an undeserving shadow? To think that she would be his entirely, that she would give all of herself to him in a sacred, binding vow, that together, they would become everything he'd thought he would never again have - a new family. A family that was doomed to be torn apart, just like the one that had already been stolen from him - and yet, she did not know of what he knew, could not know of it, until it came to pass.

Overcome with feeling, he slipped his hand behind the nape of her neck and without a word, tugged her close, kissing her deeply, ravenously, with a hunger that he knew could never be sated. The need to touch her, to feel her softness, that she was truly there with him, overruled all other logic and reason. It would never be enough, he knew, no matter how much he drank his fill of her warmth. She was the sun in his perpetual sky of night. She was life itself. Every moment mattered more than it ever had, every second they had together was precious and bittersweet. Sasuke knew that he needed to return to the surface to assist the others, and yet he could not leave without touching her, and wanted nothing more than to wrap her in his arms and keep her close.

Sakura's eyes widened in surprise before fluttering shut. There was a wild kind of desperation to his kiss, one that made her heart race and swell and turned her legs weak. Draping her arms around his broad shoulders, she pushed herself against him and eagerly returned his kiss with equal fervour, raking her fingers through his silky hair, her body immediately responding to the heat of his touch.

Breathing deeply as he finally broke the kiss, she whispered. "Sasuke-kun. What happened up there?"

His arms did not immediately release her, and she did not draw hers from him.

"We destroyed the compound," he replied. "The enemy has seized two more tailed-beasts. Only Gaara, Killer B and Naruto remain."

Sakura gripped onto the fabric above his chest and sucked in a sharp breath. "They got Roshi and Fū,? That means Obito is going to become even more powerful." She shook her head, sinking her teeth anxiously into her lower lip. "What about my mother? Ino?"

"Unharmed," he reassured her.

"And Naruto and Hinata? Kakashi-sensei? Is everyone else safe?"

Sasuke was silent.

"Sasuke-kun. What is it…?" Sakura whispered, dread knotting like barbed wire in her gut at the brief flash of regret she caught passing across his stormy irises.

"Kakashi was sucked into Obito's Kamui portal," Sasuke quietly said, plagued by the guilt of knowing that it ought to have been him instead. "The seraph and Suigetsu did not survive."

Sakura blanched. Her arms slipped away from him as she drew away from the circle of his arms. "No," she whispered in horror, lifting a trembling hand to her mouth. "Oh no… Sasuke-kun…"

He stepped forward, closing the distance between them again, and gripped her shoulders, anchoring her before she could lose herself to the rising tides of panic.

"Sakura." When her devastated eyes refused to focus on him, he gave her a gentle shake. "Sakura. Look at me."

Her eyes darted wildly back to him, already brimming with tears. Lee was dead, and her mind had already arrived at the worst possible conclusion for her masked teacher. Anyone caught in Obito's Kamui portal would be taken to Olympus. To Cronus. It meant certain death, torment, or enslavement. The thought of any of those horrendous things happening to Kakashi filled her with terror.

"I will get him back," Sasuke vowed.

Sakura suppressed a sob, her crumpled expression spearing through him like an arrow to the heart. "How do you know he isn't already dead too, Sasuke-kun?"

"I'll get him back," Sasuke repeated, and this time the words were spoken with anger.

"Lee…" Sakura wept at the thought of the valiant seraph, who, for all his odd tendencies, had been a dear friend and companion to them all for many years. "Who was it? Who killed him?"

"Obito."

"That damned bastard," Sakura whispered, pressing her palms to her eyes as she wrestled against mounting panic over Kakashi's welfare, her thoughts in disarray. "How is Suigetsu gone? What happened?"

"The enemy had control of him. They used the Black Zetsu and poisoned him. Karin could not heal him in time."

Sakura lowered her hands mournfully. To think that they would never see that irritating, loud-mouthed idiot ever again filled her with an unexpected twinge of sadness. She hadn't ever been on the best of terms with Suigetsu, but she knew for a fact that although he'd always delighted in playing games and causing mischief, he had never been inherently evil. Not the way Cronus was.

"What's going to happen to the oceans, now?"

"There is a meeting on the surface to be held now," he said. "Our first priority is to get Kakashi back."

"At the High Council grounds? Take me with you, please! I can't just sit around here knowing he's in trouble!"

Sasuke shook his head. "Any time spent on the surface weakens the effect of Shisui's chakra," he reminded her. "You won't have to wait much longer."

"But if Kakashi-sensei's been taken to Olympus, that means you'll have to go up there to get him back. How can you expect me to just wait around here alone knowing you've gone to face him? It's dangerous. It could be a trap, Sasuke-kun! What if the enemy's waiting for you and-!"

She broke off as he tilted her chin upwards, and watched in wide-eyed disbelief as his left eye bled not to crimson, but to a luminous, striking shade of amethyst, complete with rings that extended from the pupil to the whites of his sclera.

"I can move faster than our enemy," he informed her.

Sakura gasped and reached up with a shaking hand, pressing her fingertips gently to his left cheek. "Sasuke-kun… is that…?"

He nodded, gaze boring into hers with an intensity that made her feel breathless all over again.

"You have it…" she exhaled in awe. A hundred questions danced across her expressive eyes.

Through the bleak despair of their situation, unexpected hope flared, white-hot and radiant. To finally look upon the very eye that they had been so desperate to unlock in order to allow Itachi's Sharingan to awaken was staggering. The astounding realisation of what that meant, of the lifeline it provided, washed over her, and Sakura wept into Sasuke's chest, succumbing to a whirlwind of overwhelming, conflicting emotions.

"Wait for me, Sakura," he murmured, holding her tightly against him. "Just a little longer."

She hesitated. Then, with great reluctance, she nodded, wiping tearfully at her eyes as she drew back. She had faith in him, and trusted that he would leave no stone unturned in his hunt to find Kakashi. And if Sakura knew any certainty about Cronus, it was that the ruthless Titan enjoyed toying with his prey before destroying it. Surely Kakashi was being held for leverage, that only made the most sense. Which meant that not all hope was necessarily lost. She might yet see her dear teacher again.

She met Sasuke's gaze, watching in fascination as the Rinnegan receded, swallowed by the obsidian of his natural eye colour. "I still hate that you have to go up there. What if he isn't keeping Kakashi-sensei there at all?"

"Kakashi has Obito's Sharingan. Madara will ensure he is brought before him." Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "The Rinnegan can open portals of its own. If we cannot find Kakashi, we have the means to leave swiftly."

It still did not sit well with Sakura being left behind, but she knew that there was no way she could accompany the others to the summit, not with the timer on her own life ticking. It was simply too dangerous.

"It isn't fair." Fresh tears prickled at her eyes. "I hate feeling like this. Just helpless, and- and so weak-"

A hand gripped her shoulder. The next words he spoke were underlined with clear disapproval. "You are not weak."

"But I am, because I'm mortal. Everyone will keep worrying about my safety so long as I'm human."

"Soon." Sasuke lowered his head, pressing his forehead against hers. "Next time, we'll be ready."

He meant that the next time she had an attack - they would be prepared. That it was only a matter of time until the crow awakened and his brother's eye manifested.

Sakura swallowed, desperately hoping that the Sharingan would appear before she had another episode. "What were you telling Chiyo just then? How did you find out that your brother and cousin were buried in Lethe?"

It was Sasuke's turn to hesitate. It wasn't the right time to tell her even the vaguest details. And yet, he wanted her to be the first to know about what he was able to share. It was only right.

"I awakened the Rinnegan in the realm of The Fates," he explained. "When I left the realm, I passed through the Crossroads, and saw a vision of them."

Sakura gaped at him in open-mouthed shock. "You went to their realm? How?"

"They summoned me in battle to prevent Cronus from acquiring the Rinnegan."

"You saw them?" Sakura shook her head in astonishment. To think that he'd had an audience with the mysterious and intimidating entities of legend themselves filled her with an unshakeable sense of unease. "How- what did they say?"

"They confirmed Madara's plans. He seeks to enter their realm and fracture time itself. To rewrite history as he sees fit."

Sakura was horrified. The Titan was truly insane. "What else did they say? Did they tell you how we can defeat him?"

"He must be lured into their realm," Sasuke provided vaguely. When Sakura opened her mouth to question him further, he finished, "There is no time for me to explain, now. We must find Kakashi."

"Alright," Sakura relented, recognising that was their immediate priority. Squeezing his hand, she added, "Please be careful, Sasuke-kun. Please look out for the others. And thank you. For coming back and letting me know you're okay. I was going out of my mind with worry, and I won't stop worrying until you're back again."

She stepped close, and embraced him again. Sasuke swallowed. The words were like a skewer through his chest. As he gazed down at the woman whose future he had secured in a secret bargain he could tell no other soul about, whose life meant more to him than anything in the world, Sasuke found himself wondering how many more times he would be able to return to her, before The Fates ripped them apart forever. How many more moments just like this one, before he would be deprived of her warmth, of her touch, of holding her in his arms?

His heart constricted. He did not want to think of it. Not then. Not when they still had time, and each other. And as he kissed her goodbye, pouring every bit of longing within him into the Elysium of her lips before he returned her to the palace's entrance hall, Sasuke fiercely told himself that he would do everything in his power to ensure he fought against the corruption of Chaos for as long as possible - before it inevitably came to consume him entirely.

---

~x~

---

Obito materialised through the portal, landing on a solid, rectangular prism. His Kamui dimension, accessible only through his Sharingan, consisted of randomly arranged platforms suspended within a vast, immeasurable dark void of his creation.

Inside its warped space-time confines, even Ares' consciousness could not linger. Obito released a quiet sigh, feeling the burden on his mind melt away as the war deity's ever-lingering, unsettling presence faded away into a quiet hum. Unable to see or hear anything within the realm that Obito did not wish for him to hear and see. Unable to access Obito's most private thoughts, as within the dimension, Obito was empowered and reigned supreme.

Cronus did not grasp or seem to care that the more tailed-beasts he transferred to Obito for safekeeping, the more unstable his descendant's mind became. The gradual deterioration, however, had led to a most remarkable discovery upon Obito's part. It had taken him a long time to come to the realisation that entering into the Kamui dimension loosened the razor-sharp talons he had always felt sinking into his mind. At first he had been unable to place the odd feeling of weightlessness in his head. The way thoughts that were never his own became eerily silent. Sharing that personal space in his mind with another entity that had been displaced from their own body was a terrible burden to bear, a violation in every sense of the word, and yet, Obito had borne the punishment for centuries.

He had very nearly lost all sense of identity because of it. It was only within his own dimension, that he was able to breathe. To realise that he still retained precious threads of his old self, buried deeply away in the farthest recesses of his mind. Burrowed away into catacombs covered with cobwebs, catacombs Cronus had attempted to seal shut permanently. But Obito remembered fragments. He remembered that he should have died. That he'd given his eye to a surface deity whom he had regarded as his own brother. That he had loved a mortal woman who had died at the hands of the very one Obito had so foolishly entrusted to protect her.

He knew that he felt hatred. The powers locked away for safekeeping within him had started to cause him to hallucinate, to see flashback visions of his broken past. Or perhaps it was Ares toying with his mind, ensuring he witnessed the harrowing moment of Rin Nohara's demise over and over again, to ensure that he was driven to madness and could never think of anything else, or feel any other emotions except betrayal, hatred and rage. He'd had no other thoughts or feelings other than the desire to avenge Rin's death. No other ambition but to obey Cronus's commands and act as a living vessel until Ares' true form was revived and it was time for the Ten-Tails to be awakened.

Obito knew that his existence would then have served its purpose. If, by a miracle, Ares ensured that he survived the extraction of all the tailed beasts, he would then be disposed of as every other member of the Uchiha clan had been. Having no further use to a fully restored Cronus, his life would be forfeit. And he would be expected to lay down his life obediently, and be glad for it.

But Obito vowed he would not rest and would not succumb to any death, until he avenged the only woman he had ever loved.

Cronus had believed him to be mindless. And so Obito had become in his presence. Playing the role, the part required of him to perfection. It was not all an act. His heart and soul had indeed long since perished, but his mind, though brainwashed and tampered with, still retained elements of his old self, recollections of his own past, driven by the need for retribution. And the more power he amassed within himself, the more he seemed to witness increasing flashbacks of his old life.

He had done unspeakable things under Cronus's instruction over the centuries; murdered, stolen, lied, abducted and lured hapless humans into Orochimaru's waiting clutches, destroyed villages, and become the very monster that the war-mongering Ares had always been. Ares, who had always delighted in inflicting pain. Ares, who believed war was the only way to achieve peace. A peace ruled by a tyrant who sought to bend the world and all its inhabitants to his will.

Obito had no care for the fate of the world or anyone in it. He had no allegiances, no sentimental ties. His own world had ended with Rin's death. Whatever remained could burn, once he had his revenge.

A near debilitating wave of nausea suddenly crashed over him, causing him to stumble uncharacteristically on his feet. Reaching out, he rested a palm against the side of an adjacent platform, sucking in a slow, deep, steadying breath. His body was being pushed to its limits. The monstrous chakra reserves of the six tailed beasts sealed inside his form were edging him toward a physical breaking point. His insides felt like they would burst from the pressure, the very blood in his veins boiling like fiery lava. His head throbbed and his eyes burned, barely able to contain the enormous power sealed away within him.

How was he to contain the last remaining three, when the Eight and Nine-tailed beasts were the most formidable of all?

He straightened, willing his thunderous heartbeat to settle. After departing from Olympus, he and Orochimaru had made a brief stop by the old hideout to discover that as expected, it had been completely obliterated by the Olympians and Sasuke, reduced to nothing more than smoke, rubble and flame. The oceans had flooded the corridors, submerging everything in water. The pair had then proceeded to join the remaining ANBU who had managed to escape and transferred their most valuable resources to a new, undisclosed location. A location they were quickly working to fortify at that very moment.

There, the daemon had handed Obito bitter-tasting vials of tonics designed to stabilise his wildly spiking chakra signatures and reduce the negative effects of harbouring so many tailed beasts.

With a trembling hand, Obito retrieved one of the vials stored in the leather supply pouch at his waist and removed the cork stopper. Tearing off his mask to wipe away the cold sweat that had formed on his brow, he gulped down the liquid and waited for the unpleasant symptoms to recede. Another violent surge of nausea had him bending over and dry-heaving, a thousand needles prickling into his skin - only to catch his breath as a phantom vision then danced across his eyes.

Rin. A flower in her straight, dark hair. Turning toward him, with the sweetest smile on her rosy, alluring lips, her eyes full of laughter and sunshine, of all the things forbidden to his shadow realm. Just as beautiful as he remembered, a dream within the waking nightmare that had become his existence. Obito's chest clenched with a tight, sharp pain. She was so agonisingly close, he could almost reach out and touch her, was scarcely aware that he had lifted his left arm to do just that-

Then, cruelly, in a single heartbeat, the hallucination was gone as the tonic's effects kicked in.

Panting, he caught his breath and finally straightened, before continuing along the platform until he came to a body lying motionless at his feet.

Time was of the essence. He knew that he could not linger in his pocket dimension for much longer. Ares would surely notice if enough time passed, and they both had a most important mission to fulfil.

His gaze, glittering with loathing, locked hatefully onto the figure and he reached down, retrieving the lightning cutter blade that had been discarded when his Kamui portal had deposited the individual into his realm. Flinging him out onto the platform like the trash he was.

Obito lifted the blade, angling its tip over the motionless figure's chest. Straight over their heart.

He had told no lie to Orochimaru and Cronus. Kakashi was dead to him.

---

~x~

---

The mood in the assembly chamber was sombre, weighed down by the loss of yet more companions and great apprehension over Kakashi's unknown fate.

Chiyo had arrived at the High Council chamber and assisted in healing the wounded, sharing a specially brewed antidote that helped to neutralise the lethal effects of Achlys' lethal poison, as well as remove any traces of infection from the Black Zetsu spores. The Olympians had regrouped and then paid their respects as Lee had gently been laid to rest, another noble casualty in the never-ending war against the barbaric Cronus. A war that they all knew was only about to get worse.

Sasuke, who had returned to the surface shortly after Chiyo, informed them that The Fates had whisked him away from the battlefield to prevent his Rinnegan from falling into Cronus's hands and to assist in its awakening. He reaffirmed what Madara's plans were - to eradicate Atropos, Lakhesis and Clotho, to bend time itself to his will, establishing ultimate dominion over the world - and that the only way to defeat him was to seal him eternally away in the realm of The Moirae.

Jiraiya had asked him how, exactly, this was to be done, what further insight The Fates had provided about how they could seal Cronus away permanently, when they had neither the weapons nor any other means to do so. Sasuke's gaze had shifted expectantly to Chiyo, silently conveying that she thought of some way to prevent the others from learning about what she knew Sasuke was forbidden to shed light upon. Sure enough, Hecate had saved him the trouble of further explanation, smoothly supplying that The Fates had the means to see it done and would handle the matter, and that was all she was permitted to say of it. What was required of the Olympians was to support Sasuke in his task of opening the gateway to the realm of The Moirae by deterring any opponents who sought to hinder him, and stalling their enemy's forces for long enough to prevent Cronus from unleashing his Infinite Tsukuyomi upon the world.

Sasuke had kept his face schooled into a perfect mask of indifference, even as anger and scorn had rippled through him at her words. The Fates had 'the means' and were 'handling' the matter, indeed - by sacrificing his life, offering his future in exchange for everyone else's continued existence. They chose their so-called 'Champions', a title that provided the illusion of grandeur and great honour, when the reality was that bearing their Mark was akin to a death sentence. Zeus and Hera had died, as had Itachi and Shisui. But the Olympians knew not of the curse, and Sasuke spoke not a word of the truth he knew, leaving Chiyo to answer the rest of their questions.

His eyes briefly flicked to Naruto, whose cerulean gaze was dark with a storm of conflicting emotions. Sasuke read his fury, despair and frustration, and thought to himself that amongst all of the Olympians, Naruto had to learn of his deal with The Fates last. He already shouldered the blame for the loss of all his other companions. Sasuke could see it in the tortured expression that haunted Naruto's face. Every single person they'd failed to save, Naruto held himself accountable. The failure to protect them all was something he clearly took personally.

The death deity's eyes slipped away as he tuned back into the conversation taking place around the table.

"Kakashi is your priority," Koharu was saying. "We cannot afford to lose anyone else."

Shikamaru rubbed at his chin. "Kurenai. Any word from the winged summons you sent ahead to scout?"

The goddess shook her head. "Two got into the palace grounds. They were disabled before they got far."

"Then they're expecting us," Tsunade said. "They must have wards of their own. That damned bastard, Orochimaru."

"To be expected, old girl. Anything from above? Outside?" Jiraiya asked.

"Nothing unusual," Kurenai replied.

Shikamaru shrugged. "Makes no sense to keep Kakashi anywhere else. Cronus is after the Rinnegan and the rest of the tailed-beasts; he won't pass up the chance to use Kakashi as bait to lure us up there."

"You mean he'll kill him unless we hand them all over?" Ino exclaimed in dismay. "We can't just go up there and make a trade like that!"

"He'd never keep his end of the bargain," Temari commented. "It'd be a trap. The seal's wards only hold up until the gates."

"If we cross over that threshold, who is to say they will not have wards of their own to keep us from escaping?" Gaara pointed out.

Naruto's hands clenched into fists. "We're wasting time with all this talking!"

"We can't just storm up there, Naruto!" Shikamaru eyed him across the table. "We need a strategy."

"What's to figure out?! We go up there and fight to get him out, damn it! That bastard is sealed. He can't use his full powers, we can do it!"

"He did use his Sharingan to cast an illusion when he was interrogating me," Ino shuddered in recollection of the horror she'd experienced at the wicked Titan's hands.

"Then we must not underestimate him," Sai advised quietly. "Even sealed, he is a threat."

"But…" Hinata began softly. "Did the seal not lock away all his abilities…?"

"The power of Chaos is too great a force to be fully contained," Chiyo answered. "The primary purpose of the seal that was woven was to entrap Cronus upon the summit, to prevent him from setting foot on the earth and laying waste to it. That is where the largest concentration of magic had to be directed - in order to keep him confined. He is unable to use his abilities outside of the barriers, and was stripped of that influence, but within it, he may still retain use of his Sharingan on a diminished level. Nowhere near as lethal as his ocular prowess would normally be - but it is just as the young Messenger has stated; Cronus is not to be underestimated."

"He still has his two lackeys," Kankuro reminded them.

"He'll probably have more of those Black Zetsu freaks, too," Ino muttered in disgust.

"We also have to consider that they may not be keeping Kakashi there at all. It could just be a ruse to lure us in," said Kurenai.

Tsunade shook her head. "There's no way of knowing unless we go up there."

Jiraiya folded his arms, his brow creased deeply in thought. "Had we not lost the Helm of Darkness in battle, we could have used it to infiltrate Olympus unseen."

"We need to get that back, too!" Naruto exclaimed. "It's Sasuke's! That bastard has no right keeping it!"

"Yo, what about the other hosts in the sky? That little lady and that crabby old guy?" Killer B piped up.

Gaara shook his head. "I do not believe Cronus would waste any time extracting them."

"They're likely already dead," Kankuro agreed.

"We'll avenge them, B! Believe it!" Naruto said.

"So we can get up there without a problem," Tsunade placed her hands on her hips. "But Gaara is right. We do not know what wards they have in place of their own. Once we get in, they'll be sure to make it difficult for us to get back out."

"You have the sacred Rinnegan. It can open portals that allow travel between dimensions," Koharu reminded them.

"Huh? Really? You mean like Kakashi-sensei's Kamui?" Ino tilted her head curiously.

"Quite similar," Chiyo affirmed. "Yet it also affords Sasuke the ability to swap places with an object of his choice, and to cross distances at a greater speed than the Sharingan can follow."

Kurenai hesitated. "The Rinnegan holds great power indeed, but he is as yet untrained in its use. We do not know how many he can transport, and there are many of us-"

"Naruto and I will go," Sasuke interrupted, his words clearly underlining that nobody else was required on the mission.

"Don't get cocky," Tsunade glowered at him. "What happens if we let the two of you go alone, and you end up getting trapped up there because you miscalculated?"

Sasuke's dark eyes glittered with hard defiance. "That won't happen."

"It can," Tsunade shot back.

Jiraiya lifted his hands, diffusing the situation before it could escalate. "While it's true that Sasuke is not yet trained in all the abilities the eye affords, I am in agreement that the less of us embark on this mission, the quicker we will be able to retreat. It carries too much risk for us all to go. The only ones who should are the swiftest amongst us, and those who have summons they can use to make a quick retreat."

"Sasuke and I can handle it!" Naruto insisted.

"You have Kurama and he has the Rinnegan. It's too risky to let you both go alone," Shikamaru frowned.

"Let me go with them," Kurenai suggested. "My summons can travel ahead and scout the palace grounds."

"I will also go," Tsunade said, raising her eyebrows at Sasuke, as if daring him to refuse. "Kakashi may require swift healing, and I am the best we have."

"You don't think I will let you leave me behind, Tsunade?" Jiraiya's eyebrows arched.

"It seems I cannot shake you," she retorted, earning a short chuckle from him.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. That was three people too many, in his opinion. Their company was a burden he did not want or need, but they did not have time to waste arguing about it.

"Fine," Naruto relented. "I guess if there's five of us, Sasuke can still cloak us with his shadows, right?"

"That won't be effective. Without the Helm disguising his signature, Orochimaru can trace his chakra use via the Curse Seal's location. They'll be able to sense where you are," Shikamaru cautioned. "Your best shot is to use your speed. If Kakashi isn't there, just get out right away."

Jiraiya nodded grimly. "It is settled, then. The five of us will ascend to Olympus."

"I'll send a summon straight back here if we run into trouble," Kurenai told the others.

Temari shifted uncomfortably on her feet. "Are you sure you don't need the rest of us to come with you? I understand why we should keep my brother and Killer B here, but what if you run into more trouble than your numbers can handle?"

"Sasuke can move faster than any Sharingan can track, now. He'll open up a portal and get us out if we're in a tight spot," Jiraiya stated. He paused, before continuing, "Provided he is able to do so. The Rinnegan is new to him, after all."

"The Rinnegan, just as the Sharingan, responds to its user's chakra and will," Chiyo clarified, leaning against her staff. "Sasuke merely has to will a portal to appear, and specify its destination, and provided he has the required amount of chakra to cross the distance, it shall manifest."

"He'll have enough chakra," Naruto assured them. "Kurama's got loads, 'ttebayo."

"So maybe you should try it out before you get up there?" Ino suggested nervously. At the fleeting, unimpressed look Sasuke directed at her, she held up her hands defensively. "Just in case! Better safe than sorry, right?"

"It's a good idea to test it first," Shikamaru agreed. "Get a feel for how it works."

Sasuke directed a frosty stare at the Olympians, who were all looking at him expectantly. Then he blinked, and turned his attention to a distant spot by the assembly chamber's double doors. Focusing his chakra, he activated the Rinnegan and willed a portal to appear.

The group watched in awe as the air rippled in the spot his stare had fixed upon, displacing and giving way to a dark, spiralling vortex.

"Whoa," Kankuro exhaled. "That sure is a handy power."

"Impressive," Jiraiya remarked, and just as quickly as it had appeared, the portal dissolved into wisps of darkness that evaporated into thin air.

"Well," Temari quipped. "At least we now know it works."

"That's how we'll get in and out, 'ttebayo!" Naruto's cobalt eyes glinted with determination as he struck a fist down upon his palm. "I'll mark everyone with Hiraishin, in case we get split up, so we can make it back to Sasuke and the portal!"

"That's sensible," Kurenai approved.

"What of the oceans?" Sai questioned.

"They are disturbed, as expected," Koharu sighed heavily. "Already the tides rise rapidly. Poseidon's absence will not be an easy problem to resolve, especially if the enemy intends to revive him for their own uses."

"You can't let that happen!"

All eyes turned to Karin, who had been standing in silence a carefully measured distance away from the table, feeling like an outsider amongst a room full of ancient deities and tailed-beast hosts. She tensed when everyone's attention focused on her - Sasuke's included for a brief moment, before his dark gaze promptly slipped away.

"Once we safely retrieve Kakashi," Tsunade assured her, "we will look into the matter of the seas. We can't afford to waste any more time talking now."

Karin internally bristled at the words. To brand the issue of the oceans and their plight a waste of time in comparison to saving their friend caused an unexpected spark of anger to surge through her. Did the Olympians consider the seas to be not as important as their domain over land? She recalled that Suigetsu hadn't enjoyed a favourable relationship with the other deities, either. If that had been in part due to the Olympians' belief that their territory was superior, then Karin was not surprised that Suigetsu had disliked them.

"Let's get ready to move out," Jiraiya instructed the others. "Stock up on Ambrosia."

"Let's hope we don't need it," Tsunade muttered underneath her breath to him.

"Be careful," Shikamaru

"A word, if it pleases you, esteemed Eight Tails," Chiyo called to Killer B, as the meeting was then dissolved and Naruto and his company made preparations to depart for Olympus.

---

~x~

---

Karin watched Sasuke turn away, realising that he was occupied and unable to help her with the request she wished to make known. She had no choice, then, but to ask someone else. Hesitating for only a moment, she glanced around the faces, and made a decision to approach the blonde Aphrodite.

Awkwardly, she cleared her throat. "Excuse me."

The goddess blinked, turning away from where she had been talking to Temari, Gaara and Sai to face her.

"I don't know where we are, but I'd like to return to the surface. Can you help me get back?"

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Temari angled a wary look at her. "The enemy knows who you are, now."

"I'm the last person they'd be after," Karin dismissed. "I'm just a- a river nymph." Confirmation of her origins caused her throat to constrict as thoughts of Suigetsu and the last words he had spoken to her drifted hauntingly through her mind. She promptly shoved them away, determined not to think of him until she was sure that she was completely alone.

"Suigetsu was a friend of yours, then," Shikamaru remarked, joining the group. "We're sorry about his loss."

"We never really saw eye to eye with him," Ino frowned. "He loved to play tricks and wind everyone up, but I know he cared about the oceans and his own. I'm sorry," she said, echoing Shikamaru's words.

Karin's lips pursed into a thin line. It was surreal to think that they were offering their condolences to her of all people, as if she had lost someone precious to her. Little did they know of her complicated and messy history with Suigetsu, that they had never actually been friends. Karin was not so sure that she knew what they had been to each other. It hurt to think of it, to attempt to define it.

"I'll be fine," she responded curtly. "I can look after myself. I want to be returned to the village that was flooded." She paused at the surprised looks they gave her, before finishing through tightly clenched teeth, "Please."

Ino exchanged glances with the others again.

"I will return her back," Sai offered. "If that is what she wishes, we can leave now."

Karin gave him a short nod of thanks.

"You won't be able to come back here," Ino warned. "You're sure you don't want to stay a little longer to rest up? You're welcome to, you know?"

Karin shook her head. She didn't want the beautiful goddess's hospitality or sympathy, or any of the others' for that matter. She hadn't wanted to be dragged into any of their problems, and she blamed them in part for the guilt that was tearing her to pieces inside, clawing at her like sharp, shredding talons. If she hadn't gone with them to retrieve Suigetsu, she wouldn't have had to witness his death in the first place. Most of all, she blamed Poseidon himself, for getting her involved to begin with.

She couldn't even look at the sword strapped to Killer B's back without feeling sick, and told herself she never should have left the village and agreed to Suigetsu's stupid, stupid mission. Now the only people she'd even remotely begun to care about were dead - and so was Suigetsu.

"Okay," Ino relented. "Be careful out there. And thanks for all your help."

Karin swallowed back the bitter taste in her throat as she turned away from them to follow after Sai, a single thought echoing deafeningly in her mind.

That it had all been for nothing, in the end.

---

~x~

---

Thoughts of Kakashi's welfare whirled around Sasuke's mind like a hurricane. He pushed against the nagging voices that whispered to him that despite what they hoped to be the case - that Kakashi was being held hostage - there was a strong possibility that Madara could have already disposed of his old sparring teacher. And if the Titan had not yet done so, then he certainly would not have waited to take Kakashi's most powerful asset from him, returning Obito's Sharingan into his puppet's keep and leaving Hephaestus blind in one eye.

If anything happened, then Sasuke would forever hold himself accountable. Kakashi had sacrificed himself for Sasuke's sake on the battlefield. Anger rippled through him, bright and white-hot like a blazing flame. He could not help but dwell on fatalistic thoughts. What if they were too late? What if, in the time it had taken them to throw together a hasty strategy, Kakashi had been tortured or broken beyond salvation? The loss of the Sharingan capable of utilising Kamui would be a big blow to the Olympians, but nowhere near as catastrophic as losing Kakashi himself.

Sasuke did not want to imagine Kakashi gone forever. The thought of yet another bond, lost to Cronus, was too much to endure.

He stepped out of the assembly chamber, the chatter of the others fading away as he allowed the heavy double-doors to close with a dull thud behind him. His mind turned as he awaited the rest of the retrieval party in the entrance hall. He had collected other Sharingan from the enemy during their raid on Orochimaru's hideout. If Madara had indeed gouged out Kakashi's eye, then Sasuke would ensure a replacement Sharingan was given to him - even if it could not command the same abilities as Obito's.

"Sasuke."

His thoughts scattered at the quiet call of his name, and he turned to find that Naruto had joined him, twin blades and daggers secured to the weapons bandolier strapped across his chest. His expression was grim, his jaw tightly clenched.

"Is it true you can swap places with anything using your Rinnegan?"

Sasuke regarded him cautiously, mildly curious as to where his line of questioning was leading. He had yet to try to do so, but imagined that it worked in a similar fashion to warping across great distances as he had at the Crossroads of The Fates. If he focused on the object in question and willed it to take his position, would the Rinnegan do the rest?

"I-" Naruto swallowed thickly, the anguish palpable in his blue eyes. "I was thinking. If you can do that, open up a portal, after we safely get Kakashi-sensei outta there - then help me bring them back here. My parents."

Sasuke blinked. The crystals containing Zeus and Hera were large objects, and he was not sure that he could succeed at the first attempt, if at all, especially if an ambush awaited them and rescuing Kakashi was their priority. They did not have the time to practise on another target, but he gave Naruto a silent nod regardless, vowing that he would do his best.

"Thanks," Naruto said hoarsely. Sasuke's eyes narrowed, noting the anxious expression that passed over the sun deity's face like a cloud concealing daylight. He didn't like this subdued version of Naruto. Even though his usual, boisterous self was highly irritating, Sasuke was astonished to realise that he found it preferable to the depressed one he was looking at.

He reached out, gripping Apollo by his left shoulder.

"Naruto," he said, drawing his friend's attention back to him. "Focus. There's no room for mistakes on the summit. Keep it together."

Something flickered across Naruto's eyes, too transient to read.

"Yeah," he said. "Yeah, you're right. Thanks, Sasuke."

Sasuke gave him another curt nod and drew back his hand - when the chakra wards surrounding the alighting point at the far end of the entrance hall were suddenly triggered, rippling an ominous red.

"What the-?" Naruto's eyes widened and he immediately tensed, drawing one of the blades secured to his back. Sasuke's head whipped around, gaze locking intently onto the landing platform as the doors to the assembly chamber behind them were thrown open seconds later. The other Olympians, also alerted to the intrusion, rushed out, joining them.

"What's happening?!" Ino gasped.

Tsunade inhaled sharply, at the precise moment the pulsing magical chakra barrier finally allowed them to glimpse the identity of their unexpected, unauthorised guest.

Obito of the Uchiha stood upon the landing point.

"How the hell is he here?" Temari exclaimed, bewildered.

"Ares," Jiraiya murmured. "He infiltrated this place once before in Asuma's body. He must have learned the seals we used to get here, and led him back."

"Son of a bitch!" Tsunade snarled.

Kurenai summoned her bow and arrow, aiming it toward the landing point. "Is there any way he can cross over the barriers again?"

"No," Koharu answered behind them. "We fortified them. Nothing can bring those walls down. They can only be lowered from within the grounds."

"Then what's he doing here?" Kankuro frowned.

In response, Obito tossed a blade to the ground. It landed with a loud, metallic clang. Sasuke's eyes widened marginally. Inside his chest, his heart lurched violently, as if a hook attached to a chain had been stabbed through it and was on the verge of wrenching it from his body. He would recognise that weapon anywhere.

"A gift from Lord Cronus," Obito's voice echoed against the cold stone walls, reverberating strongly about the hall, confirming all of Sasuke's fears. "It is too late to save Kakashi. He has been disposed of, and it is only a matter of time until the remaining Jinchuriki are ours."

"You're lying!" Naruto roared.

Obito lifted a hand to the mask that concealed his face. Slowly he removed it, revealing his face.

Sasuke's blood turned to ice as he realised that the Byakugan he had destroyed in battle had been replaced with another eye. A familiar Sharingan.

Obito's matching counterpart.

The Olympians gasped in horror.

"Kakashi…" Jiraiya whispered, distraught at the undeniable confirmation of his old friend's unfortunate fate. They had all been mistaken, assuming that Kakashi would be used as bait. Cronus was evidently in no mood to offer any trades.

"No-!" Naruto choked out, unable to believe his eyes.

"This sword is all that remains of him, returned to you with a message from Lord Cronus," Obito continued ominously, as a vortex began to swirl behind him. "Your days are numbered."

An enraged Naruto lunged forward, closing the space between them in a heartbeat, his sword drawn back, blazing flame. Alighting on the platform, he stabbed the weapon straight through Obito's chest just as the Uchiha shed his corporeal form, his physical body distorted by his own powers of space-time manipulation.

"Come back here and face me, you coward!" Naruto screamed, enraged. "You bastard! I'll kill you! Do you hear me?! You're dead!"

He was wild-eyed, inconsolable.

Shit, Sasuke internally cursed, his heart thundering as the wards pulsed twice before returning to normal once again. He swiftly landed beside Naruto on the platform, and together they stared down at the sword Obito had left behind in numbed, stunned silence.

A blade stained with blood that was still fresh, blood that had yet to dry.

Kakashi's.

---

~x~

---

Author's Note

Transition chapter. Next few are going to come with a health warning, you have been warned. Things are about to get VERY wild.