Bushes and trees fly past them on either side. Branches and nettles catching on skin and fabric alike.
Behind him, Suigetsu shouts in alarm.
Sasuke doesn't bother looking back— pushing forward and trusting the others to follow.
A hissing whistle passes his ear— arrows now. Their pursuers were gaining ground.
Another haggard shout followed by a rustle and thud. Sasuke stops. Sometimes he forgets that not all in their company have the vision to travel swiftly by night.
Especially through a forest such as this one. Treacherous. Tainted by the injustices and evils of old. And occupied by those who would see them meet the sour end of a spear before letting them leave Mirkwood's shadows alive.
Juugo's hulking form surges past, hauling Karin along with him as Sasuke pivots neatly raising his hands a muttering urgently in the language of his ancestors.
"úrin kal esse i mornië turma o hendu. úrin kal esse i mornië turma o hendu!"
The bright light of the spell cuts though the dark in a shimmering orb— a wall of blinding obscurity to mask their escape.
A few steps forward and Sasuke grasps Suigetsu's crumpled form by the arm, hauling him bodily up and over his shoulder before sprinting after their comrades.
"O-oi!" Suigetsu grumbles, "Just because you can see through the shadows clear as day light doesn't mean I'm an invalid you know!"
"Yet you continue to slow us down," Sasuke says, not breaking his stride, "It is still four leagues to the edge of the forest and five to the shores of Esgaroth. If we don't make it by daylight you know what will happen."
"Yeah, yeah," Suigetsu mutters sullenly, blessedly leaving it at that.
After so many months spent wandering the dank trails and warrens of Mirkwood's forests, the sight of Dale's whitewashed towers and gilded arches is staggeringly welcome. For so long the only signs of civilization they'd encountered had been the crumbling halls of the Mirkwood elven empire, slowly being reclaimed by the natural features his kin so loved to shroud themselves in. It caused an ache in Sasuke's heart to tread upon the old bones of his people, but he'd never witnessed their true splendor for himself. The bitterness was easy to ignore amongst the many more pressing perils.
Perils such as stepping through the wide gates of a city under the shadow of a dwarven stronghold. The dwarves and his kind had not been friendly for many a century.
Despite Dale being a city of men in name, folk of all stripes wandered its winding streets. Sasuke hopes such diversity will be enough to hide their presence here, but he's long grown accustomed to keeping a wary eye at his back.
Still, it is hard not to marvel at the city, spreading along the coast of the Long Lake in a thriving, bustling sprawl. Had it only been a forty years past that this settlement was no more than a ruin in the mountain's shadow? When the great beast had still haunted the halls of that fortress to the north? Sasuke had still been studying under Orochimaru's cruel eye when word had reached them of Erebor's hard fought reclamation. Shuttered within the walls of Isengard Tower, Sasuke had spared hardly a thought for happenings so far in the distance. It had only been once free of those shackles that the magnitude of the event had become clear.
Trade and settlers, returning to the northern reaches of Middle Earth. Whispers amongst the trees of the animals returning to the forests and canyons of the Grey Mountains. Lands haunted by evil and corruption for such long centuries that the realms of man and beast alike had all but abandoned them for lost. All but the dwarves of Erebor themselves— the wandering folk who'd been driven from their mountain home by the shades of ghastly evil. They'd never forgotten. They'd never given up the hope of reclaiming their kingdom. And they'd succeeded.
Privately, Sasuke can't help but admire them. Not that he'd ever utter such sentiments aloud. But as boorish and crude as the mountain people were, even the elves in their sheltered forest cities had been forced to grudgingly recognize the accomplishment in such a feat. Sasuke in particular is fascinated by it. For it so closely mirrored his own long harbored aims.
Even so, as much as he would like to know how they'd done it— driven the darkness out of the mountain and stolen their home back from the beast's fowl clutches— he does not dare approach the Lonely Mountain himself. He will have to settle for the same grand rumors and outlandish accounts that have drifted through the western cities and taverns ever since. Perhaps here, at least, there will be more truth to the tales than fables.
Besides, it will only be a distant future that sees Sasuke eying his own homeland with an intent to restore it from the ashes. For now, he still has greater ambitions on his mind.
"The harbor's probably the safest place for us," Juugo says from under the hood of his heavy cloak, "A lot of strange folk coming and going in a place like that. Less likely to draw attention."
Sasuke nods as Karin tucks Juugo's hood more securely around his face, further obscuring his gray, mottled features.
Even after all Karin's mystical efforts and Sasuke's own magic, it proved hard to fully conceal the features of an orc amongst the more civilized peoples. Keeping out of sight in the daylight proved key to keeping Juugo's true nature from prying eyes.
Meandering along the alleys and docks toward the distant, cacophonous port takes the better part of the afternoon. Until finally the stench of wet wood and fish fills the air around them, and they are able to follow the stream of disembarking travelers into the nearby marketplace and the nearest inn crowded with other foreign visitors.
Inside is much dimmer than the brightness of the heavily trafficked city streets; the din of the tavern's patrons bouncing raucously off stone walls cluttered with brickabrack and the paraphernalia of the city's tumultuous history.
"Two rooms," Sasuke mutters to the tavern hand at the central bar top, dropping a handful of copper coins on the wooden counter, "And four flagons of ale. Please."
"Sarnmar copper, eh?" the barkeep grins, showcasing his numerous missing teeth. Picking up a piece, he examines it closely, "Looks all well and good— even well traveled money is good money here."
Sasuke shifts his weight uncomfortably at even the casual scrutiny, "Good to hear."
"So you've spent time in the Earth kingdom recently then?" the man continues, chattering away as he fills a flagon from a nearby cask, "Don't get many folk here from around those parts. 'Specially elves."
He doesn't sound particularly pointed regarding Sasuke's race. Probably a consequence of doing business in such a trade and travel heavy region. Sasuke's hackles rise all the same.
"… I was there on business," Sasuke says, keeping his head down as he glances around at the other customers crowding the bar top. Keeping a weather eye out for anyone paying undue attention to the chatty man's blithe inquiries, "I do a lot of business in a lot of places."
"Aye, I know how it is," the man taps his nose knowingly as he slides two full drafts in front of Sasuke, their foam spilling over onto the polished wood as he turns to fill two more, "Though plenty of folk are here to just see it for themselves, these days. Not every day your city boasts a kingdom risen from dust. Your business with the dwarves then?"
"Afraid not," Sasuke says, just as a loud voice erupts from across the crowded room.
"Watch where you're going, huh? Just because you can see over someone's head doesn't give you leave to trample around like you're the only person with walking rights around here!"
"Maybe if you would watch where you're going people wouldn't be tripping over you like a child who's lost her mother's skirts!"
Ah, it seems Karin's temper had made an inevitable appearance. Sasuke sighs. Was it too much to ask they could lie low just the once?
Though something about the voice confronting his companion tickles his memory in a way Sasuke has learned to recognize as dangerous. Best to nip it in bud then.
Gripping four drafts in his hands, Sasuke shoulders his way through the patronage toward the sounds of a scuffle.
He sighs at what he finds.
Karin, vibrant red hair even more frazzled than it had been during their flight up the shores of the lake, attempting to put what appears to be a either a dwarf or outrageously muscular halfling in a headlock— foiled only by the over sized helm gleaming dully over her victim's head and neck.
"Karin," he says, announcing his presence, "Behave."
With a huff, Karin disengages from her efforts, throwing her hands up with a hefty roll of her eyes, "She started it."
Closer to the ground, the shorter woman seems to be frozen in place.
It's only when she raises her head and two familiar green eyes meet Sasuke's own he recognizes just what sort of trouble they've stumbled into this time.
"Sasuke," Sakura breathes.
Shoving his handful of steins to Karin, who fumbles to gather their handles in time to save their frothy bounty, Sasuke drops his own grip to the hilt of his sword.
"Sakura."
Finally rising to her full— if unimpressive— height, Sakura's hand approaches his face as it drawn like a magnetic force.
She drops it before he is forced to bodily dissuade the contact.
"I can't believe it's you," she says, "We weren't even looking this time—"
Sasuke frowns, before turning to his compatriots, "We're leaving."
Karin blinks at him in alarm as Suigetsu sputters, clamoring for one of the ales in her hands, "But we only just got here! Haven't had a mouthful of ale or mead in months and you would rob me of that small pleasure?"
Karin's look turns more knowing, "You know her? She's been looking for you?"
"So I've heard," Sasuke admits.
"And you didn't think to tell us we had dwarves tracking us on top of—"
"It wasn't relevant," Sasuke corrects, "Considering their efforts have never been a concern, let alone a threat to us."
"We've been searching for you for years!" Sakura cries, "When we'd heard you killed the wizard of Isengard, we thought—"
"What?" Sasuke asked, cutting her a reproachful look, "That I'd come crawling back to Rivendell like some sort of prodigal son? After everything that was kept from me all that time?"
"That wasn't—"
"You have no way of knowing what it was or wasn't. You can't know anything of importance."
"I do. Sasuke, I— we're here because—"
She's interrupted by a staggering earth shake that rattles the decor and rustles the dust from the cracks and corners of the tavern walls.
The inn falls silent.
"What was that?" Juugo asks softly, accepting a flagon from Suigetsu's hand and downing it in one long drought— hand on his ax before he's even finished the pint.
"Nothing good," Sakura says, all hints of dismay in her tone suddenly lost— green eyes flashing.
Suddenly another elf appears at her side as if materializing from thin air— eyes as dark has his hair sliding over the group of them without any discernible reaction.
There's a bow slung over his shoulder and array of knives littering his belt along with— mysteriously— a set of scrolls and ink brush.
"The main gate of the fortress are under attack," he says to Sakura.
"How many?" she asks.
His eyes meet hers with a knowing air, "Just the two. Sorcerers, by the look of it."
"What are they thinking?" Sakura hisses, already turning for the door, "They must really be getting desperate now."
"Sorcerers?" Suigetsu interrupts, wiping a smear of foam from his lip, "Here?"
"It wouldn't be the first time," Sakura tossed back, muscling her way through the crowd with the surety of someone much taller.
"There aren't many sorcerers left in the world," Sasuke says slowly.
The unfamiliar elf gives him an alarmingly knowing look, for someone Sasuke has never met, "Very astute. The few we know of have something of a collective, as I'm sure you're aware. And Erebor has something they desperately want."
Sasuke grits his teeth, "The Akatsuki."
"That's right," Sakura snaps from her march, "So if you're still looking for that brother of yours you better get your ass in gear before the Sarutobi get to him first."
Remarkably, the elf Sasuke learns is called Sai was right.
The massive fortress leading to the kingdom under the mountain was under siege by two lone sorcerers— both wearing the distinctive black red dressage of the rogue band they've been pursuing for years. The idiocy of even a powerful pair of magic wielders attempting to storm the gates of a stronghold the likes of Erebor without so much as a battalion at their backs is plainly so outrageous, Sasuke can't help but wonder what the catch is. Though so far the great face of the carved stone gateway remains unblemished by whatever attacks that had left the walls of Dale shuddering, something doesn't sit right with Sasuke. Something they aren't able to discern about the attack at this juncture— heralding a need for utmost caution before they—
"Oi! Assholes! Who do you think you are, huh?" a bold voice shouts from the distant balcony above— only to be cut off by a less hostile one.
"Shut up, your highness," he second voice growls, before the face of a young dwarf peers over the stone barrier, "This is city is under the protection of the King Under the Mountain, Sarutobi Konohamaru! Whoever dares breach its walls best rethink such a foolish errand—"
As their motley company rushes up the slope from Dale's walls, weapons at the ready— one sorcerer suddenly becomes six.
It's a magic Sasuke has never witnessed before. And he's witnessed quite a lot over the long years.
Up on the towering ramparts, the cocksure dwarf from before hollers a command and a line of dwarven archers rain a volley of arrows upon the small troop of attackers.
Not a one succeeds in hitting its target, as if deflected by the very air itself. The spines of arrows litter the dirt around them in a neat halo, quivering where they bury themselves except where they ping off the wide stone path leading to the mountain's gate.
"You know what it is we seek," one of the seemingly duplicated men states loudly— the duplicate isn't quite the right term, as aside from their identically bright orange hair color, they do not appear to be the same person in the slightest, "Surrender him, and we have no quarrel with your mighty kingdom at this time."
"The Sarutobi would sooner die than allow you to lay a hand on him," the first of the dwarven speaker declares snidely, "Though it would be more accurate to say— you will sooner die before you touch him!"
"What are they after?" Sasuke hisses at Sakura, slipping into a readied stance as he slides his bow off his shoulder.
"You don't know?" Sakura asks pointedly as she twirls a pair of maces in her hands.
Sasuke scowls, "I'm well aware their order hunts the tailed beasts. But the Nine Tails was driven out of Erebor decades ago. What purpose could they have searching for it here?"
"I suppose I expected someone like you to be more caught up on current events," Sakura muttered, "If you don't know, I don't have the time to explain it to you now."
With a huff, Sasuke turns back to the stalemate the door, just in time for another loosing of arrows to have absolutely no effect on their assailants.
"If you insist on being difficult," the other sorcerer— with blue hair that Sasuke only now realizes is a woman— says drolly, "Then so be it."
As if cued by her words, a burst of force erupts from the man at the head of their small party— a shockwave that rolls over Sasuke like hurricane's gust. He roots himself against the push of it, squinting through the cloud of dust and dirt as the blast hits the stone face—
Only to dwindle into nothing as it breaks against a once invisible barrier, shimmering in a rainbow of color. Saving the intricate stonework from sure destruction.
A powerful sealing magic. The sort of which Sasuke has only seen performed by the Istari and read about in crumbling books. Arts belonging to the lost lineages of man that at one time hailed from Naurdor— the Kingdom of Fire.
So. Erebor was under an one of the Istari's protection then. Sasuke steels himself. He doesn't have many fond memories of wizards.
"Your seals won't hold for long if the wizard who cast them isn't here to maintain them. And we know she isn't," the first sorcerer says— because of course they keep tabs on the Istari as the prevailing threat to their operations. They'd already managed to kill one, if what the rumors told were true, "You cannot keep us out forever. This is your last chance to give us what we seek and end this without the destruction of your people. For the second time."
"Under the authority vested in my by my uncle, King Under the Mountain," the shouty dwarf says without missing a beat, "Erebor refuses your request. Launch!"
With that, a host of boulders appears over the heights of the mountain— hurtling toward the sorcerers and Sasuke's band alike.
In a well practiced maneuver, Suigetsu, Juugo, and Karin draw close— close enough Sasuke can feel breath on his neck— as he has already begun to mutter the words of protection—
To the side, Sakura stands rooted against the onslaught, weapons raised. Behind her, Sai crouches low—
The rocks clatter to earth in a hail of debris— the larger pieces tumbling down the slope toward them. What few are directly in Sasuke's path are deflected by the shield of his spell— protecting him and his companions alike.
He glances over in time to see Sakura give a mighty swing her blunt weapons, shattering her own would be death into a rain of a thousand pebbles.
… What are those maces made of, exactly?
Without pausing to examine the peculiarity further, Sasuke launches an arrow of his own— whispering yet another spell as the fletching leaves his fingers. The arrow bursts into flames as it arcs through the air, hitting its target— the blue haired sorcerer— in the shoulder. So he was correct then— it was the man who was maintaining their defenses against the dwarves' retaliation.
The woman cries out, spinning on her heel to glare daggers at them.
And then the fight begins in earnest.
Fighting, Sasuke is no stranger to. He'd burst from the womb, fighting. Surviving in the untamed wilds of the Mirkwood wilderness and weathering its unnamed evils since he was old enough to hold a bow.
And after that—
After that.
Confusion and fear. Violence and betrayal. Before he woke up on the sanctuary of Rivendell's doorstep. Lost and alone in a world that had forsaken and forgotten his people.
There'd been somewhat of a peace time after that. For a moment. The blink of an eye, for someone of his kind. But even that had been short lived before he'd learned the truth. A truth that left him with no choice but to abandon the relative safety of the Last Homely House East of the Sea to seize the power to avenge his family and his kin.
The forty years since that time had been spent fighting. Clawing his way to power. From enduring the trials of Orochimaru's cruel mentorship to finally killing the wizard before his ambitions threatened the sanctity of Sasuke's quest. Then the years spent combing the wastes and corners of Middle Earth, hunting the man who had ripped Sasuke's meager world from his fingertips.
Even if it was against a pair of wicked magic users, a fight is a fight. In a life that had been a war for survival, this was just another of the endless battles. Even if these two weren't the villains he searched for, their deaths would bring him one step closer to his ultimate goal.
Ducking and weaving was easy— slinging arrows between cuts and slashes of his short sword when a pair of hands passed too close. Any clothing they brushed lighting in flame or freezing with frost.
Out of the corner of his eye, he sees the gleaming arcs of Suigetsu's over sized broadsword. Hears the ringing blows of Juugo's heavy gauntlets pounding enemies into the dirt. Sakura and Sai do not sit idle— the collisions of her weapons cracking open the very stone under their feet. The peculiar skill Sai demonstrates in summoning gollums made of living ink, swarming their foes with sheer numbers to make up for their evident fragility.
All the while the dwarves above pour rubble, arrows and spears over the combatants. Sasuke can't be sure if it is due to Sakura's presence, but thankfully they seem to make the effort to avoid targeting their allies of circumstance. A wiser choice than Sasuke would normally give their kind credit for.
Granted, for every doppleganger they slew, another appeared in its place— but a magic that potent could not be kept up forever. Between the fight on the ground and bombardment from above, the sorcerers would be finished in due time.
Or so Sasuke thought—
Until the shimmering barrier protecting the gates flickers and dies.
One of the human sorcerers turns to another, "It is time."
The one with chin length hair nods, placing a hand on their chest—
A dense mist settles in from seemingly nowhere— unseasonably thick and sudden for this time of year in the north. The sounds of battle pause, as if everyone, including the sorcerers are holding their breath—
A frantic yowl— sounding torn from the bowels of the underworld itself— rips through the air. The thickness of the mist settles almost all at once. In its place standing over them is a hell cat likes of which Sasuke has never known in all his years.
Its fur glows ethereal blue in the hazy light of the dispersing fog, cut through by jagged stripes of jet black that seem to absorb all light. A horrendously barbed collar encircles its neck, spines of rune carved metal digging into its flesh.
Two massive tails lash through the air over their heads.
So this is the Nibi— the two tailed beast of legend. Sasuke curses his isolation from the world— he hadn't known the Akatsuki had been successful in capturing one of the great beasts of lore.
To his detriment now, as the creature's summoner cracks the whip that had so far remained strapped to their belt. Its point snaps against the metal, and the runes glow a violent red. The cat demon snarls, jaws snapping just the once at its captor before it turns its eerily sharp gaze upon the skyscraping ramparts.
"You should have taken the chance we offered you," the first sorcerer with the shaggy orange hair bellows before he releases yet another of his forceful blasts— this time in a full circle around him.
Sasuke hears the pained cries of his team and Sakura's as they are all launched bodily into the air. The density of the blow more than enough to knock the air from Sasuke's lungs. Even with the endurance of his kin bolstering him, he feels more than one rib crack under the force of it. Which is nothing to say of his inevitable collision with the ground, rattling his bones and scrambling his thoughts as he tumbles down the rocky slope.
Distantly he knows if his own injuries are so noticeable, his companions will be fairing much worse after such an attack. Even other elves lacked the natural durability and endurance gifted to him by his Uchiha blood. Of them, he only counts on Juugo to endure such a blow and rise again soon after.
As his roll slows, Sasuke throws out an arm to anchor himself. With a grunt, he draws himself onto an elbow, glancing up at the now distant gates.
To his dismay, the bottom half of the stalwart structure has been torn asunder by the blast— knocking even the implacable stone doors back into the halls beyond. Truly, Sasuke has never witnessed an attack so devastating from any but the Istari— the spirits who helped craft the earth itself, bound to human shells. Even then he has never heard of spells of this nature. This was no mere sorcerer, with no mere powerful magic. Something more terrible must surely be at play— greater and more menacing than Sasuke had ever considered before.
Above the destruction, the Nibi is already scaling the ramparts— claws the color of black iron carving deep gouges into the stone as it advances on the dwarven host above.
Below, the mountain garrison is already streaming from the ruined gates, pouring out onto the battlefield, expertly crafted weapons gleaming.
Amongst them is one familiar face, even half covered as it is.
So, Sakura wasn't here with strangers alone. Kakashi must really be intent on bringing Sasuke back into the fold, if he'd left the hallowed halls of Rivendell to see to it himself.
Then again, long before he'd made Sasuke his ward, Kakashi had wandered the realms of Middle Earth, hunting the orcs who haunted its caverns and corners. Perhaps such a fruitless quest was to Kakashi's tastes after all.
Heaving himself to his feet, Sasuke braces himself for the pain before storming back into the melee. He allows his magic to swell, feeling his eyes burn with the power. He is done playing around.
As the first of the sorcerers draws near, Sasuke mutters string of Sindarin as familiar to him as his own breath—
"Naur i narv a lúg gwilith."
On his next exhale, a pillar of billowing flames scorch the air and earth between him and the sorcerer, engulfing the man in a wreath of fire.
On the other side of the battle, Sasuke sees another sorcerer clone crawl out of the breast of one of its brethren. So that's how they're doing it— even if Sasuke doesn't know the spell that allows them to do so, at least they know the source now.
Another body braces itself against Sasuke's back— only the intimate familiarity of the presence keeps Sasuke from rending the man's head from his shoulders.
"I thought I recognized that spell," Kakashi says, "You always had a frightening fondness for fire, as I recall."
Sasuke grunts in lieu of a proper response, firing an arrow into the skull of a sorcerer and mentally mapping his way to the source of their revival.
"Just as taciturn as ever," Kakashi sighs.
"Don't you have bettering things to be doing than nettling me?" Sasuke asks as he dodges a blast of lightening— that was new.
"Unfortunately," Kakashi agrees with what Sasuke can hear is a grin in his tone, "Don't worry that little head of yours— reinforcements are on their way."
Sasuke certainly hopes so, as his side throbs angrily where his broken ribs refuse to be forgotten for long. In the mean time, the dwarven forces are being ravaged, without the advantage of elven reach and reflexes keeping them out of the sorcerer's line of fire. Sasuke at least is faring well. With his magic fully unleashed, only Kakashi has ever been able to match him in speed— as artificial as the enhancement was. Still, his senses are overwhelmed with the sounds and sights of battle— the smell of smoke and dust filling his lungs. Blood drips into his eyes from a cut sustained in the fall— he doesn't know how his team is faring— this battle needs to end sooner rather than later.
He just doesn't know how just yet.
He can hear the screams of the dwarves in the mountain, where the beast has long since disappeared. He can only imagine the scene inside.
But he can't afford to distract himself with such thoughts now.
The battle rages on around them— swift and merciless. He is grateful to catch sight of Juugo, barreling through a cluster of sorcercers' doppelgangers at one point— but the rest of his team he fears is down for the count. The ground is littered with the bodies of dwarves— those of their felled enemies seeming to evaporate before they can begin to accumulate. Smoke begins to rise from the gaps in the ramparts as the pain begins to throb in Sasuke's temples— he's used the Uchiha's full power for too long. His endurance begins to wane.
As Sasuke's sword clashes with the earthen gauntlet of a sorcerer, an earth splitting roar ripples across the tide of battle. Not from the mountain, but the direction of the city.
Before his eyes, the sorcerer smiles placidly, "They had to offer our prize eventually."
Before Sasuke can make sense of that, a hulking shadow descends over the fray— the monstrous orange-red form that cast it already scrambling through the now gaping holes in the stone face and into the cavern beyond. Before it disappears, nine writhing tails fill the sky above the battle, before they too are swallowed up by the mountain.
Sasuke blanches.
That beast was supposed to be vanquished with the reconquering of Erebor. It couldn't be—
But there is no denying it, as the beast's echoing snarl is answered by an high pitched screech, moments before the body of the hell cat rockets through the fractured ramparts, sending a hail of boulders and bracken flying as is crashes to the ground farther down the path, denting and cracking the ancient stone road beneath it.
The Kyuubi has returned to the Lonely Mountain. Now, of all times.
"I'm gone for a measly ten years and you guys can't even keep this mountain in one piece, y'know," a new voice hollers, drawing Sasuke attention back to the higher reaches of Erebor's gates, where a sole figure stand— not a dwarf, based on height alone— hands braced on hips, "What gives, huh?"
"It was eleven years, " a dwarf to Sasuke's right calls back, looking irritated beyond belief. Sasuke recognizes the voice as the more reasonable of the dwarfs who'd spoken to the sorcerers from atop the ramparts, "And then you show up and make it worse, you barbarian!"
The newcomer just laughs, bright blond hair glinting in the sunlight before a shadow falls over him— the menacing bulk of the Nine Tails. It rears up behind him, lips curled back in a sneering, vicious grin. The man doesn't even flinch as the fox's body looms over him, peering out of the mountain like a titanic, villainous gargoyle. The man pulls out what looks like mace before launching himself off the tower and into the air— plummeting like a stone toward the distant ground below.
"Don't—" the same dwarf shouts, only to cover his face with a disbelieving hand, "That troublesome oaf."
As the suicidal man hurtles toward the ground, Sasuke watches as he turns in mid-air, meters from the ground. Bringing his weapon around in a spinning arc to slam into the sorcerer below. Shockwaves from the blow scatter the dust and drifting smoke.
Rising from the broken body of the sorcerer on the ground, the man glances around as if he hadn't just dropped a hundred feet. He dusts himself off as if his body endures such trials on a daily basis. Up close, Sasuke can see two sets of what look like dark scars in triplicate, bisecting each of his cheeks. His eyes are gold, their lids and the skin around them stained burnt orange. He wears a cloak of a similar, more vibrant shade, over dark traveling clothes.
"So," the man says, "Catch me up here. What did I miss?"
The dwarf from before storms up to his side through the melee that only barely paused for the man's theatrics. Sasuke only now registers that the dwarf wears the Sarutobi's royal sigil upon the his breast.
"Only two of them, if you can believe it. That one seems to be the leader," he points to the shaggy hair sorcerer that had summoned the others out of thin air, before gesturing to the very doppleganger Sasuke had pegged as the one responsible for reviving the others, "And that one keeps resurrecting the ones we manage to kill."
Sasuke is mildly impressed. He hadn't met many dwarfs with any acute observation skills to speak of. And this one had spotted what Sasuke's enhanced vision had, after mere minutes on the battlefield.
"Huh," the brightly colored man cocks his head as if in thought, "Seems simple enough. Kurama— you gonna take care of her or what?"
The man glances up at the menacing form of the demon above him as he gestures toward where the Nibi is stumbling to its feet, visibly shaking off the impact.
The fox huffs, of all things, before doing as told— crawling further out of the caves, its form coiling, tails whirling and snapping. Before launching itself through the air and over the crowds of battle. Landing atop its beastly brethren with a monstrous thud that shakes the ground under Sasuke's feet.
The man… the man could control the beast? Such a thing was been unheard of. Not since the days when the corruption of Mirkwood had begun, ages past. Even the sorcerers had needed a binding circle with which to leash it— and the beast had been just as likely to bite its master's hand as surely as it would battle their enemies. The tailed beasts didn't just listen.
"Now then. You—" the man clapped his hands together, before pointing at the resurrection sorcerer, who despite being in the midst of finishing the revival of the one the strange man had just killed, actually glanced up at the hail, "You have some shit to answer for. Breaking my home. Corrupting my friends. Killing Jiraiya. I'm gonna make you pay for all of it, ya know!"
One of the other sorcerers eyes him critically, "You may try. But the Kyuubi will be ours regardless. If you truly wanted to protect your people, you should never have brought it back here."
"I would have been here sooner," the man admitted, almost sheepishly, "But I was a little tied up with something. I'm all freed up to kick your ass now though!"
In a blink, the man vanished— or he would have, without Sasuke's enhanced vision tracking his blazing course across the battlefield. Without a moment to react, the resurrection sorcerer— along with his newly revived clone— broke across the heft of the flanged maul that slammed through his spine and into the ground.
A mere human— Dúnedain or otherwise— should not be capable of something like that.
The entire battlefield seemed to draw a collective breath, the tides of small scale war held in delicate liminal upheaval— before one dwarf's raucous shouting cut through the stilted silence, followed by the echoing war cries of its kin. The fight began anew— the clang of steel and the thumping of arrows resuming with vigor around them.
Even without the ability to be reborn, the sorcerers proved a tough lot to defeat, especially for the weary forces who'd been engaged since the start.
The man— one of the Dúnedain, if Sasuke had to guess— leads the routing. Felling additional of the remaining sorcerers himself as another is pierced through the chest by a thick, harrowing arrow as long as a dwarf is tall. So, the Erebor dwarves had rebuilt the Windlances, forging great Black Arrows to match. That was good information to know.
As the sorcerers fall, a tremendous yowl breaks over the clamor— Sasuke only has but a moment to glance back. Just in time to see the hell cat break free of the Kyuubi's claws and jaws— kicking out with his hind legs just the once to knock the fox back before making a break for the distant, craggy horizon.
Sasuke whirls around, short sword cutting blindly through dust and smoke toward a threat sensed behind him— its path cleaving the third and final sorcerer's the head from his shoulders.
With a flick of his wrist, Sasuke sheathes the blade— already turning to assess the broken landscape as his fellow warriors fumble to collect themselves in the wake of hard battle. Squinting down the slope, he can see the distant figures of his remaining team just now staggering to their feet with the help of Sakura and the elf Sai— all looking more worse for wear, but alive. He feels Juugo's presence draw up to his side but when he turns, the orc's gaze is fixed on their tardy hero. The bright haired Dúnedan.
As Sasuke follows his gaze he sees the man glance toward them, and his face lights up in a wide grin. He makes his way immediately toward them, easily returning thanks and grateful slaps to his chest and arms from the dwarven contingent. But he does not pause until he stands before Juugo, grin softening more than Sasuke would ever have expected of a man when standing before an orc.
"Tenbin," he says, clasping Juugo's proffered forearm in the customary greeting of the western races, "Good to see you're still kicking around out here."
Juugo's smiles are a rare sight— rare enough that Sasuke is surprised to see one offered to a supposed stranger so readily.
"And you as well. I had assumed your recklessness would be your undoing long ago," Juugo responds quietly. At Sasuke's questioning glance, Juugo just smirks faintly, "Tenbin was what I was called, before. When I first met the Hero of Erebor— on the battlefield where he achieved such a title. My last battle amongst my kin."
"… You fought in the Battle of Five Armies," Sasuke surmises, putting the pieces together, "You've never said as much."
"You never asked," Juugo answers blithely.
Which is true enough. Juugo had more than proven himself to Sasuke, over the years— enough that Sasuke had never thought to question the orc's conflicted, complicated past.
With a grunt, Sasuke glances over at the stranger who watches the pair of them curiously.
"Were you planning on introducing us?" Sasuke asks his friend.
Juugo nods, "Sasuke, please meet Naruto— the Hero of Erebor."
Sasuke looks at the man expectantly, "Naruto…"
"Just Naruto," the man grins, sharp and tight.
Fair enough. For many reasons, Sasuke also hesitated to share his family name unless it precisely suited his purposes.
Brushing off the casual rudeness, Sasuke looks the man up and down, examining him more closely now, "I suppose I had always assumed the famed Hero of the dwarves was… well, a dwarf."
Upon closer inspection, the man's eyes are no longer glittering gold, but a fierce, vivid blue. The color of the eastern sky, in the heartbeats before sunrise. The kind of blue typically found only amongst the fair elves of the western clans. Though his ears are certainly round. Nothing else about his appearance— coloring aside— resembles that of the grace and refinement of elven features. Definitely not one of the fair folk then.
Naruto casts his arms wide, as if presenting himself for Sasuke's bold assessment, "'Fraid not, y'know. But I've lived with the Erebor dwarves most my life. So I guess in a way I'm kinda an honorary dwarf, if you want to look at it that way."
He offers his arm to Sasuke, who pauses for a few beats too long before accepting the gesture friendly meeting.
"I've never met one of the Dúnedain," Sasuke notes, as a strong grip encircles his forearm, "I thought the blooded descendants of Númenor had retreated to the wilds of the north. After the King's line ended and lesser men assumed the lordship."
Naruto's nose scrunches in evident distaste, "Lesser men? I dunno what you're talking about, or who these Doonidan are— but there's no need to be rude just because I'm no elf."
Withdrawing his hand, Naruto crosses his arms over his chest, eying Sasuke like he's no more than a warg's dropping caked to his boot. Not a look Sasuke is used to receiving from those who have no knowledge of his family heritage. Aside from the dwarves, that is. Perhaps that explains it, since Naruto speaks and acts like those he claimed had raised him.
Either way, Sasuke doesn't appreciate the man's crass attitude, Dúnedan or no.
"I suppose it would be too much to expect an imbecile to understand the gloried heritage of his kin," Sasuke said, before his better sense kicked in.
There was no sense in antagonizing the man so beloved by the dwarven King whose gates Sasuke stood in the shadows of.
Naruto scowled, nostrils flaring, "Who you calling an imbecile, bastard?"
Once again, Sasuke's mouth was moving before his thoughts could catch up, "And what would you know of my parentage, idiot?"
Sasuke didn't know what possessed him. Surely he was lacking in social graces on the best of days, but to find himself so easily riled by a man he'd never met was an odd circumstance indeed.
The man in question looked ready to punch him, leaning forward with apparent menace before Juugo stepped smoothly between them.
"I don't think now's the time to be getting hung up on the semantics of one's genealogy," the man said, gently shoving them apart.
"He started it," Naruto muttered sullenly.
"I certainly did no such thing," Sasuke all but snapped— there he went again.
"Perhaps we should ask the King if there is any assistance we can offer his people in the wake of battle," Juugo offers with obviously strained patience.
"It's too soon for that," Naruto says, catching both their attention, "This battle isn't over just yet."
"What do you mean?" Sasuke frowns.
"Yes, what do you mean, Naruto?" the young dwarf from earlier with the short, cropped chin beard asks, striding into their midst and intruding upon their dialogue without the least bit of shame, "What do you know that we don't— and how?"
Something in this dwarf's keen eyes tells Sasuke he already knew the answer and was merely waiting for the man to confirm such.
"I sensed a presence controlling the sorcerers— the ones with the fiery hair and all the—" he gestured at his own face inelegantly, "Stuff in their faces. And the lady one took off pretty quick after Kurama and I showed up— didn't you notice?"
Sasuke hadn't noticed, he realizes belatedly and with no shortage of affront.
"I did," the dwarf says, "And I've already sent a host of our best scouts out to pick up whatever trail she leaves. I don't expect they'll find much, but—"
"They won't," Naruto confirms, cutting the dwarf off, "She's with the one who started this mess. I can sense her too."
The dwarf's eye glints, "So you were successful in your quest then? You actually managed to receive the blessings?"
"You think I'd dare show my face back here if I didn't, Shikamaru?"
The dwarf— Shikamaru— chuckles, "As if you need to prove yourself to us any more than you already have. I suppose you'll always be that shouty, troublesome runt at heart, won't you?"
"It's the principle of the thing though!" Naruto practically wails, the sound of it assaulting Sasuke's sensitive ears.
Sasuke has no idea what the pair is talking about but he's just about had enough of it, considering the unresolved matter at hand.
"Excuse me," Sasuke interrupts, narrowing his eyes first down at Shikamaru before glancing up to meet Naruto's glower, "But what do we plan to do about this… this puppetmaster you spoke of? And how was he able to control men from a distance in such a way— if what you say is true?"
"As if I know that— do I look like a wizard to you?" Naruto scoffed, turning his back to them and tossing a careless hand over his shoulder, "All I know is where he is, and that when I get to him, I'm gonna crush his skull like a rotten melon, y'know."
A shade falls over their communion, blotting out the sun. Sasuke looks up, alarmed but unsurprised to find the Nine Tails standing over them in all its monstrous, terrible glory.
How a beast that size managed to move all but silently when it chose to, Sasuke couldn't fathom.
The fur over its back ripples, muscle shifting as it crouches, face drawing low to the ground. Naruto steps right up to his vulpine snout, unperturbed by the hot gusts of wind bursting from the damp caverns of its nostrils. Nine whirling tails calm, settling into stillness as Naruto reaches up a hand, laying it against its gargantuan, twitching muzzle.
The air vibrates with a deep thrum. It takes Sasuke a moment to determine the sound is coming from the beast itself. A sonorous rumbling from the great barrel of its massive chest— not unlike a purr, if it were countless octaves higher in pitch.
Naruto glances back over his shoulder as his fingers curl into the fox's fur.
For a moment, time seems to stand still and Sasuke is caught. Stopped short by that bold, honest grin and warm blue eyes glinting with earnest determination.
There's something about him. Something all at once familiar and so breathtakingly unknowable that Sasuke can't help but be held captive by it. Sasuke wasn't one for fascination and flights of fancy, but something about this man— with only one name and too many mysteries— caught his attention in a way little else had in all his years.
The strange, serene moment is broken, when enormous black lips peel back— exposing an imposing maw lined with dazzling white fangs the size of longswords, gleaming with the sheen of viscous saliva and the Nibi's blood. Naruto wraps a hand around one of its lower incisors, unmindful of the gruesomeness. The Kyuubi twists its great neck around, tossing Naruto up toward its distant, broad back.
"Wait just a minute—" Shikamaru barks, "You aren't going alone."
"Of course not," Naruto says, kneeling against flexing shoulders to bury his hands in thick fur the color of hot coals, "Kurama's coming with me, aren't you?"
The fox huffs pointedly, blood red eyes rolling up to glance at the man hunched on its back.
"That's not what I mean," Shikamaru insists, exasperation plain in his tone as the Kyuubi rises to its full, quite impressive height.
Nine serpentine tails shudder in clear restlessness as the beast swivels its steely gaze toward the dwarf. If Sasuke didn't know better, he'd call the look one of irritation.
"Listen," Naruto laughs as the Nine Tails takes a step forward, shouting to be heard over the thunderous sound of its footsteps, "Don't worry so much, alright? We'll be back by sundown. Y'know— probably."
"Probably?" Shikamaru yells after him.
"Tell Konohamaru to get my old room ready, would you?" Naruto calls back— and then his voice is lost entirely in the booming sounds of the beast galloping away.
In no time at all, the bizarre sight of it is lost over the crest of the foothills to the east— the tips of nine tails flicking over the rocky outcropping, and then they're gone.
Sasuke stares for a moment before turning to Juugo and the dwarf with an accusatory look.
Just what the hell was going on in this strange kingdom?
"I think its time someone tell me just what happened here, when the dwarves retook the mountain."
Juugo only nods placidly, not looking nearly apologetic enough for Sasuke's taste.
Shikamaru grimaces, "I suppose that depends— you gonna tell us why you're traveling with an orc, elf?"
Sasuke sighs, suddenly feeling an inexplicable longing for the haunted paths of Mirkwood.
