Love and Death
Disclaimer: The last time I am to say this...points at Kishimoto-san
Masashi Kishimoto is indeed a genius for creating Naruto; points at self I am indeed a genius for creating this fanfic
A/N: Wow...my last chapter! I can't believe this has actually happened! I feel so happy, not really that it's finished, but that I saw it through to the end...or is that the same thing??? Confusion oh well...I'm sorry for making you all wait so long for the final chapter. Really, I am. But I've been really busy. (No, seriously.) Erm, I have some "Thank you" 's to give at the end, but until then, please enjoy!
Miharu-Me: Oh! News alert!
Sasuke: What is it?
Me: I don't want to put the Four Sound in anymore!
Naruto: And why do we care?
Me: Nani?!?!?! Everything I say is important!!! You have to care!
Naruto: -rolls eyes-
Neji: This is too annoying.
Shikamaru: And too troublesome...
Kakashi: -whips out Para Para Paradise and begins to read-
Everyone: -sweatdrop-
Hinata: We should listen to what Miharu-sama has to say...!
-dead silence=o-
Me: Thank you! Now as I was saying...
-gets hit in head by rock-
Me: ahem...Tayuya and the others have died!
Sasuke: How?
Me: They got attacked by an Eva...
Everyone: ..............
Me: Don't look at me like that....
Chapter 15-
The Final Battle-Gaara's Choice-How to End?
Somewhere in the Hidden Sound Village
A snakelike face stared out of a vertically shaped glass window, grinning. However, it was a grin which could be trusted by none. His mouth parted as he licked his lips in anticipation, an ominous aura surrounding his features. "It's about to begin. Now I need to make a move...and get my prey..."
Walking over to the door on the opposite side of the room, his hand froze as it covered the handle. Looking behind himself, out the window once more, the malicious grin spread even wider. Laughing softly to himself, he pulled open the door, muttering "and so the trap is set."
Kisa sighed, at peace with herself, as she slowly lowered herself into the cool stream. It was like heaven to be able to enjoy a cool bath, especially on a day with a high temperature as it was. She leant back against the bank and rested her head. Smiling to herself, she closed her eyes slowly.
Her clothes lay in a neat pile off to the side, under a shady tree. At the very bottom her vial lay, safely wrapped in her red bandanna. Her blonde hair flowed freely about her face, framing it perfectly, partially wet. She sunk lower into the water, and lower still. Finally content with her position, she rested, hands clasped loosely on her stomach. 'Peace at last...' she thought happily.
The last few days had been hectic, what with all the villagers hounding her everyday. Though she knew they meant her no harm, and she acted carefree around them, dealing with their troubles gave her a constant headache. That's why she had decided to treat herself to a small trip. However, some of the villagers had followed her. Happily, she began to sing:
"Sou sa Kanashimi wo yasashisa ni
Jibun yasisha o chikara ni
Made ite no ite to ii
Aruki dashite!
Mou Ikkai...
Mou Ikkai!"
Her ecstasy lasted for naught but a few minutes. A discreet shuffling sound from deep within the bushes caught her attention. Though it seemed completely harmless, having to run from elite ninja her whole life had taught her one thing—to expect the unexpected.
Her eyes snapped open, and she quickly sat up, thankful that the water reached her neck. "Who's there?!" she demanded. No one answered. Instead, the sound of shuffling became louder. Now she was frightened. Her hand edged towards the shore, in the direction of her dagger. Thank Yondaime that she always kept it near.
With her other hand she grabbed her towel. 'To bad the first time I had to use this would be for this kind of occasion.' She thought grimly. In one quick motion she stood and wrapped the towel around herself. Still standing in the river, she lowered herself slightly, one hand clutching the handle of her dagger, the other holding on to her towel, ensuring that it wouldn't undo and fall off. Once more she called out, "I'm serious! Who's there?"
Beads of sweat dropped from her forehead. She wasn't feeling too well. It must be the fact that the bottom half of her body was immerged in cold water, while the other half was sweltering hot. Was it nausea?
A cold hand gripped her shoulder tightly, and she screamed out from the connection. "Don't make any noise." A deep murmur filled her ear. She could feel his hot breath on her neck. Too scared to think, she swiveled around quickly, dagger held out in front of her face. She felt it jerk as it connected with the man's skin. Opening her eyes, she stared into the ones of a black haired, golden eyed man. His eyes contracted with anger, as he lifted his free hand to cup the wound on his cheek. He wiped the blood with his finger, then stuck it in his mouth, staring into her eyes the whole time. Meanwhile, his other hand tightened its grip on her shoulder.
Kisa flinched both under the man's intense gaze, and his grip on her shoulder. "I-itai..." She whispered, tears springing into the corners of her eyes. She shuddered, chills racing throughout her body, as she watched him suck on his bloody finger. (I dunno if that's something he would do, but oh well.) Her eyed widened frightfully as he finally removed it and spoke. "You shouldn't have done that." He whispered in her ear.
Before she could breath, he jammed his fist into her stomach, knocking her unconscious. He held out his arm for her to fall across, then flung her over his shoulder. Walking over to her pile of clothes, he rummaged around until his hands closed on the girl's vial. Stuffing it into his jacket pocket, he got up and walked away.
"The prey is caught...the trap is set. Now will you come, mighty nin of the Konoha?"
Back to the main characters
"Saaaaaaaaaaaasuke!!!!" Miharu whined loudly. "I'm hungry!"
Sasuke looked down at the girl who was clamped onto his arm. "There's nothing I can do about that...sorry."
Sakura looked back suddenly, and smiled at the two. She was almost certain if that had been when they were children, Sasuke would have already shoved Miharu off. He certainly had grown...
"Demo Sasuke...!"
"..." a look of irritation crossed his features, but he brushed it off. He could deal with this.
At least, he thought he could. That was before she started poking him. "Sasuke-kuuuuuuun!" poke "I'm" poke "really" poke "HUNGRY!!!" poke, poke, poke, poke.
"STOP POKING ME!" He yelled at her. Everyone stopped and turned in surprise. Had the famous Uchiha actually lost his cool? Blushing slightly, he tried to make himself as small as possible. Then he realized Miharu had released his arm. Looking over, he saw her crouched by herself in a small corner. 'Now what?'' he thought to himself.
Walking over he began hearing sniffing and sobbing. Crouching down in front of her, he was surprised to see her crying him softly. Hearing him in front of her, she looked up sadly. 'If I work my charm, maybe he'll give me food!' she thought evilly.
"I'm just...-sniff-...so hungry...-sniff-...and I just...-sniff-wanted some...food." She managed to cry out. Sasuke, who was in a rather awkward position, inwardly sighed. He knew that she knew that she had got him.
"Fine, whatever." Reaching into his bag, he pulled out a granola bar. "Eat this then."
"Ewww! Don't you have anything better to eat?" She recoiled from her worst enemy almost instantly.
"You either eat this or nothing!" Sasuke seemed really satisfied with this...or rather, himself.
"Fine!" Snatching the bar from his hand she glared at him evilly. "Thank you." She pouted. Ripping off the wrapper, she stuffed it all in her mouth at once. Sasuke sighed and got up, joining the rest of the group. Miharu followed, choking on the granola bar the whole time.
"Stupid piece of crap..." Miharu muttered to herself, barely audible. However, Sasuke heard her. He grinned slightly, not sure if she was talking about the granola bar, or him.
They continued north for the next couple of hours without any interruptions, despite the usual traps and such. They were forced to stop once more when the majority of the group decided that they could not go forward without something to fill them...in other words, they were hungry.
Eventually they came upon a cool, fresh river. The women of the group were overjoyed, whereas the men acted as though they could not have cared less. However, due to the threats made on their lives, the men succumbed to the women's wants and allowed them the next hour to bask as they pleased. As Ino had said, "You're men! Of course you don't understand cleanliness! Us, however, must stay clean. We're not going to move until we've had a decent bath!"
Hinata, Sakura, Ino, TenTen, Temari, and Miharu all lay lazily in the river's clean water. Some, like Sakura and Ino, were talking happily, without any care. Others, like Hinata, were staring up into the clouds, thinking of the one they loved. And the rest, they dozed off under the warm summer sun. Despite the task at hand, they were at peace.
The men, barred off by a path full of traps, were on the other side of the bushes, near the other end of the river. Chouji plopped down in a corner, and, pulling a bag of chips from his bag, began to eat. Shikamaru looked at him in surprise, but then averted his gaze. He knew better than to be shocked over Chouji's appetite. They were, after all, best friends.
"Hey, you guys, come here!" Kiba called from over by their half of the river. He was crouched down in front of something, and looked deadly serious. The others wondered what was happening.
The men, with the exception of Gaara - who seemed to not care about anything - all ran, or walked, to where Kiba crouched. "What's up?" Lee asked suspiciously.
"Look at this." Following his pointed finger, all gathered stared open mouthed at the metallic weapon stained with blood before them. A nerve in Neji's mind twitched. That wasn't just any dagger...he had seen it before. Yet, who did he know that carried a dagger? None... 'It's her!' he thought finally, realization dawning upon him. 'It's--'
"That's Kisa's weapon." Sasuke muttered, gathering everyone's attention. They all stared at him blankly. 'What idiots,' he thought carelessly.
"Who the hell is Kisa?" Asked Kiba, unaware of the great commotion he was soon to cause. It was he, after all, who had found the weapon.
"The girl we had to deliver to the Hidden Village earlier." Neji spoke up from his corner. Everyone's attention was now on him. "She uses that only to defend herself...she must have been att--"
"Are these her clothes?" Shikamaru asked lazily, pointing to a messy lump of colours under the shade of a giant tree. It looked as though someone had been searching through them to find something in particular...
"Let me see..." Sasuke slowly made his way over and shuffled through the clothes. "These are definitely hers...but..."
"What?" Neji asked, eyes hardening slightly. Had something happened? Sasuke locked eyes with his. It was then that Neji knew that something was wrong.
"Her vial isn't here."
"Crap."
The heads of each of the men had traveled between the two as their conversation had taken off, but each was as confused as the one before him. "What are you talking about?" asked Kankuro, speaking up at last.
"The one person who needs this vial more than any other...Orochimaru...he kidnapped her." Stated Sasuke, slight worry wound within his words.
"Wh...why?"
So Sasuke, and Neji, explained to them exactly what the vial was, and why Orochimaru needed it so badly. "If he has immortality, he will no longer need to project his soul into another's body to remain alive. And by keeping some of it whenever he drinks, if he does happen to find a more suitable body, he can just switch over to it and grant that body immortality..." Neji finished tonelessly, his expression the same as it had been during the beginning of the explanation. Yet, somewhere in the back of his mind, worry gnawed at him, almost cracking his cool exterior. Had the girl been killed already?
Sasuke grinned slightly, sweat forming at his brow. "So he's set the trap..." he muttured.
"Uchiha...what did you just say?" Lee asked, thick brows furrowed nervously. What in the world was going on?
"Orochimaru knows we're here, in the Wind Country...in the Hidden Sound. He's set the trap for us. Especially for our team." Sasuke gestured towards Neji. "We were in charge of the girl, and I believe one of us has gained a certain..." glancing quickly at Neji, he continued "...longing for her. He knows we can't ignore the fact that she's gone. This way, it's ensured that we'll come after him, and have no choice but to fight. It's an ingenious plan...and we'll 'fall' for it."
"Well, we might as well tell the ladies." Kiba said from the path, where he was disarming the final trap set by the women earlier. Walking through he disappeared on the other side.
"Is he stupid?" Asked Shikamaru, as he watched the Jounin disappear. "They're going to kill him." Just thinking of what Ino could do gave him the chills.
Kiba returned a few minutes later with a black eye, swollen jaw, and five or six kunai jammed into several uncomfortable parts of his body. He was an unhealthy greenish hue. "Bey'l e bou-bout foon." Was all that could be heard when he tried to speak.
"What?"
"He said they'll be out soon." Shino said, his mouth lifted slightly in the corner, showing he was somewhat amused.
Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders. "I did say he was an idiot, didn't I?"
An hour and a half later, the five best teams of the Konoha, which included all the rookie nine, with the exception of Naruto Hokage-sama, were assembled before what seemed to be an old, run down building. However, it was just the place where Orochimaru would stay.
A warm, nauseating breeze blew in from the South, ruffling the hair of all fifteen ninja. Upon their faces mixtures of fear, anger, intimidation, uncertainty, and determination could be seen. With their heads held high and backs straight, they all walked into the rotting building.
They had searched every room on every floor, with no avail. All left to see was the roof. And so they went. As they filed out of the doorway, two by two, they felt an ominous presence coming from the far end of the roof, where a dark figure stood. It was him.
"Irasshai, Konoha nin." He spread his arms wide, slitted eyes widening as well, mouth curving in a malicious grin. "I'm glad to see you all here at last." His dark, misty voice sent a cold chill throughout the whole village. As he watched all fifteen fan themselves out along the edges of the building, his grin grew even wider. "You have such a Hokage. Sending all fifteen best of his own...and the three best of all countries," his eyes landed on Team 00, "he really does want to get rid of me, doesn't he?"
He laughed softly at their silent response. "Are you all too afraid to talk? Or do you think too little of me?" He licked his lips excitedly. "But then, if we are to fight, this is not the place to...do such things." Fixing his hands to flow in a series of seals, he concentrated on one place...
Looking around, all anyone could see was a vast expanse of land. Not one sign life, not even a plant, could be seen anywhere. They were in the middle of nowhere.
Finally Gaara spoke up. "Where did you bring us?" He asked, deathly eyes staring straight in Orochimaru's. He didn't blink, just awaited an answer.
Orochimaru's grin faltered slightly, as he took in the demonic man. "You...I've heard of you, Gaara of the Sand." He fixed his grin as it was before and then went on. "Shukaku is sealed inside you, is he not?"
A sound like that of a wolf's growl before it is to pounce erupted from the young man, and his eyes filled with more hate than before. "Answer my question." He spat, hand reaching behind himself to grab the cap off of his calabash.
"I brought you...here." Gesturing about himself, Orochimaru laughed softly. "Now..." quickly his hands formed a seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he called out softly. In a matter of seconds, he had created over one thousand flesh and blood copies of himself.
"Time to roll!" cried Sakura. Looking over her shoulder, she spotted the two Hyuuga's, little distance apart. "You two! Hinata! Neji!" They both looked up at her expectantly. "Use your Byakugan to spot the real thing, and attack!" They nodded and disappeared, their Byakugan activated. "Everyone else, attack!"
Everyone charged towards the masses of Orochimaru, weapons held at the ready. From a space high above, the real Orochimaru hung, as if suspended in mid air. "My clones won't attack, mighty nin. But they will defend themselves against your attack. Let's see how long it takes you...to get them all."
Sakura, TenTen, and Lee attacked as a group. Doing the seals required, Sakura disappeared. Suddenly the ground beneath the nearest clone began to crack, and her hands wound themselves around it's ankles. Pulling with great force, she managed to get it chin deep into the ground. Appearing in front of it, she delivered a swift kick to it's head. In a poof, in disappeared.
TenTen took the next ones. Attaching her string to her kunai, she threw them at the nearest clones. The kunai managed to hit about fifteen, and were wedged deeply into their skin. Grinning, she tied them all together with the string, then used one of them to give her a foot up on her jump. When she had reached high enough, she grabbed a handful of shuriken and threw them all at the clones she had captured. As each one was hit, it disappeared.
Running at the next clone with extreme speed, Lee took the stance of his Tekken-fu (Iron fist style). In no time he had made his way through twenty of the clones with a swift series of punches and kicks. He continually wound himself in and out of the fights of all the others, connecting his fist every so often with a clone's head.
Team 00 stood aside from the battle, eyes narrowed and watching. With the exception of Neji, of course, who, with Hinata, was scouting for the true form of Orochimaru. Once he had found it, he would return to the others, and they would remain out of the fight. It had been decided a while ago that their team would reserve their energy for the real battle...against Orochimaru himself. Not against his clones.
From above, the legendary sennin's eyes narrowed also. He watched the strongest team of Konoha watch their comrades fight his clones. He knew what they were doing. They were, after all, the strongest team. Of course it would be them who would...not defeat, but attempt to, defeat him.
Ino looked at Shikamaru anxiously. "I'm going to change bodies, Shika- kun. But I need you to kill her once I leave." Shikamaru stared at her, plainly surprised.
"You're going to switch over, then switch back right away?"
"Hai."
"And once you switch back, you want me to kill it? Can you even switch with a clone?"
Ino looked down at her feet. "I don't know," she whispered, "but I have to at least try."
"But--"
"Shintenshin no Jutsu!" Ino's body fell limp at her partner's side. He caught her before she hit the ground, and softly laid her down. Looking over at his best friend, he yelled out, "Chouji! Stop eating and get in this fight!"
Crumpling the now empty bag of chips and tossing it aside, Chouji stood and nodded his head. "Ryoukai!" he called out, before muttering, "Multi size no Jutsu!" Once his body became a large tank, he began his Nikudan Sensha, rolling over any of the clones which dared bar his path.
"Shikamaru! Now!" came the voice of one of the clones. Finally realizing what he was supposed to do, he took a handful of kunai and shuriken and launched them at Ino's host.
"Change back, now!" came the cry of the clone, and Shikamaru cried out angrily. She hadn't gone back already? If the weapons were to hit, which they would, of course, she would die.
"Crap."
It was too late to do anything. The kunai had pierced all vulnerable parts of the clone's body, and the shuriken had lodged themselves into the flesh of many other clones surrounding the fight. All of them disappeared. A sudden rustling sound from beside him caught his attention, and he looked down only to see Ino awakening. He was so relived that he hugged her fiercely. She began to blush furiously, her eyes silently questioning his motive. Realizing what he had just done, Shikamaru let go of her suddenly and got up, looking away the whole time.
Meanwhile Kiba, on the other side of the clearing, grinned at his canine companion. "Ready, Akamaru?" he asked excitedly. "What a fight!" After hearing a reassuring bark from his partner, Kiba stepped forth, creating a seal with his hands. "Well then..." he started, looking down at his side, where Akamaru waited eagerly, tail wagging. "...Gatsuuga!" (Piercing Fang)
Both Kiba and Akamaru began to spin with fierce speed towards the clones which had surrounded them. As the "hurricane" they had created touched each one, it disappeared with a 'poof!' In little or no time, they had cleared the area which surrounded them. Stopping a while, the partners dropped to the ground, panting heavily. "Tiring, ne, Akamaru?" Kiba asked quietly. "Oh well...here we go again! Gatsuuga!"
Shino, in the mean time, had enough to do with his clones. Holding out his arms, he watched as a whole swarm of kikai bugs (Destruction bugs) escaped from within his clothing, swarming over the clones in his area. As each one began to devour their clone, he said, "Hurry. Something's not right."
Kankuro grinned as he unstrapped his puppet from himself. (Oh, I've never seen him use it before, and I'm not positive what he calls it, so sorry for making it up). Releasing it, he began to control it, from a distance, with his chakra strings. "Crow," he called to it, "Time to attack!" Using the strings, he made his puppet attack every clone in its range.
Temari, meanwhile, unstrapped her giant fan. Holding it in both arms, she crouched down slightly, her face deadly serious. Swinging it back, she called out, "Kamaitachi no Jutsu!" A large gust of wind escaped from the strike of her fan, and so happened every time she batted it. By doing this, she was able to clear off large amounts of clones.
Her brother and teammate, on the other hand, had no interest whatsoever in the battle, for, as it seemed, clones could not spill blood. On the other hand, he seemed to be deep in thought. Kankuro, noticing this, couldn't help but wonder what was on his younger brother's mind. Little did he know that Gaara was thinking about Orochimaru...about him knowing of Shukaku. Of course he would, seeing as though Gaara's father was the Kazekage...but still, something about how Orochimaru's eyes glinted as he spoke of the demon inside of Gaara couldn't seem to escape the young man's mind. It wasn't that he was afraid. Gaara could never be afraid. He was more intrigued than anything.
Subconsciously noticing the clones around him, Gaara screwed the cap off of his calabash at last. Nonchalantly throwing shuriken, he muttered, "Suna Shuriken!" Though his attack succeeded in destroying the clones around him, Gaara did not care in the least. To him, it was useless to fight, if no blood was spilt. Following up with a low "Suna Bunshin!" he left his sand clones to fight, while he disappeared into the shadows to further ponder Orochimaru's words.
Neji and Hinata, Byakugan still activated, reported back to Sakura, their news not comforting. "He's n-nowhere..." Hinata stuttered, flustered from using her Byakugan so long. Neji glanced at her quickly before finishing off what his cousin had started.
"We can't find him. He must be..."
"Got you. Hinata, get in the fight. Neji, you go wait with Sasuke and Miharu while we clear off all of these stupid clones." Sakura declared, still fighting the clones. The two Jounin did as told, Neji sprinting over to the rest of his team, Hinata joining her fight, once again activating her Byakugan, and using the Hyuuga's famous Gentle Fist style to destroy many of the shadow clones.
"Yo, Neji." Came Miharu's cool greeting as she scanned the scene before her. Neji smirked in reply. She may be a total idiot at all other times, but when it came to fights like these, Miharu was calm, cool, and reserved. That's why she was respected... by some people, at least. Sasuke just lifted his head in greeting, eyes also locked on the fight. The clones weren't moving. They weren't there to injure the ninja.
"They're there to tire us."
"What?"
"Those clones are there to tire us, so that when the time comes for us to fight him, we wouldn't have any energy left, and it would be easy for him to eliminate us."
"But his plan will no longer work." Neji stated tonelessly. "There are four of us not involved in the fight. I suppose we're reserves."
"Three." Corrected Miharu.
"What?"
"I said, there are three of us. You, me, and Sasuke." She repeated.
Taking her head in both hands, Sasuke turned her until she faced the direction in which Gaara sat, concealed within the shadow. "He means four."
"Naruhodou..."
And so, for the next hour, the four nin stood, or sat, watching their comrades defeat as many of the clones as possible. After all that time, they were able to completely clear to field of any of the clones. But at a price. Every single one of them, save Team 00 and Gaara, was wasted. As soon as the final clone disappeared with a barely audible 'poof!' all the Konaha shinobi dropped to the ground lifelessly. They were still conscious, but they didn't have enough energy to actually clear the field themselves.
Team 00 sped to their teammates and, one by one, pulled them back, so that they were leaned up against one another, off in a small corner of the field. Then they stood, just the three, each one facing a different direction, all back to back. Pointing a finger in the direction she faced, Miharu cried out, "Orochimaru! Get your lazy ass out here right now! Don't make us wait!"
Just in those few seconds, a swift breeze overtook the three, and then Orochimaru stood, smirking, in front of them. Sasuke and Neji, whose backs had been facing that direction, turned to face their opponent. Sasuke scanned Orochimaru's features briefly, hate in every line upon his fair skin, in every crease of his brow. "So it comes down to this, huh?" he asked quietly, fury sweetly lining every word he spoke.
Neji, who had just looked in Orochimaru's direction, was surprised to find he was no longer there. Hearing a noise behind them, all three nin spun in a 180 degree circle. However, before they could complete the turn, Orochimaru had solidified behind them. Quickly he spun, neatly imitating Rock Lee's Konoha Rampuu (In other words, he kicked them all away from himself). Before they could fall, each member of Team 00 used their hands to flip and straighten themselves before landing easily upon their hands and knees. The fight had begun.
Neji quickly activated his Byakugan. Speeding towards Orochimaru, he prepared to use the Gentle Fist attack Hinata had used earlier. Drawing his fist back, he forced it forward as he neared Orochimaru. However, sensing his attack, Orochimaru managed to dodge, as he did with all the other punches and kicks Neji sent his way. Finally having enough of his child play, Orochimaru used one powerful punch to Neji's gut to render him nearly unconscious.
At this very moment, Sasuke completed all the hand seals and called out, "Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" A large stream of flame escaped from his mouth, and headed straight for Orochimaru. Having predicted this, Orochimaru ginned suspiciously. Almost as if he had been planning this all along. Sasuke's eyes widened with surprise as he watched Orochimaru disappear suddenly. In less than a second he had reappeared, holding in front of himself no other than...
"Crap. Kisa!" came Neji's voice as he watched Orochimaru's grip tighten around the disheveled girl's shoulders. She winced slightly under the pressure, hatred lining her delicate features. 'He's using her as a shield!' Neji thought. 'If Sasuke's attack hits...'
It happened so quickly, it was hard for the three to register it all. In that one moment, between the time when the attack was barely inches away from Kisa, it happened. Orochimaru had leant down and whispered into her ear, "Sayonara." It was then that her anger level reached the max. Spitting out the cloth which had been gagging her the whole time, she whipped her head around so that she could see her captor from the corner of her eye. Glaring at him hatefully, she spat out, "Don't touch me." Bending over, she brought her hands, which were tied behind her back tightly, higher and higher, until they connected full force with Orochimaru's jaw. Startled, he let go of her shoulders, as the force of her blow sent him staggering backwards. In that moment, she undid the button on his jacket and grabbed her vial from it, jumping to the side. However, Orochimaru had already recovered from her hit, and managed to grab her around her ankles.
Spite filled his cold yellow eyes, and he swung her so that the top half of her body crashed into the rocky ground. Still holding her by her ankle, he lifted her up and tossed her behind himself, where she crashed into the one solitary tree in the whole clearing. There she lay, unconscious, as a slow stream of blood continued to flow from her hairline.
Anger bit into every part of Neji, and he stepped forward quickly. However, sensing another presence, he stopped. Realizing who it was, he forced a cool grin upon his hardened face.
In a flash Miharu appeared behind the red-jawed Orochimaru. Doing a few quick hand seals, she pointed her open palms towards his back, and something much resembling a blast of wind mixed with fire escaped from them. Orochimaru, unsuspecting of the attack, flew forward, the back of his clothing completely disintegrated. He managed to regain his balance in mid air, and landed squarely upon the barren ground.
Shoving out his left hand, he called, "Senei Jyashu!" (Sublime Snake Hands). From his sleeve came many snakes, which latched onto both Neji and Miharu, rendering immobile. Laughing insanely now, he watched the blood pour down their bodies from the numerous snake bites which had been made by his attack. Stopping suddenly, he remembered that there were three in a team. Which meant that the Uchiha boy was...
Holding out his right hand in the direction of Sasuke's chakra, he called out, "Senai Jashuu!" This time, a number of snakes escaped from the sleeve of his hand and speed in the direction of Sasuke's faint outline. They bit into it, and after feeling his snakes connect, Orochimaru began to draw them back in. However, when he finally saw what his snakes had connected with, his body contracted with anger and he spat in frustration. The boy had used Kawarimi no Jutsu.
From nowhere he heard, a slight mumbling sound. "Jutsu..." he whispered. Suddenly, a large shuriken came right for him. Dodging slightly, he smirked. "You should know better than that." He coaxed. Then his face blanked. Raising his right hand to his left shoulder, he felt a warm liquid run it's length. Turning his head to see what it was, red surrounded his gaze. The first shuriken had cut the hold of his snakes on the two ninja, while the second had nearly cut through his arm. What was happening?
That's when he saw the boy's true figure. Before he could land, Orochimaru was upon him, hands around his neck, attempting to strangle him. Sasuke gasped for breath, scratching at his opponent's arms. His eyes bulged, and his breathing became more sparse, and rugged. Finally, his eyes glossed over and he dropped to the ground, lifeless.
Neji withdrew a sharp breath, and Miharu cried out, "Sasuke!" Tears began to form at the c orners of her eyes, then proceeded to drop softly onto her cheeks, then onto the ground. She started gasping for breath, and was so petrified that she hadn't noticed that Orochimaru's snakes had completely released her and Neji. She began running over to her fallen love, before she felt her body freeze. Casting her senses, she felt that Neji's body had frozen also. Both of them dropped helplessly to the floor.
Orochimaru walked over to them, a sick smirk plastered onto his pale face, a kunai held in one hand, two in the other. "It's been fun playing with you," he said softly, murderously, "but playtime's over." Lifting his hand slowly, he prepared to fling the kunai at their hearts. Then he froze also, and sand began to gather at his feet. He dropped the kunai, and his hold on Neji and Miharu was gone. They sat up shakily, and Miharu crawled over to where Sasuke lay, resting his head on her lap as she watched the scene unfold before her.
Out of the corner of his eye, Orochimaru saw the redheaded man with the calabash emerge from the shadows, hand held out in front of him. There was a tint of green in his otherwise black eyes. Slowly the sand ensnared his whole body, rendering Orochimaru helpless. Looking openly gleeful, he called out to Gaara, "Shukaku! Are you really going to do this? I know of your blood lust. I can help to quench it. Think...you could be so much stronger, so much better."
The sand had stopped gathering while Orochimaru spoke, and Gaara's eyes glinted eerily in the quickly darkening atmosphere. Orochimaru continued, seeing as though he may yet be able to preserve his own life. "All the blood you wanted...it could be yours. The lives...you don't need them. You have to potential..." as the sand continued to gather, Orochimaru hurried on. "...Shukaku...you could be strong."
Gaara's eyes narrowed as the sand completely stopped. That was when he began clenching his open fist. Orochimaru knew he was dead. Closing his eyes, he inhaled deeply. He should have taken the contents of the vial while he had the chance. Then Gaara's voice came, deathly low, "Sabaku Sousou." (Desert Graveyard), and the sand was pushed inward, crushing it's captive. Then it all exploded, blood, mixed with sand, flew everywhere. Closing his calabash once more, as if he had not just destroyed the legendary sennin, Gaara disappeared once more into the shadows.
Hours later, everyone, including Kisa, (and, thankfully, Sasuke) had regained consciousness. They had been told the whole story by Miharu, who had finally found that as a way to work off her anxiety. Now they all were broken off, in couples or teams, scattered around the bloody field, helping -–supporting -- one anther.
Miharu leaned heavily upon Sasuke's shoulder, as he encircled her in his arms. Kisa had her arms wrapped around Neji, and his were thrown casually over her shoulder in return. Everyone had decided to stay there for the night before returning to the Konoha Village. They had had enough for one day.
Suddenly a voice asked the question which had been lingering in the minds of many of the ninja assembled. "Where's Gaara?"
As if answering her question, the figure of the young man approached them all. Every set of eyes turned in his direction, as his deeply voiced the words that would decide the rest of his life. "That man...he was right." Everyone in the clearing gasped, clearly frightened of what their teammate was about to say. "With Shukaku, I can become...stronger. I will not have the restraint of anyone...I can spill blood freely." And, believing no more words needed to be said, he untied his hitai-ate from the shoulder strap of his calabash. Taking a kunai from his pouch, he scratched a long mark across it, from tip to tip of the metal. Then, dropping the kunai and hitai-ate in unison, he glanced once more at the people of his past, whom he would most likely never see again...unless it was to kill.
A brief wind blew across the field, as the grains of sand from the ground began to gather at his feet. Then a wall of sand blocked him from the view of the others. All the ninja stared, openly shocked, as the wall of sand dropped, no longer needed. There was nothing to be seen.
End of Fanfic!
A/N: This took me a week (7 days, not 5) to write. It's 23 pages long, in size 12 font. Wow. But now, tears must be shed. It's finally done. My fic is finally done. Thank Yondaime. (Oh yeah, he's the 4th Hokage). But, now it's time for me to thank everyone who reviewed. If you hadn't, I probably wouldn't have continued this fic. I'd especially like to say "thanx" to Cookie6, who has reviewed every single chapter of my fic from beginning to end. It was very encouraging, knowing that you would always read and review, no matter when I found the time to update. I'd even like to say "yeah, ok" to my flamers. Even though you guyz pissed me off to high hell, I was able to go over my story and see where I was "mary sueing" and try to improve the character for future chapters. So yeah, without you guyz, my story probably wouldn't be that good either. All in all, I'm really happy I saw this through to the end. I have like, 50 more ideas to put into fic and post, so I'm going to get started on the one-shots right away. So thank you all, hope you enjoyed the 15th chapter, and hope you read my other fics! --
P.S- tonight was the finale of American Idol, and I would just like to say, BoBo Fantasia kicks ass, and she so totally deserved to win. I love how she sings! Go Fantasia!!!!!!
Ja ne! Arigatou, mo ichido! Miharu
Masashi Kishimoto is indeed a genius for creating Naruto; points at self I am indeed a genius for creating this fanfic
A/N: Wow...my last chapter! I can't believe this has actually happened! I feel so happy, not really that it's finished, but that I saw it through to the end...or is that the same thing??? Confusion oh well...I'm sorry for making you all wait so long for the final chapter. Really, I am. But I've been really busy. (No, seriously.) Erm, I have some "Thank you" 's to give at the end, but until then, please enjoy!
Miharu-Me: Oh! News alert!
Sasuke: What is it?
Me: I don't want to put the Four Sound in anymore!
Naruto: And why do we care?
Me: Nani?!?!?! Everything I say is important!!! You have to care!
Naruto: -rolls eyes-
Neji: This is too annoying.
Shikamaru: And too troublesome...
Kakashi: -whips out Para Para Paradise and begins to read-
Everyone: -sweatdrop-
Hinata: We should listen to what Miharu-sama has to say...!
-dead silence=o-
Me: Thank you! Now as I was saying...
-gets hit in head by rock-
Me: ahem...Tayuya and the others have died!
Sasuke: How?
Me: They got attacked by an Eva...
Everyone: ..............
Me: Don't look at me like that....
Chapter 15-
The Final Battle-Gaara's Choice-How to End?
Somewhere in the Hidden Sound Village
A snakelike face stared out of a vertically shaped glass window, grinning. However, it was a grin which could be trusted by none. His mouth parted as he licked his lips in anticipation, an ominous aura surrounding his features. "It's about to begin. Now I need to make a move...and get my prey..."
Walking over to the door on the opposite side of the room, his hand froze as it covered the handle. Looking behind himself, out the window once more, the malicious grin spread even wider. Laughing softly to himself, he pulled open the door, muttering "and so the trap is set."
Kisa sighed, at peace with herself, as she slowly lowered herself into the cool stream. It was like heaven to be able to enjoy a cool bath, especially on a day with a high temperature as it was. She leant back against the bank and rested her head. Smiling to herself, she closed her eyes slowly.
Her clothes lay in a neat pile off to the side, under a shady tree. At the very bottom her vial lay, safely wrapped in her red bandanna. Her blonde hair flowed freely about her face, framing it perfectly, partially wet. She sunk lower into the water, and lower still. Finally content with her position, she rested, hands clasped loosely on her stomach. 'Peace at last...' she thought happily.
The last few days had been hectic, what with all the villagers hounding her everyday. Though she knew they meant her no harm, and she acted carefree around them, dealing with their troubles gave her a constant headache. That's why she had decided to treat herself to a small trip. However, some of the villagers had followed her. Happily, she began to sing:
"Sou sa Kanashimi wo yasashisa ni
Jibun yasisha o chikara ni
Made ite no ite to ii
Aruki dashite!
Mou Ikkai...
Mou Ikkai!"
Her ecstasy lasted for naught but a few minutes. A discreet shuffling sound from deep within the bushes caught her attention. Though it seemed completely harmless, having to run from elite ninja her whole life had taught her one thing—to expect the unexpected.
Her eyes snapped open, and she quickly sat up, thankful that the water reached her neck. "Who's there?!" she demanded. No one answered. Instead, the sound of shuffling became louder. Now she was frightened. Her hand edged towards the shore, in the direction of her dagger. Thank Yondaime that she always kept it near.
With her other hand she grabbed her towel. 'To bad the first time I had to use this would be for this kind of occasion.' She thought grimly. In one quick motion she stood and wrapped the towel around herself. Still standing in the river, she lowered herself slightly, one hand clutching the handle of her dagger, the other holding on to her towel, ensuring that it wouldn't undo and fall off. Once more she called out, "I'm serious! Who's there?"
Beads of sweat dropped from her forehead. She wasn't feeling too well. It must be the fact that the bottom half of her body was immerged in cold water, while the other half was sweltering hot. Was it nausea?
A cold hand gripped her shoulder tightly, and she screamed out from the connection. "Don't make any noise." A deep murmur filled her ear. She could feel his hot breath on her neck. Too scared to think, she swiveled around quickly, dagger held out in front of her face. She felt it jerk as it connected with the man's skin. Opening her eyes, she stared into the ones of a black haired, golden eyed man. His eyes contracted with anger, as he lifted his free hand to cup the wound on his cheek. He wiped the blood with his finger, then stuck it in his mouth, staring into her eyes the whole time. Meanwhile, his other hand tightened its grip on her shoulder.
Kisa flinched both under the man's intense gaze, and his grip on her shoulder. "I-itai..." She whispered, tears springing into the corners of her eyes. She shuddered, chills racing throughout her body, as she watched him suck on his bloody finger. (I dunno if that's something he would do, but oh well.) Her eyed widened frightfully as he finally removed it and spoke. "You shouldn't have done that." He whispered in her ear.
Before she could breath, he jammed his fist into her stomach, knocking her unconscious. He held out his arm for her to fall across, then flung her over his shoulder. Walking over to her pile of clothes, he rummaged around until his hands closed on the girl's vial. Stuffing it into his jacket pocket, he got up and walked away.
"The prey is caught...the trap is set. Now will you come, mighty nin of the Konoha?"
Back to the main characters
"Saaaaaaaaaaaasuke!!!!" Miharu whined loudly. "I'm hungry!"
Sasuke looked down at the girl who was clamped onto his arm. "There's nothing I can do about that...sorry."
Sakura looked back suddenly, and smiled at the two. She was almost certain if that had been when they were children, Sasuke would have already shoved Miharu off. He certainly had grown...
"Demo Sasuke...!"
"..." a look of irritation crossed his features, but he brushed it off. He could deal with this.
At least, he thought he could. That was before she started poking him. "Sasuke-kuuuuuuun!" poke "I'm" poke "really" poke "HUNGRY!!!" poke, poke, poke, poke.
"STOP POKING ME!" He yelled at her. Everyone stopped and turned in surprise. Had the famous Uchiha actually lost his cool? Blushing slightly, he tried to make himself as small as possible. Then he realized Miharu had released his arm. Looking over, he saw her crouched by herself in a small corner. 'Now what?'' he thought to himself.
Walking over he began hearing sniffing and sobbing. Crouching down in front of her, he was surprised to see her crying him softly. Hearing him in front of her, she looked up sadly. 'If I work my charm, maybe he'll give me food!' she thought evilly.
"I'm just...-sniff-...so hungry...-sniff-...and I just...-sniff-wanted some...food." She managed to cry out. Sasuke, who was in a rather awkward position, inwardly sighed. He knew that she knew that she had got him.
"Fine, whatever." Reaching into his bag, he pulled out a granola bar. "Eat this then."
"Ewww! Don't you have anything better to eat?" She recoiled from her worst enemy almost instantly.
"You either eat this or nothing!" Sasuke seemed really satisfied with this...or rather, himself.
"Fine!" Snatching the bar from his hand she glared at him evilly. "Thank you." She pouted. Ripping off the wrapper, she stuffed it all in her mouth at once. Sasuke sighed and got up, joining the rest of the group. Miharu followed, choking on the granola bar the whole time.
"Stupid piece of crap..." Miharu muttered to herself, barely audible. However, Sasuke heard her. He grinned slightly, not sure if she was talking about the granola bar, or him.
They continued north for the next couple of hours without any interruptions, despite the usual traps and such. They were forced to stop once more when the majority of the group decided that they could not go forward without something to fill them...in other words, they were hungry.
Eventually they came upon a cool, fresh river. The women of the group were overjoyed, whereas the men acted as though they could not have cared less. However, due to the threats made on their lives, the men succumbed to the women's wants and allowed them the next hour to bask as they pleased. As Ino had said, "You're men! Of course you don't understand cleanliness! Us, however, must stay clean. We're not going to move until we've had a decent bath!"
Hinata, Sakura, Ino, TenTen, Temari, and Miharu all lay lazily in the river's clean water. Some, like Sakura and Ino, were talking happily, without any care. Others, like Hinata, were staring up into the clouds, thinking of the one they loved. And the rest, they dozed off under the warm summer sun. Despite the task at hand, they were at peace.
The men, barred off by a path full of traps, were on the other side of the bushes, near the other end of the river. Chouji plopped down in a corner, and, pulling a bag of chips from his bag, began to eat. Shikamaru looked at him in surprise, but then averted his gaze. He knew better than to be shocked over Chouji's appetite. They were, after all, best friends.
"Hey, you guys, come here!" Kiba called from over by their half of the river. He was crouched down in front of something, and looked deadly serious. The others wondered what was happening.
The men, with the exception of Gaara - who seemed to not care about anything - all ran, or walked, to where Kiba crouched. "What's up?" Lee asked suspiciously.
"Look at this." Following his pointed finger, all gathered stared open mouthed at the metallic weapon stained with blood before them. A nerve in Neji's mind twitched. That wasn't just any dagger...he had seen it before. Yet, who did he know that carried a dagger? None... 'It's her!' he thought finally, realization dawning upon him. 'It's--'
"That's Kisa's weapon." Sasuke muttered, gathering everyone's attention. They all stared at him blankly. 'What idiots,' he thought carelessly.
"Who the hell is Kisa?" Asked Kiba, unaware of the great commotion he was soon to cause. It was he, after all, who had found the weapon.
"The girl we had to deliver to the Hidden Village earlier." Neji spoke up from his corner. Everyone's attention was now on him. "She uses that only to defend herself...she must have been att--"
"Are these her clothes?" Shikamaru asked lazily, pointing to a messy lump of colours under the shade of a giant tree. It looked as though someone had been searching through them to find something in particular...
"Let me see..." Sasuke slowly made his way over and shuffled through the clothes. "These are definitely hers...but..."
"What?" Neji asked, eyes hardening slightly. Had something happened? Sasuke locked eyes with his. It was then that Neji knew that something was wrong.
"Her vial isn't here."
"Crap."
The heads of each of the men had traveled between the two as their conversation had taken off, but each was as confused as the one before him. "What are you talking about?" asked Kankuro, speaking up at last.
"The one person who needs this vial more than any other...Orochimaru...he kidnapped her." Stated Sasuke, slight worry wound within his words.
"Wh...why?"
So Sasuke, and Neji, explained to them exactly what the vial was, and why Orochimaru needed it so badly. "If he has immortality, he will no longer need to project his soul into another's body to remain alive. And by keeping some of it whenever he drinks, if he does happen to find a more suitable body, he can just switch over to it and grant that body immortality..." Neji finished tonelessly, his expression the same as it had been during the beginning of the explanation. Yet, somewhere in the back of his mind, worry gnawed at him, almost cracking his cool exterior. Had the girl been killed already?
Sasuke grinned slightly, sweat forming at his brow. "So he's set the trap..." he muttured.
"Uchiha...what did you just say?" Lee asked, thick brows furrowed nervously. What in the world was going on?
"Orochimaru knows we're here, in the Wind Country...in the Hidden Sound. He's set the trap for us. Especially for our team." Sasuke gestured towards Neji. "We were in charge of the girl, and I believe one of us has gained a certain..." glancing quickly at Neji, he continued "...longing for her. He knows we can't ignore the fact that she's gone. This way, it's ensured that we'll come after him, and have no choice but to fight. It's an ingenious plan...and we'll 'fall' for it."
"Well, we might as well tell the ladies." Kiba said from the path, where he was disarming the final trap set by the women earlier. Walking through he disappeared on the other side.
"Is he stupid?" Asked Shikamaru, as he watched the Jounin disappear. "They're going to kill him." Just thinking of what Ino could do gave him the chills.
Kiba returned a few minutes later with a black eye, swollen jaw, and five or six kunai jammed into several uncomfortable parts of his body. He was an unhealthy greenish hue. "Bey'l e bou-bout foon." Was all that could be heard when he tried to speak.
"What?"
"He said they'll be out soon." Shino said, his mouth lifted slightly in the corner, showing he was somewhat amused.
Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders. "I did say he was an idiot, didn't I?"
An hour and a half later, the five best teams of the Konoha, which included all the rookie nine, with the exception of Naruto Hokage-sama, were assembled before what seemed to be an old, run down building. However, it was just the place where Orochimaru would stay.
A warm, nauseating breeze blew in from the South, ruffling the hair of all fifteen ninja. Upon their faces mixtures of fear, anger, intimidation, uncertainty, and determination could be seen. With their heads held high and backs straight, they all walked into the rotting building.
They had searched every room on every floor, with no avail. All left to see was the roof. And so they went. As they filed out of the doorway, two by two, they felt an ominous presence coming from the far end of the roof, where a dark figure stood. It was him.
"Irasshai, Konoha nin." He spread his arms wide, slitted eyes widening as well, mouth curving in a malicious grin. "I'm glad to see you all here at last." His dark, misty voice sent a cold chill throughout the whole village. As he watched all fifteen fan themselves out along the edges of the building, his grin grew even wider. "You have such a Hokage. Sending all fifteen best of his own...and the three best of all countries," his eyes landed on Team 00, "he really does want to get rid of me, doesn't he?"
He laughed softly at their silent response. "Are you all too afraid to talk? Or do you think too little of me?" He licked his lips excitedly. "But then, if we are to fight, this is not the place to...do such things." Fixing his hands to flow in a series of seals, he concentrated on one place...
Looking around, all anyone could see was a vast expanse of land. Not one sign life, not even a plant, could be seen anywhere. They were in the middle of nowhere.
Finally Gaara spoke up. "Where did you bring us?" He asked, deathly eyes staring straight in Orochimaru's. He didn't blink, just awaited an answer.
Orochimaru's grin faltered slightly, as he took in the demonic man. "You...I've heard of you, Gaara of the Sand." He fixed his grin as it was before and then went on. "Shukaku is sealed inside you, is he not?"
A sound like that of a wolf's growl before it is to pounce erupted from the young man, and his eyes filled with more hate than before. "Answer my question." He spat, hand reaching behind himself to grab the cap off of his calabash.
"I brought you...here." Gesturing about himself, Orochimaru laughed softly. "Now..." quickly his hands formed a seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he called out softly. In a matter of seconds, he had created over one thousand flesh and blood copies of himself.
"Time to roll!" cried Sakura. Looking over her shoulder, she spotted the two Hyuuga's, little distance apart. "You two! Hinata! Neji!" They both looked up at her expectantly. "Use your Byakugan to spot the real thing, and attack!" They nodded and disappeared, their Byakugan activated. "Everyone else, attack!"
Everyone charged towards the masses of Orochimaru, weapons held at the ready. From a space high above, the real Orochimaru hung, as if suspended in mid air. "My clones won't attack, mighty nin. But they will defend themselves against your attack. Let's see how long it takes you...to get them all."
Sakura, TenTen, and Lee attacked as a group. Doing the seals required, Sakura disappeared. Suddenly the ground beneath the nearest clone began to crack, and her hands wound themselves around it's ankles. Pulling with great force, she managed to get it chin deep into the ground. Appearing in front of it, she delivered a swift kick to it's head. In a poof, in disappeared.
TenTen took the next ones. Attaching her string to her kunai, she threw them at the nearest clones. The kunai managed to hit about fifteen, and were wedged deeply into their skin. Grinning, she tied them all together with the string, then used one of them to give her a foot up on her jump. When she had reached high enough, she grabbed a handful of shuriken and threw them all at the clones she had captured. As each one was hit, it disappeared.
Running at the next clone with extreme speed, Lee took the stance of his Tekken-fu (Iron fist style). In no time he had made his way through twenty of the clones with a swift series of punches and kicks. He continually wound himself in and out of the fights of all the others, connecting his fist every so often with a clone's head.
Team 00 stood aside from the battle, eyes narrowed and watching. With the exception of Neji, of course, who, with Hinata, was scouting for the true form of Orochimaru. Once he had found it, he would return to the others, and they would remain out of the fight. It had been decided a while ago that their team would reserve their energy for the real battle...against Orochimaru himself. Not against his clones.
From above, the legendary sennin's eyes narrowed also. He watched the strongest team of Konoha watch their comrades fight his clones. He knew what they were doing. They were, after all, the strongest team. Of course it would be them who would...not defeat, but attempt to, defeat him.
Ino looked at Shikamaru anxiously. "I'm going to change bodies, Shika- kun. But I need you to kill her once I leave." Shikamaru stared at her, plainly surprised.
"You're going to switch over, then switch back right away?"
"Hai."
"And once you switch back, you want me to kill it? Can you even switch with a clone?"
Ino looked down at her feet. "I don't know," she whispered, "but I have to at least try."
"But--"
"Shintenshin no Jutsu!" Ino's body fell limp at her partner's side. He caught her before she hit the ground, and softly laid her down. Looking over at his best friend, he yelled out, "Chouji! Stop eating and get in this fight!"
Crumpling the now empty bag of chips and tossing it aside, Chouji stood and nodded his head. "Ryoukai!" he called out, before muttering, "Multi size no Jutsu!" Once his body became a large tank, he began his Nikudan Sensha, rolling over any of the clones which dared bar his path.
"Shikamaru! Now!" came the voice of one of the clones. Finally realizing what he was supposed to do, he took a handful of kunai and shuriken and launched them at Ino's host.
"Change back, now!" came the cry of the clone, and Shikamaru cried out angrily. She hadn't gone back already? If the weapons were to hit, which they would, of course, she would die.
"Crap."
It was too late to do anything. The kunai had pierced all vulnerable parts of the clone's body, and the shuriken had lodged themselves into the flesh of many other clones surrounding the fight. All of them disappeared. A sudden rustling sound from beside him caught his attention, and he looked down only to see Ino awakening. He was so relived that he hugged her fiercely. She began to blush furiously, her eyes silently questioning his motive. Realizing what he had just done, Shikamaru let go of her suddenly and got up, looking away the whole time.
Meanwhile Kiba, on the other side of the clearing, grinned at his canine companion. "Ready, Akamaru?" he asked excitedly. "What a fight!" After hearing a reassuring bark from his partner, Kiba stepped forth, creating a seal with his hands. "Well then..." he started, looking down at his side, where Akamaru waited eagerly, tail wagging. "...Gatsuuga!" (Piercing Fang)
Both Kiba and Akamaru began to spin with fierce speed towards the clones which had surrounded them. As the "hurricane" they had created touched each one, it disappeared with a 'poof!' In little or no time, they had cleared the area which surrounded them. Stopping a while, the partners dropped to the ground, panting heavily. "Tiring, ne, Akamaru?" Kiba asked quietly. "Oh well...here we go again! Gatsuuga!"
Shino, in the mean time, had enough to do with his clones. Holding out his arms, he watched as a whole swarm of kikai bugs (Destruction bugs) escaped from within his clothing, swarming over the clones in his area. As each one began to devour their clone, he said, "Hurry. Something's not right."
Kankuro grinned as he unstrapped his puppet from himself. (Oh, I've never seen him use it before, and I'm not positive what he calls it, so sorry for making it up). Releasing it, he began to control it, from a distance, with his chakra strings. "Crow," he called to it, "Time to attack!" Using the strings, he made his puppet attack every clone in its range.
Temari, meanwhile, unstrapped her giant fan. Holding it in both arms, she crouched down slightly, her face deadly serious. Swinging it back, she called out, "Kamaitachi no Jutsu!" A large gust of wind escaped from the strike of her fan, and so happened every time she batted it. By doing this, she was able to clear off large amounts of clones.
Her brother and teammate, on the other hand, had no interest whatsoever in the battle, for, as it seemed, clones could not spill blood. On the other hand, he seemed to be deep in thought. Kankuro, noticing this, couldn't help but wonder what was on his younger brother's mind. Little did he know that Gaara was thinking about Orochimaru...about him knowing of Shukaku. Of course he would, seeing as though Gaara's father was the Kazekage...but still, something about how Orochimaru's eyes glinted as he spoke of the demon inside of Gaara couldn't seem to escape the young man's mind. It wasn't that he was afraid. Gaara could never be afraid. He was more intrigued than anything.
Subconsciously noticing the clones around him, Gaara screwed the cap off of his calabash at last. Nonchalantly throwing shuriken, he muttered, "Suna Shuriken!" Though his attack succeeded in destroying the clones around him, Gaara did not care in the least. To him, it was useless to fight, if no blood was spilt. Following up with a low "Suna Bunshin!" he left his sand clones to fight, while he disappeared into the shadows to further ponder Orochimaru's words.
Neji and Hinata, Byakugan still activated, reported back to Sakura, their news not comforting. "He's n-nowhere..." Hinata stuttered, flustered from using her Byakugan so long. Neji glanced at her quickly before finishing off what his cousin had started.
"We can't find him. He must be..."
"Got you. Hinata, get in the fight. Neji, you go wait with Sasuke and Miharu while we clear off all of these stupid clones." Sakura declared, still fighting the clones. The two Jounin did as told, Neji sprinting over to the rest of his team, Hinata joining her fight, once again activating her Byakugan, and using the Hyuuga's famous Gentle Fist style to destroy many of the shadow clones.
"Yo, Neji." Came Miharu's cool greeting as she scanned the scene before her. Neji smirked in reply. She may be a total idiot at all other times, but when it came to fights like these, Miharu was calm, cool, and reserved. That's why she was respected... by some people, at least. Sasuke just lifted his head in greeting, eyes also locked on the fight. The clones weren't moving. They weren't there to injure the ninja.
"They're there to tire us."
"What?"
"Those clones are there to tire us, so that when the time comes for us to fight him, we wouldn't have any energy left, and it would be easy for him to eliminate us."
"But his plan will no longer work." Neji stated tonelessly. "There are four of us not involved in the fight. I suppose we're reserves."
"Three." Corrected Miharu.
"What?"
"I said, there are three of us. You, me, and Sasuke." She repeated.
Taking her head in both hands, Sasuke turned her until she faced the direction in which Gaara sat, concealed within the shadow. "He means four."
"Naruhodou..."
And so, for the next hour, the four nin stood, or sat, watching their comrades defeat as many of the clones as possible. After all that time, they were able to completely clear to field of any of the clones. But at a price. Every single one of them, save Team 00 and Gaara, was wasted. As soon as the final clone disappeared with a barely audible 'poof!' all the Konaha shinobi dropped to the ground lifelessly. They were still conscious, but they didn't have enough energy to actually clear the field themselves.
Team 00 sped to their teammates and, one by one, pulled them back, so that they were leaned up against one another, off in a small corner of the field. Then they stood, just the three, each one facing a different direction, all back to back. Pointing a finger in the direction she faced, Miharu cried out, "Orochimaru! Get your lazy ass out here right now! Don't make us wait!"
Just in those few seconds, a swift breeze overtook the three, and then Orochimaru stood, smirking, in front of them. Sasuke and Neji, whose backs had been facing that direction, turned to face their opponent. Sasuke scanned Orochimaru's features briefly, hate in every line upon his fair skin, in every crease of his brow. "So it comes down to this, huh?" he asked quietly, fury sweetly lining every word he spoke.
Neji, who had just looked in Orochimaru's direction, was surprised to find he was no longer there. Hearing a noise behind them, all three nin spun in a 180 degree circle. However, before they could complete the turn, Orochimaru had solidified behind them. Quickly he spun, neatly imitating Rock Lee's Konoha Rampuu (In other words, he kicked them all away from himself). Before they could fall, each member of Team 00 used their hands to flip and straighten themselves before landing easily upon their hands and knees. The fight had begun.
Neji quickly activated his Byakugan. Speeding towards Orochimaru, he prepared to use the Gentle Fist attack Hinata had used earlier. Drawing his fist back, he forced it forward as he neared Orochimaru. However, sensing his attack, Orochimaru managed to dodge, as he did with all the other punches and kicks Neji sent his way. Finally having enough of his child play, Orochimaru used one powerful punch to Neji's gut to render him nearly unconscious.
At this very moment, Sasuke completed all the hand seals and called out, "Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" A large stream of flame escaped from his mouth, and headed straight for Orochimaru. Having predicted this, Orochimaru ginned suspiciously. Almost as if he had been planning this all along. Sasuke's eyes widened with surprise as he watched Orochimaru disappear suddenly. In less than a second he had reappeared, holding in front of himself no other than...
"Crap. Kisa!" came Neji's voice as he watched Orochimaru's grip tighten around the disheveled girl's shoulders. She winced slightly under the pressure, hatred lining her delicate features. 'He's using her as a shield!' Neji thought. 'If Sasuke's attack hits...'
It happened so quickly, it was hard for the three to register it all. In that one moment, between the time when the attack was barely inches away from Kisa, it happened. Orochimaru had leant down and whispered into her ear, "Sayonara." It was then that her anger level reached the max. Spitting out the cloth which had been gagging her the whole time, she whipped her head around so that she could see her captor from the corner of her eye. Glaring at him hatefully, she spat out, "Don't touch me." Bending over, she brought her hands, which were tied behind her back tightly, higher and higher, until they connected full force with Orochimaru's jaw. Startled, he let go of her shoulders, as the force of her blow sent him staggering backwards. In that moment, she undid the button on his jacket and grabbed her vial from it, jumping to the side. However, Orochimaru had already recovered from her hit, and managed to grab her around her ankles.
Spite filled his cold yellow eyes, and he swung her so that the top half of her body crashed into the rocky ground. Still holding her by her ankle, he lifted her up and tossed her behind himself, where she crashed into the one solitary tree in the whole clearing. There she lay, unconscious, as a slow stream of blood continued to flow from her hairline.
Anger bit into every part of Neji, and he stepped forward quickly. However, sensing another presence, he stopped. Realizing who it was, he forced a cool grin upon his hardened face.
In a flash Miharu appeared behind the red-jawed Orochimaru. Doing a few quick hand seals, she pointed her open palms towards his back, and something much resembling a blast of wind mixed with fire escaped from them. Orochimaru, unsuspecting of the attack, flew forward, the back of his clothing completely disintegrated. He managed to regain his balance in mid air, and landed squarely upon the barren ground.
Shoving out his left hand, he called, "Senei Jyashu!" (Sublime Snake Hands). From his sleeve came many snakes, which latched onto both Neji and Miharu, rendering immobile. Laughing insanely now, he watched the blood pour down their bodies from the numerous snake bites which had been made by his attack. Stopping suddenly, he remembered that there were three in a team. Which meant that the Uchiha boy was...
Holding out his right hand in the direction of Sasuke's chakra, he called out, "Senai Jashuu!" This time, a number of snakes escaped from the sleeve of his hand and speed in the direction of Sasuke's faint outline. They bit into it, and after feeling his snakes connect, Orochimaru began to draw them back in. However, when he finally saw what his snakes had connected with, his body contracted with anger and he spat in frustration. The boy had used Kawarimi no Jutsu.
From nowhere he heard, a slight mumbling sound. "Jutsu..." he whispered. Suddenly, a large shuriken came right for him. Dodging slightly, he smirked. "You should know better than that." He coaxed. Then his face blanked. Raising his right hand to his left shoulder, he felt a warm liquid run it's length. Turning his head to see what it was, red surrounded his gaze. The first shuriken had cut the hold of his snakes on the two ninja, while the second had nearly cut through his arm. What was happening?
That's when he saw the boy's true figure. Before he could land, Orochimaru was upon him, hands around his neck, attempting to strangle him. Sasuke gasped for breath, scratching at his opponent's arms. His eyes bulged, and his breathing became more sparse, and rugged. Finally, his eyes glossed over and he dropped to the ground, lifeless.
Neji withdrew a sharp breath, and Miharu cried out, "Sasuke!" Tears began to form at the c orners of her eyes, then proceeded to drop softly onto her cheeks, then onto the ground. She started gasping for breath, and was so petrified that she hadn't noticed that Orochimaru's snakes had completely released her and Neji. She began running over to her fallen love, before she felt her body freeze. Casting her senses, she felt that Neji's body had frozen also. Both of them dropped helplessly to the floor.
Orochimaru walked over to them, a sick smirk plastered onto his pale face, a kunai held in one hand, two in the other. "It's been fun playing with you," he said softly, murderously, "but playtime's over." Lifting his hand slowly, he prepared to fling the kunai at their hearts. Then he froze also, and sand began to gather at his feet. He dropped the kunai, and his hold on Neji and Miharu was gone. They sat up shakily, and Miharu crawled over to where Sasuke lay, resting his head on her lap as she watched the scene unfold before her.
Out of the corner of his eye, Orochimaru saw the redheaded man with the calabash emerge from the shadows, hand held out in front of him. There was a tint of green in his otherwise black eyes. Slowly the sand ensnared his whole body, rendering Orochimaru helpless. Looking openly gleeful, he called out to Gaara, "Shukaku! Are you really going to do this? I know of your blood lust. I can help to quench it. Think...you could be so much stronger, so much better."
The sand had stopped gathering while Orochimaru spoke, and Gaara's eyes glinted eerily in the quickly darkening atmosphere. Orochimaru continued, seeing as though he may yet be able to preserve his own life. "All the blood you wanted...it could be yours. The lives...you don't need them. You have to potential..." as the sand continued to gather, Orochimaru hurried on. "...Shukaku...you could be strong."
Gaara's eyes narrowed as the sand completely stopped. That was when he began clenching his open fist. Orochimaru knew he was dead. Closing his eyes, he inhaled deeply. He should have taken the contents of the vial while he had the chance. Then Gaara's voice came, deathly low, "Sabaku Sousou." (Desert Graveyard), and the sand was pushed inward, crushing it's captive. Then it all exploded, blood, mixed with sand, flew everywhere. Closing his calabash once more, as if he had not just destroyed the legendary sennin, Gaara disappeared once more into the shadows.
Hours later, everyone, including Kisa, (and, thankfully, Sasuke) had regained consciousness. They had been told the whole story by Miharu, who had finally found that as a way to work off her anxiety. Now they all were broken off, in couples or teams, scattered around the bloody field, helping -–supporting -- one anther.
Miharu leaned heavily upon Sasuke's shoulder, as he encircled her in his arms. Kisa had her arms wrapped around Neji, and his were thrown casually over her shoulder in return. Everyone had decided to stay there for the night before returning to the Konoha Village. They had had enough for one day.
Suddenly a voice asked the question which had been lingering in the minds of many of the ninja assembled. "Where's Gaara?"
As if answering her question, the figure of the young man approached them all. Every set of eyes turned in his direction, as his deeply voiced the words that would decide the rest of his life. "That man...he was right." Everyone in the clearing gasped, clearly frightened of what their teammate was about to say. "With Shukaku, I can become...stronger. I will not have the restraint of anyone...I can spill blood freely." And, believing no more words needed to be said, he untied his hitai-ate from the shoulder strap of his calabash. Taking a kunai from his pouch, he scratched a long mark across it, from tip to tip of the metal. Then, dropping the kunai and hitai-ate in unison, he glanced once more at the people of his past, whom he would most likely never see again...unless it was to kill.
A brief wind blew across the field, as the grains of sand from the ground began to gather at his feet. Then a wall of sand blocked him from the view of the others. All the ninja stared, openly shocked, as the wall of sand dropped, no longer needed. There was nothing to be seen.
End of Fanfic!
A/N: This took me a week (7 days, not 5) to write. It's 23 pages long, in size 12 font. Wow. But now, tears must be shed. It's finally done. My fic is finally done. Thank Yondaime. (Oh yeah, he's the 4th Hokage). But, now it's time for me to thank everyone who reviewed. If you hadn't, I probably wouldn't have continued this fic. I'd especially like to say "thanx" to Cookie6, who has reviewed every single chapter of my fic from beginning to end. It was very encouraging, knowing that you would always read and review, no matter when I found the time to update. I'd even like to say "yeah, ok" to my flamers. Even though you guyz pissed me off to high hell, I was able to go over my story and see where I was "mary sueing" and try to improve the character for future chapters. So yeah, without you guyz, my story probably wouldn't be that good either. All in all, I'm really happy I saw this through to the end. I have like, 50 more ideas to put into fic and post, so I'm going to get started on the one-shots right away. So thank you all, hope you enjoyed the 15th chapter, and hope you read my other fics! --
P.S- tonight was the finale of American Idol, and I would just like to say, BoBo Fantasia kicks ass, and she so totally deserved to win. I love how she sings! Go Fantasia!!!!!!
Ja ne! Arigatou, mo ichido! Miharu