Don't own it.
Chapter Eleven: The soul seal
Kakashi and his three students looked on as Imako struggled with herself. Dangerous clouds had darkened the skies and it began to drizzle. Lightning streaked across the heavens and the drizzle turned into a cold pouring rain.
"What's going on?" asked Naruto looking up. "Is she doing this?"
"This isn't good," muttered Kakashi.
He caught a glimpse of the demon's head overlapping Imako's.
"This is really bad," he corrected himself.
He spun around.
"You three run as fast as you can. Don't stop for anything and stay together!" he shouted urgently.
"But why?" asked Sakura.
"Where to?" asked Naruto.
"Anywhere that's not here – now go!"
Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto saw the look in his eye; something major was going to happen here. They did as told and sprinted off together... even though they wanted to stay and help.
"Sasuke," shouted Sakura, "What is he doing?"
"I don't know," he called back over the thundering of the downpour. "Just hurry!"
"How far do you think we have to go?" asked Naruto.
"We'll know when it happens," said Sasuke. "Get a move on and shut up!"
Kakashi looked over his shoulder to make sure they had gone before turning back to Imako. She was trying to stand, but kept falling back down, still struggling with her battle within. The silver haired Jonin pushed up his hitai-ate and opened the sharingan eye. He had seen it before as a wisp, but now he could clearly see the demon's spirit. It had somehow cracked the seal and was trying to free itself; head and shoulders were already out. He suddenly realized it wasn't a battle for dominance- that fight had ended when Imako herself had spoken. No, now it was a battle to keep the demon sealed. She was fighting to keep it inside at the cost of her freedom- ultimately her life. Kakashi felt completely helpless when another outcry startled his brain into working overtime as he tried to think of some way to aid Imako. He slapped his head and mentally scolded himself. He had already thought of something, that was why he had sent the genin away. He took out a scroll and clutched it tightly.
"Imako!" he called. "Listen, I'm going to use the soul seal on you! It's temporary and extremely painful, but it's the only way!"
Imako felt like her body was being torn apart from the inside out. What Kakashi had planned couldn't be much worse. She clenched her teeth and finally managed to stay on her feet. Kakashi opened the scroll and threw it up; then he preformed the one hundred kata needed in lightning fast precision and thrust his hands up towards it to charge the scroll with his chakra. It began to glow and transformed into a golden rapidly spinning circle, pulling the clouds with it and slowly parting them.
Naruto and the others skidded to a stop when they saw the huge seal sign appear in the sky. It seemed to be charging as it began to glow a bright golden.
"What's happening?" asked Naruto.
"I know it's a seal, but I've never seen that one before," said Sasuke.
"If that's why Master Kakashi wanted us to leave, we better get a move on," said Sakura. "Let's go!"
The two boys nodded and they went on sprinting towards a distant mountain range for lack of a better direction to head for. Of course they could never reach it in such a short time, but it was a good goal to focus on as they're legs screamed for rest.
The scroll was now fully charged and shot up towards the sign of the soul seal. Kakashi waited for the right moment and preformed another dozen kata, this time keeping his eyes on Imako and the demon. She fell back to her knees as it had freed its arms and was pushing against her. It made Kakashi botch up and he hurriedly restarted the kata. His heart was pounding fiercely as he got it right and four separate chains came out of nowhere. Her wrists and ankles were bound and she was hoisted a foot off the ground.
'Hold on Imako, it's almost done.'
He was soaked, cold and his shoulder was throbbing in pain from all the movement, but he knew Imako was way worse of than he. He felt weaker now, but that was to be expected from charging the seal. Now was the time to perform the last series of kata. The demon growled and snarled when it felt the pull of an invisible force. Kakashi finished and the demon roared as it was torn out of Imako's body and forced into a golden vile held in his glowing hands. Both ninja were engulfed in a pillar of golden light from the sign above and the vile closed.
'This is it,' thought Kakashi. "Soul seal!"
He gripped the vile as tight as he could and charged at Imako. With the other hand he readied enough force to finish what he'd begun. He thrust the vile forward and plunged through her chest and into her heart. No physical damage was done, but the pain was real enough. Imako screamed till her lunges ached and she was close to passing out. The demon fought against him and the Jonin pushed as hard as he could until the vile vanished within. The sign of the seal suppressed and formed a surprisingly small orb of chakra. It shot out of the sky and bore into Imako's back to seal the deal. Her body shortly shone a brilliant gold and unleashed a devastating force.
"Oh no, look!" gasped Sakura.
Naruto and Sasuke turned around to see a wave of light headed right for them. Inside, where it had passed, all the trees were gone. It looked worse than a wasteland.
"We'll never get far enough!" said Naruto slightly panicked.
"We were to slow..." said Sasuke quietly.
'I don't want to die like this!' screamed Inner Sakura. 'I never got to kiss Sasuke or even go on a date with him... I never even got to reach the chunin level!"
"I guess we lose," said Naruto taking Sakura's hand. "It's been fun."
She was about to shove him away, but smiled and took Sasuke's hand.
"Yeah, it was fun," she said quietly.
Sasuke smirked at Sakura's hand and looked at Naruto to see his offered hand. He nodded and took the blonde's hand.
"See you on the other side," he said.
The three class mates, comrades and friends stood in a small circle tightening their grip on each others hand and closed their eyes as the wave of heatless, but destructive energy washed over them.
Oh no! Will this be the end of Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura?! Find out in the next chapter! couldn't help my self. Thank you for your reviews and especially for the personal one. I typed into the early hours of the next day to bring you the chapter... but then my internet connection decided to play dead. I'm sorry for the wait. Hope you enjoyed it and look forward to your reviews. And my offer to write Imako and Kakashi's history still stands, no one said yes or no. I need your opinion people- on my writing too. If I don't get told what to improve I won't improve.
Later Days, Imako the Demon Wolf