Temari looked at her legs.
Just months ago, her legs had been well sculpted, but a bit thin. Currently, she looked to be able to crush a rhinoceros with them. Why were her legs gaining so much muscle, you ask?
She glared at the three people in front her, "We have been running for 20 FREAKING HOURS, we need to take a break!"
To her great chagrin, Naruto didn't even look tired as he looked back at her, "So? We don't know when the execution is going to be, we need to move fast."
She glared, "Listen, unlike the rest of you, I do not have unlimited stamina, and I need to whoa!…"
Her tirade was cut off as Naruto suddenly stopped, whipped his sword to Itachi, and grabbed her as she flew past, hoisting her onto his back and continuing on.
The Uchiha absentmindedly grabbed Seirei Kirite out of the air and leaned it against his shoulder as he ran.
It took Temari a moment to realize why she was still moving, and she poked Naruto's head, "You do understand that if this were any other situation, I would kick your ass for pulling a stunt like that."
Naruto just smirked, "But we're in this situation, so don't complain unless you want to run again"
Temari just grumbled and watched the world pass her by.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Haruno Sakura stood in front of the door, her heart beating fiercely.
Kakashi and Lee stood beside her for moral support, and she took a step forward and slowly turned the handle. When the door swung open, a 10 x 10 foot room was revealed, with no windows and only a single light bulb.
Within the room a single figure was strapped to the far wall, his mouth covered with a metal mask that prevented movement or speech, his limbs separately held to the wall by leather belts, and his fingers tied together with thread so as not to allow the use of hand seals.
He looked as if he were crucified against the wall, and Sakura felt the bile rise in her throat at the analogy. He had indeed been crucified; by the Hokage, by the Konoha Council, and by the general populace who had once loved him.
Sasuke slowly looked up as the door opened, the light stinging his unaccustomed pupils. The only parts of him that could move were his eyes, so he took full advantage of them to examine his visitors.
Sakura walked slowly into the room, and looked at who had once been the love of her life. She knew everything he had done; yet she still could not hold back her tears at seeing him like this.
They traveled silently down her face as she walked right up to him, and slowly reached up a hand to touch his face. "Look at you, Sasuke-kun…is this what you wanted?"
She dropped her hand and looked at the ground
"The press love you, only two survivors of a clan, and they're both S-class missing nins. Talk of 'cursed blood' is all over the tabloids, and people eat it up. I try to believe that somehow, all of this is just a big mistake…you…Naruto…but then I go meet with my new team and realize its real, its all horribly real."
Sasuke suddenly gained new light in his eyes, and tried to say something through his gag.
"mmph….phat appnd oo a'ruo"
Sakura looked back to Kakashi, who nodded carefully, and she reached to remove Sasuke's mask.
Once the gag and hunk of metal over his face was removed, the Uchiha stretched his neck and repeated, "What happened to Naruto?"
Sakura laughed bitterly, "You don't know? He left almost right after you did. A hunter team was sent after him, but no one will tell me what happened to him…I don't even know if Naruto is dead or alive."
Sasuke just gaped. He would have figured that Naruto leaving Konoha would be about as likely as Iruka dating Anko, or Rock Lee shaving his eyebrows, or Itachi coming to save him from execution.
Sasuke shook his head to clear this train of thought, and wondered where those odd similes had come from, but suddenly noticed Lee outside the door to the room. Where there had once been two large dark proud eyebrows on the green beasts face, there was just smooth skin.
Sasuke shivered.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Uchiha Itachi was running for his life.
Not literally, of course, since very few things (nothing, in fact) had ever made him truly run for his life. To be accurate, he was running in hopes of avoiding fan-thwappage.
That is, being thwapped with a fan. A rather large fan.
After 3 days of straight running, it had been announced by way of newspaper that Sasuke's execution would take place in 2½ weeks, plenty of time to get to Konoha. Needless to say, a certain girl with very blistered feet was out for blood.
Unfortunately for Temari, Itachi was not just strong; he was very fast. She growled as she smashed another tree trunk in half. It was rather obvious that she had a snowball's chance in hell of actually hitting him, but the destruction was therapeutic.
Naruto and Kisame just watched semi-amusedly from the sidelines, adding the occasional "ooh, close one" or "you almost got him there!"
This went on for about 6 minutes, then Temari's blisters caught up with her and she collapsed onto her knees, glaring at Itachi just for good measure.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/13 Days Later/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Tsunade stood atop her tower, holding the execution plans in her hand. She had no doubts that someone would try to free the condemned Uchiha; she just wasn't sure who yet. She worried about this new killer, the one called the 'dark avenger', who reeked of hidden sound. All his targets were leaf affiliated in some way, and the various methods of killing struck a chord in her that reminded her all too much of her snakelike ex-teammate.
All of Sasuke's friends and associates were under 24/7 ANBU surveillance, this included Kakashi, who was the only one so far to notice his 'watchers', but no suspicious activity had been observed.
She also worried about more powerful forces from outside the village trying to take advantage of the distraction, as the majority of Konoha would attend the execution.
The populace, having been denied any information about Naruto (or as they called him, 'The Demon'), wanted to see at least one traitor die. It never failed to disgust Tsunade that such common people could be so bloodthirsty, but she had no choice in Sasuke's fate.
The least she could do was make sure nothing else happened. The greatest threat would be a task force of ex-sound nins who penetrated the walls and made a full scale rescue attempt, if that happened, people would die in large numbers no matter which side won.
Her main priority would be making sure there was a solid perimeter around the stage where the execution would take place. The boy had chosen death by fire jutsu, which was the most painful but also most honorable, showing he had no fear. Tsunade thought it was rather fitting in a bitterly ironic way.
She was worrying like mad over everything, as her gut told her something big was going to go down in 4 days, so she would have to do her best and pray.
Across town, Sabaku no Gaara sat on the roof of building and stared off into the sky.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
The dark avenger was dressed all in black. Black shoes, black pants, and a black high-collar shirt. If not for the sound forehead protector he wore around his head, one might easily mistake him for a priest.
He pushed his glasses up on his nose as he carefully looked over the paltry forces he had at his command. He had very few illusions about his chance of success, but he was determined to make no mistakes.
He let his mind ponder the question of how to convince the guards to let them in. Tsunade had mostly likely closed the border, and he would have to be very sly to convince the guard that he needed to get into the village. Unfortunately, Jounin would most likely be the ones guarding the entrance, so his ploy would likely fail.
They were only hours from Konoha, and his team was prepping. They were infiltrating as journalists making a long and perilous journey to the village in hopes of getting a few minutes to speak with the condemned man. However, despite the clever guise, even they were allowed into the village, his odds of actually getting a chance to speak with Sasuke were essentially zero.
The dark avenger sighed and pinched his nose, the more he thought about it, the more he realized the he was just screwed.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Itachi calmly set his bag of Pocky on the ground and examined the scene before him. Naruto and Temari were seated on the ground, each holding a small number of cards, and they seemed to be oblivious to his presence.
As he observed their play, there were many questions plaguing the mind of Uchiha Itachi.
Where did that ominous music that always followed him around come from? Why did god make the platypus? Why isn't the number 11 pronounced onety one? Why was Temari wearing his clothes?
Being as sharp as it was, his mind quickly and efficiently prioritized these questions, deciding that the last was the most urgent. He made his presence known in the camp, but neither player looked up from their cards, so Itachi cleared his throat,
"Excuse me, Temari-san, why are you wearing my clothing?"
Temari didn't seem to hear him, so it was Naruto who responded, "Strip poker is no fun when you only wear 5 articles of clothing, and we have very few extra clothes of our own, so we borrowed some of yours."
Itachi felt a headache coming on, "Did it ever occur to you that I might not want you wearing my clothes?"
Temari cursed, removing one of her socks while Naruto dealt another hand, "No, it didn't. And besides, I'm wearing Kisame's, you and Temari happen to be similar in size, so she got all yours. Lucky for me Kisame has better taste."
Itachi was about to respond when Kisame walked past him and tossed their groceries at the base of a tree, "So," the shark man inquired, "whose winning?"
The Uchiha twitched.
Seeing Itachi's volatility rising, Naruto grinned; "you'll get your stuff back as soon as Temari loses"
It was Temari's turn to get annoyed, and her "hit me" was almost a growl. She was losing, and she knew it. Her family had never been fans of blackjack, preferring go-fish.
Resigning himself to his fate, Itachi sat down next to Naruto and awaited the inevitable, and said inevitable came exactly 19 minutes and 47 seconds later.
Reduced to just her net shirt and undergarments, Temari glared, "If you think I'm taking off any more, you can go (bleep) with your (bleep) while (bleep)ing yourself"
Itachi calmly stood and collected his personal effects from the pile of clothing, then went to his tent, not forgetting his recently bought weeks supply of Pocky.
He left behind a re-dressing Temari (who was annoyed and mildly embarrassed), Kisame (who was amused but felt slightly cheated), Kyuubi inside Seirei Kirite (Who felt much the same way as Kisame), and Naruto (who really had no idea what he was feeling).
This clash of moods caused an odd nervous tension for a few minutes, until Naruto got bored and started to gather sticks for a fire. Soon, Temari and Kisame both started silently helping, and the food for supper was soon sizzling away.
Unfortunately, Kisame always felt the need to have the last word, and after almost 20 minutes of silence he spoke up, "But you know, Temari-san, you really shouldn't start things you're not willing to finish."
His blue face split into another grin as a thrown kunai nicked his ear.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Late that night, while everyone slept, Itachi suddenly sat up in his bag and turned to his partner, "Ne, Kisame. Why do you think god made the platypus?"
"uh……wha?" Kisame blinked sleepily, "dammit Itachi, go to sleep!"
/-/-/-/-/-/-4 Days Later - Day Of The Execution/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Sakura again stood in front of that door, that horrible door. It was 11:25, and Sasuke's charred body would fall to the ground at exactly 12:01. She wasn't planning on being there to watch, but had been given the right to be the one to give him his last meal.
She was not alone, but was accompanied by two full squads of ANBU, who would remain outside the door, in case an escape attempt was made.
The door slid silently open and Sakura slowly stepped into the room carrying a tray of food. For his final meal, Sasuke had asked for nothing more than a bowl of chicken fried rice and a glass of water.
She carefully closed the door behind her and set the tray on the ground. Her hand reached up and undid each of the five straps holding the Uchiha to the wall, and he almost collapsed on her as the final restraint was removed.
After a moment, he regained his composure and managed to sit on the ground while Sakura undid his mask and untied the string holding his fingers together. They were almost completely silent as Sakura carefully placed the food in front of him and he started to eat.
It tore at her how weak he looked, he had lost a lot of weight, making his cheekbones more defined, and his arms had lost the muscular look she had liked so much. She felt shallow as these thoughts passed through her mind, but the gaunt form before her was nothing like the confident but silent boy she had developed a crush on all those years ago.
He looked up at her, and Sakura noticed that his hair was unkempt had grown longer, making him look more wild. When he spoke, his voice was scratchy and harsh, "Thank you for this, Sakura"
She had promised herself she wouldn't cry again, yet the tears started to flow, "Don't thank me, Sasuke-kun. Not now."
The Uchiha looked her over carefully, "I have a request, one final thing I would like you to do for me"
She smiled and wiped the tears from her eyes, "You know I'd do anything for you, Sasuke-kun"
He looked up at the roof his cell; "I want you to be there, at noon today. I want you to promise that, no matter what, you won't look away."
Sakura didn't know what to say, but she couldn't refuse him, so she nodded mutely.
"Good," he smiled, and then went back to silently eating.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Tsunade stood, overlooking the crowd. It did indeed look as if most of the population of Konoha had shown up, and the training field they were using was almost filled.
It was 11: 53.
In just seconds, the prisoner would make his appearance.
Suddenly, the ground shook, and as Tsunade's eyes widened, spouts of flame could be seen shooting upward all over the village.
A jounin dropped down in front of her, "No need to be alarmed, Tsuande-sama. It appears that your guess was correct, a group of nins were discovered in the village less than 8 minutes ago, but have been already disposed of. It appears they planned to use the distraction of the explosives to surprise and overpower Sasuke's guards. The leader is still alive, what shall we do with him?"
The Hokage wiped sweat from her forehead, "We can delay for a minute or two, bring him here"
She then turned to calm the crowd.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
The Dark Avenger felt a defeat bitterer than any he had experienced before. After succeeding in so many ways, they had been caught at the last minute. His few remaining supporters were dead, and he was being dragged before the Hokage.
The jounin holding him pulled him through the masses of people, and out into the open. He was shoved forward, and Tsunade regarded him critically.
"So," she said, "you're the one who planned all this. The Dark Avenger shows himself at last. Did you chose the name 'Dark Avenger', or was it something the newspaper's gave you? Well, Kabuto?"
The silver haired medic nin spat at the Hokage's feet, "I have nothing to say to you."
Tsunade shrugged, "Okay then, I'll deal with you as soon as we're done with Sasuke."
Kabuto gnashed his teeth at his own helplessness, but could do nothing as the Jounin dragged him off to one side.
Tsunade raised an arm and the masses parted. At the other end of the field was the prisoner, his hands and feet chained, accompanied by Shizune and three ANBU.
Shizune stepped forward and, steadying herself, took a deep breath, and called out "DEAD MAN WALKING!"
The grim procession walked slowly forwards, the Uchiha paying no attention to the hoards of people on either side of him. He arrived at his destination, a cleared part of the field where Tsunade herself stood.
He was walked over to a thick log and was chained to it, his ANBU guards making sure he was secure. Tsunade walked up to him, "Any last words?"
A set of dark eyes rose to look at her, "Actaully, I'd like a stick of Pocky"
Tsunade blinked, "Um….okay," she turned around, "anyone have a box of Pocky?"
A man in the crowd raised his arm, "I do! Here!" he threw it forward and Shizune rushed to catch it, before running back to pass it to Tsunade.
The Hokage pulled out a stick and put it in the prisoner's mouth, "good?"
He nodded, so Tsunade gestured, and the people moved back, the guard ANBU got out of the way, and Shizune jogged back a bit. Tsunade had decided to perform the execution herself, and once everyone was clear of the blast area, she started her little speech,
"You, Uchiha Sasuke, have been found, beyond a shadow of a doubt, to be guilty of High Treason against Konoha. The punishment for this crime is death, and that punishment shall now be inflicted." Tsunade flashed through hand seals, "Goukakyuu No Jutsu!"
She inhaled and breathed out a huge stream of flame that consumed the wooden log as well as the figure chained to it. She continued the technique for a full half minute.
Unnoticed in the masses of people, Haruno Sakura was crying, her tears reflecting the light as she forced herself to watch.
Kabuto fought futilely against those holding as he watched the last of Orochimaru's legacy go up in smoke.
Hatake Kakashi was also watching closely, but for a different reason. Something about this whole thing felt odd.
Tsunade completed the jutsu, and looked at her handy work. The still burning body was on the ground, as the flames had melted the chains and incinerated the log. She motioned for the three ANBU and Shizune to join her as she approached the corpse. She had to personally confirm the Uchiha was indeed dead.
Kakashi knew something was wrong. All his instincts screamed at him, something was setting him off, something he was feeling and should be remembering. He reached to pull up his forehead protector.
Tsunade reached down to check the Uchiha's pulse, when three objects came hurling from the sky, almost hitting the guard ANBU, who neatly side stepped. She turned to back look just in time to see the ANBU reach and grab the handles of the two swords and battle fan imbedded in the ground.
Kakashi's eyes widened in horror at what his Sharingan revealed, but he knew even as he started to yell a warning that he was to late.
One of the 'ANBU' vaulted over the handle of his sword to deliver a sharp kick to the side of Shizune's head, and Naruto, Temari and Kisame tore off their ANBU masks and turned outward, forming a circle around Tsunade and the body.
Tsunade suddenly felt her wrist in an iron grip, and looked down in horror to see the 'corpse' holding onto her, continuing to burn as it rose up and spoke, "That……HURT!"
As the not so dead body's eyes met hers, Tsunade only managed one word,
"…mangekyou…."
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Author's Notes: Don't you love cliffhangers?
Goukakyuu No Jutsu - Grand Fireball Technique
Next Chapter: Some of this insanity explained through the wonder of flashbacks