Chapter 32 Goodbye sensei.
"Trying to kill your own master, yet, you still have the heart to feel some small amount of sadness."
"No I was just tired. I yawned and a tear leaked out. That's all."
Dialogue between the Third and Orochimaru.
"Kabuto. I told you I just yawned and a tear leaked out. I didn't feel any sadness in killing that old geezer. Ask me again and I'll kill you."
Orochimaru
"So farewell hope! Farewell remorse! As good to me is lost; evil, be thou my good!"
Uchiha Sasuke
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Kakashi stepped into a mess of blood and gore. Blood was everywhere, on the ground, on the trees, even on overhanging branches and leaves. Broken branches hung limp from trees like broken arms. The fight had been terrible.
After a long search, he found among a heap of bodies, or more accurately, body parts, some pieces of Sasuke's clothes. He also found Sasuke's headband in the jaws of a beast, which was on the ground, cut in half at the waist. Its thick ropy intestines had oozed out onto the ground. There was dried blood on the headband. Kakashi couldn't determine if it was Sasuke's or the beasts'.
He smelled around. He couldn't detect Sasuke's smell, but at least somebody covered in blood had left the place, jumping from tree to tree to avoid detection.
Maybe he could still convince him to go back. He couldn't let anybody else die. Not again.
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Neji and Lee were running, following the directions Ino had given them. Ino's instructions were to retain Sasuke till she arrived back with Sakura. They didn't exactly know how they were going to control one member of the ANBU, but they were going to try their best.
"Somebody is coming!" Lee warned.
Neji used the Byaukugan. One, two, three, four, five shinobis were around them and closing fast. They were all wearing ANBU masks.
"We must stop." Neji warned. In three seconds the ANBU had completely surrounded them.
The two groups of shinobis looked warily at each other.
"We thank you for your assistance in locating the missing-nin Uchiha Sasuke" One of them announced. "Now we must ask you to leave the rest to us. This is a matter for the ANBU."
"You don't need to intervene. We can convince Sasuke to go back ourselves!" Lee yelled. Neji was silent.
"We apologize, but this is not a request. It's an order. Two of us will follow you back to the Leaf village." The ANBU captain explained. Her tone was stern and had a slight warning tone. Neji understood perfectly.
"Very well. Lee, we are leaving." Neji decided.
"But…"
"We are leaving now" Neji repeated. Two ANBU moved away from the rest of the group and stood silently near them. Neji started to walk back. After a few seconds, Lee tagged along.
"Ne, are we really going back?" Lee whispered, glancing back at the two ANBU following them.
"I have to prepare things for Hinata-sama to escape the Leaf. The Hyuga clan is going to target her sooner or later after the last blood-Uchiha is killed."
"How come we aren't helping Sasuke then?"
"The Hokage has finally decided to get rid of him. That captain has chosen one soldier for each of us. If they do the same for each member of our rescue group, that means they have overwhelming resources at their disposal for hunting Sasuke. The Uchiha clan is finally going to disappear. He made his bed and now he'll die in it." Neji's words were cold.
"Is that it? Are we really going to do nothing?" Lee asked getting angry.
"The Uchiha is a good sparring partner and something close to what I would call a friend. I am going to do something" Neji confirmed "I am going to send him flowers."
Lee shuddered when his eyes met with Neji's. The old Hyuga clan; they had been shinobis for the longest time in Fire Country. In theory their unique eyes came after their terrifying bloodline. Lee suddenly felt the truth. They had their eyes because they had been shinobis for a very long time. Their cold eyes were the eyes of a true shinobi.
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Ino finally arrived to the Uchiha compound. The door was unlocked, exactly as it was when she had left. Sakura was in her bed. She had new bandages on her right eye after her last operation.
"Big-forehead girl! Good news! I finally found your stupid husband. Now I need you to come with me. You're the only one that can convince him to come back home without knocking him unconscious." She said with a big grin.
Sakura didn't move. She finally looked at her friend.
"Ino. Let him go." She weakly said.
"What are you talking about? Are you giving up?" Ino demanded.
"I have been thinking. I have only been a bother to him all along. It was just a matter of time before he ran away. I think I have been lying to us."
"I don't understand." Ino was having a funny feeling of deja vú.
"It all started three years ago" Sakura confessed. "Sasuke was going to leave the Leaf. I don't understand very well, but I suspected it. That night we both got drunk: A person that wanted to leave, and a second person that wanted the first person to stay. It's too easy to know what happened next. I was drunk and I don't remember it very well, but I seduced h…"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!" Ino out of the blue yelled. Sakura stared at Ino. "SHUT UP! SHUT UP, DAMMIT!" Ino heaved a long sigh "I am tired of all of you. You definitely deserve each other. Damn! I need to break a glass or a head or something."
"Ino, I…"
"WILL YOU SHUT UP AND LET ME SPEAK!" Ino demanded. "I talked to Sasuke and he thinks that it was him who raped you."
"Sasuke? But he would never…"
"I know! He would never and you would never and I am in the middle wanting to strangle you both! Sakura, you have to go for Sasuke. He wants to die!"
"He left me…" Sakura said with an unsure voice. She had agonized for days whether to go after him or not. She had seen the pain in his eyes. She wasn't sure it was fair for him if she forced him to stay in the Leaf.
"He left you. Maybe that will be the end of you two. But maybe, just maybe, that emotionally crippled fool simply doesn't know about his own feelings. His brother killed the rest of his family. He was afraid of having a friend because of that crap of the next level of the sharingan that you told me about. He is totally messed up. Sakura, if you don't go, I'll go. I'll use an awakening kiss and Sasuke will finally be mine." She warned.
"You wish, Ino-pig!" Sakura quickly answered back.
Their old enmity appeared back again. A long time ago they had been best friends. However their friendship had been asymmetrical: Ino, the girl who was perfect, and Sakura, the poor girl who was too shy to stand up. Sakura's love for Sasuke had been the first time she had dared to fight against her perfect friend. She had somehow decided to bloom and to try to find a friendship in equal terms.
"That's the Sakura I love and loathe. Now listen, I managed to distract him and to put a tracking device in his pocket." She explained giving Sakura a gadget. She looked at Sakura's leg. "I saw Sasuke one week ago and he looked really bad. We should go as fast as possible, but I don't know how fast we can move."
Sakura grinned as she finally stood up. She had been a fool. Ino was right. If they didn't have faith in themselves, who would?
"I can run almost as fast as you. I just can't last as long. However I haven't been losing my time with the training with Kakashi-sensei for the last months."
Sakura bit her thumb with a wince, using her blood to trace flowing characters, drawing a seal in four directions. A puff of smoke appeared from nowhere and from the smoke a huge white tiger emerged.
Sakura smiled. She hugged Ino.
"Thank you Ino-pig… for everything. You really are my best friend."
"Ah, cut the lovey-dovey moment, big-forehead girl! Now hurry up and bring that idiotic genius back." Ino too, hugged Sakura. They stood, looking at each other and still embracing each other.
"Give me an order, my Master." The massive tiger spoke in a guttural tone.
"Take me to Sasuke; take me to the person that has my heart." Sakura ordered jumping on the tiger. She smiled at Ino one more time before the tiger started to run as fast as the wind, leaving Leaf village behind in a matter of seconds.
Ino smiled as both the tiger and Sakura dashed away. She had done her best. Now it was Sakura's turn. She was the only one that could really open his heart.
Before Sasuke could respond, Ino had violently kissed him. Her tongue entered his mouth while she slipped something in his pocket
Ino touched her lips. The kiss had been too brief…
"I'm a genius." She boasted aloud even if nobody was hearing her. "I managed to trick Sasuke. I bet the poor fellow is lamenting not falling in love with me. Bah! Sakura obviously doesn't have the beauty for seducing anybody." Her words seemed empty even to herself.
Ino sighed. She hadn't lied to Sasuke. Chouji was a really sweet and loving guy. Sakura was also her best friend. Sasuke was also too… troublesome. Even if Sakura weren't there, to be in love with Sasuke would be a love triangle with Itachi. Sasuke would always chase his brother.
Sasuke continued, moving his hands around Ino's head. Ino closed her eyes, her heart hammering her chest violently.
Sasuke, without touching her skin, untied the ribbon she had on her hair. He moved away from her while tying the ribbon around his head, covering his eyes.
"What are you doing?" She asked. She would never say to anybody that she felt disappointed.
She had slapped Chouji one week ago when he had suggested that she still had feelings for Sasuke. That argument had been pointless. She would talk to Chouji and forgive him.
She sighed again. Sasuke would return to the Leaf that was for sure. Alive or dead, that was another question.
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Kakashi sniffed around. The stench of dead was easy to follow. Yet it was too unfocused. It was very close now.
"As always Sasuke, you were so busy planning and fighting that you didn't have time to think." Kakashi said aloud.
Out of the shadows of the trees something moved. Suddenly the moon appeared in the middle of the storm clouds, spilling moonlight among the trees, bathing Sasuke in silver. He was covered in wounds, from the fight against those beats, which were crudely but effectively covered by make-up bandages. Numerous beads of sweat were streaking down his cheeks. His shirt had been used as raw material for the bandages and a whole set of new scars were open for Kakashi to see. There was a foul smell coming from some of the infected wounds.
Kakashi thought that Sasuke looked like a black sea. Only this time there wasn't any Sakura to illuminate him. Tension clung to him like an aura. He saw the cold look Sasuke gave him, and he thought it wasn't the same as before. It wasn't Sasuke any more, maybe never again. He could never tell whether his eyes were vexed, revolted, or condescending when he was careful. It was almost better when the anger or resentment made his eyes honest.
"You have done a good job, avoiding the ANBU till now, especially in your sorry state. You understand, of course, that I can't let you run away from the Leaf." Kakashi stated.
Sasuke grinned. He had to relax to not vomit. The thirst was killing him as the infection was making his throat dry. He had suffered some blackouts recently due to his high fever. The worst part was he had almost run out of combat pills. He had one left, one last chance to get out of the forest.
"I wouldn't say I have done such a good job. I have been trying to get away from the forest for the last week and I have continuously failed. The siege has been getting thicker and avoiding the ANBU's has been very tricky."
"There are scores of ANBU looking for you." Kakashi admitted.
"How come I am loved so much by the Leaf?" Sasuke asked with a slight irony.
"Two Akatsuki members attacked Sand Village looking for Gaara. They failed to find him and they caused hundreds of casualties as revenge. There has been also some movement on Orochimaru's side."
"Things are heating up." Sasuke admitted.
"Tsunade-sama has decided to consider you a security risk." Kakashi continued explaining "If you die, the problem is definitely solved. If you don't surrender, the orders are to eliminate you."
Sasuke laughed softly. He grabbed his two wakizashis and slowly walked towards his sensei. Kakashi didn't react. He could barely distinguish Sasuke's features as the black clouds barely allowed him to distinguish them.
"Do you want to know the real difference between Itachi and me, Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke asked as he took out his weapons out and stood near his sensei.
"Your power?"
"Conscience. Itachi is barely human. He is more like a machine. I don't think he feels. He is too detached. He doesn't have conscience. I have regrets. He doesn't. I don't think he cares about anything, including himself. He is empty inside. A man without regrets is scary because he can do anything he wants." Sasuke explained, handing the wakizashis and his last kunais and shurikens to his sensei.
Kakashi took them raising a questioning eyebrow.
"I'll try to force my way out of here one last time. Still, I don't want anybody to die."
"Come back to the Leaf." Kakashi recommended. There was a hint of desperation in his voice. He knew it was very unlikely. Sasuke was not the type to back down.
"I can't. I bring bad luck. I have known family, lost family. I have known friendship, lost friendship. I don't want to lose love. I better die before that happens. She might get a chance then. I am ready for the final door." Sasuke put his hands in his pockets and turned around. "Besides, if I were to surrender, I would be dragged to the Intelligence Division where prisoners have a high tendency to suffer "heart attacks" and "accidents". I think I'll take my chances outside."
"I am not going to be able to protect you anymore." Kakashi said sadly.
"I know." Sasuke admitted walking away.
In the distance there was a huge lighting and the sky was starting to cry. Sasuke stopped.
"This is the end, isn't it?" He wondered.
"I guess. Maybe, I don't know." Kakashi answered.
They looked at each other. Sasuke thought that Kakashi looked very old.
"You know, I always wondered..." Sasuke started "When I had just married, you got really angry with me. I wondered if you were in l…"
Kakashi gazed at Sasuke with a blank expression.
"Never mind. I'll ask you someday." Sasuke decided.
"Sure… later."
"When will you finally teach me how to throw shuriken?" A young Sasuke asked
"Sorry Sasuke. Tomorrow, okay?"
Uchiha Sasuke didn't believe in the words "tomorrow" or "later" anymore…
"Good-bye, sensei." Sasuke said.
Student and sensei started to walk away.
"Sasuke." Kakashi called back. "I am sorry. It's over."
Sasuke looked back. Kakashi was looking at him with a poignant expression. He was going to answer his sensei when he started to feel dizzy. His vision fragmented into hundred of cells. His peripheral vision was copies of the same image. It wasn't the dark forest anymore. It was his old home. He was there, in his bed. All the visions as a kaleidoscope moved together into a new vision of the past. One of the many he had tried to forget.
"Don't push yourself too hard. It's OK to be sick" Itachi told him,
Sasuke smiled as he saw Itachi looking after him. His father was working and his mother was shopping. He had been feeling sick for some time and he was running some high fever. His brother had volunteered to take care of him.
"What are you reading?" Sasuke asked weakly.
"It's a book about animals. You know how much I love reading." Itachi confessed "It's very interesting. Did you know that when a natural disaster is about to strike, the keen senses of animals sometimes allow them to escape death? …"
Sasuke blinked. He looked around. Kakashi was looking at him with the same expression. That meant his illusion had been very brief this time. He felt something. The attack was swift and without warning. He avoided seven kunais, but the eight had his name. It hit Sasuke's shoulder
"Shit!" Sasuke cursed. He violently took out the kunai. He tried to look for the enemy as the fabric of reality started to shatter again
"…However after the immediate threat there are more dangers: The scavengers like the vulture, the hyena or the jackal… All intent on preying on the weak when they are most vulnerable." Itachi was still explaining…
«Not again! » He thought. Going crazy when he was about to get killed was a perfectly bad idea, another of his typical recent bad ideas.
Kakashi was still looking at him with the same expression. Sasuke understood that he had made a mistake. He had come out from his hiding place and he had allowed other ANBU to get close. Kakashi had trapped him good… He wasn't in any condition to fight…
"Some animals will willingly gnaw off a limb to escape their aggressors." Itachi continued. He seemed enthusiastic about teaching this lesson to his brother "Others will wait for their aggressors to let their guard down to pounce. However at the end their overriding instinct is to flee. They don't have useless concepts like honor. Humans are different. They are taught that is not honorable to flee…"
Sasuke blinked again. He barely had a glimpse of shadows coming closer at lighting speed... It was enough for him to avoid the blow and retaliate.
Itachi paused with the explanation. He thought about his last words as he looked out of the window with a sad expression.
"In a way, we come to like the fight…"
Using Sasuke's brief distraction, one shinobi tried to pierce the Uchiha's face. A perfect strike in the chest sent one of his attackers flying away. He used the sharingan and he barely avoided one kunai that graced his forehead, adding another wound to the endless list. He managed to punch another enemy in the face, and there was a sound of a nose breaking.
The ANBUs were around him, restlessly assaulting him with a no-prisoner policy. Just then, with his energy waning, he felt a now familiar crawling sensation on his neck. The seal was struggling against his bonds, trying to claw its way free and sear its way across his flesh.
Some branches started to wrap around his feet. Sasuke jumped away, and he evaded other four kunais. He moved to the base of a tree. He tried to contain the seal while the rest of the ANBUs circled him. He counted more than ten, and probably more in the way as the pain in his back grew. That was the right moment to call for some time-out. Hell, it was the time to think about a major career change, before his head ended on somebody's belt.
An icy foreboding washed over his spine. He tried to leap into the air, but failed as his body was frozen in place, rooted to a shadow.
«Stupid, stupid, stupid. They are Leaf ANBU's. There was the possibility they had a member of the Nara clan. Fighting in the shadows of a tree… stupid» He thought.
Four shinobis dashed forward, their weapons pointed at him. He saw coming closer. He tried applying chakra to get away from the trap, but his mind was already leaving the battle, even as the kunais were going straight to his heart…
"The law of Nature: animals need to adapt to the law of the strongest. Natural world continuously adopt new tactics for survival when the relation between prey and predator becomes immediate: Instinct over intellect, reaction over provocation and brutality over grace. In nature fights are about life and death. Even if the prey is about to die, they never give up. Animals aren't smart enough to surrender."
"Brother?" A feebly Sasuke asked from the bed. " I don't understand. You mean that I should act like an animal if I am fighting?"
"No." Itachi said. His words were kind, but Sasuke couldn't distinguish his features anymore. The fever was making him see shadows. For the first time he thought his brother could appear to be scary "If you are fighting, you don't have to act like an animal. You have to become an animal."
Kakashi walked away from the fight. His student who shared the same blood as his best friend was going to die. He didn't want to stay. He had failed as a…
An explosion of chakra made him turn around.
The tree near Sasuke had been pulverized. Four shinobis were in the ground, trying to get up after receiving a very violent counterattack. The ANBU member of the Nara clan was screaming as a kunai had gone through his right hand. Sasuke was standing up, totally covered by the seal. It was the first time Kakashi was seeing the seal acting with full force; the raw, pure energy surrounding him. Blood was still flowing from Sasuke's wounds and his eyes burned dangerously with pent up anger.
"This is my choice." He said glaring at his enemies and taking his last combat pill. He still had the second-level pill. He now knew he was ready to use it. He was filled by some kind of primitive joy. No more doubts. No more fear. "For my own selfish reasons, I can't die yet. I have to kill the brother I loved to avenge the family I loved. I don't expect you to understand my bitterness or my anger, but it's a duty I can't shrink away." He looked at them. Leaf's ANBU, his former comrades and now his enemies. He still had the sharingan to detect his enemies even in the darkness. Their number was increasing. The first-level seal's power was too short-lived. It wasn't enough. "Now get out of here or…" His words were clearly heard "I'll kill you."
The shinobis adopted a new position and got ready to strike. Sasuke smiled a wide psychotic grin as he put Orochimaru's pill on his mouth.
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Kisame felt like the bones in his arms were going to break as he returned to the cabin. After Itachi had "accidentally" killed Naruto, the rest of Akatsuki had been very angry. They knew demons couldn't be killed so easily, even if their hosts were destroyed. Along history, demons had been trapped into host bodies numerous times. The Jinchuuriki died sooner or later, whether old age or combat. The demons died with the jinchuuriki, but sooner or later they always returned.
It was a matter of time before the Kyubi returned, but Akatsuki's plans had been delayed. As punishment, both he and Itachi had been sent to a cabin, like children sent to their rooms for bad attitude.
Itachi hadn't objected. Actually, he had been making the most of the time. He had been constantly training with him and he wasn't going easy. If he didn't know his teammate any better, he would say Itachi was worried.
"There is an ill wind." Itachi observed, interrupting his thoughts.
"Uh?" Kisame asked. What wind? It was damn hot. He was thirsty, hungry and hot. There wasn't the slightest breeze. He was going to get sunburn! And it was all Itachi's fault! "Ill wind?"
"Something is coming." Itachi said and Kisame could feel the chilly tone in his words. "Something is coming."
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"There is an ill wind." Itachi observed, interrupting his thoughts. The Uchiha took a fan and started fanning himself "And it was damn time! I was hot!"
Kisame sweat-dropped.
This is it. Chapter 32. We have come a long way, haven't we?. I hope you like the way the story is going. I'm trying hard t write an interesting plot to keep you hooked up. Anybody can guess where does Sasuke's quote in the introductioncome from? Clue, it's a kind of well known book.
Did you like the references to animals as related to the stages of the fight? I thought it would be an interesting idea.
Again, I tried to show character development: Neji's cold logic, Ino's lingering feelings, Kakashi's regret...
I am aiming to reach 500 reviews by the time I end the story, so, if you liked the chapter, please send me a review (a little longer than the word "update", please) telling me what you liked, or what you disliked or even suggestions. Thank you very much. All the feedback helps me improve as I am still an amateur.