Thank you all soooo much for the great, encouraging reviews! Kisses and hugs to you all! Thanks go also (as always...) to my sis... maybe I have to use 'that'! Du-du-duuummmm!
From now on, I have to untie the monstrous mess aka story plot of 'Darkening Horizon' in my brain... which is quite complicated, so I'm open for any kind of suggestions and maybe one pairing or another you desire will have a major appearance.
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Dead.
The man in the green spandex suit closed his eyes for a moment, carefully letting go of the heavy, limp body. He listened as it touched the ground, the material of the dead man's clothes rustling in the burnt grass of the small backyard.
The dead was a medical nin.
A medical ninja, he had and still 'needed' desperately!
Lee and Gai had departed from where Neji was waiting with a badly injured Tenten already more than forty minutes ago and until now, the only medical nins Gai had found were dead... mostly barely recognizable as such anymore.
When Gai opened his eyes again, he allowed them to wander across the small area lying hidden between high houses.
A barely breathing sound nin leaned against a wall that looked like it would crumble any second. Kunais stuck out of his battered body and a large wound gaped open that reached from his sternum to the neck.
The jounin's gaze wandered towards a third unmoving figure not far away from him. The woman had a partly closed wound at her back. It seemed the medic had tried to rescue her when the sound nin had probably appeared and had killed him... and therefor the kunoichi he had taken care of.
Heaving a deep sigh, Gai got up from the ground and nodded respectfully towards the two fallen comrades.
"The only place where I could find someone now, is the Hokage tower..." Gai mused out loud.
He wasn't afraid of anybody hearing him.
No. The opposite was the case!
The more hostile ninjas took notice of him, the more of them Gai could get rid of.
He had already observed, that ever since he and the other two hundred shinobis had returned, there were much less sound nins swarming the village. He had even found two dead giant snakes on his way to get help.
Leaf would be victorious.
There was no doubt about that in the black-haired man's mind.
Looking up towards the high rooftops of the houses, Gai decided on one that looked like it wouldn't collapse as soon as a bird landed on it.
Within an eye's blink he was on top of it, getting a good view of the western border of Konohagakure. In the distance he could see a monstrous snake crashing houses under its massive body. Small dots surrounding it, like flies on a warm summer day.
Everytime one of those dots came near the snake body, a small explosion would be set off.
The snake didn't seem to care. It just kept on swinging its large tail and burying houses underneath it.
Gai's eyes flickered to his left when suddenly goose bumps rose on his arms and something lurched inside his stomach. It was a feeling like waking up when you knew you were being watched sleeping.
Slowly, the black haired man stood rigidly on the house, hands clenched tightly into fists by his side. He was ready to punch the living daylight out of whoever had felt the need to startle him! He just hoped for once it was Kakashi...
"Oi! Now look who's there!" A voice errupted from behind Gai. It sounded like the owner of it had found something very funny, the light tone of the voice making Gai stand on edge.
"He is none of our concern." Another darker, calm voice interrupted the other man's laughing and silenced him effectively.
Gai knew the owner of the voices without having to see them.
"Itachi..." He uttered under his breath and turned around fully, facing the two man determinedly.
"Heya! Don't tell me ya can't remember me!" The taller shark-like man roared. "You don't only look like an ugly beast, ya also got its brains!" He chuckled humorlessly, his dark eyes gleaming in apparent excitement as he regarded Gai with a long,
piercing look.
"Kisame, be silent or I will see to it." Itachi told his companion in a steady voice, slowly lifting his gaze and revealing his pinwheel eyes from underneath a large straw hat. A small bell cut through the silence like a sword, making Gai fight against a lump in his throat.
'What are they doing here?' He asked himself. 'They aren't here with Orochimaru, are they?'
"We are here on our own, Gai." Like a knife, Itachi broke into his train of thoughts, gaining the man's attention at once.
"It would be very helpful if you could please tell us the whereabouts of Uzumaki Naruto." The nuke-nin asked Gai very politely.
But Itachi's intense stare revealed his true intensions.
Chuckling, Gai put his hands onto his hip, one corner of his mouth pulling up into a lopsided grin.
"That's the reason?... I am sorry to tell you that even if I knew where he was, I would hardly give you any information."
Gai looked straight into the crimson red eyes of the younger man. "I also can't let the two of you just go. You realize that, don't you Itachi?"
With that, Gai straightened visibly, one arm behind his back and the other one pointing into the direction of his two opponents.
His open hand beckoned them to get started as his eyes glinted provocatively.
"Is that so." Itachi asked. It almost sounded like he was already bored, having accepted the answer of the older man and would leave. But judging by the way he tilted his head slightly to the left, his eyes flickering to Kisame for a split second, they wouldn't go without a proper fight.
"Leave that wannabe beast to me, Itachi!" Grinning maliciously, Kisame grabbed the hilt of his Samehade and pulled it out from behind his back, allowing the massive sword to rest on the dirty ground in front of him.
"I'll see ya in an hour at the west gate with that fox brat, Itachi!"
The grin on his face turned into a large smile as the shark-man bared his sharp, white teeth in the setting sun.
He never turned towards his much smaller comrade and therefor didn't see the slight nod of his head. Neither did he take notice of a small group of sound nins running past in the streets below.
Kisame's eyes were trained on Gai, the smile never faltering.
Getting into a more comfortable position, he took the sword into a firmer grip and pointed the end of it at Gai's chest.
"Run, beast!"
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"Sakura! I've found a blanket!"
Breathing heavily, the young kunoichi looked up startled when she found a woolen cloth being pushed into her line of view.
"Good, Lee... get down beside me..." Halting mid-sentence, Sakura closed her eyes for a moment when she found her vision being blurred from exhaustion.
She had been kneeling on the hard ground for the last ten minutes now and still the wound on Tenten's abdomen hadn't closed completely. There just wasn't enough chakra left in her drained body to heal it!
'Dammit, dammit!' She yelled in her mind as she felt tears pricking at the back of her eyes.
She couldn't help her. Sakura wouldn't be able to save Tenten 'and' the baby! There was no chance in hell, that the last chakra she still had in her system after over one day of healing and fighting, would be enough for them both!
Tenten was losing the battle... Sakura could feel it. It was like the body crumpled internally... as if the last energy reserves shrank back into the most important organs like heart, lungs and brain.
The medic nin had been healing enough deadly wounded to know when there was no hope left and Tenten was on the verge between life and death...
"Sakura!" There was a firm hand gripping her right shoulder as Lee's loud voice penetrated the haze in her clouded mind.
"What do I have to do to help you!"
That was right.
Lee was there. And Shikamaru and Neji.
They were watching her, trusting her to rescue the two lives.
Sakura hadn't worked so hard, had learned night and day, had strained her body and brain so much to disappoint them and herself so easily now! That was not the way Tsunade had taught her.
"The baby will be there after the next contraction! Hold the blanket under Tenten and take the baby carefully!" Sakura's throat was dry and sore and it was hard to keep the slight tremble out of her voice, but when she looked up, there was no disapproval or disappointment in Lee's warm eyes.
He just smiled gently at her as he crouched down beside Sakura and did as he was instructed.
Exhaling sharply, Sakura doubled her efforts in closing the wound in Tenten's side, her hand glowing in a brighter bluish light now. She'd rather use the last bit of her energy than allow her friend to lose either her life or her child!
"I've got it!" The excited voice of Lee errupted suddenly from beside her.
"Alright! Shika, come over here... use a lace to put a tourniquet on the umbilical cord. Then take a kunai and cut it!"
She heard a low grumble from the genius that sounded suspiciously like 'how troublesome', but Sakura ignored it pointedly and watched as he did as he was told to, cutting the cord in one fluid motion.
As soon as the new born was no longer linked to its mother, Lee didn't waste a second and hastily pulled out the gurgling bundle from underneath Tenten, cradling it carefully in his arms to protect it from the cold air of the beginning night.
"Lee, check its vital signs! And clear its mouth and nose from amnionic fluid! Are there any injuries you can see or has it problems breathing?" The orders came out of Sakura's mouth without her thinking about it. These were the first things she would have done, but right now both her hands had built a seal mere millimeters above Tenten's now rapidly closing wound.
Brows knitted together in concentration, the young man started to examine the small form with alert eyes.
He used his fingers and the blanket to clean the child's orifices from the liquid and listened as it tried to scream the first time. It still sounded like water was blocking its trachea, but after some seconds, the gurgling had almost ceased completely and the baby started to cry in a loud, strong voice.
"He's breathing normally and apart from a small scratch, there are no external injuries I can see!" Lee told his friend in a content voice, when he suddenly heard a sharp intake of breath.
"'He'? It's a boy?" Neji asked in a whisper as his white eyes stared affectionately at the squirming bundle in his friend's arms.
"Yes, a boy!" Lee comfirmed happily, crawling over to where Neji was still kneeling on the cobblestone ground, Tenten's head lying motionless in his lap. She hand't uttered a word ever since she had begged Sakura to save the baby instead of her some minutes ago.
Sighing in relief, Sakura watched as the last inch of the wound finally closed, leaving behind immaculate white skin that stood out grossly against the crimson colored parts of the rest of Tenten's body.
Black and white spots started dancing across Sakura's vision when her arms started shaking from the straining procedure.
Her chest seemed to refuse to heave properly, lungs burning from the lack of oxygen.
'They're fine... they're fine...' Like a mantra, the pink-haired medic repeated the sentence over and over in her brain.
Slowly her mind fogged and the voice of her friends got more and more distant. Sakura's back ached and she could feel that her muscles wouldn't keep her up much longer.
"Sakura..." Her eyes wandered to the blurred form of Neji, his voice seemingly miles away.
"Thank you..."
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Lips pursed, the young man watched as the pink-haired kunoichi fell over, landing in a miserable heap beside her unconscious patient.
A friend of her with black hair and a ponytail rushed immediately towards her, catching her head before it could hit the ground.
Eyes narrowed, the man got up from where he had been kneeling for the last ten minutes, having watched the dramatic scene without any emotions displayed.
"So, you got stronger." He mumbled, staring at Sakura as she fought against unconsciousness, his red eyes with the three pinwheel wings slowly spinning.
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"Hey, Jiraya!"
Turning his head slightly to his right, he glanced sideways at his female friend.
"What?"
Ramming her fist into the chest of her opponent, Tsunade sent him flying into the other three sound nins. They hit the other end of the street with a sound thud... unmoving. After that she cracked her knuckles and walked over to where the man with the spiky white hair stood, waiting patiently for her to return.
"Ya know that this is gonna end in hell for us, right?" Tsunade nodded to where a gigantic snake towered high above the village.
On top of it, a small dark figure stood solemnly.
They both knew 'who' the figure was.
"Orochimaru isn't the only one inventing jutsus, now is he?" The sannin asked with a grin.
"Nope... gonna kick his pale ass until it gets some color back..." Tsunade inhaled quickly before jumping onto a roof, listening as Jiraya followed her immediately.
They had one chance.
Not more.
If they couldn't defeat the snake-sannin within this window of opportunity, the plan had failed and either some brainy guy had another marvelous idea then or Konoha was officially mud. And to be frank, Tsunade was fairly sure not a soul in this village knew another way to get Orochimaru. She had, after all, been working on the problem of killing her former comrade with the top ninjas of Konohagakure and this plan, this jutsu, was the best thing they had been able to come up with.
"Then you've got one hell of a job there!" Jiraya chuckled. Catching up to the medical nin, he put a gentle hand on her left shoulder and squeezed it lightly.
"Ya know...", Tsunade started, but got interrupted by two shuriken that barely missed her nose.
Glaring down at the two sound nins, she pulled out a kunai and threw it down at the enemies.
The sharp weapon flew straight through the first man and hit the second one in the middle of his chest. They collapsed almost at the same time and Tsunade didn't give them a second thought as she looked back to where Jiraya was now heading, having taken the lead.
"I hope the kids behave." She continued her earlier thoughts and gained a small sigh from the man.
"They'll be fine. They'll do the right thing when it comes to it." Jiraya finished wih a grin, watching the monster come nearer by the second.
The giant snake was staring right at them, the person on its head now clearly visible as he stood facing them with arms crossed firmly over his chest.
The hem of his clothes moved slightly in the wind as he waited patiently for his former teammates to finally arrive.
"He's still the bitch we know and love, right, Tsunade"
"Yeah... leave him some fun as long as he can still smile..."
They had neared the eastern end of the village and the large apartment houses had turned gradually into small bungalows and large mansions with formally beautiful gardens.
They had reached the Hyuuga estate.
Frowning, Jiraya watched as Manda lifted its massive body slightly off of the ground and gained some twenty meters of hight. A dark cloud of dust and debris rose from where it had been lying, making it impossible to see anything beyond it.
"We'll have to get him out of the village... otherwise the village will be a mess even without you breaking houses and streets with your impressive madness." Jiraya told Tsunade with a mock-smile, ducking as she attempted to get a hold of his hair.
"Though you're an idiot, you're right... let's drag him into the forest!"
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"Woooa! Stop waving around that thing, Naruto!"
Watching as the katana came again way too near his face, Kakashi took the opportunity and caught it with his bare hands in mid-swing.
Naruto might have been the number one surprise ninja and not only Kakashi trusted him with his life, but when it came to weapons other than shurikens and kunais, he was the most dangerous person for both enemy and friend... which Kakashi had learned painfully some half a year ago, when he had thought it would be wise to show Naruto how to use senbons.
Breathing heavily, Naruto looked at the person who had grabbed the sword before he had had the chance to use it. His eyes had long ago turned into cat-like slits and his eyetooths had mutated into long fangs. And all he wanted to do right now, was bury the sword he had ripped out of the foe's grasp some seconds ago in the sound nin's chest.
"What!" He barked out in a hoarse voice, not loosening the grip around the sound ninja's collar as he pressed him into a wall.
"Ya know, this'll gonna end in a damn disaster if you don't stop acting like a, lets say, kyubi." Kakashi answered in calm voice,
letting the sword fall from his now bleeding hand. He put it into his pocket, waving around with his other one as he continued in a much lighter tone.
Judging by the way his eyes suddenly crinkled up, a smile was apparently on his hidden lips.
"In which case I'd have to hit you so hard, that even Sakura would be proud of me."
Kakashi could see how Naruto's jaws clenched and unclenched rhythmically at that as he fought for control.
His former sensei was right. He had again allowed the fox-demon to take over.
Even though he was still in possession of his mind, there was that damn insistent voice somewhere calling in a dark corner of his mind, telling him to rip apart every human being that he came across. Telling him how good the fresh, warm blood smelled when it gushed out of wounds and spilled onto his claws. Telling him to forget that fucking, silver-haired bastard and go to where the real fight was raging on...
"Phew... you'll have some pretty scars there." The light voice of Kakashi penetrated the haze that had threatened to take over Naruto again.
'I'm still in control.' The blond young man told himself, closing his eyes for a second as he forced his fingers away from around the now dead man's neck and opened his other hand to reveal four puncture wounds were his claws had dug hard into his own flesh.
The second time that day...
Lowering his gaze, Kakashi stared at his own bloodied boots and sighed.
Most of the crimson liquid wasn't his own and it reminded him of how many hostile ninjas the two of them had already killed.
When he strained his ears he noticed longer periods of silence between explosions and screams, telling him that the leaf-shinobis were gaining the upper hand in this dirty game. A game in which the lives of thousands were at stake.
"Sorry..." Naruto almost whispered as he headed to where the older man was standing beside five dead sound nins, watching his boots as he was apparently deep in thoughts.
"Not a prob. Just try to stay focused." Kakashi smiled warmly down at his friend, scratching the back of his head.
Exhaling soundly, Naruto relaxed visibly.
"We should find somebody in charge... my best guess is that either Sakura or Shikamaru are in the Hokage tower planning strategies and taking care of the injured." Kakashi mused out loud, looking up where he could see the first signs of the large famous building. "Tsunade herself is probably on her way to take care of Orochimaru..."
"I guess she's not alone."
Frowning slightly, Kakashi followed Naruto's gaze.
He had to blink several times to adjust to the dark night sky. The streets were all slightly illuminated from the burning houses and stores and occasional explosions gave extra 'light', which caused a great difference between sky and ground.
Somewhere in the distance near the eastern outlines of the village, a giant snake got forced backwards into the forest by a monstrous red toad. A large amount of dust rose from where houses got crashed and trees snapped like matches from the enormous power of the two beasts.
The saying 'the beginning of the end' lingered on Kakashi's tongue, but he swallowed it down just like the heavy sigh that threatened to escape him.
They would soon find out 'whose' end had begun...
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"Sakura..."
"Shh... try to sleep. We'll take care of everything"
Putting a comforting hand onto Tenten's forehead, Sakura heaved a heavy sigh.
To her dismay, her palm found the soft skin of her friend slightly damp and warm.
The weapons specialist was running a fever.
"Shika, get me my pouch." She told her friend in a whisper, wiping off the cold sweat from Tenten's face carefully.
"Here... what do you need?"
"There is a small bottle with yellow liquid in there"
Rolling her shoulders to work out the strain in them, she listened as her friend rummaged through the content of her small medical bag. She knew that the fever was a normal reaction to the sever wound Tenten had had, but she had to get it under control nonetheless. The young woman's battered body was too weak from blood loss and having given birth in such a stressful situation that Sakura feared Tenten wouldn't be able to handle the fever on her own.
"Here." Shikamaru gave his comrade a small bottle and watched in fascination as the kunoichi gently gave Tenten a small amount of the yellowish fluid.
When Sakura looked up, she found the worried eyes of Hyuga Neji watching every move of both his fiancee and the medical nin like an eagle.
Behind her she could hear a hushed conversation between Shikamaru and Lee who was still cradling the newborn lovingly in his arms. Sakura knew, he would rather die than let anything come near the defenseless baby.
Which brought her mind back to the topic.
Twenty minutes had passed since Sakura had collapsed. And though she had been able to stay conscious and even get back up after several minutes, she was still in no condition to help Lee and Shika fight against possible attackers. And in addition to that she had a woman that slipped in and out of conscious and a baby to take care of, not to mention the emotional wrack of a man who could under normal circumstances kill with closed eyes and arms tied behind his back.
And she still had to find Naruto.
He had to be her utmost priority now!
"Shika, Lee, come over here." She ordered in almost a whisper.
"What is it?" Lee asked in a concerned tone of voice. "Is Tenten alright?"
Smiling, Sakura nodded.
"Get them out of here."
Gaining deep frowns from both Shikamaru and Lee, she continued.
"Neji can't take care of Tenten, the baby 'and' the sound nins that are still running around here." Her eyes flickered to the five dead hostile shinobis. Shika nodded absently, making a face as he rose from the ground.
'At least he knows what I want to say...' Sakura thought and concentrated now fully on Lee and Neji instead.
"Lee, you and Shikamaru go with them. Get as fast as possible to the border and try to reach Suna! You can't use the secret passageway... Tsunade herself sealed it and besides, you'd attract unwanted attention from the sound nins and would therefor endanger the civilians in their hiding place."
"She's right. The only way to get them into safety is through the forest." Shika continued, stepping forward and carefully lifting Tenten up from the ground. He had covered her in a blanket Lee had brought along some minutes ago.
"Most sound nins are still here in Konohagakue... they aren't retreating yet and escaping through the forest shouldn't be a problem for you guys." She grinning boyishly up at them, causing Lee's cheeks to turn slightly red. "And besides, it's night, which means that the chance of escaping unnoticed is higher now and with Neji's Byakugan, there shouldn't be any problems finding the enemy before they find you, right?"
Neji nodded in agreement, carefully taking Tenten from Shikamaru and pressing her protectively against his chest.
"When you reach Suna," Sakura consciously used 'when' and not 'if', "give them this"
Taking a small sheet of paper, she hastily scribbled something onto it. Her friends watched her with a frown.
"Tsunade has already sent a message to them about our status, so this is not about the war. It's about the treatment Tenten needs... she's still not out of the woods, so hurry."
"And you"
Startled, Sakura regarded Lee with a bewildered look.
"You can't tell me that you want to run around in such a condition! Somebody has to stay here and protect you!"
Exhaling soundly, Sakura got up from the hard cobblestone ground, wincing when her arms and legs protested painfully.
She knew this was stupid, but well... she was a medic and the patient was king, so to say! She still had her little trump card and was pretty sure she could take care of herself until she had found Naruto. What happened afterwards lay still hidden within darkness, but she would handle whatever fate threw at her!
"It looks like you will have to carry a baby... and not the damsel in distress." She winked at Lee and turned around, facing away from the three men. "Don't worry! I've still got some tricks up my sleeve!"
"Wait, Sakura!" Frowning, she turned around to Shikamaru, finding the young man holding a small letter in his outstretched hand. It was sealed and the sign of Konoha covered the front in a bright green.
"It's from Tsunade. She told me to give it to Naruto after the battle, but now it seems I can't do the job anymore." He told her solemnly and shoved it into her open palm.
Worried, Sakura put it into her pouch, wondering silently why Tsunade couldn't do it herself.
"Be careful, Sakura." Lee told her in a concerned voice, gaining a small smile from the kunoichi.
With that, she collected enough chakra in her feet to jump onto a nearby house.
She didn't turn back around, instead waving a in blood covered hand 'goodbye' at her friends, before vanishing in the darkness.
Not wasting another second, she headed straight into the only direction she and Shika hadn't searched, yet.
He had to be there.
It wasn't far from her current position and with any luck she would find him within the next ten minutes.
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"Like cockroaches." Naruto mumbled under his breath, when another sound nin fell dead onto his already fallen comrade.
"This starts to get old..."
Sighing, Kakashi unclenched his fist and looked with tired eyes at the pile of human bodies to his right. He wasn't in the mood to count the number of enemies they had killed within the last ten minutes, but he had noticed that the period of time between new attacks was slowly growing, meaning that the number of sound nins in the village was gradually decreasing.
Good news on a bad day.
"If that doesn't stop, we'll never reach the Hokage tower!" Naruto complained soundly, walking over towards Kakashi, arms akimbo.
The silver-haired jounin knew Naruto's rambling was his own strange way of expressing concern.
Kakashi, though still far from breaking down, felt his muscles starting to tire. Numerous wounds covering his body wouldn't stop bleeding and there wasn't enough time to take care of them, resulting in even greater exhaustion... and he had only fought three hours now!
Naruto had surely already realized that most dead leaf shinobis were the result of physical exhaustion.
Without the top ninjas protecting the village, even genins had been forced to participate in this battle and after fourteen hours straight of fighting, even the fittest ninja didn't stand a chance against a superior strength.
"She's alright, Naruto." Kakashi smiled gently under his mask, trying to convince Naruto just as much as himself.
"I know... It would be just better to see her to make sure that..."
"Narutooooo!"
Startled, the blond young man looked up, eyes flickering across the rooftops to find the voice of the person who had called him.
There!
"Sakura..." He whispered incredulously, not noticing the same bewildered look on Kakashi's face.
'Speeking of the devil...' He thought amused when his former student came into view.
Sakura was waving a hand into their direction, the blood on her clothes and skin not going unnoticed by neither Kakashi nor Naruto.
But she seemed to be alright... well, as much as one can be in a war.
"Sakura!" A large smile threatened to split Naruto's face in two as he jumped onto the house Sakura would land on soon, closely followed by the copy ninja.
"Naruto! He's here!" She yelled, not caring that somebody could see or hear her. "Itachi... he's here!"
Eyes widening with realization, he watched her land on the last house before the one on which he was standing, when suddenly a dark energy appeared seemingly out of the nowhere, materializing where Sakura was currently running towards them.
Mouth slightly agape, Naruto watched in horror as a figure in a black cloak, covered with red clouds, appeared directly behind Sakura.
The young kunoichi noticed the presence apparently at the same time, her hand flying to the shuriken holster at her leg in an instant. She stopped dead and swivelled around on the spot, just to find a hand already holding her wrist tightly in an iron grip.
"She is right, Uzumaki Naruto."
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FINIS?
WHAAAAAAAT? Argh! What the hell is going on there? Tell me what you think about it and I'll try to find the answers in the secret book I hid in the terrarium of my snake (no his name is not Orochi... though my sis would love that ;P )... nobody will ever dare to go 'there'! Muahahahahahaha!