Tiny chapter, I know. Sorry about that.
Date 06.13.06
Day 4 Part II
Time stopped. Tick Tock.
Like a shadow, a man with long, black hair entered the kitchen through the open living room window. Like a menacing shadow, he stepped between Sasuke and the knife, grasped its handle and sent it right back at their attacker. With unmatched speed, he twisted around and looked at the boy sitting on the floor. Sharingan met Sharingan in a clash of power. If the two brothers could shoot lightning out of their eyes, they would've fried each other with a single glance.
The sound ninja barely had time to think before the knife landed in his thigh. Blood splattered, and Sakura gasped. Crimson drops fell to the floor, again as if in slow motion. The man who'd attacked them collapsed with a strangled cry, for the small kunai had gone all the way in. In Sakura's practical mind, she thought the bone had probably shattered during impact.
And then the world returned to normal.
Itachi was the first to speak. "Did Orochimaru succeed?"
"No," Sasuke replied evenly, glaring at his brother.
The man in the black and red cloak nodded. "Good."
"Why do you care?" Sasuke demanded.
Itachi looked at him for a moment and then seemed to acquiesce at least for the time being. "In the last year, we have had dealings with his ninja. What he does to people is not my problem, but he has been attacking us and ours as well. Whether intentionally or not, it will not be tolerated."
"What does it have to do with me?"
"Sasuke, weak as you are now, you still possess the potential for getting the most out of those eyes of yours. You know how to achieve that goal as well." Itachi paused for a moment. "You hesitate, but Orochimaru in your body will not. He will kill Naruto to get what he wants. So, it will become a problem for me if he succeeds."
"Funny, you don't usually explain yourself to me," Sasuke said with a shrug.
Itachi almost smiled. "You needed to know. I do not say this lightly, but know that if you allow Orochimaru to succeed, it will be him and not you who fights me."
"Like you care."
Itachi reached out in a movement too swift to see and grasped Sasuke's shoulders tightly, but not hard enough to hurt. He reached deeply into the boy and pulled at the curse, extracting it. Sasuke screamed in sheer pain, feeling as if his very insides were being torn out of him, inch by painful inch. Finally, he could stand it no longer, and the darkness claimed him.
Naruto watched in wonder as the cursed mark disappeared from Sasuke's shoulder completely. It faded into nothingness, after such a long time of being there. Itachi examined his handiwork for a moment before letting go of his brother's shoulders. The younger Uchiha collapsed onto the wooden floor.
"Interesting curse, I'll have to have a look at it later." Itachi turned to Naruto and said, "Keep him safe."
And with those words, he was gone, as mysterious as ever.
A bird chirped somewhere in the distance and the bright afternoon sun shone happily in through the open windows. Bits and pieces of Naruto's front door lay scattered about the living room. Behind him, on the wall by the stove, two knives were stuck deeply into the wall. Sakura's cereal lay on the floor, with milk oozing in all directions.
"I'll have to report this to Tsunade, of course," said the pervert and left.
Sakura looked at her wrist watch and mumbled something about being late to a meeting with the hokage. She checked Sasuke's pulse, verified that he was alive, and then sprinted through the open doorway. Naruto watched her leave with a small shrug.
"My house is turning into a disaster zone," he said quietly as he picked up Sasuke and carried him back into the bedroom. "And you have been out far too much in the last few days. Up with you!"
Sasuke groaned an opened his eyes. "Itachi?"
"Gone with the wind!" Naruto hopped onto the bed. "What a creep."
"He follows his own agenda."
"Yeah, he does. On the upside, he did cure you of Orochimaru's curse, so it can't be all bad."
Sasuke looked at his right shoulder uncertainly. "I wonder how he did that."
"I'm sure you'll have plenty of opportunities to ask him," Naruto commented. "We have about three hours before we have to be at the meeting."
Sasuke nodded and leaned up against Naruto, his eyes on the now slightly taller boy. Used to be they competed about that, but now, it hardly mattered anymore. Height a man did not make. Naruto ran his hands through Sasuke's hair, liking the way it felt; the raven was... well... purring.
They spent those sunny afternoon hours wrapped around each other, talking about the little things in life. Naruto did most of the talking, actually, and Sasuke just listened. He liked hearing Naruto's voice for some reason. He was starting to feel better, too, as the poison wore off but still not up to full strength.
Naruto provided him with a forehead protector and standard pouch of sharp dangerous ninja things before they left. Sasuke stumbled over to the mirror and shook his head. He'd forgotten what it felt like to be a fighter for Konoha, the village of the leaves.
"Come on," Naruto called. "We have a fight to win."
They went to the meeting late that evening and spent the better part of the night working out the details. Sasuke, who wasn't feeling well to begin with, fell asleep long before the end, but no one had the heart to blame him. Letting him rest, the others worked out the details of the next day or so. They knew that an attack would come and soon, and they planned around it. They just thought they'd get a night's sleep before hand.
When it was over, they started packing up to go home. Outside, the starts shone onto the sleeping village, casting pale shadows into the darkness. A cool breeze wandered the sleeping streets. Stalls closed for the night, shops with their lights turned down, pebbles on the street.
Shikamaru was about to step out into this nighttime world, the first to leave since he had Temari waiting at home for him, when the alarms went up. Loud sirens awoke the sleeping city, calling its citizens to arms.
"Guess now's a good time as any to test out our plan," said Neji.
Chouji and Ino nodded at once, and together with Shikamaru they vanished into the night. Neji and Ten-Ten followed, with Lee already two steps ahead of them. They could see the older ninja already perched on rooftops, executing their maneuvers to evacuate the civilians.
"We all know our roles," Sakura said quietly. "Let's do this."
Hinata, who had finally managed to grow out of fear and into a relatively stable human being, and her team mates nodded. "We're off."
Naruto awoke Sasuke, and both of them joined Sakura as they headed to the edge of the village, straight into the swarm of Sound soldiers. They could hear Kiba and his dog howling in the distance, and somehow this reassured Sakura. They were doing this together. Once they had competed at the Chunin exams. Now, they were fighting side by side to stop a common foe.
I think the battle will be the next couple of chapters. I don't really feel like putting it all in here. Anyway, that's all for this chapter. Hope you like it.
vlissan – When it comes to writing long chapters, I find it easier to jot down all the stuff I want to have happen and then go back and add the details. MS Word's ability to save stuff comes in really handy.
