Usually I like to keep Author's Notes at the bottom, but this chapter has a special ending and I feel like it'll be less impactful if I include the A/N there.

First off, there's an awesome fan fic named Bloodless by Tavina. It's an SI fic where the SI is Inuzuka Hana, and it involves some intense political intrigue regarding Iwa, the Uchiha clan, and also the Hyuuga. Also, almost all of the characters in there are canon, which is seriously impressive. It's been updating every day recently, so it's been kind of spoiling me! Very fun read and it's been a fun way to start my day lately.

Another recommendation: Dance of the Dog God, by Tartarun. It has Kakashi as a missing-nin, and Obito as the teacher for Team Seven. To give you an idea of how much it diverges from canon, the Wave arc doesn't even take place in Wave. I am jealous of the universe's alterations and Kakashi's characterization in it. Read it, but beware, it is dark and while it does an amazing job at balancing it out with humor, it has at least one seriously gory and disturbing scene. (Anyone ever read Uzumaki by Junji Ito? This gave me some fun flashbacks~)

With the recommendations out of the way, this chapter is Reebajee's fault. Blame her for this outcome. Or thank her. This chapter has several elements/scenes I planned to include from the start, but she's the one who inspired the confrontation between Gaara and Masaru. And THAT gave me the opening to tie all these random ideas together in an even better way than I could have imagined.

This chapter is very important. I really want your guys' input on how I handled it, because I think this is one of those chapters that can either turn a story around on its head in a good way, or make it weaker. With all that said, please enjoy.


Chapter 36


"Sometimes, the truth is painful. Sometimes, you don't want to believe the truth. Sometimes, you just want it all to be one big lie."


Today probably marked the second scariest day in Masaru's life.

Number one would always, always be the massacre, but today? Today definitely served as a strong contender for the spot, what with the invasion, having to fight off six enemy ninja on his own, and then the homicidal jinchuuriki tracking him down instead of pursuing Masaru's last remaining relative like expected.

Masaru felt numb as he stared up at the dangerous boy looming over him, the kunai in his hand forgotten in the icy bloodlust Gaara radiated. Corpses littered the ground around him and saturated the forest floor, Masaru's face and clothing sprinkled with blood which had rained from the giant sand fists. Yet none of that mattered, not in the face of the deadly Sand genin responsible for it.

At any given time he would describe Gaara as "disturbing," but never had that applied more than now. The redhead looked eerily calm standing amongst the carnage he'd just wrought, yet his eyes held a certain malicious gleam that sent an instinctive shudder down Masaru's spine. His skin seemed to vibrate as his chakra stirred the grains composing his sand armor, only adding to the unsettling aura he possessed.

"Mother has been quite interested in you," he declared blandly.

Something told Masaru that did not refer to Gaara's actual mother. Blinking slowly, Masaru found his mouth opening to ask, "Why?"

"She says you look like Indra." Indra. The name echoed in Masaru's head, one of his hands unconsciously fluttering towards his hair as he recalled his mother's voice from long ago (Indra's hair, you have Indra's hair, Masa-kun.). Gory tangles brushed against his fingertips, along with something wet and fleshy. Absently he wrenched it free from the mass of curls to inspect it, and stared at the object blankly for three seconds before recognizing it as a finger.

Oh, right. One of them had been clutching his hair when Gaara attacked. Now that Masaru had started to come to his senses he suddenly noticed his hair felt heavier than usual, and he realized that more fingers must be caught in it.

Bile rose in his mouth and he quickly swallowed it back, his initial numbness swiftly giving way to bone-chilling terror as he began to fully comprehend the severity of the situation.

A crazed jinchuuriki who had likely been brought to Konoha as part of an invasion plan stood in front of Masaru. Something he called "mother" expressed an interest in him because he looked like Indra. Indra, a mythical figure who had supposedly been the eldest son of the Sage of Six Paths and the original ancestor of the Uchiha.

All of those facts pointed to some rather disturbing implications which Masaru decided not to dwell on too much, at least not while he sat in mortal peril.

"I... see," he croaked, letting the finger drop to the ground. It unwillingly drew his gaze as it rolled away, bright and pale and red against the lifeless brown dirt. Masaru swallowed thickly and forced himself to face Gaara, searching for words. "I-is that... good?" He internally winced at the mild stutter, and the redhead's eyes narrowed, studying him for a moment before answering.

"Mother says you're... different. More nervous." A brief pause. "She says you're amusing."

Despite his current mortal terror Masaru couldn't help but slump a bit at the subtle jab. He couldn't know for sure, but he got the sense that a Tailed Beast might be laughing at him right now. Then again, that amusement might be the only thing keeping him alive...

Forcing himself to steady his breathing, he slowly and carefully rose to his feet, ignoring the way his legs wobbled. Gaara watched him intently the entire time, his face ever unchanging. Buy time, some voice said in the back of his mind. Humor him long enough to think up a plan or for someone to come.

"Um... thank you," he muttered cautiously. "F-for, that." He gestured vaguely to the massacre around them, resisting the grimace which threatened to tug on his mouth. The casual ease with which Gaara slaughtered them still made him sick, but he couldn't deny that had Gaara not appeared he likely would have been captured. (He still didn't know if that would be better or worse.)

Of course, the other boy didn't respond right away, simply staring at Masaru as if searching for something. "What do you think of love?" he finally asked, and Masaru just stared blankly, struggling to process the random nature of the query.

"I... don't know? I-I mean, that's, kind of a vague thing to ask... I don't really know how to answer." Apparently his answer didn't displease Gaara, or at the very least, he didn't suddenly look angry or murderous.

"Would you say your family loved you?"

That... did not meet his expectations. "Yes." The word slipped out without hesitation, and Gaara's eyes narrowed.

"Both of them? Your mother and sister?"

Masaru opened his mouth to respond "yes" but then stopped, the implications of the question striking him. How did Gaara know he didn't have a father?


They had made a mistake.

It hadn't been an obvious mistake. Tenzo couldn't fault Kakashi for it, even if the older jounin obviously blamed himself. Every sign pointed to Gaara wanting to fight Sasuke—hell, Gaara had explicitly addressed Sasuke back in the stadium. But at some point during the pursuit, his directive had clearly changed from one Uchiha to the other.

According to Kakashi it most likely happened when Masaru and Kiba had broken away from the main group at his orders, since that had been the last time they'd seen the jinchuuriki. Team Seven had expressed a great deal of surprise when Kakashi relayed his suspicions to them, and it had taken a bit of effort to keep Sasuke and Naruto from running ahead. Tenzo heavily suspected the boys only relented because they'd need the ninken to track them down, but Naruto still sent a horde of shadow clones ahead anyway.

Now they just ran in grim silence, waiting for Akino or Bisuke to bark out confirmation they'd caught Gaara's scent. It gave Tenzo a lot of time for his mind to wander, and his thoughts kept circling back to a single question:

Why?

Why did Gaara want to find Masaru? Tenzo knew for a fact they hadn't interacted since that first escort mission. ANBU had kept a close eye on both of the Uchiha boys over the past month due to Orochimaru's interest in them, and if Gaara had so much as stared at Masaru from across the street it would have been noted down. Even if they had no confirmation of Gaara's suspected jinchuuriki status at the time, his actions during the Chuunin Exams merited a good level of wariness.

Whatever the reason for his interest, it couldn't be good.

As he mulled over it Tenzo risked a look at Kakashi, frowning as he noted the tightness around his single eye. No doubt the man blamed himself for this; he always did when something went wrong, even if that something fell beyond his control. Sensing his gaze, Kakashi glanced at him before quickly turning his face forward once more, his eye growing even dimmer.

Dammit, now he was probably thinking he'd failed Tenzo by endangering his student. Tenzo definitely cared for Masaru and felt more worried than he'd ever been in his life, but he wouldn't blame Kakashi for failing to predict this turn of events. Logically speaking, they had no way to anticipate that Gaara would abandon his pursuit of Sasuke to chase after Masaru instead.

He opened his mouth to say as much when Naruto suddenly shouted. "HEY! That's that creepy puppet guy and that girl who beat Sakura!" He jabbed a finger at two figures in the distance and sure enough, he recognized Temari and Kankurou, the two elder Sand Siblings standing on a rooftop looking around as if searching for something. Next to him Sakura's eyes ignited with rage, a feral snarl escaping her as she charged forward.

"HOW DARE YOU KNOCK ME OUT OF THE FINALS JUST SO YOUR SHITTY VILLAGE CAN INVADE!" she screamed as she flung herself at Temari with her arm reeling back for a powerful punch. The startled Sand kunoichi spun to face her in alarm and made to jump away, but she moved too slow to evade her. Chakra visibly surged around her fist as she smashed it into Temari's side, sending the other girl flying into the nearest wall with a pained gasp.

Naruto and Sasuke momentarily faltered as they stared at the scene with their jaws falling open, and Kankurou jumped back with a loud "What the hell!" Sakura just stood on the roof with her shoulders heaving at the exertion of the blow, her face still contorted into a vicious snarl as she glared at Temari's groaning form. Blood noticeably seeped from her knuckles, her skin peeled away by the force of the blow, but she hardly seemed to care.

"...What have you been teaching her?" Tenzo whispered to Kakashi.

"...I gave her a basic strength-training regiment for the month," he replied lamely. "Looks like she made progress faster than I thought."

The blow had not been strong enough to create a hole in the wall or anything dramatic like that, but the impact still clearly knocked the wind out of Temari. The older girl carefully peeled herself away from the bricks and slid to her knees, wrapping her arms around her torso with a pained wheeze. Kankurou just stared at her in shock, looking torn between helping his sister or engaging the new arrivals.

Recovering from his own shock, Sasuke closed the remaining space between them and grabbed the older boy by the collar, hefting him off his feet. His eyes burned bright red with the Sharingan, his lips curling back in a furious snarl not unlike a wolf or a tiger. "Where. Is. Gaara?" he growled, and Kankurou visibly blanched, his eyes widening as he stared directly into the Sharingan.

"W-we don't know!" he replied quickly. "We were following him but some other Leaf ninja attacked us, and we lost sight of him!" He broke away from Sasuke's grip and scrambled back a few steps, the Uchiha allowing him to do so and watching him with cold eyes. Tugging at his collar in an attempt to fix it, Kankurou hastily added, "Besides, wasn't he following you!?"

"He stopped at some point," Kakashi responded on behalf of his student. "We think he left to pursue Uchiha Masaru instead. However, we don't know why." Both Sand genin visibly stiffened at the information, first looking confused before their faces fell as a strong sense of apprehension visibly overtook them.

"The... file," Temari wheezed, still struggling to regain her breath.

"File?" Tenzo straightened at the word, leveling a sharp look at her. "What are you talking about?" She opened her mouth to respond but instead coughed, and shot her brother a pointed look. He frowned at her but then seemed to relent to her unspoken request, turning to face the Leaf ninja with a sigh.

"Ever since we got here, Gaara's been acting weird. He's been bugging Baki-sensei to get him information on some girl."

"A girl?" Naruto parroted, looking understandably confused. "What, are you saying he has a crush or something?"

"Doubt it," Kankurou grumbled, scowling at the notion. "Gaara's screwed up, but even he's not into corpses. She's been dead for, like, five years. He wanted Baki to get the files on how it went down."

A sudden chill washed over Tenzo as the pieces suddenly started to fall into place in his head, painting a sickening picture. A look at Kakashi told him he'd made the connection too, the silver-haired jounin stared at the puppeteer in shock before his eye sharply narrowed. "Who?" he demanded, and Temari grunted as she sat up.

"Uchiha Akari," she ground out.

Time seemed to slow at the name, Tenzo feeling his heart lurch to a halt as he looked at the others. Confusion and alarm marred Naruto's features, obviously struggling to remember Akari but recognizing the significance of the Uchiha part at least. Sakura mouthed the name with a growing look of horror, clearly recognizing what it meant. Sasuke, meanwhile, looked shell-shocked at the mention of his deceased cousin, but in his stunned features he spied a glimmer of swiftly growing rage.

Kakashi, as usual, looked almost unreadable, but after knowing him for years Tenzo could recognize the shock and pain whirling in his lone eye. Grinding his teeth, the mokuton user quickly turned to the two ninken who had stopped to watch the show with obvious curiosity. Their eyes met and the canines snapped to visible attention, swiftly turning to resume their pursuit.

Tenzo grabbed Kakashi's shoulder to get his attention. "We need to go," he said briskly, and his former senpai just nodded mutely before they set off in pursuit of the two dogs, ignoring the confused shouts from the genin behind them.


Masaru fumbled for words, struggling to pull his mind into some semblance of order. "Y-yes," he whispered, his voice just a little shaky. "They—they both loved me." Gaara's eyes narrowed, the intent behind them still just as inscrutable as before.

"My family... They never loved me. They hated me, they looked at me with fear. My father sent assassins after me for as long as I can remember. Do you know why?" He took a single step forward, the shade from the leafy forest canopy overhead casting an ominous shadow over his features. "Before I was born, he had a demon sealed inside me. My mother died that day. She died cursing the village with her last breath, and gave me this name so I would destroy Suna for using her as a sacrifice."

Masaru shuddered at his cold tone, swallowing thickly as he shifted under Gaara's scrutinizing gaze. Sand began to ripple around the Jinchuuriki's feet as he extended his arm with his palm facing upwards, the grains lazily rising to circle his wrist in a large, slowly spinning ring. "My uncle... He claimed to love me. He claimed my mother loved me, and that this sand protected me as an extension of her will to protect me."

The circling ring of sand froze in its orbit. "He lied. He tried to kill me when I was six. So I killed him." His hand clenched into a tight fist and the sand shot towards Masaru like needles. The Uchiha flinched as he felt it slice along his cheek, fresh blood seeping from the small cut and wetting the recently-dried blood already caking his face.

Inhaling a shuddery breath, he slowly raised a hand to brush against it, forcing himself to meet Gaara's cold gaze.

"I... I'm sorry," he whispered, a thick lump bobbing in his throat. "I... don't know what it's like, b-but... That's—that's not fair." His voice cracked on the last word and he quickly averted his eyes to the ground, biting his lip. He had no idea why Gaara felt the need to share this, but he meant it when he said it wasn't fair. From what he said Gaara had been born a jinchuuriki; he had no choice in the matter, and that just wasn't fair.

Gaara didn't respond right away, but Masaru could feel his eyes boring into him.

"Do you still say they loved you?" he questioned, making Masaru sharply raise his head in surprise. "Your mother and sister? Did your mother love both of you?" Masaru stared at him numbly, words failing him as he stared at the jinchuuriki. Heart pounding in his ears, his hands clenched at his side and he forced himself to nod, his teeth grinding briefly.

"Y-yes. Mom, Akari... Th-they both loved me. We all loved each other." Sea foam green eyes pierced into him as if searching for something, and then...

Gaara smiled.

A heavy shudder shook Masaru as he saw the other boy's lips lift upwards ever so slightly, his head inclining to the side. "I see," he murmured slowly, his smile growing wider. "So you really believe that, do you?" His shoulders began to shake as he spoke and Masaru gave a start as Gaara started laughing, just snickering quietly under his breath and smiling at Masaru.

Cracks began to form in his skin as he snorted, eyes twinkling with some sort of deranged glee over some sick joke only he could understand. "You say your mother loved you," he giggled. "Your mother, Uchiha Ryoko, loved you. She loved both of you!" His giggles escalated to hysterical laughter, his sadistic cackling seeming to echo around the forest.

Masaru winced and more than anything wanted to cover his ears but he couldn't, he couldn't move or blink or look away as he watched Gaara double over holding his side with hysterical laughter. Gasping for breath, the Sand genin lifted his head just enough for Masaru to see black seeping into his eyes, his mouth twisted into an insane grin that bordered on a sadistic sneer.

"Love is so twisted," he whispered, giggling as he looked at the growing horror on Masaru's face. "Love is so twisted, isn't it, Ma-sa-ru? My father tried to kill me because he hates me and fears me. And your mother—"

He stopped, throwing back his head to unleash a bout of hysterical laughter and raising his arms in a grand gesture. "And your mother killed your sister in the name of love!"

Ba-bump.

The world seemed to shift, Gaara's insane laughter disappearing and leaving only the sound of Masaru's heartbeat pounding in his ears.

Ba-bump.

His eyes burned worse than ever before, and he could see Gaara's lips move in slow motion. She cut off her head, he mouthed. Stabbed out her eyes with a kunai.

Ba-bump.

Isn't life marvelous?

Ba-bump.

Isn't love hiLarIoUS?

Ba-BUMP.

It's all juSt a liE! No one can LOvEOthERs! YOu cAN oNlY LOvE YoURseLf!

BA-BUMP.

"Masaru, Akari. Come here."

A small brown-haired head poked through the door of the tea room, large black eyes blinking innocently. "Masaru did it," Akari chirped, and then fell to the floor as her brother shoved her from behind.

"Don't just randomly accuse me of stuff!" he snapped irritably, crossing his arms with a huff. Akari scrambled into a sitting position, pointing at him as she looked at their mother.

"Look! See? Masaru just pushed me! He's the bad one!" The young boy released a strangled noise of frustration and began twitching erratically, clearly yearning to smack his sister but just a little too chivalrous to go through with it.

"Akari-chan, I didn't call you because you're in trouble," Ryoko laughed, drawing their attention back to her. "Unless, of course, you did something you deserve to get in trouble for...?"

"Oh. Um, no. I didn't." Akari blinked, and sat up straighter with a sheepish smile, her head tilting cutely to the side. "I just thought you were mad about something so I wanted to, um..." She trailed off, looking for the right words.

"Establish an alibi by framing your brother?" Ryoko supplied with a growing smile, and Akari bobbed her head with a bright grin of her own.

"Yeah! That!" She beamed at Ryoko, appearing totally oblivious to Masaru's glare boring into the back of her head for trying to set him up. Then her gaze flicked back to him and the corner of her mouth twitched upwards into the tiniest smirk.

Chivalry was dead. Akari needed to go down.

Their mother watched Masaru pounced upon Akari with a fierce battle cry with a smile, her eyes twinkling with amusement as they began rolling around. Ninja training had made their wrestling matches a little more violent now, and he had the edge on his sister in terms of physical strength and creative thinking. She let the tussle continue for about a minute before pointedly clearing her throat.

Matching sets of black eyes instantly shot towards her, the twins freezing in place with Akari's hand fisted around a chunk of Masaru's hair and Masaru's mouth just about to clamp shut around his sister's leg. Within seconds the twins had seated themselves at the table, their faces placid and innocent as they looked at their mother expectantly. The effect was slightly mitigated by their rumpled clothing and tousled hair.

Also, Akari's hand was still stuck in Masaru's hair, too deeply ensnared to free itself in such a short time frame, so he had his neck bent at a near ninety-degree angle while Akari's arm hovered awkwardly at her side.

Ryoko, ever polite and mature, calmly reached for the camera she kept on the table just for such moments and snapped a photo. Only then did she break into boisterous laughter, making the twins scowl and grumble as they proceeded to extract themselves from the tangle they'd created.

"I'm sorry, you two are just too adorable," she chuckled, her laughter tapering off as she smiled fondly at the pair. "I just can't help it. Whenever I see you act like that, I can't help but think how much I love you."

"Mom, why did you want us if we're not in trouble?" Masaru asked, just a little uncomfortable by the sudden heavy sentimentality. Ryoko blinked and her smile faded, her face growing more serious. The shift caused the twins to pause, their earlier playful mood vanishing as they looked at her with earnest attention.

"Right... You two will be starting your second year at the academy in a few days, so I think it's time to have a proper talk about this before others can start trying to fill your minds with different ideas."

Closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply through her nose before exhaling quietly through her mouth. When her eyes opened again they had changed to the bloody scarlet of the Sharingan, making the twins instantly stiffen in surprise.

"The Sharingan, as you know, is an exclusive trait of the Uchiha clan," she began. "It gives us many advantages in battle and is one of the most feared kekkei genkai in existence. However, while most of our clan views it as an accomplishment and celebrates its activation as a coming of age, I believe it is something more tragic." Her expression softened even as her eyes remained scarlet, her small frown gaining a more melancholic edge.

"You see, the Sharingan is activated by intense emotion. Sometimes that emotion is a positive one, but more often than not it is brought on by something darker—most commonly, the loss, or the potential for loss, of one's comrades on the battlefield. I disagree with our clan's glorification of it because it doesn't solely mark one's skill. It is a physical manifestation of intense trauma."

Her next words cut into Masaru sharply, deeply imprinting on his memory:

"The earlier one awakens it, the more pain they'll have to endure."

BA-BUMP.

Masaru felt his lips move and Gaara stopped laughing. What? he mouthed, and Masaru's mouth moved again. The deranged smile faded, replaced initially by shock before his face twisted into a furious snarl. What are you talking about? You're the one who knows nothing! Masaru just shook his head only to wince, feeling the cold tap-tap-tap of the severed fingers still ensnared in his hair drumming against his back and shoulders.

He didn't even notice the kunai in his hand until he felt part of the weight suddenly separate from his head, sticky clumps of hair falling limply and tickling part of his neck as the rest of it fell around his feet in a dirty clump. Vacant eyes stared at the mass of gory tangles, flashes of red-soaked white peppering the shorn brown locks.

He raised his gaze once more to regard a more sober-looking Gaara, his expression still hollow. The jinchuuriki regarded him more warily now, the burst of insanity temporarily banished and replaced by a more scornful glare.

You know nothing," Masaru declared flatly, sound returning halfway through uttering the sentence. "You don't know my mother. You don't know my sister. You don't know anything that happened that day." His fists clenched at his sides as he spoke, his words gradually growing more and more heated as his eyes began to burn more.

"However," Ryoko continued, "While the Sharingan stems from emotional pain, that doesn't make it a bad thing."

"What do you mean?" Akari asked, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion. "Didn't you just say it just makes people hurt more?"

"Yes, I did," their mother allowed easily. "But pain and suffering is an unavoidable part of life for a shinobi. We'll always have to deal with loss, and the Sharingan gives us an edge that will make us more viable for battling than others. While the Sharingan does usually trigger in emotional situations, I think there's one other factor people tend to overlook: a resolve to protect those you love."

Her eyes seeped to their natural black hue, her face softening as she offered the twins a gentle smile. "I believe we awaken the Sharingan so we can use its power to protect our precious people. Just like how I love you two."

"My mother loved us!" Masaru roared, his chakra flaring around him wildly as he took a step forward. "She wasn't always right in the head and she had a lot of problems, and I still don't understand everything she did in the end, but she loved us! She would never kill Akari!"

"You're nothing but a fool," Gaara growled, sand rising around him and shooting towards Masaru. The Uchiha deftly avoided it and charged towards Gaara, rapidly flashing through unfamiliar hand seals as the back of his neck burned. Sucking in a large breath, he spewed a stream of fire hotter than any he'd blown before, the inferno spinning and unfurling to take the shape of a dragon. Rage and adrenaline fueled the flames to burn even hotter, the hue rapidly shifting from red to blinding white.

Soaring towards the sky, the dragon released a crackling roar and dove at where Gaara stood, incinerating the trees and soil around the Sand genin. Masaru could feel the residual heat sear against his skin, his eyes stinging and his lids reflexively sealing shut as the natural moisture evaporated. The last wisp of embers left his lips and his hands fell from the seal to dangle limply at his sides, his knees giving out as he fell to the ground and the sounds of the world grew muffled once more.

(Strange, the tingling on his neck stopped...)

As the snow-colored inferno faded, he could see a large dome of sand surrounding the spot where Gaara had been standing, the surface appearing slightly hardened by the heat. Slowly it began to crack and crumble, large chunks falling away to reveal a furious Gaara glaring at him from within its shadows. Masaru should probably run now, but he couldn't feel anything. He couldn't even muster the energy needed to be scared, that jutsu had almost completely sapped his chakra and physical energy.

(What was that, anyway?)

(Forget it, too tired to care.)

Kunai suddenly flew towards Gaara and his sand rose to shield him, blocking him from sight. Wooden pillars erupted from the ground and tried to twirl around Gaara, the boy's body shifting and morphing into an inhuman form as his eyes sparkled with madness, but Masaru heard none of it, his vision already dimming. Someone grabbed his shoulders and spun him around and suddenly he found himself face to face with Sakura, her green eyes sparkling with concern.

'He's in the beginning stages of chakra exhaustion,' she mouthed to someone behind her. 'Please tell me you have a chakra pill?'

Dust kicked up around them as the earth shook violently, and Masaru's eyes flickered to the side to see Gaara's body distorting into an increasingly monstrous form. He swatted at trees with a silent laugh, a familiar blur of blue and black charging at him with bright white sparking around his hand. Sasuke buried lightning into Gaara's side and the boy-monster's face contorted in agony and shock, his mouth ripping open.

ROAAAAAAR!

Sound abruptly returned as Gaara screamed in pain, an inhuman screech that made everyone in the area wince and cover their ears. Masaru cried out as he squeezed his hands around his ears, the shockwave from the screech nearly knocking him away. Apparently he actually had some hearing in his right ear after all, because it throbbed from the volume of the shriek. Naruto's startled scream zipped over him briefly as he was flung through the air above them in an orange blur.

A glance over his shoulder revealed Gaara had begun to transform, the sand clinging to his body morphing and changing into a form closer to the tanuki he housed. His eyes looked even more deranged than before, black seeping into them as his irises took on a gold star shape. "YOU HURT ME!" he screamed over the ringing in Masaru's ears. "YOU HURT ME!"

A tidal wave of sand rushed towards Sasuke and he barely managed to evade it, leaping out of its path as it barreled into a tree behind him. Deafening crashes echoed loudly as it fell into the neighboring trees like dominoes, the sound only amplifying as a giant puff of smoke appeared to reveal a giant toad. Masaru just stared at it numbly, vaguely registering Naruto's distant yells from atop its head goading it to attack.

Too much. It was all too much. His vision dimmed as he fell to his side, Sakura's horrified shouts fading until only absolute silence remained. After what felt like anywhere from a few seconds to a few hours a soft sigh sounded nearby, footsteps lightly padding towards him.

"Masaru, open your eyes."

His eyes slid open obediently and he slowly sat up, glancing around blearily. A black void surrounded him stretching as far as the eye could see, white flames flickering in the distance. Apparitions of gray-tinted corpses scattered the landscape around him, faces frozen in perpetual agony as black tomoe lay motionless against silvery irises.

Three bodies stood out in particular, encased in a bright glow, and Masaru staggered to his feet and stumbled towards the nearest one. Colorless skin had been charred and darkened by fire, the full-face mask ripped to reveal a pained grimace while the edges of the fabric melded onto the man's skin. Masaru gazed at his look of deathly suffering with absolutely apathy, his own eyes hollow and glazed as he studied the body.

Ah, he thought. These must be the men he'd killed.

Masaru hadn't seen much detail of the body as it fell from his fireball, but then, he'd seen enough death to fill in the gaps. These bodies were little more than a morbid collage generated by his mind of all the other deaths he'd seen in his short life. He recognized the burns scarring his mouth from Uchiha Subaru's corpse, the glazed eyes from a corpse he and Kiba had passed while trying to track Hinata.

"Sorry," he commented dully. "I just brought more corpses."

"It's okay. They wanted to hurt you, so I don't mind." A small figure glided into his line of sight, a peachy-colored hand poking at the patchwork body with a sort of morbid curiosity. "It'll probably change if you see the actual corpse."

"Probably," Masaru agreed blandly, and the figure huffed slightly before turning to look at him, revealing a gaping, bleeding maw in the space once occupied by a right eye.

"You're such an annoying brother sometimes, Masaru."