The Fourth

Part Three

By Mieren

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The backlash was instantaneous.

Sasuke had seen Hell before. Hell was coming home from school to find an ocean of blood, pieces of friends and family floating in the gore. Hell was staring into the eyes of a madman who had made him relive the memories of killing everyone he loved. It was staring into his best friend's eyes while he tried to rip out his heart.

Hell was the forest.

He knew he was hit the moment that Naruto opened his mouth. One moment, the blond had been staring at them in shock, his fingers resting across his chest as if trying to stop the blood already pooling in his shirt from a heart wound. Everything started to slow down as the blond opened his mouth and the world went white.

A shockwave swept across the three ninja throwing them to the ground. Sasuke could see the dust and smoke rising in a perfect ring around the bloody ninja, billowing outwards silently. He felt it biting into his skin and then he heard the echoing boom. The blast knocked him to the ground and left a long trench as he slid across the dirt and biting roots. He was barely able to tumble enough to avoid a falling tree, one of many. Smoke filled the air, too thick for even the Sharingan to unravel. Several loud cracks alerted him to the demolition of more trees and he was quick to roll away, only slightly hindered by his loose clothing. Frowning, he focused on his hearing, frustrated that it wasn't one of his strong suits.

Sasuke could hear a baby crying. He blinked soot-blind red eyes, trying to remember. Baby? There were no babies. He was in the middle of the forest watching his best friend die, apparently by exploding. Who was crying?

"Kakashi," he called, his voice breaking in the middle of the name. He cleared his throat and tried again with no better results.

"Find the body!" a gangly looking teenager yelled at him. Sasuke blinked at the stranger, not recognizing him. Realization slapped him in the face when he spotted blatantly mismatched eyes. He let his gaze roam to the source of the crying infant.

"If it has pink hair," he started to grumble, stopping mid-sentence. It did.

"Forget her for now! Find Naruto! I need a confirmed hit!"

"I saw him hit," Sasuke called out. "You saw him hit. And if Sakura would stop crying, she saw him hit." Kakashi scrubbed sweaty silver hair out of his face and gave him a flat look.

"Then where is he?"

Sasuke had no answer.

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To Be Continued

It just gets worse… R&R!

Long chapters or fast ones. Your choice. Still R&R!