A/N: Anyone besides me keeping up on the Anime? Yeah, they're mostly fillers, but some of them are good for a laugh or two. And while we're on the subject of laughs, I wonder if any of you could refer me to a good humor fic or two. I've tried to find them myself, but what I ended up looking at was either unimaginative, full of bad jokes, or written with a horrendous amount of spelling/grammatical errors. All this drama writing leaves me desperately in the mood for a good laugh, chortle, or guffaw.
I'd like to apologize to kagehusha, whose birthday was on the 14th. I had planned to release this chapter on that evening as a gift to him, but I had scheduling conflicts with my recruiter that messed me up. With my apologies for tardiness, this is in your honor, sir.
Chapter Twenty-Five: In the Name of Power
Blood and chakra mixed beneath Sasuke's hand and sent forth the call. Across an unmeasured quantity of space and time, the call was heard. In answer, a loud pop resounded throughout the cavern, and thick gray smoke veiled the thing that had been summoned. In the dim light, Naruto squinted to try and make out the thing's shape.
Then movement caught his eye. Sasuke had brought up his blade and was advancing on him. The sword pulsed with electricity, and the sound of one thousand birds filled the air.
No way I'm letting him intimidate me, Naruto thought. He came forward, concerned with his old rival more than the summoned creature. His short blade raised and his tails arched, he moved to intercept Sasuke.
Then, as the smoke cleared, he saw that the summon was actually summons; many thick snakes were slithering rapidly towards Naruto, navigating the rugged stone with no difficulty.
Going to try and trip me up, Sasuke? My footwork is better than that.
However, the attack was more than just snakes and the Chidori-charged sword. Naruto attempted with his blade to parry a sweeping overhead strike, only to have Sasuke's sword pass straight through his own. The strike had been illusionary. Frantically, he pulled his own blade back into a guard position, searching with eyes and feelers for the real blade, but then his left shoulder exploded in pain as Sasuke's sword bit into it.
"Aargh!" he yelled. Reflexively, he batted with a tail at the shoulder, stopping the blade from continuing all the way through his arm. Using a second and third tail to reinforce the first and straining with effort, he was finally able to heave the blade from his shoulder.
Enraged, Naruto was about to mount a massive counterattack, but his use of extra tails to rescue his arm had left him open. A foot swung into his chest and sent electric pain through his body. The blond was knocked off of his feet and skidded into a jutting spire of rock twenty yards away.
Wha...
Naruto tried to figure out what it was that had got him while four of the snakes caught up with him and twisted him in their grip. His arms were pinned to his sides and his legs were constricted together. Though Naruto struggled, he could not free himself.
"The two of us are more alike than we first knew, Naruto," spoke Sasuke. The Uchiha boy was walking casually towards the snake-tied Naruto, sword flickering. "We're both stubborn; neither of us will give up as long as our cause endures. In the name of power—the power to kill my brother—I refuse to surrender. Likewise, you will not surrender while there are people to protect, promises to keep. I think that each of us admired the other for his strong will, and that helped us become friends..."
Naruto wasn't hearing him. His attention was divided between getting out of this snakelock and trying to unravel the mystery of the strike that had nearly taken his arm.
I thought he was aiming to split my head open, he thought, and I blocked like I normally would... but then the sword doesn't hit. I get confused, hunker down, and then suddenly the sword's in my shoulder! What happened? If it were genjutsu, my Reiude should have picked it up...
Sasuke was still speaking. "It's because of our strong wills that neither of us has died yet. But," he said, raising his sword for a lightning deathblow, "I will prove that my will is stronger!"
What would Ero-Sennin do in a situation like this? Naruto thought. A rather colorful and stylish mental image that had nothing to do with snakes or swords and everything to do with being tied up popped into his head. Naruto frowned. That doesn't help me out! Okay... what would Keisuke do?
Sasuke's speed increased to the point where a human's eyes couldn't follow, charging straight for his victim. But Naruto wasn't using his eyes. He had closed them, forced down his anger, and flowed his calm, concentrated energy into the Rokujuuyon Reiude. When the strike came, he felt the immense chakra coming. Without relying on his vision, he did not fall prey to the subtle hypnotic illusion caused by the Sharingan, and therefore instead of believing that the blade was coming at the left side of his head—as Sasuke wanted him to believe—he knew that it was coming for his heart.
Sasuke grinned in triumph. Naruto had apparently taken the bait, using what little mobility he had to shift slightly to his right and bringing two blue tails up to guard his head. Gripping the handle of his sword tightly, he stabbed for the beating heart of his foe...
...and missed.
Naruto had known it was coming there. He had also guessed that his old teammate would use whatever undetectable magic the Sharingan possessed to deceive his eyes into thinking a different vital spot was being targeted. The Reiude, although its sensory input was not as detailed as that of an eyeball, was much less vulnerable to trickery. With all of his attention focused in that sixth sense, Naruto had seen the true attack, faked a block with his tails towards his head, and then he had materialized another tail in front of him, quickly and lightly deflecting the stab before Sasuke had time to change its course.
Instead of hitting his heart, the sword cut into the snakes that bound his left arm. Seizing his opportunity in spite of the burning pain in his shoulder, Naruto dropped to the ground and used his now-free arm to launch himself away from Sasuke. Safely in the air, he used a kunai—his sword having been dropped when he was bound—to cut free his legs and right arm.
Sasuke did not pursue. Naruto was able to match his speed and strength, attack from so many angles as to render his Sharingan useless, and now, apparently, he could counter the subtle Sharingan illusion, the simple tricking of the eyes into seeing objects a mere few inches away from where they actually were that not even the greatest genjutsu master couldn't detect. To use an illusion of greater power would be too obvious, easily figured out by the Reiude. Though he was daunted and irritated, Sasuke resigned himself to playing defense, hoping that Naruto would leave an opening.
Naruto leaped upwards and stuck by his feet to the ceiling, where the remaining snakes—quite a number of them—could not follow. The summoned beasts took up a good third of the floor.
"Heh," he said with a grin, "That's nothing." Wiping some of the blood from his cut shoulder onto his hand, he went through his own set of seals and pressed up into the ceiling.
"Tajyuu Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
Many tiny explosions were heard, and as many puffs of smoke became visible on the ceiling. Sasuke, who possessed the Sharingan, didn't have to wait for the smoke to clear to know that the roof of the cavern was now entirely covered with frogs the size of men. Most of them looked similar to each other, colored red-orange and wearing strange plated armor, but the two nearest Naruto, sticking to the ceiling at his left and right hands, seemed oddly distinguished, as though they were somehow regal among their fellows. One of these, colored red, turned to look at his summoner.
"Yo! Been a while, Naruto," it said.
"Hey, Gamakichi. You too, Gamatatsu."
"Hello!" cheerily replied the second frog, colored yellow.
Naruto smiled in acknowledgment of the happy—if hopelessly daft—second son of the frog boss, then indicated the enemy below. "I've brought some friends for you guys to meet," he said. "Let's all give them a really warm greeting!"
Gamakichi nodded in understanding. Gamatatsu happily raised a foreleg and waved enthusiastically at the snakes below, earning himself some hissing jeers.
Then, Naruto dropped onto the ground below, fanned his tails, and came straight for Sasuke with twin kunai enhanced by the Reiude. Sasuke gathered himself and fought, being especially watchful for incoming Rasengans.
However, Naruto was busy trying to evade the snakes at his feet. They snapped and writhed in their attempt to snare him again, and his divided attention made it difficult to accomplish what he wanted to accomplish. Eventually, however, it was done. He launched a half-hearted Rasengan at Sasuke's abdomen, knowing it would only be parried with a Chidori-enhanced blade, and leaped backward. As he landed in the small, man-made river, he whistled.
Gamakichi understood that to be the signal, and he croaked the order to his brigade. The frogs inhaled briefly, then all of them—with the exception of Gamatatsu, who was busy commenting on how big a place the cavern was—spewed forth as much frog-oil as they had been able to hold. The slick liquid coated the floor.
Sasuke, watched this, and wondered what this meant. Then his Sharingan noticed the seal that Naruto had written with detached Ghostly Arms on the ground beneath. Recognizing the pattern, Sasuke sprang towards the river where Naruto hid to try to stop him, but it was too late; Naruto brought his chakra-fed Arm sweeping across the seal, activating it.
The relatively small explosion would have been easy to avoid, but the flames spread along the floor on wings of frog-oil, engulfing the floor of the room in searing flames. The snakes writhed in agony for a few moments and then disappeared. Sasuke barely leaped up in time to escape being incinerated. Clinging to the wall with chakra at his feet and cursing his old teammate's resourcefulness, his hands shaped a surprise of his own.
"Katon: Kainsotsu no Jutsu!" (Fire Style: Fire Command Technique)
With his dominating will and generations of Uchiha fire mastery at his disposal, Sasuke concentrated and bent nature to his desire. The flames peeled from the ground, rising up and forming into a sphere. As more fire was collected, the sphere grew and grew until it was nearly as wide as the cavern was high, floating just a few feet away from Sasuke's outstretched hands.
The frogs, watching the spectacle from above, were discomforted.
"This isn't good," Gamakichi said. "That thing could do some serious damage, even if he's not aiming for us. Everyone! We've done what we came to do! Retreat!"
The frog brigade gladly obeyed his command. Even Gamatatsu had no desire to get better acquainted with the burning ball that shone like the sun. All of them puffed out of existence to return to their own world.
The Uchiha boy sweat profusely, both from heat and from strain; even as powerful as he was, controlling this amount of flame was approaching his limits. He had to let it go quickly, or he would waste much chakra. With a heave and a grunt, he hurled his ball of fire down upon Naruto's hiding place.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
Sakura regarded the massive door before her and was daunted. A thing of such great size and thickness had never existed anywhere in Konoha before, and even she, with all her strength, could not shove it open. Apparently, it had been made to admit only those who knew its secrets or were attuned to it. She reached for her radio, intending to contact Kakashi and ask for help.
Before she could say anything, however, a gigantic concussion boomed from behind the door, and Sakura was shaken off of her feet. She managed to get up quickly, which was fortunate, for no sooner had she gained her footing than the door, whose enormous shape had been rent with cracks in the concussion, began to crumble to dust on top of her. As she was on her feet, she escaped unharmed, though not unsurprised.
"Sakura, what was that?" Kakashi's voice said over the radio.
"Some kind of shock wave," she said. "It came from behind a huge stone door—I was going to tell you about it, but the concussion cut me off. But the door is broken now. I'm going to have a look inside."
"Be careful, Sakura," said Kakashi.
"I will. It sounds quiet on the other side, but I won't let that fool me. I'll call back soon."
She climbed over the wreckage of the door and into the room. Inside it was what she would have expected to see at ground zero of such a blast: The stone all around her was charred, and fissures were running out from the impact zone. The stalactites and stalagmites in the immediate vicinity had been atomized. Sakura could see a smooth groove running through the floor on either side of the impact zone, and saw signs of erosion within—there had been water running through there. Most likely, the explosion had evaporated it.
But most importantly, Sakura noted two things. First, there was no sign of bodies, living or dead, anywhere in the cave. Second, there was a jagged hole in the ceiling, through which the starry night sky was visible.
"Kakashi-sensei," she said into the microphone, "I'm on the right track. The two of them were definitely here. They left through an exit that they made themselves. I'm going to follow them. Catch up when you can."
"Wait, Sakura! You shouldn't go alone. Wait for us."
"No," she said. "Now that they're out of this confined space, they could go anywhere quickly. I have to stay on them, or they'll be lost."
"But..."
Sakura discarded her radio and anything else that would hinder her progress. If she was going to keep up with her teammates, she would have to travel light. Leaving herself with only her shuriken holster and a small medical pouch, she leaped up the hole in the roof.
She didn't see either one of them, but it was not hard to guess the direction they had taken; a trail of rock shards and blood pointed towards the lights of the village before it disappeared into the dark forest. Without hesitation, she started off after it. Soon after beginning the chase, Sakura lost sight of the trail of blood—evidently, the battle had been taken into the trees—but she did not remain lost long. After continuing in the same direction, she began to hear the ring of steel.
Yes! I'm not too late, she thought.
Abruptly, the trees ended, and she found herself leaping into a newly formed crater. Landing in its center, she looked around for the combatants. Within seconds, she found them.
Naruto was on her left, five meters away. Sasuke was on her right, five meters away. Naruto held the Rasengan out before him in his hand, a look of panic on his face. Sasuke held out his hand, crackling with the noise of a thousand birds, regarding her with an expression of mild bewilderment.
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The Kamizuru—the bee-using clan of the Rock—cheered as the gates of the Aburame hive cluster finally gave way. They had been assaulting it relentlessly for hours, losing many lives in an effort to open the way into the heart of their enemies' stronghold. Now, the Aburame fell back in panic before them as their gates toppled to the earth, and the Kamizuru reveled in their triumph.
With as much elation as his fellows, the Kamizuru Captain ordered his subordinates to storm the hives. Men, women, and bees plunged forth after their defeated foe, ready to slaughter at leisure. It seemed that nothing could hope to stop them now. At long last, the grudge that they had upheld for the Aburame would find expression in destruciton.
Yet, one thing that they had not counted on quickly showed its face—the face of a young, pale-skinned woman with lengthy deep blue hair and white eyes. Veins were visible, popping up in their skin around the eye sockets, rendering the otherwise-beautiful face into an intimidating mask. For all the intimidation it should have had, however, the Kamizuru were undaunted. What, after all, could one girl do to hinder their assault?
Their lack of hesitation was their downfall. They hurled their bees at her, intending to deal with her quickly, only to have those bees be cut down by the droves in the fire of the girl's flashy defensive technique. This surprised the Kamizuru, but it did not stop them... it merely made them send more bees, and kunai and shuriken on top of that. This tactic of overwhelming the girl's defense might have worked...
...if she were alone. Using the young woman's deadly defensive grid as a rallying point, the Aburame mounted their counterattack. The entire hive swarmed out from behind her, engulfing the bugs that the Shugo Hakke technique did not catch and coming down in a wave against the Kamizuru lines.
Angered at this turn of events, the Kamizuru attacked with more force than ever. Yet, they could not move past the girl, whose technique proved to serve the Aburame better than their fallen gates had for protection. From beyond this absolute defense, the Aburame attacked without fear of retaliation.
No more Aburame were lost that night. The Kamizuru, unable to penetrate this new defense, lost nearly everything... again.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
The Aburame were not the only ones in Konoha to turn the tide. At the moment Hinata appeared to take charge of the defense, Konoha's citizens finished evacuating, and the Hokage gave the order to launch the final defense. From the tower, over one hundred ninja, fresh and healthy, burst forth to attack the battle-weary legions of Sound and Rock.
Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji were the first to take the field. Shikamaru bound with his shadow the first three enemies in their path. Wasting no time, Chouji quadrupled in size and proceeded to slam his massive fists into them one by one, Shikamaru releasing them just before impact to avoid damage to himself. One of the enemies was nimble enough to escape the incoming hamhand, but he didn't go ten yards before he was immobilized again... this time, by Ino, using her genjutsu binding technique. Unable to move, he could do nothing but scream in agony as Chouji crushed him between both immense hands.
Behind Ino-Shika-Chou came Maito Gai, flanked by Sarutobi Asuma and Yuhii Kurenai. They had been designated to fight in the same unit, and they did so with almost mystical brilliance. Gai tended to draw a lot of attention to himself, and Asuma, with his wind-enhanced chakra blades, was excellent backup against those that managed to escape the Noble Blue Beast's grasp. Between these two causing so much damage, it was not surprising that Kurenai was able to snare and pick off so many hapless foes who were ignoring her.
Wave upon wave upon wave of Konoha ninja came out of the tower, crashing down on their unready foes.
A great cheer went up in the ranks of the Leaf as they saw the Hyuuga take the field alongside them, headed by the famous Hiashi-sama and a woman whose forehead blazed with blue-yellow chakra. When asked, a Hyuuga Branch House member informed his inquisitive comrade that the woman was Captain Haruka, the leader of the Hyuuga Clan's elite guard force, and the savior of all Hyuuga. Alongside Haruka, fighting in spite of many bloody gashes and bruises, was Hyuuga Neji, Hiashi-sama's nephew. These three and their forces plowed over enemies in their path as they came to join their fellow Leaf shinobi. The strongest clan in Konohagakure no Sato had come back from the dead.
Even at this, many deaths might have been suffered on both sides, if the most powerful shinobi in the entire village had not come personally to the battlefield. Tsunade, the Godaime Hokage, waded through the chaos, taking life with the application of two inhumanly strong hands, saving lives with her legendary healing abilities. Enemy after enemy was cut down before her while ally after ally got to his feet and began to fight again.
The enemy force of Rock and Sound began to suffer casualties at an abominable rate. Fearing total annihilation, their leaders ordered a swift retreat. Evil comrades shoved and clawed at each other to find room to run, and a moderate number were trampled to death before their allies remembered that they were ninja and could leap across rooftops. They made good progress in spite of this, and the hundred or so elite jounin that remained might have made it out of the gates and into the forest.
Unluckily for them, they found a whole other army of shinobi waiting for them beyond Konoha's walls. Frozen in place at the sight of so many fresh foes, the Rock and the Sound looked fearfully around them for some way that they could escape.
"There is no escape," came a soft voice from the trees. From the shadows of the forest came a singly young man, walking slowly to meet the surrounded enemy ninja. The young man's hair was blood red, and he carried a large gourd on his back. Rings of darkness encircled his eyes, which scrutinized their intended victims without pity.
Sand rushed out from the gourd, filling the air above the trapped enemy. It hovered like a death sentence while its wielder spoke.
"You have killed many of our allies tonight," said Sabaku no Gaara, Kazekage of the Village Hidden in the Sand. "For that, retribution will be swift and remorseless." He knelt on the ground and shoved both palms dramatically into the earth.
"Sabaku Taiso!" (Desert Funeral)
The sand fell like a meteor, simultaneously crushing and burying the last of the fleeing invaders. All that was left of them was a rugged imprint on the ground where the sand had fallen.
There remained a few living enemies in the village, successfully hidden away in the shadows. The Leaf and the Sand stormed together through Konoha, beginning the long and tiresome process of fishing them out.
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When at last the dust settled in the Aburame's yard, Hinata and Shino sat together, gulping down water, resting after their well-earned victory. They were in no hurry to go to the Hyuuga compound; a Chuunin had given them the news of the victory there already.
"You did very well, Hinata," Shino said between gasps of air. "On behalf of all of my clansmen, I thank you."
"It was the least that I could do, for a friend and comrade," Hinata said, smiling. She took another draft of water and leaned back against the wall, relaxing after her exertion. She rarely used the Shugo Hakke technique for such an extended period of time, but it was well worth it; not a single bee had passed her, and as a result the enemy had been decimated within moments of her arrival. And still she had energy to spare. This was a sign of improvement, and Hinata took great pride in herself for it.
She and Shino sat in silence for a while, catching their breath and watching the other Aburame move around them, cleaning up the battlefield. The screams of the dying and the clang of metal weaponry had died away in the village. They knew that the attack had burned itself out, and took comfort in it.
Hinata's comfort, however, was extremely brief.
Suddenly, Shino's head perked up. "Kiba is coming," he said.
Sure enough, a panting, bleeding, worn-out Kiba dropped down in front of them, much to the alarm of his teammates and a few of the nearby bug-users. One of his eyes was swollen shut, and he had a terrible slash mark across the front of his shirt through which an equally terrible wound could be seen.
He was alone.
"Kiba-kun!" Hinata stood up and caught her injured teammate as he collapsed to his knees. "Kiba-kun, what happened to you?"
"Hanabi..." he croaked, then paused to cough up a gout of blood. Wiping his mouth, he strained to finish his tale. "Hanabi and I... didn't get along. She ran... cough I followed. Assassins... cough, cough I fought. Lost. They took... Hanabi..."
That was all that Kiba was able to say, for he lost consciousness in the next moment. Hinata lowered him gently to the ground, pulling a canister of medicine from a pouch at her side. After quickly administering it to the wound on his chest, she stood and addressed Shino.
"Shino-kun, did you hear all of that?"
"Yes, I did," came the sullen reply.
"They've taken my sister. I have to go find her, now. Can you come with me?"
Shino paused for a moment, his eyes upon his fallen comrade as two Aburame hefted him up using their bugs as a makeshift stretcher, hauling him off to emergency medical help.
"The hive within me has suffered many losses this night," he said. "And I myself am suffering from exhaustion and, I believe, at least one fractured rib. In my current state, I may not be very useful. However, those who did this to Kiba may not be easy for you to defeat alone, especially since you yourself are tired. For that reason, as well as to avenge Kiba, I will accompany you if you wish me to."
Hinata received his words with a sad smile. Shino might have appeared dispassionate, but he was a loyal comrade and a caring friend all the same.
"No, Shino-kun," she said kindly, "You rest. If you are too hurt to be useful, then it isn't worth risking yourself. I will go alone."
"Are you certain that is wise?" Shino asked. "You alone against multiple skilled assassins?"
"Probably not," Hinata admitted. "But, that isn't any reason to give up. We have been sadly estranged for most of our lives, but Hanabi is still my younger sister. I must protect her."
She picked up her equipment, making sure all was secure before departing. When she was certain that she was ready, she bade her comrade good-bye.
"I will avenge Kiba-kun for you, and I will save my sister. I promise you, Shino-kun. You can be sure that I will keep that promise."
She smiled one last time and was gone in the next instant.
Beneath his hood, Shino also smiled, an expression that none could see. "She is becoming more like him with each passing day," he remarked.
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The collision of the two techniques resulted in the same cataclysmic explosion that it had three years in the past. Unlike in that fated incident, however, the battle did not end immediately afterward. Both combatants, as well as their unexpected guest, were sent hurtling backward off their feet.
Naruto was the first to rise, followed shortly by Sasuke. Both of them looked at the pink-haired medical ninja on the ground to Naruto's right, who was rubbing her head as she climbed shakily to her feet again.
"S-Sakura!" exclaimed Naruto.
"Sakura..." intoned Sasuke in a low voice.
Sakura regained her wits, and took a step towards them both.
"Naruto, Sasuke-kun," she began, her voice steady and clear.
"If you're going to beg us to stop fighting, it's too late for that," interrupted the Uchiha.
"Sakura, stay back," warned Naruto, "He's serious. He's almost killed me twice now, and I'm pretty sure he's not going to give you any special treatment either." Looking at the blond, Sakura could tell that he wasn't kidding. There was a deep cut in his left shoulder that was bleeding freely, and his jacket had been reduced to tatters. His skin and clothing was covered in scorch marks and cuts. Sasuke had not been going easy on him, that was for sure.
Sasuke was less burnt and had fewer cuts, but there was a nasty abrasion in his side, a clear result of having been introduced to the wrong side of a Rasengan. Like Naruto, he looked strained, but his Sharingan eyes blazed with the same keen intelligence and dark determination as they had when she had last seen them. She noticed that he kept both of those eyes trained on Naruto, not even bothering to look at her.
The realization opened old wounds, but she would not let herself be defeated by it. She had not been training so intensely in the past three years to be useless here. This time, she would make a difference. Despite Naruto's warning, she stepped forward.
"Sakura!" cried Naruto. "Stop...!"
"No, Naruto," she said calmly, "I'm going to help. Try as you might, you won't stop me."
"But...!"
"Naruto!" she snapped, "You have to understand. I've got to do this! Sasuke-kun is my teammate, too."
"I told you before," Sasuke said, "I am not going to associate with Konoha anymore. I have nothing against you, but if you get in my way, I won't be merciful." He glared at her and Naruto alternately, watching her approach the blond. She set her hand to Naruto's shoulder, beginning to heal it. Not wanting to give Naruto an opportunity to recover, he charged. Though he had lost his sword in the blazing aftermath of the fireball that shattered the cavern arena, he was more than capable without it.
Naruto and Sakura leaped in opposite directions, Naruto going left and Sakura to Sasuke's right. Having never considered Sakura much of a threat, Sasuke pursued the more dangerous and more physically exhausted Naruto first. Without his sword, he resorted to taijutsu that he had not often used in recent months. Naruto kept up, though his chakra was depleting and the wound in his arm made movement painful.
Ignoring Sakura turned out not to be so advantageous, however. The ground split suddenly beneath his feet, causing him to reel off balance. This momentary lack of coordination allowed Naruto to score a glancing hit to his good side. Knocked over, he somersaulted across the dirt, then leaped up to avoid a flight of shuriken thrown at him by Sakura with deadly precision. He landed in a tree, only to be met with an explosive tag going off in his face. Leaping from the branches, Sasuke narrowly avoided death.
Naruto met him back on the ground, whirling his tails around like a sledgehammer at Sasuke. The Uchiha boy blocked the mass of chakra with both arms, but he was sent flying yet again... straight into the path of more shuriken. Drawing a kunai knife, he deflected them all effortlessly, landing—finally—unmolested, but extremely frustrated. Though it was clear that he could easily keep up with both Naruto and Sakura, there was no way that he could find an opening to do serious damage while they worked together.
"Sakura," he said, "You have never been more annoying."
Sakura looked him squarely in the eyes, her face serious, keeping her calm in spite of the turmoil that Sasuke could see behind her eyes.
"I said before," she said, mimicking his tone from earlier, "That I would do anything for you, Sasuke-kun. That includes fighting you, and if necessary, hurting you."
"If you continue to fight me, Sakura, I will kill you."
Sakura swallowed heavily. She knew he meant it. "Better that I die than Naruto," she said, causing both of her teammate's eyes to widen. "He's always done what's best for both of us. He did the most to try to save you three years ago, even to the brink of death, and he is the most capable now. If my death helps him to save you, then so be it."
"Sakura..." Naruto said softly. He was astonished at what he was hearing. Three years ago, such a speech would have made him cry.
Sakura, shaking slightly now, went on. "And if at the end you still won't be saved... Then maybe killing me can help you in your quest for revenge. It could help you win the Mangekyou Sharingan. Either way, if I die here, it will be a death that will ultimately help you, Sasuke-kun... though I'd much rather help you in life."
Sasuke pondered this, momentarily speechless. Could one person be so devoted as this to another?
"Sakura, would you really die willingly for me?" he asked. "Die just so I can have the Mangekyou Sharingan?"
Sakura inhaled deeply. "Yes... I would, if I had to. If you had that power, then you wouldn't need Orochimaru. You could have your revenge and still have yourself afterward."
A memory came back to Sasuke, one of him walking through the woods, wounded from his fight with Naruto, swearing that he would not follow Itachi's path, taking an oath to gain power in his own way. Yet here was a willing sacrifice that could possibly make all of his bargaining with the Snake Sannin unnecessary.
But, is she important enough to me? Sasuke asked himself, closing his eyes. Would killing her cause me enough pain to make the eye awaken?
More memories. Sakura weeping over him after the battle in the wave country. Sakura bravely fighting the monster Gaara to help him. Sakura trying desperately to persuade him not to leave the village...
He opened his eyes. Sakura stood before him, willing to give her life even if all she did was aid his revenge, a personal quest that she didn't really understand. Sasuke took it all in, and he felt something in him stir. He was moved.
Yes, he thought, it just might be enough.
"Sakura..." he said, filling his hand with the power of Chidori, "Thank you!" He lunged, dragging the lethal jutsu through the hard ground as he had when he was younger. Bringing it up, he aimed to plunge it straight into her heart. As the final moment came, he stared into the girl's face, saw the shock, the sadness, and the determination to stand her ground. His hand reached out to deliver the killing blow.
The Chidori would have hit dead-on, but once again, the Uchiha avenger was interrupted. Naruto interposed himself between him and his target, grabbing hold of the killing arm with both hands and all nine tails in an effort to save his female teammate's life. He did not stop the momentum of Sasuke's charge, however, and all three members of Team Seven were driven backwards until they slammed into a nearby tree, crushing Sakura between Naruto and the wide trunk. Bones were heard snapping, and Sakura screamed in agony, then fell silent.
Sasuke was furious.
"Naruto!" he yelled. "Why are you always in my way? Sakura said that she would have given me the power willingly!"
He yanked hard at his arm, pulling it out of Naruto's grasp. "You wanted to keep me from becoming Orochimaru's pawn. This would have given me the power to be free!"
Naruto brought his head up to look at Sasuke. His eyes had a feral gleam to them, and his body shook with a rage that cried out for justice.
"I get that Itachi killed your family," he growled. "I can understand why you want to kill him in return. But the way you're doing things, I can't see how you're any better!"
Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "What?"
"Itachi murdered his family for power. You, Sasuke, were about to murder Sakura, who, along with me and Kakashi-sensei, is about the only family you've got left, so that you can get the same power."
He gently put the unconscious Sakura on the ground behind the tree she had been crushed on, then stood tall as he accused his former comrade.
"Your two ambitions were to kill Itachi and restore your clan, right?" he continued. "Well, the second one became impossible when you left, Missing Nin-san. Nobody's going to help you rebuild Uchiha now. And the first one isn't going to happen either, because even if you do kill your brother, Itachi lives on in you, Sasuke."
His eyes began to turn from blue to red, and the chakra in his nine tails combusted into brilliant red flame. Naruto gathered his breath and yelled into Sasuke's face. "Congratulations, dumbass! Leaving the village, murdering your family, doing whatever it takes for power without caring about anything else... You are now officially the very thing that you set out to destroy!"
Sasuke's eyes grew wide and his mouth tightened. Then he began to tremble with rage. An old mark on his neck, which had been unused for years, began to burn and expand across his pale skin.
"No," he said softly.
Then his voice became a yell. "No! I am different from him. Sakura wanted to give me the power. He stole it! Do not compare me to him!"
"Willing or not, you were still going to kill her!" Naruto shot back. "No power is worth killing a friend! Idiot!"
"Shut up!"
The two of them, each burning with titanic power born of evil and a desire for blood, lunged for each other's throats.
OoOoOoOo End Chapter Twenty-Five oOoOoOoO
A/N: I hope that's good enough for you guys, and especially for you, kagehusha. It's all I can write at the moment, as I'm about to fall asleep at my desk.
Please review and keep your eyes peeled for the next chapter. It should be here within the next 24 to 42 hours. While you're waiting, I'd like to hear what it is that pleases you about my work—in essence, my strong points and weak points as an author. It'll help me in this fic and continue to help me if I end up writing more after I finish this.
Until next time! (Which is undoubtedly quite soon... kekeke...)