Fight
He had never seen such a battle before, been surrounded by so many bodies striving against each other, bloodied and hurting but each with the conviction that they would survive, that their cause would win that day. It felt like there was no possible room to breath. No way could oxygen fit into this mass of people.
To his left he saw a haggard-looking Kiba slash the neck of an enemy ninja with his bare hands, kunai in his mouth. A ways ahead, separated from his master in the writhing crowd, was his dog, transformed into a Kiba-look-alike, taking his own opponent down in a swift, bloody mess. Within moments they left his sight as the fight shifted, always in constant motion.
From the depths lept an opponent for himself, charging with this intent fierceness in his eyes that screamed, "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU". For a moment time stopped as he watched the man approach him, a katana raised above his head. Time caught up, however, rushing back over him in a suffocating wave as, with such little effort, he drew a tanto from a sheath at his waist and brought the man to his knees, gurgling blood and clutching at his exposed stomach. Excess wind from his chakra blade hit the back of another Sound nin nearby, sending him plunging into a startled TenTen's kodachi.
She looked up briefly at him, then turned away to continue the cycle of death. He was already readying himself for the next kill.
Deftly picking up the dropped katana he hurled it at a nearby back, not even waiting to see it connect with flesh before propelling himself forward with his second blade drawn to meet a bo-wielding ninja. They came at a stalemate, his twin tantos screeching against the metal of the long staff. Slowly he gathered chakra to the knives, watching as their edges sharpened and cut through the surface of the bo and into its owner's chest before either could blink.
As he plowed through more enemies, barely registering familiar faces through their sheen of blood, hair plastered to their foreheads as they participated in this violent dance, he kept an eye out for that one person he had come here to see.
To defeat. To kill?
Another dropped at his feet, spraying him with their blood. Looking around, he sighed in annoyance. Maybe that bastard wouldn't dirty his hands after all, sitting back somewhere as his minions died for him. He imagined the satisfied smirk that would be present as well and it enraged him.
He sheathed his small swords. With a few hand signs he disappeared from the site, arriving on the other side of the field the two villages clashed upon. In the forest Konoha had set up a make-shift hospital that was a frenzy of medic-nin and injured, the trees echoing with screams of pain.
A kunoichi, hurrying towards a tent with supplies in her arms, stopped to bow towards him. "Hokage-sama."
He waved her off, feeling awkward. With only a second glance she scurried on, and he continued towards the largest white tent in the vicinity. As he went, heads raised. His presence there - looking proud despite the blood and flecks of guts across his shirt, jacket abandoned in the fight somewhere, hair askew - instilled hope, and some of the crying stopped.
Sometimes he wondered about the faith the villagers had in him, if he could really deliver to them what they so desperately sought, that salvation, and that long-forgotten peace that had been present once. His self-doubt didn't last too long; he was too busy now to dwell on such things, and action would produce more tangible results anyway, rather than sitting around musing negatively.
With some hesitation he entered the destined tent. Rows and rows of cots met him, and a dozen bustling medics who didn't even look up as he entered so immersed in their art they were. The air hummed with the energy and chakra they were utilizing to heal their fellow ninja.
At the back he caught sight of short-cropped pink hair held back with a konoha hitai-ate. Almost as if sensing his gaze suddenly, she raised her head up from the wounded she was tending and caught his eyes.
Sakura turned back to the man in the bed before her as Naruto turned to leave.
He didn't have to wait long. Within moments she emerged from the tent. The flap had just closed softly behind her when the recently appointed Hokage said, "He's not out there."
If she was surprised it didn't show. "Then where?"
"I -"
Whatever he was about to say was cut short as a high-pitched shriek, not of agony or the despair of losing a limb or loved one, but of complete frustration, cut through the forest. They both rushed forward to find the source.
On the edge, in sight of the still-raging fight in the field, Hinata Hyuuga struggled against her ANBU sister, hysterical as she looked into the distance at the destruction.
"Let me go, I have to help!" she insisted, prying at the strong hands holding her back.
Hanabi refused to release her grip, though, catlike mask lying forgotten on the dirt ground. There were unshed tears in her eyes as she used everything physically and internally to keep the older from rushing off to the battle. "Please, oneesan, don't do this!"
"They're all out there fighting but me," Hinata cried out, sinking to her knees. Hanabi still held on to her as sobs racked the ever-frail body of the leader of the Hyuuga clan. "Useless, stupid me."
Sakura stripped her hands of her bloodied gloves, handing them to Naruto without a word. She knelt before the distraught women and took her tear-stained face in her hands.
"They are fighting for you, so that you can be safe. They fight so you can have a future."
The words hit deeply with Naruto as he stared at the speaking kunoichi. He wondered how many times she had told herself that in the past as she watched the backs of her teammates walking ahead of her. Their situations were similar, though with one big difference. Hinata had no real choice at all. She had given up being an active ninja when she accepted the responsibilities of the clan and had no place out there. It seemed unfair to him, but he understood the reasoning.
"But they.."
"You can help in other ways. There are children in the village who will probably never see their parents again. They need you. Kiba and Shino can take care of themselves."
Dumbly, Hinata nodded. She dried her tears on the sleeve of her ruined lavender kimono and slowly rose to her feet. It was a strange thing to watch the woman compose herself so suddenly, her back straightening, now looking, despite her disheveled clothing and dirt-smudged face, all the part of the regal leader of the most well-established and powerful clan of the village. Denying help from her sister, she turned suddenly and headed off in the opposite way. She may have been leaving the bloodbath behind her, but she entered an entirely new war, different in nature. Sometimes more painful.
They watched her leave silently. Sakura got to her feet, dusting off her skirt. Hanabi excused herself, joining the congregation of ANBU that would join the fray soon after organizing a strategy that would be forgotten in the chaos of the conflict.
With a sigh, Sakura watched her retreating back. "I'm so tired of this."
The blonde man nodded. "We all are."
"Yeah." With a grim smile, she turned towards him, looking so achingly beautiful. "Shall we go, then?"
They didn't need to wait for his response before, in unison, they left, disappearing so quickly it appeared as if they were never even present at the encampment. A delusional soldier might have even perceived them as fleeting angels, overseeing the clash and flying off to inform their god of the piteous creatures humans had become.
It did seem like they were flying though, going through the boundaries of the battle at such a speed that was incredible to regular shinobi but normal for those two of three who had surpassed the great Sannin.
A few times they were engaged by the stray Sound nin but the disruption was taken care of thoughtlessly. This continued on until a familiar face was spotted, fending for itself from a Konoha ANBU.
"KABUTO!" they both cried out. Without a second thought Naruto had caught up to him and grabbed the collar of the older man's shirt. Dragging the Sound-nin from the fray, he then slammed him against the trunk of a large tree with such force his glasses shattered.
The offended didn't seem too surprised by the attack, like he expected it to come eventually.
"Where is he, you bastard?" Naruto demanded, giving Kabuto a shake.
An answer wasn't given at first. They stared off, both unblinking. Then Kabuto began to laugh. "You really don't know? I hope you didn't think he would be here."
With a rage-filled cry the Hokage slammed the white-haired man's head into the tree again. This time blood began to flow freely down the sides of his face from the attack and he winced blatantly. "He's... in the village, waiting for you."
Naruto released his hold, watching Kabuto slide down onto the ground, clutching at his head. The two turned to leave. "You aren't both going to him, are you?"
They didn't say anything in return, but between the three they knew the truth. "He'll kill you, Saku-" but his words left him quite suddenly in a exhalation of breath. A fist was lodged deep into his stomach stealing him of his ability to talk further. The last sight he saw was the fierce green of the woman's eyes.
Then they ran to the village.
Waiting for them, in the Hokage's tower, sitting at Naruto's desk with his feet propped up as a blood-soaked sun laid down to rest behind him, was the other member of their team that had ceased to be seven years before. And he was smirking.
Before that grin would have made Sakura's heart melt, but she had grown much stronger now. Even though that love remained, had grown to such great lengths, it was a small flame compared to the righteous fury burning inside of her brightly. This man wasn't the one she loved now, but the one who had killed that lost boy.
Sasuke had no eyes for her, though. His gaze was locked on only one, and the same went for the occupant of his stare.
As she looked on it almost felt as if she was violating something sacred. Did she really have a place here, where two gods would clash? The air was bristling with each of their powers, physically colliding with each other in sparks through the darkening room, bright bursts of orange and blue energy that sizzled once it made contact with the other.
They were so caught up in each other, in that old rivalry that hadn't diminished once in their years apart. Neither paid attention to her presence, like she wasn't even there at all.
It was dark, then. The sun had gone down over the trees and the sky was all blood and bruised pink skin.
Quiet as death, Naruto was suddenly crouched on the desk. The dark-haired man stood up, startled, before he was tackled. The two entwined men fell through the large window behind them, shards of glass scattered across the floor. Sakura cried out, running towards the gaping hole instilled into the room.
They had completely disappeared from sight.
She sat back on her heels feeling lost.
Once the bodies had collided and they had plunged from the stories of the tower, the two men had separated to land on the paved street below with their own grace. The stone faces of past Hokage's watched on in silence.
The setting was so disturbingly urban for such a match up, surrounded by houses and shops and neat, orderly yards. It was so painfully familiar because the two had once walked these streets as companions long ago. It didn't seem quite that long, though, like it was just yesterday they were side by side. Both knew there was no going back, though, and maybe that hurt the most. That loss of hope.
Sasuke began to unstrap the Kusunagi sheathed on his back, dropping it with a clatter to the stone floor. With a questioning look, Naruto too discarded his weapons, throwing his tanto into a patch of grass nearby.
"So this is it, huh?" the Uchiha said morosely, looking around slowly.
Nodding, Naruto answered, "Yeah, this is the end."
"Are you scared, dobe?"
They began to walk towards the other. The air crackled with the barely contained energy, red against blue.
Naruto stopped, making the other halt as well. For a moment he looked thoughtful, glancing towards the now star-flecked sky. The wind whistled around them both, one that would normally chill, but they were so hot with the anticipation of a fight that they hardly noticed it.
"Yes," he finally said, breaking the silence. "Yes, I am scared.
I'm scared for my village, if it'll be able to bounce back from this trial. If we're strong enough. If I'm strong enough to help it. I'm scared for my friends who are out their fighting for their life, and for the kids cowering in the school right now with Iruka-sensei, and with Hinata, who will grow up orphans. I'm scared that Tsunade chose wrong for her heir, that I can't live up to everyone's expectations of Hokage no matter how much I want to or how hard I try. And I'm scared of what I'm going to say at your funeral. Scared to admit I was once your friend.
But I'm not scared of you, Sasuke."
There was rage suddenly in the black eyes of the Uchiha as they flashed red suddenly, spinning rapidly. He made a movement to advance towards the other shinobi.
That anger faded rather quickly though, and he staggered forward with the a startled look on his face. A hand reached up to touch the place where two tantos protruded from his chest.
Sakura stood behind him, wielding the two blades.
Then he collapsed into her arms without a sound.
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.. uhm, ha ha ha? w;;