Story: Melancholia Chapter 13
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Replies to Reviews:
Jorge Luis Arias Arcentales chapter 12 . Sep 10
Two chapters, I missed two chapters
By the way, I really like the personification of Sasuke in the last chapters.
I read your interaction plan between Sakura and Naruto in response to another comment and I really liked it.
To be honest, I was expecting team 7 to come back to the village in this chapter, but the problem they went through was well implemented, it's like the anime and the fact of how constantly Naruto and the others fall directly into memorable missions and problems, and I like it, because it's remind me that I am not only reading a story with people who suffer and find comfort, I am reading a Naruto story
I'm glad you're liking the way I've been writing Sasuke. While he's been very fun to work with, he's also one of the most difficult. Because while I want to show that he really cares about Sakura and Naruto, I also don't want him to appear too sappy, so I've been doing my best to keep him in character all things considered. And yeah, I had reasons for dragging it on a bit longer, but don't worry, I plan to have the characters return to the village next chapter, and I will be able to soon really start focusing on other arcs aside from just Naruto, stuff I've brushed on with Sakura and Sasuke and bring in other characters as well. Thanks for the kind review! x3
GunBlade2020 chapter 12 . Sep 8
Hi there
Why do I have the feeling this is not going to go well, where the theme of the story is Hurt/Comfort/Angst...
Anyway, keep up the great writing and stay safe!
Well, bad stuff will happen, but it won't be as bad as I could have made it, admittedly... And thanks!
MightyMouse chapter 12 . Sep 8
Hello! First time reviewer here! And very recent NaruSaku addict, haha. It has been a while since I have read the previous chapters, so I ought to go through them again to catch up.
I would like to say that I am THOROUGHLY enjoying this story so far! I've noticed very few, if any, spelling/grammar errors, unlike many other fics I have (attempted) to read so far. I must express my appreciation towards your structuring as well. The way you space out your sentences between characters dialogue and paragraphs makes the story very easy to read and keep up with. I have already lost count of the number of other fics I have read that simply present a massive wall of text and way too many run on sentences. So, as far as grammar/spelling and sentence structure goes, I think you are doing a fantastic job!
As for the story itself, I am finding it to be fantastic. While I do not mind a fast-paced NaruSaku fic, I am glad that you seem to be taking your time in letting that romance develop. I like that you are focusing on each characters personal struggles in pretty realistic ways, and it sure puts a smile on my face to see these characters helping each other through those struggles, even if they do not realize it. When I first started reading this fic, I was a bit worried that it would turn out like many where the characters would behave in a totally unrealistic way. However, that fear has been put to rest, as your characters actions and reactions to events feel pretty natural.
I am really enjoying this fatherly/protective attitude emerging from Kakashi, and especially the begrudgingly caring attitude that Sasuke is developing. I've always felt that those two characters are two of the harder ones to write for in the Naruto universe.
I look forward to seeing what else you have in store for this story, and eagerly hope that you find the motivation to see it through to whatever end you may or may not have planned for it! Looking forward to the next chapter!
I'm glad you like it! I always try my best to pace things as well as I can both plot wise and structurally, so the characters can get in their proper development. And yes, while NaruSaku will definitely be a thing, I want to take a little time for Naruto and Sakura to become fully aware and sensitive of one another's issues so they can properly be there for each other, and I want it to seem natural. Sakura and Naruto have known each other for years now, and been on the same team for like a year, so it's not as though they don't know each other, they just need a little more time I think?
And yes. I'm trying my very best to make the character's actions and reactions as believable as possible considering their pasts and characters in general. I always try my best to keep characters themselves even when taking liberties, while also considering my own personal experiences, and tying them in to their development.
As for Kakashi and Sasuke, they've been especially hard to write, but I'm doing my best and I hope you'll stick with me on this! :D
...
ONTO THE STORY
...
"Alright, the building's right over there. I'm sure you guys have everything figured out, right?" Katsuo regarded as they stood at a corner.
"Yeah." Naruto nodded, standing close to Sakura.
"Well, I guess this is where we part ways. It was a pleasure meeting you guys, especially you, Sakura." Katsuo smirked patting Sakura's shoulder. "Maybe we'll meet again some day, and you and I could actually have a chance to really get to know each other..."
"Hold it, Katsuo-san, I think I might have given you the wrong impression about me. Let me get one thing straight. I'm not some pushover that you can just mess with however you feel like. Forget Naruto, you're actually lucky I didn't knock your teeth down your throat for touching my hair earlier. Besides, I doubt your girlfriend would like to know that you've been flirting with other girls in her absence anyway."
"Woah." Katsuo was stunned but smiled, as he turned away, waving. "You've got fire, girl. I like that. I almost envy you, Naruto..."
With that, he was gone.
"...Wait, did he think we were together...?" Sakura paused for a second.
"Tch. That smug bastard… Who the hell does he even think is, talking to anybody that way? He's lucky I didn't pummel him again just now..." Naruto growled, clenching his fists as he tried to calm himself down.
She's safe, though.
She's safe.
He didn't hurt her.
No need to get so worked up about it.
She's safe.
He tried to tell himself this over and over again, yet the way Katsuo had looked at her, the way he had brushed her hair in such an intimate way... It infuriated him, probably far more than it had even upset Sakura.
Dammit…!
"Naruto..." Sakura broke him out of his thoughts as she gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know you didn't like that guy very much, and I can understand why, but you've been acting really odd this morning and it's kind of worrying me… Is there something... bothering you...?"
For a moment, Naruto was tense, but then began to relax at her touch. Reaching up, he hesitantly placed a hand over hers, feeling guilty for getting so worked up in front of her again.
"No." He shook his head, giving her a small pain-filled smile. "It's nothing. C'mon."
After a second, Sakura reluctantly dropped the matter(even though she most certainly didn't believe Naruto's reactions had been over just nothing as he claimed them to be).
They entered the building, immediately noticing how large the interior was. The floors had red carpets, and there was only dim lighting to be able to make out everything.
"Can I help you two?"
They looked over to see a middle aged man standing there. He had short brown hair, rounded glasses and a butler suit.
"Um… Hi... We heard this place was hiring?" Sakura inquired.
The man scanned them over before smiling, an edge to his eyes. "You heard correct, dear. Why don't you two come with me, urm... you have names?"
"Oh, right. I'm Hanaki and this is Sasako." Sakura said. Before leaving Izumi's place, they'd decided that using an alias was the safest course of action. Although Naruto had wanted to go by 'Naruko', Sakura had told him no, because it sounded far too similar. After whining for a moment, Naruto agreed that she was right.
"Right this way then, Hanaki-san… Sasako-san... You can call me Mao…" He smiled as he led them towards a hall.
"I see. Thank you very much for your help, Mao-san." Sakura smiled, hiding the fact that she could tell right off the bat that he was up to no good. Most likely, Katsuo was right after all about this place being connected to Juro.
She saw how Naruto was glaring holes into Mao's back when he wasn't looking at them, and kind of empathized. While it was true she'd been worried about how upset Naruto had been, it wasn't as though she didn't understand at least some of what he was feeling. As a female herself, the idea of other women and girls (or really anybody for that matter) being tricked and sold as slaves… really disturbed her.
How could anybody do such a thing or even go along with it?
She clenched the fabric of her kimono, suddenly feeling a bit of anger herself towards Mao and Juro, and any others working for him as she thought of Gochi and the suffering he was going through in his mother's absence.
Juro was going to pay for what he had been doing. That much she promised.
"I hope you won't mind waiting in here for a few minutes, will you?" Mao said, as he led them into a nearby room.
"No, of course not. Take all the time you need." Naruto said.
"Yeah. Just go ahead and do whatever it is you have to. We'll be fine." Sakura faked an all too believable smile, as she waved a dismissive hand.
"Oh, that's great to know. I'll have somebody back here... shortly." Mao said, before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.
"Try not to worry too much, Naruto. We're going to get him." Sakura said simply, but conveying too many emotions all at once.
"Yeah." Naruto nodded, smirking weakly.
Before either had the chance to speak again, however, the floor suddenly caved in and they were sent falling into darkness.
…
"...Naruto cut himself again." Sasuke muttered, cutting the silence that had build between him and Kakashi, gaining the attention of his sensei, who was sitting beside him. "It was earlier… When you and Sakura were out… He got a hold of one of my Shuriken blades and blood was everywhere, I…"
He couldn't even finish the sentence.
"...Well, I figured that's what it was from…" Kakashi mused, lightly sighing.
"You mean you knew?" Sasuke rose an eyebrow. "Why didn't you say anything...?"
"Well..., that's because I could tell you already had it handled..." Kakashi said.
"Hardly…" Sasuke scoffed, pessimistically, trying to get rid of the thoughts in his head. "It was actually worse than last time… He had dozens of slashes on his arm and he kept screaming about needing to get rid of something... When I asked him what he was talking about, he wouldn't give me an answer…"
"Sasuke… You can't blame yourself for what Naruto's going through… Whether we like it or not, these kinds of things just happen sometimes..." Kakashi told him, receiving no response from Sasuke, who was obviously doing the exact opposite of what he suggested.
"...When I was about five years old, my father committed suicide…" He suddenly said in a low voice, gaining a look from his student. "For years, a part of me felt responsible for what happened… I thought that maybe I could have done something different and stopped him… But I realize now that it wasn't my fault, and I think I may even understand why he did what he did... When people are depressed like that, all we can do is do try our best to be there for them when they're alive and hope that they'll come through."
"Sasuke…" Sasuke felt a sudden warmth grow in his chest when Kakashi gently stroked the top of his head. "It's possible… that just by being there when you were earlier... you might've saved Naruto's life. You shouldn't beat yourself up for that..."
"...Have you thought about telling him...?" Sasuke wanted to know. He would have never guessed that his sensei had been carrying such a heavy burden as that. He knew he'd faced death, because Kakashi had said it himself on several occasions, but his father committing suicide... it was...
"...Maybe, but this isn't about me." Kakashi said simply. "And knowing Naruto… Such a thing would most likely only make him feel guiltier about asking for help..."
Sasuke knew he was right, despite how frustrating it was. If he found out Kakashi's father committed suicide, Naruto would be even more adamant about keeping things from Kakashi out of fear of making him remember what happened and burdening him. That was the last thing they both wanted right now.
Sasuke was silent for a long time, as if considering their conversation, Kakashi's reassurance that he wasn't at fault, making sure he was there for Naruto.
The entire time they'd been talking, he felt like he wasn't acting himself, and yet he couldn't stop. At this point, he just wanted to see to it that Naruto was alright and safe, and if he had to let go of his pride to do that, then so be it.
"...Naruto said something earlier about not wanting to 'fight back' against the villagers… He didn't go into really much detail about it, but I think somebody may be hurting him…"
"Hm… It could be possible…" Kakashi acknowledged his suggestion, thinking it over. If that was the case, he'd definitely have to have a talk with Tsunade about it. "The Sandaime always did what he could to keep the situation under control, but Naruto wasn't always under his watch, and now that he's gone, if something did happen..."
With a grim expression, Sasuke already knew what he was gonna say.
"He's not really the type that would just willingly open up about it…"
...
Naruto and Sakura had been blind-folded and led somewhere else by another man. In the fall, Naruto had hurt his leg, but on the exception of a few hisses from his part, he forced himself to pretend he was okay as he wordlessly followed instructions.
After an unknown amount of time, they had finally reached their destination and the blindfolds were ripped from their faces. They were then shoved into a dimly lit room, the door closing behind them.
Looking up they saw that they were surrounded by other girls. And so many of them.
"I would say welcome to the club, but considering the situation, that wouldn't really be all that appropriate right now, now would it…?" Some girl, most likely around the age of fifteen, who had tousled hair and had obviously been here for a while, spoke in a sarcastic tone of voice.
"Hey, don't worry about it. We came to get you o-owowow..!" Naruto started to smile, but hissed again as he put a bit too much pressure on his leg.
"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" Sakura quickly moved to be by his side.
"No, it's... nothing." Naruto tried to say, between gritted teeth. "I'm totally fine, ya know…?"
"Honestly, there's no need to force yourself all the time. Just let me take a look at it, will you?" Sakura separated Naruto's hand from his leg and took a moment to observe his injury. "It looks like you sprained your ankle. Try to be extra careful while we're here, alright?"
If only she knew medical ninjutsu or something, she might have been able to heal him… In fact, that would have been a huge help in general these past few days. To say the least, it frustrated her, that she'd hardly been able to do anything for him the entire time they'd been on the road, but she quickly scolded herself, because she knew now wasn't the time to focus on that.
She looked up at the other women in the room.
"How long have you guys been here?" she asked.
"For a few days at least." The girl with tousled hair said. "We've overheard some people saying that the ship is gonna be taking off tonight and that Juro is coming out. Wouldn't be surprised if we actually die in here before then though."
"Well, that ain't about to happen as long as we're here." Naruto said. "I told you before, didn't I? We came to take Juro down and get all of you out. You see... We're actually shinobi in disguise, so we can handle this."
"How can you two be so sure you won't lose to him?" The girl rose an eyebrow.
"Believe it or not, we're actually a lot stronger than we may look." Sakura smirked.
"Yeah, just trust us on this one. I promise you'll be safe with us." Naruto smiled.
"Alright. Well, good luck then, cuz you're probably gonna need it." The other girl shrugged. "By the way, you can call me Mei."
…
After about six or seven hours of sitting in the same spot, Naruto had only become more anxious than he was in the beginning, and when he started rubbing his arm, Sakura noticed it.
Kakashi had warned her this might happen.
"Hey, what's the matter…?" She murmured softly, placing a hand on his in an attempt to distract him.
"I…" Naruto once again found himself relax at her touch, something inside of him almost wanting more, but he turned away after a second, feeling guilty. "It's nothing."
"You keep saying that, but you've been acting strange all day… Just…" Sakura reasoned, gently tracing circles over his hand, as she didn't want him to start hurting himself again. "talk to me..."
Her last words were low, barely audible, but despite that, Naruto heard them and felt his heart break in two. He couldn't stand when Sakura got worried.
For a moment, he considered her words. Maybe he should just... tell her, and get it off his chest already.
No. He couldn't. She would judge him if she found out. They all would.
But, wait, they hadn't judged him for having the nine tails in him, had they? Maybe it would be okay.
But...
The warmth of Sakura's skin once again brought him to his senses, comforted him, reassured him even, and for some reason he just caved in.
"...Sometimes… there's these villagers who... They…" Naruto tried to force himself to say it, but he just couldn't. He began to tremble, trying his best to calm himself down.
Sakura immediately got the idea of what he was alluding to.
"Hey, I get it… This whole situation must be bringing back bad memories... You don't have to talk about it any more if you don't want to, okay…?" she smiled, feeling bad for having put so much pressure on him.. "Why don't we talk about something else instead?"
"Yeah." Naruto weakly looked back up and met her eyes with a shaky smile. "But what's there really to talk about in a place like this...? We've been stuck in this same spot for hours."
"Well…" Sakura tried to think it over, before smirking. "For starters, we could talk about the fact that you've been dressed as a girl for nearly an entire day."
"Hey...! Cut me some slack, Sakura-chan…! In this form, I am a girl, and it was the only thing I could come up with to get in…!" Naruto pouted, and yet that some how made it all the more hilarious.
Their entire conversation thus far had remained fairly low, in case any eavesdroppers happened to be passing by outside the door. And fortunately their voices had gotten drowned out by the other girls talking in the room, so they hadn't really brought much attention to themselves.
"Relax, I'm just teasing you. I have to admit it was pretty clever." Sakura said, laughing a little. "Come to think of it, how are you even able to hold out for this long? Aren't you exhausted?"
"What? No way…! Something like this is nothing at all. I have plenty of Chakra left." Naruto said with a grin, before hissing a bit in pain again due to his leg.
"...Sorry about your leg, it looks like it really hurts…" Sakura suddenly murmured at watching him. "I wish I could do more to help."
"You shouldn't worry so much about it." Naruto smiled with reassurance, saying the same thing he so often said anymore. "It's not your fault we fell. Besides, we'll be out of here in no time."
Sakura gave a weak smile in return, trying to push back her own insecurities.
…
Another six(or seven?) (they'd lost track) hours passed by of waiting. Sakura had dozed off, falling asleep on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto was on the verge of passing out himself, but knew he had to endure it otherwise his transformation jutsu would fail and he'd be found out.
But finally, after what felt like hours, they could hear creaking, and it appeared the ship they were on set sail. About thirty minutes later, the door was opened and some burly man with frizzled hair stepped in, holding an alcohol bottle.
"So this is the cargo, huh?" He said, chugging down some gulps. Sakura opened her eyes, at hearing his voice. "We have some real lookers this time 'round, if I do say so m'self."
He scanned around the room, before his eyes fell on Naruto. No grown man had ever once been able to turn their eyes away from Naruto's female form. He had learned over time how to appease to them, and find out exactly what they wanted in a girl, so he was used to this by now.
"You there, with the blonde hair, waz'yur name?" He slurred.
"Who, me? You can call me Sasako." Naruto feigned shyness. "You wouldn't happen to be the one they call Juro, would you?"
"Nah, I'm Kure, the guy who's in charge of where the ships go, Juro's on the ship next to us, he'll be coming down here shorty. Y'know, though…" Kuon kneeled down in front of Naruto, with a smirk, the stench of alcohol entering his senses, as he reached out and ran his fingers through Naruto's hair. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I… took one for myself…"
Naruto reflexively tensed and Sakura could tell just how uncomfortable he was.
"Wait, I wouldn't do that if I were you. Sasako's the last person you would want to have sex with." Sakura suddenly spoke up, gaining a look from Kure.
"Oh?" He rose an eyebrow.
"Yeah, she's way too promiscuous!" Sakura insisted. "Why not somebody who's more... unsullied…? Like me."
Her offer gained a horrified look from Naruto that essentially said, "What the hell are you saying, Sakura-chan?! Are you crazy?! There's no telling what he'll do to you!" without actually saying it.
"You saying me you'd be willing to pleasure me?" Kure smirked, cupping her face with his hand.
"Of course." Sakura said, her eyes unswayed. Naruto's entire being shut down.
"Well, if you're offering something so generous, who am I to turn it down?" Kure said, burping before roughly grabbing her by the arm. "C'mon."
Before she was pulled off, she whispered into Naruto's ear, "I've got a plan, so stick to what we agreed on."
…
Kure led Sakura to his room, numerous devises lied around. Sakura bit her lip as she tried her best to hide her discomfort with this entire situation.
"It was a rather big surprise that you willingly offered yourself to me back there. It's not every day that I get the honor of fucking a virgin, least of all somebody so young…"
He turned his back to her as he started to strip his clothes. "Looking at you, you didn't really seem like the type to do such a thing."
With a flick of her wrist, Sakura held up a Kunai to his neck, causing him to freeze in place.
"That's because I'm not." She said in a low and dangerous voice, drawing a bit of blood. "Either you immediately have all these ships turned around, or I'll finish you off where you stand. It's your choice what you want."
…
Naruto was left feeling nauseated, barely refraining from letting go of his transformation jutsu. He wanted to kill the people behind this. He was used to this kind of thing himself, but that didn't mean Sakura had to get dragged into it as well! He clenched his fists, cursing beneath his breath.
He shouldn't have brought her along, he shouldn't have-
Suddenly, the door swung open, and a taller man stood there. The entire room fell silent yet again.
"Hello, ladies. I thought I'd come by and give you all a warm welcome - introduce myself. Most of you probably have heard of me by now. I'm Juro." He smirked.
"Thanks for telling." Naruto said, at long last releasing his sexy jutsu. "Because I'm here kick your ass!"
"A ninja?!" Juro exclaimed, cursing, barely managing to dodge Naruto's punch.
"Sir, we received words that Kure is turning around the ships!" Some guy with a sword suddenly came around the corner.
"Way to go, Sakura-chan!" Naruto internally cheered with a smile, realizing now what Sakura's plan must have been, but didn't say it out loud.
"You've got to be kidding me! Dammit, keep him here until I get back!"
"Yes, sir!" The guy said, as Juro started to run off.
"Hold it right there! You're not going anywhere!" Naruto shouted. "Kage bunshin no jutsu!"
He immediately created several clones of himself to hold off the swordsmen, before following after Juro, who was already a ways up ahead, as he tried his best to ignore how much pain was shooting up his leg right now.
It was in that moment that Sakura suddenly came around the corner and Naruto crashed into her. Both of them fell onto the floor.
"Ow, that… Sakura-chan! Are you okay?! He didn't hurt you, did he?!" Naruto was immediately by her side when he saw who it was.
"No, I'm fine! Was that Juro? Naruto, we can't let him get away! You hold him off and I'll worry about sending out the signal to Sasuke-kun and Kakashi-sensei!"
"Right!" Naruto nodded as he helped her stand up.
They both immediately took off towards the retreating figure. When they reached outside the ship they were on, Sakura slipped her hand into her hidden pockets beneath her kimono and pulled out the firework that she'd been holding onto.
She saw a candle fire above her, and decided it would be quicker than a match.
"She's going to give away our position, you have to stop her!" Juro shouted at some nearby men, who immediately took action and headed over to restrain Sakura. When one of them reached for her waist, she kicked him square in the jaw in response, knocking him off of her. After a second, she caught another guy by the arm and swung him to the side, slamming him into the wall. She managed to keep it up against a few more. However, the little bit of combat training she'd had was barely enough to hold off against all of them them. She couldn't keep this up much longer! She had to light the firework and quickly!
Pulling against those holding her back, ignoring the injuries and scratches she'd gained in the scuffle, she finally managed to reached the flame and held the explosive up to light it. After a second, despite their protests, it went off, and lit up high in the sky. At that moment, she was outnumbered and pushed to the ground, unable to defend herself anymore.
Naruto himself was struggling against Juro as well. For a mere dealer, he certainly knew how to put up a fight. One fist was often met by dodging or several kicks to the gut in return, and it seemed like a never ending cycle. Naruto did manage to get quite a bit of damage in, however, as Juro's face was swollen, and his lip was bleeding.
"You're pretty good at fighting, kid. I'll give you that, but I'm telling you aren't going to win this...!"
"We'll just see about that, won't we?!" Naruto glared at him. He once again created several more shadow clones, having one jump on Juro(who failed to dodge this time) from behind and hold him back, and it was in that instance that some of the other clones from before arrived and came to Sakura's aid to free her.
Together, Sakura and Naruto's clones successfully managed to knock out a few of the guys, while the others fled.
"Sorry, but I'm not about to let you continue treating women and girls like they're your property to sell anymore!" Naruto had his free clone gather chakra into his fist and prepared his rasengan, the anger he'd been bottling up all day finally coming back to the surface. "Sex isn't something that should be forced on anybody, it's supposed to be a choice!"
Sakura watched them from the side, and suddenly noticed that Juro was holding an explosive. Her eyes widened and she rushed over to Naruto's side as fast as her feet could carry her.
"Naruto, get out of the way!" She shouted out, pushing him out of the way despite his confusion.
"Huh? Oh crap, Sakura-Chan is-!" Right as Juro let go of the explosive, Naruto realized why Sakura had done what she did and instinctively pulled her into his arms, shielding her from the blow. Luckily for them, it wasn't as deadly as it could have been, but it was bad enough to allow Juro the chance to escape and Naruto's back was burned beyond recognition, leaving him groaning in pain, barely able to move.
"Naruto, why would you do that?! I was trying to save you, you idiot!" Sakura choked out, tears welling up in her eyes.
"I couldn't allow you to get hurt… Not for my sake..." Naruto said weakly, looking up at her with saddened eyes. He never liked seeing her cry, especially not like this.
"This is all my fault..." Sakura looked down at him, her shoulders trembling as she held him close to her. "If only I had responded sooner, you wouldn't be hurt right now and I-"
"Hey… You can't blame yourself..." Naruto reached up and rubbed her face without thinking about it. "I'm the one who made this choice, remember? And this pain is nothing at all, really. I'll be better in no time, ya know…?"
"But you-!" Sakura couldn't even finish her sentence before Kakashi and Sasuke arrived on the scene.
"Sakura...! What happened to him...?!" Sasuke asked as he rushed over, noticing some of the flames that were covering parts of the ship, as well as the injuries covering not only Naruto, but Sakura too. This was beyond just a scuffle.
"A moment ago, Juro set off a bomb. Naruto protected me..." She knew that Naruto didn't want to see her crying, but she couldn't help it. Normally such an opponent should have been no issue for Naruto, but the bomb had thrown everything off, and she'd only made things worse.
Sasuke placed a hand on her shoulder, giving her a sense of reassurance, but also a feeling of utter helplessness for not being able to do more. "Tell me, which way did he go?"
Sakura didn't even hesitate to direct them where they needed to head to, the direction which Juro had fled to.
"Stay with Naruto and get him somewhere safe." Sasuke told her afterwards. "We'll handle this."
"Let's hurry, Sasuke." Kakashi told him, taking off.
"Right!" Sasuke quickly followed after leaving them behind.
…
Out beside one of the ships, Juro had jumped into a spare boat and was preparing to flee. There was nothing cowardly about wanting to escape with his life still in tact, he thought. The others would have to just deal with the clean up.
However, right as he was about to take off, a blade was at his throat.
"You're finished, Juro." Kakashi's voice, low and threatening, made his situation clear. "You can either come willingly, or we do this the hard way."
"Well?" Sasuke boarded the boat in front of him, glaring in his face, his curse mark threatening to take over. "Which is it gonna be? Personally, I wouldn't mind burning you to ash for what you did to Naruto and Sakura."
Immediately, Juro knew he'd lost.
…
A/N: Well, this will all be over next chapter and they'll finally be able to return to the village! I hope this didn't appear too rushed or anything, but seeing as this is mainly a story about angst/hurt/comfort, I wanted to get through this mission as soon as possible simply because of how long I've dragged this mission on for. I really didn't like the fight scenes in this, because I literally suck at writing action, but I hope they were acceptable for what they were and at the very least got the point across?
