Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Slave

Upon their arrival in Suna he remembered an observation oft made by his handler: thought before action was foreign to him. Truth, exercising forethought had ever been the bane of his existence. This had been made clear to him with his haste in purchasing a slave and the consequent ruin of his life. Yet for him to whisk himself and three dependents into the heart of danger, danger that had caused the First to walk free, was not only reckless, as his handler had also named him times beyond count, but fantastically stupid.

This group wants my head. A fact said to my face. Freedom was mine, yet what did I do? Served my Demon-cursed person to them on a golden platter, and my slave to boot, he whom they've chased all over creation. Her Blessing's cunt has rotted the sense right out of my head, be damned to her. Ten Tails, what have I done? Stupid, senseless, reckless phel! No matter. I am here now. I've His Eminence to rescue. And I am mighty.

These thoughts took no more time that it did for the smoke of their arrival to dissipate. Filling his lungs with a calming breath, he looked around.

All was destruction, but some two hundred paces away he could see His Eminence down and surrounded by foes. Two score, by his count. His Eminence was close to Passing from mortal injuries, but not dead yet. The Demon be thanked. He was not too late. However, the fear and hatred that flared in the chain kept him from flying to the rescue.

He was vigilant; this loathing was far more than any emotion Nameless had ever displayed for him. Something about one of the men standing over His Eminence threatened his slave. The strength coming from the man, now that he'd noticed him, was enough to shrivel his cock. He studied him. Easy to do, since this man now walked toward them. Her Blessing muttered something. His alma was still as stone. Nameless stood just as watchful at his side.

He was a man of middling height, though there was nothing middling about his power. A face not unlike his slave's or his slave's brother. Neither old nor young. Striking. Sharingan. This man was Uchiha, then. The man smiled at them.

These observations were compelling, to be sure, but he could not ignore the chain. It was not only hatred, but such grief, such bitter heartache, that his own eyes burned with tears. This man had hurt Nameless. Nameless' hatred was now his own, he found. The urge to shield his slave from further pain was strong enough for him to wind the chain round his wrist until he felt Nameless against his side. He moved so that his body hid Nameless from view.

The man stopped a pace from him. Gazed up at him in wonder. When the man's smile broadened, displaying yellow teeth, the surge in his slave's emotions had a growl rumbling deep in his chest. Worth note as well was the sensation of the chain urging him to not only hide Nameless, but remove him from this man's presence entirely; his slave was at risk. But such was the man's chakra that, in his mind, running posed an equal risk. The impulse to run clashed with his determination to stay. And his slave's emotions were clouding his own. The result was that as this man faced him, he was not privy to the calm and confident thought processes he normally enjoyed. The Demon save us and grant me strength.


Such honor the gods did him. The Last. Chained to an Uchiha still. The very Uchiha he wanted, no less.

But first, the splendor of the moment had to be observed.

He stood staring up at the Last and folded his hands to mask their tremor. He tried, but could not contain his awe. "By the god from whom I am descended." His voice cracked as he lost his battle against tears. "You are surely no man. All of humanity could not equal you." He had to stop. His mouth trembled on a sob he was able to keep in but his tears were now copious. "Would that we mortals could attain such…such… Forgive me. Words do not suffice. Only let me look at you. Ah." He clutched his chest. "My heart races. I fear my soul will leave my body in the presence of such beauty."

Sasuke watched him blow his nose in his robes. The waves of protectiveness he felt thrumming in the chain made him edge closer to the master. He clutched his elbow and waited with everyone else as this drama unfolded. But he was not fooled. He knew what this man was capable of as few did.

"Whew. Now. I'll not offend you with my name," the man said when he recovered. "But you may call me The Exalted, as I am known outside my lands." A few moments were lost as he stared at the master in fresh wonder. "I have seen hair and eyes your color once before in my life but never have I seen such brawn. Most Vessels have their essence sealed in them as adults. Sometimes as children. Those who've had their essence since birth clearly fare differently. His Eminence and Glory had power rare among your kind despite only being the First." He turned to look at where His Eminence lay surrounded. Turned back to the master. "But you." He shook his head. "Truth, you have benefitted from a birth sealing." His eyes roved up and down the master's body. "Both power and build. How well I remember the power of the Last essence. It was sealed in your mother before you. I extracted it from her. Killed her."

The master gasped.

"Yes." The man let his eyes drop to one side. "I had the Last in my possession for a time, but your father was extraordinary. He bested me." A shrug. "Alas. Would that I could collect you now. Sadly, I must observe etiquette and go in order. Besides." His eyes went to Sasuke. "I need your slave. Him and his brother both, but this one will do for now. He is present, after all. And Ita-" He caught himself in time. "That is to say, the brother is far more troublesome to deal with. Or so I've been told. Of all the Uchiha, he is one I would rather avoid. Well! No matter. High One…hand over your slave, if you please."

The chain gave protest immediately via his oath. "Even could I do this I would not."

The Exalted cocked his head in puzzlement, but a shout had him turning to find his Akatsuki being engaged by a score of large robed men. Clones. Of the Last. And his Akatsuki dropping like flies in the face of his staggering power.

He watched for a few moments. Two things were immediately obvious. The Last was enacting a rescue of the First—how charming! —and his Akatsuki were at a fraction of their strength, having battled the First for so many hours.

It was an invigorating thing to know he'd be pitting his might against such a challenge. The previous Vessel for the Last had been impressive but next to her son he suspected her strength was as nothing. He moved toward the clones. "Akatsuki! Stand back, my children. He is mine. Guard the First well. I'll not have him taken from us." As for the clones, he did no more than hold up a hand. A blast of his chakra dispersed them all. The landscape was now devoid of movement, though still ravaged. Akatsuki stood far to one side, the First at their feet. Himself, he walked to where the Last's clones had so recently stood, turned to face the Last, and waited.


Even from this distance Sasuke could see the look on Madara's face. Pleased. Calm. Expectant.

"You have my leave to speak freely," the master said.

"It is understood, High One."

The master rethought what he was about to say. Before, he'd noted the new meekness in his slave and attributed it to the threat made against his brother. But the fear and grief his slave felt now put his earlier subservience to shame. Nameless stood mindless. Clinging to his arm and ready, the chain told him, to obey the slightest command. So overwhelming was Nameless' fear that maintaining his own thoughts was becoming increasingly difficult.

"Nameless? Look at me. Nameless."

His slave dragged his eyes from The Exalted. "High One. I am frightened."

He was given pause. Not at the admission, which he hardly needed. But at the wetness gathering in those dark eyes. At the clench of his slave's jaw. And at the steel of his slave's spirit, hidden beneath the terror, that told him chain or no, fear or no, Nameless meant to go to his death fighting. This courageous boy he'd purchased expected to Pass here.

Nameless was trembling. He put his hands to either side of his neck. Rubbed from neck to shoulders and back. "Hear me."

A blink. One tear fell.

"I'll not let any harm come to you. This time I will fight. To flee yon power and expose our backs would put you at risk. Greater risk than fighting would."

"You cannot win."

"I always win."

"You cannot."

"I will."

"No one has ever beaten him. Akatsuki defeated my entire clan, and that pig's cock hadn't even shown himself when they did. He is here now and he is more powerful than all of Akatsuki, High One. You… cannot… win. We must flee. Now. While we yet draw breath."

Off to one side, his alma nodded quickly. Her Blessing gazed at them without blinking, listening to every word Nameless uttered with a growing frown.

"It seems my father beat him. Therefore, so will I."

"Your arrogance will be the end of us!"

"You are mine. I am sworn to protect you. I will protect you." He stared into his slave's eyes, willing him to feel his promise through the chain. "Remember. You have leave to defend yourself should I fall. But I'll not fall. Is it understood?"

"Yes, High One, but-"

He turned to go.

"And what of my brother?" Her Blessing said. "How will you retrieve him if you are fighting The Exalted and he is as powerful as your slave professes? What of my brother if you fall?"

"Silence, woman. You are-"

"Try to silence me again and I will slice off your cock. I am your consort, not your slave. Two against one is a better plan." She hefted her fan and moved to stand beside him.

He looked into her face a moment, then shook his head. "No. The power I must unleash may kill you. Stay with my slave and alma."

"I-"

"The Exalted will not live long. Nor will his men." He closed his eyes, fists clenched. "I do hereby abdicate my journey to Ascension. Thus am I free to use the Arts, shed blood, and show my face in lands outside my own."

Her Blessing dipped her head. "It is witnessed."

"It is done then." He gave a nod. Swallowed. Looked at his slave. A moment, then he removed the chain and handed it to his alma. "You and Her Blessing guard my slave."

Her Blessing tried again. "I would fight at your side. You are the Last, and as such unmatched, but my own power is not inconsiderable. I am the mightiest woman in Suna."

He disrobed to his leg garments. "If your brother thought you would survive he would not have sent you to me. You are mine as well. Heed my words. Guard my slave."

She lowered her eyes in acceptance.


He put Nameless and Her Blessing out of his mind. When he reached The Exalted he had a plan, of sorts. His clones had really only been in place to do one thing: afford him a sense of his opponents' strength and proficiency with the Arts. Any group that could destroy the Uchiha and best His Eminence deserved all the scrutiny he could manage. Now, having sampled their power, he could see how such feats were possible. Almost. He suspected the strongest members had not engaged his clones, but hung back, near His Eminence. He did not think they would kill His Eminence or he would be dead already. But the manner in which they guarded him, and how The Exalted admonished them to keep him safe, suggested they wanted His Eminence for something. Presumably the same something he himself was wanted for. No matter. Naught mattered unless he bested The Exalted.

And I am babbling in my own mind. Master yourself. You are the strongest man living. The Last. There is naught beneath the heavens or in the hells that can stand against you. You are mighty. King of mortals. You will slaughter yon aptly named pig's cock and make sport of his entrails.

But that, despite his words to Nameless, was not guaranteed. Not by any means.

The moment The Exalted blasted his clones he'd sealed his mind from the chain lest Nameless become privy to the doubt and fear that drenched him in sweat. Never had he faced a foe in possession of power that exceeded his own by so great a margin. He studied this man Nameless feared. For the entire time The Exalted spoke at him he'd inspected him and his chakra to the finest degree possible. Searching for any sign of a weakness he could perhaps exploit. Something. Anything.

He stopped five paces from The Exalted. The plan was simple. "What do you know of my parents?"

"Your parents? Mm. They were powerful." A shrug. "Yet they died to protect you."

"I-"

"My apologies, but I've no wish to trade words. The clones you have hidden beneath the sands will not help you."

He barely had time to feel surprise that his strategy was so easily discovered before a mountain of chakra slammed him prostrate and held him there. He heard footsteps. The Exalted stopped by his head and crouched. "Resistance to me is useless, High One. I want yon Uchiha. And you are in the way. You leave me no choice but to abandon the order of my plan. Recite your death poem and speak your name. I give you your Passing."


Sasuke felt exquisite pain in the master as if from his own body. He knew a moment of fear, thinking him dead, but the master surged up, attacked, was knocked down, gained his feet once more, then had both legs broken for his efforts. He roared. Madara was calm in the face of the demon chakra that sprang up. Smiled, even. But he was ruthless. Almost lazy in his attacks. He delivered a kick that snapped the master's spine. Sasuke felt each blow, if not quite as powerfully as the master did. He winced and gasped and bit his lip till it bled.

The chain: it screamed with the master's fear. It was a sensation that left him breathless, his nerves tingling, his innards tensed. Because the master's fear was not for himself, Sasuke saw. It's for me. Fear of failing, of being unable to protect his slave. This, after the master's conviction of victory, a conviction he himself had begun to believe, was too much to be borne. He grabbed the chain where it hung from the manacle about his neck. "No."

The boy, worrying the other manacle in his hands, glanced back and forth between him and the master.

Sasuke looked to Her Blessing. "Help him."

She gave a snort, but did not look away from the battle. "Speak sense. Yon lies my death. Perhaps I was willing to fight this Exalted One before, but my own sense has returned. My brother, many times stronger than myself, lies at the edge of Passing. The Last is not far from joining him, it seems. Vessels cannot stand against this man. For certain, I would not fare better. Should the Last perish, I would be free of my foolhardy bargain. Truth, my name will likely be spoken this day, but I'll not hasten that moment." She cut her eyes sideways to where His Eminence lay. "Besides. My first duty is to my brother, my bargain be damned. It may be that his rescue falls to me. I must needs be able to do so if or when that time comes, not bleeding my life into the sands." She did a complex twirl of her fan. "I pray it comes soon, or I must charge the guard around my brother. I will not speak his name."

Sasuke looked at His Eminence and Glory, but a scream drew his eyes back to the master, whose arm now dangled by sinew. Even at this distance he could see the teeth become fangs and the hair grow wild.

But this time was different. This time the master vanished. In his place stood a creature immense, on four legs, whose roar shook the air and whose nine tails sent a storm of sand and wind raging toward them.


Madara felt his heart soar. "It has been long, Great One. Do you remember our last battle?"

The Demon leapt for him.


Sasuke stared in disbelief. "What is happening? What is that? Is that the master? The thing he houses? Why does it not kill Ma-…The Exalted? It but sits." The creature, a fox, turned its great head toward them.

Its eyes held Sharingan.

Amidst his shock, sensation from the chain came through. It was faint. The master, somewhere deep in the Fox, attempting to reverse his commands, urging Sasuke to flee. Sasuke could all but hear it, however the master could not get past the Fox's control. Which was now Madara's control. The master fair gibbered in his fear. Sasuke received a confused impression that this had never happened before. This manifestation, this complete loss of himself.

Itachi, my dearest brother, look you what has happened thanks to the separation you swore would spare me. "Your Blessing? Uh…alma? Boy? Get behind me, both of you."

The boy scurried at once, but Her Blessing merely held her fan. "I'll not run," she said. "My brother-"

Sasuke snatched her by an arm and yanked her off her feet. She landed somewhere behind him on a shout of rage. This he ignored. "See that she does not interfere with me," he told the boy. He sensed him grabbing her and running away.

Forgive me, brother, but I must break my promise to you.


The master watched from his prison inside the sacred essence as his slave's eyes first changed to Sharingan, then to something else. The power he could feel in Nameless, even muted through outside control of his body and senses, was beyond belief. This was Nameless? "Tis not possible."


Madara, too, was watching. He nodded. "Yes," he called across the distance separating them. "Once I discovered your parents missing I knew what must have happened. Your Mangekyo is no surprise to me. Now-"


Sasuke stared at his new surroundings only a moment before spotting the master behind a cage. He ran to him. "High One."

The master knew shock. "How are you here?"

"The chain." He grabbed the bars. "Can you win free?"

"No."

"Try! You must try, else we will perish, all of us."

His tears were scalding. "I am not strong enough."

"High One. Look a me." He held his gaze and felt an odd sensation of familiarity; The master had spoken these same words to him only moments ago. "You must try. You must. It is our lives."

"I cannot. I have tried. I am trying. The sacred essence is too strong." He choked on a sob. Closed one hand around his slave's. "Your brother's faith in me was ill-placed. Run. While you can."

"Run? Are you mad? This thing you house is in Madara's control," he barked. The master winced at the name. "He has wanted my blood for too long, and will surely send this thing after me should I flee. Run? That choice was ours when 'twas but Akatsuki we faced. Now? 'Twould be running to my death."

"He will send it after you should you stand. And you cannot stand against the sacred essence."

"Perhaps. But I-"

The master watched as Nameless was forcibly expelled from his mind.


Sasuke opened his eyes. Madara's doing. That Fox glared at him from its mountainous height. Its breath washed over him from a snout flared and quivering. Senses thrown wide as they were, he could feel Her Blessing and the boy less than half a league away. Madara hadn't moved. His Eminence still breathed, but the rest of Akatsuki stood transfixed by the Fox. Sasuke took inspiration from the master's first strategy.


His Eminence and Glory felt a hand rise from the sand beneath his back and grasp his shruda. Several of his captors looked down at him sharply. Two lunged for him, but in the same moment he found himself in a cave cool and dark, with a clone of the Uchiha slave bending over him.


Madara bit his tongue clean in half at having his prize stolen.


"By the sands..." Her Blessing grinned. "That slave has done it. He has rescued my brother!" Her nails bit into the boy's shoulder in her joy.

The Fox roared out a wave of fire. Black flames flew from Nameless in turn to engulf that incoming wave.

Her Blessing released the boy to stare when the flames met each other. They both gasped at seeing the black consume the red then surge toward the Fox. The Fox soared upward to safety, where it lashed its tails.


The sphere of chakra Sasuke surrounded himself with protected him for the most part, but Madara was there, mimicking his use of Amaterasu. He, too, leapt away, only to narrowly miss being swallowed by the Fox.


Caged in his own mind, the master felt his heart bleed to see the fight his slave put up. Why did he not flee? But no. Even he could see the ferocity with which The Exalted pursued Nameless. More so since His Eminence had been whisked from his grasp. How he'd cheered for that victory! But by His Great Eye, The Exalted was a mighty foe. Nameless was a dead man for thwarting such an opponent. His brother sold his only surviving kin to me for safekeeping and I could not fulfill my oath. His shame was enough to Pass him, so thoroughly did he roast in it.

No. There must be a way. If yon slave can fight while chained, then so must I from this cage. He squeezed the bars and closed his eyes. The feel of his slave's injuries brought on a rage that threatened to choke him. Think, curse your name, think! How to save him. Who can save him, if not I?

The sacred essence.

He went still. Ahhhh, but to speak to the sacred essence was not something he'd done above once or twice, back in his youth. Such was his awe and terror of it that he was all but useless when confronted with it. To wrest control of it from The Exalted, as Nameless suggested, was far, far beyond him. Only contained did he have mastery of it. Only when his mind and spirit were untroubled could he maintain that mastery. Even so, now, while he felt his slave evade, attack, and evade again one deadly blow after another, he tried to reach the essence. To communicate. 'Twas not something he'd ever done successfully—that is to say he and the essence had never united over a common cause— but his handler had sworn that not only was this possible, but necessary.

He swallowed. "Kurama. Last of the nine sacred essences of the Demon Himself. I beseech Thee…"


Her Blessing moistened her lips at seeing the slave dodge a blow from The Exalted only to then fall beneath a terrifying chakra blast from the Fox. For a moment, she could see nothing of the youth. All was chakra and heat and blowing sand. "He must be dead. Surely that last attack Passed him. No one could withstand that-"

A massive streak of lightning boiled from the clouds and stabbed into the Fox. Lightning shaped like a dragon. The Fox howled its anguish. The slave rose into the air, hovered, and was about to attack again when The Exalted soared up behind him and fetched him a strike that crashed him to the sands.


The boy stood riveted by the battle. Her Blessing's fan snapping open startled him so that he almost screamed. "Enough!" she said. "The slave has saved my brother. I transfer my allegiance, my fealty, and all aspects of the bargain to him. This I swear in blood upon the sands of my birth." He saw the way she gripped the edge of her fan so that blood from her hand ran down its surface to drip on the ground. Her jaw was tight and there was murder in her eyes. "I go to the slave's aid." She looked at him. "Try to stop me and I will kill you."

He had no protest. In response to the challenge of her stare he set the chain down, accessed his chakra, and gave her a nod.


Madara hid in wait. Watched. This Uchiha was skilled. He'd been led to believe Itachi was the prodigy of his clan's current generation, but this man/child whose name he did not even know shocked him. With control of the Fox, he held back not at all in his attacks. And still they were deflected. Repelled with vigor that, thus far, did not abate. Gifted, was this clansman. And then, right then, seeing how the Fox's latest attack was foiled by a lightning strike that defied description, he fell in love. The boy was his, he decided. He would lay claim to him now. Such excellence and courage, such perfection of Uchiha blood, could not possibly Pass from this world.


He tried yet again. "Kurama. Last of the-"

"…WRETCH…"

He nearly swallowed his tongue but rushed to speak before the contact was lost. "Please. I beg of Thee. Stop-"

"YOU DARE COMMAND SUCH AS ME?"

"No! Sacred essence, never could I command thee. I but beg for our lives."

There was silence. Incredibly, he could sense the Fox's own rage at being used and controlled. The master waited with thin hope and breath held.

"I CANNOT BREAK FREE OF THIS UCHIHA. BUT WERE HE DISTRACTED…PERHAPS."

"It is understood, Sacred One." His hope became a flood.


His contact with the ground dazed him but he retained enough wits to note Madara landing a few paces away…and the fact that he did not attack. He got to his feet, careful not to reveal the way his arm had been broken by that last blow.

Madara watched him rise. Gestured at the storm of rain, sand, and flames still rampant around them. "Your power is immense." His voice was mild. Inviting.

Sasuke's senses sharpened. He could all but smell the danger he was in.

"You very much resemble a brother I once had." Madara walked toward him. Stopped two paces away. Looked him over with critical eyes. "Your chakra is almost spent, but take heart. You fought well. A true testament to the excellence of our clan, you are."

"You murdered our clan."

"I did." He lowered his eyes in regret. "That pain will remain in my heart for the rest of my days. But I had no choice. It had to be done, that peace, true peace, could have a chance." When he raised he looked at Sasuke once more his eyes were black and swimming in tears. "I love this world too much to see it torn apart by wars."

He could hear the Fox somewhere behind him, to his left. Breathing in deep heavy gusts that disturbed the sand. For the moment, the wind from its tails was absent. He saw Madara glance aside. He knew what the man was sensing, for he sensed it himself: the boy and her Blessing creeping toward them. "What do you want?"

Madara's attention was brought back to him. "An end to all opposition to peace. You oppose me, therefore you oppose peace."

Sasuke gave this some thought. He could not count the times he'd asked his brother why their clan had been attacked. Itachi's answer had always been the same. 'A specter from the past has risen from Hell to create a hell of our world.' No matter how often he begged his brother to explain, Itachi never did. Only continued to flee. Now was his chance to understand. "Suna was not at war with you, yet you attacked her ruler. Nor were the Uchiha at war with you or anyone. But you slaughtered us."

"Yes." Madara had to collect his composure. "I did. And I would do it again. The tools I need, tools like yon Fox, are held by those I am not at war with. In fairness, I do ask first. To be handed what I need. As His Eminence was asked, I am sure. Always, am I denied, so I must take what I want. By force and blood. They opposed me. And though this world is at peace now, peace is fleeting. So many die needlessly in the race for dominance, wealth, and advantage over neighbors. This world needs one unifying power to love and cherish its people. To keep them safe. I," Madara said with a hand on his heart, "am that power."

'Nameless.'

He clenched his jaw around a yell of fright.

'Distract him. Cause his control of the Fox to slip and I may yet save us. Quickly.'

To Madara he said, "You condemn the people in this world for competing amongst themselves for dominance but you have killed for the same reason. You cherish nothing but yourself. I do not oppose peace. I oppose the destruction of innocent people, especially my own."

"Then join me. Do so, and I will spare your life and the life of your brother." Madara held out a hand.

Sasuke walked toward him. Slowly. Timing his approach. "I sense you are a man of your word. Reprehensible, but honest despite that."

"I am."

"If I join you, what of my chain?"

"Once your master's soul is in my safekeeping your link to him will be severed."

But you will not take his soul until you've gathered others like him. You mentioned an order you must follow. I've no idea how many there are but 'twould be folly to assume I would be allowed to live during all that time. "My brother will never join you."

"Truth. But you are enough."

Enough to keep my brother from killing you in fear of you going back on your word to spare my life. Which you would not. How quickly you discard Itachi after saying he must join you. You want him dead. The only way to my brother is through me and you know it. I know too that neither truth nor honor exist in you. If I join you, you will force my brother to Pass from life. At which point my own life would be forfeit. Swine. Cocksucking, arse-licking swine.

He extended his hand to Madara's. Held it firmly. "I accept your offer of peace."

Madara's smile was brilliant. It was so wide that fresh tears spilled from his eyes. He squeezed the hand offered him at the precise moment a glowing, spinning sphere burst through his chest.

The Fox roared and leapt to his defense, Madara's eyes turned red as he screamed, and the master bellowed in Sasuke's mind: 'Now, Nameless!'

Madara twisted to kill the boy, chest hemorrhaging, but some huge scythe-wielding creature slashed at Madara's head while Her Blessing came at him with her fan.

Sasuke did not see the result. All was wind and sand he belatedly realized must also be from Her Blessing. The master was behind him, wearing his own body, wild-eyed and fastening the other end of the chain round his wrist. He grabbed his arm. "We go." Sasuke was pulled in the master's wake.

Curses behind them. Her Blessing calling on the sands. Lightning. Fire and wind on all sides. And a single voice raised in anguish.

"The boy!" Sasuke pulled free to aid him, but the master caught him by the back of his neck and held on. "Release me! He will die against Madara!"

The master hesitated. Grief contorted his face. "He does his duty. I will speak his name-" He winced at hearing his alma scream again. "But his life is not more valuable than our own. Come!"

Nameless watched his alma put up a valiant fight against a healed and snarling Exalted. Her Blessing now dove at The Exalted from above, but a bolt of lightning sent her across the sand, her cry cut short. The Exalted now stalked toward his alma.

Now was their chance to flee, as Nameless had been so keen to do. "Move!" he roared. He used the power of their oaths to compel him-

And found himself on his knees. The command he'd thrown at Nameless met a barrier like steel. He was held down with such force that he could neither move nor speak. Could not even raise his head.

Nameless turned to look at him with red eyes.

That his slave could command him thus, without voice, and maintain the command, had his eyes bulging out of his head. Nameless spoke. "No life is less valuable than your own." He vanished.


Madara threw the child down a final time. Watched as he tried to hold his innards within his body. Watched as he vomited blood and gasped his last. He would Pass in seconds, but he meant to have his way just the same. He would tear this child limb from limb-

An eruption of chakra at his back had him whirling to find an imperfect Susanoo howling toward him.


I have but an instant, possibly two. Ordinarily he thought he would be able to use Susanoo for longer than a single attack. Difficult to say, since this was his first time truly using it. But after battling Madara and that Demon…

He saw Madara call up Susanoo of his own, but then the clones he'd made under cover of his jutsu had their charges. He held onto consciousness long enough to form a hand seal, to see Suna's desert vanish, and to hear Madara's scream rent the air.


His Eminence and Glory was able, thanks to the clone's ministrations, to sit up halfway when several individuals appeared in the cave with him. As the sound and smoke of their arrival faded, he saw that one of them was his sister, that she was gravely injured, and that it was another clone of the slave setting her down with gentle care. Then he saw that clones accompanied the other individuals. The Last's alma seemed to be Passing even as he watched. The Last himself jerked his arm free of the clone that held it. He rushed to his alma's side.

-oOo-

The boy's mouth worked soundlessly.

"Sh." The master put a hand to his alma's cheek. Blood spilled over cheek and hand both. "Be at ease. I will speak your name when it is time. You have served me…served me well. You were loved." He could scarce speak from the force of his grief, but he would not dishonor his alma's Passing. "All is well. Construct your death poem. I—TEN BLEEDING TAILS!"

His body was on fire: chakra was being sucked from him. The Sacred Essence was not only accessed but having its chakra drained in turn. He lay writhing on the floor, hoarse with agony, feeling as if the very skin was being flayed from his carcass. Every nerve in his body screamed, his every pore ran with sweat. Even his hair felt afire.

Sasuke and his clones glowed bright as the sun.

It was no more than a few moments but the master felt sure he himself had Passed when it was done. Never had he known such pain. Not even his battle with The Exalted came close. He lay with an unsteady hand covering his face and his body wracked with tremors. When he lowered his hand it was to find silence all around him save for his harsh breathing.

-oOo-

Sasuke studied his hand as the glow faded. He saw that the glow around his clones was also fading and released them. Upon glancing around, he found the boy, Her Blessing, and His Eminence awake, alert, and staring at him with wide eyes. Standing, where previously they had each been close to Passing. Only the master lay as if ill. Even as he watched, the master brought the hand covering his face down so that it clutched his stomach.

"My apologies," he began.

The master rolled to one side and emptied his guts.

"…I…felt the demon through the chain. Its power to heal, the way you healed me before. I thought to use the power to help myself. To heal myself-"

His Eminence cursed in shock.

"I did not realize my clones would be privy to my actions." He looked at His Eminence, Her Blessing, and the boy. "Or that they could heal others."

The master continued to heave.

"On reflection, I fear I was crude in the handling of your chakra. I have never done such a thing, so-"

"Shut…that festering hole… in your head." It was a rasp. The master got to his feet with obvious pain. "Have you…" He had to close his eyes and bring a fist to his mouth. When his stomach was calm, he continued in a lower voice. "Have you any idea what you've done?"

"I did what you could not. What you would not."

The master studied those unwavering eyes, blessedly black again. His skin still sizzled with fading pain, and he was none too steady on his feet. "You pus-filled boil on a diseased cock. Heed me."

"Yes?"

"…Truth, I have not words to express my rage. I have but a vision. Shall I voice it?"

They all stared at him.

"Tis simple. I wish to place my hands about your head and twist it off your shoulders. I would chew the eyes from your face, rip out your cursed tongue at long last, and wipe my arse with it. Then, Nameless. Then I would piss in your mouth. I would piss until it leaked from your nose. Your ears. Your twice-damned, twice-cursed eyes, and only then would I be certain that the contents of your skull were adequately pickled. Thus fortified, perhaps your brain would finally be able to recall simple commands."

"As my head would be detached from my body 'tis unlikely my brain would be able to recall anything."

The master strained where he stood. His Eminence went to him. Put a hand to his chest, where the muscles were bunched with the effort to kill Nameless where he stood.

"Let us have an understanding," Sasuke continued. "I saved us. You, in all your vaunted power, were of little use and less effect to our rescue. Madara made sport of you and that thing you house." There were varying sounds of dismay from the others at use of the name, but he did not stop. "Of what consequence is it that I save your alma rather than see him die? He was willing to sacrifice himself for your worthless skin. He, whom you call sacred, yet for whom you would not lay down your own life? Bedamned to you and your hypocrisy!" Sasuke now screamed, past all reason. "I saved us and all you can do is bleat about my disobedience of your precious commands."

A hand on his shoulder had him whirling, eyes red, but it was only Her Blessing. She pointed to the boy who, Sasuke realized, was kneeling in front of him and had been doing so since soon after the clone healed him. So focused was he on the master that this peculiarity had not made itself known to him. He stared at the boy's lowered head, at the way his hair was unbound from its braid and left to ripple around his body. He was nude. Sasuke frowned at this. Searched with his eyes. Found the boy's bloody clothes folded and set to one side. While he'd been ranting at the master the boy had disrobed and placed himself in this position. "What is this?" Sasuke asked. He looked at the master.

And was shocked to see tears rolling down his face. His Eminence likewise wore a frown of astonishment.

It was Her Blessing who explained. "His master let him sacrifice his life. Thus was he released. You saved him. His life is now yours."

"What!" He retreated from the boy, hands over his mouth. "No. No!"

"He comes to you in his natural state, born again to your service."

He was staring at the master's stony countenance. Now he understood. "Gods save me. I did not know. Oh gods. Oh gods. I do not accept him. I will not. I cannot."

"You cannot refuse." Her Blessing's voice was calm. Respectful of this grave event. "An alma cannot be unbound. They must belong. 'Tis their purpose."

"And if I refuse? If I insist he go back to the master?"

"Your master abdicated his Ascension-"

His Eminence made a strangled sound.

"-He is no longer fit to own an alma. He further released that alma's life from his safekeeping. The boy cannot go back to your master. In saving his life you have claimed it. Doubly so, since you have healed him, further negating that sacrifice. You have claimed him in every meaningful way already. You need only make it official with words, that it may be witnessed."

"But… But I have no Ascension, either! How can I own an alma?"

"Perhaps he will not be alma to you, but his life is yours nonetheless. He knows no other way."

"Please-"

"He will Pass if he is forced to remain unbound."

"What do you mean? He would Pass himself?"

"Yes."

He stared at her. At the master, who's head was bowed with grief. At His Eminence, who stood rigidly, watching him in turn, waiting to see what he would do. And finally at the boy, who had not moved. Who continued to patiently wait and see if he would live or die this day. There was no choice. He shivered. "What are the words I must say?"

"As he cannot be alma to you, I hardly think those rites need be observed. Simply accept him as is customary to your people in such matters."

As if the Uchiha were ever guilty of such backward, hell-spawned practices as slavery! He mastered himself with an effort. Yet neither can I let him die. Whether I agreed to this or no, believe as they do or no, I must save him again. Itachi? Do you see what you have done, the endless hell you have consigned me to? I hope you die! No. He took a breath to calm himself. No. Never that. But I can bear no more.

An idea came to him, though. He moved so that he stood before the boy. Examined the idea for flaws. Found several, but his mind was decided. "I-" He was about to use his name, but thought better of it. "I accept your…life. As my responsibility. Are you permitted to speak?"

The boy needed several moments to clear his throat. "…Yes."

The master moaned.

"And are you permitted to give me your name? This once, since it is your rebirth?"

A nod.

"What is it?"

"I am…Konohamaru."

"The name is heard," His Eminence and Her Blessing murmured.

Sasuke dipped his head in acknowledgement. "Stand please." Konohamaru did so. Sasuke produced a kunai with a hand seal. "Give me your hand."

All watched as Sasuke grasped the hand given to him at the wrist. He sliced the palm. Konohamaru made no sound. Sasuke released him to cut his own hand. He grabbed Konohamaru's with it.

"Blood to blood," Sasuke said, holding Konohamaru's stare. "From this day forth you are my brother, and I yours. I will defend you, as you defend me. Feed you, as you feed me. Clothe you, as you clothe me. Ask of you when I am in need, even as you may do the same. Shelter you, and ask of you shelter. We are blood. Never will I forsake you." He hesitated again, but they were in his homeland now, not Suna. "I am Sasuke."

There were mutters from His Eminence and Her Blessing, and even a grumble from the master, of his name being heard, but he only looked at Konohamaru, whose eyes were glassy. At last he dropped his hand. Used a flame from one finger to cauterize their wounds. He disappeared to the back of the cave for several minutes and returned with clothes.

"These belonged to me and my brother. Apparently, I am not allowed to be clothed as a slave, but I hardly intend to go about in my skin or this cursed loincloth after today. Neither will you. Cover yourself."

Konohamaru donned the simple tunic and loose pants, then stood awaiting further instructions.

Her Blessing recalled all to her presence by saying, "I too am in your service, slave. As you have rescued my brother, the bargain I struck with the Last is forfeit. I transfer my fealty to you. Suna is yours." She went to one knee, fist over her heart.

While Sasuke blinked in stupefaction, His Eminence and Glory spoke at last. "Bargain? What bargain?"


Akatsuki dared not move as the sand and wind settled. Black flames still licked about the landscape, but The Exalted stood silent. They watched him. Some shivered in terror. Others composed their death poems. One glanced at his comrades then crept a few paces closer to The Exalted and whispered at his back. "Supremacy…shall we…give chase?"

"Who dares speak?"

"I am Kidoumaru, Supremacy."

"Ah. Yes. Kidoumaru."

Those watching saw a ripple of movement that ended with Kidoumaru's head landing before their horrified stares. Their ruler turned to face them. Walked toward them as he flicked blood and gore from his hands. As one, they went to their knees and prostrated themselves.

"That clansman has Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. And he is far stronger than I imagined. Far stronger. Why...he's caused me to lose face. I've not been bested like that since Minato. Refreshing. Yet intolerable. No, he must die. At once. He and his brother. They have lived too long." He spoke to the air above their bowed heads, one bloody hand stroking his chin. "It would follow that Itachi must also have Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. 'Tis possible, at any rate. Which means his power must be…" He spent some minutes cursing in his mild voice. "A setback. I confess myself bitterly disappointed. But a remedy is at hand. Where is Nagato's corpse?"

He waited while several members separated from the group to hunt amongst the sand drifts. One ran back with a mangled body and laid it at his feet. He looked down at the man he'd known from childhood.

"That such as you has met so ignoble an end. 'Tis unlikely, but I do hope you achieved Peace before your Passing. Thank the gods your face is intact. You there." He looked over to the man he'd selected. "Nagato spoke highly of you. Kabuto, are you not?"

"Yes, Supremacy."

"I saw you land the attack that had the First retreating to his sphere. Truth, your performance was exceptional. I hereby name you new Leader to my Akatsuki."

"It is witnessed," Akatsuki chorused.

"You have some skill in healing, do you not, Kabuto?"

"Yes, Supremacy. I do claim some humble skill in those arts."

"It is well. You will remove Nagato's eyes and transfer them to me. When I am recovered we will tear this world asunder in search of that clansman. I will have his blood. I will have Itachi. I will have the First, the Last, and all the Vessels in between. And then. I will have dominion over all. But first, my eyes. Gather our dead. Let us leave."

Sunagakure stood silent and devastated beneath a lowering sun.