This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the Naruto, which is trademarked by Masashi Kishimoto. Everything aside from the original characters are created from the wonderful mind of Kishimoto.
Most of the following unrecognizable are original characters of mine.
Comments, suggestions, criticism, even just simple messages are welcomes, please feel free to message me anytime.
Thanks for reading!
Chapter 25:
"Before I make a decision and answer your question, there is something I would like to know" Gaara directed his towards his old friend, his mind returning to the conversation he had with Ayako before they left Sunagakure for the land of irons. If Gaara is being honest with himself, he too could only imagine what Misaki was going through.
"
"Misaki" Gaara called out to her after his momentary pause, turning everyone's attention from one redhead to another.
"How do you feel about the situation we are at right now, how do you feel about Sasuke and the charges pressed against him?" Gaara asked bluntly, placing Misaki in a pedestal of which she cannot evade nor escape, Misaki sighed a deep one before raising her head, a big sad smile plastered on her face, and yet no matter how the smile tried to hide it, the pain still reflected in the surface.
"To be honest, I knew this day was going to come, that I would be asked whether I would stand with him or against him. I won't hide it, I love Sasuke, more than I could ever know, more than something to logically admit in front of the kages who are declaring him rogue, and possibly more than I have loved anybody this way in my entire life. But my decisions remains, I will not stand against him" Misaki declared, making everybody take an imaginary step back, contemplating if they were stupid enough to allow a traitor in their midst.
"Have you lost your mind?
"However, I will not stand by him. My duty still remains, protect Naruto and save as much people as possible, even if that means I have to fight him to the death, this I swore not only by my life of my brother's but my late parents' who died unselfishly for the sake of their children, and the lives of many." Misaki vowed, making it clear that her feelings are strong enough to not stand against him, but her will to protect others will always overpower her personal emotions.
"That is absurd, every action that boy has taken ever since he sided with Orochimaru has been nothing but a threat to every human being, if you value the vow you swore on your parents' graves then why don't you act now" Danzo countered, Misaki almost smirked, that was just so like textbook Danzo to respond the way he did, and if she was being frank, she could expose him for every action he had taken that lead them here to this very predicament, but that would mean exposing Itachi, so Misaki held her tongue.
"In all honesty, if there is a chance that I could love and support Sasuke freely, I would have. but at what cost do I have to pay to do so, ten, twenty, hundreds of lives, lives that I do not speak for these strangers, innocent strangers who had also done nothing to hurt anybody, their lives I treasure more than the most intimate, most precious feeling I bare." Misaki defended, placing her right fist on top of her heart, as a covenant.
Gaara looked at Misaki, not needing to read her twice to know that she was telling the truth. Misaki wasn't really the type to lie, especially if it was something this crucial. Gaara said nothing and took off on his own, with his older siblings/guards running after him.
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A tackled the crazy one with the unbelievable lust to kill, sending him flying across the room, leaving him face to face with the sharingan user kid, who had kidnapped his brother.
"Natsumi, you and the others take care of the other guy, I'll take care of him" A ordered the four members of the kunoichi five, who followed him accordingly.
Sasuke used his chidori against A, but it was no use against A's armor of lightning.
"Liger Bomb" A slammed Sasuke's body headfirst into the ground using a combination of his strength and his speed, crushing Sasuke with an unbelievable force, it created a crater on the ground.
But Sasuke was able to evade the brunt of the attack by activating his mangekyou sharingan and surrounding his body with susanoo, just about the same time reinforcements began arriving, with both Juugo and Suigetsu immobilized and taken care for.
Soon, Yoko, Natsumi, Ayako and Kazumi stood by the raikage ready to launch another set of attack against Sasuke.
"Amaterasu" Sasuke fired at the raikage, but using his speed to dodge, but at the cost of a samurai getting hit behind him. A then appeared next to Sasuke, not minding the fact that Sasuke covered his entirety with amaterasu. A sacrificed his left arm chopping him away, and just as he was about to drop a kick on him, Sasuke shielded himself with amaterasu, leaving him no chance but to burn.
Thankfully though, gushes of sand barricaded them from colliding, just in time they were about to make contact, alerting everyone of the arrival of the Kazekage Gaara and his siblings, who rescued the samurai who were currently suffering the wrath of amaterasu.
"Gaara of the Sand" Sasuke recognized the foe whom he battled with a long time ago.
"You samurai, get back, this is the problem of the shinobi world, there is no need for samurai to become casualties" Gaara commanded stepping forward into the battle.
"Why did you interfere kazekage? Whether I punish you or not will depend on your answer" A called out, not a hint of gratitude that Gaara had saved him from slowly burning from the amaterasu flames.
"Observe, if you had continued and performed another attack, the pillars would collapse and the ceiling would fall upon everybody, besides that, I wish to speak to Uchiha Sasuke," Gaara explained his actions.
The raikage seem to accept this for a moment and remained silent, slicing his arm off to rid himself of the spreading eternal flames.
"Your eyes are still as they were in the past, making revenge your sustenance resolves nothing, that is a lesson I learned personally. Do not cast yourself into a world where you are all alone, obsessed with hate, blind to those who loves you so faithfully. You won't be able to return," Gaara implored.
"And if I returned, what would I find there?" Sasuke rebuffed. After Misaki pouring out her heart and soul for everyone to see just to declare her love for him, hearing his words made them ache in Misaki's stead, thinking of how many times must her heart bleed and break for a guy like him.
"Give it up Gaara, he's just a criminal now, who has fallen to the level of the akatsuki, he's not like you" Kankuro said,
"Besides, neither the raikage nor the others who have been victimized by the akatsuki remain silent, after attacking the five kage summit, he's now wanted internationally, this guy has no future" Temari added.
"Sasuke, you and I are alike, we've both walked through the darkness of this world, that's why you should be able to see even the faintest glimmer of light, in the past and even now," Gaara pressed, an image of the warmth of the siblings reaching out to him.
"I closed my eyes long ago, my goal only exists in the darkness" Sasuke replied.
"Leave your personal feelings out of this, you are the kazekage" Kankuro advised. Unspokenly, Gaara recognized his words, and as he closed his eyes, the pain of Sasuke's words imbed itself within him, and as he opened his eyes a lone tear fell from his eyes, not for himself, but for the girl who would love Uchiha Sasuke unconditionally.
"I know, I understand" Gaara muttered, all the while unleashing his sand.
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A loud explosion erupted in the distance, so strong that the earth beneath them began to quake, just as they had feared, the wing where the battle has taken place is about to collapse, and for times like this, Misaki had already known that she will have to move, but between the holding two kage type barricades, performing such maneuver would be near impossible, she would have to relinquish hold of one of the barriers, and one she already knew she cannot let off no matter what happens.
The quake intensified and Mifune found himself turning to the young girl and nodding, giving her permission to release the cage around them and focus the remains of her strength towards the collapsing wing. Misaki nodded and after completing a series of hand signs, she knelt on one knee and slammed her palm on the ground.
"Ninpou: Adamantine Pillars of Strength" Misaki performed and as soon as she did, she could feel the weight of everything as if it was hanging on her shoulder, the intensity making her yelp, falling on all fours.
"What is it,? What's the matter" Mei asked in worry, for the child as she struggled to stand, barely making it on her feet.
"A wing has collapsed and Misaki had held on it's ceiling long enough for them to evacuate" Mifune explained as Misaki was already struggling to stand up, much less speak.
In the midst of their conversation, the cloths holding up their nations were cut from the ceiling, letting it all fall on the ground.
"Above" Fuu located, revealing Sasuke standing above them smugly, sword already drawn, looking smugly at them, however he didn't have much time to gloat as Misaki, who was just struggling to stand flashed before him swinging her sword against him, everybody, even the kages were impressed with Misaki, not because of her prowess to attack just as she was struggling to stand, but because of the fact that she had just declared her love for the man she has just drawn her sword against.
"How far are you still willing to fall Sasuke" Misaki breathed as their swords bore against each other.
Sasuke choose not to answer and instead pushed Misaki away sending her skidding on her feet on the ground.
Misaki pinned her sword on the ground to support her body from falling over. But Sasuke didn't give her much time to recuperate as he rained down on her. Misaki was able to deflect, but just barely as she couldn't lose her reigns on the barrier and the pillar.
With every strike Sasuke rained down on Misaki, she could feel his hate, unadulterated and raging, against Danzo, against her, against everybody who lived in Konoha at the expense of the lives of his clansmen. Beneath that, Misaki felt his pain, his loneliness, the isolation, and she hoped she could comfort him, tell him that he is not alone, that Itachi was still there for him, that she was there for him. However, Misaki wasn't sure if the Sasuke in front of her would stop his blood thirsty quest for revenge once he finds out his brother is alive and well, it was a risk, one that would cause the lives of countless of people, also a bargain she was not willing to take.
During their squabble, Danzo and his band used it to their advantage and scrammed like the guilty men they were, Ao thankfully, ran after them, hot on their heels.
Sasuke tried to ran after them but Misaki stood between him and the exit in which his target left in.
"Uchiha Sasuke, by infiltrating and attacking the five kage summit, it is in my duty to stop and arrest you" Misaki, swung her sword a few times before resuming a battle ready stance.
Sasuke's frown deepened with newly empowered flames of anger and did not hesitate to attack the girl, who once confessef her love for him, who once called his brother a friend, who is now defending the man that ordered Itachi to eradicate his clan, bringing him where he is now.
Betrayal, it was absolute betrayal and Sasuke was having none of it, and in Sasuke's mind, every smile, every tear, every word every moment they had shared together was tainted in red, shattering in his mind, and in its place was a sinister face of Misaki who had lived in comfort at the expense of his family's lives.
Meanwhile Mei watched from the sidelines and couldn't help but feel for Misaki, who is putting herself through physical and emotional exhaustion, but nonetheless still impressed how Misaki kept pushing through what she needs to do.
Before Sasuke could attack Misaki, dollops of lava flew inbetween and past them forcing Sasuke to stop to look at his new attacker who simulataneously shot lava on the passageways, sealing the room. Terumi Mei had decided that it was time for her to join the battle.
Standing up from her seat she wiped her mouth of her lava.
"Misaki, rest, you're doing so much as it is, take some rest" Mei said as she battled against Sasuke using her lava style kekei genkai, taking him to the other side of the room, apart from them.
As Misaki tried to conserve as much strength as she can, Karin was able to study her closely, recognizing the warm chakra signature she detected. Karin remembered her, back during the during the same chunin exams wherein he met Sasuke, she was a proctor disguised as an examiner, Karin also remembered that she was the one who kicked Orochimaru out of the forest of death and out of the exam. Sure Sasuke was able to kill Orochimaru, but everybody knows that Orochimaru was already fading on his own. Misaki on the other hand, was younger then and faced Orochimaru back when he had full control of both his arms.
Suddenly Karin saw the sudden surge and drop of Sasuke's chakra, turning her attention from Misaki, to Sasuke.
"You, you're not just any sensor are you? You can see it too, the cold depths that Sasuke has fallen into" Misaki said turning to Karin, and right there in that moment, eye to eye, they felt something, a connection. They did not have time to ponder on it as white mush began to surround and attach itself on their bodies.
"I thought I felt something sinister" Misaki mumbled as she surrounded her body with lightning, frying every spore attached to her.
"Everybody, remove those things from your bodies, it's a parasite technique of one of the akatsuki member's, it will feed of on your chakra" Misaki announced and, only Ohnoki and his envoy were able to successfully maneuver out of Zetsu's technique.
'It's just as Itachi had told us, virtually undetectable, but I saw it, the malice that didn't seem to leave everybody, I thought it was just the malice of everybody radiating, but it was him all along' Misaki thought as she swung her sword a few more times, already preserved enough energy to fight again.
Sasuke destroyed the wall of lava in order to regain entry of the room Misaki prepared to face Sasuke once more, closing her eyes, keeping her breath in sync with the surroundings, Misaki held her katana to her chest, focusing on her inner core.
Sasuke waited for Misaki to make her first move, he was after all encased and protected with Susanoo, plus with the amount of energy he has, he was in no shape to make the first move. Besides, in Misaki's current state, she won't be having anything big up her sleeve, but before his very eyes, Misaki began to multiply as she walked slowly towards him, creating after images and after images of herself.
If it had been genjutsu, Sasuke would have caught on, but Misaki's attack wasn't a genjutsu, neither was it a ninjutsu. Misaki was relying on her kenjutsu and taijutsu, which even if Ssauke can see with his sharingan, he wouldn't be fast enough to par with Misaki's speed to counter, especially with his state of body. Not moving and riding out Misaki's physical attacks would be his best bet.
His course of action has proven to be a source of regret when his armor of chakra surrendered under Misaki's sword, he needed to find a blind spot, he needed to get to Karin.
And he had just found a weak spot in Misaki's attack.
"The infamous fake shadow clone of the red flash, she's controlling her speed to create after images of herself, I never thought it would work well against a sharingan user" Ohnoki commented amazed at what he was witnessing, but it wasn't the after images that proved wondrous, it's the fact that Misaki's stronghold chakra, though only coating the sword only thinly managed to destroy the Uchiha's Susanoo.
Misaki on the other hand left a weak spot in her array of attacks, she knew Sasuke wouldn't try to win against her at his current physical state, instead he will avoid and flee as soon as he can.
And as soon as Sasuke bit the dust, Misaki was there, collecting chakra on her feet as she kicked him back, slamming him against the wall, just about the same time Ohnoki had lost his patience and decided to take matters into his own hands.
"Personally, I hold no grudge against you, but many people want you dead" Onoki approached the young shinobi as he collected chakra in the palm of his hands.
"Sp long. Jinton: Atomic Dismantling Jutsu" Onoko said whilst he encase his cubic chakra before an eruption of molecular, dust sized debris settled inside.
"Sasuke!" Misaki's attention turned to the other red head in the room, who cried realizing she isn't sensing Sasuke's chakra right after the tsuchikage's attack.
"That's right, I've disassembled his body at a near molecular level and you're next" Onoki explained the capabilities of his rare jutsu the the mourning girl.
"I'm afraid it's not that easy" Misaki interjected sheathing her sword in favor of helping Chojuro, Mifune and the other samurais in removing the Zetsu surrounding and feeding of their bodies .
During this time, everyone who was at the hall fighting Sasuke earlier piled inside the destroyed conference room, Kazumi and Ayako immediately running towards Misaki.
"It's alright, you can release the jutsu now, everybody has evacuated the whole wing" Kazumi informed handing a food pill to Misaki.
"Thanks" Misaki took a deep breath and released the jutsu, leaving an earthquake like effect around them.
"Gather your strength, I have a feeling this is far from over" Yoko advised her girls as they piled inside the room, her thoughts still clouded with questions, specifically on how they were played this entire summit.
"Where is Sasuke? Tsuchikage, where is Sasuke" A, ever the rage monster asked his earth nation counterpart.
"I turned him into dust" the tiny old man boasted.
"What, I wanted to do that, you had no right-?"
"I told you, it won't be that easy, nor simple" Misaki once again interjected the topic of Sasuke dying under Onoki's technique.
"It's a great technique I'm sure Tsuchikage-san, but Sasuke survived it, I can still feel him. I don't think akatsuki would let him end like this, he's much to valuable to them, probably because they are too invested in him, or just because of the fact of their fast dwindling numbers." Misaki explained.
"Good call" A deep voice joined there conversation and the room, uninvitedly appearing in their midst whilst he casually carried an unconscious Sasuke on his shoulder.
"Smart, just like your father, I wish I could say the same about your brother" he commented fully materializing before their eyes. Misaki frowned, remembering the conversation she had with her father in Naruto's conscious.
Ä masked man with the sharingan, who had the power and the desire to control the power of the tailed beasts. Is he the very same man?
"My name is Uchiha Madara, I have something I want to explain to you all, and once you comprehend it, I want to pose a question, it's about my plan Project Tsuki no Me" the orange masked man announced.
Everybody could receive an award for putting on their best' 'the news is not that shocking, but you have my attention' faces as they waited anxiously for what this Madara had to say.
"It seems C was right, the hokage did make an escape" A began and used Onoki's time to answer as an opportunity to attack the masked man.
Meanwhile, Misaki saw his attack as another opportunity. During the split second A had phased through, Misaki used the flying god of lightning to appear beside him, and swung her katana against, him, but instead of his phasing technique, he moved away, barely escaping the blade as it had nicked the edge of the orange mask.
Tobi frowned, the look on Misaki's face unnerving him as she stood just a little out of reach of her katana. Instead of a look of frustration because her sword only managed to nick him, but she had a kind, almost triumphant and calm look on her face as she looked at him, and suddenly Tobi felt like he was up against Minato once more. She didn't attack with the intention of taking him down, she attacked because she was only trying to gauge his strength and his limitations.
"Nothing good can ever come out of something planned by the akatsuki" A emerged from the ashes and wreckage of his missed attack.
Tobi sighed and inhaled Sasuke once more in his vortex of undetectable nothingness.
"Bring Sasuke back" A ordered.
"Then listen to me first, it will all depend on your answer" Tobi countered.
"Calm down raikage, let's listen to what he has to say" Onoki persuaded A. Tobi jumped down and took Karin to his void, ordering her to revive Sasuke.
Then Tobi/ Madara began to discuss the objective of his fiasco, and his counter plan for this failed heist and the plan for why he had created those previous plans for, and though Misaki had a lot of questions, both fueled by emotions, she opted to listen and let the kages handle the questioning, out of respect for the seasoned leaders.
Project Tsuki no Me, a jutsu wherein this guy plans the one with the rest of the world or rather, the rest of the world to be at one with him, which was the primary reason why he had collected the tailed beasts, he was going to combine them all into the ten tailed beast then use its power in order to execute this ambitious project of his, using an ancient and secret technique inscribed on a tablet hidden underneath Konohagakure, explaining it all whilst giving a history lesson about shinobis and the tailed beasts.
And amidst the seriousness of the topic, Misaki could not help but feel nostalgic, like she was back in the ninja academy listening to lecture.
Not long after, despite the incorporation of history Tobi's proposal was not only rejected and shot down, so he declared war against the rest of the ninja world.
But hope was yet to be lost for this rather disastrous summitt.
In the end, with the threat of the akatsuki now tangibly real, the remaining kages decided to form an alliance, despite the absence of the hokage, the majority ruled and left it unto Misaki to deliver the news home about the Allied Shinobi Forces.
Gone were the division of nations, now that a powerful enemy has arisen, they needed to set their differences aside, to come together and defeat the one that threatens to destroy everything, or rather control everyone.
"I will report them immediately to Hatake Kakashi," Misaki bowed, receiving her orders earnestly.
"My party and i would escort you for as long as we need to" Gaara offered.
The conversation continued to go on with the kages outlining their plans for the upcoming war when the tsuchikage proposed to use Naruto and Killer Bee as weapons for the war, a notion Misaki would strongly go against, good thing Gaara had reasoned the old man with the absurdity of his idea, one that everybody else concord on.
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DUN DUN DUN DUN !
Pheww, this chapter was the hardest chapter to write by far. Even with the outline already prepared, everything was so critical, like one single string strung and the whole symphony will change its tune. That being said, Misaki's dialogues during the whole fiasco with Gaara and the other kages was the hardest thing I have ever written in my entire life, not even kidding, probably as hard as it was for Misaki to put her feelings into words in front of a bunch of people who considers Sasuke a rogue criminal.
Thank you so much!