Chapter 20
It was an unassuming cave mouth at the bottom of a cliff. Trees pushed through the near-sheer face of the rock and vines hung down those trees, giving the mouth natural camouflage. Even so, it was difficult to imagine that inside that cave was a collection of the strongest ninja known to man and beast.
The cliff didn't look too big, so no summoning, and no giant tailed beast mode. Just classic mano-a-mano fighting.
Which was why Jiraiya was scared.
He looked at that cave mouth with a cold hand of fear grabbing his stomach, something he hadn't felt since the third ninja war. Even with most of the kage by his side, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was about to go up against something he couldn't even imagine. Akatsuki already demonstrated that they could use the tailed beasts as they willed and also collected nearly all of them that were left.
This wasn't going to be a good fight.
He looked to the side at his apprentice. Mei was right next to Naruto, whispering something only he could hear. The boy's face was grim and set in determination. With that boy rested all the hope of the world. Jiraiya just wished that it wasn't too much.
He just wished his apprentice wouldn't be corrupted by what was inside.
Jiraiya waved his hand in the air to still the idle whispering and chatter, then pointed at the cave. He bolted into a run, leading the way forward with the other four kage to his left and right and the remainder of the party in a line following them; an arrow formation.
For every single one of them, the air they were breathing was dense and settled in their stomach. Even those hardened by battle weren't immune to this. It was something only an insane person couldn't be affected by.
They entered the mouth of the cave. It would have only been more complete a scene if there was writing above it saying 'abandon hope all ye who enter'. It was foreboding to the extreme.
Jiraiya unsealed a torch that shone with strangely bright fire, illuminating the tunnel they were traveling down. And as of yet, it was just a normal cave. No writings or ritualistic scenery. There wasn't any red and black décor nor was there any trace of human. It was just a normal cave.
Jiraiya started to let doubt cloud his mind. Was this the right cave? Were they wrong and that the akatsuki had already moved on? Should they even be doing this?
And then the open tunnel turned downwards. It wouldn't have been a problem to traverse had the way forward not been flooded. The only way through was to swim.
"I don't like this," Jiraiya said. "Of what we know about Akatsuki, we know about one Kisame Hoshigaki. Wading into water is suicide."
"Bah," Onoki grumbled. "I can't swim. Not at my age."
"Can we bore through?" Sakura asked. "It's just rock, after all."
Ai shook his head. "We don't know how built out this place is. It could go all the way up for what we know. If we set aside rock, it could cause a cave-in. And that's something I would rather avoid."
"I've an idea," Mei said deviously. When all eyes were on her, she continued. "This Kisame… I'm assuming he can breathe water, yes?" When Jiraiya nodded his head, she grinned darkly. "Can he breathe bleach?"
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Kisame sat cross-legged on a small boulder scarcely bigger than himself in the middle of a lake of water. The cavern was about as big as a tailed beast and went all the way up, breaking through the top of the cliff and allowing a portion of sunlight through. Surrounding him was somewhat deep water; terrain devised solely for him and his abilities. And at his back was a darkened tunnel leading further into the cavern. From what he could understand, all their fighting potential clashing with all of akatsuki's fighting potential would put the whole cavern at risk as soon as the big techniques started rolling out. So, there was a bit of a progression. Stages that they would have to get completely through before they could get to the next one.
And he was the first.
"Well, gosh darn, being the first trial must mean the top boss thinks so highly of me, huh?" Kisame muttered to himself darkly. At least he had the terrain advantage to him and Samehada was recently fattened up on some chakra from the Gedo statue. But it was still six kage level shinobi and three Jinchuuriki. If he wanted to survive, he had to go balls to the walls from the get-go.
He was broken out of his musing when a pinkish dark bubbly mixture started to seep through the entrance to his watery cavern. He couldn't tell if it was super acidic or super basic, but it definitely wasn't something he wanted to swim around in.
They were devious if nothing else.
From that pinkish mixture a figure rose, tall and beautiful and so incredibly terrifying to the lesser man. Mei Terumi of the hidden mist had decided to grace him with her presence.
"Well, well, well," she said as she started walking forward on top of the water in a somewhat sultry manner "I was in the mood for some shark fin soup. I'm so glad events have conspired in my favor."
The pink substance spread with every touch of her foot to the surface of the water. Behind her, the rest of her party started sprouting up as well, evidently exempt from the harmful effects. They walked around the cavern as opposed to right up to him, surrounding him completely.
They were going to attack en masse. It wasn't a strategy he couldn't see coming. After all, it wasn't as if they were operating on a very pressing time schedule. They were playing it safe and who could blame them?
Not him. Especially not when he would have done the exact same thing if he were in their position.
Mei took a breath to speak some more, probably jests or an invective, but his eyes shot open with a suddenness that stilled her breath. He wasn't in the mood for idle chatter.
It was time to fight.
His chest swelled with an ungodly amount of water, which he started spewing out immediately. He turned around and around, trying to pin each and every one of them down before they could react.
He failed at that. Before he got even one full revolution, a dark blur appeared behind him with its fist cocked back and ready to turn the shark man into pulp. Ai had the time to smirk, knowing it would be a quick fight, only to get broadsided in the shoulder by a flying shark-sword.
He fell to the water, trying to beat the beast off of him while everyone else did damage control. The water level was rising quickly. Enough that Kisame was already submerged in it with a dimpling of the water surface directly above him being the only indication of his position.
Any advantage they had in numbers was being shaved off with every passing second. There was really one person who was used to fighting in and under water.
"Go!" Mei shouted, waving her hands in the direction of the exit to the cavern. "I'll take care of him. Get going already!"
Naruto wanted to stay, but was already grabbed by the shoulder by Kakashi and pulled away before he could even get a word out. His brain was racing. He knew he wasn't going to be of any help in that environment, but even a word of encouragement was turning out to be too much.
"Mei!" he shouted desperately, knowing she wouldn't turn to look back at him. "Live!"
While everyone was shuffling out of the cavern, Mei Terumi let a small smirk come to her lips. When did she become such a softie that only two words comprising a single order would make her want to follow it?
Her mouth puffed with lava release before spitting out truckloads of viscous acid that spread through the water like ink. This was going to be a battle of attrition. To see if she could eat away enough of him before he could eat away at her.
It was going to be a tough one.
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They popped through the water of the exit coughing and spluttering, having swam hard enough to not be targeted by the shark-like sword employed by Kisame. They all made it through, though.
All except two.
Naruto's eyes widened. "Where's Fu?" he asked desperately.
Everyone looked around, but no one had an answer. "Or Ai?" Onoki asked. The old man shook his head ruefully. "And it was his idea too."
"He's not dead," Yugito said. It was obvious though that worry began eating away at her when she realized the huge man wasn't with them.
Onoki crossed his arms over his chest. "Can we go back now? It's obvious that this mission is already at a failure level. We could cut our losses and be gone without anyone knowing."
"You!" Yugito growled out, pointing an accusing finger at the old man. "Just shut up! Shut up for once in your miserable fucking life. He's not dead. And we're going forward."
"He is most likely dead, girl. And don't think you can go around ordering me about." Onoki's eyes bore into slits as he growled at the taller woman.
While they argued, Naruto was struck silent. His world was crashing around him. Not again. Not Fu.
"What a lovely bunch you are."
Everyone turned around to look at the intruder, an unassuming man sans the swirled orange mask covering his face. "So this is the shinobi alliance I've been hearing so much about. I'm not impressed."
His lackadaisical attitude made everyone feel uncomfortable. It was always the crazy ones who were most powerful, after all. "Who are you?" Jiraiya asked, body tensed for signs of trouble.
The unassuming man shrugged his shoulders. "Does it really matter? I'm not here to fight you. At least not yet. I just wanted to meet you all in person. See what I'm up against. And man, does this not bode well for you."
Yugito's nose curled up. "Is Bee still alive?"
The man nodded. "Barely. To be honest, I didn't think you all would take the bait. Maybe one or two of you, but all? You must have a true charisma by your side for that to work."
Everyone's eyes shifted to Temari at one point or another at that remark. "A little bit," Yugito said, regaining her cool. "Why are you doing this?"
The man considered it for a few seconds before shaking his head. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you. This is for your benefit though. For everyone's."
Shibuki sighed. "Why do the big guys always have to be cryptic?"
Naruto took a deep breath and gulped the bile that was rising from his stomach. "It doesn't matter what you put in our way or who you send to fight us. We will prevail. And you will lose."
The mans' head tilted to the side. "Those are fighting words."
"Damn straight," Naruto said with a shaky smile.
He shrugged. "Your will against mine, then. Anyway, I'll be going now. If any of you live to see me, then good for you. But you sure as hell won't like what I'll do to you when we meet."
A void formed out of his eyehole and sucked him in to it, leaving not even a trace of behind.
Before anyone could comment, a splash of water behind them and the sound of bodies slumping against rock caught their attention. "Heya," Fu greeted, waving a hand at them. On the ground coughing up a storm and with a few huge gashes across his shoulder was Ai.
Leaving Ai to his faculties, Fu took a few energetic steps forward and wrapped her arms around Naruto, pressing her lips to his. She disengaged to see a shell-shocked Naruto staring at her with disbelief. On her neck were twin patches of skin that were grayish and undulated somewhat. "Did I mention I can breathe underwater?" she asked. "It's a bug thing. Anyway, I need to go help Mei. You all save Bee. Later."
And with that, she was back under the water, wading towards Mei.
Sakura was already helping Ai while everyone was still in slight shock at her appearance and subsequent disappearance. Naruto chuckled a little bit. "Guess we don't have to worry about her after all."
He felt like he wanted to pitch forward and yell in triumphant happiness, but it was neither the time or the place for that to happen. This was a rescue mission. And it was time to get a-rescuing.
"We can't take our time with this anymore," Naruto said loudly, so that everyone's attention was on him. "Mei and Fu are buying us time right now and even if they are strong, we can't risk something happening to them. We run right through everything, grab Bee, and get the fuck out."
Jiraiya sighed into his hand. "I hate it when I don't have enough information. Okay, you heard the kid, time to skedaddle."
Ai got up from the ground, coughing up the remaining water in his lungs and scratching at the newly formed skin covering his shoulder. That shark sword took a big bite out of both him and his chakra. It wasn't something he wanted to try out again. "Right… we have to get Bee back," he mumbled, shaking his head to get focus back.
Onoki pinched the bridge of his nose. "And now this one can barely stand. I should have stayed back in hidden stone."
Jiraiya took the lead of the party as they ventured farther into the cave system and farther away from Mei's and Fu's plight. Yugito's face was set in a firm look of grim determination. Nothing was going to stop her from proceeding forward, Naruto could tell.
At some point, Sakura grabbed him by the elbow and migrated the both of them to the side. "Hey, are you okay?" she asked.
Naruto nodded immediately. "Yeah, of course I am."
Sakura glanced at the rest of the group, her gaze settling on Temari's back for slightly longer than the others'. "There's a reason why couples aren't allowed to go on missions together. There's a much higher chance of people getting emotionally compromised. And I don't think I have to explain why that's so much worse when you're the one getting compromised. Are you going to be okay? Even if Temari gets hurt?"
Naruto's lips pressed into a line. That was the one question he did not want to get asked. The last time he saw someone get hurt, he flew into a rage and hurt Mei. The fact that he did that was still eating at him. He was scared about what might happen to them, but he was also scared about what he might do if something did happen. He never wanted to lose himself again. That feeling of wholly unchecked… rage. It was ungodly, both in its power and its feeling.
He nodded his head. "I'll keep my cool."
Sakura had a worried look on her face. She squeezed his shoulder reassuringly and rejoined the rest of the group. There was a light up ahead that they were running to. The next trial was awaiting them.
The cavern they ran into was much more built-out than the other one. It was rectangular and large, about the size of a football field. Torches lined the walls, which were cut smooth, giving the room a ghastly feel. The party was floored by the sight in front of them, but none more so than Jiraiya.
In front was a man withered away to a husk inside of a strange spider-like metal contraption that held him in the air. And floating next to him was a woman with dull blue hair and wings made of origami paper. Both of their gazes looked dead.
"K-Konan? Nagato?" Jiraiya sputtered out. He looked like he was being visited by specters.
Konan blinked and tilted her head slightly towards Nagato. "I certainly did not expect to see our sensei with the group of kage."
Nagato shook his head in agreement, not saying anything.
Jiraiya took a step forward while everyone readied themselves in case the situation went tits-up. "W-What happened? I thought you were d-"
Jiraiya had to rapidly jump out of the way of paper shuriken that sliced up the ground he had been standing on moments prior.
"If only we had time, sensei," Nagato mused. His voice was cracked apart. He could barely be understood. "I'm sure you could understand why we're doing this. As it is now, we need the Jinchuuriki. Hand them over and everyone else goes free."
Jiraiya shook his head. "I can't let that happen."
Nagato's eyes narrowed. "Then you all die."
The ground in front of him erupted and six figures jumped out of the destruction, all pierced through the face with various spikes and rods. And in the middle of their formation…
"YAHIKO!" Jiraiya shouted, already able to comprehend what must have happened. The 'leaders' of Akatsuki surged forward, intend on destroying everyone and taking the tailed beasts for themselves.
Sakura and Kakashi ran forward first with Jiraiya and engaged with them. "RUN!" Sakura shouted. "Get Bee and get back as soon as you can! We'll hold them off!"
The remaining members shot forward, creating jutsu and punching things as hard as they could in trying to clear a way forward while Jiraiya, Kakashi, and Sakura ran interference with the rebels from Rain.
Everyone continuing, the kage, Naruto and Yugito, charged through the chaos and made it to the exit, where they didn't stop running. "This is bad!" Shibuki shouted. "They were heavily outnumbered."
"But we don't know if they were outmatched!" Ai shouted back. "Either way, nothing changes. Get Bee. Get out. Hope we're all standing at the end of it."
"That's a shit plan!" Shibuki counterpointed.
"It's all we've ever had," Yugito said lightly even past the intense running.
"We'll make it," Naruto urged.
"I'm getting mighty sick and tired of your endless optimism, squirt," Onoki chattered back, a scowl etched into his aged face.
"It's the only thing keeping us going," Temari added. "Don't make light of tenacity."
"There's tenacity and then there's foolishness."
"Same thing in my book."
Onoki turned to give Temari a piercing glare, which she responded by lifting a brow and smirking at him.
"Oversexed younglings," Onoki muttered as he turned forward.
They ran for a few more seconds before bursting through a curtain-like material into another room, this one the largest by far and also the most populated with various… things. Everything from furniture to weapons laid about and even a master bed was at the very end. In the middle of the room, from which everything centered around, was a man sitting on a chair reading a book. He had ancient red battle armor which was cracked in places and long black hair. His eyes had a strange purple ripple in them. It was very strange.
Those very eyes flicked away from the book to behold the entire group. He hummed in… what was it? Approval? Disappointment? Recognition? It was as tough to gauge the sounds he made as it was to read his face, which looked like it had been chipped from stone for how still it was.
"More of you made it than I thought," he considered. "Let's see… leader of waterfall, that's a surprise. Kage of hidden sand, quite young aren't you. Oh, and sorry about your brother. Kage of hidden stone, still alive after all this time. Kage of hidden cloud… just as full of fury in real life as in your pictures. Then there's the two-tailed and the nine-tailed. Both of you were more of a pain than I thought you'd be, but that'll be over soon anyway."
"Who are you?" Temari commanded.
"Madara Uchiha," he replied with no hesitation.
"Why are you doing this?"
One of his eyebrows ticked upwards. "That's a lengthy explanation. And the way I hear it, you're on a bit of a schedule. After all, you have a notion that all of you will remain alive after this is all over."
Temari's nose crinkled up in disgust. "Naruto, Yugito," she said. "You go forward. We'll hold him here."
Madara smiled and reached behind, taking hold of a long scythe that had somehow been out of sight until then. "That's a mighty big bit of presumption on your part, little one."
Onoki nudged her leg with his elbow. "If he's who he says he is-"
"Doesn't matter," she said, cutting him off. "I don't care who you are, what your plan is or anything like that. We're here to rescue someone you've taken from us. That's that."
Madara hefted the scythe onto his shoulder. "Why do I get the feeling you're painting me to be the bad guy in this scenario?"
"You murder people. You kidnap them. You unsettle countries and even destroy them in some cases. You are the bad guy."
"Oh? And you haven't murdered people? Haven't put anybody under 'diplomatic protection'? Quit your pretentions of righteousness."
"I've always had a reason. To protect my village. To protect my family."
Madara smiled. "Well, you have your reasons. I have mine. Let's agree to disagree."
"I'm getting tired of this!" Ai roared. "Is Bee still alive?!"
Madara nodded, his smile vanishing. "It's the last room back there," he said while pointing immediately behind him.
Ai smiled as lightning crackled and raced up his body, super charging his senses and comprehension.
Madara whistled in appreciation. "Haven't seen that one before."
Ai appeared behind the man, surpassing the sound barrier as he did so and sent an elbow to the middle of his back, hoping to end everything before it could begin.
Madara shifted the scythe so that Ai's fist would hit the pole and spun around him, swinging the blade in a wide arc aiming for the man's head. Shibuki ran forward with water racing down his arms into vicious swords, followed by Onoki and finally Temari, just before giving Naruto a parting glance.
Naruto's jaw set and he looked down for a fraction of a second. "C'mon," he shouted, grabbing Yugito's wrist. "They gave us a chance!"
The two of them raced forward past and under the chaos of the fighting and headed to the supposedly final door to the final room. "Get Bee. Get out." Naruto repeated over and over as the darkness of the tunnel swallowed them up.
As soon as they entered, they exited into another room. The 'tunnel' was only about ten feet long and the reason for the darkness was because the only thing lit up in the entire room they entered was a giant statue with a wrap around its head that had nine eyes on it, six of which were currently completely open and a couple others that were partially open.
"So you did make it."
Naruto and Temari turned around, ready to fly into battle at a moment's notice. What they found was the man from before; the one with the orange swirled mask. "Though," he said, continuing on. "You appear to have lost quite a few companions since last we talked."
"Where's Bee?" Yugito demanded.
Torches along the walls flicked on and illuminated the rest of the room. Slumped in the middle of the floor underneath the giant statue was a dark-skinned man with blonde hair. His chest was barely moving.
"Hold him off," she muttered to Naruto before racing back to Bee. She slid on her knees the last steps and checked his vital signs. Once she felt a beating heart from his jugular vein a wave of relief washed over her. It was like there had been a shadow obscuring her heart and knowing that the man was alive washed it away. She looped one of his meaty arms around her shoulders and stood up, struggling slightly under the weight of the man. When she turned around she was treated to the sight of Naruto, alone, looking around him confusedly.
"He just… disappeared. Sank into the ground."
"Earth technique?" she asked.
He shook his head. "Nothing moved. I think it was a genjutsu- LOOK OUT!"
Yugito turned around just in time to get a face full of fist. It was so forceful that it knocked her back and blurred her vision. Bee was left to slump back to the ground. The man with the mask stood where she had been previously, shaking his hand like he'd just partaken in a particularly powerful high five.
Naruto raced forward and threw a punch at the masked man, only to stumble forward when his fist reacted with nothing. Something caught him by his foot and swung him around, slamming him into the ground hard enough to crater it. He tried to summon the Kyuubi's chakra, but a fist with what felt like the weight of the world fell on his head, cratering it further into the ground and rendering him unconscious.
Yugito pulled herself up into a standing position, swaying slightly from her disorientation. Things were bad. This was bad. She wasn't sure if Mei and Fu could match up against Kisame. She wasn't sure if Jiraiya and the other leaf nin could match up against those two freaks. She wasn't sure if the rest of the kage could match up against Madara.
And she had a rising inclination that she was massively outclassed by the man in front of her as well, who either was a master at genjutsu, or knew an ability that made him intangible.
So, was that it? Was she done? Was everyone done? Complete and utter failure to do anything? Complete inability to do what she had set out to do?
Blue flames flickered up her body.
No.
She refused to back down. She was going to beat the enemy in front of her. She was going to drag Naruto and Bee and whoever needed it back out of the fucking wretched cave they were in. She was going to save the day.
Because she was strong.
The blue flames engulfed her and soon she knew only rage.
Rage and pain.
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Sasuke walked out of the ruined cave, flicking his sword against the ground to get the globules of blood off it.
Orochimaru was dead and gone. And nothing was going to bring him back.
He looked at the green mountains as the sun peaked over the edge, sending orange god rays across the world. The air was chilled and stung his lungs as he breathed in. He closed his eyes and breathed in that sweet, cold air. It was freedom.
But he still had more to do.
One last thing and he finally had the strength to do it. The thing that had consumed him so much was finally about to come true.
Yes. He was strong. Stronger than anyone or anything before.
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Yugito opened her eyes and sat up. Water was around her waist, up from how it usually was, barely enough to cover her feet. She lurched forward and covered her face in her hands and began to sob miserably.
She had failed.
She'd felt failure before, but this time… But this time she couldn't fail! She wasn't allowed to! There was too much at stake. Her mentor and friend, who she needed to save. Her love, who she needed to protect. Her role, a weapon to be used against the akatsuki.
She'd failed all of them.
Matatabi blinked and sighed at her younger charge. "Oh, Yugito…"
The woman in question took a shuddering breath and looked up, her eyes red and her mouth shut in a line. "Can you… Can you please just… not give me some piece of wizened, sagely advice that's so vague that it could hit any center of my meaning processes? Please? Please don't give me some comforting words that make it sound like it's not my fault. Can we please just agree that it is!?"
Matatabi slowly shook her head. "Can't do that sweetie. Well, maybe the first bit I'll indulge you in, but I won't agree that the situation we're in is your fault."
Yugito's lip quivered slightly and tears sprung from her eyes once more. "Just…" she grabbed her face and pitched onto her knees. "What did I do wrong? I did everything I could. I trained until I bled. I failed until I didn't. I did my best and resolved to do better in the future but no matter what I did, it wasn't ever enough! I FUCKING HATE IT! I FUCKING HATE IT SO GODDAMN MUCH!"
Matatabi nodded her head in kind with the woman who had just had everything she ever wanted taken away from her. Then she looked to the side a little bit. "I never did understand why you couldn't get past the 'waterfall of truth'."
Yugito took a slow, shaky breath and regarded the giant cat again. "What?"
"The 'waterfall of truth', you never made it past that step. After that, you'd do battle with me and take my chakra to use as your own. It was a bit of a moot point since I gave it to you willingly, but I never got why you didn't get past the waterfall. Bee seemed to be able to do it no trouble, but you always confronted yourself and came away frustrated. No matter what you did."
Yugito was looking at the distorted visage of her knees underneath the rising water. "It never talked to me. I never understood what I was doing wrong."
"It was strange. I never understood what happened. I've thought about it so much. You seemed to know about the things that you lacked. You were emotionally stable. And yet you still had darkness in your heart that you couldn't confront that stopped you from moving forward."
"I know that," she whispered. "I've never understood it. There's always been something… wrong with me. I can't figure out what it is. No matter how many times I think I've got it, I never do."
Matatabi stood up and started pacing around. "As much as we talk, you never did tell me what got you interested in the kid. In Naruto."
Yugito's eyes were half-closed and dour. The reality of the situation was starting to sink in.
She was going to die. And there was nothing she could do to stop it. And it was all her fault.
"He was nice to me."
"Is that it? Many people have shown you kindness. Granted, not as much as if you hadn't had me sealed in you. But there have still been many."
Yugito shook her head. "He's a Jinchuuriki too. He understands what it's like to be regarded as something to be despised."
Matatabi tilted her head in confusion. "Then why not Bee? Sure, there's an age gap and he's a bit eccentric, but you've that with Naruto as well. Why is he different?"
Yugito's lips were pressed in a line. Why was this being discussed? Did it really have to be? "I don't know," she said, shaking her head.
"You've said many times that you want to protect him. Is that it? You want to mother him so he doesn't have to go through what you did?"
"No!" Yugito regarded loudly. "I don't… that's not why."
"Then why? Is it because he treats you normally? Is it because he 'never gives up'."
Yugito continually shook her head. "That's not… I don't…"
"You love him and you don't know why? Are your feelings so indiscriminate?"
"You know it's not!"
"Then give me proof!"
The water was up to her stomach now. Matatabi was starting to shrink from having her chakra siphoned out. Even the chakra construct's eyes were getting heavy.
"He's happy."
Matatabi blinked. "Excuse me?"
"No matter what happens to him, he's happy. He… he knows… and he feels everything I've gone through. And he's not sad. He has people who love him and he loves them back. He's not… bitter. Not like I am."
"Kitten… you're not bitter."
Yugito shook her head. "Don't give me that. You know I'm bitter. I'm bitter and cold and mean and stern and inflexible. I've had my heart broken, but that's not an excuse to move on. I let that one experience stop me from moving forward with my love life. My first instinct is to threaten rather than to reason. I stick to the rules too much. I'm not… I'm not fun. That's the truth. You know it and I know it. I want to be strong, but more than that, I want to not be those things. And he's none of those things and better yet, he saw past my bitchy side and found the good in me."
Matatabi rested her head on her paws. "Well, perhaps you are bitter. But what of it? Stern, cold, so what? Inflexible, who cares? Mean… I guess you could work on that a little bit more. But I think you're wrong if you say that he looks past those things. He's young, but he's got an extremely profound understanding of how people work, even if he doesn't know it."
"What are you talking about?"
"I've seen the way he looks at you through your eyes. He doesn't latch onto your good points and follow you around on those. He doesn't pretend like you aren't inflexible; he doesn't wince whenever you show your coldness or your sternness. He delights in them. There's a reason why I haven't killed him yet, you know. It's because he loves you. Not your good bits. Not your bad bits. He loves you. All of you. He's accepted your weakness and better yet, he's okay with it."
Yugito breathed out slowly. Blackness was starting to edge her vision. There wasn't much time left. "Great… now I know it." She paused and looked up at the ceiling of her mindscape, water rising up above her chest and licking at her neck.
And then her eyes opened wide in stark realization. "I've always wanted to be different. I always wanted to be the best me I could be. I realized my weakness but I never accepted them. I never wanted to. Is it… is okay to be weak? Is it okay to be stern and bitter and cold? If… no, someone accepts it. And if someone accepts it, doesn't that mean I can to?"
"There's nothing wrong with being who you are, kitten. There never has been. There never will be."
"And even so… I can also want to be different, right? I can want to change? I can be who I am and be okay with that. But I can also want to be something else and that's okay too."
The blackness that was eating away at her vision retreated. Her mind started clearing. The water level fell back down.
Yugito took a deep breath and let it out slowly, opening her eyes to the world again. She didn't know how she knew, but intrinsically, she was aware that if she took Matatabi's chakra, she wouldn't lose herself to anger or frustration or the feeling of being too weak. She wouldn't feel the shame of being who she was.
She was in complete control now.
"Matatabi, however much chakra you have left, I need what you can give me."
00000000
Sakura cracked an eye open, hoping that neither of the men in front of the statue would notice her. She'd woken up only minutes ago, prone, and with both her shoulders dislocated. She'd been trying to get some medical chakra worked down there to get her arms back in place, but the pain was making it hard to concentrate.
She was also listening to the two men; the one self-proclaimed Madara Uchiha, and the unnamed orange masked one. Trying to understand anything that the two were talking about was difficult to say the least. What she did know was that it wasn't anything good.
"Where's Kisame?" Madara asked.
Obito stood in front of him and a whoosh of space displacement blurted out from his mask. Fu and Mei slumped onto the ground, both unconscious. "I don't know," he said. "He was gone when I got to the two of them."
Madara's eyebrows rose. "He took out a kage and a Jinchuuriki? Seems he was more impressive than I thought he was going to be."
Obito shook his head. "No. They were both standing when I got there. Battered, sure, but still standing."
Madara's eyes narrowed. "Did he run away?"
Obito shrugged. "Does it matter at this point? We have all the chakra from all the tailed beasts. When we can start the plan the next full moon."
"He had a lot of chakra from the statue. It could delay things. We should track him down just to be safe. Worst comes to worse, we have to wait a few months for the chakra in the statue to regenerate."
"And we can do that later. For now, we have some tailed beasts to extract. Come on, this should take a bit." Obito turned around and picked up Yugito and Naruto to put them with Fu in front of the statue.
"What about Nagato?" Madara asked.
"Dead," Obito stated simply. "Along with Konan."
Madara huffed. "Some prodigy he turned out to be."
"He also managed to stave off Jiraiya, keeping him away from you."
One of Madara's eyebrows rose. "And what could he have done to me? Not even the kage can stand up to me."
"I wouldn't look down on him if I was you. He's probably the smartest man alive right now. Most assuredly the most morally righteous. If anyone could figure out a way to take you down, it would be him… on that note, why did you let the kage live?"
Madara looked at the deposed states of the kage behind him. He'd carried them in the cave on a whim. "We're trying to create a new reality. Doesn't make much sense to murder the whole world while we're at it."
"No, but it would make sense to murder you."
Madara contemplated that sentence for a couple seconds before his eyes narrowed in confusion. "What?" he asked turning around, only to get struck in the chest by Obito. He immediately tried to snap the child's arm like a twig, but he couldn't. A bluish shadow was being sucked out of his mouth by Obito's hand, like a long snake made of smoke. The tail passed his mouth and he fell to the ground, all life gone from his eyes.
Obito slowly shook his head and allowed the soul of Madara to get eaten by the king of hell. "What a waste," Obito muttered before jumping up on the statue and starting the chakra removal process.
Sakura blinked a few times. Her arms were back in place and she was trying to get an understanding of what was happening. Evidently, there was a falling out, but she couldn't place why or how that falling out could have happened. And now, the masked man was taking Naruto's, Fu's, and Yugito's chakra all at once. And if the rates at which the chakra was being sucked out was any indicator, they didn't have very long.
She had to stop him.
But how?
Jiraiya and Kakashi were on either side of her. If she could heal them…
She looked up. There was the sound of talking on the statue's head. The masked man was talking to some strange plant monster. One half white and one half black. At least they weren't trying to kill each other. But that distraction was just what she needed. Waking Jiraiya up was her number one priority right now.
Her hand edged to her right, where the giant of a man was laying, green chakra racing down her fingertips.
Her hand touched the back of his neck, only for a bare, white foot to fall down on her wrist, stopping it in place and grinding down to the hard dirt.
"What's going on down there?!" The masked man shouted.
Sakura looked up at the thing that was crunching down on her wrist. It was some pale, nude-but-not-nude, humanoid… thing.
"You forgot to check if this one was out!" The white Zetsu shouted back.
"Just kill her then. I've got no patience for distractions."
Sakura's face scrunched up from a mixture of pain, frustration, and anger.
There was fire in her eyes.
Before the white Zetsu could act, she grabbed his ankle with her other hand and pivoted upwards, unbalancing him. Then she brought her smarting hand around and hit him in the midsection, causing him to liquify on impact. Pieces of white Zetsu went everywhere.
Desperate, she broke out into a sprint for the three Jinchuuriki having their chakra taken and tried to pull them out, but didn't get even ten feet away from them. A black foot made contact with her forehead and kicked her out of the way with ease. "This is why you don't leave survivors," black Zetsu ground out.
"So don't," Obito said, clearly getting annoyed at what was happening. "Just kill them… hm…"
Black Zetsu turned around and opening his mouth to ask what was wrong, and didn't expect to be face-to-face with a woman who was completely clad in blue fire.
She was looking at her hands and turning them over lethargically, like she wasn't used to them. Her facial features were clearly visible, but the fire hugged her, even emulating her clothes. She blinked a few times, heterochromatic green and yellow eyes flicking up to look at him.
Black Zetsu couldn't even blink before a tail made of blue fire whipped around from behind her and latched onto his leg, throwing him away with seemingly casual ease while his body hit the wall hard enough to send a massive crack throughout the entire room.
Realizing the danger, Obito stopped syphoning off chakra from the three and came down, intent on disabling her before she could do any more damage.
She looked up at him with no rage, no sadness, happiness, or any other emotion visible in them. If anything, she looked slightly morose, like a parent disciplining their child even though causing said child consternation might be the last thing they would want to do. Her single tail dug into the ground like and anchor and she jumped up to meet him in combat.
He flowed around her like a river by a rock, but never managed to contact her either. It was like she knew what he was going to do, always. Duck under a kick, sidestep a punch, avert her gaze when he tried to use genjutsu.
Obito grit his teeth. It looked like it was going to be the hard way for her. He produced chakra stakes from his palms and shot them out faster than the eye could track. They entered and exited her, pinging into the walls behind her. His eyes widened. He'd put more force into them, but not enough to completely go through a chakra cloak. Was she weakened more than he thought?
And she looked up at him, completely unfazed at being skewered, and smiled. Not an 'I've got you now' smile. It was genuine. She looked happily at him. And then her facial features disappeared into the flames and her arms and legs too. She became indistinguishable from the fire emanating from her tail…
Obito's eyes widened in disbelief. At the point where she anchored her tail, the two tails was standing with the rest of her group held aloft by chakra arms. He'd never been fighting the real her. He was fighting her tail.
He body flickered his way towards her to try and stab her main body with the chakra rods, but the fire surrounding her flared outwards and bathed the entire room in inferno, not letting him solidify long enough to get her and blinding him in one swoop.
Obito used a water jutsu to wash away the flames, but she was gone, with everyone, when the fires were extinguished.
His hands gripped into fists hard enough that his skin turned bone white.
"Perhaps you should have waited on betraying Madara," black Zetsu said, crawling his badly damaged body along the ground towards him.
Righteous fury glared back. "And I thought you were loyal to him; his own will. Do I have to kill you too?"
"If I were loyal, I wouldn't have let you transplant Nagato's eye into yours. We shared a vision. Nothing more."
Obito let out his breath and released his palm grip. "Enough. I extracted enough chakra from all of them to get to the first stage at least. Once we get there, extracting the rest of them will be simple."
Black Zetsu looked around at the destroyed room. "The best laid plans…"
"Not a word more!" Obito shouted, pointing a finger at the being. He let out a deep breath. "I will need time though. If you share a vision, then find Kisame and get his sword. That'll make things go faster."
Black Zetsu tilted his head in acquiescence. "I'll find him. Try not to fuck things up in the meantime."
As the ground swallowed him up, Obito was left alone, once again.