Rise to Action

While Sasuke's cries were drowned out on the battlefield, Naruto heard them as though he were standing right next to him. He woke up without processing that he'd previously been asleep and attempted to join his side until he realized that he was enclosed in something rough and dark. Heart pounding, he quickly felt around, testing the strength of the material. It didn't feel too durable, or rather, he'd been enclosed in denser enclosures before, such as during his fight with Pain.

He flared up with yellow chakra, illuminating the inside of the sphere. Crouching tensely, he prepared to break out but paused when he heard someone outside shout "Sand Burial!"

"Gaara…?" he tried to process. His mind was hazy, but he remembered it'd been Sasuke who he'd last seen, bursting into the room where his chakra was being siphoned. Had Gaara been part of the rescue mission? Were they still in Takami's hideout?

With only one way to find out, he launched forward with a "Rasengan!" and obliterated the cocoon he'd been shielded within. He stumbled as he hit the ground from where he'd been floating, blinking into the morning sunlight. Once his vision had cleared, he saw Gaara, Temari and Kankuro fighting someone from Takami's group, but all three turned to look at him.

"Naruto, what are you—" Gaara began, but Naruto immediately sprang to his feet and charged towards their target.

With all three ninja distracted, the robed woman they were fighting took advantage of the opening and had swiftly begun to weave several hand signs. Just as she was about to release the jutsu by name, Naruto screamed, "Rasen-Shuriken!" and slammed the attack into her chest. For a moment, the air was filled with her wheezing, a sound that mimicked the whine of the wind from his attack. Once the wind rotations ceased, the woman fell over dead with a look of frozen surprise on her face. The siblings gave Naruto a smile of appreciation but he didn't return it and immediately left.

Using his hovering, he leapt into the air, quickly panning the field. So he wasn't in Takami's hideout anymore, which was one good sign. He saw several separated battles, but with familiar ninja from the other villages. However, as he counted the numbers, he saw that Takami's group outnumbered the shinobi by nearly double. After tending to Sasuke, he'd inquire to someone if any backup had been sent.

His eyes continued to urgently scan for a shock of black hair and maybe even the iconic snapping of a Chidori. He strained his ears to hear a gruff and dangerous voice, a voice he loved to hear so long as Sasuke was fighting by his side. And, even feeling foolish for it, he even began to see if he could sniff for him, having tapped so deeply into Kurama's powers that his senses were heightened beyond normal. His nose twitched as he took in the scent of explosives and upheaved dirt and he was even amazed when he picked out the identities of Kakashi and Sakura, though they were over a hundred feet away.

Shifting in air, he breathed in a breeze from the opposite direction and was nearly floored by what information it yielded. There was the scent of blood, but he'd picked that up from all over the area. It was to be expected at a time like this. However, one particular scent stood out far beyond the rest. Also, there was the smell of something…carnal, reminiscent of a prized kill. The knowledge of hunting came from Kurama, though the fox demon had never hunted before. As an other-worldly being, he didn't need to eat, but the instinctual information was there due to his species.

Letting it lead him on, Naruto changed directions and headed straight for it. The smell got stronger and stronger to a point where he actually had to cover his nose for fear of both being ill and finding it exhilarating. His flying finally brought him to its source and any excitement he'd begun to feel was drained away as he saw what was left of Sasuke.

The Uchiha was lying on his back, one eye closed with the other forced open by Takami. A chakra-covered scalpel was being held and had already dug deep into the socket, a river of blood streaming down. Without pausing, Naruto streamlined his body downwards and turned off the glowing chakra. Doing so meant he could no longer hover but it made his presence less noticeable. Just as Takami pulled back with the eye in his palm, Naruto slammed into him full force, flaring up again after the impact. Utilizing one of his unconventional means, he bit down on the man's wrist to make him release the eye, catching it in his own hand before pushing Takami back with an extended claw-like appendage.

To better assist, he formed two clones the keep the leader busy, but staggered for a moment once they were created. He regenerated chakra faster than most but he knew he'd need more time to recover what'd been taken. As he ran off to take care of Sasuke, he already saw Takami raising his arm, causing the clones to lift off the ground. As for himself, he'd covered enough distance to not be affected. So about twenty feet. Still, that's a large area of defense.

Naruto, Kurama spoke up, his eyes…did you notice them? Takami has a Rinne-Sharingan.

"What?!" Naruto stumbled, then corrected his footing. No, I didn't see it, but I wasn't looking at his eyes. Damnit, how'd he get—? Never mind, it doesn't matter. It wouldn't surprise me if he got it from some black market dealer; there's probably quite a few people still that have a stolen Sharingan. And Takami seems powerful enough to turn a Sharingan into a Rinnegan."

Naruto stopped talking once he reached Sasuke's body. He instantly took in the missing left arm and grimaced. It was the same one Sasuke had previously nearly lost during their final battle and now, it felt almost fated that he was to lose it. Holding his head up in his arms, Naruto eased the left eyelid open, which was the eye for Sasuke's Rinnegan. Not sure if it'd work, he gently pushed the eye back in and used what minimal healing chakra he knew to hopefully restore some of the nerves. He wouldn't know until Sasuke woke up if he would still be able to see out of that eye.

Glancing behind him, he saw that his hovering clones were now being slammed into the ground. Both exploded in a cloud of smoke, ending their existence. Not wasting time on creating any others for the moment, he gathered Sasuke to him and flew into the air, searching for Sakura's chakra signal again. His senses instead alighted upon Hinata's and in delighted surprise, he descended towards her.

She was busy healing Kiba and thus didn't see him as he approached. By the time she noticed him and had jumped in surprise, he could've made short work of her if he'd been an enemy. "Hey, Hinata! Keep your eyes peeled, these guys are ruthless," he recommended, offering a smile to show that at least he was okay. It fell instantly though as he looked down at Sasuke's ragged form.

"Whoa, what happened to him?" Kiba asked, sitting up. Beside him, Akamaru gave a concerned lick to his face, wheedling his way into his master's lap to comfort the both of them.

Shaking his head, Naruto answered, "Takami's doing but I don't know the specifics. I swear…I'm going to kill him," he promised, tightening his hold on Sasuke.

Instead of encouraging him otherwise as she would've done once upon a time, Hinata nodded. "Once I get everything taken care of here, I'll come help you. If the Byakugan still isn't their target, maybe I can be of some use." As Naruto sat Sasuke down, she used one hand to heal the remainder of the arm and the other for Sasuke's bleeding eye. Before their eyes, they watched as the skin began to knit itself back together again and the area around the eye became less inflamed.

To her request, Naruto shook his head. "No, it seems Takami now has a Rinne-Sharingan. I don't want you falling under its control somehow. Fighting Sasuke, Itachi and Madara over the years, I've dealt with their genjutsu and I think I should be able to handle things. Not only that, but there's also his telekinetic power and that also isn't easy to dodge." He was reminded of how Pain had nearly killed her and shuddered. "Since you're one of our healers, it's best you hang back to give us support, which we'll definitely need."

He saw her tighten a fist but she remained quiet, which led to a moment of guilt for him. It felt as though he were babying her but were there more people available, he would've accepted her assistance. Hinata was stronger at combat than at medical ninjutsu, but if Hinata began to fight, that would leave all healing duties to Sakura, which would be extremely taxing. Even if his rejection hurt both their feelings, it made the most logical sense.

Now that Sasuke was in safe hands, he readied himself to return back to the battle field but paused when the Uchiha stirred. Blinking open the eye that could turn into his Sharingan, Sasuke focused on the faces above him with the normal black pupil, then cautiously opened the second eye. The Rinnegan was still there and at seeing it move around, Naruto gasped.

"It still works…" he breathed out, leaning down to place his forehead on Sasuke's chest. The gentle rise and fall suddenly became erratic and he pulled back to see that Sasuke's eyes had become wide and frantic. Sasuke attempted to push Naruto away with both hands but then he looked to his left and realized there was no longer anything below the elbow. The memory of what had happened came back to him and he trembled, staring unseeing at a point over Naruto's shoulder.

"Sasuke, it's okay! You're safe!" Naruto called to him, but Hinata put a hand on his shoulder. He looked at her, wondering why she'd stopped him but then she addressed Sasuke.

"Takami's not here right now, Sasuke," she said gently, using both hands to turn his head to face her. "However…yes, you've lost your arm. That's gone and there's no way to replace it. But we need you to stay calm."

Naruto thought that was unusually callous of her, but in the end, she was right. Right now, they didn't have time to treat Sasuke's mental scars. It was already a burdening task to keep everyone pieced together physically much less emotionally.

In looking at her, recognition slowly replaced the fear and Sasuke laid still. He closed his eyes for a moment and swallowed, then opened them again. "I'm still alive," he whispered, reaching his right hand over to the left, rubbing the nub.

"Count your lucky stars for that," Kiba smiled thinly, slightly shaken from Sasuke's breakdown. "You can still kick ass with one arm; this won't change anything." At least, he hoped it wouldn't.

"Is Takami still alive?" Sasuke asked, focusing back on Naruto.

"Yeah, but I'm about to put an end to that right now," the blonde promised. "He very nearly took your Rinnegan, which I wonder why when he already has one."

"His likely is incomplete," Sasuke told him, sounding like his old self, more or less. He pulled himself up into a sitting position, still rubbing the missing arm. "His Rinne-Sharingan doesn't have the Rinnegan in one eye and the Sharingan in the other but instead, both were in the same eye. However, he instead had two fused pupils, as though using it had fractured the eye. That's likely why he wanted to take mine."

That's what I saw as well, Kurama confirmed and pushed the image of what he'd seen to Naruto. Even though the memory couldn't affect him with a genjutsu, Naruto flinched instinctively regardless. You weren't paying complete attention when you attacked earlier since you were focused more on getting Sasuke but I realized instantly that one of his eyes weren't normal. It's going to be difficult avoiding it when we fight him. Once again, the element of surprise saved us.

Sasuke stood up, activating both of his eyes though taking a moment to rub the one with the Rinnegan, blinking to ensure it was functioning. "I'm going back. I need to return the favor to Takami," he said, gesturing to his left side. "And also…I've got to get over my fear of him," he admitted quietly, his shoulders shaking. "He keeps besting me because I keep seizing up. It's humiliating how many times he could've killed me by now and hasn't. I'm sick of it."

Naruto stood as well and momentarily touched their faces together in a gesture that was both a kiss on the cheek and a brief rub of their noses. "Wanna know something? I'm sick of it too. I'm sick of seeing you hurt because of him. I'm sick of being scared because I see how he affects you. I'm sick of seeing your confidence shattered because of his abuse." Looking into his eyes, Naruto declared, "I'm putting an end to that today. I swear I won't let him hurt you anymore."

It was a tall promise and Sasuke knew that but he appreciated the support anyways. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the black headband with the Konoha insignia on it and held it out.

Naruto took it from him with a smile, feeling nothing but pride as he tied the crest of his hometown around his head; Tsunade had more than delivered on her vow of inclusion to the both of them. With a nod to Sasuke, they set out to finally end Takami's war.

From this point on, the story will again resume with Naruto being the primary character, though at times, I'll still show the in-the-moment thoughts of the other characters, as I have been. I like the flexibility it affords me :)