Broken
"Why am I not surprised?" Sasuke shook his head, then looked over at Naruto. "Actually, I'm pretty shocked but considering all the surprises Takami has pulled, this fits right in with them. Come on, we already know how to defeat this. Let's show him that imitation isn't the sincerest form of flattery."
"R-right!" Naruto snapped out of his staring and began to concentrate. Kurama, please let me borrow your power.
"You ask as though I'm going to say no," the fox replied with a mirthful grumble and Naruto smiled as the laughter radiated as warm, glowing chakra. He let his human conscious take the backseat as Kurama brought himself to the front, transforming them into a large, golden fox which stood on its hind legs.
Simultaneously, Sasuke had summoned his own Susano'o, and without asking for permission, he draped the purple armor over the body of the fox, his human body standing beside Naruto in the area of Kurama's forehead. Naruto felt the two forms meld together, like putting on a set of clothing…if that set of clothing was also sentient.
Takami hadn't moved to attack during their fusion and Naruto could only assume this was due to needing to rest. If the Kamui had worn him out, then this Susano'o must be taking everything he had. Where he and Sasuke stood with ease, Takami's figure was slightly bent, breathing heavily. Still, the man reached beside him and managed to withdraw the sword that accompanied the form, his stance becoming firm.
Kurama fell to all fours and with a deliciously feral growl, he launched forward as a streak of majestic gold and purple. Takami swung the sword, but the fox nimbly slid under it, then jumped and landed on the black Susano'o. With it on the ground, the fox began to claw and bite away the plates of armor to get to the wielder encased inside.
Naruto was content to let the fox handle the situation until he felt a blossom of pain in his abdomen. Gasping, he fell to his knees and noticed that beside him, Sasuke had done the same. Kurama let out a howl and looked behind him to notice that Takami had adjusted the sword to stab it through the fox's side, piercing Sasuke's Susano'o. With the opening, the black Susano'o rolled them over, then stood and delivered a kick to Kurama's wound which earned a piercing yelp.
Naruto coughed up blood, as did the fox and he again heard Sasuke cry out "Naruto!" Instead of leaving everything to the Tailed Beast, he took back more control and made them limp away as Takami came back to attempt another blow with the sword. It managed to still clip two of the tails and Kurama hissed, instinctually wanting to lick the wounds. By proxy, Naruto almost caved to that idea but it was Sasuke who used the Susano'o around them to keep moving forward.
This time when Kurama leapt, it was at the wrist holding Takami's sword. There was a satisfying puncturing of bone from underneath the black flames but both the fox and the jinchurriki felt their heads spin when a punch was landed from the free hand. Still, the fox refused to let go and bit down harder.
The same hand that had punched them switched to pulling at the armor covering their body but Sasuke met him by forming new arms from his flames. However, the formation came slowly and he was too late to prevent one of the purple wings from being torn off. Sasuke let out his own cry that made Naruto's heart scream in rage.
"Don't let go of him!" Sasuke yelled, using the new arms to reach behind their back. "Keep his sword still no matter what!"
Naruto urged Kurama to bite down with all the force possible and instead of attacking their armor, Takami again dealt another severe blow to the fox's face. Kurama closed his eyes, concentrating solely on holding on. Whatever you're planning, Sasuke, hurry! Naruto pleaded.
The extra arms of Sasuke's Susano revealed a bow and arrow. With finesse, he fit them together and aimed around Kurama, targeting directly at Takami's center. Noticing the weapon, the hand that'd been beating the fox reached forward to grab the arrow but not fast enough.
Naruto actually felt the wind as it grazed past Kurama's ear to land squarely where a person's heart would be on the other Susano'o. The arrow tore a complete hole in the chest but Sasuke didn't wait to allow him to heal. He fitted three of Indra's arrows this time and fired, one to the free arm, one to the hand holding the sword and another one to the chest.
At last, Takami let go and finally stumbled to the ground. He tried to pull the arrows out, but they were thoroughly stuck within the Susano'os' frame. As he grew weaker, the black flames began to dissipate with plates of armor peeling away. At last, this was the end and Naruto turned to Sasuke to commend his marksmanship. "That was amazing! Pretty convenient that you're able to change your form! Otherwise, things might've gotten a bit dicey there—"
He stopped with a gasp, suddenly putting his hands to his head. His body became still as he felt his mind being invaded by a new presence, though it was completely unlike when Takami had pulled him into a genjutsu. In his head, he heard a voice that was not his own give a command that was absolute: "Kill."
The order was given to him but he knew it was made for Kurama to act upon. The fox felt something was wrong and reared back, shaking its head to fight the manipulation. Naruto turned beside him in confusion, not willing to believe what was happening. It was Sasuke who had cast the genjutsu this time. He was still in the present, but his mind, his thoughts, his control, had been stolen away.
"What are you doing, human?!" The fox demanded, beginning to scratch at his face where Sasuke and Naruto were at for dual functionality. He shook his head all the more but still it did no good. He could feel that Naruto had already succumbed and with a shudder, he too finally went under.
"Kill him! Kill him now!" Sasuke ordered to Naruto and Naruto's slack figure mentally passed along the message in a monotone. Takami's Susano'o flames had almost been completely extinguished, but the fox helplessly scratched at what was left. In chunks, he tore the skeletal frame away until only the man himself remained, feeble and exposed. Kurama picked him up in his mouth and bit down, instantly breaking both legs.
Sasuke gave the kindness of waiting for Takami's voice to quiet down and then allowed the man to say his last words. He hoped the bastard would beg for his life. He wanted to make Takami feel every ounce of pain and fear that he'd felt, to drown in his hopelessness as he realized that this was where his life would be cut short…the very feelings that Sasuke had been made to feel multiple times within the last few months. He wanted Takami to understand that his plan had always been destined to fail from the very beginning.
Instead, Takami only smiled, his dark eyes shining with no ill-will to one so ignorant. It was a sad smile but never for himself. Even facing death, Takami still dared to mock him. Sasuke instantly took back his shred of mercy for hearing him out and just when Takami opened his mouth to say something, he made Kurama press down on a single arm, snapping it off.
He counted thirty seconds just to extend the torture and then repeated the motion with the second arm. He wished he hadn't allowed the fox to break both legs at the same time as he would've dragged that out as well. He focused back on Takami's face and even with it contorted in pain, still the smile was there.
"Killing me won't end it," he whispered softly. "Another will rise up in my place—"
"Don't care," Sasuke interrupted. Kurama bit down on his chest, and those damned eyes finally closed forever though with that smile still etched on his face. Sasuke realized right after that he was far from satisfied as Takami's death had brought him little salvation. And so, he had the body thrown to the ground. What remained was less than a body but he repeated the process until every bit of Takami had been scattered. Still unsatisfied, he scratched at the dirt furiously, ensuring nothing was left. Tears had begun to stream down his face.
This was only the start though. There was an entire battle going on. He turned and sprinted back towards the main field, focusing on anyone dressed in white. He spotted Sakura still engaged in a fight and used Kurama's paw to deal a powerful swipe to her opponent, sending them tumbling at such a speed that their spine surely had snapped on the first roll. Suigetsu, Karin and Orochimaru had teamed up on two white robes, one of them being a blue-haired man that seemed to be laughing as he regrew a limb.
Having learned his lesson in defeating regenerative foes after all his time with Orochimaru, Sasuke instantly went for the head, biting down until he heard a crunched squelch. To the other man's credit, the sight of Kurama didn't deter him and he swiftly conjured what looked to be a regular-sized cheetah. Hopping on the animal's back, he kicked its flanks to go towards the massive fox instead of away. Big mistake. Sasuke had Kurama crush it underfoot, twisting side to side for good measure.
"Hey, thanks!" Suigetsu called out but Orochimaru put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.
"…Sasuke? What's wrong?" The snake mentor asked, easily picking up on the intense feelings from his student and could even smell the salt from the tears.
Sasuke offered no explanation, only sprinting away to find his next target. For each skirmish he came across, he dealt with it swiftly, before either side fully knew what had happened. A small cluster of white robes attempted to escape the massacre, holding on to a man that Sasuke remembered from the Land of Snow as the one that could use teleportation jutsu. He fell upon them like a wolf, leaving very little behind.
At last, the field fell silent. He couldn't hear the clinking of weapons or the yells of various ninjutsu. Sakura and Hinata were healing the wounded but none came any closer to him.
The silence was finally broken by Kakashi, who's Sharingan was activated. "Sasuke…release Naruto," he said gently, using a tone of voice that Sasuke hadn't heard since he was thirteen and Kakashi was patiently teaching him the Chidori. "Whatever it is, it can be fixed. You don't have to do this."
But Sasuke didn't feel much like calming down. None of this had been enough. Letting out a reverberating cry, he slashed at the trees surrounding the area, lopping off the tops and gnashing the remains down to kindling. The fox demon gave an anguished howl, verbalizing everything Sasuke felt in his heart.
Sasuke…
He paused momentarily as he heard Naruto's voice. Despite Naruto's form being slumped right beside him, the sound came from a long distance, the back of his conscience that he didn't want to deal with right now.
Don't close yourself off from me again.
A second presence joined Naruto's and Sasuke could feel Kurama also starting to push back. His heart still felt too wild and hurt and he wasn't ready to give up this power, this security. He fought back against both of them, struggling to keep them quiet. This only made Kurama become more violent, ramming his head into the ground to get Sasuke out.
The desire to win came before all else and the Uchiha finally wrestled the fox into a submissive state again, making it sit as it cocked its head far back. The mouth opened wide and from within, a dark sphere began to grow, surrounded by flecks of red and blue chakra. He recognized it as a Tailed Beast Ball, which when fired could easily level the entire landscape for miles and effectively killing everyone in the vicinity. His mind blanked in panic, unsure what to do or how to stop this, he never meant to go this far—
The fox was struck brutally by an equally large moving object and was rolled some distance away, effectively cancelling the attack. He looked up and through a spinning haze, he saw the hovering form of Chomei, the Seven Tails, with several of the other Tailed Beasts. Atop of him was Killer Bee, who called out a rhyme that Sasuke didn't catch, though none of the others shared his enthusiasm.
Before he could fully recover, the Four and Five tails had pinned the arms of Kurama, preventing him from rising. Chomei flew over and landed beside him though its wings continued to twitch in agitation. "Kurama…? What happened? I was only gone for less than a day!"
"That's not Kurama," Son Goku, the Four Tails corrected him. He huffed in Kurama's face and the fox growled by proxy of Sasuke. "It's that damn Uchiha! He's at it again, trying to possess us!"
Sasuke struggled to think as to why the Beasts were even there, but then remembered that Chomei had promised to come back with the others to help in the fight. That conversation already seemed like a lifetime ago, but now it came back to him vividly. He had appealed to the Seven Tails to see beyond his previous self and that he had changed; in return, the creature had given him its support, happily leaving to convince the others of his new agenda. And now of all times, they come back to see him like…this. The fight finally left him and he turned his face away in shame.
The Rinne-Sharingan deactivated, removing the Susano'o armor with Sasuke's body falling from Kurama. He didn't attempt to get back up. He lay there, utterly disgusted with himself, unable to look at any of the others. He stayed that way until exhaustion finally claimed him and he passed out.
With control restored, Naruto felt himself meld again with the Nine Tails, shrinking himself back to his human form. "What's everyone doing here?" he asked quietly to the fox who only replied warily with "Damage control."
Seeing Sasuke curled on the ground, Naruto ran over to him, shaking his body. Even in his sleep, he was trembling slightly. He bit his lip to contain his emotions, cradling Sasuke's head in his arms as he picked him up. This time though, he could finally whisper, "It's all over now. Let's go home," as they made their way back to Konoha.
I think I can wrap up this story in one more chapter but I might include something…extra at the very end :) I'm still working up my courage on that.