Before Dawn
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
"Oro-chimaru?" I managed to stutter out. I was hoping I was still caught in a dream. I knew that deep down this was not a dream. The blade to my throat had confirmed that. The fear in my heart confirmed that. The monster in front of me confirmed that.
"Kukukuku, my reputation precedes me. Now tell me, Hiro-kun. What is a Hyuga Prince doing in Tsuchi no Kuni? Not to mention that you're wearing the Hitai-ite of an Iwa Shinobi."
Orochimaru began to circle me keeping his blade at my throat level.
"I-I-" I tried stuttering out.
"You wouldn't betray Konoha now would you?" Orochimaru gave me a foul grin.
"N-n-no, I was captured. Their was thi-is wo-m-man there that let me go." I tried to stutter out but the killing intent Orochimaru was releasing was taking its effect.
Remembering what she told me, I held up my arm toward him. The seal began to glow in the darkness.
Orochimaru smiled. "So you decided to join our little organization." Orochimaru put his blade away in its sheath.
I sighed in relief. "No. I'm here out of circumstance."
"Kukukuku. You're here aren't you? You must have given her a reason to seem trustworthy." Orochimaru pulled a small candy wrapper and tossed at me. "Eat. We leave in 30."
-2:00 A.M-
Orochimaru and I were slowly making our way through the canyons. Crouching and crawling past what seemed to be hundreds of shinobi scouring the area for us. In the past hour we had only managed to go forward around 2 Kilometers.
Now, to normal people that might seem slow but a person could slowly walk that in an hour. In this world, that was very slow. At top speed, I could travel 15 Kilometers in an hour. We were practically forced to crawl.
Currently we are right below, a group of 4 shinobi. We were currently trapped in a small cave. Orochimaru must be incredibly bored. It was more than obvious I was the one who was holding us back. If he did not have to take me back to Konoha, he would have been able to escape undetected hours ago.
"Were going to have to fight our way out of here. There not letting up their search, Orochimaru-sama. It is by luck alone they have not brought on sensor-nin." I whispered out.
"No. They've surround us on purpose." Orochimaru said back. "They herded us into a trap. There waiting on someone to arrive. We might as well spring the trap now." Orochimaru took out two small food pills and handed one to me. "I'll take on the brunt of the force. When you see any openings in their formation, strike from the shadows."
Orochimaru began to speed through the hand signs. Slamming his hands on the floor he yelled. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu"
Two massive snakes broke through the small cave and began to attack the shinobi above us. Orochimaru grabbed me and pointed me to another cave system. " There are opening everywhere through the caves. If you see me call forth Manda, The Purple Snake that is your signal to leave. Do Not Let The Enemy See You." He then sank into the ground.
Taking in a deep breath, I moved slowly through the small system and spotted the first opening. Barely enough to slip through a few shuuriken. "Okay. Okay. I need to concentrate." Looking through the small hole. I regretted it instantly.
The only word that comes to mind to describe what I saw was 'Massacre'. There was the snakes tearing apart the poor shinobi in their path. Effectively blocking out the other shinobi from getting to The center of the battle. In the direct middle between the rocks, Orochimaru was a pale blur hobbing off limbs and killing the dozen shinobi that were trapped with him. Blood began to ooze from the bodies and drench the soil.
Seeing there were shinobi jumping away from the main group I began to target them and threw my first shuuriken. Striking one of the shinobi in the leg, he fell mid way through his leap. The man cried for help but only Orochimaru came to him. Stabbing him through his heart.
My body trembled. My hands shook. My heart raced. The world was slowing to a crawl. Every movement outside slowed down to a crawl. Yet Orochimaru, moved much faster than everyone else could. My hands were trembling, I was the direct reason that man had died.
I had to get myself under control. I couldn't breathe. A massive explosion rocked the entire canyon side. The shockwave launched me into the side of the cave and all I saw was black.
I awoke to someone grabbing me. "We've caught you know Hyuga. We won't let you live this time." An Iwa shinobi stood over me and took out his kunai. As he launched forward, I began to mold my chakra. I felt my body shoot the chakra from the tenketsu facing the shinobi. The shinobi was launched away from me as he hit the wall of chakra.
Getting up from the floor I began to look around at the battlefield. The landscape hand been transformed by something awful. There were no snakes anymore. Where Orochimaru once stood was a massive crater. The cave systems had collapsed down and exposed the tunnels in the rocks. Shinobi all over the battlefield still had not recovered from what had attacked.
I began to move to the center of the crater when I saw a pale hand emerge from the ground. Feeling the building anxiety in me vanish, I ran toward the hand and began to pull him out of the rocks and the rubble. Orochimaru wa covered in blood. His flak jacket was shredded and had turned the green to a dark red color.
Orochimaru began to laugh loudly. "So you survived Hiru-kun. Not without injury I see." I stared at him confused and he pointed to my left hand. Looking down at my hand, I saw I had broken my wrist. "We need to leave now. That wasn't any regular explosion."
"What do-" I said before he launched himself and me into the crater. Seconds later another explosion rocked the canyons. "What the-" I got out before Oro put his hand over my mouth. He began to sign out a message.
He saw the confusion in my eyes and sighed. He began to whisper, " Shinobi, on top of the southridge. He's launching an explosive jutsu." Orochimaru smiled. He formed a hand sign and a mud copy of us, came up from the ground.
They climbed out and we waited in the crater. "Byakugan?." He pointed at me. I stared at him and shook my head no. He closed his eyes and began to think.
I followed his lead and began to try and think. Concentrating I began to realize what Jutsu Orochimaru could be talking about. Opening my eyes in realization , I grabbed Orochimaru.
"We need to leave now. He's using a Kekkei Genkai! The entire field could be coated with his explosive chakra!" He grasped my mouth and forced me to be quiet. Hearing me, he began to think for a moment. He grabbed me and began to do hand signs.
"Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu"
He encapsulated us and drove us into the ground.
3 Hours Later
5:25 A.M
3 hours and 15 kilometers underground makes anyone extremely tired. We can't stop moving though. We have to keep moving. Their still after us. There pursuing us across nations. The desolate rock and mountains turned into open fields of rain. Rain like nothing else I had seen.
We had stopped trying to fight back after the first hour. There was too many of them. Dozens at a time would be following and trying to engage us. Our chakra reserves had dwindled to the bare minimum of allowing us to continue going. Their top priority was not even to get me either. It was to take down one of the Densetsu no Sannin.
Moving through the hard rain was an issue. Every leap and jog was hellish in those conditions. Most of the shinobi had stopped chasing a while ago. There was still one Jonin giving chase a distance away.
Orochimaru was looking beyond exhausted. His leaps were getting slower and weaker. We were slowing down and fast. He had cuts everywhere and looked if possible, looked paler than he ever had. I wasn't doing any better myself with multiple cuts running along my arms and legs.
"I'm going to stop up ahead by that tree. You will get back to konoha. Do not stop for any reason. There should be an outpost for Konoha near the Ame-Konoha border. You will be stopped at the border. Tell them that you have a 'Code 3'. They should give you immediate transport back to Konoha. Only Danzō will know how to undo the seal."
Orochimaru reached into his back pouch and took out three food pills and took two of handed me one. "Take this when we split up."
I couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness and confusion. Why would HE do this much for Konoha? Why would he do this much for me? No one would go to these lengths for me before. Not even in my other life.
From what I remember from the show, he was always disturbed. I didn't get much time before he suddenly reversed his position and launched himself back toward the Iwa Jōnin. I had to keep pushing forward. I just wanted this to end.
*BOOM*
The shockwave sent me flying for the second time that day. This time I didn't get smashed into any rocks. I was just sent flying into the ground.
"Damn it!" Pushing my already overtaxed body up from the ground I looked back. Orochimaru looked to be holding himself up with his sword. "I can't leave him. I can't abandon a comrade. Not again."
I grabbed the 2 food pills I had and took them. Feeling a surge of new chakra, I readied myself to fight again. I began to make my way to the battlefield again.
"I told you to leave." He muttered out.
"You'll die without me". I replied.
The Iwa Jōnin laughed. "You'll both die here for your crimes against Iwagakure." The tall blonde man turned to me and spit at the ground. He raised his Kunai and pointed it at me. " I will avenge the students you slaughtered ."
Before I could reply, the Jōnin had launched his Kunai toward me. I should have died for the 50th time that day. Except Orochimaru swatted it out of the air.
The Jōnin reached into a pouch and threw an odd colored shuriken toward us. Without thinking I threw my own shuriken to meet it in flight. The shuriken exploded. The shockwaves flattened me across the floor.
I didn't try to get up immediately this time. I just tried to think of what to do. Collecting some of my chakra I tried to expand my senses, as I layed on the floor. The world opened up to me once more. I could see the world before me like I had that day.
Even with Orochimaru being injured and near chakra exhaustion he was still moving like a blur. The other Jōnin could barely match his speed or prowess. Then I noticed what was happening. The Jōnin was slowly being pushed back.
He was slowly losing ground directly to a place laced with bits of chakra. The Iwa Jōnin was planning on taking Orochimaru out at all cost!
As I started to try and warn him I stopped myself. "This is Orochimaru. He causes the death of thousands of people. Should I save him? Why did I come back in the first place? Except, he has saved my life too many times to count this night. How can I just let him die? Can I let him die?
A/N: Well first off this update is rather late. I found myself writing and rewriting a lot of this chapter and just not content on how it's flowing out. I originally had something else written down, but decided to move that up to next chapter. So next chapter will not be focusing on our main character! It will focus on what happened and the reaction to Hiroaki's capture. If things go as planned that chapter will be released as early as this Friday. Feedback is appreciated!
Question: What do you think Hiro should do?
