Chapter 19

Did I mention that I don't own Naruto? Cause I don't :3

When I open my eyes again I notice I'm in a cage. I sit up quickly, making my head spin as I grab the bars in a panic.

This bitch is going to kill me. She took me away from Kakashi and Naruto and my friends so she could kill me. It's dark in this room, really cold too. Where am I? How can I get home? I try to shake the iron bars making them rattle loudly.

I flinch away at the sudden sound of echoing footsteps. They get louder and louder until my mother appears out of the shadows.

"You," I snarl. "You're a fool if you think these iron walls can hold me. Let me out now and I won't send Kakashi back here to kill you."

"Do you know what curse mark is?" She asks as if I never opened my mouth and spoke. She doesn't wait for me to answer either. "Lord Orochimaru gave me one so that I could be forever connected to him." She places a hand lovingly on her neck. "When your father died I was so angry. Almost all the love I've ever felt shriveled up and turned into this miserable, black, all consuming hate. I knew I was pregnant with you, but still I travelled far and wide plotting ways to get back at the Leaf Village. They forced his hand, you know. They didn't give him a choice and for that, they shall pay in buckets upon buckets full of their blood." She gives me a sweet smile and leans towards my cage.

"Luna, I met Lord Orochimaru during my pregnant travelling. He was impressed by my abilities and even more impressed by my burning desire to get vengeance." She laughs, "He promised me that I can be eternally young with him, right by his side as a queen. He's a fool. He thinks I'm in love with him, but I know when I outlive my usefulness he'll abandon me or kill me. Despite his best efforts, he's really poor at blocking me out. But then after so many years, even the sharpest ninja have a hard time detecting me in their minds. But either way, I let him think what he wants, that he has me fooled and in love. I hate him, just like I hate everyone else. The only love I really have any more is you for, Daughter."

"You sure have a fucked up way of showing that love. What is this? What's going on?"

"Orochimaru promised me the destruction of the village if I help prepare his next body for him." She casually inspects her nails.

This is all so confusing. What is she talking about? This isn't real; this has to be a nightmare. "Let me go!" I scream at her.

"Don't you know, Luna? Saskue has a mark like me now." She smirks poisonously.

"This doesn't make any sense. I have to wake up!" I cover my face with my hands.

"Listen child, Saskue is a self styled avenger. He is one of the only Uchiha's left."

"…A few?"

"His older brother slaughtered the clan, except for Saskue. See, in order for Saskue to avenge his fallen he needs to kill his brother. But before he can do that, he needs power. Lord Orochimaru can give him that power…for a price. He gave Saskue a mark and that damnable Kakashi sealed it. However, not even Kakashi has to power to seal it away perfectly. Eventually, when Saskue chooses, he can undo the sealing and come looking for real power. Right now, he's still annoyingly pure hearted and that puts a terrible kink in our plans, but Orochimaru has an answer to that problem. There will be an ambush by both the sound and the sand villages during the final round of the exams. Orochimaru will make a gift of the Leaf destruction to me, and in return all I have to do is follow behind Saskue and get in his pretty head, and encourage him to make what I'm sure what you would consider, the wrong decision. So to put it simply, while the village is in chaos, I will be Saskue's red shadow, fanning his hatred, encouraging him to activate the curse mark, bringing him closer to Lord Orochimaru. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"I…I don't know."

"Luna, I've chosen a darker path, the path of hate and destruction. It's true I don't love anymore. I don't WANT to love. But I can't help but love you, my child. When I look at your face I remember myself as a little girl, before all this happened to me. Your face is sweet and innocent, but strong. I won't force you to follow me, I won't corrupt you. I'm giving you a choice, beloved."

She fumbles with a ring of keys and a lock until the door to my prison opens. She steps in front of the door, blocking me in still. "Luna, who do you love better? What do you want? Me? Do you want the destruction of your mother's enemies? Or do you love them, your makeshift family? Do you want to protect your father's home and what he died for?"

"Wh-what? You can't- I can't decide that."

"Choose!" She screams at me, her voice is so loud and painful; It makes my eyes water.

I try to sort through all the information she's thrown at me. It's so much and my mind spins dizzily trying to piece it all together. "Mom, why?"

"I love you, Luna."

"I can't trust you." I choke out over the tears threatening to drown me. I squeeze my eyes shut to hold them back. "I want to, so bad. I love you." But behind my lids, it's not my mom I see. It's Kakashi, Kiba, Shickamaru, Saskue, and even Sakura. And, of course, Naruto's blue eyes, burning bright and guiding me home.

"I choose them." I whisper. I open my eyes and look at her. Those eyes shift from black to blue to grey until they settle on a green so much like my own.

She steps aside to let me out. "Luna, my love, run. Run away, back home. Run as fast as you can. You can't stop it, it's already begun. But if your feet are fast and true enough, you can get there in time to change the outcome. Stay out of Orochimaru's sight; he doesn't know you're still alive. In fact, hide your identity from everyone if you can. After today they might know about me, and what someone like us can do."

Before I leave, I have to know. "But why are you telling me all this, why are you helping me?"
"Because, I love you," she smiles a real smile at me and a hand gently touches my hair. "I love you more than life it's self somehow. It's too late for me, however, I can't change now, I don't want to. I can't ever be the mother you dreamed of. You don't have to be like me though. Despite the fact you carry my genes; the choice of what you will become will always be up to you. You made your choice, you won't carry on my legacy and I won't lie and say that makes me sad. You will carry on Sakumo's legacy instead. Be smart, be brave, and be strong. But most of all, you better be prepared, because next time I see you, darling, I'll kill you." The hand that was touching my hair gently now grabs my neck harshly and pulls me out of the cage. "Now go!"

She shoves me roughly away from her but her soft words contradict her hurtful actions. "I love you, my Luna."

"I love you too, Mother." I say before I run towards the door. I run as fast as Kakashi trained me to, terrified of what's waiting for me. Her words are filling my head, "You can't stop it, and it's already begun." Her voice echoes over and over while I run for what feels like hours until I can see home. I fall to my knees when I see what greets me. There are men and women everywhere, wearing foreign symbols attacking men and women of the leaf, killing them. The buildings are burning and the scent of blood is heavy and choking me. The usual sweet sound of birds has been replaced by screams of pain. A deafening crash snatches my attention and I see huge snakes rising and adding to the demolition all around. My stomach twists hard and I know if I stay here it's only a matter of time before I get killed. I know that for a fact, but it's not enough to get me going. Her words haunt me again. "You can't stop it, you can't stop it, you can't stop it, YOU CAN'T." The words buzz angrily and I grab at my hair. I want to scream but instead I gag.

The key falls out of my pocket and clatters softly to the ground. I scoop it up and press it to my chest without thinking. As I feel the cool metal against my frantic pounding heart I remember.

I remember Kakashi hugging me before I left. "I love you too." His voice whispers.

I can see Kiba giving me annoyed look as I cradle Akamaru in my arms and shower him with kisses.

I faintly smell Sakura's scent as she sits behind me, her hands gently twisting my hair into a braid as she shares the village gossip with me.

I hear Shickamaru's happy laugh as he mercilessly whoops me at another game of shogi.

I feel Saskue cradling my head protectively after I pushed us both down that hill.

But probably most importantly, I can see Naruto's face that night in the grass when he first kissed me, and I feel that pleasant fire under my skin.

"But you can change the outcome."

I look down at the key in my hands, and I make a fist.

"Be smart, be brave, and be strong."

That gives me the strength I need to get back on my feet and run. Kakashi gave me this key for a reason. Maybe he knew I'd need help. I'm desperate to get home but also to stay hidden and undiscovered. From what I can see, the outsider ninja are raiding the buildings looking for civilians to capture; they shouldn't have had the time to get to Kakashi's just yet. Also, Kakashi and Saskue should be safe with the others if they were on time, the Hokage was there watching the matches and as soon as things went bad his guards would have secured him and the area. So anyone who was there, by that logic, has to be safe, right? That's not really a comforting thought, however, because when has that bone headed sensei ever been on time?

Finally, the house! It looks the same way as when I left it, no one's been this way yet. But that doesn't mean they won't come so I better figure out what he wanted me to do with this key. As I step in the house, I realise it wasn't the key to the front door, because he left that unlocked. What would he have bothered to lock up? The sun shifts and the light hit's the bronze of the door knob to the weapons room, and the golden brown sheen catches my eye and gives me a clue.

Of course, that has to be my answer. Within seconds, I have the key jammed into the lock and unlike the last time I dared to opened this door, I shove it wide as fast as I can. I search frantically, what in the world could he have meant for me to take? My eyes land on the glass cases. "Stay out of sight…carry on Sakumo's legacy."

I look in a mirror before I leave. I should really get a move on and get to the others; I don't really have a lot time to waste. I wonder how good my disguise really is. I've pulled my long hair back into a ponytail, and I'm wearing Kakashi's genin clothes. It's strange how well they fit me, as if they were mine instead of his. With shaking hands I place the lightening sabre on my back. "Be prepared, next time I see you, darling, I'll kill you." Her words stop my hands from shaking and with raw determination I yank the mask over my face, leaving only toxic green eyes showing under my red bangs. With a confidence, I wrap my leaf headband around my neck and speak to my reflection. "You'll kill me, huh?" I squint at the dangerous looking stranger in the mirror. "I'd like to see you try, bitch." Kakashi, Naruto, Shickamaru, Saskue, Kiba, hold on I'll be there soon.

On my frantic run home, I saw all the destruction caused by these outsiders, but on my way to the arena I try and close my eyes to the horrors around me. I have to stay focused because I will change the outcome of this stupid stunt they're trying to pull. If Taiyo and her precious Lord Orochimaru want to destroy my home and hurt my friends, they'll have to do it over my cold, dead body. I'm feeling strong, focused and confident.

Until I reach the arena.

I can't believe my eyes, how can this be? The building is barely standing. I was sure that since the Hokage was inside of this building that it would have remained untouched by the attackers. Unless of course, the attack stemmed from the inside… Idiot! How did I not see that coming? On a nearby roof there's a giant purple box? What is that thing? My ears hear the sound of intense battle inside of the walls. I see a hole blown out on the right side of the building, and I choose that as my entrance.

Kakashi and Gai are standing back to back, defeating wave after wave of shinobi.

"Kakashi!" I yell, "Big brother!"

My call distracts him, and his eye moves over to me. His arms drop to his sides when he realises who I am. "Red?"

A shinobi leaps down from above and jabs a knife into his neck. Before I can even scream, the clone disappears and the real Kakashi leaps in view and knocks the enemy down.

"Gai, can you hold them off for a little?"

Gai laughs, "Sure thing, Kakashi. Don't be too long though, I'm starting to catch up." He heaves a mighty kick at a charging enemy and shouts "Fifteen!"

I try to say everything at once, "Taiyo's working with Orochimaru, and he's trying to destroy the village for her. In exchange Taiyo's going to follow Saskue and try and influence him to activate the curse mark. I have to stay hidden because Orochimaru thinks I'm dead, and Taiyo thinks the Sand village might find out about her and what she can do and they'll know by just looking at me that I can do what she does." I know how jumbled it sounds, and what a mess I've made out of trying to explain.

Kakashi nods as if he understands me perfectly though. "I've already sent Naruto, Sakura, and Shickamaru out with Pakkun to trail Saskue, who's after Gaara who was his opponent today. Gaara's team members are taking him somewhere, but I don't know where. Shino's gone after him too, but I didn't realise that until it was too late, and I'm not quite sure of the why either. It might be because one of Gaara's team mates was supposed to face off against him but forfeited the match for no apparent reason. I want you to chase him, and bring him back."

"What about Saskue?"

"I've sent the others after him, don't worry about it."

"Alright then, I'll bring Shino back."

"And Red, try to stay quiet too, I think Taiyo was right to tell you to be wary about being seen."

I nod silently.

"Good luck, be safe." He turns back to Gai who seems to have no trouble fighting off so many vicious attackers all alone. "Love you, little sister."

I cast a glance at the strange purple box again. Something deep in my soul tells me that Orochimaru is in there. Maybe, somehow I can get up there. With any luck, I could try and take him out. Without willing it, my body takes a step towards it.

"Red! The others need you!" Kakashi's command cuts into my concentration and puts me back on the right track. I turn away from my chance at revenge and run back the way I came, through the big hole in the wall.

This time around, I let my ears guide me. Naruto and the others are ahead of me, and I know they're supposed to be tracking Saskue, but I'm sure that Naruto doesn't know that Pakkun is taking the safer and slower route. He seems to be trying to get around and cut Saskue off. There's an unknown ahead of them, and the only reason I can hear that person well is because they seem to be…buzzing? It's almost like there's something under their skin, but I can't quite put my finger on what it is, either way they make it easy for me to follow them. It might be Shino, I should catch up and see if it is or not. If I stop and really concentrate I can hear Saskue, but I don't want to tip him off that I'm getting closer to him, he might lay a trap or something to keep me away. Stupid boys with their stupid pride.

I stop as I hear footsteps coming behind Naruto's group. An ambush? I pause, I know that I'm supposed to be dragging Shino back, and I also know that Saskue needs me to protect him from Taiyo, but I have to stop this first…

Wait, is Shickamaru stopping? He's going to stay behind and hold off the ambush by himself? What's gotten into him? Somehow, his decision to be selfless irks me. "Damn idiot." I mutter under my breath, racing to catch up.

Quietly, I approach and use a tree as my cover so I can peek at what's going on. I was right to come to his rescue. He must have had his match already because he looks rough. He's standing under the shade of this tree, and using it to hold five sound ninja. He's running out of chakra quickly and I'm pretty sure he doesn't know about their ring leader hiding in the tree above him, waiting.

I ghost my way up into the branches and quickly locate the hiding leader. He doesn't know I'm behind him until the butt of my knife smacks into the back of his stupid head.

I grab the body as it sags forward, and it's so heavy it threatens to pull us both out of the tree. I quickly re-evaluate the situation below, wondering how many of them I can take out without Shickamaru's help.

My calculations are interrupted by the scent of smoke and a deep voice in my ear. "When Shickamaru lets go of the shadow, I'll toss this guy at them, use that as your cover to get away."

Stifling a cry of surprise, I turn my head to see Asuma crouching next to me. I stare at him with wide, frightened eyes.

"Yes, I know who you are, you're Kakashi's sister. You'd have to be, to want to dress like him." He takes the body out of my arms. "Don't miss your chance to run." He warns just as Shickamaru's shadow snaps.

The distraction works beautifully, not even Shickamaru knows I was there as I run off, chasing the strange buzzing ninja. I really don't know if they are friend or foe and I really want to be on their heels when they catch up to Saskue.

I catch up in time to see a girl dragging a knocked out red haired boy away. Saskue and a boy in a coat with the hood pulled up exchange a few words before Saskue takes off after the girl. A boy with a big ugly puppet stays behind. They start to fight, the buzzing ninja flips around to face in my direction and I recognize the face, or rather, what's showing of the face. Shino, he's the one who buzzes. I wonder why? After this fight, whether he wins or loses, I can chase after Saskue. I felt something about that knocked out kid, something's just not right. Saskue's an….

My thoughts are cut off as I watch Shino raise his arms, and to my absolute horror bugs appear. Not just three or four bugs, a big black floating cloud of bugs. I bite down on my finger to hold back my screams and watch with crawling skin as they fight.

Despite my fear and inarguable revulsion, I can't deny his skill. I watch him closely, and see that he never wastes a movement, never misses and opportunity. He also seems to never panic, even after the puppet boy makes attempt after attempt to poison him. I even smile as I watch the puppet boy burst out of his hiding spot, covered in bugs.

I stand up and walk into view, Kakashi wanted me to bring Shino back, but with the two of us we have a better chance of dragging Saskue back too. Then all of us can make a safe escape together when Naruto and Sakura catch up. I tighten my ponytail, thinking what a cake walk this turned into.

Until Shino collapses.

Shit, the some of the poison from the gas must have gotten into his system. In a flash I'm standing over the puppet boy. "The poison, what's in it?"

He opens his eyes weakly, "What?"

I use my foot to shake him roughly, "Do you have an antidote? Surely you do. You can't play with that much poison and not carry the cure with you just in case. Tell me where it is."

In response he just closes his eyes and passes back out. "You idiot." I spit at him and give him a rough kick, but he doesn't wake back up. I sigh in frustration as I paw at him. "Do you know how much of my time you're wasting? I could be with Saskue by now, but no. You had to… Ah-hah!" He does carry the antidote with him.

I leap over to Shino now, who has passed out on his side. I inspect him warily; he's a lot bigger than me, taller than Kiba even. I struggle to roll him onto his back.

"Shino?"

No response, not so much as a flicker on his face.

I reach for his hood covering his face, but my hand hesitates. Kakashi's masked face comes to mind. I know if someone pulled his mask off while he was unconscious he'd be upset about it.

Angrily I push that thought aside; Kakashi doesn't always make the smartest choices. If I don't give this kid the antidote he'll die. I grab the hood and yank it away from his pale face. I also push his glasses up over his face so I can watch his eyelids for movement. I pause to look at it for a second. I wonder why he chooses to hide his face, it's a nice one. He's kinda cute actually.

I shake my head, focus Red. I uncork the bottle with my teeth and force it between his lips.

Using the most encouraging voice I can muster I lean towards his ear and whisper. "Shino? Shino, I need you to drink."

After he's swallowed the last drop I chuck the bottle out of the tree and in the same motion, pull the hood back up and push the glasses back down.

I peer over my shoulder at the guy with the puppet. He could wake up any second, and since he's so close that could spell trouble for me if I don't hear him in time. I glance back at Shino's face; he seems to be a little better already. He'll come too soon too, and then he can actually be of use to me.

I jump back over to puppet boy. His ugly puppet catches my eye lying beside him so I kick it as hard as I can, listening in satisfaction as it breaks somewhere in the distance. Grabbing the boy back the back of his shirt I attempt to gently drag him out of the tree. Once we touch the ground, I tie his arms and legs together, so even if he does wake up, he'll be stuck. Feeling proud of myself I run back to Shino. He's still down. I lean over him and stare at his face closely. Unlike before, this time I can see his eyes fluttering. "Shino?"

"Red?" He croaks back.

I stiffen. I didn't tell him my name, in fact before today I've never even been within five feet of this guy. How does he know me? My hand flies to my face to touch my mask and make sure it's still covering my identity.

He sits up and looks at me. "Red?" He asks again.

I just stare at him in suspicious silence, balancing on the balls of my feet in case I need to make a quick exit. I try poking around in his head for some clues.

He sighs, "I know it's you."

As slowly and carefully as I can, I inch my hand towards my pack where I keep my knives. I try to keep his eyes on my face by speaking. "How do you know my name?"

"Kiba doesn't shut up about you," He says as his hand shoots out and grabs my wrist, stopping me from reaching my weapons. "You don't need to go for a knife either."

I flinch away from his touch, remembering the bugs crawling freely from his skin only minutes before. He holds on tightly, not seeming to notice my squeamishness. "That doesn't explain anything," I say to cover my embarrassment.

"Of course it does. Are you really going to make me explain it to you?"

I stare at him in stony silence as my answer.

"Fine. Think about it a little bit. All Kiba ever talks about is you, with your long weird coloured hair, green eyes, and freckles." He points to a few that are visible above my mask line. "I don't know if you noticed, but girls our age who fit that description are kind of rare around here. Not only that, why would you stop and help me unless you knew who I was?"

I feel myself blushing as I rip my wrist out of his hand. "Kiba, that idiot! I'm trying to stay invisible while he's running around with his big blabber mouth telling the world about me. Grrr, when I see him again I'm going to snap his neck."

Shino gets up and faces the direction of the arena.

"Hey! Where are you going?"

"Back, of course."

"No way, I saved you, you owe me a favour! You made Saskue a promise too! I know you did I saw you guys talking before he ran off."

He looks over his shoulder at me, "Fine, I'll go help Saskue because I promised him I'd come looking for him, not because you think I owe you something."

All of sudden, I'm feeling panicky. "Something bad has happened."

"What? How do you know that?"

"I just know it, something bad is happening right now. We need to go right now." I rush away, following my ears this time, not caring if Saskue knows I'm near or not.

I wasted too much time. I burst through the trees just in time to see a monster leaping at Saskue's still body. I'm too late.

"No!" I scream as the monster closes in for the kill.

A blonde flash appears, and Naruto kicks the ugly beast right in its face, sending it back from Saskue.

I reach him the same moment Pakkun and Sakura do.

"What happened?" I ask.

"I don't know," Sakura says. "We only just got here."

"She might know though," Naruto points a finger up at a tree where a girl is hiding.

When she catches me looking at her, she shrinks back as if my gaze was a physical blow. She's the same girl who dragged red haired boy away from Saskue.

"Who is she?"

"That's Temari, she's Gaara's sister and team member." Sakura explains, still checking over Saskue.

Temari? The name puts a bitter taste in my mouth. It hurts me to know the girl that Shickamaru cares for could do this to his village. I keep my eyes on her, snarling.

"What's with the mask?" Sakura asks.

"Trying to keep a couple of secrets." I say as way of explanation.

"Oh." She says, indicating that she understands.

Naruto and I leap off the branch at the same time, both going opposite directions. He heads towards the monster, and I zoom in on Temari.

As my feet touch her branch, she scrambles to her feet to make a getaway. I grab her by the front of her dress and smack her against the tree trunk. "Oh no, you don't, not until you tell me what's going on here."

"Where's Kankuro?"

"Who?"

"My brother, Kankuro."

"I don't know who that is." I smack her against the tree again. "But if you don't start talking I'll find out who he is and you won't like that very much, I promise you. Now shut up and listen, what is that thing down there? And what happened to Saskue?"

She whimpers before answering. "That thing is my other brother, Gaara. He has an evil sand spirit inside of him, he's starting to lose control of it though, and soon he will have completed a full possession. Then you'll see the true power Gaara has, and I promise you, that you won't like that very much either. Everything around here will be destroyed, you and your friends included. You guys can't even hope to stop him, no one can when this happens."

I consider what she's said while I look below at the fight. I can see the worry in her eyes while she watches her mutated brother. He has something living in him too, like Naruto? The only question now is, is the fox stronger? Can Naruto harness the fox's power even remotely well enough to even be a concern for Gaara's sand spirit?

I slam Temari against the tree again for good measure. "What about Saskue?"

"I don't know he and Gaara attacked each other. Saskue's arm was glowing blue, and the sound, it sounded like birds. He hit Gaara's arm with it, but then he fell over. He wasn't hit so I don't know what's up with him."

Saskue doesn't just collapse for any reason; the only thing it could be is the curse mark. He activated it. I need to find some way to reverse the damage done, if that's even possible. "The blue thing, did he do that more than once?"

"Yes!" Temari squeaks.

I drop her and watch her move away from my feet. I turn away as she says, "Are you sure you haven't seen my brother? He's tall, he wears all black, purple face paint and carries a puppet."

"Oh, him?" I turn to face her again.

"You have seen him!" She says in relief. "Where is he? I need to get him and get out of here before it's too late."

"Yeah I saw him. With any luck he's under some tree dying back there." I wave in the general direction where I left him.

Someone drops behind us, but I don't have to look to see who it is, because his familiar voice says, "He's not dying, just knocked out."

"Shino, nice of you to drop by. What took you so –"

My words are cut off by an angry scream from Gaara. I see Naruto get knocked back by the boy's mutated tail. One of his paws detaches and flies through the air sweeping Sakura up and pinning her to a nearby tree, knocking her out.

"Son of a bitch," I curse under my breath.

Shino takes a step back, alarmed. "What is that?"

"Don't worry, Naruto can handle it," I sit down.

Temari and Shino both look at me like I've lost my mind. "What?!" They exclaim in unison.

"You'd be surprised how little credit you give him. Have a seat Shino, he doesn't need us just yet, but he will soon."

Shino silently sits next to me.

Temari on the other hand leaps to her feet. "You guys are crazy, didn't you hear what I said, little girl? Get out of here, grab Uchiha and run!"

"Naruto will never forgive me if I miss him win this fight, this is major." I smile at her.

"How could you be so stupid? Just grab Uchiha and go." She sniffs, "Out of that lot he's the only one worth saving anyway."

"Those are my friends." I say icily. "They're worth a million of you and your worthless brothers."

"Who are you?"

I put power behind my stare this time, making her clutch her head and fall to her knees, but still forcing her to look at my eyes. "To someone like you unless you make some major life changes, I'm someone you don't want to meet a second time."

She takes me seriously, and leaves.

After a few moments of silence Shino says, "Do you really think he has a chance against that thing?"

"Oh no, not you too! Trust me; we'll all get out of this in one piece."

Gaara gives Naruto another jarring smack that sends him flying back, and Shino turns to stare at me in disbelief.

"More or less." I add hastily.

We both focus on the fight below. The red etchings on Gaara's shockingly white forehead catch my eye. "Love?" I mummer.

The boy's mismatched eyes turn towards me, as if he heard what I said. I refuse to let this monster think that I'm frightened of him, so I meet his stare unflinchingly, despite the hammering of my heart. Naruto charges at him again, forcing him to take his devilish eyes off me. I watch in dismay as Gaara sweeps Naruto away as if he were no more than an annoying bug.

"What's the matter?" Gaara's growly voice mocks, "Don't you care what happens to your precious friends?" The clawed hand pinning Sakura to the tree flexes forcing a choked painful sound out of her.

Without meaning to be, I'm in Naruto's head and I can feel his panic. "Don't worry, I'm watching and I promise you he won't hurt them." My message seems to calm him, as he forms familiar hand seals and raises his thumb to his teeth.

My nails dig into my palms in my anticipation. A summoning jutsu! I can hardly contain myself waiting for the smoke to clear. I wonder what he's summoned; surely it's something huge and powerful. Fangs and claws and teeth and -

I almost fall out of the tree as I see a tiny toad peering up at Naruto's stunned face. His annoying little voice squeaks out, demanding treats until he gets a good look at the half boy, half monster thing lobbing sand pellets their way. Naruto scoops the little toad up and brings him to safety.

Shino's eyes are burning a hole in the side of my face. "Okay, so it's not going to be as easy as I thought." I admit.

Gaara raises his head and I see the face has changed! All traces of the boy are gone. My hands cover my mouth as I try to hold back a shriek of terror. He's morphing right in front of our eyes! The sand is flowing all over his body, covering his human parts and turning them into a twisted hellish sand demon. By now he's even bigger and beastlier than before if that's even possible. He's on the edge of a full possession and my stomach heaves a little. Naruto attempts to dodge another vicious attack, this time when he gets up I expect to see my terror mirrored on his face, but instead there's something else there. Sadness and understanding, and perhaps, even a smattering of doubt.

He leaps into the air again summoning clones, but I can tell this time there's less heart in this attempt. The monster opens mouths all over its hell twisted body and releases bursts of air, destroying all the clones. I bite my lip and taste my blood as the monster doesn't give Naruto even a breather as it lobs more sand pellets at him, knocking him back yet again.

There's a strange feeling in my body, as it spreads through me it quells my shaking. I can't explain it, I don't know what it is, and it's almost as if it burns but not painfully. I look down at my body, searching for the flames I feel.

Without willing it I'm in Naruto's head again, and I know he's feeling whatever I'm feeling. His blue eyes meet mine; the ice blue seems to relieve the burn a bit. Or maybe it feels better because this time in his face I don't see the doubt that was plaguing him before, it evaporated with the burn. Now I see the face of a warrior, the fire must have left our bodies and gone straight to his eyes because in them I can see a flaming desire to save us all.

His voice echoes my thoughts, "I see it now…I can't lose."

There's something majorly different about him now. He's found his passion to fight. My eyes are anchored on him as he summons his clones again. The beast clutches the clones in his deathly grasp, but Naruto's already summoned more. He leaps over Gaara and summons another one to give him a boost to jump up from under him!

I feel my face drop as I helplessly watch Naruto jab Gaara in the ass with his knife.

Shino leaps to his feet. "No, fuck this. I'm out." Gaara's tail lashes savagely out and smacks Naruto away.

I grab Shino's arm as I keep my eyes on Naruto's flying body, "Shino, he's smiling."

"Of course he is," Shino replies in agitated tone. "He probably thinks that he just pulled some classic comedy stunt. Do you not know him? He was up to this ridiculous stuff all the time at the academy."

This time, Naruto's thought comes unbidden from my lips. "Boom."

"What?"

Shino's question is answered by explosion down below coming out of Gaara.

Without a word Shino resumes his place by my side.

"Don't be so anxious," I tell him. "Our part is coming up soon."

As the smoke and debris clears, I can see that the blast sent Saskue to another tree, and that it also did remarkable damage to Gaara's sand beast as well.

Saskue struggles to get to his feet and I can see his usually perfect skin is marred by dark black splotches. "Idiot," I growl. "Sit down" Of course he has to act the hero, does he expect everyone to just ignore the tremor in his knees as he stands there?

Naruto stands besides his friend and they both bravely face the direction of Gaara.

"Get ready, Shino."

"For what?"

"I'm going to go to Saskue, and I need you to go over to Sakura. Cut at the sand claws holding her to that tree. I'm pretty sure that the sand will just reform but it might help to take a little bit of the pressure off."

Shino nods just as Naruto releases an insane amount of chakra and fills the surrounding area with thousands of clones.

Gaara's melted features twist into ugly fury as he whips his head around trying to count the number of clones.

I even giggle as Naruto's voice rings out, "NA-RU-TO 2K UZUMAKI BARRAGE!" All the clones flood around Gaara, sending kicks and punches at overwhelming speeds and volumes.

I don't have time to celebrate as the beast goes flying, landing with a shaking smack into the ground and lays there weakly for a bit.

"Now, Shino." I hiss.

I land beside Saskue who is somehow still standing. I listen carefully, quickly picking her up. She's here alright, and if she's here that means she still in his head. Saskue crumbles beside me, leaning against the tree trunk, trembling in pain. I kneel across from him. "Saskue, I need you to stay awake, you reactivated your curse mark by pushing yourself too far. You allowed your hatred to overcome your common sense, again."

His dark eyes flash up at me warily.

"I'm not scolding you. This time it wasn't really your fault. There's some strange evil plot the Sound village thought up and all this destruction is just so my mom could slip in unnoticed into your head and encourage you to hate and to use the chidori more than you know you should. I'm sorry I wish I could explain better than that." I caress the side of his face with my finger tips. He flinches away as I touch the markings. "I'm sorry, I know it hurts. But I think I can make it a little better, if I can get her out of your head, and clear it up and bit you should be better in no time. But you have to promise to listen to me and be very good."

"Red?"

"Took you long enough to figure that out. Is it the mask?" I joke as I barely place my fingers on his temples. "Now, don't even think about trying to gather your chakra or trying to turn on the sharingan, let me see those eyes." I chatter at him while I gather my chakra.

I take three deep breaths and look at his eyes. "Perfect, keep them that lovely soulless black for me." I push the chakra out of my body, casting a blue dome over us.

"As you can imagine, this takes a bit out of me, so when I release it I won't be any use in a fight."

One of his hands reaches up and touches the back of mine. "How are you doing this?"

"It's not easy and I don't know how long I can keep it up, I would assume until I run out of chakra. But this is blocking us both from any genjutsu or any other mental attacks going on. So my mother can't get in either of our heads now. I should be able to keep it up long enough for your marks to fade." It might be my imagination but the marks don't look as black as they did only minutes before. "The only thing is we can't see what's going on around us, so we're definitely vulnerable to a physical attack right now."

"We can't?"

"Try it."

After a few moments of silence he grunts, "Huh."

"Yup, you're stuck making eye contact with me until I pull the shield down. But at least this way if Naruto fails, and I'm not saying he will, but if he does you can at least get on your feet and run."

"What about you? This is going to drain you, and you won't be able to lift a finger."

You don't quite get it, do you? If Naruto fails, he dies. If he fails, this village is going to be decimated by that monster. If that happens, it doesn't matter who's left behind to protect me, I'll be dragged back to where I came from, or brought somewhere worse. If this village goes down Saskue, I'm going down with it. I don't want to be able to run. If the worst happens, I'm going to die here with Naruto."

"No need to be so dramatic, Red. We both know he's going to win."

"Where did all this sudden confidence in Naruto come from?"

"He's been watching me long enough, surely some of my skill has rubbed off and him now."

I laugh, "Just you worry about keeping those pretty little eyes dark for me, Uchiha. You know our boy's got this on the bag all on his own."

To my delight, the marks are fading fast and I can even feel him getting stronger under my fingertips. I try to keep him focused by chattering at him receiving grunts and insults and even a smile or two from the ice prince.

After a few more minutes the marks disappear and I breathe a sigh of relief, now no matter what, at least Saskue can get away. "They're gone now, you can stop." He informs me.

"I know, but I don't want to stop yet, she might be lurking around and waiting just for that." It's a feeble lie, I felt her leave as soon as the shield went up, but I'm quite serious about my contingency plan if this all sours and goes south. The snake lord can drag me back to village if he wants to, but he'll be dragging my corpse. "Besides, we're bonding. We're almost friends now." I joke.

He smiles at me.

Then in the center of my body, I feel it again. But this time it's different, before it was pleasant, but this. This hurts, and it hurts badly.

"Red? Is something wrong?" Saskue's voice echoes in my ears.

There is something terribly wrong, but I can't find the words. I can feel my face twist in pain while the pure liquid flames shoot through my veins, coating every inch of me in a fiery blaze. I squeak as my arms drop from Saskue's head to wrap around my stomach, trying to somehow smother the fire. I broke the shield, I realise faintly.

"Hey! Listen to me," Saskue's arms shoot out and grab my by the shoulders as I fall backwards. I wonder if I can even move my burning body. It would probably be best to sit here and burn quietly; surely by now I'm nothing more than a cinder. Somewhere in my burning mind, Naruto's presence fades and is replaced by an all consuming blood thirsty howling. Tears start to pour out of my eyes, but the water doesn't cool my burning face, if anything it feels like acid dripping down my cheeks. I lift my hands and press them to my ears, trying to block out the head shattering howl. I glance at Saskue's face, his lips are moving, but there's no sound, what's wrong with me? Did I die? Am I in hell? I turn my gaze to Naruto who somehow is on top of a giant toad. To my horror he erupts in flames, and my own body's burning seems to intensify in response. My back arches as I feel the demon fox use his claws to savage my body from the inside out. I faintly wonder in amazement how my spine didn't snap, before Naruto and my screams are weaving a nightmarish harmony together.

Almost as quickly as it started it stopped. As if someone hit a button me and Naruto stop screaming, and I realise Saskue is holding me. The flames are gone, but in their wake they've left me feeling energized, as if the fire burned away the weakness leaving only strength.

"Red? What happened? Can you hear me?" Saskue asks.

"The fox," I choke. "Naruto borrowed the fox's chakra and I could feel it."

"How is that even possible?"

"Saskue, look!" I point and shout.

The demon has begun to crack, and now its crumbling to pieces. I can hear the clawed hand holding Sakura crumbling too. "Go check on Sakura and Shino," I shout before taking off and running towards the falling sand and falling boys. They both land in different tree tops, but I don't pause my rushing, I can feel that this isn't over yet.

My suspicions are confirmed when they both struggle to their feet and face off towards each other again. As the giant toad disappears, they jump towards each other in the mist, fists pulled back to deliver a final blow.

I try to move faster but I can't. I should be able to, I feel great. But Kakashi's warning comes back to haunt me and I remember, the strength I feel is an illusion. My body is actually weak from all the chakra I poured into the shield.

Naruto's fist smacks into Gaara's face and once again they're free falling, but this time there will be no trees to soften the landing.

I have to pause and breathe. Each breath rips raggedly out of my throat and my head spins. Something fluttering towards me catches my eye and as I look up, I see Naruto's headband, I reach up and snatch it out of the air and hold it to my chest. I try to run again but the best I can manage is a wobbly jog as my tired muscles scream in protest.

I reach them just in time to watch Naruto drag himself towards Gaara inch by torturous inch using only his chin. Saskue and I reach his side at the same instant and I fall to my knees beside him, putting a hand on his back. I don't breathe easy until Saskue lets us know that Sakura's alright, just a little bruised.

Naruto mummers, "That's a relief before passing out."

Temari and Kankuro appear, flanking Gaara. For a tense moment we all stare each other down, knowing each and every one of us has reached their limit until Gaara's voice cuts in, "That's enough."

Kankuro looks as if he wants to argue for a moment, but he nods and slips his arm around the boy, lifting him up. Without another glance they turn and leave.

"Red…" Naruto's voice catches my attention; he must have woken back up.

"What is it, hero?" I ask him teasingly.

"Your face…why are you covering your face."

"Well I guess there's no point in doing that now, they've seen me and they know about me." Shino comes up behind us carrying Sakura. "I guess if they want me, they'll try and come get me," I look at all their faces. "And with friends like these, I say, bring your worst."

"Let me see your smile then." Naruto insists from the ground.

I oblige with shaky weak hands, feeling the cool air touch the bottom portion of my face as I pull my mask down. I give him my best smile. "Anything for the man of the hour."

He passes out again, this time, with is big beautiful smile stretching across his face.

The sweetness of our victory was tarnished by the biter defeats our village suffered. Some of the buildings were utterly decimated and would need a lot of time and work to rebuild. There was an air of uncertainty clouding the village as we wondered if one of our enemies would take advantage of our temporary weakness. The worst loss by far, was the loss of the Hokage and the other brave shinobi who died fighting.

Despite his victory in taking away the use of Orochimaru's arms, effectively banning him from ever making another hand seal, or performing another jutsu, his death was still a hard blow for the recently wrecked village to take.

I can hear Kakashi stirring as he tries to quietly and sneakily leave the house. Tiredly, I open my eyes; the sun hasn't even risen yet! My eyes start to drift close before I remember what today is, the day of the Hokage's funeral. I force myself to sit up, and peer at the foot of my bed, where Kakashi has left the proper mourning uniform for me. I quickly clean and dress, trying to puzzle out where Kakashi could possibly be going at this hour.

By the time I step out into the pre-morning gloom, I know the answer to that question.

I quietly approach the memorial. If Kakashi hears me coming he doesn't even flinch to show it. As I stare at his back, I can hear his thoughts. "I'm so sorry Obito."

"Obito? Who's that?" I wonder to myself. I would never ask; I don't want him to think I'm intruding on his privacy and his grief. So instead, I slip up beside him and wrap my smaller hand around one of his. As if waking from a trance, he slowly looks down at me.

"I love you too, big brother."

He nods and squeezes my hand before turning back to face the stone. I lean my head on his arm, and as the sun rises we both mourn our losses, the loss of a brother, and the loss of a dream and a mother.