Chapter 13: A Divine Image
AN: Sorry about the longer than average wait. I just had to put down my beloved dog Hercules, so I haven't felt quite as motivated to write as normal. So here's chapter 13 for your viewing pleasure.
"Come on Sasuke, Sakura-chan," Naruto cried, giddy with the feeling of victory, "Let's get back to the others and go home!"
Sakura nodded in silent agreement, taking a spare moment to admire Naruto's smiling exhilaration. Truth be told, she had never seen him this happy before. A great burden had just been lifted from his shoulders, and now he could finally walk free and unencumbered by the past. He had fulfilled his promise of a lifetime to Sakura, and now everything seemed to be within his grasp.
"Yeah Naruto, let's go home," she whispered.
Sasuke was feeling a bit awkward, most certainly. After six years of wandering alone in total darkness, he really didn't have much of a clue where or how to fit in. But he did have hope, which was something that had not had in a long time. He'd just have to take his rebirth one step at a time, and commit himself fully to escaping his past.
But unfortunately, his past was not too willing to let him escape. From the woods surrounding the muddy battle plain, Sasuke heard the rustling of leaves and the metallic clanging of weapons. Just as they were about to leave, Sasuke grabbed Naruto and Sakura by the shoulder and whispered, "We're not out of the woods yet. We've got company."
"Wait, I sense them too," confirmed Sakura.
Sensing that their cover was blown, the waiting unknown enemy broke from their cover, and charged towards the three. Sasuke's worst fear was immediately confirmed; the enemy had blocked their escape route. They'd have to fight their way out, and avoid being enveloped by the much larger enemy force.
"I count at least twenty," Sakura hissed as she clenched her fists, ready for the battle.
Naruto nodded and quickly summoned half a dozen shadow clones. "We have to break through them now!" he shouted, "Sasuke, clear us a path through them! I'll run interference while we break through!"
Sasuke had already been rather bruised and exhausted from the earlier fight, but he sprung into battle with renewed vigor. He promised himself that now he would only ever fight to protect the people he cared for; the renewing of his old bonds gave him renewed strength to carry on. There was a certain nostalgia as he blazed through the seals for the Grand Fireball technique; that feeling of fighting for something that truly mattered that had been long forgotten. It was invigorating.
The Grand Fireball forced the charging Oto-nin to break apart, giving the three an opening to escape through them. As fast as lightning, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke charged through the opening while Naruto's shadow clones engaged the scattered Oto.
Just as they were about to break free, they hit a wall of sound. An enemy Jonin had caught onto their plot, and had just barely been able to stop their escape. The sound technique he had used stopped them in their tracks instantly, greatly disorienting them. His comrades quickly dispatched Naruto's shadow clones, and moved in for the kill.
The reunited Team Seven shrugged off the disorientation as best as they could. Using a bit of self-hypnosis, Sasuke ignored the imbalance in his inner ear, and released a flurry of kunai and shuriken at the enemy shinobi charging from his right. Metal met metal in a staccato of pings and clangs as the six enemy ninja's own weapons met Sasuke's mid flight.
Half of them had fallen for Sasuke's trap. Taking aim to intercept the kunai had forced three of the enemy to accidently lock their eyes on Sasuke's Sharingan: the last mistake they'd ever make. While those three stood paralyzed in a terrifying Lovecraftian Genjutsu, Sasuke rushed into deal with the remaining three.
He was far too fast for them. Sasuke drew his chokuto, charging it with the lightning power of the Chidori. The first enemy tried to block with a kunai, but the lightning charged edge of the chokuto sliced through the dagger—and then through its wielder. Sasuke traced a quick, graceful arc through the Oto shinobi's neck. He quickly stepped in to the enemy formation, palming the chokuto into a reverse grip while stabbing the second enemy through the heart in one fluid motion before sweeping the blade around to eviscerate the third opponent. All three fell to muddy ground simultaneously, never to rise again.
Meanwhile, Naruto rushed to the left, skillfully deflecting the enemy kunai with a blast of wind. A quick salvo of his own kunai followed immediately, raking through the seven enemy shinobi. Two fell to the ground, mortally wounded, while three others staggered on with considerable wounds. Using his chakra channeling dagger, Naruto moved into to deal with the wounded enemies first.
His blade whistled a screaming song while he cut through them. The first went down rather quickly, learning the hard way to not bother trying to block his blade. The other two learned from their comrade's mistake, and did their best to dodge out of the way of Naruto's attacks. They haphazardly threw kunai to slow Naruto's advance, while two formidable looking Oto Jonin rushed from the tree line to reinforce them.
Simultaneously, Sakura ran through a series of seals faster than any of her foes had ever seen before. She placed one hand on the muddy ground, channeling a surge of earth chakra through the muddy mire. The mud under the seven Oto-nin to the front shot up, wrapping around the hapless enemies and constricting their movements. As soon as they were immobile, a quick salvo of kunai ended their existence.
But they weren't out of danger yet. As far as Sakura could tell, this had just been a bit of foreplay; the enemies that they had just massacred were very green, for the most part not even Chunin level. Six other nin had charged out the forest in three pairs; one pair headed for each of Team Seven. And they looked much more formidable.
Their cursed seals were all active to level two, and they all wore feral grins as they charged into the melee. The two that engaged Sasuke brandished large nodachi swords with blades rank with foul chakra. Sasuke nimbly dodged their initial strikes, ducking in between the two as their blades met with a loud crash over his head. He stabbed one in the stomach with his chokuto while he grabbed the other by the leg. The power of his Chidori Nagashi ran through both of them, knocking them backwards.
The lightning had stunned them, and Sasuke used the small window to press his advantage. He charged at the hideous beast that he had previously stabbed, slicing at his vitals with lightning charged blade. The enemy had just barely recovered in time, and blocked Sasuke's strike with his own blade. Each subsequent strike Sasuke made was deftly parried also. This lumbering lummox was also a competent swordsman.
Sasuke played the Genjutsu card once again, trapping the first monstrosity in a paralyzing nightmare, before quickly turning to block the second monstrosity's attack from behind. Sasuke swiftly cut in, bringing his blade across the enemy's wrist. The second one quickly backed off, missing his sword and sword hand while Sasuke finished off the first with a decapitating strike.
Rock-like armor began to cover the second one as it went into berserker mode preparing to tear Sasuke limb from limb. They met in melee once more; this time, Sasuke's blade was unable to make any meaningful damage to the enemy, but its stony fists were able to make quite an impression on Sasuke's light frame. After a few gut-wrenching punches, the granite covered behemoth swatted Sasuke's blade away, forcing Sasuke to withdraw and change his tactics.
Meanwhile, Sakura faced the fastest pair of enemies. The twisted pair of harpies danced around Sakura, avoiding her powerful blows. Their speed allowed them to dodge Sakura's deadly Taijutsu, while their own mid-ranged selection of sound techniques battered her about. Sakura just wasn't fast enough to get to either of them before the other would intervene, and her Earth Dragon Missile technique just didn't have the range or speed to make up for it.
Sakura back flipped along the muddy ground, one tiny step in front of their kunai and sound blasts. Sakura quickly ran through the seals for the Earth Dragon Missile once more, sending a trio of earthen missiles towards the closer of the two opponents. The harpy nimbly dodged them on the first pass, and charged straight towards Sakura, firing off a salvo of sonic blasts at her.
Three more earthen missiles sprung out of the ground, intercepting the sonic blasts. They raced towards the offending enemy, while the original three doubled back, surrounding the Oto shinobi as they rushed towards it, cutting off all lateral escape routes. The cornered enemy, sensing its only escape, leaped into the air. Sakura smirked sadistically, and directed the six Earth Dragon missiles upwards. They connected with the harpy, sending it hurtling upwards, knocked into a daze.
Just as the stunned enemy reached the peak of its flight, Sakura blinked into view just above it. "Say goodnight!" Sakura shouted as she used her massive, chakra enhanced strength to send her foe back screaming back to Earth like a meteor.
Before she could celebrate, though, her second foe blinked into view above her, sending her cartwheeling back to Earth with a point-blank sonic blast. She landed in a heap on the ground, motionless in the soft mud. The second harpy descended on her, and stabbed her in the back with a kunai.
To the enemy's horror, Sakura's body exploded into a flurry of cherry blossoms. "A Genjutsu!?" screamed the startled Oto-nin as vines began growing out of the earth, wrapping around her body, paralyzing her. They large vines soon reached its neck, and began squeezing with an inhuman strength.
Sakura herself was behind her foe, letting the Genjutsu reach its apex before wrapping her arms around her foe's neck. She quickly wrenched its head to one side, snapping its neck quickly and cleanly. She let the now lifeless body fall to the mud.
Her opponents now dispatched, Sakura turned to see how Naruto's fight was going. The sight that was presented to her nearly paralyzed her with fear. Naruto was on his knees, helpless, as the remaining enemy descended with blade drawn upon him. She darted to intervene, and soon noticed a black coated blur reach Naruto first, and shove him out of the way.
Sasuke had just finished his remaining foe with a Chidori when he noticed that Naruto had gotten himself caught in his remaining foe's trap. A small purple haze could be seen around Naruto as he hacked and coughed on the ground, and his enemy prepared to deliver the coup de grâce. "Poison gas…I need to get to him fast!" Sasuke said to himself. He charged in with reckless abandoned, shoving Naruto out of the gas cloud while taking the blow for him.
The enemy's sword pierced through his right lung, and tore through the front of his tunic. As he gasped in pain, Sasuke channeled a Chidori Nagashi up the blade that pierced him, shocking the enemy away before he fell to his knees. A split second later, Sakura descended on the enemy, and finished him, smearing his face across the blood-stained mire.
She quickly rushed to Sasuke's side, and gingerly pulled the sword out of his body. Naruto untangled himself from the remaining wires that bound him, and turned to see Sasuke wheezing in pain as Sakura tried to slow his bleeding. Naruto quickly injected himself with a poison antidote before rushing to Sakura's side. "How bad is he?" he asked, his lower lip trembling.
"Very bad…his right lung is collapsed. I need to stop the bleeding before, and keep him from asphyxiating." She worked diligently under the pressure, and used her masterful chakra control to bring the bleeding down to a manageable pace.
Sensing Naruto's anxiety, Sasuke chuckled weakly, "It's okay man…you would have done the same for me…" He coughed up some blood as Sakura began to close the wound in his chest.
Suddenly, they all sensed murderous intent beginning to surround their position. But one spot in particular stood out, a blazing inferno amongst a sea of candles. "Orochimaru!" Sasuke hissed weakly.
"We need to get out of here now!" Naruto cried, "We can finish patching Sasuke up later, right now we need to move!"
Sakura reluctantly stopped her ministrations, and lifted Sasuke to his feet. He staggered forward a step, and then began to fall. Sakura quickly caught him, whispering "You're too weak right now, Sasuke-kun…I'll carry you."
He reluctantly accepted. She slung one arm of his over her shoulder and pulled his body tight to hers as they began fleeing back to the rest of the group. Sakura hoped that he would be able to last long enough for them to get to the relative safety of their comrades. They rushed through the forest, hoping to escape, and dreading the snake that followed them.
Endnotes: Like always, reviews are greatly appreciated.