Hey again. Before you get started on this ch. I wanted to say to all that have gotten this far. Thank you, I'm glad you've liked the story enough to read it this far. I don't know how many more chapters there will be before the end of this arc, but hopefully you'll be there to enjoy the end. Also thanx for putting up with my grammar skills (or lack thereof, lol) and formatting. (like I said this is my first fic and hopefully the material is improving I tried to add something to separate the scenes to make it seem less cluttered. Let me know what you think, oh I also tried to put thoughts in parentheses so comments are welcome.) Oh, I know nobody asked, but if you're curious about the title it's because I think I'm putting everyone through different types of confrontations and each one has a different aspect to it. Hope that makes sense. Ok, enough of my ranting. On with the story.
I don't own Naruto in any way shape or form, but if I did this is how it would go.
CONFRONTATIONS III
A while had passed and Jiraiya and the others were ready to head out. They had finished eating and were packing up and were getting ready to get on their frogs and get going. As they were walking towards the frogs and Kiba and Akamaru were walking with each other Shino caught up with Jiraiya. He had already fixed his gourd and was already breaking it in. He had appreciated his team mates comments and praise, but didn't have time to enjoy it much. After all the gourd was a tool as well and it would be wasteful not to use it as soon as possible Shino reasoned. As he walked behind Jiraiya Shino felt awkward he wanted to thank Jiraiya, but didn't really wanna call any unnecessary attention to himself. He debated how to go about this internally and as he finally came to a decision and was about to begin stretching his hand out to Jiraiya, Jiraiya turned around. "Shino your aura is kinda creeping me out. Relax." Jiraiya saw his young companion wanted to say something and asked what it was. "What is it."
Shino suddenly felt a little self conscious. Could his aura be that bad. He remembered it was Jiraiya and thought maybe it was his skill that detected the aura. He went ahead and tried to thank him for earlier. "Arigatou, Jiraiya-san for...ano...everything." He had not told Hinata or Kiba about the letter and for now wanted to keep it that way. He hoped Jiraiya wouldn't say anything either. Jiraiya stopped. They had reached the frogs. Jiraiya turned to Shino.
He put his hand on Shino's shoulder lightly and spoke conversationally. "Don't worry about it Shino." Jiraiya winked his eyes at Shino in a knowing way and then turned around to climb on his frog. Shino was left there with his mouth open momentarily. Did Jiraiya mean that he would keep it a secret did he know what Shino was thinking. Maybe Shino was overthinking it. He shook his head and cleared his mind. He focused on the journey and gathered his thoughts as he began to climb on his frog. The more Shino traveled with Jiraiya the more he wondered about Jiraiya and looked forward to the times ahead. Jiraiya was on his frog and ready to set out. Thinking to himself (Naruto was right that guy is a little creepy, it's a good thing my smile and wink method work for every occasion.)
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Out in the desert Temari reached out and grabbed the person who was sinking in front of her. The water was disappearing and she could see sand dunes emerging from the water from the corner of her eyes. Gai was also now standing on the water with Tenten in his arms. Tenten was unconscious and Gai was walking towards Temari. Temari barely noticed any of this though as her eyes were glued to the person in front of her. It was not Kisame who's shirt she was now grabbing, but somebody she knew. She looked into the young man's face and had a flashback.
FLASHBACK/ We see chibi Temari at a small store, almost a stand. Her hands are on the counter which comes up to her eyes and she peers over. A young man maybe five years older than her is tending the store. He looked down at her and asked, "What can I get for you little girl?" he leaned on the counter to hear what she had to say.
Temari's brow furrowed at this and she responded with a hint of anger. "I'm not little. Where's Mr. Tokuwa? He knows what my mom sent me for." She said.
"Oh, I'll get him then. Please wait right here." the young man said as he turned around and walked out the back of the store. Temari stuck her tongue out at him and raspberried at him when he left the room. A few moments later he re-appeared with an older gentlemen.
"Well hello there Temari-chan, back for the usual I take it." Mr. Tokuwa said. He smiled down at her and she returned the smile. She liked Mr. Tokuwa he had always been nice to her. She nodded her head. "I'll take care of it right away. By the way this is my son." he put his hand on the young man's shoulder. "Souzo, one day he'll be running this store." He said he then turned around and began gathering the goods she had come for.
"Pleased to meet you Temari-chan" Souzu said. He put out his hand for her to shake. Temari didn't take it.
"That's nice." She said. She crossed her arms and waited for Mr. Tokuwa to give her the bag of goods. It didn't take long. She paid for the goods and left. That was the first time she met Souzu. They had gotten to be friendly over time, but that was their first meeting./END OF FLASHBACK
Now Temari looked down at the familiar face of Souzu in her arms. A tear started rolling down her cheeks and she wiped it away. Gai was now standing beside her. "What happened to Kisame?"
Temari gathered herself quickly. "He must have been using Souzu as a host. I don't know how, but when we find him. I'll make him pay for this." She said through gritted teeth.
Gai saw she knew the man in her arms and realized she must be going through some anguish over what had happened. He needed her to get it together though. "Temari-san, we have to get Tenten some help. She was wounded pretty badly. I don't know what's going through your mind, but we have to get Tenten to someone that can help her."
Temari held back her tears and realize Gai was right. She lay Souzu in the sand and stood up. "We have to go back to the village and have the medics look at her." Gai turned around intending to go back right away. Temari had a request before that. "Gai, before that can you help me bury this man. Please." Gai saw she wanted to do this out of respect and couldn't bring himself to refuse her request. He gently put down Tenten and together he and Temari quickly buried Souzu. "I'm sorry Gai. I just don't want the village to know what happened, he was a good person and I don't want his memory smeared by this. I hope you understand."
Gai did. "Don't worry about it Temari, this shouldn't take long." We leave this scene and move on. They would head back to the village of sand after the burial.
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Chiyo was surprised that Itachi released her. However she was not about to let this chance go. She was planning to show those Konoha ninjas how a real ninja fought. "Fool, you will die for underestimating me." She growled at Itachi. She dipped her hand into her robes with lightning speed and threw three kunnai's at Itachi. Itachi caught all three in one hand. He caught them between his fingers. He saw her flickering before she finished and threw the kunnai's to the spot where she was moving to before she got there. The kunnai's ripped through her robes none of them making contact with her though. She was not impressed at all as she flickered again. Pathetic, she thought he couldn't even hit her. Chiyo tried to bring out her puppets, but for some reason the chakra strings would not co-operate with her. She thought it must be some kind of technical malfunction. No matter she thought she could still handle him. She began to flicker around him wrapping her strings around him. She was surprised at the ease she was moving around him, but then again what could she expect from an inferior shinobi. She pulled on the strings with all her might. The strings cut through Itachi and he fell to pieces. A smile spread on her face. However it was quickly erased as the pieces of Itachi did not make it to the ground, but somehow miraculously turned into black winged creatures and scattered. "What the hell is this?" Chiyo asked out loud. She quickly looked around and found herself completely alone. Her companions had disappeared as well. Had they been swallowed up by the sand she wondered. As she kept looking around her eyes landed on Itachi's back. Her observation was quickly forgotten as she lunged herself towards Itachi. She brought out her kunnai. Itachi didn't move, this was too easy she thought. A shadow moved in front of her as she was about to deliver the killing blow. Her blade instead sunk into this black robed stranger. She looked up to meet the sad gaze of her son.
"Why do you do this? Why do you hate us and try to stab us in the back?" Chiyo couldn't take her eyes off her son as he threw accusations at her. "You are willing to work with the son of the one who killed us so willingly." Finally she looked down as he clasped her hand in both of his. She saw the blood pouring from his wound. (T-this can't be) she thought.
Suddenly her son's hands were gruffly taken by someone's hands. She looked back up to see Kakashi grabbing her son's neck from behind and forcing one of his hands behind his back. She saw a gleam in Kakashi's eyes as if he were taking pleasure in what he was doing. "We have to finish them off Chiyo-san. They're only illusions, remember, my father killed them." Chiyo's hands had begun trembling and she blinked. However when she looked back up it was no longer Kakashi holding her son, but his father the White Fang of Konoha.
"That's right old lady." He said in a slightly deeper voice than Kakashi's. "I killed them, let me show you how." Chiyo began moving trying to stop him, but the White fang was too quick. He quickly used the kunnai now in his hand to slit her son's throat. Her hands landed on his shoulders as his lifeless body fell to the ground.
She fell to her knees letting out a scream. "NNNNOOOOO!" Her breath caught in her throat as the White Fangs laughter reached her ears. She looked up trying to hold back tears. Her eyes widened in shock as she saw that in the White Fangs hands was the decapitated head of her son's wife.
Kakashi's father saw what she was looking at and said. "Once again you couldn't do anything to stop their deaths." He laughed a short bark of a laugh. "How ironic." He tossed the head at her and kept laughing as the head landed in front of her.
Chiyo's mind began going into shock. A child's yell broke into her consciousness. "Nooo!" She followed the voice and saw a young child looking at her. Hate filling his eyes. "You killed my parents. I-I hate you." Chiyo's mind was breaking down by the scene in front of her. Far behind her watching from a safe distance stood Itachi. He was satisfied now and closed his eyes. He disappeared from the scene.
Chiyo was kneeling still, but the scene around her was completely different. Standing in front of her only a few feet in front of her was Itachi. Next to her still immobile were Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura. Itachi said "It looks as if she can't defeat me." he said coldly. He turned to face his other hostages. "It appears she wasn't as strong as she claimed to be. Wouldn't you all agree." He walked to Sakura and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Isn't that right. I wonder how strong are you?" Like Chiyo before her Sakura's eyes lost focus. Naruto and Kakashi however were still bound by the shadow and could not see her. Nor could they talk, to ask her what was happening. Itachi didn't stop to see Sakura's reaction, he judged she was to weak mentally to defeat him. Were she to somehow escape that it would make no difference as she was still bound by the shadow imitation technique. He stood in front of Naruto and Kakashi so they could both see him. "Hello Kyubii, Naruto. Nice to see you're doing well."
Sakura had followed him with her eyes. Burning up with anger at how helpless she was. She held back tears of frustration. Suddenly the last voice she had expected to hear spoke into her ear. It was a silent whisper, but she could recognize the voice. It was Sasuke, "Don't worry Sakura. I'll get you out of here and fulfill my vow to kill my brother." Sasuke put his hand on her shoulder as he started to walk past her.
No she thought. "Sasuke!" She whispered as well as she could through still lips. "Let me help you. Get me out of this jutsu and I can help you." Sasuke stopped. His body rigid, he slowly turned his head to face her.
"Baka, what are you talking about? There is no jutsu holding you." Sasuke said. Sakura thought he was crazy, she turned around to look behind her and saw the Itachi clone was no longer there. She realized this as soon as she began to move her neck, but actually seeing Itachi's clone gone confirmed it for her. Sakura's mind quickly began assessing the situation, but her thought process was broken as Sasuke violently tackled her to the ground. Where she had been standing were a pair of Kunnai's. "What the hell is wrong with you Sakura! Haven't you improved at all?" Sasuke stared at her with what looked like pity in his eyes. He quickly spun around however to see what Kakashi was doing. Sakura followed his gaze and her eyes widened in shock as she surveyed the scene in front of her. Kakashi was on the ground his body bent into an awkward angle she saw the kunnai sticking out of his neck in let out a sharp breath. Barely keeping in a scream of despair. A voice broke into her head before she could assess the situation and she followed the voice to see Sasuke staring down Itachi. In Itachi's hand was a dazed Naruto, Itachi was holding him by the neck as if Naruto was a rag doll. "I won't fail this time. Your life belongs to me." Sasuke said in a cold voice. Sakura saw him, but the voice was not Sasuke, he had never sounded so...venomous.
Itachi tightened his hold on Naruto and looked at his younger brother. In his eyes an expression of disdain. "Your not even phased that I killed your teacher. I'm glad to see your hate for me has brought you to this point, but..." Itachi lowered his head a little bit and focused completely on his younger brother. "you are bound to fail. You've failed before and this time will be no different." Sakura watched as Sasuke visibly tensed at Itachi's words and brought out a Kunnai.
It was happening to fast for her to really take it all in. She knew she wanted to help though and so she got up and ran towards Sasuke and offered her support. "Sasuke, let me help I'm not the same useless girl I was before." She didn't know what to expect, but she was determined to help.
However it appeared Sasuke was not. He turned to look at her and what she saw in his eyes stopped her in her tracks. There was disbelief in his eyes as if he could never see her as more than a useless person. Even though that hurt her to see what hurt her more was the hate. She didn't know if the hate was directed towards her. She tried to reason with herself that it was because he was looking at the person he hated so much that the hate was in his eyes, but she couldn't bring herself to believe that. What she felt was that he hated her, because she had always slowed him down, she had always been in the way. Even now she wanted to help, but that doubt crept back into her mind. She would only be in the way if she got involved. Sasuke said the next few words filled with frustration and a bit of anger. "I...don't...need...your...help." He looked away from her and focused on Itachi. Sasuke's words drained Sakura of all her confidence. She looked on as he charged towards his brother. She noted Sasuke had gotten much faster and was upon Itachi in no time. He swung the kunnai at Itachi. The next thing Sakura heard was Naruto screaming.
"AAAUUGGHHH!" She had not seen Itachi move, but he had blocked Sasuke's kunnai with Naruto's body and with the same speed casually cast Naruto aside. Naruto landed a few yards away from the fight and Sakura rushed to his side. She got down on her knees and quickly began examining him. His breathing was fast and ragged his chest rapidly moving up and down. The kunnai was embedded in his chest beyond the hilt all she could see was the ring at the end. She saw the kunnai had gone through his heart. (Focus Sakura) she thought to herself (You can still save him.) She tried to block out Itachi and Sasuke fighting and focus on Naruto. Whose condition was getting worse by the second. Suddenly there was a bright flash as Sasuke yelled out "CHIDORI!" She couldn't help, but look up. She thought Sasuke was going to beat Itachi. Again she did not see Itachi move. He evaded Sasuke's Chidori and was standing inches from Sasuke now, his left hand on Sasuke's face. Open palmed. Itachi closed his eyes and whispered something.
Sakura strained her ear to hear it and she caught something along the line of "Ametasu." suddenly Sasuke was consumed in black flames. They instantly enveloped him completely and an ungodly scream of pain and anguish escaped Sasuke's lungs. "AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" the screaming didn't stop. Sakura's eyes were glued to the scene in front of her. Suddenly a hand grabbed her hand. She looked down to see Naruto.
She saw there were tears streaming down his cheeks. His breathing was labored. His blue eyes held her attention though intense as ever she saw something in them she never thought she would see in Naruto's eyes. Sorrow. His chest was hitching rapidly and he tried to speak. "I...orry...ouldn't...save...Sasuke." He said through labored breaths. A new pain shot across her chest as Naruto' hand lost it's strength and dropped to the ground and Naruto stopped breathing. His eyes stayed open and her heart felt as if it were shattering.
Tears began to stream down her face. "Naruto don't do this to me...please." She put her hand on his neck. Naruto was dead she looked up and saw Itachi standing over Sasuke's burning corpse. As she looked on Itachi disappeared. Sakura was overwhelmed by grief. She began to cry she hugged Naruto's dead body close to hers and cried into his hair. As she cried the thought that tormented her most and didn't allow her to think was. (They died because I'm useless. I couldn't help them and now they're dead.)
Still standing in front of Kakashi and Naruto Itachi posed a question. "Naruto-kun, will you come with me willingly?"
PREVIEW
Do I really have to tell you. Lol, you should know what's coming up next chapter.
RSO's
dragonman180- Are you kidding me, Shino is a pimp. It's almost unfair to give him something like a gourd. Poor innocent girls, will they be able to resist Shino. Oh snap now that I think about it how will Jiraiya react! Hmmm sorry can't comment on Itachi yet. It's a secret. About Gai, well Kisame was dead by then so he didn't have to use it. I know it was a little disappointing, but I'll make it up somehow. Maybe a Rock Lee/Naruto sparring? Does that sound cool?
Danny- I knew you were testing my testing of your testing, that was the test from the beginnin. hahaha (does that sound believable. cuz it is. J/K) Ok, that makes sense, Hirai is 15 glad that's straightened out. lol. Damn you're right. I didn't mean it to be a chuckle,maybemore like a hmmph, you know what I mean. I gotta change that. Aaahh! I hope to put in good backstories and whatnot for most if not all the characters. I think that really helps when trying to understand them.
narashikamaru21- Yeah, Kisame got handled up. Sort of...I wish I had killed of the real Kisame, but I might have some use for him later. Multiple ass-whoopings anyone. Lol, J/K. Or am I? Yup, Shino's a pimp. Hmmm, are there really Naruto and Hinata plushies? I've never seen any.
Flamegamer- thanx for the review hope you like this new chapter.
acrazygirlofmanynames- I think that's the longest review I've gotten from you. Badass. You're right damn that Chiyo. I'm glad you and other people like the gourd idea. Lol, I didn't know what everybody would think.
something- Thanx, I don't know what everybody else does in their stories, but I hope mine doesn't take to many of the same ideas. I try to be as original as I can be.