Kuroi Kage VS. Konoha Shinobi
Chapter five here. Lots of angst in this chapter. I know I wrote in the last chapter that they had lost both Naruto and Gaara, but… I didn't say it was permanently.
Pairings: KakIru, GaaNaru and SasukeKankuro.
Summary: The peace in Konoha is about to be destroyed. Who are the Kuroi Kage, and what is their purpose? Do they want the Jinchuurikis in Konoha, or do they want more than that? What will the shinobis in Konoha do to protect those they love?
"Talking"
'Thinking'
"Talking in minds" (Naruto and Gaara whenever they talk to Kyuubi or Shukaku in private or in this case, when Hoshigaki Kisame speaks with someone telepathically)
"Demons talking"
Flashback (In flashbacks, both 'Thinking' and "Talking in minds" can be used)
-
Chapter Five: Happy Ending?
Tsunade woke up and groaned. She had a massive headache. She sat up slowly, and looked around. The village was silent. Not even a bird was heard. She turned her head to make sure the area was clear. Then she got up and began to wake up those she saw.
-
Kiba groaned and opened his eyes. Akamaru barked at him and the Inuzuka looked up. The dog was sitting near him, and had laid a protective tail over Shino.
"He's alright?" he asked the dog who barked happily.
Kiba smiled and got up. He picked up Shino gently and shook him. The Aburame opened his eyes.
"We're going to the hospital okay?"
Shino only nodded, too tired to put up with a fight. Kiba gathered his friend tightly to his chest, but had a nagging feeling something was very wrong…
-
Kakashi bolted up into sitting position. His eye did not pain him anymore. He whipped around and searched for people's chakra signals. He found them all but two.
Kakashi's already pale face lost all colour and he whispered:
"Naruto… Gaara…"
-
Sasuke was lying on the ground, unmoving. He was awake but the realization had made him freeze. The ever-present chakra that had always been there was gone. The chakra of Naruto. The chakra that soothed some and put fear in others. The chakra Sasuke had grown used to feel. Now he felt like he was stumbling in darkness. One tear made its way down his cheek and he whispered:
"You can't be dead… Naruto…"
-
Shikamaru sat up and Chouji leaped up.
"Shika, you're awake!" he said.
The brunette did not answer. Instead he was breathing quickly and his eyes widened.
"Chou…" he said.
"What?"
"I can't feel Naruto or Gaara anymore."
-
Neji's breaths came out shallow and fast. The bleeding in his legs had left him too weak to even speak. He was just lying and waited for death. As he felt Naruto's chakra disappear tears fell from his eyes. When Gaara's followed he wanted to cry out. Two of his best friends, gone in a moment.
"Neji!"
A gentle hand brushed away the bloody hair from Neji's face. He moved his eyes slowly upwards, and saw Lee's worried face. He tried to speak but once more the words failed him.
"It's alright", Lee whispered. "Tsunade-sama is on her way. You're gonna be alright. Everything's gonna be alright."
Neji did not believe him.
-
Kankuro was crying. Why the medic-nins had no idea, but they could not stop his tears. He refused to say why he was crying, and just turned away from their touches.
The door to his room opened and the persons turned around. Sasuke was leaning onto the frame and was panting. Kankuro turned to his lover and emitted a cry as he looked into the Uchiha's eyes. Sasuke limped to the bed, shaking off their hands as he did.
"Leave us alone", he said.
"What's wrong?" Shizune asked.
"They're gone", Sasuke replied as he sat down on Kankuro's bed.
"Who's gone?"
The raven-haired man just shook his head sadly and choked back on a sob.
"Just… leave us for a while."
Shizune took them all out and closed the door. Kankuro looked at Sasuke and said:
"I can't live without those two."
"I know. Me neither. But they wouldn't want us to die", Sasuke replied.
"But…"
Sasuke lay down next to Kankuro and said:
"When we die, we'll meet them again. It doesn't hurt if we live a few more years than Naruto and Gaara."
-
As the night fell on, many people around the village had not come to ease at all. Tsunade was sitting on Yondaime's head with Naruto's katana in her hands. She would give it to Kakashi and Iruka later. She wiped away her tears but new ones kept coming. Why did it have to be them? Naruto and Gaara had so much more to live for. If anyone should have died, it should have been her. She was the Godaime Hokage; she was supposed to protect her villagers, not watching them fight to death.
She bent her head and squeezed the katana hard. She held it close to her chest, wishing that it had all been a bad dream and when she would wake up Naruto would scold her for her drinking habits. But she knew that this was not a dream. She knew Naruto would never scold her again. She knew she would never see his smile again.
And for some reason, that hurt a lot more than when she had lost her brother and lover. It hurt so much she wanted to scream in pain, a pain that only existed in her soul.
-
Itachi would have clawed out his eyes for real if not Kisame had stopped him. When he heard about the deaths he screamed of rage and Kisame had to hold him down. Now he was lying motionless in the bigger man's arms, staring blankly ahead of him.
They were in the living room and the Uchiha heard Iruka's cries from the bedroom. He winced and closed his eyes. When he felt Kisame's body shake he snapped them open and looked up.
Kisame was trying to not collapse in his own grief and Itachi swore to himself. Kisame had been really close to Naruto, and this death had taken a lot from the fishlike man.
He sat up and pulled Kisame down. He let the bigger man collapse against him and embraced him. He thought about Sasuke and wondered where the younger man was. He hoped the younger Uchiha was not alone as he tightened his hold on Kisame.
-
Iruka had at first not believed his son was dead. Only after he had been allowed to search himself, he had believed it. And it had crushed him. Kakashi had to carry him home.
Right now the man lay on his bed, crying. Kakashi could only hold his lover close and hope he would stop.
"Not Naruto", Iruka whispered. "Why him?"
"I don't know", the Copy-nin answered.
"It's so unfair. Both Naruto and Gaara."
"I know", Kakashi said as he swallowed back on his tears.
"Unfair…"
The brunette hugged Kakashi and buried his head into the man's chest.
'Yeah… Unfair', Kakashi agreed.
-
While Tsunade had been able to heal Neji's legs, she could not heal the big empty hole he had in his chest now. He was lying on a hospital bed, staring out the window. Lee was lying next to him, asleep. Tenten had fallen asleep on her chair next to the bed. Gai entered the room and said:
"Still can't sleep?"
Neji mutely shook his head and turned away from the window. He looked at Lee's face for a while and then closed the distance between them. Even when he was this close to his team, he still felt so oddly alone. Lee woke up for a moment, and brought Neji close to his chest before falling asleep again.
Gai sat down on another chair and gently rubbed the Hyuuga's back while Neji silently cried.
-
Kiba had not been in this position for a long time, but he guessed in these circumstances everyone needed the comfort they could take.
He was lying in Shino's old bed with the said Aburame cradled to his chest. Hinata was spooning the man's back, and they were back in the way they had cocooned Shino several years ago. Hinata was not asleep; he could hear her quiet sniffling. She was stroking Shino's arm absently, and met Kiba's eyes.
"I can't believe they're gone", she said. "Yesterday, they were here, alive and well. Joking and laughing…"
"I know", the Inuzuka said. "It's so strange… and the way Sasuke looked. He already knew before anyone could tell him, right?"
"He must have", Hinata said. "He looked… dead."
"And Iruka", Kiba continued. "He was destroyed."
"Itachi-san… I fear he almost went crazy", the Hyuuga girl said softly. "He tried to claw his eyes out. He felt it was his fault… and…"
"Don't say you feel that as well", the Inuzuka said, "because it wasn't your fault! It wasn't Itachi' fault, wasn't anyone's fault but those Kuroi Kage!"
Shino moaned and moved. The two stilled and the Aburame cracked his eyes open.
"Hi", Kiba said softly. "Sorry, did we wake you up?"
"I guess we were a bit too loud", Hinata said.
"Can't you feel it?" Shino said.
"Feel what?" they both asked.
"Naruto… his chakra is still alive", the Aburame and closed his eyes briefly. "He's still alive."
-
Kiba and Hinata had to tell Tsunade. She had almost dropped Naruto's katana and realized Shino had spread his bugs out so far around the village when even she could not feel someone's chakra the Aburame still could. She immediately went to the Aburame house and Shino looked at her.
"Is it true?" she asked.
"He's weak", the Aburame responded, "but still alive. He seems to think he's dying, but… he's not. Kyuubi passed on to save Naruto's life, but Naruto hasn't realized that."
"What about Gaara?" she asked, her heart growing lighter for each passing moment.
Shino closed his eyes and Kiba sat down on the bed with his friend.
"Gaara", the Aburame mumbled. "He is in the same condition. Shukaku passed away only moments ago."
"Where are they?" she asked.
Shino swayed for a moment, and she realized he was weak because of the absent of his bugs. Kiba caught the man and said soothingly:
"Just a little bit more, and then you can call them back. You can rest for weeks if you want to."
"North…" he panted out. "I can't tell how far away, but they've seemed to collapsed so they won't move for a long time."
"Alright, thank you so much", she said.
"Just… bring them back", the Aburame said. "I don't want to see my friends this sad."
"Don't worry", the Godaime said as she rose up. "We'll find them."
-
Naruto was in a lot of pain, but he did not feel like he was dying anytime soon. Strange… He turned his eyes to look at Gaara. His lover was asleep. The now white-haired man tried to get up and groaned. That hurt. A lot.
He crawled over to Gaara and collapsed next to him. He tucked his head underneath the black-haired man's chin and sighed. May as well take a nap if death was not to come. Then he would try getting them back to the village.
-
Tsunade immediately got a group together. She looked at the confused and sad faces of Jiraiya, Kakashi, Gai, Ibiki, Shibi, Shikaku and Hiashi.
"I have a very important mission for you", she said. "I've heard this information from Aburame Shino, who has exhausted himself over his limit to tell me."
Shibi looked at Tsunade and she said:
"He's alright now. He spread his bugs to a radio of fifty miles around Konoha in every direction. To the north, the bugs reported back something not long ago."
The men looked at each other. New enemies? Kakashi was not up for it.
"Shino claims Naruto and Gaara is alive", she said and they all snapped their heads towards her. "He has no reason to lie. The two seemed to believe they were dying, but that is not the case."
"Where are they?" Kakashi asked weakly as he was held up by Ibiki.
"He couldn't tell how far, but to the north", the Godaime said. "I want you to find them. While they are weak indeed, they are not dead. Kyuubi and Shukaku gave their lives so Naruto and Gaara could live. I don't want their sacrifice be in vain. Do you accept?"
"Stupid question", Jiraiya said. "I'm ready anytime."
They all nodded.
"Go and bring our boys back then", she said.
-
Hiashi checked the area every few miles and so far, they had gone twenty miles without any luck. Suddenly the man stopped on one of his searches.
"Just ahead", he said. "By a stream, two bodies. Their breathing indicates sleep."
They all rushed forward.
Kakashi almost screamed in relief as he saw the two men. While they still had the appearance as before, the Copy-nin knew it was them. He dropped to his knees and gently untucked Naruto from Gaara. The white-haired man blinked and looked up at Kakashi.
"Hi", Naruto said. "I guess you got to us before I could gather strength and get back."
Jiraiya had already picked up Gaara and Hiashi came forward.
"You risked your life", he said to the former Jinchuuriki. "You saved me from that Jutsu. Thank you."
"Couldn't leave the village in a mess with bloodthirsty Hyuugas now could I?" Naruto said.
"The village is a mess", Shikaku said. "All because we thought you guys were dead."
"I thought we were going to die", Naruto replied as Kakashi picked him up from the ground. "Gaara got this far before his strength gave up. When I felt the pain but no indication we were going to die, I abandoned that idea."
"Let's go back and fix the mess you caused", Ibiki said. "There are a lot of people who lost their hope when they thought you were dead."
"Iruka is gonna kill me", Naruto muttered.
"Well, he won't be the only one", Kakashi said back. "I think both Kisame and Itachi will try as well. Haven't met Sasuke yet, but I think he won't be too happy."
Naruto gulped.
-
Sakura sat by Neji's room, silent. She would not believe. Never. Naruto would not die because of that. Naruto was much stronger than everyone thought. He was stronger than the Kyuubi no Kitsune himself. Naruto was not dead. She was convinced over that. She would not be convinced otherwise unless someone showed her his corpse.
-
And Sakura was right. She was the only one who did not believe they were dead.
As Naruto and Gaara were brought into the hospital, Sasuke was just coming out. He nearly fainted as he saw them. Naruto spotted the Uchiha as well, and smiled a tear-full smile at him.
"Hi Aniki", he said weakly.
"Naruto…?" Sasuke said quietly.
"The one and only", he answered and that was all Sasuke needed.
He rushed forward just as Kakashi let the man down. They embraced tightly and Sasuke sobbed into Naruto's shoulder.
Gaara was let down and Shikaku said:
"You better go and see your brother."
Gaara nodded and with the help of Jiraiya, he got to his brother's room. The black-haired man pushed the door open and limped inside. Kankuro looked up and stopped. He recognized that person.
"G… Gaara…?"
Gaara limped faster and collapsed onto the puppeteer's bed. The younger man sobbed wildly and said:
"I'm so sorry I let you believe I was dead! I'm sorry!"
Kankuro looked at his younger brother, a brother he had thought was dead. Then he grabbed the man and pulled him into a fierce hug.
"Don't you ever scare me like that again!" Kankuro growled as tears came down. "Next time I'll kill you myself!"
Gaara promised, over and over again and Kankuro let himself smile. All was well now.
-
Iruka almost ran into the hospital as he had heard from Kakashi. The Copy-nin had a hard time catching up with the brunette, who only had one thought in his mind; get to his son.
Kakashi came in with Kisame and Itachi and said to the waiting brunette:
"Room 51."
With that, Iruka rushed ahead as the three followed.
He pushed the door open and heard a chorus of yells:
"Iruka!"
The brunette walked in with his eyes trained on Naruto and Gaara. The room was filled with people. Tsunade had apparently letting everyone who wanted to meet the two former Jinchuurikis in the big room. Currently there were over twenty people in the room. Naruto got up and collapsed into Iruka's arms with a big grin.
"Hi", he said and looked at the brunette. "Please don't kill me."
"Now when you've come back to life, why would I want you dead?" Iruka asked silently as he hugged his son close. "Gaara, come over here this instant!"
The man got up and was hugged as well. The chatting in the room began once more but Iruka said:
"Now there are two people who have been very anxious to meet you. Let's go outside for a bit."
The two agreed. They went outside and were met by Kakashi, Kisame and Itachi. Naruto got to the two latter first, and carefully touched Itachi's area around the eyes. They were red and had finger-nails marks. Naruto's hand, now not having so long claws, was trembling and he said:
"I made you do this?"
"It's not your fault", Itachi said with a lump in his throat. "I just… I just wanted the pain to go away."
Naruto was pressed flushed against the Uchiha for a moment before Itachi let him go and said:
"I think you and Kisame need to talk."
Naruto looked at the fishlike man and nodded. Itachi went to Gaara, Iruka and Kakashi while the two stayed right where they were. Naruto looked up into the black eyes and took Kisame's hand.
"You've been crying", the white-haired man said softly.
"Is that so strange?"
"No, not really", the younger man said.
"Why did you leave?"
"We thought we were dying", Naruto said with tears shining in his eyes. "I don't know why we left. It just seemed right at the moment."
Kisame closed his eyes and braced himself against the wall. Naruto leaned his head onto the man's shoulder and continued:
"But just before they came and got us… I just wanted home, even if I had been dying. I wanted to die somewhere safe. I wanted home to you guys."
Kisame pulled the younger man close and said with his raspy voice:
"Don't do that again…"
"I promise."
-
Tsunade opened the door to room 51 in the middle of the night to check. The room was the biggest in the hospital, able to hold twenty people. Currently, that was the amount of people sleeping in there or even a few people more. She walked along the beds and watched them all.
Kankuro and Sasuke had claimed the window spot, and was lying buried in a cosy cave of blankets. They looked both much better than before. Naruto and Gaara lay in the opposite bed and she found herself smoothing down the covers and tucking them in. For a moment, they had been lost and now gained only thanks to Shino. She turned her eyes to him who was lying in the bed next to the two former Jinchuurikis. He was cocooned by his two old teammates and looked absolutely comfortable with that. He was snoozing quietly with his head in the crook of Kiba's neck.
Neji was lying alone on his bed but Gai was dozing off in the chair next to him. Lee and Sakura had fallen asleep in the bed next to the Hyuuga's. Shikamaru was there as well, flanked by his father and Chouji. Ino had fallen asleep on the bed next to him with Inoichi close. Tenten was lying in a bed a bit away, next to the one where Kisame had fallen asleep. Itachi had his head propped up in his hand and he was breathing slowly. The Godaime smiled softly; he had not had a decent sleep for a while and deserved it. Tsunade tore her eyes away from them and chuckled as she saw even Ibiki and Jiraiya had fallen to sleep in the room. She smoothed the covers one last time on the two former Jinchuurikis bed before she left the room.
All was well, and was going to continue to be well.
Tbc
Hah, I made the story happier!
Only the Epilogue left now. Hope you enjoyed this shitty short sequel to The Chibi accident and Kakashi's discovery so far. The Epilogue will only inform you of the future, and will be pretty short.
Later,
Tiro