Chapter Five
Karasu stared at her opponents, quickly gauging their moves, strengths, weaknesses. She felt her fingers flexing in anticipation. This was serious, a single wrong move meant certain defeat, and defeat meant capture and torture or death.
How exciting.
Temari was a strategist, her mind worked quickly and efficiently, scurrying over many possibilities. It meant she'd be able to navigate Karasu's weaknesses quite easily. She would have to be taken out first.
Kankuro . . . Karasu found herself not even bothering with him. He was easy. Learning from Sasori she had remembered his creations, knew where the traps sprung from and how a master puppet master could manoeuvre them.
She only wondered whether she was facing the real one, or whether he had hidden himself in his puppets.
If I get rid of those puppets it'll take a few moments for him to collect himself. Then I have to get rid of the sister, and finish off the brother. It'll be as easy as taking sweets from a babe. Just have to wait for one of them to make the first move.
All of that thinking took a second.
Kankuro whipped out one of his puppets, clearly not taking any chances and bringing Salamander into play. At the exact same moment Temari flew into the hair, hanging over Karasu's head for a few moments.
The moment Kankuro let poison needles flying, Temari helped them along their way by flinging out her fan and summoning wind.
Karasu smiled. She hadn't expected anything else.
She let the needles run right through her. Kankuro and Temari were following it up, closing the distance. For a single moment they hesitated, seeing that the needles ran right through Karasu. She didn't move, she hadn't moved since she'd come here to face them. The little smirk played on her face like an illusion.
They thought she was a badly concealed illusion. In fear and panic they whipped around to the trees and the barren rocks, expecting an attack from behind.
The dark smirk widened as Karasu launched herself at them, at Kankuro. At the Salamander and the crow.
'KANKURO!' Temari screeched, having turned a millisecond after Kankuro.
He turned around, eyes wide and mouth agape, facing a girl with wild hair as black as a raven's wing. Her hand darted out, faster than lightning, and smashed Salamander.
In fear Kankuro jerked backwards, and Karasu whirled around to face Temari who had unleashed her wind on her again. This time it was the sort able to cut forests down to firewood.
Karasu let it pass through her again, and felt the needles and shuriken from Kankuro pass through her. He was well out of the way of the wind.
Once again everything passed through Karasu's body without harming her. She felt their confusion mounting. How could she be a real physical creature, but not be harmed by their attacks.
Temari was the first to realise.
'She can change Kankuro! It's like she can make herself not exist and then be real!' Temari screamed at her brother. He looked up at her with disbelief evident on his face.
'But . . . what do we do?' Kankuro asked bewildered. This was a fight he'd never seen coming.
Karasu didn't allow them any more time. 'You die!' She snarled, vanishing in a cloud of black smoke. At the exact moment she vanished, she appeared again, right behind Kankuro, a poison dipped kunai already in hand.
She thrust it with all the strength from her legs, arms and back muscles right into Kankuro's side, the one that didn't hold the heart.
Temari's scream was ragged and drawn out. She flung herself down towards her brother, intending to do away with the ninja who had brought him down.
Suddenly the ninja appeared beside Temari, black hair streaming out behind her like a dark cloak. Her eyes held a malicious joy in them, and in her hand was a dagger.
Temari flung herself from the ninja, but not in time to save her fan being sliced in half.
The two females landed a safe distance away from each, and quickly stood to face the other. Karasu stood up languidly, stretching her muscles and yawning mockingly. Temari stood with every muscle taught, expecting an attack at any second. Her eyes never left the Akatsuki member, attempting to gauge every move.
'So looks like your brother's out for the count eh?' Karasu called over to Temari, walking closer to the fallen ninja. He was screaming and moaning in pain, the kunai still stuck in his side. The blood wasn't running yet, the weapon blocked the flow. However the poison had entered his system, and it was what was causing him the immense pain evident on his face.
'Stay away from him!' Temari demanded, seeing the enemy come into striking distance of her brother.
'Or what? You'll cut me down?' Karasu teased cruelly, a grin spreading across her face like wildfire. 'I had been expecting more of a fight. Shame really.' She pouted, leaning down to peer closely at Kankuro. He, seeing the Akatsuki above him, spat the blood that had pooled in his mouth at her.
She dodged it without trying.
Quick as a flash, her leg struck Kankuro's injured side, just below his injury. His screams were torn from his throat in a wild howl. Karasu laughed mockingly.
'Don't touch him!' Temari screamed, running at the opponent. Instead of running from where she'd been standing, the clone vanished in white smoke and she ran from the small hiding area below the rocks that she'd found while in the air.
For once a look of surprise spread over Karasu's face as she saw the incoming ninja, anger and hatred clearly written like a book in her eyes.
The hand went back and struck forwards, like a striking snake, and buried itself neatly in Karasu's chest.
Deathly silence filled the air as Karasu glanced down at the protruding kunai, and spurted blood from her mouth.
Temari grinned, panting with exertion and anger, but most of all victory. This hadn't been as hard as she had anticipated.
Akatsuki were meant to be these big, bad ninjas that no one could defeat, and yet here in front of Temari, with a kunai in her chest, stood one of them. One of those who was most probably associated with taking Naruto, changing him, contorting him. Most importantly, she was the Akatsuki who had struck down her brother as if he were nothing but a pestering fly. She was here, dying in Temari's hands, and it sent a thrill through her spine.
'You know . . . you and I . . . we aren't so different.' The Akatsuki woman spoke, her voice soft, menacing, and uncommonly humorous.
'We're nothing alike!' Temari spat, harshly burying the kunai further in the chest. The pain that the woman must have felt didn't even register in those cold, cold eyes.
'Killing me . . . you enjoy it. I can see it . . . it's a thrill. You want this to last. You want to relive this death again . . . and again . . . and again. Just like I want to relive killing your pathetic brother.' As she said the last words, the ninja spat blood on Temari's face and grinned, her shining white teeth dully reflecting the sun.
Temari screamed in anger and thrust the kunai out of the ninja's body, letting her fall heavily to the ground. She stared down at the unmoving body, wrapped in the cloak.
'I thought Akatsuki were meant to be difficult to kill. Looks like I was wrong.' She spat, wiping her face and spitting on the body.
With that, she ran to her brother, turning him over and staring at him. He was badly injured, the poison was seeping further into his system, the lightning blue trails snaking its way up the shoulder, to the bone. Soon it would find what is was looking for; the heart. Then everything would be over.
She had to get him back to the Leaf Village, and fast. But what about Gaara, and Naruto? What was happening there?
'It's alright, it's alright Kankuro. I'll get you back, just hold on!' Temari begged, lifting up his uninjured arm and putting it around her shoulder.
'Will you now?' The whisper was so close to Temari's ear that she could feel the hot breath of the speaker tickling the hairs there. She whirled around, knowing full well that her fan was out of reach. She grabbed for the kunai and shuriken, but they weren't there. She was defenceless.
In an instant she felt a hot, spurting moisture drench her clothes. Looking down she noticed a trail of red blood, growing larger and larger with every second. Not just one, but many, perhaps hundreds. So many that the pain was dulled out by all the warnings it was getting. Her hands were useless, her legs wouldn't carry her, and her heart was beating faster and faster.
'Sweet dreams.' The voice whispered again, the speaker once more behind her. Temari wanted to shudder, the love of killing was so clear in that voice it was almost poetic. Unfortunately she had lost the energy to do even that, and instead fell to the floor, backwards, onto her brother's arm.
'How poetic.' Karasu whispered, staring at the two, before smiling wickedly and sauntering off, without a care in the world.
!
'Naruto . . . you are with the Akatsuki?' Gaara asked shocked, horrified even.
'Am I? I hadn't noticed.' Naruto mocked, turning around and peering at his garb with open, innocent eyes. Eyes that never lost their contempt or hatred.
'Naruto . . . we searched for you. You do know that, don't you?' Gaara asked, stepping forwards. He was naïve, instead of seeing an Akatsuki member worthy of fear, he saw an old friend he had been missing, believing to be dead. A friend he had only mourned a few days ago.
'Searched? No. That I don't believe. Celebrated? Yes.' Naruto spoke easily, lazily. This was a ninja he didn't fear, a ninja he had wanted to defeat and bring to the others for such a long time. This was his time, his moment, and nothing Gaara said nor did would stop this from happening.
'No we didn't celebrate! We mourned! There was a tribute to you, there has been for the last three years! Even was there, Sasuke, Kakashi, Sakura, Hinata, Neji . . . the whole village! People that you helped, that you changed because of who you were, who you are. Naruto . . . come back. They'll welcome you with open arms.' Gaara was saying so much more than he ever remembered doing. This was so much different than any situation he had ever been in, he felt the words pouring out of his mouth, he unable to stop them. They came, and they were brimming with hopeful honesty, honest hopefulness.
Naruto wasn't listening. He was imaging that night, seeing Kakashi walk away, not even look back at him. He was imagining Kakashi leaving him for dead, he remembered. No one came to him, but out of the night had come two. Deidara and Sasori.
'Mourned?' Naruto's voice had changed, so drastically Gaara reeled back as if he had been slapped. 'You'd never mourn me. The demon child, the one with the Fox inside of him. You all would have been overjoyed at my death. Kakashi left me, Sasuke betrayed me, and Sakura only ever saw me as a stupid knucklehead. There was never love, never a team.' He spat the last word as if it were poison on his tongue.
'Naruto please! You and I are in the same boat, but I'm Hokage of the Sand now! I am proof, you can do what you set out to do! Come back, please.' The last word was whispered, filled with a desperate plea to an old friend.
'No, Gaara. You're going to come with me, or you're going to fight me. What will it be?' Naruto asked, his voice once again having changed. It was the usual calm confidence that would stop most ninja, leading them to believe there was something more to Naruto now. Something that they hadn't anticipated.
'I can't fight an old friend.' Gaara whispered, still believing that Naruto, hearing that, would change his mind.
'Then come with me.'
'I can't do that either.'
'Then you have no choice.' Naruto shrugged indifferently, before slamming chakra into the ground to boost him forwards at a speed which would leave most with whiplash. Gaara's sand only just managed to defend him, coming up so that Naruto's fist gently knocked into Gaara's nose.
Gaara's eyes widened fractionally. That blow hadn't been an all-out attack, it had been a test as to the speed of Gaara's sand, and it had nearly gotten through.
He couldn't hold back, not for this.
There was no sand around their carefully chosen battlefield, Gaara realised that now. There was rock, probably for miles below them. There was course dirt, which sustained only the toughest trees on either side of them. Unless Gaara could somehow manage to crunch the rocks together to form sand, with dodging the coming attacks, he could only rely on that which he had taken with him.
Naruto used the chakra again to slam himself away from Gaara, blue eyes cold and calculating. He didn't leave Gaara for room to think, as he launched himself once more at the red headed boy, this time faster than before, dodging the sand that Gaara used to attempt to block him as if it were in slow motion. He flung his fist at Gaara with all his body weight and the extra momentum he had.
He still held back. His hand knocked Gaara's head, rocking it forwards. Naruto hurried away again, dodging the sand. It was quick, and if he didn't use the chakra on his feet it would certainly get him.
I can't keep attacking him like that. Naruto thought, but then again he had never expected to defeat Gaara like that.
Gaara spread his hands. All the sand behind him turned swiftly around him, creating a half shield. It would take a lot to get through that.
It was intuition honed by hours, days, years of rigorous training that allowed Naruto to sense a change in the ground below him. He grimaced. He had given Gaara too much time to grind together sand. From now on, he had to be on the offensive and defensive, to make sure he couldn't make too much.
He swung himself away from the ground on which he stood, preferring not to fly into the air without having a good reason. In the air it was harder to avoid things, than when he was on the ground. Karasu would argue against that, then again . . . she argued against most things that Naruto said.
Where Naruto had previously stood a giant torrent of sand slammed up from the ground, flying over his head as he back-flipped over and over, finally hitting the ground at an angle so he propelled himself towards Gaara. He was defended, the sand swirled around his ankles and took hold.
A quick, violent burst of chakra from that area and the sand was useless, dead, at his feet. Naruto spun into the air, anticipating that the sand would charge after him, and discharged kunai with numerous explosions on them. When the sand came for him seconds later, he applied chakra onto his feet again and used that to run on the sand, flying down to the ground below.
The sand piled around Gaara, like some writhing beast.
'You've improved.' Gaara commented, neither hateful nor impressed. He was empty.
It gave Naruto an immense satisfaction.
'You see now that the Leaf -' Naruto never finished. He applied the chakra to his feet again, and at the same time created one of his rasengan's, without the need of a clone or two hands to control it, and smashed it through the outer layer of sand. His other hand held a rasengan as well, and now he discharged it.
Deidara, master of bombs, had been fascinated with Naruto's rasengan. He had suggested training to make one into a bomb, and with many mouths of practice Naruto had finally made one. Deidara had watched every step of the way, and when he had been away, he'd always ask Naruto when he returned how it was going. It had made Naruto feel so . . . important. Like he was a true member of this team. He couldn't remember feeling that way with the Leaf.
The bomb went off, destroying the sand down to a molecular level. The power of it blasted Gaara away, further away than his sand could reach. It had to regenerate first, become sand once more. Naruto was shielded from the blast by using a cancelling jutsu, one that deflected the type of chakra that had just been discharged. This had been Hidan's idea, after the numerous occasions where Naruto had been blown in the opposite direction of his opponents.
He launched himself at Gaara, who had knocked his head on a stone and fumbling to his feet, one hand held back behind the rest of his body. Once more he used everything he had, this time not holding back.
Gaara's eyes widened as he saw the oncoming attack, and ducked just in time. It didn't slam into his face. It grazed off the cheek, shattering the bone underneath and the rock on which Gaara had been thrown onto.
He grunted extremely loudly in pain, knowing that a wide-mouthed scream would only make matters worse. He swung himself away from Naruto's range, using the sand to propel him to safety. At the same time he brought the sand swirling around him to form a barrier.
Naruto saw this and understood immediately that he wouldn't be able to shatter it without a full frontal assault, and that was nigh impossible with sand charging at him. He stood there, assessing everything with his ice blue eyes.
Gaara stared at Naruto in disbelief, not wanting to acknowledge the change in his friend. His old friend, the one who had brought him back from the darkness, who had taught him what it was like to have love, to be a good person. The person in front of him was completely different. A person filled with hate, rage and anger, all under control and seething under a roof of ice. The change was impossible, for this could be Naruto.
Yet he knew, deep down, that it was. Naruto had changed, had been brainwashed, and this was the ultimate result. A powerful, revenge hungry ninja. This revelation brought a tidal wave of fury forwards, not at Naruto but at the people who had done this to him.
The fury shook the stones, crushing them together to fine dust. Naruto felt the ground underneath him shake, tremble as if in fear. He cursed silently. He shouldn't have let this go on for so long. He had been hoping that he'd be able to enjoy this, but finish him without ever really having to let go.
'Nothing to it then.' He muttered, putting his hands to his side and beginning to form a rasen-shuriken. This one was different, it was filled with his type of chakra, the air. He wasn't going to yet resort to his summoning animal, not yet. It wasn't time.
The sand suddenly burst forth from the ground, like an angry tsunami. Gaara was screaming in his cocoon of sand, fists clenched together and half raised to the sky in anger. Naruto cursed the boy quietly, and screamed rasen-shuriken, launching it with his own fury at the sand.
Sand launched towards it, trying to cut it down. It sliced through it all, bringing it down to its molecular structures, disintegrating everything in its path. The more sand Gaara threw at it, the more he lost.
In a last ditch attempt to stop the glowing ball of rotating blue flame, Gaara threw up his ultimate defence. His mother's form, larger than a house, wrapped her arms around her son, burying her head to brace for impact.
Impact it did.
It was ear-shattering, a blast of white light, a fraction of a second of it, enough to warn the Leaf that something amiss was happening. There was a crack, as loud as a thunderclap and then . . . nothing.
All was deathly silent, no birds twittered, the rocks didn't shake, the sand didn't move and the weapon was gone. Naruto stood, barely breathing heavily in his end, one hand held in front of him in case Gaara tried to attack in the gathering dust.
Seconds ticked by where nothing happened, and Naruto began to wonder if he'd killed the freak with no eyebrows.
The dust finally settled after half a minute, and Naruto saw the sand form of Gaara's mother. He cursed at it, wondering why his attack hadn't been able to penetrate.
He was still thinking this when the sand began to crumble. It was slowly at first, a few grains trickling down lifelessly. Then, two more trickled and broke away ten more grains, and from that it all began to collapse in on itself. Everything at once.
Naruto breathed easier as he walked cautiously to where the fallen leader was, lying face down, back turned to Naruto. He was still breathing, which was a relief.
Ungraciously Naruto turned the boy around, and stared at his face. The turquoise eyes were still open, still seeing. He was breathing heavily, clearly in a great deal of pain, his eyes squinting up at the person who he had once known.
'Naruto . . . . . . . why?' Gaara managed to whisper, hands clenching and unclenching by his side in pain. His voice was strong, clear, but the rest of his body didn't seem to be agreeing.
'You left me to die, and now I'm only repaying the favour.' Naruto whispered, leaning down close to Gaara's ear, voice filled with something like evil intent. He brought his fist up and slammed it into Gaara's face, knocking him unconscious.
'That took longer than expected. You've really dipped into those reserves of chakra to get that lost move out.' Karasu's bored voice sounded from further behind Naruto. The blonde boy picked up the body of the fallen and slung it over his shoulder, turning to stare at the raven haired girl with the pretty dark eyes.
'I didn't want to stay around here longer. We're still too close to the Leaf for my liking.' Naruto replied, looking behind him at the village in the distance. He imagined the ninja running as fast as they could to the source of the light, scared out of their wits for reasons they didn't know. 'Have you dealt with the others?' Naruto asked, already knowing the answer. If she hadn't she wouldn't be standing there, for who knows how long already.
She didn't grace his question with an answer. 'Do you want to . . . . stir these Leaf up a bit?' She asked, an evil glimmer in her eyes.
Naruto grinned whole heartedly, remnants of the old Naruto shining through in this one gesture. 'Where do I sign up?'
!
'Miss Sakura, it's probably nothing. We don't have to go this fast.' One of the medical ninja following Sakura and Sasuke's mad dash breathed out, clearly not in his comfort zone at this break-neck speed.
'We don't know what's happened, and the Kazekage and his siblings have only just left. We can't afford to be slow.' Sakura told him, worry clouding her senses. What if they were all dead . . . she couldn't bear to lose old friends again.
She knew a perfect ambush area, just up ahead. An outcropping of rocks, spanning some distance with course dirt and hardy trees on either side. There was not much sand available here, and if anyone was trying to attack the Kazekage this would be the perfect place to do it. If there was nothing there, then she could rest a little easier and slow down the pace.
As soon as she came across the rock outcrop she sensed that something was off, and became thankful for her senses. She rushed ahead, Sasuke silently at her side. One look at his face and she knew that he had the same ominous feeling.
Suddenly she heard something, quiet and a little further off, but distinctly a sound of immense pain and suffering. Her head snapped to Sasuke. His eyes had widened fractionally, indicating he had heard it too.
Without a word they slammed themselves from standing to running, and in a few seconds they saw two limp and lifeless bodies close together. They were familiar, one sandy blonde and the other with dark cat ears. Temari and Kankuro.
She ran to the first, Temari, and saw that she was only injured, not badly. She was alright, her injuries were easy to fix. A few days in the hospital at the most. The other medical ninja, who were close behind her, could handle this one.
Kankuro was the one who had moaned in agonising pain, so far gone that even the smallest movement was something of horror. She carefully ripped open his shirt, and saw something that chilled her. Small tendrils of lightning blue, carefully curling themselves up Kankuro's arm. They were halfway up to his heart, and working painfully and quickly. Each arm had a thousand different branches, roaming over his shoulder and down his chest. His breathing was laboured, his heart was racing like a scared butterfly, and his eyes weren't able to open anymore.
'Oh no.' Sakura whispered, staring at the unknown poison.
'What is it? Can you help him?' Sasuke breathed, presence very close to Sakura. Under normal circumstances this would have sent happy chills running up and down her spine. Unfortunately this was too dire a situation to have those feelings.
'I don't know what it is, but its working fast. I can't treat him here we need to get him back to the village.' Sakura told him. She desperately wanted her mentor to look at him before she did anything. 'Help me lift him Sasuke.' She told him, running over to his chest and sliding her hands underneath his back.
Sasuke didn't move.
'Sasuke I need help and so does Kankuro!' Sakura begged snappishly. She was beginning to panic, to resort to frenzy.
When Sasuke spoke his voice sent chills down her spine. It was so quiet, so unbelieving . . . it was raw. 'Sakura . . . . look.' He whispered. In normal circumstances she would have snapped at him that this wasn't the time for sightseeing, but something in his voice made her stop and pause. She looked up, saw that he was staring into the forest with eyes wider than she'd ever seen them, and looked herself.
What she saw made her breath and her heart stop.
In the shadows was a person, standing there and watching them. He was wrapped in a black cloak with red clouds, and Akatsuki member. Over his shoulder was Gaara, red hair slick with blood. It was neither of these things that caused the reaction, but the person who was staring at them, ice blue eyes filled with scorn and undeniable hatred. His whiskers were nearly invisible, and he had matured. He was handsome, and his blonde hair wasn't as unruly as it had always been.
Naruto.
'Na . . . ruto?' Sakura whispered, rising so slowly from her crouching position. She took one step forward, then another. Sasuke was at her side, staring at the boy. He didn't seem to be in company of anyone else. Was it he who had singlehandedly defeated Gaara, Temari and Kankuro? Was he even capable of causing this much pain to an old friend?
Then Naruto turned his back to them and walked further into the shadows, so that he was invisible.
'NARUTO!' Sakura screamed, running quickly over to where she had last seen him. Sasuke was ahead of her, and they rushed into the forest, the branches and leaves and everything else slapping in their faces. They didn't notice the stinging pain, nor anything else for that matter. They only searched for the person who they had surely seen there.
'NARUTO!' Sasuke screamed, his voice wielding all of the raw emotion and pain. He had suffered for so long. He had thought Naruto dead, because of his selfish actions and this stupid idea of revenge. Now it seemed as if he were alive, with the Akatsuki, but alive.
But the goofy ninja was gone. They were chasing a mirage, the memory of a boy laughing and scratching the back of his head, the image of a boy who would never take no for an answer, the image of a boy they had grown to love unconditionally.
After minutes of running after something that wasn't there, they stopped in the darkness, panting for breath and feeling with every fibre of their being that they hadn't been running after a shadow. They'd been running after something, but somehow it had escaped.
'Naruto . . .' Sakura choked back on her sob. She was hunched over, just as Sasuke was, and her eyes were squeezed tightly shut. She was gritting her teeth, hoping the jolting effect and pain would diminish the tears.
'Perhaps . . . perhaps it wasn't him?' Sasuke gasped hopefully, eyes wide with disbelief as her stared at the forest. Was . . . was the forest darker than before? The shadows seemed longer, darker and thicker like it was an actual, living being. It unnerved Sakura immensely, and she suddenly felt the indescribable need to leave the forest.
Were those dark eyes there, by that tree? Or was it just the leaves?
'Of course it was him! How could it be anyone else?' Sakura snapped without thinking, eyes raking the trees around her. The shadows were moving, she was sure of it. Stretching slowly, so slowly, towards her. Hands reaching out trying to grip the two ninja.
'I'm sorry . . . I'm sorry Sakura it's just . . . we need to get back. Kankuro needs us, and if we have any hope of knowing what happened here it's with him. Let's just . . . head back okay?' Sasuke nearly begged. Sakura looked over at him, ashamed of herself, and saw that he was also uncomfortable with their surroundings.
Straightening she stretched her arms, looking at the last place she was certain she'd seen a wisp of blond.
'Alright.' She whispered. Together they walked away, and the shadows stopped moving.
!
Naruto watched them leave, saw their intuition grow as they realised something about this forest was off.
That something was standing beside him, and he felt a swelling of pride for her, their ninja of darkness. She stared at the couple for several moments after they left, and finally her hold on the forest lightened and released. The birds returned, the small mammals scuttled back, uncertainly raising their heads every few steps.
The shadows brightened to their normal selves.
Karasu turned back to Naruto and looked at the red head. 'It took longer than I expected to be honest.' She told him uninterestingly. Naruto had learned that she'd been watching the entire time, watching and waiting for him to make his ultimate, killer move.
He hadn't, and Karasu had been left disappointed. She hadn't seen it in a battle yet, and she desperately wanted to. Unfortunately, today hadn't been the day. What a shame. She'd expected a Hokage or whatever his blasted name was to provide some entertainment for them.
'I was waiting for him to get into his stride.' Naruto said a little abashed.
'Yeah sure sure. You knew you may have been in trouble had he turned everything completely to sand.' Karasu chortled, before striking off for their base. 'Come on idiot. The others are waiting for the ritual to begin.'
Naruto grinned evilly, his blue eyes as bright as an inner flame. They sparkled and crackled. 'Let's not disappoint, and afterwards I'm going to have some fun.' He grinned, turning around for one last look at the retreating forms.
Then he laughed. A full, deep throated laugh that began in his stomach and rose to his chest and throat. Karasu, walking just ahead of him, smirked at the sound.
Oh yes . . . fun.
Author's Note
To all those readers who have favourited and followed me and this story, thank you so much for your support. I'm so happy that all the reviews have been glowing, but also don't be afraid if you think something's off to tell me. I want to improve as a writer, and your input is really important. Once again, thank you for all the awesome feedback.
A question has been raised as the meaning of fun in the end of this chapter, even suggesting that it meant Karasu and Naruto were in a relationship where they had sex. I just want to quickly dispel these thoughts. Karasu and Naruto do not have sex. The meaning of fun in this is that they're anticipating that through annoying, creating conflict between Sakura and Sasuke, making them hurt and eventually fighting them and they know it's going to be enjoyable for them.
Once again, in no respects are Karasu and Naruto having such an intimate relationship.
Yours Sincerely
- Charandia