YAY! UPDATE! Uh… this took a while, but hey, I wasn't even planning on continuing this thing, and yet, I still did. So…enjoy!
A/N: Anything that says "beast", "fox", "monster", "kyuubi"… means Naruto. Because, remember, he's in his crazy psycho demon fox chakra form right now, so it just sort of seemed to fit to refer to him as something other than human.
The cave floor crumbled beneath them and Sasuke had no time to react to the information that his mind was still unsuccessfully trying to process. Naruto? The Kyuubi?
"Sasuke!"
He looked up as Sakura's voice, full of panic, rang through the air. The tears had disappeared from her eyes in an instant and she now looked alert, ready to spring to action. The form of the kyuubi was visible now, its massive body thrashing against the walls of the cave. It seemed to be going straight for Sasuke and he could easily tell that his speed, as fast as he was, would be no match for the monster.
"You can't fight him!" Sakura cried out as he drew a kunai.
"He's not conscious of this, is he?!" Sasuke yelled back as he jumped out of the way just in time to avoid being clawed in the head.
Sakura frantically shook her head in reply.
"We have to get out of here!" she was already scrambling to one side, carefully avoiding the five tails that swung wildly behind the beast.
"Go!" Sasuke was sure that, although the creature wasn't aware of its actions, it was at least conscious of the fact that he was a target. He knew Sakura was momentarily safe, as long as she stayed a good distance away from him.
"What are you planning?" Sakura yelled back. She was not about to leave her teammate alone so easily, especially when he was probably this close to death, with the kyuubi so close.
"Just go!" Sasuke had managed to find a temporary spot of safety and Sakura could see the beginnings of a chidori form in his hand.
"No!" she screamed, utterly shocked at what he was planning to do, "you can't attack him!"
Sasuke ignored her warnings and quickly completed the jutsu, running forward in what looked like a dead-on charge toward Naruto. At the last second, his form vanished and he reappeared, behind the fox, slamming his fist into the back of the creature.
Sakura was in hysterics as she watched the battle before her. There was no way Sasuke could successfully turn Naruto back into a human by attacking him and there was no way that Naruto, no, the fox, when provoked, would hold back from attacking Sasuke.
"Stop it! Stop it!" she watched in horror as the glow of lightning chakra in Sasuke's fist sank into the Kyuubi's outer layer of skin, sizzled, and disappeared. Sasuke immediately jumped back, landing roughly on his feet as the ground exploded in front of him. The fox had turned around and his eyes looked furious, a mixture of a red and white glow covered by the swirling chakra leaking out of him.
"We have to get out of here!" Sakura caught an opening and rushed forward with an extra burst of speed, grabbing Sasuke and pulling him away until they were a safe distance from any immediate dangers.
"You have to listen to me!" she hissed. Sasuke tore his eyes away from the beast that was now roaming blindly on the opposite end of the forest and looked at Sakura, his eyes telling her that she had his full attention, that he demanded an explanation.
"Tell me", he said coolly.
"News of Naruto's whereabouts reached us a few days after you showed up", she began, tumbling over her words as she attempted to get them out all at once, "Sightings of a large beast with five tails in this area were reported a day before we began this mission. I suspected that it was Naruto, so I begged the kazekage to allow us to go on this mission. Including the day we spent to get here, he's been in that form for at least two days. Can you imagine the damage its doing to his body?"
Sasuke make a noise that sounded like a mixture of coughing and choking. Sakura sighed and continued.
"The seal that the Fourth Hokage put on him is weakening. From the stories I've heard, the nine-tails' chakra has escaped many times, but has only resulted in up to two tails. That means he's been conscious every time, so he was able to eventually suppress the chakra. But there's five tails this time", she shuddered, "He's completely gone". The last time she'd seen Naruto like this, many years ago, he had four tails, and he'd hurt her immensely. But now, five?
"So we have to seal the chakra in?" Sasuke frowned and looked towards the direction of the thrashing beast, watching as the forest crumbled beside them. It appeared to be getting nearer, and more aggressive.
"That's… that's the general idea", Sakura replied weakly.
"But how?"
"The necklace that Naruto is wearing, you remember, don't you?"
Sasuke shrugged. He may have had a faint memory of such a trinket, but it wasn't something he ever paid attention to.
"That, combined with the First Hokage's jutsu, can seal the chakra back in", Sakura explained.
"Right", Sasuke said slowly, "and where's the First Hokage?"
"I've been doing research with that. Captain Ya- well, this squad leader we once had, was the result of an experiment with the First Hokage's cells. He died in Konoha along with everyone else, but I've been able to reach a breakthrough recently that allowed me to incorporate the cells into my body. I can seal him in, Sasuke, but I need you to distract him".
"Distract him?" Sasuke echoed, looking at her strangely.
"I'm sure you've noticed. Even in his unconscious state of mind, Naruto is able to single you out as a target. It's because his desire to eventually bring you home", Sakura paused as she thought about the "promise of a lifetime" that Naruto had made to her, "…his desire to bring you home has made him…"
He understood. There was no need for her to explain anymore.
"Let's go", his voice was low, harsh, ready to fight.
Sakura looked at him with hopeful eyes and for just a fraction of a second, as Sasuke looked back, he caught a glimmer of the child Sakura staring back at him. But, there was no time for such things. He shook the image away and nodded at her.
She returned the gesture.
A wind swept into the room, causing the grains of sand around him to swirl and dance merrily. The afternoon air was calm, peaceful, but his mind was in chaos. He sat, his back pressed into the hard, stone chair, his arms resting tensely at his side. His two advisers sat beside him, glancing at him worriedly. They could sense that something was wrong with the kazekage.
He'd just sent out the best medic in the village, and for what? Because she'd demanded it? Because she'd reasoned, then pleaded and begged? And, of course, he wasn't able to resist. He knew that as the kazekage, his word meant everything, and that he could easily have kept her from doing anything dangerous to her life. But he hadn't.
A knock sounded at the door and he looked up, then quietly murmured, "come in".
"Gaara-sama, the two shinobi who left with Team Sakura returned", a young messenger announced as he burst into the room, slightly short of breath.
Gaara sat up straighter in his chair, suddenly alert. The two advisers beside him tensed up as well. Something was wrong.
"And?" he prompted.
"And, they reported that on their way back, they could feel the entire forest tremble. They're sure that the kyuubi's chakra was present, and they estimated that at least four tails were out".
"At least four?" Gaara frowned. Four? He'd heard the rumors of Jiraiya, one of the sannin, who had a scar across his chest to prove the power of four tails. What could Sakura and Sasuke do against something that Jiraiya had little chance of winning against?
"We have to dispatch a squad immediately to help them", one of the advisers spoke up.
"No", Gaara held up his hand.
"Kazekage-sama, the life of - "
"No".
Gaara looked firmly at his advisers. He normally listened to them, but this time was different. "Sakura specifically demanded that only she and Sasuke be sent out for this. She has her reasons".
"But-"
"And, we can't risk the lives of our shinobi for them".
No one had heard Gaara sound so decisive or stubborn before. There had to be something else they weren't aware of.
"What about their abilities, kazekage-sama? Can they handle this?" the other adviser asked.
"I have faith in Sakura and…" he paused to think about his next words, which, he had to admit, sounded quite unreasonable, "I have faith in Sasuke because Sakura has faith in him".
One of the advisors seemed to make a small coughing noise, but said nothing. Gaara sighed. As confident and reassuring as he sounded, Gaara couldn't even convince himself. Sakura had informed him about the experiments she was conducting with the first Hokage's DNA and she'd given him all the details about her plan, but somehow, part of him still worried.
Losing Sakura meant losing a great asset to the entire Sand Village community. That was something he couldn't afford.
They were obviously at a disadvantage- two shinobi facing a giant beast that could easily take them out in one swipe. The only thing that kept them going was the series of forbidden jutsu that Sasuke had picked up on while hanging out at Orochimaru's. Sakura was shocked, at first, to see her old teammate use such dark powers with ease, appalled that he seemed to be so casual about it, but it finally registered in her mind that he really had changed.
He was no longer the hard-working and determined young Sasuke, but an adult now, who had been turned into somewhat of a merciless killer. She was dazed as she watched Sasuke dart in and out of the Kyuubi's range, seal after seal flowing from his fingers. None of them were recognizable to her eyes.
She heard a thud on one side and whirled around, to see two trees tumble to the ground. She could vaguely hear the noises from the fight between her two teammates as she struggled to concentrate. The preparations for the jutsu she was about to perform would take time- and a lot of it, too.
Sakura crouched behind a rock, then slipped out a needle from her pack. She quickly stabbed it into her arm, injecting herself with a liquid that contained cells from the first Hokage. A small drop of blood slid along her arm as she yanked out the needle, and she quickly clamped a hand over it. The injection had been the easy part- what was about to come would be many times worse.
She had only tested her experiment once- on herself. It had been a success, but she'd gone through hell for it. The results led to a week of pain- random spasms where she'd injected herself, ice cold body temperature, followed by a general weakness of the immune system. Afterwards, she had developed something to stop the effects of the cells, but it was still a risk. She'd debated long and hard about whether she would ever use the injection again, but after seeing Sasuke, after seeing a glimmer of hope, she decided she would use it. If everything worked according do plan, then the pain would be well worth it.
The initial pain from the needle disappeared almost immediately, only to be replaced by a sharp, pulsing pain that quickly spread throughout her body. It was a sign that her injection was working.
Her cells were fusing with those of the first Hokage's, allowing all of the jutsus he had once known to be passed down to her. It was only temporary, but that was all she needed. Sakura grasped the rock as the pain overtook her. She struggled to stay upright, to resist curling up into a ball on the floor.
Her body shook with the pain, but she endured it, trying to distract herself by listening to the fight only a leaps length away from her. It would take a few minutes for the formula to fully have effect, and while she waited, she would be in her most vulnerable state.
She could hear Sasuke exerting all the effort he had, could hear the jutsus that seemed to erupt from him, could feel the energy that radiated from him. Sakura groaned and squeezed her eyes shut, her right hand clenching her left arm, where the injection had been. A massive tornado of thoughts and emotions flowed through her. She felt physically sick- slightly dizzy and ready to vomit as her body adapted to the injected cells. And she felt mentally sick- guilt struck at her as she thought of Sasuke, facing the beast alone.
As much as Sasuke had hurt her in the past, had hurt all of them, and as much as he was still the same asshole right now, she just couldn't get past her feelings for him. She hadn't wanted to put him at any risk, even though she knew he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself. She had thought about this so-called "mission" for quite a while, actually, but had finally decided that had they switched places and she were Sasuke, she would have wanted the chance to save a teammate.
The time passed slowly, but the pain did fade away to a dull ache. Discomfort pulsated through her body, but it was bearable now. She was almost ready to seal in the demon fox's chakra; the only thing she needed was to find an opening.
Sakura emerged from behind the rock and made sure Sasuke had a clear view of her, so that he could react to her signal. She watched intently as a swirl of lightning chakra exploded beside the demon fox, then saw Sasuke jump back in defense. The fox followed him, blundering its way through the forest as Sasuke began leaping from tree to tree.
After studying his movements for a few seconds or so, Sakura caught on to what Sasuke was trying to do and quickly followed after them. By moving strategically through the trees, alternating directions on every other branch, Sasuke was leading the fox to move in circles. His goal was to make the fox lose balance, so that it would be easier for Sakura to approach them.
She chased after the pair, landing on the trees that Sasuke jumped off of. They were leading the beast into a clearing, and Sakura knew that once they reached it, she would have to act immediately. There was no room for mistakes. No time for hesitation.
The fox entered the clearing, still focused on Sasuke, and Sakura immediately jumped out, moving her fingers quickly to perform the hand seals that would allow her to execute the jutsu on the fox. As her fingers came together for the last seal, a sudden spasm shot through her arm and she almost collapsed, losing balance and falling off the tree.
Sasuke saw this, but couldn't do anything to help her. The fox was still focused on him, and any movement towards her direction would bring harm to both of them. C'mon, get up, get up. He fled to the safety of another tree branch as the fox took a swipe at him. Sakura was slowly climbing to her feet, grasping her arm as she shook violently. But still, despite the obvious pain she was in, Sasuke could see that she was fighting it, and that, slowly, she was overcoming it.
He was so distracted by watching her, that he almost allowed the fox to land a hit on him. But he darted out of the way at the last moment, just as Sakura completed her hand seals and slammed her fist into the ground, forcing large wooden poles to rise and wrap around the beast.
Naruto thrashed against the bindings, letting out a loud roar as Sasuke jumped out of the way, ducking quickly so that one of the unbound tails barely missed him. Sakura was working on a second set of hand seals now, throwing her fingers together in patterns she'd learned from the First Hokage's records.
A soft, green light emitted from her palms for a brief second, then disappeared. She started running, then leaped up, reaching her arm out so that when she closed in on the thrashing fox, her palm sank into his stomach and he let out an even louder roar, if that were possible.
The contact with the fox had intensified Sakura's pain, as her body began violently rejecting the foreign cells. But, she had succeeded. The crystal that hung from Naruto's neck lit up, casting a glow that illuminated the darkening skies. The roars diminished into growls, then groans, and finally, with one last, defeated moan, the nine-tails chakra disappeared back into its human container. Sakura sank to the floor beside Naruto, clutching herself as if to keep her body from falling apart.
She'd never actually done any tests that involved using jutsus of the First Hokage and thus, she was in no way prepared for the pain the burned inside her. Her medical mind, still somewhat cool and logical, knew that the cells of the First Hokage were not compatible with her own cells, and that her chakra system and immune system were working together to fight off the foreign cells.
But her human mind, the one that felt fear, pain, and just emotions in general, had started panicking blindly. She was aware of the fact that, for the most part, the danger was over, so she allowed herself to fall to the floor, rolling up into a ball and squeezing her eyes shut. Her breathing was labored and she felt like something was crushing down on her chest. When she cracked her eyes open a bit, she realized that she was holding herself so tightly, she couldn't breathe.
By now, Sasuke had managed to make his way over, limping slightly because of his own injuries. He had endured everything during the fight, moving at top speed and ignoring his wounds, but now that Naruto was lying in an unconscious heap on the floor, beside Sakura, Sasuke decided it was safe to stop ignoring the pain.
He stopped beside Naruto and dropped to his knees, partly because it hurt less, and partly because he was shocked to see the familiar face after so many years. The blond still resembled himself from years ago. He had the same, spiky hair, thick blond eyebrows, thin whiskers across his cheeks, and a very similar jumpsuit that was orange, of course.
Sasuke momentarily looked away from Naruto, deciding that he would have plenty of time to stare later. For now, he had to figure out what was wrong with Sakura. Since she was the only healer here, she had to be taken care of first. He tentatively reached out and placed a hand on her, then quickly drew away when he felt her shudder. Her body was freezing cold and he could occasionally hear something that was a mix of a sob and a gasp.
Trying not to think about the large gash on his arm, Sasuke reached out again and drew the girl into his arms, gritting his teeth as he came in contact with her cold body.
"Tell me what's wrong", he urged, "tell me so I can heal you".
"It hurts", she barely managed to mumble.
"I know, but what exactly is wrong with you?" he was trying to be patient.
"The cells… they don't…you have to kill the cells!" Sakura whispered.
"What?" Sasuke was dumbfounded. Cells? How the hell was he supposed to kill cells in her body… without killing her? He couldn't even figure out how she'd managed to get them in. From what he knew, cells made up the body. They weren't just floating around inside you, waiting to be mixed with someone else's cells.
"Kill the cells!" Sakura moaned.
"What are you talking about?!" Sasuke hated the feeling of incompetence that he had right now. His teammate was in pain, unable to help herself, or help him or Naruto, and there was nothing he could do.
"The other needle", Sakura added.
"Other…" Sasuke growled in frustration. Stupid, stupid. She should have just told him that! That was something he could understand, not some crap about cells. He reached into the pack that was strapped to her and dug around, then pulled out a needle.
"Here", Sakura managed to lift an arm and Sasuke grasped it, then almost dropped it. Her skin was alarmingly cold. He grabbed her arm again and stuck then needle in, pressing the fluids into her. Nothing happened.
Her skin was still cold, her body still seemed weak, and Sasuke feared that he'd done something wrong. Were there more needles?
"No, stop", Sakura murmured when she felt him reach into her pack again, "it just takes a while".
He sighed, then dropped her arm, slowly backing away. His own pain was coming back to him now, and he paused to survey the damage to his body. There was a gash across one forearm, several cuts along his legs, and one of his shoulders had been grazed by something sharp. They hurt, but it was nothing compared to the state of the other two shinobi who were with him.
There was nothing he could do except wait for Sakura to heal. He hated the idea of it, but he had to admit they were useless without her. As if she'd read his mind, Sakura began ascending to a sitting position and Sasuke reached out instinctively to test the temperature of her skin. It was normal.
"What are you doing?" Sakura looked at Sasuke strangely, then glanced down at his hand, which was placed awkwardly on her shoulder.
"You felt frozen a moment ago" he said simply.
"Oh". She didn't question him further and they both turned their attention to Naruto, who was still lying unconsciously on the floor. His skin was a dark red color, and Sasuke couldn't really tell if it was blood, or something else that he was covered in.
He watched as Sakura, now looking refreshed, knelt beside Naruto and placed her hands over him, sending waves of her chakra into his body. She seemed to be concentrating very hard, her eyebrows knit together into a frown as she strained to force what chakra she had in her into Naruto's body.
It felt like an eternity to Sasuke, as he sat and waited, watching Sakura work. She seemed more relaxed, almost sinking into a peaceful state as she slowly finished healing Naruto. She seemed to glow with happiness, with relief, and Sasuke found that he really missed seeing her like that. The joy that radiated from her was something he hadn't come across in so long, he had almost forgotten it existed.
Then Naruto opened his eyes, saw Sasuke, and chaos erupted. Even as the young adults they were, there were just parts of their personality that never seemed to fade away. Naruto was unaware of his injuries, unaware of anything that had happened, and really, if he had been aware, he probably wouldn't have cared, because the only thing he saw, the only thing that mattered, was Sasuke.
"YOU!" he leaped up, pointing a finger at Sasuke, who was staring at him with disgust. Sakura backed away and watched, unable to suppress a feeling of nostalgia as she remembered the old days, when Naruto constantly pointed his finger at Sasuke and blamed him for everything.
"Me", Sasuke repeated dully. His cool had obviously returned. Sakura watched in amazement as Naruto shouted incoherent phrases at Sasuke. He seemed angry for one moment, the relieved the next, then confused, then… well, just a whole bunch of emotions that only Naruto could pull off all at once.
While they listen to Naruto babble, Sakura knelt beside Sasuke and gently placed her palms on his arm, healing the major cuts he had. His shirt was blood-stained in a few places, his face slightly scratched up, and his hair ridiculously messy, but he looked better.
Sakura turned to her two teammates, tears threatening to spill out of her eyes, and both Sasuke and Naruto tensed.
"Sakura-chan…" Naruto began slowly. Sakura flinched upon hearing her name. She hadn't seen Naruto since their village was destroyed and he'd run off. And he hadn't used the affectionate "-chan" ending long before then.
"There's so much to say", Sakura whispered, "but the injuries you guys have sustained are taking a toll on your bodies. They're not all visible, so you may not be aware of some of them, but trust me, we all need rest".
"Rest", Naruto echoed quietly.
"We'll sleep for now and figure everything out tomorrow", Sakura decided, "and can I trust both of you not to turn your backs on anyone?"
"Just for tonight", Naruto agreed, giving Sasuke a meaningful glare.
"Yeah", Sasuke returned the look, his dark eyes boring into Naruto's, "just for tonight". And just for your sake, he added silently, glancing at Sakura.
She seemed satisfied and retreated to an area where two trees had fallen and crossed each other, creating a cozy corner that she curled up into. With half-lidded eyes, Sakura watched as Sasuke and Naruto took opposite sides of the clearing and each settled against a tree trunk. It didn't look too comfortable, but Sakura could not remember a time when she was more at peace, more happy, than she was now.
She looked at her two teammates one last time, then, with a faint smile lingering on her lips, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
What would my readers like to see happen between these three characters? Let me know and I may consider it. And review please!
