Byakuya
Chapter 17
Neji was the first one to notice Naruto, what with his blood-limit activated. He threw a confused look at the blonde on top of the beam, catching the strong blue of his eyes. Ten-Ten caught the look, and as usual, missed no beat in inquiring why he was frowning.
"Neji-kun? What's wrong?" She asked, and rest of the team trained their ears on Neji's answer. Neji sighed.
"It's Naruto. He's sitting on top of the beam…something's wrong." Neji answered, and everyone sent confused look at him wondering how he should know, but Neji didn't elaborate. They walked down the twisting trail towards the Konoha gates, waiting to walk beyond the trees so that they could see the gate; which, in top of, Naruto was indeed sitting on.
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Naruto was deep in thought as he saw the ninja team walk down the trail with a leisure pace, each of them throwing Naruto a funny look that let him slightly hanging. Naruto twisted him mouth slightly in something that couldn't quite be called a pout as he looked over himself, wondering what they could possibly be staring about.
His face was clean, his face devoid of any make-up he had on before, and his hair wasn't styled in any way. Naruto frowned, before seeing his clothes.
Oh. Well guess after seeing me so many years in bright orange gives them kind of a shock now that I'm completely dressed in black and blood red.
Naruto was wearing and pair of black boots, smooth leather pants avoid of any decoration except the zipper, a black top that ended just above his navel, shoving off some of his stomach muscles, along with a long sleeveless blood red coat that ended by his knees.
Seeing his team near, Naruto picked up his bag-back (where all his other clothes and such were, he hadn't, of course thrown them away), and prepared to jump off the beam. The moment he stepped off the beam however, preparing to meet the ground in a smooth ground, the world around him exploded.
This time more recognizable pull in his consciousness was swifter, and the nauseating feeling from last time was all but gone. He could almost hear the flute playing in the background as his mind was filled with so much information that he could no longer interpret it.
He could see the ground coming to meet him in slow motion.
Flash
He could feel the dark red chakra in his chakra coils.
Dark
He sensed the chakra connecting Neji to Hinata, who in the village was training with her father, between whom the bond was even stronger.
Purple
He thought he could hear Sakura yell 'Naruto!', but then the sensation was gone.
Flash, Images
The ground neared.
Pain
The flashed of colors that attacked him were stronger this time, accompanied by flashes of the jinchuuriki.
Images
He could see Gaara sitting behind a huge, long desk, surrounded by twelve others, his teal eyes glittering with worry.
Pain
He could see Drake convulsing on the ground, restrained by heavy iron chains.
Burning
Drake convulsed against the chains, and suddenly Naruto could feel the pain as if it was his own.
Green, images
Screams Naruto couldn't tell if they were his or Drake's.
Flash, Flash, Black,
The bond snapped with an angry red hue. Or green, Naruto couldn't tell.
Images, pain, pain, burning, PAIN
The ground neared and Naruto had the impression of somebody rushing towards him.
Flash, PAIN, flash, IMAGES, flash, PAIN
Drake screamed.
Gold, Blue, Magenta, dark Green, Red, Purple, Blue, Lilac, Blue, Turquoise,
Suddenly he was encircled by warms, arms, arms holding him, name; somebody screaming his name.
Red, gold, Blue, light Green, Red, yellow, Red, RED, RED!
Surging, consuming, never-ending, searching, always surging, and burning him inside out. Red. Pain. Screams. Naruto screamed. Pain. Fear; the stench of it around him. Noises, yells. Fear. Chakra around him; around him, inside him, his, his own, no, somebody else's.
Not his.
PAIN, PAIN, PAIN,
Not his.
BURNING, PAIN, SCREAM, PAIN,
Not his.
PAIN, DARK, PAIN, BLACK, RED, SURGING RED;
Not his.
PAIN
Not HIS.
Not HIS!
Dark!
Fading black,
Fading…
"NARUTO!"
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Sasuke had been the first one to notice it, being the best intercepting his team-mates body language; the way his body seemed to lose all control in the middle of the jump.
Sasuke had been speeding towards the beam before he had known what he was doing, not even registering that his team-mates started running after him. He was so far away from Naruto, and he could see the blonde's eyes were closed, his eyes furrowed in pain, Sasuke's Sharingan sucking in every detail, every impression.
And then, middle way through his fall, Naruto had started to scream…
"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled in slight panic. No, this was not happening.
Sasuke barely made it in time, catching the blonde in his arms, and in seconds the screaming had stopped, Naruto's unseeing eyes wide open, before the blue eyes rolled in their sockets and Naruto fainted.
"NARUTO!" Sasuke yelled, his Sharingan spinning wildly, even as he noticed that his sensei had reached him and Naruto, Kakashi Sharingan unveiled also, and Sasuke bared no though to wonder when the silver haired jounin had time to pull up his hitai-ate.
Sasuke didn't even notice that his team-mate had been completely rigid until Naruto's body relaxed as it reached unconsciousness.
Sharingan eyes met Sharingan eyes.
"Let's go see the Hokage."
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When Tsunade heard the yells down the hall from her office, she resisted the urge to throw one of the trinkets on her desk towards the nearest wall, or even better, to throw out her chair through the desk; a feat she had done quite often, resulting in every jounin becoming irritated because they had to fetch her chair from the ground every time.
Then the double doors of her office had slammed open, revealing a worried looking Hatake Kakashi carrying an unconscious Naruto, followed by a protesting Shizune and a group of chuunins.
Tsunade groaned. "Put him on the desk. What happened?" Tsunade asked as she started to check Naruto's pulse and forehead.
"He started screaming while jumping off the beam on top of the gate." Kakashi answered. Tsunade stopped in her administrations, her eyes wide.
"What! Shit, if I can't wake him up soon the council will have a field day! I presume every bloody chuunin on guard heard him off course?" Tsunade huffed, while fetching some smelling salts off a nearby shelf. Kakashi looked a tad confused, before nodding hesitantly.
Tsunade cursed.
"Shit, the council is going to put up some shit about IT taking control, for sure." Tsunade said to Kakashi, for a moment forgetting the chuunins behind the jounin.
"Is he okay?" Sakura asked hesitantly, being the only one able to ask her sensei about Naruto. Tsunade's eyes flashed.
"Yes, He's fine, you're dismissed." The Gondaime almost snapped, which left no room for protest. The chuunins filed off the office in moments.
"Was that necessary?" Kakashi asked, slightly put out by his superior's rude behavior.
"Unless you want to have to explain them about the Kyuubi, yes." Tsunade answered, just as Naruto started to cough violently as he started to wake up. The Hokage and the jounin waited impatiently for Naruto woke, and the first thing Tsunade asked when Naruto's clear blue eyes opened, was;
"What happened?" Naruto frowned.
"I… don't know."
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A/N: All right, here you got chapter 17. Even more confusing things to the whole shit, I know. I'm going to have to take few days from updating, unfortunately, because the chapters no longer stick together as smoothly as they should… oh, well, except next chapter around, say…Thursday maybe?
--Dark
Uhum!
V There's this fancy thing down there, called the review button. Try it. Humor me.
