Hold onto your seats! This one's a long one! But it's action-packed. Yeah epic ninja battles!
Chapter Nine: Possession
Sasuke sat on the edge of Naruto's futon, his head bowed to his chest. Close beside him Naruto lay in restless slumber. He'd drifted off some time ago, exhaustion robbing him of consciousness, still holding Sasuke's hand. Or rather Sasuke still holding his. The dark-haired boy seemed reluctant to let go just yet.
Even though his friend was no longer awake to return his almost desperate grip, Sasuke could not make himself release Naruto's hand. Because doing that would somehow be like giving him permission to let go - like saying he was fine with Naruto letting himself slowly waste away. And he couldn't do that. He wouldn't. He refused to let his friend give up so easily. He didn't care how pathetic it made him look, he wasn't going to let Naruto slip away without a fight. Even if he had to physically hold him there, he wasn't going to let his friend disappear again.
Naruto's breathing was shallow but rhythmic, the rise and fall of his chest barely visible beneath all the blankets. His hand was cold in Sasuke's, like a dead fish. Sasuke could feel none of Naruto's inherent warmth. It was like all of it had been sucked out of the blond just like his happiness, hope, and will to live. There was just nothing left…
The others in the room were quiet; Jiraiya and Sakura lost in their own troubled thoughts. The Sannin sat with his head bowed to his chest on one side of the room, his eyes emptily staring at the floor. Every so often Sasuke thought he felt the older man look up and stare at him - as if reevaluating some old assessment of him - before quickly turning thought-ladened eyes back to the tatami mats. Sakura, meanwhile, still laid on her futon; but even from a distance Sasuke could see the tense muscles in her back and shoulders, as if she were silently fighting to keep her grief trapped inside where no one else could see or hear it.
Despite his own despair, Sasuke knew the pink-haired koinoichi didn't want to see their other teammate fade away anymore than he did. Even though she'd always brushed aside Naruto's affections and beat him up on more than one occasion while they'd still been a team, Sasuke knew over time the blond had managed to worm his way into Sakura's heart just like he'd managed to worm his way into his. It was just impossible not to like the hyperactive idiot once one got to know him, no matter how much that person might try not to…
Naruto suddenly groaned in his sleep, his features scrunching together in pain. His fingers unconsciously tightened around Sasuke's hand as he restlessly shifted under the blankets. Sasuke tightened his grip, trying to reassure his friend he was still there, that he hadn't left him to fight whatever demons plagued his dreams alone. As if actually feeling the Uchiha heir's reassurance, Naruto quieted and lay still again, his breathing slowly evening out as he drifted into deeper unconsciousness.
Sasuke continued to hold Naruto's hand, his eyes sorrowfully surveying the wretched remains of the boy he once knew - the boy that had once saved him from the darkness of his own single-minded revenge. He wondered if he somehow couldn't do the same for Naruto now and save him from his own darkness - the darkness forced upon him by the ones trying to unleash the demonic force of nature sealed inside him.
"He responds well to you," a voice suddenly said from the other side of the room. Sasuke looked up from Naruto to find Jiraiya staring at him with unreadable dark eyes. "You're the only one Naruto seems to trust anymore. Not even Kakashi, Tsunade, me, or that Iruka from the academy can reach him like you can. It's like you're the only one he really even acknowledges." A pause from the wandering Sannin. "Even after everything you did, he still trusts you the most…" Sasuke was sure he detected a note of bitterness in the toad-sage's voice.
He slowly looked away from Jiraiya to the floor, his hair swinging forward to partially hide his face. "I'm not proud of what I did," Sasuke murmured, his eyes downcast as he bowed his head in shame. "I know everyone hates me for almost killing Naruto. I hate myself for what I almost did. Naruto is the only person I ever considered a true friend. My older brother once told me if I ever wanted to gain the next level of my Sharingan to get strong enough to defeat him, I had to kill my best friend. Naruto was that person. I was ready to kill him when he came after me to bring me back to Konoha. But… but I just couldn't do it in the end. I couldn't hurt him. He was the only person I ever considered close to me - the only one I thought could ever understand me. I just couldn't bring myself to kill him…"
"You act as though not being able to kill him is some kind of weakness," Jiraiya noted, but without animosity. His eyes seemed to stare into Sasuke, as if looking right down to his very soul. Sasuke slowly raised his head to look up at the Sannin again.
"I can tell you truly care about Naruto," Jiraiya went on. "Someone wouldn't go up against two S-class ninja alone or put himself in harm's way to protect another if that person didn't have some kind of strong connection with the other. What you did the night before is a sign of strength, not weakness. If you had been able to kill Naruto, would you have been happier with the results or regretted it in the end?"
"I would have regretted it," Sasuke immediately replied. "I would have hated myself even more than I already do for almost killing him. If I hadn't hesitated at the last moment while we'd been fighting-"
"That doesn't matter anymore," Jiraiya sharply cut him off. "What matters is that you couldn't hurt him and are here protecting him now. I never understood why Naruto continued to have anything to do with you after he brought you back. But now… I can see you're a good friend to him. And right now, he needs as many of those as he can get."
Sasuke stared at Jiraiya, unsure if he was really hearing the toad-sage correctly.
As if reading Sasuke's dubious expression, Jiraiya explained, "I didn't trust you when you started guarding Naruto. But after seeing how you were ready to charge into Kyuubi's chakra to try and help him the night before and seeing how Naruto responds to you, I know now you are probably the only one that can save him in the end…"
Sasuke stared at the Sannin, stunned. Jiraiya thought he could protect Naruto? Jiraiya! The same man who had made it abundantly clear through disapproving looks and dark glares how highly he thought of him before Naruto had been thought dead. Somehow this small gesture of acceptance meant more to Sasuke than any speech Kakashi could have ever given him. If even Naruto's sensei thought he could help his traumatized student, then maybe there really was some way for him to pull Naruto back from the darkness.
But Sasuke never got a chance to ponder the possibilities as he felt the small electronic box hanging from a cord around his neck suddenly begin to vibrate and blink with unsettling urgency.
The Uchiha heir's blood ran cold as the meaning of the necklace's blinking red light and insistent vibrating registered in his brain. Glancing up at Jiraiya, Sasuke found the Sannin staring at his own alarm button, a frozen look of horror etched across his face. Sakura had also sat up straight in bed, her horrified green eyes searching out Sasuke's in the darkness.
"Sasuke…" she whispered.
His brain jumping into overdrive - horror pulsing through his veins like adrenaline - Sasuke swooped down on the sleeping boy beside him. "Naruto! Naruto!" he called, urgently shaking the other boy's shoulder. "Naruto, you have to wake up! Now!" Jiraiya and Sakura hurried to his and Naruto's side.
No, this isn't happening, Sasuke's mind whirled as he tried to wake his friend. There shouldn't have been any way for them to know where we hid him! He was suppose to finally be safe. How did they know where to find him?
"We have to get him out of here," Jiraiya said, kneeling beside his student across from Sasuke. Naruto groggily lifted heavy eyelids, groaning under his breath as he fought his way back to consciousness.
"How did Akatsuki know we brought him here?" Sakura demanded, her eyes darting between Jiraiya and Sasuke.
"I don't know," Jiraiya said. He began to gather Naruto to him, lifting the almost weightless boy out of his nest of blankets into his arms. "But somehow Akatsuki found out where he is. We have to get out of here. Fast. We'll fall back to the western side of the compound and meet up the ANBU teams there."
"And then where are we going to take him?" Sasuke demanded. "If Akatsuki found out we hid him here, where else can we take him that he'll be safe?"
Jiraiya just shook his head, a frightened look of helplessness entering his eyes. "I don't know…" he murmured, unable to meet Sasuke's eyes. "I don't know if there's anywhere he can be safe anymore. If Akatsuki can find him here, then they can find him almost anywhere…"
Sasuke could do nothing more than stare at Jiraiya as the toad-sage then stood, Naruto's frighteningly thin form cradled against his chest. Disoriented and only half conscious, Naruto weakly clutched Jiraiya's shirt, whimpering under his breath as he was jostled about. Jiraiya began to move towards the door, his footsteps hurried. Sasuke and Sakura hurried after him, each of them pulling kunai from their holsters.
But before the three could slip out of the room into the main part of the house, they suddenly heard a thump and then the sound of muffled footsteps outside on the roof above them. All of them froze. Sasuke and Sakura immediately took defensive positions on either side of Jiraiya, kunai held in either of hand. Blinking his eyes into blood-red, tomoe dotted pupils, Sasuke tracked the passage of the footsteps across the ceiling to the far side of the room where one of the shoji doors still stood pushed open, silvery moonlight spilling in through it from the courtyard beyond.
As the footsteps came to the edge of the roof, Sasuke saw a dark figure leap down from the overhanging eaves to the outside porchway. He moved forward to stand in front of Jiraiya, Sakura, and Naruto; his teeth bared, kunai ready and Sharingan spinning. He wasn't going to let those Akatsuki bastards anywhere near his friend again…
The dark figure turned and hurried straight towards the door. But before Sasuke could attack the mysterious nin, he finally saw the person's face and lowered his kunai.
"Kakashi?" he said in surprise as the silver-haired ninja hurried inside towards them.
"We have to get Naruto out of here," Kakashi said, ignoring Sasuke. His breathing was coming in short gasps, as if he'd just ran there from the other side of the compound. There was the faintest hint of panic in his eyes; his uncovered Sharingan shining brightly in the moonlight.
"We know," Jiraiya said, holding Naruto close. "We just felt the alarm go off."
Kakashi nodded hurriedly. "I'm the one who set it off. I just saw a number of Akatsuki ninja sneaking out of one of the buildings in the Uchiha shrine. I counted at least three dozen of them."
Sasuke froze, staring at Kakashi. "The shrine?" he said. "How could they have possibly gotten in through there?"
"I don't know, but they found out Naruto's here and they're coming for him," Kakashi said, glancing at the frail blond figure in Jiraiya's arms. He turned back towards the open shoji door. "Come on. We have to go. The others have been alerted to Akatsuki's presence. They'll all be converging here to help protect Naruto, but we have to start to move him out of here. From what I could see, it looks like Akatsuki's moving towards the main part of the house. We should get outside and try to reach the main wall by cutting across the compound. We'll have more of a chance of getting away undetected that way than if we try to actually go through the mansion."
The others nodded and followed the copy-ninja towards the door. Together the four slipped outside and began to quickly move along the covered porchway lining the building, all of them warily scanning the surrounding area for signs of enemy-nin.
Naruto hung limp in Jiraiya's arms, his legs dangling over the toad-sage's elbow as he weakly clutched the front of the Sannin's shirt. He said nothing as his sensei carried him into the night. Even sick and half-conscious, he seemed to understand the urgency of the situation and danger he was currently facing. It was impossible for Sasuke to miss the terrified look in Naruto's half-lidded eyes, or the almost desperate way his friend seemed to cling to Jiraiya - as if silently begging him to keep him safe.
They came to the end of the porchway and left it to cut across the open courtyard. A Zen rock garden took up most of the inner part of the courtyard, the moon bathing the boulders and carefully combed sand in silvery-white light. Not a grain of sand was disturbed as the four ninja crossed it on cushions of carefully controlled chakra. They did not need footprints left in their wake to alert their enemies which way they'd gone.
Ducking between two buildings on the other side of the courtyard, Kakashi motioned the others to stick close to the wall and keep to the shadows. The compound was silent as they stealthfully weaved their way through the darkened complex of buildings.
"Kakashi," Sasuke whispered as they came to the intersection of several different buildings, "take a left. It will lead us to the far side of the compound. There's a hidden gate there we can use that will let us out near the merchant district of the village."
Kakashi nodded and began to slip around the side of the building. But before the others could follow, Sasuke suddenly heard the faint scuffle of shoes on ceramic roof tiles somewhere above him, and looked up just in time to see two enemy Akatsuki ninja leap down from the edge of the building - moonlight glinting off the blades of drawn katana.
Sakura, Sasuke, Jiraiya, and Kakashi all leapt backward, just barely missing the deadly blades. The three immediately closed ranks around Jiraiya and the helpless boy he held in his arms, their kunai trained on the enemy nin who stood at a distant, blocking either lane of escape between the two buildings.
"Give us the demon-vessel," one said, inching closer to the group, his sword momentarily flashing in the moonlight.
"Go to hell," Jiraiya hissed, clutching his student closer. Naruto clung to him, desperately seeking protection against the Sannin's burly chest.
The two Akatsuki ninja inched closer. "You should just give up now," the other ninja said. "Lord Uchiha snuck us in here through his family's secret passage under the shrine. Our ninja are already spreading out through the compound. There's no way you can escape now with the demon-vessel. You're cornered and will soon be outnumbered…"
Sasuke's eyes flashed, his tomoe-spoked pupils spinning wildly. Itachi? So that was how Akatsuki had been sneaking into Konoha. His family had had a secret passage out of the village under the family shrine the entire time. Why hadn't he known that?
Gritting his teeth together, Sasuke held his kunai threateningly out towards the approaching ninja. "You try to touch Naruto, I'll make it the last thing you ever do," he growled.
The first ninja actually had the audacity to laugh. "We'll see about that," he chuckled, and then with no more small talk, he and his partner attacked.
"Watch out!" Kakashi yelled as the two slashed their blades in a wide arch at them. The four scattered to either side out of the katana's path - Jiraiya and Sasuke to one side, Sakura and Kakashi to the other.
"Sasuke, guard Jiraiya and Naruto!" Kakashi yelled as he spun to meet the edge of his enemy's blade with a kunai. "Sakura and I will hold them back! Meet up with one of the other teams and get Naruto out of here!"
The dark-haired boy hesitated only a moment before looking up at the toad-sage, and together simultaneously spun away back towards the direction they'd just come. "Come on," Sasuke said, motioning the Sannin after him.
The two sped away, the sounds of clashing metal and sharp sizzle-crack of chakra attacks echoing between the empty buildings behind them. "Which way?" Jiraiya yelled as they appeared on the edge of the courtyard again. Naruto by now was nothing but a shaking bundle of fear in the Sannin's arms.
"This way!" Sasuke called, pointing to the far left side of the courtyard. "We'll head for the southern gate. We can get out that way."
The two began to race across the rock garden, not even bothering to cover their tracks this time. They'd already been found. It was only a matter of time now before more Akatsuki ninja were drawn there by the sounds of Sakura and Kakashi fighting off the other two. They had to get Naruto out of there as quick as possible.
Where are the other teams? Sasuke wondered as he and Jiraiya wove their way between two large boulders dotting the garden. They were suppose to fall back here if the alarms went off to help protect Naruto. Unfortunately, the Uchiha heir never got an answer to his question as he suddenly caught sight of at least twenty more black robed figures appear on the rooftops of the surrounding buildings and descend on the courtyard like a swarm of black locus.
"Shit!" Jiraiya swore as he and Sasuke skid to a stop, sand flying everywhere. The Akatsuki ninja immediately spread out, surrounding the two Konoha ninja and their helpless charge in a wide circle.
Sasuke edged closer to Jiraiya, his Sharingan spinning as his eyes swept over the surrounding enemy-nin. "Can you fight still holding Naruto?" he whispered between gritted teeth.
Despite the gravity of the situation, Jiraiya smirked. "Who do you think you're talking to, kid?" he said. "They don't call me one of the legendary three for nothing."
Somehow the toad-sage's sarcastic reply gave Sasuke a glimmer of hope. "Alright then," he smirked in reply, and sank into a battle stance, kunai drawn. Jiraiya also prepared himself, Naruto protectively clasped to his chest. Sasuke had no doubt in his mind the toad-sage was ready to die to protect his injured student if that was what it took.
One Akatsuki ninja with long blond hair and bangs that veiled half his face stepped forward. "Don't hurt the demon-vessel, hn?" he said, smirking under his bangs at Jiraiya and Sasuke. "That little boy's important to us. The other two though you can kill."
Several of the Akatsuki ninja surrounding them chuckled darkly. The scrape of sharpened metal grated the air as several of them unsheathed swords and kunai from their sides. Another ninja with an orange and black swirled mask standing beside the blond nodded in agreement.
"As you wish, Deidara-sempai," he said.
"I call dibs on the old one," one of the other ninja said - this one with short, slicked back white hair and a giant evil-looking, three-bladed scythe. "He'll make a perfect sacrifice for me."
"I don't think so, Hidan," another ninja beside him said, his pupiless white eyes staring at Jiraiya greedily. "That one's Jiraiya. One of the legendary Sannin of Konoha. Do you know how many ryou he's worth? He's mine."
"You and your goddamn bounties…" Hidan hissed, glaring at his partner.
"Stop fighting," Deidara, growled. "You're wasting time. Just kill the brat and old man already and get the demon-vessel. We don't have all night, hn? They probably have ANBU heading this way even as we speak."
"Unfortunately, you are already too late!" a loud voice suddenly echoed across courtyard, "for we have already arrived to save our young friend Naruto from falling into your evil hands again!"
Normally, Sasuke would have inwardly winced or rolled his eyes at the flamboyant speech of that familiar voice. But somehow looking up towards the rooftop of the building to his left, Sasuke could do nothing more than revel in the almost painful wave of relief that washed over him at the sight of Gai-sensei standing there on the edge of the roof, silhouetted by the moon and flanked on either side by Asuma, Kurenai, each of their respected teams, and at least three teams of ANBU black opt.
"Sorry it took us so long to get here," Asuma called down to Sasuke and Jiraiya, "but we got a little distracted fighting off the other group of Akatsuki we ran into getting here."
"Damn it," Kakuzu swore, scanning the group of Konoha ninja lining the roof. "Prepare to fight!"
The Konoha ninja leapt down from the rooftop into the courtyard. Almost immediately, the crackle of chakra filled the air. Weapons clashed, bodies spun and twisted in their ancient dance of death, and the stench of freshly spilt blood rose to fill the noses of everyone there.
As Sasuke watched, Akamaru leapt after Kiba into battle and lunged at the first black-robed ninja he came to. The man howled as the giant dog's teeth clamped down on his forearm and wrestled him to the ground with a feral growl. Kiba meanwhile was locked in a one-on-one battle with another Akatsuki, their kunai meeting in quick, bone-shuddering succession.
Nearby, Neji's long hair whipped the air as the Hyuuga genius side-stepped an enemy ninja's katana and swiftly lunged forward again to close off three of the man's chakra points in his arm, causing the man's sword to clatter uselessly to the ground.
Shikamura already had at least four Akatsuki trapped in his shadow-jutsu, the full moon overhead offering him an almost endless field of attacks. Ino and Chouji fought in formation close behind him.
Hinata and Shino were not far away. A swarm of bugs flew from the ends of the bug-master's fingers towards two Akatsuki ninja who screamed and flailed their arms in panic as the insects covered them like a living black blanket. Hinata moved with extraordinary speed and purpose - feint, lunge, dodge, kick, pressure point, lunge, palm to the chest, pressure point, kick, dodge. It was like the Hyuuga heiress was possessed in her determination to stop these people threatening her childhood crush and friend.
Not far from them, Tenten and Lee were engaged in their own battles. Lee was like an unstoppable green whirlwind of feet, fists, and youthful energy. Barely any ninja that came at him came anywhere close to landing a punch on the taijutsu master.
Fighting amongst the old Rookie Nine and Gai-sensei's team, Asuma, Kurenai, Gai himself, and their ANBU counterparts all fought with unbridled intensity. Unfortunately though, two of the ANBU black opts fighting Kakuzu were no match for the S-class ninja's sword and collapsed to the ground in twin clouds of misty red. Although slowed by Konoha's black opts, not even ANBU were any match for the other S-class ninja of Akatsuki, and they too soon fell under the crime-nin's attacks.
Dodging the attack of one Akatsuki ninja that lunged at him, Sasuke dispatched the man from battle with a swift kick to the abdomen and slash of a kunai to the chest. Panting, he hurriedly looked back over his shoulder towards Jiraiya. "Come on!" he yelled, motioning the Sannin to follow him. "We have to get Naruto out of here!"
"Not so fast, little brother…" a new voice suddenly said, to which Sasuke spun around to find his older brother, Itachi, suddenly standing directly in front of him, staring down at him with blood-red eyes. Sasuke hadn't even seen him there in the courtyard a moment before. When had he arrived or managed to sneak up behind him? "There will be no more of these little games of cat and mouse," Itachi went on. "We are claiming the demon-vessels as our own once and for all."
Somewhere through his horrified shock, Sasuke saw out of the corner of his eye a dark-robed figure suddenly materialize - seemingly out of no where - right behind Jiraiya. Before the toad-sage could react, Itachi's partner, Kisame, swung an overlarge sword at the Sannin's back. Jiraiya's scream shot across the courtyard like a gunshot as the sword sliced through his right shoulder with the same fluid ease of a hot knife passing through butter. Unable to hold of his student any longer, Jiraiya dropped to his knees, Naruto rolling from his arms to the ground.
"Sensei!" Naruto weakly cried as Jiraiya clutched his shoulder, blood seeping through the fabric of his overcoat like watercolor paint dabbed against a wet canvas. Sasuke was no healer, but even he knew when a major vein or artery had been hit. The color was already draining from the Sannin's face. He began to sway where he knelt, his life slowly seeping from him, down his arm, and into the thirsty brown sand.
"Get the boy," Itachi said to his partner. Kisame nodded and began to move toward Naruto's prone form.
"NO!" Sasuke yelled and lunged to protect his friend. He was stopped, however, by Itachi catching him by the arm and pulling him back towards him.
"Not so fast, little brother," he smirked. "You and I still have unfinished business to attend to before I go rip that nine-tailed fox demon out of your friend's belly…"
"You bastard!" Sasuke screamed and swiped his kunai at his older brother's throat. Itachi, however, was too skilled to be touched by such a reckless attack and easily dodged the blade.
"Have you learned nothing these last few years?" Itachi laughed. "You are no more skilled as a ninja now than you were when our family met their end at my hands."
Sasuke's Sharingan was spinning so fast now the tomoe spokes circling his pupils were nothing but a blurry line. "SHUT UP!" he screamed. "I'll kill you!" Lunging at Itachi, Sasuke's hands flew into a complex series of hand signs. Crackling blue chakra filled the air and shot towards Itachi like bolts of lightening. But the older Uchiha had already back-springed out of the way. Twisting in the air, Itachi threw several shuriken at Sasuke, forcing the younger Uchiha to hurriedly jump to the side to avoid the deadly projectiles.
Pressing his attack, Itachi sprung at Sasuke, a kunai suddenly appearing in his hand from the folds of cloak. Struggling to keep his footing in the loose sand, Sasuke just barely managed to bring his own weapon up in time to block his brother's strike before it could slash his stomach open. The sharp clash of metal rang out over the surrounding din of battle.
"You are no match for me, little brother," Itachi whispered as the two stood there, their kunai locked in a pushing war for dominance. With no warning, Itachi's other hand shot out in a fist and smashed into the side of Sasuke's face. Sasuke's head snapped around, his and Itachi's kunai breaking apart.
The boy hit the sandy ground with a thud, his vision swimming from the blow. Before he could push himself back up to his feet, Itachi was already on him, grabbing him by the throat and lifting him up off the ground as if he weighed nothing. Instinctively, Sasuke dropped his kunai and clawed at the merciless fingers clamped around his windpipe. His toes dangled several inches above the ground.
"I'm disappointed, brother," Itachi said, dispassionately watching as Sasuke gasped for breath. "I expected so much more from you. You are not even worth the effort of dirtying my kunai with your blood…"
Sasuke's eyes began to blur, a hazy ring of darkness appearing to tunnel his vision. He could feel his body growing heavy and weak, his lungs screaming for air. His fingers clawed as his brother's hand, but Itachi's fingers were like vices of steel around his throat. Nothing he did seemed able to break his brother's deadly hold.
No… I wasn't suppose to die like this… his fading consciousness screamed. I was suppose to avenge my family… I was suppose to protect Naruto… I was suppose to save him from Akatsuki…
The haze of darkness slowly began to grow, rising to swallow him like a bottomless black abyss. Sasuke's eyelids began to droop, his consciousness slowly seeping away.
But just before the darkness could fully close in around him, Itachi suddenly cried out in pain and released his hold on Sasuke's throat. Sasuke limply collapsed to the ground, the fall jarring him out of his stupor to take a long, shuddering gasp of air.
Itachi stood over him, clutching his right arm as if he'd just been burned. The older Uchiha's lips were pulled back in a fierce snarl, his Sharingan spinning as he glared at something beyond Sasuke's range of vision where he lay prostrate on the ground.
Forcing his sluggish body to move, Sasuke weakly raised his head and looked in the same direction as his brother. What he saw instantly shocked the younger Uchiha's scattered thoughts back into focus.
Several yards away - his knees visibly shaking with the effort it took to hold his pitifully frail body up - Naruto stood with his hands in front of him in the final hand seal of a fire jutsu. He was breathing hard, his body trembling with exhaustion. As Sasuke watched, the blond faltered, almost collapsed; but somehow forced himself to remain standing on what appeared to be sheer willpower alone.
"You…" Itachi hissed, glaring at the boy. "Did you really think you could hurt me with such a weak attack?"
"No…" Naruto ground between gritted teeth. Sweat beaded across his forehead, dripping down his face as his body began to violently shake with the effort of standing. "But I had to do something to make you let Sasuke go… I won't let you hurt my friend…" As if drained of his final bit of strength, Naruto's knees finally gave out from under him and he collapsed back to the ground.
"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled. Panic surging through him, the Uchiha forced his still sluggish body up off the ground. But before he could rush to his friend's aide, Kisame suddenly appeared beside Naruto and grabbed the boy by the back of the shirt.
Hefting Naruto's limp body up like he were nothing but a rag doll, the Akatsuki ninja turned to Itachi. "Should we just do the ceremony here?" he asked. "I doubt this boy will survive the trip back to headquarters. If we want the fox-demon we should just remove it here. It won't take much to break the seal now…"
"If you think the six of us can control Kyuubi," Itachi replied.
"We will use a Binding Jutsu to keep it in our control until we get back," Kisame said, eyeing the helpless demon-vessel. "If everything goes right, maybe we should let the Kyuubi have a little romp through Konoha before going back. It's been locked up for so long time after all…"
Sasuke froze, his heart clenching painfully in the middle of his chest. "I won't let you!" he yelled, struggling to his feet. He pulled another kunai from his leg holster.
"Unfortunately, little brother, you have no hope of stopping us now," Itachi smirked, and glanced at something just beyond Sasuke's left shoulder.
Suddenly sensing another presence behind him, Sasuke whipped around to find himself standing face to face with another of Akatsuki's S-class ninja. Deidara gave Sasuke a leering smile before loops of ninja wire suddenly coiled around him and drew tight.
Sasuke tottered as he found his arms suddenly pinned to his sides and his legs lashed together. Crashing backwards to the ground, he could do nothing more than helplessly stare at the man standing over him.
"Enjoy the show, hn?" Deidara hummed with a smirk. "I'm sure your big brother will want to finish playing with you later." Then turning away, he went to stand next to Itachi and his partner, Tobi, who had also come to join the group. Hidan and Kakuzu also stepped forward and stood not far away from the others.
Around him, Sasuke heard the rest of his Konoha allies still fighting the hoards of lower-class Akatsuki filling the courtyard. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Kakashi and Sakura had at some point managed to join the fight, having finally dispatched of the two enemy-nin from before. Nearby, Jiraiya was slumped forward where he knelt, blood seeping down his arm and staining the sand beneath him a dark, rusty brown. Sasuke desperately struggled against his restraints, fighting to break lose or somehow squirm free.
"Sasuke!" Naruto cried as Kisame unceremoniously tossed him back to the ground and performed a short series of hand seals. Long strands of ribbon-like material suddenly shot up out of the sand and wrapped themselves around Naruto's ankles, wrists, and neck, tethering him to the ground. The boy tried to stand or somehow move away, but was only able to weakly push himself far enough off the ground to kneel. The ribbons wouldn't let him move any farther. "Sasuke!" he screamed, panic cracking his voice. "Help me! Don't let them do the ceremony! Please!"
Sasuke wildly thrashed where he lay, straining against the wire binding his arms and legs. "Naruto, hold on!" he yelled.
"Naruto!" Kakashi's voice rang over the din of battle. The jounin was currently fighting two Akatsuki ninja at the same time several dozen yards away - too far away for him to do anything to help his captured student. The other Konoha ninja all looked up in horror, pausing in their own fights to stare at the boy.
"We've got to stop them!" Asuma yelled. "Get them away from Naruto!" But even as several of them tried to go to Naruto's aid, more Akatsuki ninja surged forward to keep them from getting anywhere near him or the S-class ninja surrounding the helpless boy.
"Sasuke!" Naruto continued to yell, desperately staring at his friend with frightened blue eyes. He frantically pulled against the cords holding him. "Help me, please!"
Sasuke felt himself begin to bleed where the wire cut into his flesh as he angrily writhed and kicked against the ground. The pain, however, meant nothing to him. In fact he began to thrash harder. He had to get free. He had to help his friend.
Itachi stepped closer to Naruto, bringing his hands up in front of him in an unfamiliar hand seal. The other five ninja all followed his example and did the same. "Seeing as how this is probably going to be the boy's last Seal Breaking ceremony with us, let's make this one especially memorable," the elder Uchiha smirked as he looked down into his captive's frightened blue eyes. His Sharingan gleamed darkly in the moonlight. "Because this is the end…"
Then closing his eyes in concentration, Itachi's hands flew into a complex series of hand signs, his comrades all following suit. Strange, archaic words flowed from their tongues, synchronizing together in a dark, hypnotic chant.
For a moment nothing actually happened. But then with nothing to forewarn the intensity of the reaction, Naruto's head snapped backwards, his back arching in a U and his limbs spasming against the cords tying him to the ground as a breathless scream of agony tore from the boy's throat and echoed across the courtyard of now silent, horrified ninja.
"NARUTO!" Sasuke screamed.
Just like the night Itachi weakened Naruto's curse seal and allowed the Kyuubi's chakra to break free, cyclones of fire flared to life around the boy, blood-red chakra bubbling from his skin to surround him in a shell of molten energy. Sasuke saw the sand around Naruto begin to melt and turn to glass from the intense heat of the demonic chakra. Naruto's screams continued to echo into the night, unending in the poor boy's suffering.
Akatsuki's chanting rose in pitch, the intensity of the mantra speeding up. Naruto was barely visible anymore behind the fiery waves of chakra that roiled off his skin. His agonized screams began to verge on what sounded like the edge of mortal tolerance.
And then - just when Sasuke thought his friend could scream no louder or endure any more pain - the shield of chakra surrounding Naruto suddenly disappeared and Naruto's screams abruptly stopped.
The silence left in the wake of the boy's screams rung loudly in the ears of everyone there. No one moved or even seemed to breath. All eyes were trained on the motionless blond figure kneeling in the middle of a wide circle of scorched sand and glass.
Naruto's head was bowed to his chest, his bangs hiding his face from view. His arms were limp by his sides, his shoulders slumped.
Sasauke stared at his friend, desperately searching for any sign of life. For a moment, he wondered if Naruto hadn't been able to somehow fight Akatsuki's Seal Breaking and draw the fox-demon's power back inside him; or (he wondered with a sickening lurch) been unable to endure any more strain and finally succumbed to death.
But before Sasuke's mind could go down such dark and unsettling paths, he suddenly heard a low chuckle rumble from the motionless figure. As he watched, Naruto's shoulders began to quiver, as if shaking with barely contained mirth. The chuckling steadily grew in volume until it became an open laugh, the unsettlingly sound echoing across the silent courtyard.
Sasuke felt an unexplainable chill race down the length of his spine.
Naruto slowly raised his head, the silvery moonlight illuminating his features - and Sasuke felt his blood run cold.
Red slitted eyes stared back at him from his friend's almost unfamiliar face. Thick black whisker marks lined Naruto's cheeks, enlarged fangs grinning back at him in a feral grin. Even from a distance, Sasuke could see the boy's now pointed ears and his clawed fingernails. The bruises and burns that once littered Naruto's body were now completely gone - healed by Kyuubi's power.
Chuckling darkly, Naruto slowly stood, the cords around his wrists and ankles snapping as if they were nothing but brittle lengths of string. "Finally…" the boy chuckled, his blood red eyes and teeth flashing in the moonlight. Sasuke shivered at the voice that came from his friend's mouth. Although it was still Naruto's, there was some new element to it that made it completely different. Something sadistic, cruel and deadly.
Like becoming the eye of some terrible firestorm, nine chakra tails suddenly flared to life behind Naruto, lashing and coiling the air like fiery whips.
Framed by this fiery backdrop of demonic power, Kyuubi - channeled outwards through Naruto's body - slowly looked around him at everyone there and grinned. "At last," he chuckled, baring his teeth in the hellish parody of a smile. "After fifteen years of waiting I finally managed to break through…"
To Be Continued…
Eek! Oh no, Kyuubi's out and looking for blood! Any thoughts?
Reviews please! (I'll give cookies!)