The Darkness Within the Light
Chapter 9
The Barrier
Have you guessed it yet? I've been grounded and dying to post this chapter...I apologize for the...crappiness of the previous chapter...but I was bored and accidentally posted it before I edited it. I am too lazy to edit it now...especially since I've had a lot of people read it so...yeah...gomen...I'll try to make this more serious. Oh and FYI:
If I bring in any characters that have died in the manga or the show don't mention it...I'm highly aware who is dead and who is not...do you have any idea how annoying that is!? Ex: "Deidara's dead!" Well I get that...I just needed an extra Akatsuki member...so please don't mention it...ok my little rant is done
-Naruto-
"Um…"
Kisame glared down at him. "What?"
"Put me down!" Naruto rasped suddenly, feeling horrible.
Kisame glared at him. "No."
"Listen…I can't…" Naruto cut off as a cough burst out of his throat, blood along with it. Kisame instinctively dropped him, onto the hard ground.
Naruto pushed himself upward, only to cough up more blood. Not again!
"What's wrong with him?" asked Kisame, confused.
Naruto suddenly bent over and vomited up even more blood. This was enough to send a spark of alarm into Itachi's eyes. It quickly vanished, but he was soon bending over him. "What's wrong?" he demanded.
Naruto glared at him, before vomiting again, he shook his head.
Itachi and Kisame blinked, obviously out of their comfort zone. "Um…" muttered Kisame, "What's happening?"
Itachi blinked, his eyes now a scarlet red Sharingan.
His expression was at first shocked, then angry. He glared at Naruto. "How long?!"
"How long what?" asked Kisame.
Itachi ignored him. "How long!?"
Naruto shook his head, and coughed up more blood.
"How long have you been in this condition!?" spat Itachi, bending down and picking him up by his collar.
Naruto glared at him and spat blood in Itachi's face. Itachi totally ignored it and repeated his question. "Ab…out…a…m…" He coughed up some more blood. "Month!"
Itachi glared at him and set him down. "Why didn't you say anything!?"
Naruto shot him a look that said. Are you kidding me?
Suddenly Itachi sighed, "He can't travel like this."
He vanished into the forest.
Kisame sighed and sat down, wondering what was going on. He watched Naruto cough up more blood until Itachi returned, which was about thirty minutes later.
"I…t…thought…w…we…were…suppose…ed…to g…go somewh...ere!" cough Naruto.
"I didn't have time to set up such a complex barrier…" explained Itachi. "They were only about ten minutes behind us…now they're about an hour…chasing our Shadow Clones."
Naruto coughed up some more blood.
Itachi was instantly beside him, Sharingan activated, hand glowing green.
Naruto met those red eyes evenly. "C…can you fix it Doc?" he asked sarcastically, surprisingly not coughing.
Itachi ignored him, but soon backed away. "You're body and chakra system is a total mess…"
"I…k…know!" spat Naruto, when he coughed there was less blood.
It took awhile for Itachi's healing jutsu to fully take effect…but even when it did Naruto knew what he had couldn't be fixed for long.
It was about three hours later when they all stiffened, sensing another presence, "Someone's close."
-Sakura-
Silence...
They ran in silence through the trees. Her partner didn't say a word, and kept his eyes forward.
Suddenly he stopped and motioned to her. They were close.
Through the trees they saw them. Itachi, looking around, Kisame holding an annoyed looking Naruto.
In a flash Sasuke flew out of the bushes and attacked Kisame, who vanished with a puff of smoke. "Another clone!" he growled.
Sakura was instantly beside the Naruto, who was coughing up blood.
As soon as she saw the blood her heart stopped and she pushed the clone to the ground.
She did a quick medical examination and gasped in horror. "Has Itachi healed you?"
"Not sure..." choked the clone. He smiled up at her. "I've missed you."
She stared down at him...even if it was his clone he was still a part of him...he'd get the memory later. Then suddenly she kissed him. He blinked at her and smiled softly, before coughing up more blood.
"Don't bother coming..." the clone said suddenly. "I don't have much time left..."
"Where are you?" she demanded, grabbing him by his collar.
"I'm not..." He bent over and coughed up blood into his hand. "Sure..."
"I won't let you die Naruto!" she whimpered.
Naruto opened his mouth but suddenly a kunai lodged itself into the clone's neck. It vanished in a puff of smoke.
Sakura turned to glare at the Itachi clone before it do, disappeared.
"How much time?" asked Sasuke.
"Not enough..." whispered Sakura. "We have to hurry...if they don't have a medical ninja with them..."
There was no need to even finish the sentence they were both flying off in the other direction.
-Naruto-
Kisame and Itachi instantly relaxed, but they still looked annoyed as figure came out of the shadows. "Hey guys! I see you set up the barrier Itachi!"
Itachi gave the figure and small nod.
"Then that must mean he's hurt!"
Naruto stared at the man, not sure if he was supposed to laugh or curse...who was this guy? Was this a joke? He stared at the uncoordinated man, with his stupid obnoxious orange mask. Then Naruto realized something. Please tell me I don't look that stupid in orange...
A dark chuckle came from the depths of his mind. You look even more stupid in orange.
Naruto felt hurt...he though he looked absolutely stunning in orange. Worse than Bushy-Brow's suit?
The chuckle returned. You're awful concerned about something unimportant...
That's when he realized the newcomer had been talking to him. "Huh...what...?"
The newcomer was holding out a gloved hand. "I'm Tobi!"
Naruto wasn't sure what to do, but Tobi saved him the trouble by taking his hand and rapidly shaking it. "I've heard a lot about you!" he said eagerly.
What's up with this guy? thought Naruto, his eye twitching.
Tobi let go of his hand and bounded...literally over to Itachi. "So Itachi-san...what's wrong with him?" he demanded, his voice suddenly serious...and deadly.
Naruto felt confusion swirl through his head. Have mood swings much? he thought, still staring at the suddenly serious Tobi.
"Take a look..." sighed Itachi, sounding like he'd seen the mood swing one to many times to fine it annoying.
Tobi swung his head and Naruto and did not speak, he just stared from behind the mask. "Ahh...it's bad..." he noted.
Kisame shot him and look that obviously showed his dislike for the man.
Tobi walked up to Naruto and shoved him to the ground. "Don't move..." he ordered, clear authority in his voice.
Naruto was to tired to even try, but he could practically hear Tobi smirk. Tobi's hands began to glow green and he placed them right over the seal.
Naruto sighed as instantly relief from the pain came. He stared at Tobi. "How did you do that?"
"I know a lot..." said Tobi simply. He sounded distant as if he was thinking about something else.
-Kiba-
The loud-mouthed dog-lover rode on top of his long time companion. He stroked Akumaru absentmindedly behind his huge ear. A low rumble, sorta like a purr...rose out of the dog's throat.
Kiba smiled and scratched an little harder. The dog's tail wagged.
"I'm tired!"
Kiba's smile vanished as he turned to stare at someone who he desperately wanted to strangle. "Do you ever shut up!?"
Karin huffed. "I miss Sasuke-kun..."
"I'm sure he doesn't miss you..." mumbled Kiba.
"What'd you say!" roared Karin.
"Nothing, nothing..." said Kiba quickly.
Suddenly Akumaru stopped and Karin came crashing into him, they both slide off the dog and landed face first in the dusty ground.
Kiba pushed Karin off of him. "What is it boy?" he demanded, totally ignoring her.
Akumaru growled and Kiba was instantly on his feet.
"What is it?" asked Karin loudly.
"Shut up!" spat Kiba. "It's Akatsuki..."
"We have to find Sasuke!" whispered Karin.
The bushes rustled and out stepped a tall figure, a grin on his face. "Well what do we have here?"
-Karin-
Karin darted through the forest gasping for breath. She looked around wilding, trying to get away, to find Sasuke.
Then as if kami had granted her wish she darted through a bush and ran right into him. "Sasuke-kun!" she squealed.
"What do you want!?" he growled at her, standing back up and dusting off his clothes.
"Akatsuki!" she gasped. "The Inuzuka's trying to hold him off..."
"Take us there!" said Sakura suddenly emerging.
Karin looked angry, but glanced at Sasuke, who nodded. Then she sighed and darted back the direction she had come from.
She led them back to the clearing...only there was a problem...Kiba was gone.
A low whimper came from within the forest.. Sakura darted across the forest and about three miles later she found a bloody Akumaru with all four legs broken. The dog whimpered softly as Sakura slowly began to heal the dog's legs.
Her heart was pounding...this was bad...this was really really bad...if Akumaru was in this state what happened to Kiba? She shook the thought away. Then Akumaru bravely sat up and dragged himself forward then stopped and whimpered. Sakura looked confused, but she followed the dog, which laid down, its nose pointing that way.
Sakura tried to take another step, but something she couldn't see stopped her...a barrier. "Sasuke! Karin!" she called, knowing they had followed her at least half way to where she was now. They were instantly there. "Look..." she said.
Sasuke's Sharingan activated. "Chakra is flowing through it..." he mumbled. "Actually chakras..."
"Then it won't be easy to break..." said Sakura.
"Why would we break it?" asked Karin dumbly.
"Because obviously somebody is trying to keep us out..." said Sakura.
"Or something in..." mumbled Karin.
Sakura blinked. "I suppose..."
Sasuke sighed. "Let's get the others...not a single one of us can break his on our own...but together..."
"But what about Kiba?"
"More than likely he's inside the barrier."
-Naruto-
Kisame had left to escape Tobi, Itachi was 'resting' his eyes, and Tobi was chattering on to no one.
Naruto sighed, the memory of his clone that encountered Sakura had returned to him...and he felt horribly great...great because he saw her face...horrible because he probably would never see it again.
Then suddenly a voice came. "Hey look who I found!" came Kisame's voice. Naruto looked up at the grinning shark/fish man.
Naruto's eyes met Kiba's at the same time. Kiba looked absolutely horrible...covered in horrible wounds that Kisame would have never dared give a Jinchuuriki.
Kiba smiled weakly. "I guess I found you..." he said simply.
"Great job..." said Naruto, not looking away from Kiba.
"Why'd you bring him back Kisame? Why didn't you just kill him?" asked Itachi.
Kiba and Naruto both stiffened at the same time.
"No wait! This could be entertaining!" said Tobi.
They both relaxed when Itachi remained silent. Kisame threw Kiba down and back through the barrier.. You see...Naruto knew exactly how it worked by now...it was made up of the chakra of all the Akatsuki memebers...and it would only allow the people with those chakra signatures to pass through it...so in other words...Akatsuki could go in and out...nobody else could unless they were allowed in by a member.
Kiba looked confused. "Why haven't you broken out of here yet?" he asked Naruto once he saw neither of them were going to be bound.
"Go ahead and try..." said Tobi. "It won't work."
Kiba looked doubtful. He put his hands together. "Gatsuuga!" He became a whirlwind of gray that flew through the air, until it hit the invisible barrier on the other side. He fell to the ground cursing.
"Told you..." said Tobi, sounding like he won the lottery. Kisame jumped back into the barrier. "Nobody else but him is out there..." he announced.
Naruto sighed, and stood up, wincing as he put pressure on his left leg...his right was completely healed...but his left had been broken in about three different places...so it was still painful to walk on.
The Akatsuki members eyes followed him as he limped over to Kiba and sat down, sighing in relief.
Kisame yawned and sounded bored. "Oh he can walk now...maybe I'll need to break some more bones tonight..."
Naruto flinched and Kiba stared at him with wide eyes. "Naruto..."
"Why are you guys with Sasuke?" he asked suddenly.
"Huh? Oh right...well you see...either of us had enough people to take Akatsuki on...so we sorta joined forces...I donno...Sakura and Shikamaru handled the whole thing..." said Kiba.
"Oh..." said Naruto, staring at the sky. "They should give up..."
"Why!?" demanded Kiba. "You're the one who always say you'll never give up no matter what!"
Naruto locked Kiba in the eye and then said simply. "I think I'm dying."
"How can you think your dying?" asked Kiba.
Naruto just shook his head.
An hour filled with an annoying Tobi and pointless conversations passed before Naruto's hand flew up to his mouth.
A stream of red liquid ran between his fingers as he began to cough a vomit. This was more blood than usual...maybe he'd actually die this time...yeah that would be fine with him.
Kiba stared at him horrified, as once again Tobi got dead serious and used the strange medical jutsu to heal Naruto...again.
Tobi shook his head and back away as soon as he was done with the jutsu. "I'm tired...wake me up if he starts puking again!" he said sounding bored.
Naruto sighed and glanced at Kiba. "Who all is trying to find me?"
"Well officially...you, me, Sakura, Lee, Neji, Chouji, and Shikamaru are all considered rouge ninja..." said Kiba simply.
"That's just wonderful..." sighed Naruto. "Why didn't you tell Tsuande!?" he demanded.
"You think she would have let us go?"
"She let me go after Sasuke..."
"There wasn't time..." argued Kiba. "Sakura was going to go on her own..."
"Baka!" said Naruto suddenly. "I told her it wasn't safe around me..."
"Naruto...she doesn't care about Akatsuki..."
"It's not about that..." said Naruto quietly. "It's about me..."
"You can control the Kyuubi," growled Kiba getting pissed.
Naruto shook his head. "I..I..." he tried to find a way to explain it without sounding morbid...he couldn't, so he told the truth, in a whisper. "I tried to kill myself...it stopped my arm...it controlled my arm when I wasn't even using it's chakra!"
Kiba's face turned red. "You did WHAT!?" he growled. "How could you be so stupid!? You should have seen Sakura the past few days...if she found out..."
"She won't...right?"
"Not from me..."
"Good."
"You're going to tell her!" said Kiba angrily.
"Not a chance!"
"Would you rather me do this in front of her?"
He grabbed Naruto's wrist and pulled the sleeve down to reveal rows of faded red scars down his arm.
Naruto wrenched him arm away. "That is none of your business!" he spat, rolling the sleeve back down.
"Naruto...why would you hurt yourself like that!?"
"Great now ever you're preaching to me...come on Kiba...try to understand!"
"I would never try to do something so stupid!"
They both faced away from each other. Tobi watched them, laughing to himself.
After he cooled down Naruto sighed. "Let's not worry about this now..."
"Agreed...we have bigger problems..." replied Kiba.
Naruto nodded. "Look Kiba...as soon as we get out of here I'm leaving on my own again..." Kiba opened his mouth but Naruto beat him to it. "Don't argue now, you can do that later! But for now...we're in this together."
Hint: Reviews make me happy...and when I'm happy I write more XP
Anyway it's like 1:00 in the morning...so yeah...I'm tired...I stayed up to finish this ASAP...anyway I have insomina so it's no big deal
Night everybody...or...morning