Okay, so apparently hates me: I cannot upload actual normal chapters. Anything over 1000 words and I am stuck rolling the dice every time I try or hit save, whether I upload a whole document (.odt, .docx), copy and paste, or a bit of both. I thought once it was just because I had a HUGE chapter, but it seems to be anything a little bit substantial. Put in a request at the help desk. We will see.
What this means for you as readers! Not much, except that updates are slow because it literally took me days to get just this up, opening the file to add one paragraph at a time. This and the next chapter were all one chapter, but I thought maybe I could split it and give you two smaller chapters so I could at the very least get it posted. I'm not a fan of splitting such an important chunk into smaller chapters, but it's the best I can do without delaying my already late update any further (remember when I promised it was going to be relatively soon last update...yeah...this is the crap I've been dealing with).
ALSO, be prepared for an author's note at the end of next chapter that is explanatory of a bunch of stuff. While lengthy, I think it's important so if you wouldn't mind perusing it, that'd be great. Onward! Enjoy!
Naruto's eyes creaked open. The world was blurry at first, but with a few more rapid blinks, it was all coming into view. The lightweight, pale panelling of the ceiling where halogen lights were situated in parallel rows, the crisp sheets cover his body, and the small plastic devise that looked like a clothes pin on his finger glowing a gentle red.
He felt the bed dip on one side and met a pair of aqua eyes, then felt a cool hand press against his forehead.
"Hey, great you're awake." Ino said with a smile. Naruto sat up, not brushing Ino's hand away, but she dropped it anyway to give him space. The next hand that met his forehead was his own large limb as he rubbed across his eyes and forehead while he attempted to clear his bedraggled mane out of his line of sight. As he righted himself in way of waking routine she would have thought cute on a man who wasn't so immature and annoying, Ino continued to be a soothing voice to someone who almost died and woke up in a strange place. Having not much else to say but the same stuff she heard from the families of the patients she shared with Sakura at the hospital, she felt like the words sounded pretty hollow, but she meant them all the same. Funny how cliches work that way. "You really worried us there for a second, especially Sakura. She'll be so happy."
Naruto stilled and his clear, deep blue eyes found Ino's, shock clearly coloring them with disbelief.
"What?" he croaked. He cleared his throat, attempted to get the frog out while Ino offered him a cup of water. He took a quick sip, wanting to understand what Ino more than lubricating his throat. Before he could finish swallowing, Ino repeated and attempted to clarify, wondering if the memory of the event had been lost with maybe a large blow to the head.
"You had a pretty horrific fight with Sasuke and his team." Ino said the last word with absolute, blatant disdain, but that was in defense of her friends and her village more than herself. Growing up had shown her that the younger Uchiha, while dangerously good looking and a prodigy, was not what she was looking for, nor good enough for her best friend. He was single-mindedly preoccupied with the insane amount of baggage he carried and with murderous tendencies to boot, not to mention the weirdness that went along with the curse seal...hand wings? Ew. Besides, if looks and prowess were something she was intently focused on finding in a man, it's not like there weren't more than a few specimens in Konoha for her to ensnare with her feminine wiles, though there was one in particular with a crop top that somehow she didn't find in the least bit silly for a man to wear. In fact, it often gave her a good view of musculature that was sometimes neglected in attention, the paraspinal muscles on his lower back, right near the dip before the rear. Oh yes, those. Sigh. "How you found him is beyond me, what with all the hide-and-seek that has been going on for years and years."
Naruto frowned with a look of impatience clearly written across his face. "But-"
Ino held up a hand, palm towards him. "Please, let me finish. Anyway," she said pointedly, "those guys basically had a four on one fight with you until we showed up, though we were able to get in a few good blows ourselves, enough to knock out all of them and bring Sasuke with us." At the mention of his teammates name, Naruto's eyes darkened, but he kept dutifully silent in the presence of such a forceful woman knowing she would get to the point eventually and she continued on.
"Unfortunately, you were heavily injured, so we came to the hospital we had heard about..." she trailed off, unsure whether or not to let Naruto know that the details of the hospital had been given to Kakashi in the scroll delivered by Kossori.
"Anyway, you were brought here, and we thought you might not make it. The first doctor that saw you, a civilian guy, could not treat you. Lo and behold, in a civilian disguise, who was here to take over, but Sakura. She'll be back in a minute, she was just taking care of some business."
Naruto had stopped listening at "heavily injured." Movement had caught Naruto's eye over Ino's shoulder, and coming through the doorway was his precious person that he thought he would never see again.
"Oh, Naruto. Thank goodness you're okay." She made her way over to the side of the bed, a bright smile on her face, and when she was within reach, Naruto's hand ensnared her wrist and he pulled her to him. She toppled onto the bed, her limbs entangling with his and they quickly became a mass of sheets and body.
"Oi, Naruto!" she reprimanded with a scowl as she tried to right herself, "You gotta take it easy!" His arms, however, that had encircled her held her fast, with one hand tenderly cradling the back of her head and the other crushing the air out of her.
"S-sakura," Naruto croaked, his face buried in her hair. The rosy locks hid visual evidence of his tears, but Sakura knew they dropping into her hair, and felt her own throat closing in emotion. Sakura breathed in astonishment, "Naruto."
Naruto, tightened his grip, and gasped with a sob, "I thought I'd lost you." She tried to meet his eyes by tilting her head back from it's place in the crook of his neck, but he kept his face pressed to her, like if he let go, she would disappear. Sakura returned the affection unbidden, wrapping her arms around him and mumbling against his collar bone, "Idiot. I almost lost you."
Ino stayed silent, watching the loving friends reunite, but soon found herself looking around the room for the person chopping onions.
After what was probably close to five minutes, Naruto finally released the back of Sakura's head, though his arm migrated to lay atop his other one, effectively bear-trapping her in a hug, but letting her look at him as she spoke. At first she didn't though, and his heart warmed as she continued to lay her head under his chin. Sakura knew this may have surprised her corn-haired companion, the history of their relationship being somewhat violent at times, though all in good fun, but there was no way she could ever explain to him in words how much she had missed him.
"Sakura," he began. Sakura swore that even in the last few months his voice had grown deeper, and a wave of nostalgia hit her, but she remained silent. "What are you doing here? What happened?"
The pink-haired girl sighed, "Oh, Naruto, it's such a long story. I was here for a mission." As she recalled an abridged version of her tale, she tried to avoid unsavory or private parts, but she knew Naruto, while sometimes painfully optimistic and naive, understood the mission she was given and the part she played in it. He was respectful, though, and for that she was grateful. Instead of questioning her, he trusted her implicitly, and was soon nudging her to the foot of his bed so he could throw back the 10-count sheets.
"What're you doing?" Ino asked from the chair near the door where she had been resting her cheek on her knuckles.
Naruto gave her owlish eyes. "We gotta go help, don't we?" Ino gave him a deadpan look before gesturing between herself and Sakura with a pointed index finger.
"We do," she emphasized, "But you almost died. You need to rest and recuperate. Right, Sakura?" Disbelief etched into his face, Naruto let out a whine.
"No way, Sakura-chaaaan," he drew out her name, and she winced. She refused to meet his large, pleading eyes, averting her own only to meet the blue ones of her other blonde teammate who was looking critical.
"Oh, come on, Forehead. You know as well as anyone the damage he just went through. There's no way he would be good to go into battle, if there is one."
She had a point there, but Sakura was really hoping that—being as outnumbered as they were—the loyal Akatsuki in the house, which looked to be only Tobi, would be not too keen on a fight, then all they would have to worry about was Sasuke and whomever else he had following him around.
"I'll give him a quick scan," Sakura said, knowing that it was likely that his distinct chakra had him basically recovered and ready to go, with reserves to spare. However, this put on a show for Ino to let her know, 'Hey, you've backed me up, I'll back you up.'
It took but a moment, then Sakura was relenting, and it was Ino's turn to give complaint, but Sakura only shrugged helplessly. "What's the point, Pig? His chakra levels are immense—greater than ours right now—and we healed him along the way. Honestly, it would be silly not to bring him with us."
To her right, Naruto punched the air and crowed, "Yata!" Ino rolled her eyes, but admitted that Sakura was right. Sakura's face lit up.
"Oh! Speaking of our chakra levels," she said, reaching into her pocket and tossing a small pill to Ino. "Better take some of these, we'll need it."
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Itachi sat on the front stoop, waiting for his brother with his katana strapped to his back. He worried for Sakura, since she hadn't come back from work on time, but with the approach of his sibling's familiar chakra signal, he guessed it was only a matter of time until he felt Sakura's cool, soothing chakra brush against his senses.
However, as his Sasuke's became stronger signaling his approach, Sakura's remained absent. Worry blossomed in his heart as he finally saw the dark head of his brother broach the horizon. He resigned to trusting Sakura's skills to keep herself safe, hoping to Kami that his brother hadn't made the same mistake twice.
He blinked when he saw the hospital scrubs similar to Sakura's, wondering what had happened, but knowing that if he asked, he would only receive stony silence from his brother. Instead, he stood and began to make his way to meet him.
Above him, sitting on the roof, Tobi and Kisame watched absent Deidara who was floating out of sight, wanting to be as far away from this family feud as possible. Oddly enough, the clay bird on which the explosive's expert perched on continued to circle the hospital while his long-range eye piece was trained on the Akatsuki house.
Itachi waited patiently for his brother to speak, but Sasuke was checking his rage while examining his brother. He looked like he did back when they were kids, darks pants and a shirt, dark eyes. Had the setting not been set for his final revenge, Sasuke could picture this having been a home, where he was returning to his family after a long mission. His older brother continued to be frustratingly silent. Unable to take the silence, Sasuke opened his mouth to speak.
But before he could, a gruff voice came from the ground to his side. "I wouldn't do this, kid." A pug sat on his haunches, eyeing him warily. He recognized it as one of Kakashi's contracted ninken. Not answering the dog, Sasuke looked over his shoulder, and was in disbelief at what he saw.
The pale one that had accompanied Sakura and Naruto previously to Orochimaru's stronghold, Kiba, and Akamaru, all lead by Kakashi, were standing in a tensely at the treeline. Coincidentally, Suigetsu and Jugo had materialized from the forest, surveying the Konoha team with poorly veiled interest. Sasuke eyed them, but made no effort to acknowledge either team. His gaze turned back to his brother, and he said, "This is the end. Today, I will take my vengeance, and you will die."
Itachi closed his eyes, both weary and relieved that this would soon be over.
"Very well, little brother," he said, opening his eyes to reveal the fierce crimson that matched his brother's intense gaze.
They disappeared from where they stood and rematerialized as they clashed in the neutral space between them. The team started forward to intervene, but the masked Akatsuki member materialized before them, cocking his head to the side and suggesting lightly, "We all should probably let them deal with this on their own, ne?"
Akamaru growled at the newcomer, and Kiba felt the same edginess that had his canine companion riled. "Something's off about this guy, Kakashi," he growled lowly, and the team leader was quick to silently agree.
Out of earshot but within sight, Naruto, Ino, and Sakura raced up the hill. Ino saw their team located Sasuke, but with the extra additions of the Akatsuki and Team Hebi, she thanked Sakura again for the soldier pill. Sakura, however, had her attentions firmly fixed on the two Uchiha siblings, standing across each other to square off. When she lost sight of them however, she knew she was losing time. If she was too late, one of them would most certainly die.
A shadow passed overhead, and Sakura looked up. Buzzing passed was Deidara on one of his clay creations.
"Need a lift, hm?"
Ino and Naruto leaped aboard with Sakura, trying to waste as little time as possible. "I need you to drop me right on top of them. I've got to get them to stop," Sakura instructed as they rose into the air, but Deidara was too focused on Ino, who in turn was staring at him as well.
"What are you looking at?" she asked cagily, not liking the attention from the known criminal. He gave her a feral smile, "A mirror apparently." He turned his attention to Naruto, who he had previously encountered, but certainly not in the same get up. He pointed at Naruto with a goading smile. "What's with the dress?"
"It's a hospital gown, Deidara and pay attention!" Sakura snapped. Deidara made a show of putting his hands up defensively and huffing, "Alright, alright! Gees." Ino watched the exchange, perplexed. They squabbled like a brother or sister, or an old married couple. Naruto met her gaze and shrugged.
By now they had reached the point over the top of the house, and Kisame waved at them casually with one hand while he slung Samehada over his back with the other. Deidara hummed thoughtfully, and Sakura met him with an inquisitive look.
"I haven't seen that thing out in a while," he mused.
Ino spoke up, "What does that mean?" Deidara looked at her over his shoulder, enjoying the defensive body language and the don't-fuck-with-me look she gave as he did so. No wonder she was friends with Pinky. Was the fire region full of short-tempered women?
"Well, a true coup usually has a bit of fighting, right? I was kinda doubtful that he would actually want to get involved. Seems like he's taking this at least a little serious, yeah."
Sakura was starting to like their odds, that is, until Deidara casually muttered to himself, "Or maybe he's just excited to kill someone, yeah." She did her best to ignore him as she noticed Tobi stepping up to her team from Konoha. After months of living in the same house with the man, 'Man? Maybe, who knows….nah, probably' she still had yet to know anything about his abilities or really much of who he was. The others in the house either didn't seem keen to divulge—most likely a result from their ignorance—or didn't know a thing. She was surprised to learn from Itachi that he had no real knowledge either.
"I wasn't paired with him," was all he had told her. The person he knew about the most was Kisame, and even there he didn't know much about him personally, only what he had learned and needed to know to function as a team.
"Deidara," Sakura called, "If you know any little bit about Tobi that would help, now would be the time to tell me."
He at least had the decency to give it a second of thought, before shrugging and apologizing. Sakura let out a frustrated sigh, "Fine. Can you keep the bird up right here until I get down there?"
Deidara wasn't looking directly at her as he was adjusting his scope to get a closer look at the action below, but answered her with a clipped but accommodating, "Yep."
"Okay, Naruto," Sakura started, pulling on her gloves. "I need you to get me down there as fast as you can. But first, each of you take these. And be careful with them. If you're not, I'll probably kill you myself."
In her cupped hand Sakura held three little Katsuyus, all about the size of a pill bottle. Ino put the little slug upon her shoulder while Naruto looked at the little slug with awe in his palm. Deidara refused to take his even as Sakura insisted, so she placed it in her medic pouch while Ino sputtered, "But wait a second! I thought you contracted with the cats."
"I was able to figure out multiple contracts," Sakura said without much more explanation. Truth be told, she had wanted to contract with the cats since she was a kid, even after their debacle of a D rank mission. However, under the tutelage of Tsunade, it was clear she was going to have to contract with the slugs as well. She was honestly quite happy to have a bit of both, each having their own specialty, and she didn't want to have to rely on Katsuyu as a summon if she were caught in battle with Tsunade. That would leave one of them high and dry. It actually had taken considerably less effort to have two contracts than she had estimated, and she was thankful to be prepared.
"How much weight can this bird take? We need to accommodate some shadow clones." Deidara gave her a quizzical look.
"How many?"
Sakura gave a dry laugh as she looked at Naruto, "A metric fuckton." Deidara laughed, and shook his head.
"Let's just make this quick. I think you've been around us for too long."
Out of a poof of smoke, a great number of Narutos appeared. The original braced himself and asked her, "Are you ready?"
Sakura nodded, eyes intently focused on the dueling brothers below and the advancing threat that was Hebi. Her ankles were grabbed by a pair of hands, all that grabbed each other's ankles in a large ladder. Undulation started at the base of the line of bodies heaving Sakura into the air. Once at the pinnacle, there was a moment where while immobile, Sakura judged her distance.
With her hair floating up around her face, Sakura felt the gradual beginnings of her downward motion rapidly evolving into Naruto-induced momentum. At the pinnacle of her speed, she squinted here eyes to keep focus as they watered.
"Here we go!" Naruto yelled, letting go. Sakura rocketed toward the earth, gathering and focusing chakra into her petite fist. The ground was approaching rapidly, and Sakura was positioned to land between the two Uchiha.
"Shannaro!" she cried.
Sasuke was crouched down, ready to spring back towards his brother from where he was thrown, but as his muscles responded to his bidding, a bullet streaked toward the ground and an explosion many times greater that of an exploding tag fractured the ground, sending dirt and debris in all directions. He was forced to cover his face with his arm to avoid debris and he was thrown off kilter by the lurching of the ground on which he took his stance. When the dust had finally settled, standing in the middle of a sizable crater among the rubble was a ghost. She stared him down with blazing green eyes while her hair settled around her collar like petals falling from a blossoming tree.
"You have to stop this, Sasuke," Sakura said to him, her back to his brother, like she was protecting him, like she trusted him. He had heard the briefing she had given Kakashi.
"Itachi is not our enemy. What we need to do is retrieve him from his mission, as well as bring any of the members of the Akatsuki who are willing to leave. I have confirmation on two," she had said in hushed tones. He continued to lay supine, feigning sleep while she continued to give directions on where the team would continue on. She planned on going to Itachi and briefing him as well, and expected all of them to meet her there by sunrise tomorrow.
That gave him his time window. This was his last chance to take vengeance on his brother. All Sakura kept saying was gibberish, and it was clear that not all of the company exactly bought what she was saying. Who knows? It could be worse than he thought if Itachi was using her mind as a play thing and luring more of Konoha into his lunacy. He would end this first chance he got, and no one was getting in his way.
"You don't know what you're talking about," he told her, glaring at her in both disappointment and annoyance. It seemed everything was worse than he could have imagine with his brother. Not only had he taken his entirely family from him, but now he was using an old teammate—and what he probably thought was a romantic interest—to his advantage. Well, it wasn't going to work.
Sakura stood their defiantly, "Sasuke, you need to listen. All of this, all of what happened to you was to protect you. I know it doesn't seem that way, but your brother is not at fault here!"
"He made his choice," he snarled. "He made the choice to kill our entire clan. He made the choice to slay our parents in front of my eyes, and instill me the vengeance to kill him."
"To save you. Your clan was marked for extermination when they planned a coup."
Sasuke scoffed. "Likely story." He eyed her with disdain. "Don't you get it, Sakura? He's toying with you, using you. Now," he said, advancing dangerously on her. "Get out of my way." Sakura's eyes shown with frustrated tears. She heard Itachi call her name softly behind her, trying to persuade her in his own way to leave it alone.
"No!" she shouted and put her hand out to give a nonverbal signal to Itachi not to try to move around her as well as a command to Sasuke that she was not going to back down so easily. She watched as Suigetsu and Jugo walked up to flank Sasuke.
Tobi also gave his own input, dangerously close to her ear. If he hadn't a mask on, she would feel his breath tickle her cheek. She tensed, unsettled by the fact that she hadn't known he had even moved from where he had been standing.
"Best to let the Uchiha settle this," he offered in his trademark light, high voice. But then, it got lower, gruff, and sent unpleasant chills down her spine. "Ne, Sakura-chan?"
Sakura kept her head still and turned her eyes to looked at his mask so close to her face. Her hackles rose. Instinctually sensing the danger emanating from him, and she lashed out at Tobi. Her fist passed right through him like he wasn't even there, catching her off balance. She recovered quickly and luckily for her he didn't immediately retaliate. She felt a rush of wind and realized that while she had her attention on Tobi, Sasuke had taken the opportunity to speed passed her, again aiming to slay his brother.
She turned to move toward and stop him, but Tobi swung his leg out, catching her at the ankles and send her sprawling against an overturned piece of land. He made to come after her, but an ink beast in the image of a shisa blocked her from his view, effectively protecting her. Sai stood with inked brush in hand, eyes focused intently on the masked man ahead of him. Ino ran up beside him, ready to assist and yelled toward Sakura, "We have this covered! Go!"
Sakura took not another second, sending a silent thank you to her friend and made her way toward the feuding brothers once more. This time, however, in her way stood Suigetsu and Jugo. Sakura faced a similar issue with these two as she had met when it came to Tobi: she had no idea the strength or abilities of these two nin. Knowing Sasuke, he wouldn't surround himself with weak or useless people, though Karin wasn't the strongest, Sakura was sure that she possessed some sort of desirable quality.
Sakura took a deep breath, trying to control her deep seeded desperation to reach the two people she loved. "Please move," she tried.
"We've got orders from Sasuke. No one is to intervene." Sakura lost her patience.
"You stupid, thick-headed-"
"Girly," a rough voice rumbled to her side. Kisame stood beside her, Samehada still slung casually over his shoulder. "Go on ahead, I'll take care of that one." He indicated the man with the large blade. That left her the big orange man. "Alright, I'll take that one."
No sooner did she make toward Jugo did a small explosion sound in front of the man. She looked up, relieved to see Deidara's bird fly overhead from which Naruto disembarked, landing beside her. He seemed to size up Jugo, and turned briefly to Sakura to say, "Bring him home."
"No," she said. "Not alone. He's yours, too."
Naruto looked gave her an incredulous look, while sending a wary look to the large man before him. "Are you crazy?"
"I'm not doing this without you, Naruto! You know we have a better shot together."
"It's fine, mate," Kiba said as he stepped up with Kakashi to meet Jugo's gaze and pointed toward the clay bird swooping overhead. "I can help that one."
Sakura laid a hand on Kiba's shoulder in thanks, shortly thereafter taking off at a sprint with Naruto beside her.
Sasuke felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle, and he turned just in time to barely dodge a swiftly formed rasengan from Naruto only to meet a well timed kick from Sakura. He blocked it with his forearm, but heard as well as felt the painful crunch of broken bones as well as the pop of his shoulder displacing. He stared the two of them down, his attention momentarily off of his brother. This would be a little more difficult than he thought. He set his teeth and set his shoulder back into place.
Behind them, Kisame and Suigetsu were matching each other blow for blow. Kisame admitted with some chagrin that this cat was a better swordsman than he had anticipated, even went so far as comparing him with the late Zetsu. Samehada groaned in his hands, impatient for chakra and for blood. She was still in her bindings, and Kisame longed for an opportune time to unfurl her, but such was that he was being kept on his toes by this brat.
Suigetsu on the other hand was having a wonderful time. He hadn't been looking forward to fighting the pink-haired one, nor any of the Fire nation nin, but this guy was just his speed. He was almost giddy with bloodlust. The sounds of their swords cutting through the air with every swing, the predatory gaze that mirrored his own on the face of the swordsman that looked more animal than man with accompaniment from background booms was the type of music he could dismember a person to.
Upwind with Sasuke's attention focused elsewhere, Itachi watched somewhat bereft as the three teammates clashed together. Itachi felt like he was outnumbered here, Sakura's vote probably counting for more than one knowing her tenacity. He didn't find the necessity in fighting anyone else to allow his brother to reach him, but this wasn't how it was supposed to go. He felt helpless to stop it, but he supposed that is what happens when the next generation of nin find themselves in decision making positions. Though the senior member here was obviously Kakashi who was eyeing him with what could be described as a casual air, though with his extensive training in reading of body language and even with his degrading eyesight, Itachi knew better. Kakashi was wary at best, but willing to trust Sakura as he trusted her.
And Itachi knew fire nin, as he was such. An order from the Hokage was followed until the very end, if need be, as he had. Their orders were what Sakura's orders were, and that included him alive, included Sasuke alive, and deep down Itachi knew better than to fight against them for that.
His eyes drifted back to Sasuke, whose movements gave tell to his anger and frustration, for every move he made toward his sessile older brother, he was blocked by one of his teammates who incessantly tried to talk him down. Itachi disappeared from Sasuke's view, and heard his roar of rage as he stepped up to Kakashi, relaying some very important information low and quick.
Kakashi stiffened and looked across the field where Ino and Sai were gaining zero ground on Tobi. Kakashi's breath blew out hot into his mask, "Are you certain?" Itachi fixed scarlet eyes on Kakashi and nodded. "We go assist them, with our two sharingan against his, we should be able to tip the balance in our favor," the silver haired man murmured.
"Let us not forget," Itachi interjected, "That his sharingan is the most developed, without a doubt."
Kakashi nodded in affirmation and they took off, careful to not get caught in the melee that had taken over the hillside. With his one last look over his shoulder, Itachi caught sight of Naruto careening through the air toward the attic window that had been Sakura's room, which caved in in a mass of glass and splintered wood as he struck it. However, it was Kakashi who heard Sakura's shout and could just barely see the blear that was Itachi changing direction toward her as her concern for Naruto distracted her from the threat that was her other teammate. Kakashi felt privately relieved that Itachi had Sakura's back as she had claimed.
Ahead Kiba faced off against Jugo, who seemed to be gaining strength the more enraged he became. Deidara's projected explosives were timed almost naturally with Kiba and Akamaru's twin headed canine assault. Deidara found them easy enough to compliment as he discovered subtle, but unmistakable patterns in their communication, most of it similar to nonverbal one would use with any human teammate. Kiba however, was having a little more difficulty meshing with his new comrade in battle. The damn Akatsuki was high up on his clay bird, far away from most of Jugo's attacks, which meant he and his canine companion were taking the brunt of his offensive assaults. It was an interesting dynamic to be sure: he would attack, as he dropped to the defensive, there would be the quick, but powerful heat and sound of a detonation, and then they were met with the intense counterattack from the orange haired man. Every so often Jugo would scan the skies for Deidara, and that did give Kiba a little extra time to get into good position. The problem was, the two men failed to recognize early on that all of the energy displayed by the bombs was being absorbed by him. His massive chakra reserved soon overwhelmed them both, and Kiba eyes shifted warily about, looking for a way to end this.
Kakashi appeared with a pop on Deidara's bird, resulting in a startled response from the younger man. "Oi, you can't just pop up here and hope I don't blow your ass up, yeah! And in the middle of a freaking battle? The fuck is wrong with you, hm?" Kakashi casually ignored his questions and squawking, nodding a head in the direction of Ino and Sai, who were struggling worse with Tobi. "Trade. You go with them, and I'll help Kiba on the ground. With some luck I'll get him in a genjutsu. You know more about that Akatsuki then either of them or I."
Deidara looked peeved, not loving having orders thrown at him from a Konoha nin, but he just turned his face away in an obvious brush off. "Fine, whatever. Just don't pull this shit again."
Kakashi didn't bother to answer, but instead made his way down to the ground where Kiba had been handling Jugo on his own absent Deidara's help, which he was loathe to admit was so much more necessary than he previously gave credit for. Kakashi, noting Jugo's rage, had further ideas. He was able to get a firm grip on him while substituting a log for himself and use the giant man's momentum to send him flying toward the duel between the two large swordsmen.
Suigetsu would later swear that he was about to land a fatal blow on the shark man when Jugo slammed into him. The idiot didn't even seem to get what the hell was going on and almost lashed out at him, but he was able to move away in time, but not without a brush from Samehada. Damn, that hurt.
Akamaru was hot on Kakashi's heals as he ran toward Kisame, yelling, "To Jugo, leave the other sword to us!"
"Are you kidding? You can't just get in the middle of a duel of two legendary swords! He's mine," he growled the last part when Kakashi reached his side. They were granted momentary reprieve as the two Hebi nin seemed preoccupied with each other.
"I'm serious," Kakashi said. "That orange haired guy has an overabundance of chakra, and he keeps absorbing more from the environment. You're the one to beat him. No one else can." Kakashi wasn't sure about that exactly, but he was willing to play to the swordsman's ego, as it would at least help conclude their battle with less casualties and less time. As he had hoped, Kisame tore at the bandages holding samehada's appearance from view and he chuckled darkly. "Well, when ya put it like that..."
Kakashi nodded, fixing his attention on Suigetsu, not forgetting that he would much rather have took on Obito, knowing that he was the biggest unknown factor in this whole battle. With the information he had been given by Itachi, it only seemed right that he be the one to face that opponent. He was his teammate, he held one of his eyes within his possession, and he was responsible for him turning into this rogue nin. With grim determination, he had to trust the younger generation and a mad artist to protect Sakura from whatever Obito had in store.
Obito barely registered the ink artist and kunoichi before him, as he was much more preoccupied on how he could reach Itachi when he was so concerned about the safety of that pink haired girl. Here he thought that this would be the duel of the ages, the fated brothers finally coming together, but with all the Konoha support and the nine-tailed beast going after Sasuke, this was unfortunately not to his taste. No matter, he would rid Itachi of said distraction.
But shouting vehemently in his face was a girl who apparently had other plans. "If you want Sakura, you're gonna have to deal with me first." Had he spoke out loud? Maybe he had been monologuing. 'No matter,' he thought has the blonde charged him. She threw a punch at him, and Ino was startled off balance as her fist traveled right through him.
'Shitshitshitshitshit,' her mind reeled as she waited for the blow where she was left wide open. However, he didn't counter, just moved again to go around her, but she wasn't going to give up that easily. Ino lashed out again, this time with a spinning kick that she had seen Lee do a million times, knowing that if she missed again, she would have the correct positioning to redirect her momentum, which is exactly what happened as he became intangible once more. This time though, Tobi didn't find suit in just leaving her alone, but came for her, much quicker than she anticipated. He drew a kunai and changed direction toward her, advancing almost too quickly for her to see, but again she was protected by an ink beast of Sai's creation. It was long and lean, on four short, but heavily muscled legs with a looming head. It surrounded Tobi, distracting him long enough for Sai to inform Ino, "He has the sharingan."
Her eyes widened. "Are you serious?" she asked incredulously.
"Why wouldn't I be?" he questioned, unsure of why she would think he would be lying. Ino corrected herself, "I mean to say, are you certain?" Sai focused his chakra on his beast to try and snatch the man in the orange mask up with it's massive jaws while taking a new scroll and drawing with his other pale hand.
"Yes, that is how he is able to become intangible. We will not be able to defeat him while that bloodline is in use." Ino's eyes become somewhat unfocused, jumping back and forth while she gazed at the ground. Her thoughts flew quickly from her mind and the idea came to her so fast she was worried that maybe it wouldn't work. But it was worth a shot, and it was the only plan they had. Without asking Ino reached for Sai's weapons and pulled one of the smaller scrolls he kept there, along with one of his brushes and quickly scribbled a note and a pretty good bird (if she did say so herself).
"Send this up if you can," she said, indicating the message and Deidara in the same sentence. The ink came to life as Sai focused on the bird she drew, and it grasped the message in it's talons, flying it up to Deidara who was intrigued to see another medium in use besides his own. Very respectable.
Deidara closed his left eye and used his right to quickly scan the contents of the note, and signaled his understanding with a large, sweeping wave. Ino stepped as close as she dared to the ink creation as it continued to occupy the Akatsuki. She and Sai would have to time this perfectly: he would have to halt his assault just as Tobi faced Ino. She took her stance, thumbs and forefingers together, the rest of her body tense. She concentrated her chakra, ready to employ her family's technique the minute she had an opening. Not taking the risk to break her line of vision, Ino nodded sharply. Sai took the signal perfectly and immediately dropped his jutsu. The man in the orange mask was now moving directly toward the first thing he saw which was her, weapon finally drawn. Ino had him in her sights before he could react, and his mind was hers.
Ino's body went limp, and began to teeter to one side. Before she could fall to the ground, a gust of wind accompanied the large swooping clay bird that took her safely into the air. Deidara glanced at the seemingly asleep kunoichi and gave an auditory, "I've got her" to Sai. Now within his mind, Ino was struggling. His mind was strong and she would only have a few minutes for this. Shit. This wasn't going to be nearly as graceful or as perfect, but she just would have to settle.
"Sai," she shouted using Obito's voice, "I am going to take his mask off so you have a clear shot. You gotta take his eye out." Her hands were already moving to remove the strap in the back. Sai's ink brush hesitated above the paper for probably the first time in his life.
"Ino, that would cause the same damage to you. Your eye would be lost." The face that showed a grimace of pain and effort, with one eye closed from injury and the other forced wide answered him.
"I know that. At least sever the optical nerve and chakra lines. Trust me. Now do it! I'm slipping!" Obito Uchiha gasped in effort and staggered forward, but kept his one eye open. Inside the mind, Ino wrestled with him, knowing time was precious, but refusing to loose this fight. The thing that jumped from Sai's scroll was something that he hadn't ever drawn before. It looked like a snaking, clawed hand, but all parts were sharp angles and harsh lines. It would do the trick.
It shot to Obito's face, vicious prongs forcing their way passed the soft upper and lower lids, and there was a guttural cry of pain. The man sank to his knees, but kept his chin high to give Sai the best angle. There was pulling and ripping, and the eye was brutally free from the socket.
With the pain response and the renewed fight from her victim, Ino finally relented, hurtling back into her own body that was still laying beside Deidara. As she became conscious, her back arched off the clay and she gasped forcibly in pain, clawing briefly at the bird beneath her hands, before both flew up to her face to cup her damaged eye. While not fully separated from her face, the damage was the same. She felt the viscous, deep red liquid pool behind her eye and squeeze out from under her lids and the inner corner, causing torturous pressure and tearlike bloody streams to trail down her face that became smeared by her hands. Blindly Ino tried to focus her eye, blinked and blinked and blinked, not prepared for how sight loss would feel and not ready for the pain that came with it. She could feel the muscles behind her eye moving, but without the attachment to her orb, it didn't respond well, but in a delayed and uncontrolled roll, which made her stomach turn.
Or maybe it was the deep swoop that the bird took, streaking toward the ground. Ino kept one hand cupped over her eye, grimacing and pushing back thoughts of her pain, and used the other hand to hold on tight, attempting to see their destination. She heard the trill of sharp, pointed objects whiz through the air. Was someone throwing senbon?
What Ino didn't know was that Deidara took her plan one step further. Ino had heard was him throwing explosive, barbed projectiles, much like the ones that had been so successful when he had fought with Sakura, toward Tobi. Below, the blinded man was lashing out. Anyone watching would guess he had snapped, driven mad and clawing at his face, and unable to correctly catch his bearings.
What seemed like an eternity was only seconds. Deidara's aim was flawless, and his clay creations sunk deep into the eye socket of Obito, seated deeply with backwards facing barbs. The force at which they hit the other man was immense, causing his to stumble backward in recoil from pain and as he lost balance. Without hesitation, knowing timing was crucial, Deidara immediately called out, "Kai!" Sai, who stood a few yards away, shielded his face as blood, bits of skull, and brain matter rained onto the surrounding grass.
Ino watched as they buzzed by and—not really caring if the blonde heard her or not—muttered, "Glad you waited to do that until I was out. At least I only lost my eye."
In her ear, Ino was happily surprised to hear the small voice of Katsuyu tell her everything was going to be okay. Ino had forgotten the little slug had been attached to her shoulder, and she was surprised that she had managed to hold fast the entire time. She felt the sting of relieved tears in her good eye as she followed the slug's instruction to place her on her injured eye. It was a strange feeling, Ino thought, to have such a cool (her injury sight was so hot, what with all the swelling and blood flow), smooth, slimy (but she would never be caught saying it like that) creature on your face, splitting into more and putting your body back together. While she concentrated on the slug's instructions ("now try to look to your left...up...down...blink, please"), she sent a message to Sakura, though she didn't even have the energy to tell if it reached her. 'One down. You've got this, Forehead.'
Sakura dug through the rubble of the imploded home. She hefted a heavy beam out of the way and quickly dug through splintered wood and bits of stone to find Naruto. Her old bedroom was now on a sharp angle, the floor leading down into a dark, cavernous pit into the bowels of the house. The metal frame of her bed groaned as she stepped closer to peer down the hole, a testament to its precarious positioning.
"Naruto?" she shouted down the hole. When she got no response, she yelled again, a little more desperate, "Naruto?!"
What little light she had to see down the shaft was eclipsed by shadow.
The sharingan glared at her, and Sakura almost didn't recognize her teammate. When they were both children, he had never really had an entirely pleasant or even neutral expression by default. Brooding seemed like the natural and accepted face for an orphaned, handsome genius with a revenge plan. She had seen him expressive in battles, pushed passed his threshold for calculating calmness. But what was looking at her wasn't angry, cooly collected, or even battle rage.
Hate stared right into Sakura's jade eyes, piecing through her soul. He had changed so much? How could that man have come from the boy she loved?
She was cornered. She had allowed herself to be when she had let her concern for Naruto override her battle instincts and when she had underestimated the malicious malevolence that Sasuke was capable of. With the structural integrity of the house and Naruto's state of health in question, Sakura didn't have much she could use to fight Sasuke. Genjutsu would be useless, and he could set the house ablaze with one katon no jutsu. Luckily, Sakura had acting skills that went beyond seduction.
It took less than a beat for her to form a false look of fright and a gasp, while bringing her hand to her mouth.
While Sasuke threw a smirk at her, she discretely bit a fingertip, not wanting to risk the telling motion of biting a thumb pad. Sakura had to consciously will her eyes not to narrow at his expression. She never really loved being condescended; she liked it even less now that she was older and had clear priorities and worthwhile ambitions, not to mention the jump her skill level had taken. Sakura especially didn't appreciate it coming from a man whose soul purpose in life was to kill his only surviving family member and surrounded himself with sociopathic—and maybe psychotic—people to do so.
'Okay, maybe I can't really talk when it comes to the latter,' she thought to herself as she heard a resounding boom that most likely came from a Deidara original.
Sakura decided to give him one last warning. "Sasuke. God, will you look at yourself? How much of your life has gone into this? And I'm here telling you with absolute certainty that this can all end right now if you just stop. You have to listen to me, trust me!"
Sasuke's face contorted into one of intense rage as he yelled back at her this time, "You have no idea what you are talking about! You are a fool, Sakura! A pathetic!" Sakura felt a pang shoot through her heart "Useless!" Angry tears pricked the back of her eyes, but she refused to let them fall "Weakling! I have been fated to kill my brother, and you stand in the way, as if it is anything to do with you."
Sakura's voice almost cracked with emotion as she argued back, "It has everything to do with me! We are a team: you, me, and Naruto! This is about us!" Sasuke's cruel laugh filled the air, and not for the first time, Sakura felt like she had lost him.
"There is no 'us', Sakura. This is not your place! You will find yours in the grave."
He came at her in an instant, but in that same painfully long instant, she felt it again. The rolling dark chakra that made her stomach lurch. It meant one thing that she could not allow to happen, more than she couldn't allow Sasuke to fight Itachi: Naruto's nine-tails transformation. She didn't trust that fox, even with their new bond. Sasuke closed in as she saw Naruto's hand, curled stiffly into a claw-like shape, rise from the breach in the floor.
Sakura changed tactics quicker than she could consciously think, letting her instinct take over as she let her arm cross her body, and swing outward in a wide arc, delivery a hearty backhand to Sasuke when he was finally within arms' reach. Sakura had pumped it with enough chakra to throw him across the room, resulting in more destruction as he collided with the remnants of the ceiling.
She made eye contact with the slitted pupils and Sakura's gloved hand took Naruto's to hoist him from the pit. "Stop, Naruto. You don't need to do this. It's not worth it!" His eyes, amber in color, found hers and softened as she squeezed her hand.
"Come on, now. We can do this together. We will bring him home." Her voice was calm and soft, but Naruto saw the strong determination in the set of her jaw, the lines of her fair eyebrows. Without much else thought, his eyes were blue again, and he was squeezing Sakura's hand in return.
The dry snaps from breaking wood reach their ears as Sasuke pulled himself from the wreckage. Blood leaked from his mouth, lining his bottom lip from where Sakura had landed her blow. He spit, sending crimson flecks in their direction.
He brought his two fingers to his lips and the pair realized too late he had already formed the seals for a katon no jutsu.
Itachi had rushed toward the house as Sasuke first attacked Sakura, but only made it into the room as the fireball formed. With no time to form a counter measure, he leapt toward Sakura and covered her body with his. He and Sakura smacked into the ground, which, already unstable from previous damage, formed a larger rift. The two of them and Naruto cascaded through it, but not before Itachi's back, neck, and side of his face were scorched by the flames.
Across the field a tidal wave formed, brimming with so many sharks that even the foam looked sharp, and heading toward Jugo. He put his massive arms up in attempt to protect his face, but he had no real defense against tens of thousands of sharp teeth, which drilled at him tearing at his skin. The salt water burned insistently at each new wound as he was washed off of his feet and deposited some distance away once the water had receded. He sputtered and coughed, feeling the pressure in his sinuses where water had been forced and the stinging behind his eyes. Tears came unbidden in response, and he blinked with his face contorted in pain. No sooner were his eyes clear did he see the glinting scales of the sword, flaring and blossoming, as if blooming in glow of his immense chakra. Kisame's sharp teeth glinted as he gave a feral smile, and if Sakura had seen his face she may have been thrown by the killer, unhinged look in his eyes.
The other swordsman battle had a distinctly different look in his eye as a hand shot out from the ground to wrap around his ankle and pull him downwards. Kakashi's earth technique was less successful than it had been when he had originally used it on twelve year old gennin, but it served to immobilize Suigetsu as well as he could by burying one of his legs up to his hip, while the other one was bent in attempt to step upward. His sword hand was held aloft over his head making it an easy target to a set of bone crushing canine jaws. In true double beast form, one head closed on the arm and shoulder of Suigetsu, cracking his bones with strained splintering sounds. Using this arm, the dog pulled him out of the ground. Suigetsu's legs swung around in attempt to nail Akamaru in the face and did land a successful blow. The teeth tightened in pain and anger, while the other head swung to follow lower half of the swordsman's body. Kiba grab hold of him around the torso, squeezing the breath out of him, crunching on his ribs, and grinding against his backbone. Suigetsu coughed in pain, feeling a strange gurgling sensation near the hollow of his throat as he struggled to point his other hand at the dogs neck, sending pressured hydrobullets from his fingers. His bullets were successfully released, burying themselves in the thick neck of Kiba. There was a yelp of pain that from an animal of such size sounded much more like a guttural roar.
'Enough is enough,' Kiba thought in his mind. Two dog head yanked in different directions, wrenching Suigetsu's arm from the socket and the sword along with it. Suigetsu cried out as he felt part of his body separate from him and at the loss of his beloved sword. He was flung unceremoniously to the ground, where he attempted to spring up to his feet, stumbling along the way. He made for his sword, grabbing it around the handle while dodging the copy nin, but not pausing to face his opponents. He saw salvation in the tidal wave made by his previous opponent, and with such a large amount of water and the steep slope the house perched on, he knew his option now was to retreat. Fuck, Sasuke.
Taking what he knew to be an exponential risk in the presence of the lightning user hot on his heals, Suigetsu employed his clan's water release technique, liquifying to form with the water that cascaded down the hillside. Kakashi watched as the jelly-like blob was swept away from him by the current that had been laid down from the water release Kisame had used. Quickly gathering chakra into his hand, Kakashi threw a variation of chidori at the water, seeing it travel along the swiftly moving water, but not knowing if he hit his target. Suigetsu was gone, with him the sword, but he was heavily wounded. Hopefully, that would be the last of him for some time.
Sasuke hadn't seen his teammates fall and retreat. His flame set fire to the house, which was ablaze. The chakra signatures of his brother, Sakura, and Naruto were near, but he couldn't see them through the smoke. He would wait for them to come to him, he thought as he stared hypnotically into the blaze. Above him, Kossori's tail twitched in agitation. She felt her eyes burn with the smoke, but she would protect her mistress at all costs. A jaguar's attack came from above, raining death upon those below with a bite to the skull. Sakura had made it clear that this one would not be allow to die. Kossori would have to control her blood lust for this human, the one that had caused Sakura so much pain. Her pupils widened, making her eyes almost endless pools of black as she crouched, shoulder blades undulating as she honed in on her prey. Her lips pulled back, showing impressive canines as she couldn't help but let loose a ferocious scream as she lept down, descending upon the raven haired man.