Fragments
-o-
Revelations
-o-
Naruto sighed as he watched the assembled ninja.
They had found Tazuna relatively easy. Not as if Naruto's clone had wandered far.
From there they continued on, to Tazuna's house. It hadn't been that far.
And now they sat around a bound Zabuza and Haku, with Kakashi keeping careful watch.
Sakura sat in a corner, nursing a new bottle and muttering something about it being still better than the shit back home.
Sasuke fidgeted nervously, alternatively glancing at their captives and Sakura.
"So, we are warm, we are safe and we have some privacy." Kakashi stared the conversation. He looked at them blandly. "Talk."
Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you already decided to kill them?" She pointed at Haku and Zabuza.
Of course, she didn't seem to care either way. Naruto could just hear idle curiosity out of her voice.
Kakashi grinned at her and looked at their captives again.
Who hadn't moved a muscle.
"They are out like a light, no danger of them overhearing. And if they wake up... well, I'm sure at least one of us would notice." He smiled blandly at them.
"Well, there goes my easy genin lifestyle." Sakura muttered, leaving her head hanging.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow and looked at Sasuke for an explanation.
Sasuke looked at Naruto a pleading look on his face. But Naruto could only shrug. What were they supposed to say?
"Umm..." Sasuke looked at Sakura, who shrugged. No help from that direction.
"Uhh..." Sasuke tried again.
Kakashi sighed. "Well, if you don't want to talk..."
"We do... well me and Naruto want to." Sasuke spoke up finally. "It's just... how to word this without sounding crazy."
Kakashi nodded and leaned back. "Well, just start at the beginning. We'll take it from there. Who are you?"
Sasuke sighed in relieve. "Well, I am Uchiha Sasuke and until a few days ago I also was the carrier of the Kyuubi and tasked with killing Uchiha Madara, who set the Kyuubi against Konoha, in order to either destroy Konoha or cause a rift between it and the Uchiha clan."
Naruto suppressed a snicker as he saw Kakashi's expression. Comedic gold that one.
"My turn I suppose." Naruto piped up.
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, my father was Namikaze Minato. I was, and still am, the carrier of the Kyuubi. I've learned to control the Kyuubi." Cue a gasp from Kakashi and an awed expression from Sasuke, Sakura merely raised an eyebrow, blasé bitch. "And Tsunade had charged me with stopping Madara as well." He glanced at Sasuke. "Also, Sasuke, since he allied himself with Madara."
Ohh look at Kakashi's face, as he tried to make sense of it all.
"My turn now? I would so love to confuse the captain more, but really. I don't have the patience for these games. I'm Haruno Sakura, only survivor of Konoha. Right hand of Madara in the ruins of a world torn apart by countless wars and bands of ravenous monsters." She shuddered.
"Monsters created by Naruto and Sasuke, after they betrayed Konoha and tried to take over the world. They killed each other in a rather horrible battle." She looked at Kakashi, an evil smirk on her lips.
"Okay, I lied. I did have the patience for this game. As for what we are all doing here…" She looked at them. Naruto shrugged, if she wanted to explain, she could be his guest.
Sasuke nodded encouragingly.
"Well, I suppose if I had to sum it up, time-travel is a pretty accurate description." She took a long drag from her bottle. "Though of course if Madara was here he would go on and on how inaccurate that description actually is."
Sasuke sniggered at Kakashi's expression. Naruto slowly crept forward and waved his hand in front of Kakashi's face.
No reaction.
Naruto looked at his teammates. Sasuke nodded eagerly, while Sakura rolled her eyes.
Slowly Naruto's hand reached for Kakashi's mask, ready to draw back at the slightest movement from their teacher.
But Kakashi didn't even twitch.
Naruto's hand snapped forward and he ripped the mask off.
"Ooooh!" Sakura whistled, a bit of drool ran down her mouth. "Mine!"
Sasuke stared in horror at Kakashi's face. "Put it back! Put it back!" He wailed.
Naruto stared at him in confusion. Ok, so Kakashi turned out to be incredible pretty. Why would that bother Sasuke?
"I can't accept it! Nobody must ever now!" Sasuke continued his wailing. Kakashi still hadn't moved out of his shock. "If this comes out, I'll never be able to compete!"
Ah, he worried that Kakashi was prettier than him...
Naruto put the mask back on.
"Thank you." Sasuke slumped to the ground. "The mask stays on from now on."
"Yes, I agree." Sakura said, wiping some drool from her mouth. "I don't want any competition." She smiled at Kakashi like a wolf smiled at a big piece of meat.
Naruto rolled his eyes. Was he the only one who cared about actually being a ninja?
He turned back to Kakashi and slapped him hard.
Slowly Kakashi's eyes regained their focus.
He looked at Naruto, then at Sakura and Sasuke.
"I had the strangest dream." He finally said.
"Oh, what was it about, stud-muffin?" Sakura asked.
Wow, from nearly back to catatonic in one second flat.
Naruto glared at Sakura. "Could you not send him into shock again? We kinda need to talk to him before these two wake up."
"You are boring." She glared at him.
He slapped Kakashi again.
"Wake up sensei. We have to talk."
Kakashi focused on him. "I'm dreaming right? You guys aren't from the future and you and Sasuke aren't going to betray the village. Sakura isn't going to join up with Madara... and why the hell do I believe you when you say stuff like that? How do you know about things like that anyway?"
Naruto shrugged. "As Sakura said, time-travel."
"But Sasuke can't be the Kyuubi carrier if you are... were the carrier as well." Kakashi pointed out.
"Different time-lines." Sakura interjected. "Since one of us ripped a hole in time and space the boundaries to this world were weakened and made it easier for others to break into it. So, even though we come from different worlds we all ended up here. If there are other time-travelers at the same time they will have ended up here as well."
Naruto nodded, he had no idea if what she said actually had any truth in it, or if she made it up as she went along. But it sounded plausible.
"What she said."
Kakashi looked from one to the other.
"I still don't know why I believe you... I mean beside the fact that you took out a high class missing nin..." He stared at Zabuza for a second. "Which admittedly does lend a lot of credibility to your story."
Naruto nodded. "How about this? Rasengan!"
And a nice and easy basic Rasengan appeared on his hand. He could have gone and released the Kyuubi to prove he actually could do it. But he liked the house a bit too much for that.
Kakashi had developed a twitch at his point.
Sasuke shrugged. "I got the fully developed Sharingan by the way... wait, do I?" His eyes sprung into the familiar form of the mangekyo sharingan, before they returned to their state without sharingan.
"Well... I will need to swap them with Itachi again if I want to keep them." He muttered.
"Huh? What? Swap them with Itachi?" Naruto stared at Sasuke.
"Yeah, as soon as I activated the mangekyo me and Itachi switched out eyes, it's weird but if you do it you can use them as long as you like. If you don't, if you don't forget that connection to your brother or other family members you'll go blind." Sasuke explained.
Naruto and Kakashi gaped at Sasuke.
"For the full effect you have to give the eyes willingly. And man, it's kinda creepy removing your own eyes and replacing them with your brothers. But well worth it."
Sakura burst out laughing. She laughed so hard she lost the grip on her bottle and started rolling on the floor. "Ahahahaha! Hahahah! And Madara thought he had to take their eyes by force."
Sasuke nodded and glared at the wall. "Yeah, he always perverted the spirit of the eyes... like many in the clan. They thought you would need to kill your best friend, based on Madara's teachings. They didn't even realize that you get these eyes to protect your friends. To prevent something like the loss of a friend from ever happening again."
He shook his head. "Idiots, the lot of them. It's extreme emotions that awake the various stages of the sharingan. Emotions like the loss of a loved one."
Naruto stared at Sasuke. It made sense, a philosophy completely at odds with Madara's, and yet it had the same result. Two viewpoints, two solutions to a problem and both could solve the problem. Sasuke's of course was the better solution. But you would need a desire to protect for Sasuke's solution; lust for power wouldn't help with that one.
Sakura apparently attempted to laugh herself to death, judging by the short gasping breaths she took in-between laughs.
He looked at Kakashi, who stared at Sasuke in utter incomprehension.
"You, Sharingan! Full!" He stuttered. "Mangekyo?"
He pointed at Naruto. "Rasengan! Sensei! Madness!"
"No... hahahah, madness... hehehe... madness would be me. Bwahahaha!" Sakura snorted.
Kakashi took a deep breath in an attempt to reboot his brain.
"Time-travel?" He asked cautiously.
"Well, that's our explanation." Naruto nodded he glanced at Sakura. "Though apparently Madara would disagree, but who cares about him?"
Sasuke agreed emphatically. "Yeah, he's an asshole. And he needs to be taken down and fast!"
"Well, I agree. Hell Madara himself agrees. He told me I would need to either talk him out of it or kill him in order to prevent the end of the world... of course he also told me to kill you two to prevent even the chance of it happening. But I think the chance of that is pretty slim at this point. So you get to live." She glared at Naruto.
"Not to mention the fact that if you can control the Kyuubi I don't think I can kill you. You could just regenerate from any damage I do after all." She looked at him speculatively. "Unless, can you regenerate from decapitation?"
Naruto glared back at the crazy bitch. "I don't know, and I have no desire to try and find out either."
Kakashi coughed silently. "I... well... I will have to think about this, you realize that don't you?"
"Of course." Sasuke smiled at him. "We can't expect you to just believe something like that. Even with the proof we have shown you. You need some time to think about it? Take it, we have time. Gato doesn't have anybody else as strong as Zabuza."
They all looked at the man in question, who also had just woken up.
"Can I guard him? Pretty please?" Sakura asked. "He's such an interesting character. I promise not to torture him. At least not physically."
Naruto looked at Zabuza, he had some good to him yeah, but that didn't change the fact that he had a lot more bad about him than good.
"Well, I have no problems with that. But no torturing Haku got it?" He looked her deep in the eyes.
She rolled her eye but gave in. "Sure, sure. No torturing Haku, got it."
"Ehem, I'm the team leader here, not Naruto." Kakashi tried to wrest some control back to himself. How cute.
"So, you want to guard him then?" Naruto asked. "I thought you needed time to sort through our tale?"
Kakashi glared at him, then at Sakura. "Fine, Haruno you guard Zabuza. All three of you... don't break my brain anymore please? At least for today?"
Naruto shrugged. "We'll try, no promises though."
Kakashi walked out of the door, head hanging. "Best I can expect from you three I suppose." And with those words he disappeared, going somewhere to think.
"Well," Naruto glanced at Zabuza. "We'll leave you to play with your new toy Sakura. And please, don't break him too badly."
He shuddered. He didn't want to leave Zabuza alone with her. But he could feel her frustration. It practically rolled off her.
If messing with Zabuza calmed her down... well he deserved it anyway, so Naruto didn't have too many problems with it.
Sasuke waved goodbye to Zabuza. "Sorry about this, but from what I heard you are an asshole. So I don't feel too bad about leaving you alone with her."
Naruto looked at Sakura's face and shuddered. Nobody should smile like that, the Kyuubi smiled like that!
He quickly followed Sasuke out of the room. Hopefully once she finished she would have calmed down somewhat.
-o-
Zabuza stared at the girl in front of him.
He didn't remember what exactly had happened in the previous battle. He just knew that he couldn't move at all.
And whenever he tried to remember what happened to put him into this state he ran into a wall. Repressing the horrible, horrible memories probably.
What the hell did Kakashi do to him?
And now they left him with this little girl. He snorted. They would regret this. When they came back the girl would be a gibbering wreck. He had so many little stories to tell her.
"So, you think you can torture me?" He smiled his best smile at her. The smile that made little kids faint, and civilians piss themselves.
She had stared at the door through which her team had disappeared. Now she slowly turned around.
He could already taste her fear.
And then her face came into view and with it came the smile. His heart stopped for a moment. The bloodlust in that smile... forced himself to calm down. Even if the smile split her face in half, revealing row after row of glittering sharp, shark-like teeth, it didn't mean she managed to scare him.
"Hmm I wonder how you would taste? I bet delicious." She liked her lips, disturbing him greatly.
He had to admit, the threat of cannibalism had a lot going for it. Once he got out of this situation he might just have to use it for himself.
She dropped on all fours and scampered over to him, flipped the blanket off of him and sniffed his arm.
"What the hell?" He shouted, or tried to. It came out as a squeak. Fuck!
"Hmm you smell sooo good." She licked his arm.
His eye twitched. Ok, he had to admit the act worked. He actually believed her when she told him she wanted to eat him. She was good!
"Ok, I'll admit, you are good. Now ask me what you want to know. I'll tell you, just stop with the..."
Her stomach growled.
Zabuza didn't whimper. He had never whimpered before, he wouldn't start now.
"Hmm sooo tasty... but I'm not allowed..." The girl whined.
Zabuza breathed a sigh of relief.
"But if it's just a tiny little bite? Nobody would notice right?" She looked him into the eyes, that smile, that horrible, horrible smile still on her face. Her tongue going over her lips again and again, as she sniffed his arm.
"Help!" He whimpered and now his memories returned. The kids had beaten him! Him, little kids fresh out of the academy! And they had done it without breaking a sweat, as if he was some little kid himself!
Oh god, what had he gotten himself and Haku into? He could see Haku laying on a futon to the side, unconscious.
The girls head followed his gaze.
"Ohh... I haven't promised I wouldn't touch him..."
His eyes widened and he growled at her, desperately trying to get up.
She wouldn't touch Haku, he still had uses for the boy!
"He won't miss an arm, I'm sure." She licked her lips as she sniffed on Haku's arm.
"Don't you dare touch him!" Zabuza screamed. She was bluffing, she had to be bluffing.
"Why? Do you care for him?" She leered at Zabuza. Even with one arm he'll be a good tool... hmm and maybe with one leg?"
She leaned over the defenseless Haku and pulled out a kunai.
"No! You can't!" Damn it. Haku was gifted, he wouldn't let a bitch like that destroy him. Slowly he pushed himself up and began to crawl towards the girl, who looked at Haku's arm, deciding where to cut it.
Silently, desperate to avoid any sound, even breathing Zabuza crawled towards her. Nearly there Haku had only been a few feet away, just a little bit faster.
"Hehehe, too bad." The bitch giggled and slashed down, neatly severing Haku's arm from his body.
She picked it up and took a deep bite. Zabuza stared in horror, she, she was worse than him, so much worse. At least he killed his victims, he didn't cripple them for life.
He noticed a tear fall down his face. He could feel the hysterical laughter bubble up.
The girl watched him in cruel amusement. Then she shook her head.
"Honestly? I expected better from you, to break so easily…" She patted him on the head.
He whirled around and there she stood, a wide grin on her face, without the shark teeth, and it didn't split her face in half.
"Geez I may be a cruel bitch, and I might even eat you if you're the only source of food around, but seriously, to fall for a genjutsu of that level? Weak!" She laughed at him, and pushed him back into his bed. "Well I suppose it proved that you care for your apprentice, at least on some level.
He stared at her, then at Haku, who still had all limbs and rested peacefully on the futon.
"Hehehe." He couldn't stop the laughter, it just bubbled up." HAHAHAHA." Hysteria had him firmly in its grasp and so he laughed, laughed till it hurt.
That bitch... she beat him, to conjure images so disturbing...
"What are you?" He asked after he regained some control.
She watched him, her eyes meeting his. And he recognized himself there, a monster barely concealed behind human flesh.
A monster that hid some shreds of humanity beneath it all.
She shrugged. "I'm a ninja."
He chuckled, quietly at first, but it soon broke out into a second episode of hysterical laughter.
A ninja, what a perfect answer to his question.
-o-
Kakashi stared at the water of the lake. Time-travel.
He flung a little stone into the water. Could you do it? Turn back the clock and try again?
Just like that? And if you could, why didn't anybody else try? Come to think of it, they didn't explain how they did it. He might get an idea there.
But, well, it made sense. The knowledge, the skills. The disregard for authority.
Ok, that last one might just be a natural part of their characters.
Still, time-travel made more sense than any other theory. Any theory that didn't involve Konoha being riddled with spies that nobody knew about.
He threw another stone and watched it sink into the lake.
The question now was what to do about it.
He couldn't just let them run free. He actually couldn't be sure they weren't lying to him after all. More observations were necessary... and a visit to Ibiki, to get every useful shred of knowledge out of them...
Then again, if Naruto did control the Kyuubi... keeping him imprisoned might not be the smartest move they could make.
Though Kakashi suspected that he would let Ibiki ask him every question he wanted, as long as Ibiki didn't ask Sasuke or Sakura.
So, no interrogation, ever. Too risky. And, quite frankly Kakashi didn't want that to happen to them anyway.
When Sakura called him captain... he got a warm and fuzzy feeling. Just like every time he got called captain, especially when his subordinates meant it. Like Sakura did. She looked up to him.
He glanced back, in the direction of the house. No, he couldn't disappoint them, never mind waste their potential. Sasuke and Naruto were absolute powerhouses, Sasuke already had enough chakra, and the finesse needed to craft quite convincing genjutsu. Though granted, the sharingan helped a lot there.
But to use it so causally in battle...
No, he wouldn't allow that talent to be wasted in some cell under the village... if they could even keep Sasuke. Itachi had proven just how dangerous a single Uchiha could be.
Or... had he been alone? Or had Madara been there, if they said the truth, he still hung around. Hiding and scheming. Bidding his time.
If Itachi had help from him...
Kakashi sighed. He knew too little. The brats had told him just enough to make him believe them and nothing more.
And he couldn't forget their prisoners. What to do with them?
Haku would be easy. They could just take him with them, hand him over to Ibiki and after Ibiki declared him safe he could become a ninja of Konoha... if he decided that's what he wanted to do.
If Konoha executed Zabuza... well, chances would be slim.
But what else could Konoha do with him? Just let him join?
Keep him imprisoned and risk Zabuza breaking out?
Kakashi whimpered. He just saw no way to keep Zabuza alive, like Naruto and Sasuke wanted to.
Sakura would be more pragmatic, he had no doubt about it. Slit Zabuza's throat, ditch the corpse in the next forest, forget about it.
If only she were the only team-member. It would make this so much easier.
And morally bankrupt, but he could deal with that.
On the other hand, he could delegate the decision. The Hokage could decide what to do with Zabuza and Kakashi would have the whole situation out of his hair.
Yeees. That sounded like an ideal solution. For Kakashi at least.
In the mean time there was still a mission to complete. Though with his team of time-traveling ninja the mission had pretty much been degraded to D-Rank level.
He doubted Gato had more ninja than Zabuza.
The rest of his men would be easy pickings.
-o-
Sakura purred as she ate. Naruto noticed with a mixture of dread and relief.
He had checked up on Zabuza and the man had been in one piece. But he hadn't talked, not even to insult Naruto. He had just stared up, at the ceiling.
A tired and weary grin on his face.
At least the session had calmed Sakura and apparently shown Zabuza not to mess with them.
Kakashi had returned and stared at them, as if he didn't know how to handle them now.
Maybe Sakura had been onto something when she said not to reveal themselves. But what was done was done.
Sasuke massaged an arm, where Naruto had hit him in their spar.
They had decided to work out their nervous energies in the time honored tradition of males everywhere: Beat the shit out of each other.
It had worked beautifully. And it reminded Naruto of his youth, so long ago. Rough housing with Kiba and Shikamaru...
Or getting beaten up by Sasuke for being annoying. Good times, good times. He only had to worry about getting revenge on the moody bastard, not on keeping the demon in check, run from Akatsuki, or even worse Madara and Sasuke.
Simpler times.
"You are going to die!" Inari said, slamming his bowl onto the table. "Why do you fight, you'll just die!" He screamed at them.
Sakura looked at him blankly, before she disappeared under the table, laughing hysterically.
Sasuke refrained from mocking the poor boy so openly and merely snickered.
Naruto sighed. They really didn't need to do that. He glared at Sakura, and she knew what the boy went through... which of course to her would seem like a total joke.
"Sakura stop it already. It's not his fault that he doesn't realize that we already de-clawed Gato." He told her. If only he could beat the stuffing out of her... once?
He looked at her speculatively. Now that they had captured Zabuza, they would have some time. And maybe they could convince him to cooperate, with the promise of gentle treatment.
Which mostly would consist of somebody beside Sakura keeping watch over him.
"Gato's strong, you have no chance to beat him!" Inari glared at them.
Sakura had stopped laughing for a few seconds, but now she started again.
"Bwahahah, oh, hahaha, the kid should become a comedian. Hahaha"
Sasuke grinned at the boy. "Kid, we already took out the missing nin Gato hired. The rest of his men are nothing more than useless thugs. Even a genin fresh from the academy can take them out without breaking a sweat."
"He's rich, he'll hire more ninja." Inari remained stubborn.
And Naruto could understand him, if they beat Gato just like that. Not the slightest bit of trouble. What did that say about the village? What did it say about his father?
"Hey, Inari. Your grandfather got us to wave so he can build the bridge and stop Gato. We..." Naruto threw a boot at Sakura, who dodged by rolling out of the way. Naruto choose to consider the lack of retaliation as progress. "Stop laughing already, it's funny we get it."
"Heee... hee... he. But, it's just Zabuza already told me where Gato's hideout is. So, I figured tomorrow I would go there, kill him, take as much money as I can and make myself very popular in wave." She grinned saucily at Inari. "Why I'll be called a hero!"
Inari sputtered and ran out of the room.
Sakura commenced laughing again a second later.
Tsunami and Tazuna looked at each other, then at Naruto. Who held his head in his hand.
Kakashi had buried his nose in his book and kept out of the debate to the best of his abilities.
Why did everybody always look to him for guidance? What use were adults anyway?
"I apologize for Sakura." And my, wasn't that a first? "She... well, she has some extremely bad memories. Memories that make Inari losing his father look like a walk in the park. So... well, um... don't think too badly of her?"
They stared at him mouth hanging open. "How did you know?" Tsunami asked.
"Great going iiiiiidiot!" Sakura grinned from her position on the floor.
"Ok that's it! You me outside. You want to beat me into a bloody pulp? Well I want to beat you into a bloody pulp too!" Naruto didn't shout at Sakura. He restrained his temper. He had gotten better at that lately.
Sakura looked back at him with narrowed eyes. "No using the damn fox." She said.
"No using the fox I promise. I'll punch your face in all by myself." A feral grin had spread over his face.
"Oh no! They shouldn't!" Tsunami glared at Kakashi.
"Awesome! Man, this will be a show!" Sasuke had jumped up. "Hmm I think Haku and Zabuza should see this as well. Might make them realize with whom they are dealing."
Kakashi nodded and Naruto had to agree as well. "Can you two get them?" He asked Kakashi and Sasuke.
"Sure thing." Sasuke said.
"Who made you boss?" Kakashi asked blandly.
"You when you left this all to me!" Naruto shouted back.
"Oh... so I did." Kakashi grinned at him and wandered after Sasuke.
"You shouldn't fight amongst yourselves." Tsunami scolded them.
Sakura snorted at her and turned to Naruto. "Less talking, more beating each other into a bloody mess. You have no idea how long I waited for this. And don't worry I'll try not to kill you."
Naruto turned to the gaping civilians. "Again, sorry about this, but as she said, this is something we have to do, or she'll never get over it. In fact I think Sasuke should have a fight with her as well." They stared at him in incomprehension. "Consider it team-building. Yeah, that's a good description for it. Oh and let Inari watch as well. It will be educational."
-o-
Sasuke grinned excitedly as he stormed into the room they used. Zabuza glared slightly at him, but he seemed rather subdued. Aftereffects of exposure to Sakura, Sasuke suspected.
"Hi there, you are in luck. Apparently Naruto and Sakura have decided that the only way to develop some team spirit is to beat each other up. Ergo you get to watch a hopefully awesome battle. Especially since Sakura promised not to kill Naruto." Sasuke paused for breath.
"Well, she said she would try not to kill him, but even if she did. He's got the Kyuubi so whatever. Not as if he can't recover from decapitation... probably."
Ohh, messing with Zabuza was fun. Reminding him just how powerful Naruto is.
"And well he said he can control the nine tails as well. Not that I have proof, but... I believe him. I doubt he would lie." He kneed beside Haku and dispelled the genjutsu keeping him asleep.
"Good evening. Since Sakura and Naruto decided to throw a show you are invited to come and watch. Zabuza too." Sasuke grinned at the pretty kid.
At least he didn't combine pretty with handsome. Sasuke resisted the urge to glare at Kakashi, who had showed up now. Why did he have to be the perfect mix between feminine and masculine? Just enough femininity to accentuate his masculine charm into the perfect bishonen.
At least he had the decency to wear a mask.
"Wha?" Haku asked flabbergasted, he probably hadn't woken up yet. And Sasuke talked pretty fast in his excitement. The battle should be rather good.
Zabuza sighed. "Don't cause any trouble Haku. The girl is the weakest of them... but she's also the most dangerous." He laughed weakly. "We are... not even in their league."
"Good of you to realize that. But well, hurry it up sensei, we're gonna miss the fight!"
Sasuke stared as Kakashi stiffened and suddenly developed back problems.
Wow, quite realistic ones too.
Memo to self, don't piss him off, he'll be ready when he's ready.
"Oh well, I suppose I have to make do with Haku. Come on." And with that he dragged a confused Haku down the stairs and out of the house. This would be awesome.
-o-
Zabuza stared at Kakashi, who looked back blankly.
They stood like that for a few seconds, neither saying a word.
"What are they?" Zabuza finally asked.
Kakashi shrugged. "I figure karmic punishment for my life..." He rubbed his chin and looked at Zabuza. "Probably for yours too."
Zabuza considered that for a few seconds, then nodded. "Probably."
Silence reigned for a few more seconds. From outside the first sounds of battle could be heard.
"You know... I could use somebody sane on the way back to Konoha." Kakashi said.
"And you thought of me... how nice." Zabuza snorted.
"Would you prefer I let Sakura or Sasuke handle your transport?"
Zabuza considered some more.
"You will make a wonderful travel-companion to my execution." Zabuza finally said cheerfully.
Kakashi nodded. "As long as we understand each other. Though... maybe you might, possibly... live. Maybe."
"How reassuring." Zabuza deadpanned, as Kakashi picked him up.
The battle sounds rose in volume, it appeared they had finished warming up.
-o-
Sakura laughed madly. She had practiced that laugh often and not always in front of a reflective surface. Unless you counted your enemies as such.
Naruto, of course, weathered the laugh like he weathered her killing intent; with an easy smirk and only the slightest cringe.
They had jumped around each other, punching and kicking, testing the others defenses.
No punch or kick had actually landed yet, though Sakura had managed to throw Naruto into a tree.
"Well, there the last of the spectators are." Sakura commented as Kakashi carried Zabuza out and set him down beside Haku.
The boy had observed their warm-up with some interest, but nothing like the total awe Inari had displayed.
"I think this means we can finish the warm-up?"
Naruto rolled his shoulders, nodding. "Sure, I really, really want to beat the stupid out of you." He showed her his teeth, in what could be considered a grin, if you were charitable.
Sakura snorted. "What are you waiting for then? Come get me!"
"As you wish."
Naruto's hand flew into his favorite seal, and a second later Sakura found herself surrounded by over a hundred Narutos.
"Hehehe, oh what are you guys going to do to poor defenseless me?" She leered at them, but they didn't react beyond a raised eyebrow.
"You? Defenseless?" Don't make me laugh. One of them spoke up.
She had already lost the real Naruto. If he even bothered to stand with his clones.
Two clones jumped at her, but they were so slow, Sakura didn't even bother enhancing her muscles the slightest to punch them out.
"The hell?" She shouted as the clones, instead of disappearing in a cloud of smoke simply fell on their backs and pushed themselves up again.
"... they can take a punch now can they?" She glared at the Narutos surrounding her.
She could hear a gasp from the assembled ninja. The civilians probably hadn't gotten over the shock of the shadow clones yet.
"Oh, they can take more than one measly punch Sakura-chan." One of the clones taunted her.
"Heh, just means I have to actually kill them!" Sakura shouted and jumped forward, slamming a kunai into the first clone she reached. He promptly disappeared in the expected cloud of smoke.
Two clones tried to grab her arms, but a slight twist and all they reached were the kunai Sakura threw into their faces.
"One hundred clones won't be enough to beat me pest!" Sakura laughed as she danced through the enemies surrounding her. She dodged fist, feet and elbows that rained down on her with causal ease, leaned into one attack, out of another and all the while whirled her kunai around her, slashing throats and offending appendages with a smile on her face.
Two clones stepped in front of her, kunai of their own in hand and these moved much faster than the others. Sakura had gotten so into the slow rhythm of the slaughter, that she couldn't react fast enough and the clones managed to grab arms.
Another Naruto stepped in front of her.
"I can make more clones if I need them. But you haven't even destroyed more than... sixty..." He coughed and Sakura grinned at him. She had done it in under 60 seconds too.
"Which I must say is impressive. But now," He reared his fist back. "time to work out some frustrations."
Sakura rolled her eyes. He made sure with Haku, she bet he would have made sure with Zabuza and Sasuke as well, but he left her legs unbound, the idiot.
She lashed out in a kick and focused some chakra into her boots.
Naruto's eyes widened as he saw the boot, and the blade at its tip, approach his face at high velocity.
Sakura laughed as the clone dispelled. "Ohh, you would send a clone to beat me up?"
"We are only starting. It seemed weird to actually attack you myself."
Sakura nodded and looked at the two clones holding her. "I wonder... can your clones recover from... this?"
A spike of killing intent tore from her, carefully limited to her immediate surroundings. No reason to give the civilians a heart attack.
The chakra ripped into the clones holding her and with an awesome expression of pure panic they disappeared. Any clone too close, which were most of them, disappeared as well.
"Did, did she just dispel shadowclones, just by spiking her killing intent?" Zabuza shouted from the sidelines.
"Hell yeah she's awesome!" Sasuke shouted back.
Now that her field of vision had cleared she could see the faces of Inari and Tsunami.
They made a nice mirror of slack jawed incomprehension to Zabuza's look of awe and horror.
The remaining clones looked at each other, a few shrugged. "So what?" They all flew into the handseals again, this time over 500 clones appeared. "I'm not going to run out of chakra before..."
Sakura had flared her killing intent again, stronger than before, a mocking smirk on her lips as most of the clones disappeared a second after they had been summoned.
"Aww, did I make your favorite technique useless Naru-kins?"
Over 100 clones remained still, but all of them had developed an interesting twitch on their faces.
"I am so learning that technique!" Sasuke and Kakashi shouted as one.
"What the hell?" Shouted Inari, who had finally found his voice again. "What are you people?"
"Complete and utter monsters." Zabuza muttered, staring at Sakura and Naruto with adoration. He turned to Kakashi. "I actually want to join Konoha now. I mean you guys seem like idealistic idiots... but I'll be damned if the results don't speak for themselves."
Kakashi raised an eyebrow and pointed to Sakura. "I think they are continuing."
Oh, so he didn't want to give any comment to that? Sakura could understand him. They were cheating with the time-travel thingy.
Still, all actors did somehow come from Konoha, even those that sent them back, so in a roundabout way...
She leaned back and let the Naruto sail over her, a spinning kick sent him into... oblivion as the clone disappeared.
She grinned at the rest. "I see, the stronger the clone, the more punishment he can take the more chakra it takes for you to make him. And the more chakra you have to use, the less clones you can make."
Naruto rolled his eyes. "While that is the gist of it, you forget one thing."
"No Kyuubi, you proooomised!" She sing-song-ed.
Again Naruto rolled his eyes. "I don't need the Kyuubi to created 500 clones strong enough to take a knife in the gut.
"Bullshit!" Zabuza screamed. Kakashi didn't scream, but he sure as hell seemed to want to. He looked so funny, his one visible eye as wide as a wagon wheel.
Ohh and she would have to do something nice for Zabuza, as Naruto smirked at him and his chakra practically exploded out of him.
The idiot had forgotten that he didn't have the endurance of his older body, so even if he could pull off the 500 super clones, it would leave him considerably weakened.
While it would take Sakura barely any chakra at all, to destroy them again.
Once again she found herself surrounded by over 500 Narutos... she might have to reconsider her policy on sleeping with him, the stamina to produce so many clones... he might be even better than Lee.
"You gonna let me stick it in?" She asked, playing with a kunai.
A little whimper could be heard from Inari as he watched the army Sakura had destroyed a second ago reassemble just like it had been destroyed.
"Sure, go ahead. He wouldn't believe me otherwise." A Naruto panted.
Sakura narrowed her eyes at him. She had only one or two, maybe three high speed attacks, she couldn't afford to waste even one on a clone.
She dashed at that Naruto, who backed away wide eyed. "Not me you crazy bitch one of them!" He shouted retreating.
Sakura let up. The other clones hindered her advance and she wouldn't potentially waste her technique on a clone.
Instead she causally rammed a kunai into another clone. It stuck, as the clone grimaced in pain.
"Ohh, you are so gonna feel that in the morning." She grinned at them. Then she blinked. "By the way how did it feel to get my killing intent by over 400 clones at once?
A grimace came over the assembled Narutos. "Let's not talk about it."
"Hehehe. Nice. Oh well, time to send you back to zero again." She grinned and spiked her killing intent again.
And gulped. Only one in ten clones had dispelled.
"Eheheheee..." She laughed weakly. Some clones looked decidedly translucent now, but most of them still stood, ready to fight.
The mass of Narutos grinned wickedly at her. "Not so easy now? Huh?" They shouted in a deafening roar.
Another weapon at Naruto's disposal. Damn.
Then again, she hadn't revealed all her weapons yet either.
"No, not so easy. But since you have neither sharingan, nor byankuan... you can't defend against this." Her hands flew into several seals and she expelled her chakra in a complicated web, that settled over the army of Narutos.
-o-
Naruto blinked, then blinked again. He couldn't see anything. His entire surroundings were black. He took a breath but immediately stopped. The air stank. And suddenly cruel laughter filled his ears.
"Hahaha. How do you like my 'Black Abyss' genjutsu?" Sakura's voice whispered into his ear.
"It's my masterpiece... and really my only genjutsu. The others are just a few basic illusions. But this one. Ahh this one has saved my ass so often, it's ridiculous." She laughed again and Naruto could feel several of his clones disperse, as she slashed them down.
She went through them like wet tissue, now that they were blinded. But as soon as they could hear her.
"Just one more thing: This is a prerecorded message, built into the genjutsu. Enjoy the brief silence, because the only thing you'll hear from now on is... death." Sakura whispered again, just before a horrible screech assaulted Naruto's ears.
The sound ate its way into Naruto's soul and found something to take hold of there. For the first time in years, he felt fear. Not the fear to fail, to disappoint your friends or yourself. No, the fear of death. So basic, so normal. And only now did he even remember that fear.
Before the screech even stopped another filled the air. Coupled with the dead of another 5 clones and he started shaking. Damn, how did Sakura create that sound?
He breathed shallowly. How could he stop this? Pain... or. His hands flew into the seal and he whispered "Kai!" through the rising cacophony.
The genjutsu tore asunder with ease. There had been barely any resistance at all.
He grinned, as he watched his clones recover.
"Nice try Sakura, but really. It only bought you a few..."
Darkness claimed him once again. And with it the stink and the inhuman screeches.
"What the-?" He shouted and formed the seal again.
Again the genjutsu broke without any resistance, but Sakura still had managed to slaughter more of his clones.
He blinked and when he opened his eyes again the darkness had returned.
Shit. The genjutsu caught him again, as soon as he had escaped. He would only have glimpses of Sakura. Allowing her to merrily slaughter his army. He could created more... but... he narrowed his eyes. Maybe there would be an easier solution.
He created a new clone, with orders to dismiss itself immediately if the genjutsu affected it as well.
A few seconds later Naruto had his confirmation. The genjutsu only covered a certain ground. Sakura didn't target him, or even all his clones. Which meant, in his few seconds of clarity he had to leave the affected area and he could see again.
"Kai!" He whispered once again. And the world sprang into focus. Sakura slaughtered his clones on the other side of the clearing, laughing madly. He would have no problem slipping away and hiding.
If only the damn screeching didn't interrupt his thoughts again and again. Whenever he heard it he stopped for a second to refocus. And in the darkness he heard it constantly.
It took him four more tries, and many more clones, before he made it out of the constant darkness.
From his new vantage point he could see Sakura, slash and stab his clones in mad glee.
Man, she really used the opportunity to enjoy a little bit of revenge.
He grinned, but if she enjoyed herself enough to only see his bleeding face. He should be able to slip in more and more clones, until she slowly exhausted herself.
His hands formed the familiar seals and ten more clones appeared. He sent them into the genjutsu, where they immediately started stumbling and running into each other.
Kinda funny from his vantage point. Luckily they did managed to stumble into Sakura's general direction.
He settled down. Having his shadow clones beat her wouldn't be nearly as satisfying as beating the asshole out of her himself, but he would just have to finish her, once the clones softened her up.
It actually surprised him how fast she could build up her stamina to keep running around like that.
And hmm, watching her jump and slash and whirl around... he could grow used to that.
He chuckled silently as an explosive note went up roughly in the middle of the genjutsu.
There hadn't been more than ten clones there. What a waste of an exploding tag.
He looked back at Sakura, just as she disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Fuck!" He managed to mutter, before a spinning kick, delivered at incredible speed smashed into the back of his head and send him back into the genjutsu.
Luckily the horrible pain in the back of his head prevented him from falling into it again. He whirled around, standing wobbly, only to catch a fist or ten... or twenty with his face.
Briefly darkness and him became reacquainted. Then he regained his consciousness.
He could see Sakura bearing down on him again. And he knew he had no chance to catch her. Only one choice then. He had never actually tried this, but damn, the idea sounded cool. And if Neji could do his spinning thing. Then Naruto could very well create a whole body basic rasengan.
-o-
Sakura laughed as she charged into Naruto punching him dead in the face felt so damn good!
She could feel years of repressed rage leaving her system. As soon as she had the opportunity she would do the same for Sasuke.
And once she had enough power? Danzo would get to know her fists personally.
And Orochimaru! And that pale eyed bitch! And while she was at it, Madara deserved one as well. Never mind Ino and the rest of the fuckers who dared die on her!
"Yes! I'll punch out the whole fucking world!" She roared, rearing her fist back for the mother of all punches.
Just as Naruto literally exploded in a whirlwind of chakra.
Sakura could only utter a startled "Wha?" Before the sphere surrounding Naruto caught her, ripped at her clothes and skin, before it drew her in.
For the fraction of a second she could see Naruto, mouth open in a silent scream. Then the sphere ejected her again, sending her across the clearing, through several shadow clones and into a tree.
A few seconds later she could see again. Twenty seconds after that she managed to greedily suck in some air.
Another twenty seconds passed before she dared to open her eyes.
Naruto stood in the middle on the other side of the clearing. No more of his clones remained. Either dispelled by him, or they simply disappeared because he had no chakra left.
He actually didn't look much better than she felt. Groaning she attempted to push herself up.
But the sharp pain, running through her arms, legs and well every single piece of her body prevented her from doing that. Instead she decided to give it a few more minutes.
From her position she couldn't see the spectators. But she hoped they were suitably awed. Hmm they might actually not see much, if they stood too close. Her genjutsu would have prevented them from seeing anything as well... oops.
"Hahaha!" Naruto laughed loudly. Sakura narrowed her eyes. He couldn't have recovered already?
"Well, seems like I win Sakura." He shouted at her.
Sakura felt her left eye twitch. Oh, he thought he had won, did he?
She pushed herself up, ignoring the pain. This little bit of agony couldn't stop her. Hell, it wouldn't even slow her down!
With satisfaction she noted Naruto's incredulous stare.
"Wha? No way! You should be knocked out!" He shouted, before he attempted to take a step back, wobbled and fell down.
Sakura opened her mouth to reply, but only a wet gurgle came out. She frowned and spit out the blood.
Then she shouted back at him. "Don't make me laugh Uzumaki. I learned to ignore my body long ago. These little scratches will never slow me down!"
And then she rushed at him. Much slower than before.
But Naruto didn't move much faster himself. Slower actually.
He would be ready just when she reached him. Sakura bit her lip and accelerated. Just a bit faster and she would reach him before he regained his balance.
Naruto glared at her and pushed himself faster as well.
"Oh no, you won't!" She shouted as she pulled her last chakra out. Pushing her body beyond its limits for a few brief seconds.
Naruto whimpered as she crashed into him and slammed him to the ground. But instead of giving in and taking it like the bitch he was, he rolled with her attack and threw her over him, slamming her painfully in the ground.
She coughed weakly and spit out some more blood. But pushed herself up nevertheless and threw herself at him again.
He apparently hadn't considered her up to it, without at least a small rest. Or the counter attack had taken more out of him than she thought. She didn't care though. All that mattered was her fist and his face and the interaction between the two of them.
Viciously she slammed her fist into his face. A loud crunching sound rewarded her, as well as the feeling of something giving way.
But instead of whimpering, like before Naruto snarled and rammed a knee into her stomach. She gasped, but remained on top. She wouldn't give up her advantageous spot. Again she slammed her fist down, this time she hit his jaw.
A sharp crack informed her she broke it. She grinned at him, until he slammed a fist into her ribs and she felt she sharp spike of pain as they gave in. She suppressed the scream, instead she simply coughed blood all over Naruto's face.
"Bastard!" She hissed. "Bich" He moaned back. She repositioned her left leg, while he was distracted by his broken jaw and kneed him in the groin.
His eyes popping out was the funniest thing Sakura could remember seeing. Ever.
She though she heard somebody else groan, but over the thundering of her blood, she couldn't be sure.
And the sudden pain running through her chest, as Naruto punched her tits in retaliation certainly rearranged her priorities.
The additional pain from her broken ribs just added icing to the pain-cake at this point.
Whimpering she fell off Naruto, who had fallen back and curled in on himself.
"Well, can I assume this fight is over?" Kakashi asked, wincing as he took stock of their injuries.
Sakura didn't bother answering, she actually didn't think she could.
Naruto didn't say anything either. Maybe he fainted.
"And so you see Inari, Gato doesn't stand a chance." Sasuke explained to the slack jawed kid. At least Sakura assumed the weird lump to be Inari, she couldn't actually see all that well.
-o-
Sasuke grinned at his two teammates. Sure they just hurt each other horribly. But then, they were ninja. And, as Anko always said: 'Ninja know one language and one language only, violence.'
So for these two this actually was nothing more than a rather empathic discussion.
He remembered his own discussions with Naruto fondly. One time they actually managed to level the academy...
Actually that had sucked. Naruto's father had made them rebuild it. It had taken over three months, even with shadow clones.
"But... they knocked each other out! And I think Naruto's jaw is broken! How are they going to fight Gato?" Inari whimpered.
"Actually Sakura has it worse, a broken jaw doesn't stop you from fighting after all, now her broken ribs? That would do it." Sasuke shrugged.
Haku stepped beside the two of them. "Uhh... if you would help me, I know some herbs that are going to help them heal, so I could go and collect them."
Kakashi grinned at the boy. "That sounds like an excellent idea. And I'm sure Sasuke will have no problem with helping you collect them."
In other words keep an eye on the boy. And well yeah, Sasuke didn't have a problem with that, but...
"Now?" He looked at the sky. Sure, the battle had been short, but it had been late when they had started. "I rather doubt we'll find much now."
Haku nodded. "Yes, we should wait until tomorrow."
Zabuza stared at Naruto. "What... what was that last thing he tried to do?" He asked Kakashi, who had dragged him around the entire time.
Kakashi rubbed his chin in thought. "You have heard of the Fourth I assume?" He asked Zabuza, who nodded in reply.
"Good, well you might also have heard about a jutsu he made, the rasengan."
Again Zabuza nodded. Sasuke could see his eyes growing wide even in the weak light of dusk.
"Well, apparently Naruto just tried a whole body version of it." Kakashi hid his terror well, Sasuke thought. He couldn't even see the shaking without the sharingan.
"But... isn't the rasengan supposed to be a horribly destructive technique because of the forces it concentrates on a very small area?" Zabuza asked.
"Well, why do you think he looks as if somebody has put him through a meat-grinder... or the clearing looks as if somebody with a passionate hatred for the ground came through?"
Zabuza nodded. "And he can make it with his whole body?"
Kakashi dragged him over to Sakura. Who, Sasuke noted, lacked most of her clothing, due to rasengan.
It would be totally wrong, to use his sharingan to record this of course... oh wait he had his sharingan active! Whoops. Oh well, now that he had already burned the image into his mind he might as well look from other angles.
He dragged Haku with him, just to see what Kakashi was doing of course. He had to make sure nothing untoward happened.
Inari had stumbled to his mother and grandfather. All civilians could only stare at the devastation the battle had wrought. They also might be replaying the awesomeness of it all constantly. Sasuke knew he would do it.
And man, that genjutsu of Sakura had been pure, incredible awesome. To cover an area in chakra like that and use it to decimate a far superior force, brilliant. It would also allow you to escape a pursuing force. Though, the safety it provided against enemies outside its range was rather... limited.
Actually if you were fighting inside an enemy outside could still see you perfectly clear. If you assumed he had been trapped...
Well, he didn't know enough about the jutsu to make any judgments on stuff like that.
He grinned at the knocked out Sakura. He looked forward to fighting her. That battle should be fun. Or maybe not, after all her genjutsu wouldn't work against the sharingan.
"Well, let's go to bed shall we? I want to be well rested for tomorrow." Sasuke grinned at the people surrounding him. Today had been a rather good day.
-o-
Kakashi had brought Zabuza back to their room and told him to get some rest. Which Zabuza had promptly done. He knew, that if he wanted any chance to escape them... well he better get better and fast.
Kakashi banished the missing nin form his mind and considered the skill level of his students.
Sakura's genjutsu had so many frightening applications, especially in combination with her other skills. Set the trap, lure an enemy force into it and rip them apart with the high speed jutsu.
Use it to assassinate somebody utterly unseen, throw the genjutsu, use its cover to jump in and out without anybody noticing.
Bah, no use thinking about it. He would attempt to learn it, just like her other jutsu. Though he already worried about whether he could or not.
He suspected the level of fine control needed to actually pull them off, would be beyond him.
Oh, they also had to consider the fact that two of their number were now out of commission for at least a few days.
Well, one of their number. Kakashi had no doubt that Naruto would bounce right back and the only thing his broken jaw would hinder...
A wide grin spread over Kakashi's face. No stupid comments from Naruto!
The grin left his face. Only rude and crass ones from Sakura.
He hung his head. He just couldn't win could he?
Whatever, Gato. If Sakura said the truth, then Zabuza had just earned some points in his favor... some small ones. And he did know secrets of mist. If he talked, well Konoha might find it useful to let him live.
And if they knew where Gato hid himself, they could move in, kill him and be done with this job. The faster they got back the better. Less chance of Zabuza escaping and Kakashi could talk to the Hokage about his charges.
He looked forward to that talk. He would have to remember his camera.
-o-
Naruto sat up and looked around. Glad that the pain Sakura had unleashed on him didn't follow him into his mindscape.
Ok, he had visited a lot of that pain on himself, but the idea had merit! He would have to work on it. He grinned evilly. Maybe he could use it in the chunin exams? Man, he couldn't wait to see Neji's face if he used it on him!
And if he refined it some more and actually focused its power on a thin layer around him, instead as a sphere with him as the focus. Its damage would actually be a lot higher than it had been.
Sakura shouldn't have gotten up, much less attack him, after she had been hit by that.
If he hadn't had his regeneration he wouldn't have gotten up again.
But that reminded him, he would have to talk to the fox. He had tamed him once. But... well the control he had managed to attain had been a little bit shaky.
He walked through the sewers. The fox though... he acted a little bit different than he remembered. Sure, he had taken the opportunity for freedom, or at least survival, with whatever Sasuke pulled. But after he arrived here... he had been a lot more hostile than Naruto thought he would be.
They had reached something of a rapport after all.
A minor one, true. But they had.
He stopped in front of the cage and glared inside.
"Hey fox, time to talk." He shouted.
"Kuhkuhku." The fox rumbled back. "So you think you can control me do you insect?" It spat.
Naruto grinned. So it thought because he hadn't been to the Waterfall of Truth here, it could push him around again?
He pulled at its chakra and immediately felt it healing his body. None of the foxes will came with it.
"Yes?" Naruto asked the flabbergasted fox calmly.
"Buh... guh... How?" The fox asked, as close to a panic as Naruto had ever seen him.
"The Falls of Truth, duh. Sure I haven't been there in this body, but damn, even you should have realized it's mostly a mental effect." Naruto loved mocking the fox, he had preciously little opportunities.
"Falls of Truth?" The fox grumbled confused.
Naruto blinked. Didn't the fox come with him?
"Yes, the Falls of Truth... or something like that at least, don't you remem..."
He grinned even wider. "Oh, I see. Say, did you have to share the cell maybe? With another fox demon?" He asked innocently.
The fox growled, but didn't answer.
"I'll take that as a yes. And I also take the lack of other foxes to mean you killed him." Naruto continued blithely.
Another growl was the only answer he got.
"And you probably didn't even talk. Too bad. That means I have to tame you again."
And wow, did that last part induce a rage.
The fox threw himself against the seal, he growled, spit raged and cursed.
Naruto laughed as he walked away. This new fox, he promised to be very, very entertaining.
-o-
And a new chapter of fragments. Enjoy.