DISCLAIMER: I do not own the 'Naruto' or 'Naruto: Shippuden' series!
"HELLO DARKNESS, MY OLD FRIEND"
BOOM!
Four heads snapped towards the sound of an explosion rocking the corridor to their left. The explosion was so powerful the ceiling started crumbling and dropping down on us. I cringed, knowing that Sakura was going to freak out – fearing for Sasuke's life. While Naruto was going to anguish his friend's impending doom.
"NO!" cried Naruto.
"SASUKE! SAI, YOU'RE DEAD MEAT!" Sakura vowed, snarling angrily.
My friends charged off but not before Yamato immediately stopped them by grabbing fistfuls of their shirts, halting them in their tracks. I quickly moved in front of my struggling team mates, who were trying to free themselves from Yamato's unyielding restraint, and pulled up both their chins so they looked me directly in the eye.
"That wasn't Sai's doing." I assured them, firmly. Naruto and Sakura stared at me dubiously.
"How do you know?" Naruto asked. I folded my arms across my chest, wishing for once for Naruto to use his brains.
"Honey, you're cute. But sometimes you're really stupid." Naruto sulked, while Sakura nodded in agreement.
"Be realistic. Does Sai have explosives or a jutsu that causes explosive power?"
Both Naruto and Sakura shook their head and sighed in relief. Then Sakura perked up again with excitement which she realised what this meant.
"You mean? That was Sasuke?" she asked, hopefully.
"Yeah." I confirmed, reluctantly.
Her obvious admiration for Sasuke was endearing and I was pretty sure, but couldn't really confirm until I heard it from his own mouth, that underneath all of Sasuke's hostility that he felt mutually for her, despite all the times she frequently pissed him off. But now was not the time to lose the plot just because the object of her affections just happened to have set off a deadly attack on Sai. Naruto and Sakura cheered and high-fived each other and me. Although, I wasn't sure it was something to start celebrating about. That explosion meant that Sasuke was in a murderous mood and was not to be taken lightly, considering he could do that. Which only strengthened the annoyance and frustration I felt when I realised Sakura was not thinking clearly about the seriousness of our situation.
All she was focused on was the fact that my deeply troubled and extremely dangerous cousin (who was not to be fucked with. Not if you valued your life, your future and the lives of your friends and family) was still alive and kicking. It was clear that both Naruto and Sakura were itching to see Sasuke, now that they knew he was only miles away from where they were.
Yamato, like me was frustrated, but seeing no other option but to let them go, released their shirts and Naruto, Sakura and I raced off down the corridor towards Sasuke.
As I said before, Yamato knows about my psychic abilities. And because of this, it allows us to have a private telepathic conversation with each other without other people knowing what we are talking about. It's a fairly simple, but powerful ninjutsu. Before our mission started, I had gotten this idea that I discussed with her ladyship, Lady Tsunade, before meeting up with Naruto, Sakura and Sai. Her ladyship was initially sceptical of the idea and wasn't sure that it would work, but after explaining my reasons for undergoing this idea with Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke; she was convinced but still somewhat reluctant and begrudgingly gave her consent for me to perform my task.
Yamato and I kept up with Naruto and Sakura with a steady sprint. I was going over my idea in my head to make sure there were no foul ups when Yamato tried to communicate with me telepathically, scaring the shit out of me.
How much time do you need to charge your sharingan, Akima?
I stumbled on a bit of rubble that had fallen to the corridor floor when Sasuke's explosion first rocked the room. Flustered, I tried to mentally calculate exactly how faraway we were from Sasuke and Sai's stand off.
I don't know. It varies on how faraway we are from Sasuke...
That was when I suddenly felt something bad was about to happen. Something that was almost certainly gonna stress out Sakura and Naruto (not to mention, me) even further. I sidled up to Yamato, who turned his head to look at me.
"Guide me so I don't run into the wall. I need to check something out."
Yamato nodded and took a firm hold of my arm, as I closed my eyes and instantly saw Sai standing among rubble and smoke, which had been caused by the tunnel caving in and becoming what looked like a gapping crater like hole in Orochimaru's lair. Sai coughed and got to his feet, peering up at somebody who was standing on the lip of the crater, looking down at him. The expression on Sai's face was slightly amused.
"Uh huh. This explains a lot. There's a definite resemblance between the two of you." he complimented Sasuke who obviously was the person standing on the lip of the crater.
"What are you talking about?" asks Sasuke, coldly. Sai makes no reply. He just stands there, grinning triumphantly.
I opened my eyes and looked at Yamato, panicking slightly.
Is something the matter? Yamato thought, looking concerned. I grimaced and Yamato raised an eyebrow.
I'll take that as a yes then? he surmised. I nodded, disengaging my arm from Yamato's grip.
I'm gonna need twenty minutes, tops to prepare for this... I confirmed. I needed to gather enough chakra for my plan to work and work well. Yamato nodded in reply.
Fair enough...
Also-
Yamato looked at me patiently. The news was not getting better and he knew it.
Sasuke's going to set off another explosion in a few seconds...
And sure enough, another explosion was heard. Sakura and Naruto both gasped in worry and anger as they dodged falling debris caused by Sasuke. I recognised the explosion – Sasuke was using his sharingan again – probably in an attempt to get a straight answer out of Sai.
Yeah. Good luck with that Sasuke. Let me know what technique you used to achieve the impossible... I thought bitterly.
"No! I won't let you do this to Sasuke!" screamed Sakura, in anguish. Before anybody could stop her, Sakura went into turbo drive and nearly ran out of sight. Not before I easily caught up with my emotional friend and forced her to stop.
"What are you doing? Let me go! Sai could be attacking Sasuke at this moment."
I ignored her question, because I knew that no matter what answer I gave her, Sakura would try to find some loophole to pick fault with Sai. But from what I had seen, Sai wasn't attacking anybody. He was just staring at Sasuke with his fake smile. I looked over Sakura's shoulder and saw Naruto shaking with fury. I abandoned Sakura and instantly went over to him and placed both hands on his shoulders.
"SAI!" Naruto growled, his teeth gradually turning into fangs. Classic danger sign, apart from the pupils in Naruto's eyes turning into fiery red slits. Another minute and our 'good friend' Kurama will pay us a visit and Sakura would have to heal him again. I cupped his cheek and started stroking it gently, trying to soothe him.
"Naruto, please stop. Please calm down it's not worth it. You're still weak from the last time."
Naruto looked at me and stopped shaking. I smiled pleadingly at Naruto and slowly the anger faded away from his eyes which returned to their original blue, and his face relaxed. Naruto smiled back at me affectionately and gently took my hands away from his face, squeezing them. Yamato took charge of the situation by trying to calm Sakura down, since he saw Naruto's anxiety and fear disappear with the anger with my simple gesture.
"Sakura, you cannot possibly know where they are. It will be far easier if I lead the way, because of the tracer seed that I had planted on you three-"
"Fine, whatever! Let's just go!" interrupted Sakura, who gestured frantically with her hand. Yamato sighed and then sprinted off with Sakura running so close behind him, she could breathe down his neck. I looked over at Naruto who stared back at me sheepishly and followed them. I felt my jaw lock into place from annoyance and my eyes narrowed.
"Lovesick fool..." I muttered under my breath and followed Naruto, sprinting alongside him. I was close enough to Yamato to continue our telepathic conversation with him. It was time to reveal my plan to him. Lady Tsunade thought it was best not to tell Yamato of my plan until we were about to undergo it.
What exactly are you going to do, Akima?
Yamato sounded like he was completely bored and that he wished he hadn't signed onto this mission with a bunch of hormonal teenage ninjas.
I'm taking Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura back in time to relive our memories...
Uh huh... Continue, I'm listening...
Completely bored. And sounding just as sceptical as Lady Tsunade did. This was going to be a bundle of fun explaining it to him. Not!
What? You don't believe that I can do this? I asked, getting defensive and kicking up large dust clouds behind me.
It is a little hard to believe, Akima... He calmly admitted. I rolled my eyes and continued explaining my plan to a less than enthusiastic Yamato.
Yeah, well anyway... I looked over at Naruto and instantly wished I could also tell both him and Sakura my plan. But it wasn't time to let them in on it yet. Naruto looked calmer than he did before but the anxious and harassed expression hadn't completely disappeared. From the way Sakura was running, she was nowhere near calm and was bordering on a complete breakdown. I sighed again and Naruto looked over and grinned at me. I winked back.
I'm counting on the knowledge that all the moments we had shared together will perhaps show Sasuke that revenge against Itachi is not the answer.
Yamato scoffed.
What are you anyway? A peace-loving hippie?
And what are you? The world's most unfunny ninja? At least being peace-loving is better than being a homicidal lunatic! I thought, offended. But chose to ignore his last thought.
-and that his friends; Naruto, Sakura and I, miss and generally want to help him through his grief and save him, not only from himself ... but from Orochimaru.
Yamato still sounded very sceptical when he replied to my plan so far.
I see...and do you except that this will work and will convince Sasuke to return with us back to Konoha?
I almost snorted with laughter.
No. It would be a bloody miracle if it did...
This was obviously something that Yamato had suspected that I would say because there was suddenly a pregnant pause. I could hear Naruto and Sakura's panting echoing in the corridor. Funny, it was also something that Lady Tsunade did as well. Although, she was a lot more kinder and more willing to actually understand the plan, rather than scoff and eventually dismiss the plan entirely. Plus, if she had denied me trying this plan – I wouldn't be discussing it with him.
Look, I'm not holding my breath that this plan will work, or that it will definitely change Sasuke's mind.
But I wasn't getting through to him. But then again, he wasn't actually going to be going into the plan with us anyway. So it didn't matter if he agreed with it or not. But it still hurt that Yamato wasn't impressed with what I was planning. I even knew why, it was because he thought I was bragging that I could literally take people back in time with a simple ninjutsu.
If it were that easy, I would've done it the day he left Konoha, beat the shit out of Naruto and made a break for it towards Orochimaru...
I could feel the tears brimming under my eyelids. I remembered the day Sasuke abandoned his home without explanation.
Sakura had shadowed him and found him sneaking out of the village, bagpack on his back and everything. Sakura confronted Sasuke with tears pouring down her cheeks, telling him that if he took one more step out of the village that she'll scream, thus alerting the village.
Sasuke vanished from in front of Sakura and materialised close behind her. Sakura froze as Sasuke leaned forward to whisper in Sakura's ear. I had shadowed Sakura, like she had shadowed Sasuke and eavesdropped on what he whispered to her as I hid behind a nearby tree.
"Thank You, Sakura. For everything." he had said, then he simply turned and I watched him sprint away, while Sakura bawled like a baby.
I followed Sasuke to the falls and watched as he brutally beat up Naruto and vise versa. When the battle was over and Naruto was lying unconscious on the ground and Sasuke had fallen to his knees hovering over Naruto's head, shielding him from the rain. I watched as his metal forehead protector loosened and fell with a clatter to the hard ground that hadn't had a chance to become saturated. At that moment, I approached Sasuke who looked up sharply and stared at me. Tears were falling from my eyes as I approached my weary and injured cousin.
"Why Sasuke? Why are you leaving us? Leaving me?" Sasuke made no reply. He stood up and limped over to me, holding his injured arm.
"You're my best friend. The only family I have left. Or have you forgotten this?" Sasuke stared at me coldly. But instead of chewing me out, he enveloped me in a very long, very tight hug.
"I haven't forgotten. But I need to leave, Akima. There's nothing for me in Konoha anymore, none of those so called 'sensais' are capable of giving me the training I require for my mission. And Itachi is going to pay for his dishonour with his death." I dropped my head and let the tears fall to the ground. I was afraid that this was going to happen.
"You can still talk telepathically right?" Sasuke had asked me. I looked up and nodded, not knowing where he was going with this.
"No matter where I go. We will always be able to keep in contact with each other."
I blinked at him, finally understanding but still not liking his decision.
"I promise." Then he kissed my forehead and knocked me out. I remember stirring next to Naruto's unconscious body (Sasuke must have somehow carried me over to where Naruto lay and placed his metal forehead protector in Naruto's hand) and saw Kakashi assessing the situation with a ninja dog.
The rain was still falling and Sasuke had disappeared. Up until now at least - two years later: both of us stronger, faster and wiser. And almost certainly, both extremely dangerous.
When I returned to reality, the situation had not improved at all. Yamato had remained as stubborn than ever.
Look Yamato, Sasuke made it clear to Sakura, Naruto and I the last time that he had no desire to be saved, or to return to Konoha...
I knew that we weren't faraway from where Sasuke and Sai were. But tell that to my friends. Both of them were now despairing and getting increasingly frustrated that we hadn't reached our goal yet.
"Where are you? Where are you! SASUKE!" cried Naruto, tears leaking out his eyes.
"We've come so far. Sasuke-" whimpered Sakura, wiping away the tears with her glove. I had no more tears to shed. I dragged my arm across my wet eyes.
No. I'm hoping that we will get across what we have to say to Sasuke and to show him, and hope that the memories will make him think long and hard about all this for the next time we meet...
We turned a corner and we literally saw light at the end of the tunnel. Sakura yelled in triumph and out sprinted Yamato towards the 'finish line' where we would FINALLY see Sasuke again. Yamato paid no attention when Sakura did this. He instead focused on what I had just said.
You don't believe that we will finally be able to 'escort' Sasuke back to the Leaf Village?
He sounded incredulous. What else was new?
I almost laughed again, but decided that the truth was best.
I doubt it.
Yamato slowed down until he was striding alongside Naruto and I and stares at me disapprovingly.
What else is new? You were disapproving of my entire plan.
All three of us slowed down as Sakura carelessly ran out into the open and furiously seized Sai by the shirt.
Sai didn't flinch.
"Well see about that." Yamato muttered into my ear, causing me to jump about ten feet into the air. I hate it when people did that.
"What the hell do you think-?" Sakura's voice echoed around in my head.
"Sakura?" the girl in question instantly froze and turned, letting her hand slacken and fall limply to her side as her face jerked in a mingled mixture of shock and jubilation.
Sasuke...