UPDATE TIME! Alright so this chapter I am not sure about... Sasuke's personality has been modified a bit, *Weep* so I can continue with this direction in the story. Please don't shoot me. But for you Sasu Fan-Girls, let's just say your little Uchiha is HOT this chapter-literally! XD
As for the Third Hokage's journal, much liberty was taken into adding this. I needed a way for Sakura to find out about the Uchiha Clans past and I needed it to be simple. (Why? Because I wanted to get through these Sasuke/Sakura chapters as quickly as possible. I want to finish this fanfic, so getting hung up on something like that would hinder my writing proses.) If anyone had any better ideas don't hesitate to send them my way.
-Alright Feed Back Time-
To MoonShadow7117: I hope this is a good chapter for you. I didn't drag him back to Konoha but perhaps this is suffice? Thank you for all the great reviews and your story pms! Amazing stuff! For the Fox Prince stuff coming early. I am testing something and have decided to keep it there intentionally for now. (I am still a buddy writer.)
PuppetMaster55: I'm so glad you give this story a 'thumbs up!' I cross my fingures and hope you like it just as much as I continue. Your suggestions for Omakes helped-thank you so much!:3
Narudevilfan: Thank you for your honesty. It is true this story is dark compared to Naruto and he is going to become a demon like being. I'm not saying you should keep reading-I would tottaly hate to have someone read something they don't like. (That would just be stupid.) But the ending may surprise you in the future.
chobits909 & Shadow Kitsune67: Here is your update-enjoy! Many cyber choco-chip cookies for you!
Echo Uchiha: I hope you like Sasuke in this chapter! ^0^
For those who miss Naruto-fear not! He should be appearing in this next chapter. (Now I just got to go and write it. *sweatdrops* See you guys soon!
-TheNineTailedKitsune
Chapter 12 – Heart of a Dragon
Sakura just looked at him sadly. "This isn't you Sasuke. This isn't the boy I grew to know on Team 7."
He just smirked his dark violet lips at her, "Huh, that boy died a long time ago."
"…so then it's true." She spoke softly. "Not just Naruto lost himself a year ago, Sasuke you did to."
"Shut up!" he hissed and gripped his right wrist with a clawed hand.
"Sakura Hinata-move!" Kakashi shouted at them.
"CHIDORI!"
Both girls had to send a large amount of chakra to their feet to get them back in time. Sasuke's Chidori put a huge gouged in the fist Hokage's head and he cursed himself for missing. He couldn't afford to loose-not to a weakling like Sakura!
'She's always going on about these bonds you have…'
He shut his eyes tight a moment. He didn't need the distracting thoughts. The bonds of Konoha meant nothing-nothing-and Naruto- he didn't mean anything either! 'I would have left even if he hadn't forgotten…' his lip curled in pure rage. The Hyuuga was coming at him.
"Hinata don't-"
"I-I'm d-doing this f-for N-Naruto-kun! Sasuke h-he n-needs you!"
"You're wrong-that stupid dead last can rot for all I care!" he hissed at her.
"Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!"
The Hyuuga girl moved in on him fast but barely manage to hit him. Even still, Sasuke noted she wasn't the same as well as Sakura. They had gotten stronger in the last years time. 'But not as strong as me.'
He threw the girl back with a mere flick of his wing, and she crashed into the rock across from him. 'Pathetic.'
"Sasuke!" Kakashi was on him in a flash, his own Chidori powered up and his Sharingan eye blazing. Sasuke punched him sending him back. The jutsu did its damage, but no where near what it would do if he was in his normal form. Sakura tried to get to him next. He caught her fist and swung, sending her disappearing into the mist of the waterfall.
"Sakura!" Kakashi shouted as he saw his student fade from view. Was it even possible for her to survive such a fall?
"U-Uchiha-s-san…" Hinata was lifting herself weakly a line of blood rolling down her chin from the side of her lips. "I-I will n-not l-loose."
He just looked coldly at her wondering what she was going to do. She was a fool if she thought she could fight him in that state.
"I will n-not loose-because t-that i-is m-my nindo my ninja way."
His eye's narrowed. "What did you say?"
"I-if Naruto-k-kun were h-here I-I'm sure those w-would be h-his exact w-words." She pushed herself to her feet a few tears steaming down her face.
"Hinata don't strain yourself!" Kakashi ordered. The violet hair girl ignored him and to each of the mens surprise, a small smile came to her face.
"Y-you a-are his b-best friend… I-I k-know you c-can b-bring him back."
"Hee, who said I was his best friend, or a friend at all for that matter? He was holding me back."
"Y-your e-eyes…"
"What?"
"Your eyes s-say it a-and y-your actions. T-they may h-have been subtle-but I-I understand. I-I f-felt it a-also." Her smiled hurt so much as she said this. "T-that's why y-you left i-isn't it? B-because y-you l-lost him t-to?"
"That enough!" Sasuke's eyes glissined madly with rage. Who was this girl to enter his mind-she didn't know him! She didn't know anything about Team 7 or what it meant to loose-
There was a fast pace movement as the girl came at him again and this time he was off guard.
"H-Heveans Spiral!" Hinata whirled in a blur impacting onto his body and sending him backward. Though it had happened quickly and she'd taken him off guard he could clearly see her arm with his Sharingan. He grabbed it and proceed to throw her again, when something snatcher her from hurling through the sky.
"You! I told you not to follow me!" Sai just smiled from the back of his giant ink bird. "I do not take orders from traitors." He smiled. "Though that debate seems to be undecided whether you are or not."
Sakura was behind him and she jump down to land in front of Sasuke.
"Hinata's right Sasuke-think about our past together? Was it really that meaningless?"
"I don't need you!" he snarled fiercely. "You and him-he-he was a burden-"
"Because you cared-because you felt something other then hatred!" he approached him with acid in her eyes. "I didn't see it before-but she was right. You left because you lost someone else-some one as precious as your own family! Naruto is your brother you idiot!" she raised her hand she was close enough to slap him now. Sasuke grabbed it before she proceeded to do so, his black and red eyes glaring into hers.
"I already have a brother-a brother I'm going to kill!"
Sakura flinched then sucked in a deep breath and bellowed. "Itachi was forced by the council to kill your clan Sasuke! He never wanted to do it and he spared you because he loved you!" her heart beat furiously. "If you don't believe me then read this." She grabbed the book again. "I-I know it's n-not right to bring you b-back to a place that did that to you… but I just want to see Team 7 smile together again."
Sasuke was hardly hearing her at this point. Konoha had forced Itachi to kill his clan-it was absurd-impossible!
"Why?" he breathed still gripping her arm at the base of her hand. His wild pale black hair was reseeding and his eyes were becoming human again. Soon the only thing that stood before her was Uchiha Sasuke, a boy bent on revenge for reasons he didn't even understand anymore.
Sakura had tears in her eyes as she told him. It wasn't unlike the night she'd stumbled onto the old Hokage's journal while cleaning the office with Tsunade. It had been hidden by many genjutsu but when the old man died the stronger seals must have been broken. The book had been in a deeply hidden compartment of the old Hokage's shelves. Tsunade had to use hundreds of techniques to see what was in it. Mostly her Sensei just wanted to see some dirt on her old teacher. Not that black mail would do much good in the after life. She'd even gone as far as thinking it might be one of Jiraiya'sIchi Ichi Paradise in Disguise.
They were sorely wrong.
Sakura continued to cry but her sobs had stopped. "The Uchiha were planing to take over the village. The Third didn't want him to do this but-but those evil old crows-if he didn't then Uchiha would have become a dangerous force against Konoha. I'm sorry Sasuke!" she actually leaned forward and gripped the boy with out him pushing her back. He was in too much shock. Konoha… made Itachi kill…
He thought back on his brother-the brother who'd flick him in the forehead for no reason! The brother that was always giving him advice-always being so gentle. The brother who'd apparently… loved him?
"You're life was more important to Itachi then the village. He made the Third promise not to tell you. He didn't want you to know Uchiha was planning to betray Konoha. He sacrificed himself so you would be seen as the last of a strong proud clan."
'Brother, help me practice shirukan today!'
'Nii-san-that's not fair!'
'I'm sorry Sasuke, maybe some other day.'
Sasuke felt something wet rolling down his cheeks. Spray from the waterfall? No… he wiped away the moister but it just kept coming. For once since he was seven years old Uchiha Sasuke was crying. "I… I remember he told me…" he swallowed his throat going dry. "For a Shinobi having power… will make you do terrible things." Sakura's grip on him loosened and she pulled back to look at his face. It was grey and pale, all the hate drained away only to reveal a deep sadness. "I hate him…"
'Hate me little brother and when you have these eyes, seek me out for your revenge.'
'Even if it is only as an obstacle and I have to be like a wall you have to scale, I will always be there for you.'
Orochimaru? Revenge? Konoha? It all felt so distant. He remembered those days of being a child alone with everyone around him praising him. Children, teachers, villagers… even then it didn't mean anything if it didn't satisfy his own justice in himself. It was always so cold.
Until that idiot showed up and that ridiculous fan girl; along with a Jonin who couldn't for the life of him be on time. After being forced to acknowledge someone… after being made to see others for something other then burdens… he'd finely felt true life.
At this point something even stranger happened which made the entire team stop. A laugh escaped someone's lips.
It was a soft sad chuckle that came from the very hollow of a person's soul. In Sasuke's eyes it was the laugh of a fool who had just realized he was one.
"Sasuke…?"
"I'm such and idiot." He said not even able to look at Sakura, but glaring at the sky that threatened rain. Just like how he felt. "A-arigoto Sakura."
Kakashi was helping Hinata stay on her feet while Sai stood next to him. 'These feelings… I still don't understand.' The artist thought though his face stayed emotionless. 'I feel I have endured such pain before…' he was looking into Sasuke's eyes. The eyes of one who'd lost everything most precious to him. But the seen changed as he watched, soon The Uchiha face wasn't contorted in sorrow but pain.
Sasuke let a cry escape his lips as a icy like fire spread from his left shoulder. He pushed Sakura away as he feel to the ground. "Aaaggghhh…" he was breathing heavily and Sakura could see blood staining his white shirt.
"W-what's wrong?" she knelt down to him trying to use her medical jutsu. But it just dissipated as she tried to heal the shoulder. Pulling his color back she knew why. It was the curse mark that was causing him so much pain.
"G-get out of here!" Sasuke shouted at them. "He knows where I am-ugh-"
"Right you are Sasuke." A snaky voice was heard from the darkness of the trees. There stood Orochimaru, pale as a ghost and sick as a demon, Kabuto of course was diligently at his side. The snake Sanin gave his cold murderous smile. "Don't tell me you plan to betray me Sasuke."
"K-Kakashi-sensei-you can't fight him-take the team and go!" Sasuke ordered then let out another string of painful screams.
"No, were not leaving you-" Sakura was swept aside by the snakes appearing forming Orochimaru's arms. In moments he was kneeling in front of the Uchiha. "Tsk, look at what you've done to yourself... You truly are rejecting my power now aren't you?"
"Leave me alone."
Orochimaru just laughed taking the boys chin in a thin finger. "What is it Sasuke? Have you lost your will to fight? Have you lost the desire for your revenge?" His opposite hand dug into the curse mark on his students shoulder and the blood flow increased.
"Shut up-I'm not your puppet!"
This statement just made Orochimaru laugh even harder and more manically, then he said in his hissing soft voice. "Really? Haven't you noticed? You have been a puppet for nearly your entire life. Controlled by the village-by your brother-me. You have potential physically yes, but mentally you've always been nothing but a tool-a true shinobi. Now you are breaking, and I have no use for a broke instrument."
Sasuke's whole body was cringing and screaming in pain now.
"Can you feel that? This is the fate that goes to all who reject my gifts, soon your body will be no more. But those eye's… I will still have them."
Sasuke's eye's shifted activating his bloodline. "Well see a-about th-at." He kicked out at the snake. Orochimaru just took the blow sending Sasuke backward with his own strike. The curse mark enveloping his body but not changing him. It looked like poison spreading across his limbs. "Kakashi-sensei-get everyone away from here!" he choked through his pain.
Kakashi currently dealing with Kaboto was dodging chakra scalpels. Hinata was trying to hit the young Sound Nin with Jūken only he was to fast. Sai equally busy was going after Orochimaru only to have his ink creations torn to pieces by the Sanin. Kakashi only gave himself a moment to look back at his old student. 'What are you planning Sasuke?'
"We can't leave you!" Sakura shouted prepared to go to Sasuke's side and try to help him. Orochimaru cut her off with one of his snake arms. She cried from the hit but stayed on her feet. Powering a fist she punched out at one of the snake heads sending it backward.
"Trust me Sakura!" Sasuke ordered and for a brief moment glared into her eyes. She bit her lip then nodded her head. At this moment Hinata finely managed to incapacitate Kabuto making his arms completely numb.
Sasuke did a quick pace of hand signs ignoring his pain, and Kakashi new why he wanted them to leave. "Sasuke-"
"GO!"
Kakashi could only comply since he had already finished preparing the jutsu. "Fall back!" he ordered his to female teammates. They did as they were told moving as far back into the trees as possible. Kabuto followed after them but seeing as he couldn't manipulate chakra with his arms he didn't attack them.
"Hee, what's this… a new jutsu you haven't shared with me?" Orochimaru mused licking his lips.
"You're in luck Master; I was saving this one just for you." Sasuke tried to smirk through his pain but it was hard. He never referred to the snake as 'master' like the others, and only did so now with sick disrespect. He had a hand over his heart, the other making a two finger sign in front of his face.
"Ryū-shin no Jutsu!" (Dragon Heart Jutsu!)
A violent wave of flame chakra bursting from the very core of Sasuke's body. Every few moments another wave would come, becoming stronger until no one could even see him through the fiery haze. When it had finely disappeared Orochimaru was nowhere to be seen. Sasuke still on his feet was smoking from every pore. The dark sky had finely broken open as if to weep, steaming away when the water hit the young ninja's body.
'Hee, I told you… I would do it…'
###
'There is one thing about this attack Sasuke.' Itachi said seriously.
'Yeah-what?'
'Every one who's ever used it died.'
'What!'
Itachi nodded at his younger brother. 'Of course, the technique is only a myth for children's stories. They say to use it you have to have the will of a dragon.'
'Ha-then I'm gonna prove that it exist-even if it doesn't now! I won't die either! It'll be even better then Nii-sans fire jutsus!'
Itachi smiled, 'We will see.'
###
Sasuke had a smile on his face. The first one he had in a long time when he thought of his brother. 'Hee, I guess I did get proven wrong in one aspect.' He thought feeling his breath shallow and let himself fall forward to the ground.
"Sasuke!" Sakura dropped from there safety in the far away trees and went to him. The others followed suit while Kabuto disappeared. There was no way Orochimaru had been defeated, but knowing that he was gone meant he was probably injured. Judging by the blood pooling down Sasuke's cheeks the Snake Sanin had no more use for the Uchiha. The boys Sharingan had been over exerted and the curse mark had already destroyed his eyes.
"Wake up." Sakura cradled his head in her arms ignoring the blood. The rain had finely cooled his skin enough to touch. This was so much like the time they had found Naruto attacked in that clearing. But this was no mind justsu, Sasuke's wounds were physical and he looked on the verge of death.
"S…Sakura…"
"I'm here-we need to get him to Lady Tsunade!" she choked. Sai had already painted and summoned another ink bird. They laid Sasuke's still form on its back as they took off. Sakura concentrating as hard as she could was trying to heal as much damage as possible.
"Don't you dare died." She ordered down to him through fierce tears. For a moment she thought she saw the old arrogant Sasuke smirk on his face before the boy fell into complete unconsciousness.
Yes I am evil and I left you with a cliff hanger again. Don't panic-I promise you will see what became of Team Kakashi and Sasuke in the future. ^_^