A Challenge Approaches
"Make no mistake. You leave the safety of darkness and secrecy to step once more into the light." He paused. Then, his voice weary, "They will come for you, Obito."
The Uchiha shrugged.
Sakura had always been very smart for her age. When she was younger, her brother had given her his textbooks for future years at the academy. She read through them easily, memorizing the obscure facts, forms and hand seals at an alarming rate.
He had done the same thing with one of his basic medical ninjutsu textbooks. When, after months, she hadn't returned the book to him, he figured he had overwhelmed her. In reality, she had been fascinated by the complex diagrams describing the different systems that constituted the human body, and the biochemical and chakra-intensive means used to keep it alive. Technically, she still hadn't given it back.
Even at the academy, she always excelled at any mental task that was assigned to them. Tests, puzzles, riddles, she was almost always able to figure out the answer with enough time to think it over.
Now, she was faced with the curious case of Uchiha Obito.
The aforementioned Uchiha's head spun around, "One moment, kiddies."
Then, he disappeared. They waited for him for about ten minutes before he emerged from the trees, skipping happily.
This happened a lot.
They had now been on several C-rank missions since their first and on all of them, sometimes more than once, Obito would look up, disappear and then return whistling or skipping or humming.
One time when he returned, she had seen flecks of blood on his face. When she had asked him about it, he smiled brightly and pretended it didn't exist to nauseating extremes, denying all manner of portraits, reactions and reflections. Eventually, he had fallen into a river and then there really was nothing there anymore. So, she dropped it.
But, her curiosity remained.
Naruto and Sasuke were curious too, but they had no better idea than she did.
Naruto thought he was sacrificing kittens, but that might have been a joke. He had been warming up to their sensei after their first mission.
Sasuke thought he was being attacked.
She agreed with Sasuke. Obviously.
The difference was that Sasuke didn't think this was a problem. She wasn't so sure.
They finally met up with their client at an outpost on the southwestern border of the Land of Fire. Their client turned out to be clients: a merchant caravan.
The small caravan consisted of twenty-three people and their assorted goods. They would be escorting them from the border between the Land of Fire and Land of Wind to the Land of Rivers, where they would be able to sell their wares.
Not the most interesting of missions—bandits weren't likely to attack with a ninja presence there—but it was only a C-Rank.
It was also basically a full day's trip at civilian pace. It was sunrise when they fell into formation around the caravan. Then, they were off.
She wondered how many times Obito would disappear into the trees this time.
They had travelled for quite a long time, the early dawn stretching into the long hours of the afternoon. Obito hadn't left, and Sakura's mind had travelled to other things.
She was wondering why the caravan didn't request Suna ninja to do the job, seeing as they were probably more familiar with the path, when a small capsule landed in front of the caravan.
Obito yelled, deadly serious, "Get down!"
A massive explosion went off in front of the caravan threatening to consume it. A merchant gave a scream that was cut off abruptly in disbelief when the explosion suddenly disappeared.
More capsules landed, exploding near the caravan. Each explosion disappeared into nothingness as Obito consumed them with his Kamui, the rush of heat and light folding away into a single, silent point.
As Obito consumed the last explosions, two dark shadows zoomed out from the trees toward him, wrapping him in chains. More of the merchants started to scream.
The enemy ninja were wearing face masks with rebreathers attached. Each had identical deadly looking claws attached by a serrated chain. Their Kiri headbands had a single slash mark through them. Then in an instant they pulled.
Obito yelled in pain and then was silent. The explosion which had been folding away, expanded again in a deadly blast, destroying one of the wagons. The Demon Brothers laughed menacingly and advanced toward the caravan.
Sasuke and Naruto slid in front of them side-by-side, tanto and kunai drawn respectively.
Then Naruto cursed. "Don't do that, Obito-sensei."
The Demon Brothers froze. Obito sunk a kunai into each of their skulls, but his cheerful demeanor didn't return.
"Team 7, escort the caravan to the destination. 5 kilometers, northwest. Our friends aren't quite done here...are you?" He said, looking out into the trees.
An overly dramatic sigh came from the trees, followed by a series of clicking, like wooden bones clacking together.
An attractive young man with red hair and impossibly flawless skin slid out from the trees. Above him were a number of red-cloaked puppets. They were scattered along around him on the edges of the trees, their wooden bodies clattering together menacingly.
"It's so hard to find good help these days," the redhead said. He wasn't wearing a headband. "But I supposed they served their purpose." He ran one immaculate hand through his spiky red hair.
Then he looked to Team 7. A lance of fear ripped through Sakura.
"Leave already. I don't like to be kept waiting," the redheaded ninja said.
But Sakura couldn't move. Killing intent, her mind supplied abstractly.
"It's alright," her sensei's calm voice called out to them. He smiled over his shoulder to them. "Complete the mission. This one won't hurt you." His eyes slid back to the missing-nin. "He'll be quite preoccupied."
Slowly, Sakura regained control of her senses. Some of the carriages had been damaged by the explosions, but she helped to quickly organize the civilians again. No one seemed hurt, but the atmosphere was tense as the merchants shuffled away.
Well, it was tense for them. Obito looked as relaxed as always, a vacant, vaguely amused expression on his face.
The missing-nin as well seemed uninterested in the civilians. He stood with an unnatural stillness and posed as if to start preening again at any moment.
Their relaxation was no comfort to the others; the merchants fumbled nervously with their wares as they hurried to gather the carriages together.
Sakura didn't blame them. Team 7 as well was dangerously on edge.
"Obito-sensei-" Naruto began, planning to protest.
"One moment, kiddies!" Obito said, wagging his finger at them, though his eyes stayed fixed on the missing-nin, "I have a guest to entertain." He stroked his chin in contemplation. "Although, I'm pretty sure I gave you a mission to complete."
They shared a look. That sounded like an order if there ever was one.
"Fine," Naruto said.
So they left, escorting the civilians away as quickly as they could.
"Now," Obito said, smirking, "shall we?"
His Sharingan blazed in his eyes, revealing the puppetmaster's tricks for what they were. The red-cloaked puppets began firing their rounds of senbon towards him. He darted forward, phasing through the projectiles with ease.
He shot towards the redhead, before phasing through him as well.
With the Sharingan, he could see the chakra strings attached to the redhead, revealing it as the puppet it really was. He followed those same chakra strings back towards the real Sasori with a vicious pace.
Sasori—the real Sasori—tried to escape, but, alas, he was too slow. Obito slid underneath his desperate punch and slammed him into the tree behind him.
"Bye, bye!" His Kamui activated in his right eye and the puppetmaster was sucked in. The puppets scattered throughout the trees clattered to the floor.
Huh. Somehow, he thought an S-rank opponent would be more difficult.
How boring.
Oh well, might as well see how his guest was enjoying his latest Genjutsu-based-
He phased again as two puppets shot up to impale him from either side. He slid past them, slapping a couple of exploding tags on them. They exploded violently, but he used his Kamui again as the explosion engulfed him.
As the smoke cleared, Sasori made himself known again.
"You didn't actually think it would be that easy did you?" He asked, the redheaded puppet speaking and taking center stage again.
Okay, Obito thought to himself. I'm going to feel pretty silly if that's actually the real one.
But...something told him that it was more complicated than that. Only one way to find out, he allowed himself to sink into the ground as more puppets began attacking him.
He reemerged far behind the redhead, but within line of sight. Once again, he could see the chakra strings attached to it, but he might as well be careful about it. His left eye spun. Kamui!
The redhead was absorbed. Some of the puppets fell, suddenly disconnected, but not all of them. The ones that did fall were reattached from several different locations.
Obito made a Shadow Clone as a distraction as the puppets rushed towards him. He phased into the ground, reemerging in secret once more. He began tracing the different strings to their owners.
Unfortunately, the long-range Kamui was far more chakra intensive than the short range version. The Shadow Clone jutsu also took a lot of chakra. He was perfectly fine for now, but he would have to restrain himself if this was going to last for a long time.
As the clone began conversing with the puppets again, he moved from puppet to puppet, memorizing their locations and connections. The puppet that was speaking had chakra strings attached to it, which led to other puppets in the forest with their own strings, which led to others and others and then finally back to where he had started.
In addition, it had a bright core of chakra in its chest that distinguished it from the dozens of other puppets floating around. The second puppet he had sucked into the alternate dimension had this too, but he hadn't thought much of it at the time, dismissing it as some sort of weapon.
However, as he tracked through the forests, he noted as many as nine puppets with this glowing center, each interconnected between each other with no discernible human controlling them.
It seemed that one of those nine were controlling the rest, but which was the real one?
Hm, a puzzle, he thought to himself. This would require careful observation.
His right eye spun. Fire Release: Blast Wave Wild Dance!
A great wave of fire streamed out from him, enhanced by the winds he summoned from the other dimension. The blaze tore through the forest, blasting through the area where Sasori's puppets were.
The puppets, suddenly aware of the deception, scattered, but the combination wind and fire jutsu had formed a truly massive inferno. The puppets disappeared under the blaze.
When the flames cleared, the forest was decimated. Some trees were blackened and broken from the heat. Many were destroyed completely, the ground scorched clean.
Best of all, it looked like he had gotten most of the puppets.
Only most of them though.
He phased again as waves of senbon and a stream of poisonous gas shot towards him.
This was getting repetitive.
There were maybe twenty or so puppets remaining, split between three control puppets with the glowing centers.
As the poison gas dissipated, Obito walked out of it, releasing his intangibility and yawning loudly. "Ready to give up yet? Or do I actually have to whittle down all-" he blinked hard as a wave of disorientation hit him, "all of your toy-"
What was wrong with him?
His side hurt for one. And looking down he saw something impossible. A senbon needle was sticking out of him.
How-?!
He stumbled, ripping the needle out and jumping towards the tree line. A puppet blocked him, a flamethrower poking out its hand.
He phased again as the flames passed through his chest. He felt it this time.
He landed in the treeline but stumbled, falling off the branch as another wave of disorientation hit him. He flipped, landing on his feet on the forest floor.
More senbon needles were digging into his back.
Then the puppets surrounded him, littering throughout the trees. Their empty eyes stared down at him. Obito fell to a knee as the pain ripped through him.
Sasori smiled as the wooden clattering began anew. "And now the Ghost shall die."
"Maybe, we shouldn't have left," Sakura said as Team 7 led the caravan towards their destination.
Sasuke made some indecipherable noise. "Right, because the elite jonin needs our help in a fight."
Sakura opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She sighed and turned away.
Naruto turned to her. "This is just like all those other times he disappeared. We just got to see what was going on this time," he said to comfort her. "Mystery solved. I knew I was right."
Sakura glanced up at him. She looked scared. He didn't blame her. That red-headed weirdo had gotten under his skin too.
"Maybe," she said.
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "You were right? We're not running away from an arcane ritual, dobe."
Naruto stuck his tongue out at him. So Obito was fighting enemy ninja. He had thought that even if maybe Sasuke had called it.
And wait..."We're not running away from anything. We have a mission to complete, remember?" He said, gesturing to the civilian caravan in front of them. Another Naruto was in the front, keeping an eye out for any other trouble they might run into.
They were exceedingly close to the destination by ninja standards.
But, well...
"And we are utterly grateful for your help, children," a portly merchant said to them. At civilian pace, this might take a while. "What a terrible fright that was." He took out a handkerchief and rubbed his sweaty forehead. Then he said, "Good thing that's all behind us...right?"
The last bit came out in a high-pitched squeak. And Naruto found Sakura looking back at him anxiously.
"Right," Sasuke said to the client. Then more quietly he continued, "We are too running. Obito ordered us to scram, so we wouldn't be in the way."
Now Sakura was looking at Sasuke, her eyes wide in surprise.
Naruto snorted. Sasuke wanted to go back too after all.
"Then maybe we should-" Sakura started, but Sasuke cut her off.
"But he did order us to leave," he said, "so we complete the mission and leave the missing-nin to Obito."
Naruto smirked. "Aww, Sasu-chan, you're pouting."
Sasuke's glare shifted through angry to murderous. He'd pay for that later. Oh well.
"But the mission isn't more important than our comrades," Sakura said.
That was something that was emphasized in the academy. Naruto couldn't really remember the details but placing the mission over comrades was part of why the Third War had been bad. Whatever. It seemed pretty obvious to him.
"He's not in danger, Sakura," Sasuke said.
"Maybe," she repeated.
Well, he was in danger, but he wasn't in danger. Either way, they couldn't just leave him behind now that they knew what was happening!
Then again, they couldn't just leave the civilians behind either.
Luckily, Naruto knew just what to do.
"Let's book it!" He exclaimed.
Sasuke and Sakura turned to him, and he grinned.
"We get the caravan to the destination a bit faster. Then we can head back and watch Obito-sensei beat up someone else for a change."
"Be good enough not to," Sasuke grunted out. He nodded.
Sakura had been nodding before he even finished talking.
That's right! Team 7 saves their comrade and completes the mission.
"Alright! Let's go!" He said as his hands came together in his signature hand seal.
A huge mass of clones burst into existence around them, picking up everything and everyone they could get their hands on. The civilians started to protest. Sasuke started glaring. There was a great commotion as Naruto's clones tried to get everyone on board.
"Maybe," Sakura said, "we should hurry?"
Obito struggled to rise to his feet as his vision swam.
"It's poison," Sasori provided helpfully, "My own design of course. You should be incapacitated in minutes and dead shortly after."
Obito dropped to a knee again, gritting his teeth.
"It wasn't easy, no, analyzing your skills, deducing your weaknesses and testing at each step along the way." He sighed, before shaking his head nostalgically. "All those kekkai genkai hating missing-nin from Kiri weren't cheap, even if they were easy to slip in with the rest of the people who wanted to kill you. Then, there were the spies in Konoha naturally. And a way around those eyes of yours. No, not easy at all." He smiled. "Of course, the compensation will be...substantial."
Obito activated his Kamui, attempting to escape into the other dimension, when a huge gout of fire, far faster than before, forced him to phase to avoid it. Covered in flames in this dimension, he saw them.
More senbon hit him.
"It seems your intangibility and teleportation abilities are mutually exclusive. Very interesting," Sasori chimed.
Obito grunted in pain, which came out sounding disturbingly like a whimper. He could hardly phase through the ground safely and any attempt to escape into the other dimension would be stopped.
For the first time in ages, Obito was afraid he was going to die.
"Of course, I knew this already," Sasori continued, "But the demon brothers were useful as confirmation, I suppose. Even then, that's about all they were useful for."
A series of kunai shot out from the puppets in the trees, impaling Obito.
Or they would have if they didn't pass through him.
But he could feel his control slipping as kunai after kunai after kunai streamed through him. He felt like throwing up, the world refusing to stay still.
Finally, the barrage stopped.
Sasori sighed. "Still the ghost, it seems, but it hardly matters. This fight was over the moment you absorbed my clone."
In a way, he was right. Obito could feel the strength leaving him, his body refusing to obey.
He cursed its weakness. He cursed the pain and the absurdity of it.
He hated it.
He snarled as another wave of kunai flew towards him. Dark green chakra was coalescing around him. The kunai were deflected by a skeletal rib cage of chakra. The chakra rose higher and higher into a figure as tall as the trees.
Susanoo.
"Come on, come on, let's go."
A skeletal hand swiped into the tree line, but it was too slow. The puppets scattered, then regrouped in a different location.
"Ah yes, the Susanoo," Sasori said, "Surely, you know this won't be enough to save you?"
There was another massive swipe into the trees as the puppets scattered. Obito snarled. Then his vision swam again. Small glowing cracks spread along the dark green construct.
"Don't waste my time!" Sasori spit out.
From the stomach of the talking puppet an incredibly long coil with a rotating blade on the end of sped out. The blades hummed as they spun to life and then crashed into the Susanoo. The construct folded its arms over its chest to cover itself as the blade made contact.
Massive cracks opened up instantly as the blade sawed into it. Then with a push, one of the arms fell to the ground with an enormous crash.
It faded away into nothingness.
The other puppets hacked into Obito with swords covered in chakra, nipping at him menacingly as their wooden teeth clattered together.
The coil twisted, the blades spinning around through the air to hit Obito again when the Susanoo opened up its arms and massive shuriken made of chakra flew out from it.
He hadn't just been defending himself.
The puppets were caught off guard, the shuriken ripping through a third of them including the main one that had been attacking; the spinning blades crashed uselessly to the ground.
Obito's vision blurred and his body stumbled, but he ignored it. Only two with the glowing centers left.
His hatred gave him clarity enough to focus through the disorientation but every second it was fraying away. Similarly, the power of the Susanoo delayed the poison's effects, but it couldn't reverse them. His Susanoo covered itself again as he prepared more shuriken. The construct slowly regrew its arm but shrank drastically in size.
He glanced up again.
There were only three puppets with the glowing centers left.
No, that wasn't right. That wasn't possible.
The puppet with the rotating saw blade lay broken in front of him. Its cloak was ripped and its body was broken, but he could still see its chest with a circular, empty hole where a heart might go.
Ah.
And then, although his vision was blurry and his body weak, he knew which Sasori was real.
The remaining puppets didn't let up.
A scroll on the back of one of the main puppets disappeared and flames coated the Susanoo, baking the defensive shell of chakra. Its arms wrapped around itself, trying its best to protect him from the heat. More swords slashed into it, cracks opening up where they struck.
Obito grit his teeth as the world spun.
Then the attacks slowed, the fire abating as the puppetmaster reloaded.
The great arms of the Susanoo opened again, shuriken shooting out.
Not a single one connected.
Then, there was a great crack as a bolt of lightning ripped out from the puppet and blasted through the arms of the Susanoo for the last time.
Obito crashed back, tumbling wildly through the trees. He smashed through them until he came to a stop, the world still tumbling as he lay slumped against the tree.
The rib cage of green chakra clung to him, cracked and faded in multiple spots. A trail of blood fell from the Uchiha's forehead as he strained painfully against the broken tree.
He struggled to rise. He wouldn't fall here. He couldn't.
He refused to accept the failure that accompanied this shinobi world.
He stumbled, sliding back down to where he had started.
And Obito knew he was going to die.
Then, he met the eyes of Uchiha Sasuke.
Sasuke stiffened, almost resisting as he felt the genjutsu slam into him.
"Get up. Get up." Naruto whispered frantically. He turned to them. "We have to do something."
They were huddled in the thick of the trees near the battle, far enough away to avoid detection. They could still see what was happening, and it was with fear and disbelief that they had watched their sensei fall. Obito's impressive jutsu had been brutally ripped apart, the puppets assailing him with unbelievable speed and power.
Naruto rose as if to jump uselessly into the fray. Sakura would have followed him.
Sasuke grabbed Naruto's collar and slammed him back into the trees.
His stepbrother stared up at him in shock. "What the fuck, Sasuke?" He half whispered, half shouted, "Obito-sensei's about to-"
Twenty seconds.
"Get ready," Sasuke growled out.
His mind was still spinning from Obito's instructions. The deluge of information had come out desperate and fuzzy, but the important bits were clear. And he had a Sharingan to parse out the rest of it.
Obito's disappearing trick was the same jutsu he used to become intangible. It teleported his body to another dimension (the same one he had sent Sasuke to during the bell test) whenever that part of his body overlapped with something in this dimension. While the object in this dimension would pass through him, parts of his body would appear, fully solid, in the other dimension.
Sasori knew this and had tricked Obito into teleporting a clone of some sort into that dimension. This clone controlled its own puppets to attack Obito whenever he tried to phase.
It had worked. Obito was poisoned and dying.
He knew how to end the battle now, but he needed to be able to phase again.
"What are you talking about?!" Naruto whispered loudly at him, but there were the hints of dawning comprehension there. "We have to go now."
Sasuke ignored him. "Sakura, can you heal someone who's poisoned? Enough to fight?"
She opened her mouth to ask a question, then thought better of it. Thank you, Sakura. "It depends on how bad the damage is. I can treat poison and heal to an extent, but if it's bad...do we need to get Obito-sensei to a hospital?"
He'd worry about that later. Ten seconds.
"Get close to me. Now." Sakura hesitated and then snuggled into him. He held onto her and pulled Naruto to his feet. Five seconds. "We're jumping out together. Naruto, when we land, shadow clones!"
"What?"
Idiot!
Two.
One.
"Now!"
They jumped out into the clearing, holding tightly onto each other to make the smallest area possible. A puppet appeared in front of them with incredible speed, holding a sword glowing with chakra pulled back to bisect them.
Then, he felt the pull.
The puppet missed.
They were gone.
Obito and Sasori watched them disappear, the former slowly struggling to rise to his feet once more. The embers of the Susanoo clung stubbornly to Obito.
"You sent the children?" Sasori said through his puppet. "Pathetic. I assure you my clone will be more than able to handle them." The puppet reloaded, another scroll disappearing. "Don't fret. They will join you in the afterlife."
Team 7 reappeared two feet above the ground in a strange place. An unending series of rectangular prisms of varying sizes surrounded them, floating individually over an endless, dark abyss.
Across from their small prism was a much larger rectangular prism at the same height, upon which the redheaded ninja stood. He turned to look at them as the ten puppets surrounding him trained their weapons on the team.
Senbon and kunai shot rapidly toward them. Sakura's eyes widened.
Sasuke opened his mouth to yell. "N-"
Dozens of shadow clones burst into existence around them the instant they landed. The ones in the front were almost instantly mowed down by the projectiles. Naruto made more.
Beside her, Sasuke frantically scanned the terrain. The three of them retreated through the clones to the edge of the prism, crouching against the side of it as the clones stood on top, shielding them from the barrage.
Pop!pop!pop!pop!pop!po-
"Sakura," Sasuke had turned to her. Behind him, Naruto looked frustrated, his fingers in his signature seal as he watched Sasuke intently. "We're going to engage the puppets, you have to get there." He pointed in the direction of the puppets. "At the center of that block, Obito's going to appear, maybe in parts, maybe whole. He's poisoned. You have to heal him as much as possible."
Sakura's eyes had widened. Her heart had picked up pace and not just because Sasuke was staring at her intensely.
"In parts? What, I...I mean, understood." Then more quietly she added. "You can count on me, Sasuke-kun."
"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled. Pop!pop!pop!
Sasuke gave her a long stare. Pop!pop!pop!pop! Then turned away.
"Naruto, we have to take out the clone or at least distract the puppets."
"Ya think?!" Naruto yelled back. He popped his head over the top, shooting off a Pressure Break. His clones, granted a momentary reprieve charged forward. He turned to Sasuke suspiciously, his brow shining with sweat. "This saves Obito-sensei in the end?"
"Would we be here if it didn't?"
"That's what I asked, bastard!"
Sasuke smirked. "We have to draw their attention without getting hit even once. Everything's poisoned," he said, scanning the strange environment again, "then we can cut them off from where Obito and Sakura will be."
"There are five spots nearby," Naruto said, interrupting his search.
Sasuke looked at him in surprise.
"What?" Naruto said cheekily. Then an explosion destroyed more of his clones. The rush of heat and air streamed past them, their hair and clothes flapping wildly. Sakura hung on to the block for dear life as Naruto smiled through the chaos. "Don't act like I've never fought you! A bunch of little hidey holes are all around just for you! Now," His eyes were bright and challenging. "Are we gonna do this or not?"
Then Sasuke laughed, his shoulders relaxing as if a weight had suddenly been taken from them. There was a series of pops as the rest of the clones were destroyed.
"Just try to keep up, dobe."
Her teammates sped out over the top of the prism. They raced side-by-side against the deadly puppets, their hands speeding through signs.
Wind Style: Pressure Break!
Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!
With horror, Sakura realized the jutsu weren't traveling together but into each other. No! Combination jutsu were fiendishly difficult, especially ones with dominant and inferior elements. It required precise control, complementing chakra and jutsu, practi-
The wind shot into the flames as they wrapped around the tight cone, morphing into a blazing torpedo that smashed through two puppets, crashing into the ground and exploding next to the sand clone in a roar of fire and destruction. The clone darted to the side, its left arm destroyed as it jumped off the block that Obito would appear on to survive the assault.
Naruto and Sasuke rushed forward.
Sakura stared after them.
They were smiling.
Well.
That was her cue.
Obito stumbled forward, dodging as best he could from the projectiles. Patches of the Susanoo clung to him, and he maneuvered his body, using them to block the projectiles.
He had to give them as much time as possible to distract or destroy the puppets. A puppet with a sword glowing with chakra raced towards him, its sword drawn back.
Obito grunted with exertion as the embers of Susanoo concentrated on his chest, deflecting the puppet. The force of the blow knocked him back to the ground.
The power of the Susanoo disappeared.
He could no longer use his long range Kamui, he noted as the world spun. Just the same, his control was fraying; he wouldn't even be able to make the full five minutes with his intangibility.
Then, as the sword bearing puppet raced back around towards him and the redheaded puppet locked onto him, he grit his teeth and put his trust in Team 7.
Sakura darted along the side of their prism, carefully adjusting her control to account for gravity and her trajectory. Then, reaching the gap, jumped across, landing smoothly on the side of the larger prism that Obito would appear on while remaining practically out of sight.
She poked her head over the top. The top of the prism was empty, the ground scorched black from her teammates attack. Then, Obito appeared in a flash, his whole body floating a foot off the ground as if standing on nothing. Then most of him disappeared, replaced with different parts of his body flashing in and out of existence like a fourth dimensional shape passing through the third dimension.
She wasn't sure if that was a useful comparison as she raced towards the flickering body parts. In front of her, Naruto and Sasuke engaged the puppets. Naruto used his wind jutsu to deflect the projectiles back towards the puppets as Sasuke flipped elegantly, fireballs streaming from his mouth.
Her hands glowed green as she assessed Obito as best she could from the different parts of his body that appeared. The staccato drumbeat of information was carefully categorized and assessed.
Naruto was exposed from his wind jutsu. More projectiles from a different puppet streaming towards him and the few clones surrounding him.
Like clockwork, shuriken deflected some of the projectiles as the clones shifted protecting Naruto. More clones appeared as one of Sasuke's fireballs destroyed another puppet. There were only six remaining.
It was a miracle they were doing this well.
No, it was the clone. It must not have been as strong as the original. No clone was.
Obito appeared fully formed in front of her. His jaw was clenched shut, but his eyes were dilated and vacant. He seemed dangerously disoriented.
Now, Sakura had some decisions to make. What's the difference between combat and clinical medical ninjutsu, Sakura-chan?
Unlike medical ninjutsu in a clinical setting, combat medical ninjutsu couldn't always focus on curing the problem or injury. In combat, it was almost always more important to ensure the person was well enough to fight or escape than to completely heal all damage. Time was always of the essence as the enemy wasn't likely to allow you to spend extended periods of time healing everyone to full health.
When it came to poisons, things got complicated. The only remedy for poisoning was to directly counter them. Clinically, this was done either through an antidote, which countered it chemically, or the Poison Extraction Technique, which literally removed the poison from the body. Sakura definitely didn't have an antidote, but the latter procedure had its own problem. Namely, that it was unbelievably painful and often induced unconsciousness after it was completed. Whatever jutsu Obito was using wouldn't last through that sort of technique.
Without those options, she couldn't fix the problem outright.
She knew what to do.
Sakura's hands glowed green as she protected the necessary organ systems from the excess poison in the bloodstream—a temporary stopgap depending on the amount of chakra and poison, but an important first step.
Then, she did her best to assess the kinds of damage caused by the poison, carefully modulating her chakra to heal the different systems. To the extent she was successful, this would reverse the effects of the poison and heal Obito.
It wouldn't remove the poison. Quite the contrary, it, in effect, drove the chemical reaction back in the opposite direction towards normal function. This meant it actually reproduced the poison that caused the initial damage inside the body.
Clinically, this was very, very bad. The poison as it did before would damage the organs. She could heal them again, but never as well as the first time. Healing the same injury over and over again, especially in a short period became progressively useless. The damage would become permanent.
But, in combat, death was the permanent damage you worried about.
"Sakura!" That was Naruto's frantic voice.
Her hand grabbed her staff as she spun. It flared to life with green chakra as she deflected the projectiles that flew her way. The ends of her staff were extended an extra fifteen feet on each side with the green blade as she traced through the necessary movements. Most of the projectiles were blocked before they got within ten feet of her. None connected.
The puppets moved towards her and Obito, but they were blocked by another combination technique from Naruto and Sasuke. It destroyed the puppet that had shot at her initially and cut off the others.
Sakura turned her back on the explosion, picking up seamlessly as she continued healing Obito.
All the fighting in the world wouldn't help them if their sensei fell.
Life had returned to Obito's eyes as he stared down at her. Only the trunk of his body was visible.
Then, he disappeared.
Spark.
A clone latched onto a puppet from above, pushing it into the ground. It only lasted seconds; a fuuma shuriken tore through the puppet and clone in an instant.
Naruto smirked. He better be fast with the follow up on that one.
Spark.
The speed of the senbon was terrifying. His clones were destroyed in wave after wave. The puppets like wraiths in the night swept through them, their swords bright with chakra, before returning to protect the sand clone from their attacks. One puppet slid past the real him with incredible speed. A clone beside Naruto tripped him as the the sword flew overhead. He rolled to his feet.
Spark.
Naruto ignited spark after spark of the Kyuubi's chakra as fast as he was able, which just wasn't fast enough. Beside him Sasuke was throwing shuriken, deflecting them off each other as he tried to kill the clone. Naruto's clones were divebombing towards the puppets. Other clones scattered around provided the odd support or thrown shuriken. Clones shot toward the sword-bearing puppet, shuriken forced it to defend itself.
Another perfect Pressure Break raced toward the distracted puppet, but it weaved out of the way at the last second. The other puppets used the opportunity to nail Naruto with projectiles. Damn it! He wouldn't be able to get away in time!
Sasuke's shuriken countered the initial barrage giving time for his clones to protect him. Damn it, Sasuke had saved him again! And then Sasuke's Phoenix Fire Flower took out another puppet.
Naruto could practically see the smug look on Sasuke's face as Naruto weaved through his clones, pulling another spark of the Kyuubi's chakra as he and his clones charged together towards the puppets. The clones were mowed down by the mechanical barrage of senbon and kunai, but it had given Sasuke the reprieve he'd needed to duck behind one of the prisms instead of getting tagged by the senbon that flew his way.
Naruto and his surviving clones spread out, peppering the puppets with exploding tags. A thought crystallized in Naruto's mind and he smirked.
Sasuke dashed out from behind the prism, tanto drawn as he raced toward the puppets dodging the projectiles and weaving through clones toward the puppets when he was suddenly clipped in the belly by one of their senbon and crashed, sliding to the ground. A puppet with a sword raced towards him to finish the job.
Sasuke exploded into a puff of smoke as the real Sasuke appeared from around the prism, multiple small fireballs shooting down to surround and destroy the puppet. The puppet shot up through an opening and ended up directly in the path of Naruto's next Pressure Break.
Or it would have, if two other puppets hadn't slid in front, their arms locked together as a glowing shield of chakra blocked his finishing attack. Damn it! The more of the puppets they destroyed, the more difficult it got! And there were still six left.
Worse, the puppet that had risen from the flames had turned towards Sakura, darting forward as it shot projectiles at her.
No! "Sakura!"
She turned, deflecting the projectiles with her chakra scalpel. The glowing green staff-blade-thing was huge and deadly looking. It passed through Obito's floating body multiple times, but, somehow, it didn't affect their sensei at all. The projectiles, on the other hand, were deflected expertly.
A fuuma shuriken zoomed past Naruto, separating as the puppets tried to avoid it, clipping two of them, but not destroying them. Then Sasuke was by his side once more.
Wind Style: Pressure Break!
Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!
Their jutsu smashed through the puppet in front, cutting off the others with the explosion as Naruto and Sasuke raced to cut them off.
They would have been too slow.
Naruto reached desperately for a handful of the Kyuubi's chakra, suddenly appearing in front of the puppets surrounded by a new deluge of clones.
The puppets didn't stop. They weaved through, around, and over the clones toward Sakura. A rope of Narutos whipped the one over head out of the sky. He finished it off, smashing it into the ground with a tight cone of wind. The others retreated as Sasuke pelted the clone with exploding tags from the side. Senbon flew towards him as he ducked into mass of clones.
The Uchiha was breathing heavily as he rejoined Naruto, but his eyes were firm. "If we kill the clone, we can end this. We just need an...opening."
"I know that!" He yelled at him. But Naruto was breathing hard, the odd memory from his shadow clones sticking out as he tried to figure out a path to the sand clone.
Sasuke slumped against him, grunting. Naruto's eyes widened as he turned to him. A trail of blood trickled down his leg.
Naruto's blood ran cold.
"Fuck!" Naruto yelled as he pulled Sasuke to his feet and began dragging him back towards Sakura. He quickly found the cut that had poisoned the Uchiha.
Sakura was staring intently at the spot Obito would appear at, a half dozen clones around as a warning system as she waited. Her hands were up and ready.
"Sakura!" Naruto said frantically as he reached her. She turned quickly, her hand reaching for her staff, but faltering as she realized it was the real him with Sasuke. "He got hit! You have to heal him."
Her eyes had widened in horror. Behind her parts of Obito flashed in and out of existence. Then she looked down at Sasuke.
His eyes were hard.
"I-I can't," she said, "I have to heal Obito-sensei. It's the only way we're getting out of this alive!" As if her words had summoned him, their sensei reappeared. Her hands glowed green as she healed him.
Beneath him, Sasuke nodded before grunting in pain once more.
Naruto's eyes darted around frantically before settling on his female teammate. "But, Sakura! You-we can't just-" Sakura's hands faltered.
"No, Naruto," Naruto looked down at Sasuke. "You have to use it."
The world slowed to a stop. No. "No. I-you-I can't!"
Sasuke grit his teeth. "You have to!"
"I can't. The Hokage-"
"We're in a different dimension! No one can detect us!"
No. He couldn't. It was too dangerous. The consequences were too severe. He was shaking his head as his clones were whittled away and his best friend stared up at him with fear in his eyes. The old man had explained the reasons, stressed the consequences.
"Naruto, you have to! Or we die! Right here, right now!"
If it was discovered that Naruto was a jinchuriki, every nation would have the right—no, the obligation by international treaty—to go to war together against Konoha.
Everything he knew and loved would be destroyed.
Beneath him, Sasuke started to shake in pain.
No.
Naruto rose and faced the puppets.
He walked out past his clones until he stood face to face with the redhead. The puppets wasted no time trying to kill him.
Then, he pulled.
"What is that?" Sakura said as a great and terrible pressure descended upon her.
"That," Sasuke breathed, "is the reason I have these eyes."
The senbon flying toward Naruto bounced off an invisible ripple of power.
Naruto looked up with red, slitted eyes. Then, he roared.
A red shroud of chakra enveloped him, two tails appearing to swing menacingly behind him. The puppets were visibly pushed back from the force of his roar, wind whipping past them. The clones closest to Naruto exploded.
Sakura couldn't understand what she was seeing as the gust of wind pushed back into her as well. Her eyes squinted against it to see a red spectre of power where her friend once stood.
Then Naruto looked over his shoulder, the blonde still visible through the animalistic cloak that surrounded him. "Keep healing Obito-sensei, Sakura-chan. Then heal Sasuke." He turned back. "No matter what the bastard says."
Naruto bolted forward, the ground cracking underneath his feet as he charged the puppets.
"R-Right."
Obito reappeared. She healed him more, but it was losing its effectiveness. His eyes were cold and scary, his Mangekyou pattern shining in his eyes. Then, he winked at her and disappeared again.
Naruto tore through the puppets. Their projectiles bounced off his chakra shroud as he smashed into them. Where before they were barely holding on for their lives, Naruto broke through the opposition with ease, crushing all of the remaining puppets, and slamming a gigantic claw through the sand clone.
He stood there, cloaked in the tailed shroud of chakra as a dark miasma of power radiated off him, and, finally, the word came to Sakura's lips.
"Jinchuriki."
Obito passed through the senbon that were fired his way, racing towards the puppets as his poisoned blood pumped through his veins. Phasing gave Sakura time to reverse the damage, but it was temporary and the longer he spent between those moments, the worse he felt.
And, each time the damage was reversed, he felt worse than the time before. Already, his vision was starting to blur.
It was time to end this.
The real Sasori and his puppets weaved out of the way, keeping a steady stream of projectiles trained on him. Normally, this wouldn't be much of a problem, but the limit on his intangibility was reduced. He couldn't be sure how long it would last.
Once more the skeletal rib cage of the Susanoo appeared around him. Then, arms formed reaching out to swipe uselessly into the puppets.
Sasori reloaded, flames bathing the construct, followed by bolts of lightning that tore holes through the Susanoo's frame.
The construct slowly faded away.
It was a useful decoy.
Obito emerged from the ground directly behind the real Sasori and plunged a lightning covered hand through his chest.
The puppetmaster died silently to a chorus of birds. The puppets surrounding him fell together.
Obito pulled his bloody hand from Sasori's chest. Then he stumbled to the floor next to his fallen opponent.
It was over.
His bloody hand twitched gently, an uncomfortable side effect of the jutsu he'd used but a reminder of the world he still occupied.
For now at least.
His right eye spun back to life, his eyes shooting open instead of drifting into a painful oblivion. From it, with what seemed to be agonizing slowness, Team 7 emerged.
Sakura cursed, an unfamiliar sound that made Obito smile as warm chakra covered his chest.
"Thanks...for waiting, kiddies," he said with difficulty as Sakura unfurled a sealing scroll. "Now, escort your sensei to a hospital. Ready, set..."
There was a great pain inside his chest and Obito slipped into blissful unconsciousness as his body thrashed.
It was a long road back to Konoha.
"So?"
Sakumo sighed, a long, noisy sound that betrayed his fear and sadness. The crystal ball beneath him showed the hospital. "He'll survive. The medics say he'll need a long time to recover however." There was a pause. "It's too soon to say if any damage is permanent."
Shikaku shuffled slightly. "And the genin?"
"Performed astonishingly well. An A-Rank mission has been added to their records."
He nodded. "Obito will need time to recover then. Do you need me to assess replacements?"
Sakumo shook his head. "He is still their sensei. And I don't believe he will be kept down for long no matter what we say." Shikaku snorted, shaking his head ruefully. "More importantly," he trailed off, looking back towards Obito, "it is often the hardships more than anything that bring people closer together. If they weren't a team before, well...
"They are now."
"They'll be inseparable. Watch," he said as he stared at the sleeping Uchiha, "they will shock the world."