A DIFFERENT GENEALOGY
ACT VIII
~ THE PRECIPICE OF CALAMITY ~
"Have the matches started yet?" Itachi asked, taking a seat next to Ino and Choji.
Ino started at the sudden appearance but soon brightened at his presence, moving along to make space for the older teen. Her brother protested, but those vocalisations were silenced by one glare from his elder sibling. Ino had been in a tense mood since the contestants had lined up; the Chunin exams were due to begin any moment, and neither of her team-mates had arrived yet.
"They'll be here Ino; dating or not, Naruto would kill Sasuke if he prevented her from a chance at Icha Icha" Itachi said quietly, hoping to calm the skittish girl.
"Dating…" Ino murmured, her mood worsening at the word.
It brought back everything that Orochimaru had implied during the second round with horrible clarity; worse, the more she thought about what he had said, the more things made horrifying sense! She didn't really think the words of an S-Class renegade were very reliable, but honestly, what would the creep gain from lying to them?
Itachi watched her pulling on her now-short locks in frustration, head between her knees muttering unintelligible words to herself. An alarmed look crossed his face, and he looked to the younger Yamanaka for an explanation.
"Don't ask me dude; she's blocking the telepathy. Unless dad blasts her with one of his techniques, she isn't saying a thing," Inoro informed Itachi apologetically, not missing the worried frown that cross the older ninja's face.
"Ino, once the matches are over you and I will talk over what happened during the second round," he informed her with a tone that promised pain if she disagreed.
Apparently, Ino missed the tone, or she had no fear. Itachi would go for the latter, considering she tried to take over the mind of an s-class renegade that knocked both her team-mates in the space of a few minuets.
"I can't Itachi! It's not for me to tell!" she growled angrily; Itachi gave an equally displeased glare in return.
"Ino, you could loose your registration if your with-holding information that could involve village security!" he hissed, careful to avoid the ears of her brother and his plump team-mate.
Ino returned his glare with equal force.
"I already told you, it's not for me to discuss with you! It isn't my business to tell!" she growled just as quietly.
"So this is about Naruto or Sasuke?"
Ino cursed under her breath. Damn it, why was he so sharp? Why couldn't she have thought be fore she opened her blabbermouth? Ino was pegged as a gossiper, and she did enjoy a juicy tit-bit now and again, but half her reputation came from her uncontrollable mouth. Naruto was going to murder her! She would make her go through her Spartan training again, without any training!
"What did he tell you Ino? Or do, if that's the case?" he asked, his voice lowering into severity further.
Ino figured that if he already knew the creep had told her something about Naruto or Sasuke, there was nothing she could do about it; what she could do however was try to get some confirmation from Itachi. But how could she do that without alerting him to what she had been told?
An idea popped into her head and she reconnected her telepathy with her brother.
'Boar-head, I need your help with something!' she informed her twin, her defiant glare not once leaving Itachi.
'Sis?! What do you want me to do?'
'Watch Itachi's face, listen to what I say to him, and tell me if he knows anything! And don't you dare repeat anything to anyone or so help me I'll use ten elbow manoeuvres on you!'
'T-Ten? Ok, whatever you want Sis! Humble slave awaiting orders!'
Ino seemed to consider Itachi's serious tone, judging by the look of concentration on her face. After a lot of pondering, she seemed to come to one of her better decisions that month.
"He said something about… Naruto's parents. He recognised her when the Kyuubi chakra came out, he said, well implied really, that Mrs. K wasn't her mother…" she trailed off, watching his face for herself.
She could see a visible reaction, but she had no idea what kind of reaction; she could read Itachi's face usually well, but when he wanted to, he could keep his face as expressionless as his father's. When he did that, she could not make out anything on his face.
'Anything?'
'Y-Yeah… he's shitting himself! Whatever he knows about Naruto, and what you said has him seriously panicked Sis. He knows a lot more than he is letting on… You do too don't you?'
'Yeah, but I am not going to tell you what; this is some fucked up shit that does not need passing around more than necessary. I shouldn't really have told Itachi all that but…'
'I get it Sis, good luck with that fucked up team of yours. You're probably going to need it'
'You have no idea…'
Itachi stiffened at Ino's words, but he was certain she didn't spot it. How could Orochimaru know Naruto's lineage? He assumed that her Sharingan had once again manifested itself unconsciously; it had done so once before with Kakashi after all. More worrying now though, was Ino's notable concern over the subject.
She knew far more than she was revealing, he could tell, but he was not going to get anymore out of her. Considering this matter concerned her best friend, she would be reluctant to say more than she deemed appropriate. It was a stretch just getting what he ad from her. Her interest still worried him though. Had she seen the Sharingan?
It was possible since she had been the only one left standing. If that was the case then he knew it be a matter of days before she connected all the dots, if she had not done so already. He suppressed a growl of irritation; the damnable Yamanaka girl was too sharp for her own good sometimes, and Naruto's freakish good luck seemed to have rubbed off on her.
He forced a placidly blank expression on his face.
"You shouldn't believe everything renegade ninjas say Ino; you know better than that. Those kinds of Nin-"
"Ladies and Gentlemen of all ages, welcome to Konohagakure the leaves and the final round of the Chunin exams!"
"What?! But Sasuke hasn't arrived yet!" Ino wailed.
Itachi rubbed his temples wearily; his younger siblings could not do anything simply could they?
Naruto did not like worrying; it left an uncomfortable hollow feeling in the worrier's stomach pit, preventing them from concentration on little else. In spite of this however, she was very worried about Sasuke. Not only had he failed to show up on time - no doubt getting some last minuet practice in - but he was also paired up against the creepy redhead from sand.
After concentrating on a sensory exercise Ino had taught her, she was left in no doubt that the boy contained a demon like her own. There was considerably less of the monsters chakra compared to the fur-ball's, but it was still on a level usually found only in the Kages.
Naruto knew the damage caused by demon chakra better than anyone; it had already sapped a couple of years of her life thanks to the incident in wave and in the second stage of the exams, and her body had adapted to the thicker, denser, mindless, animalistic chakra. Her chakra coils had thicker walls, added layers of protection, and had grown to accommodate a larger capacity of chakra and she still suffered the effects.
If that boy knew how to tap into that chakra… then the best thing for Sasuke to do would be immediately forfeit. She knew he would not though; he seemed to be having some sort of competition with the shadow ninja currently battling the redhead's team-mate lately. That and he loved fighting strong opponents (she could understand that though).
"Naruto, what's wrong with that red head? Why Do I ask this? My colony fears his chakra… Is he like you?" Shino asked her quiet key, to avoid being overheard by the other contestants.
Naruto raised her head and nodded. Shino was one of the few people not on her team or part of her… family… that knew of the Kyuubi. He had always told her there was something odd about her chakra during the Academey years, and she had revealed his assumptions to have been correct during a practice session with team eight; Shino was a trustworthy guy, and knew what information wan not to be spread around unnecessarily.
"Yeah… its no where near as strong as fuzz-butt's is, but its still more than Sasuke can handle if he taps into his parasites chakra! I can't handle it! He had no qualms with killing people either! He did not turn out like I did Shino; people tried to kill him! And there's way too much of his monsters chakra in his system to be good…" she reported, her panic edging into her low tone.
"My colony sensed the same thing… and those Suna ninjas are plotting something. How do I know this? They are being far too secretive to be normal…"
"Oh geez, why do I get the feeling that shit mountain is going to hit the giant fan within the next few hours?" Naruto groaned, tugging on her poor abused bunches.
Glancing over to the other end of the balcony as the crowd roared their praises for Shikamaru and the Suna girl, Naruto could not help the hollow feeling to sink into the pit of her stomach.
"No! I told him to stop if he used that chakra! He knows he can't handle it!" Naruto yelled I horror, running to the railing.
"Sasuke, STOP! HE'LL KILL YOU!" she yelled, pulled back by her boyfriend's brother as she did.
"Calm down Naruto! Sasuke can handle himself, especially with the Kakashi's Chidori up his sleeve," he stated in what he hoped to be a placating manner.
Naruto kicked against the grip around her waist, going so far as to bite him though her attempts to release herself all failed.
"if I cant stand up to that thing's chakra when it lives inside me, then how the hell is Sasuke stand up to the same stuff?!" She screamed, earning confuses looks from some of the nearby Genin, and alarmed once form the senior ninja and villagers.
Itachi said nothing but he refused to release her. A low guttural voice emerged from her throat; she could not stand around and just watch this match go on. They had not talked with the redhead, and they did not know how the effects of demon chakra truly felt. They had never really experienced it fist hand since the Kyuubi first came to the village, and that was nearly thirteen years ago!
For a few weeks after the wave mission, and to a lesser extent during her training with Jiraiya, she had trouble getting her breath after any form of strenuous movement - her lungs had felt like they were burning, and her muscles had been just as fiery. They were underestimating the effects because the fur ball healed her so quickly - it did not seem as serious as it was.
Sasuke did not have a demon inside him to heal him when he got too close the possessed Suna ninja!
"You don't understand! Let go of me Itachi!" she roared.
She could feel the worried gaze of Ino (who understood her reasons far better than Itachi did having witnessed the Kyuubi chakra for herself) and the confused gazes of her friends but she didn't care. She did not care if Sasuke hated her for it either; she was going to stop that match if it was the last thing-
A horrified shriek of agony came from the ball of sand in the arena, and the hollow feeling in her stomach deepened. Sasuke stood staring at the ball in horror, clutching his arm, as did the two sand ninja on the balcony with Shino.
Naruto sensed for the Suna Genin's chakra, and her struggles stopped when she felt that abominable chakra rising in level. Throwing all caution to the wind, Naruto pushed her chakra into her eyes, distantly feeling the creeping sensation as her blue eyes bled red and black swirls twisted into existence.
"Naruto, no!" Ino protested, but it was too late.
Itachi had looked own at the previously struggling girl and there was no mistaking the shock on his face.
"How long have you known about it?" he asked simply, though his surprise was more than evident.
"Ever since we came back from the wave mission," Naruto replied, her eyes fixed on the sand ninja in front of her.
She examined the bright blobs of chakra that flowed trough the sandy orb, and felt the bad feeling in her stomach grow when she saw the red mixing into the blue. The sand ninja was using the demon's chakra alright, and the way it was overpowering his own was by no means a good thing.
Feathers suddenly appeared in front of her vision, and despite the fact she knew this was a form of illusion, the lack of use with her Sharingan and illusions in general left her subject to its sleepy effects.
In the stands, Fugaku Uchiha was standing abruptly in his seat.
For just a moment, he could have sworn he had seen a man in an orange mask poking out from the shadows of the opposite stands, but the sudden onslaught of sleep inducing feathers had distracted him.
Where he thought he had seen an orange mask, was only empty space. Fugaku had no time to contemplate his observations as the invasion began.
"Oi! Naruto! Wake up!" Ino hissed, poking her friend in the side ferociously.
"Whazzappenin?" Naruto asked, blearily waking form the illusion.
She gave a yelp of surprise as a man with two kunai jammed into the front of his skull flew over head, and ducked down under the aisles of seating. Was she still in an illusion? Oh god, what had Sasuke told her to do when she was trapped in an illusion? Was it blast her chakra or stop her chakra? Damn it! She'd rather have the perfect useable memory than the Sharingan right now!
"Naruto, what the hell are you doing?" Ino asked.
"In case you haven't notice dead-men are flying! This is an illusion!"
"It's not an illusion you dolt! Its just Itachi and Scarecrow going blitzo on the Oto ninjas!" Ino barked, flinging a kunai of her own towards a half moving sound ninja sprawled nearby; the moving ceased abruptly.
"Did you say Oto ninjas?" Naruto asked, gaining some of her senses back.
By the tone of her voice, she was not happy with the presence of the enemy ninjas.
"They invaded the village with the Suna ninjas! That snake freako is fighting the old geezer up inside that box!" Ino explained, pointing up towards one of the buildings that made the arena; Flashes of ninja techniques could be seen within a purple barrier.
Naruto ducked behind the seat once again as another dead body flew over her head. She would question the calmness of such action later on, but now her man priority was going after Sasuke. That sand ninja with the demon had looked like he was about to- no scratch that, he had not had any marbles to begin with.
"Naruto! Ino! Wake up Shikamaru! You're going after Sasuke and those sand ninjas!" Kakashi called out, throwing of one of the many opponents.
The two blonds perked up at the thought, even if it was just to escape the airborne corpses.
"For the next however-long this takes, your wish is my command scarecrow! You say 'jump' and, I will ask 'how high?' Just STOP THROWING ALL THE DEAD GUYS TOWARDS US!" Naruto yelled, dodging another dead ninja.
Behind her Ino was busy kicking Shikamaru in the side to 'wake' him from the illusion. The growl of pain indicated that her attempts had been successful as Kakashi summoned up one of his tracking dogs. The tiny dog took one look at Naruto's enraged face as she continued to voice her protests to her teacher, and turned a pleading look onto his summoner
"Please don't tell me I have to go with her again!"
"Shut up doggie!"
Sasuke grimaced as he took shelter from the demonic redhead behind a tree; he had presumed Naruto had been overreacting when she began yelling at him from the stands, but he was quickly beginning to rethink that notion. The redhead was firing of blasts of thick red chakra the chomped through his skin at the merest touch.
He had a much greater appreciation for his girlfriend's ability to withstand the Kyuubi's chakra; to have that stuff constantly mingling with her own was an amazing feat. He supposed this damage was half the reason the monster had been sealed inside a baby instead of an adult.
Naruto's body had grown up with the stuff in her system, and had adapted to it. His on the other hand… well, he decided it would be best to finish this fight as quickly as possible. If he let it continue too long there was a fair chance that he would be finished of by those flying balls of chakra.
The boy screamed something about having his blood and Sasuke shivered, focusing his chakra into his palm and creating his third Chidori in the current battle - the last one before exceeding his limit.
"Fugaku! I got a bone to pick with you after this invasion is over!" Inochi Yamanaka roared over the fighting to his old ANBU team-mate.
He cast a mind-body disturbance technique on a group of perhaps five sand and sound ninjas, ploughing through the rest towards the Uchiha patriarch with kunai and shuriken. Behind him, his old Genin team were creating just as much havoc with their own techniques.
"I could tell you the same thing! Your daughter made my oldest grow hormones! I'm having enough problems with Sasuke already!" Fugaku snapped back at the man in reply.
He disposed of several more ninja with a well-placed fireball before pausing to catch his breath.
"What are the damages so far?" he asked.
"They hit the clan compounds pretty hard from what I Tsume told me!" Last I saw your place was in pretty bad shape, not that my own is doing any better, one of those damn snakes landed on the maze!" his fellow clan head informed him.
"I see…"
Fugaku contemplated his options; he was certain what he had seen earlier had been no fluke. That being the case, he could not afford to be dealing with any of these ninja as he would any other mission. He had no way of telling who one of the man's underlings was. This in mind he closed his eyes, and re-opened them revealing a completely different design; one large black ring, dotted with six smaller ones, connected to a mid-sized central ring, each ring containing a smaller black dot. His old team-mate saw the design and his eyes widened.
"You're not going to use…?!" he barked in unmitigated surprise.
Fugaku gave him no answer, concentrating on closing one of his eyes and focusing the other. He winced visibly as blood trickled down his cheek, veins in his open eye visibly pressurised.
"Fujin…" Fugaku snarled, vision fixed on those with sand and sound forehead protectors.
'Running after this creep by myself wasn't the best idea I've had…' Sasuke cursed to himself, slamming face down onto a thick tree branch.
He could feel the cursed seal prickling across his skin, after effects of using one more Chidori than he should have. He did not even have a trickle of chakra to maintain the suppressor, and the thing itself was spreading over his skin like a disfiguring disease. Something was whispering at the back of his mind but he firmly stomped it down.
Not that it did him any good, for the effort of just that left him inert on the tree branch. He was an easy target fro the half-human half-sandy thing ninja that was intent on drinking his blood like a warped version of a vampire.
Moments before the crazed sand ninja made contact with his body, he rolled of the branch; broken bones were far preferable to whatever sandy had in store for him; he had overheard Kiba talking to his team about the creep a few days ago, and he had no desire to have the same end.
The broken bones however did not come. He was caught by two blondes, the paler one immediately transferring some of her own chakra onto his shoulder, just above the spreading mark. He could feel Naruto holding forcing his immovable body up into a sitting position behind him.
"Use my chakra and force that thing back into its cage Sasuke!" Ino commanded, thanking god her father had made her study basic medical techniques for the Chunin exams and Naruto's Spartan training had increased her reserves.
Using Naruto's was a no-no; with the Kyuubi chakra mixing into her own, there was every chance that it would do more harm than it would good. They would have to experiment on some dead animals before letting her anywhere near human flesh.
Doing as instructed, Sasuke poured all his will into forcing the black flecks back where they had come from. Naruto was scribbling onto a sheet of paper with her blood, making a seal, which she slammed onto of the mark the moment it had fully receded. It was not a complicated seal, but Naruto had a knack for them, and it would at the very least help in pushing the unwanted ominous chakra back.
"the old pervert taught me; I'll have to teach you later in case I go Kyuubifiction on you again - they'll at least suppress it a little bit, so figured it would do the same thing on the doom-hickey" Naruto informed him, removing the paper and leaving behind a splattered red mark atop the three black marks.
"Thanks for that; it was the most I could do to roll of the tree branch" he informed them, finally regaining control of his body.
He turned his attention back to the sand ninja. He may not be able to use any actual techniques, but he could still pummel the arse into submission.
"Sasuke! You shouldn't be moving!" Ino berated.
"Never mind that Ino; we need al the help we can get with this one!" Naruto countered in his defence.
Sasuke almost smiled; then she mad an addition to her words.
"Besides, he's too damn stubborn to listen anyway! Remember his arm during the wave mission?"
The previously still air began to stir, misty blackish-grey wisps forming in the air before swerving ferociously into the enemy ninjas, tearing into their limbs and bodies with rapidity too fast for the normal eye to follow. No movement was wasted; the attacks were quick, precise, and predominately fatal before moving onto the next target.
Fugaku's gaze shifted to one of the giant snakes - aware of his old teacher crushing a distant one with and even larger toad. The veins in his eyes shrivelled further, and the red rivulets increased their flow down his cheek as he focused on the beast.
"Amaterasu…" he hissed, before clutching his hand to his bleeding eye socket.
The black wisps suddenly grew and darkened, twisting into black flames that licked with white-hot heat into the sand and sound bodes - corpse or let out a low whistle as the near invisible black wisps hacked and tore through the enemy ninjas.
"I haven't seen those since we were in the Anbu with Minato and Tsume…" he commented.
Fugaku snorted.
"I'm not dead yet, Inochi…" he grumbled.
The breathlessness in his voice betrayed him as he concentrated on the flames. They swerved and flared upwards, devouring the invaders with ferocious fire, leaving a black charred mark in their wake. A flash of orange caught his eye and the flames immediately scorched towards that sight. Inochi barley had time to blink as the flamed suddenly turned on their controller.
"FUGAKU!"
Sasuke hacked frantically at the sand tightening around Ino, occasionally casting a glance to Naruto's ongoing battle with the red headed sand-hybrid. An ominous familiar chakra had been released and Naruto had all but beaten him into freeing their other team-mate.
He understood her logic; her body was adapted to the same chakra - he did not. Given his near chakra-less state he was in no condition to be fighting the stuff, but he was still uncomfortable with it. He did not know if that was because it was Naruto, or because of his own pride.
He wondered if tearing up an explosion tag would help demolish the sand prison that constricted Ino against the tree trunk, and pulled a tag from his kunai pouch. It was blown from his hand by a gust of wind, a shake of the earth, and a giant pulse of chakra emission.
He looked up in horror; the red head was not a red head in any shape or form anymore. There was a giant Tanuki roaring something, seemingly delighted by freedom. He was shell shocked; the thing was huge, but Naruto had been adamant that the Kyuubi was far more powerful. How powerful did that make the nine-tails?
He was thrown onto his back by another chakra induced earthquake and was greeted with a giant toad; he had only seen the summon in books on Konoha's history, and during the lessons on summoning, but he immediately recognised Gamabunta.
The two beings crashed together, creating blasts of wind and cannons of water in the midst of their battle, and Sasuke was left feeling dumbstruck and inferior. Head summons took so much chakra that only Kage level ninja were capable of calling on them; has she used the Kyuubi's chakra? There would certainly be enough of it. A hacking cloud of smoke indicated a transformation, and Sasuke jerked back at the sight of the nine tailed fox where the toad had been.
He had no idea what was going on, but why the Kyuubi? Of all the things to turn the toad into, it had to be that? What of one of the other ninjas caught sight of it? Questions would be raised over the stability of the seal! God, she was an idiot sometimes!
He made out a small speck jumping onto the head of the deranged sounding animal, clashing with another blurred speck before the toad boss completely disappeared, and the sand creature began screaming with rage.
Next thing he knew, the two were on the ground perhaps a hundred meters away from him, Naruto dragging herself towards the alarmed red head despite her exhaustion. A groan from Ino indicated the sand had fallen away, and he caught her before she hit the ground. He jumped from the tree branch, leaving Ino against the tree trunk until he could come back, before hurrying towards his girlfriend.
"Naruto, you can stop! Ino's fine now!" he told her landing down beside her.
He ignored the stunned, curious, perhaps even wistful look the redhead was giving them. Naruto must have said something to him that hit home, since he did not exude the same dangerous aura as he had earlier, but Sasuke was still eager to get away from him.
He placed one hand on her back and another underneath the crook of her knees, lifting the exhausted girl from the ground. She did not bother protesting, as she normally would, which spoke volumes on the extent of her exhaustive state.
"Urgh… my ribs… whazzappenin no- Naruto! Sasuke!" Ino shrieked, seeing her team-mates walking towards her.
She hissed and swore when too much movement aggravated her ribs.
When the limped back to the village, Sasuke doing his best to support his team-mates (he would never ever say it, even on pain of death, but they were heaver than they looked) one arm slung over his shoulders for each, it was to pure destruction.
The bodies of three giant snakes were obvious amongst the rubble, as were the bodies of Konoha, Oto, and Suna ninja alike; some of the Suna and Oto ninjas were only recognisable by the charred forehead protectors they wore.
"Oh my god…" Ino breathed, horrified by some of the corpses - reduced to bleeding charred lumps of flesh.
Chaos came from the leaf ninja surrounding them; medics ran in complete disorder and other ninja were clearing the rubble, freeing those buried under the chaotic mess that swallowed Konoha.
"STOP THEM!" A familiar yelled trough the chaotic crowd - that scarred examiner, Sasuke was sure.
Turning to look at the voices origination, six figures were hurtling down the street, one easily recognisable as Orochimaru. Two of his subordinates, the other two closely following, supported him. A man in a ling hooded black cloak led the group.
This time, confrontation did not even enter their minds. Orochimaru and the hooded man shot one glance at them, and the snake summoner gave a liquidly sinister smirk. He mumbled something to one of his subordinates and a two-headed white haired man formed a single-handed seal.
There was a burning pain in Sasuke's shoulder as the cured seal ran free from its seal-bind, spreading malignantly over his face and down his arm. Ino gave him a horrified look, and yelled for someone to help. Amidst the searing burning under his flesh, he caught sight of Naruto; she was staring at the man in the hood with a look of pure terror on her face.
"T-That's impossible… He was killed…!" she mumbled, her body shaking like a leaf.
The hooded man turned his head in interest, holding back from the group to momentarily examine the group of Genin. The surrounding ninja seemed to be as terrified of the man as Naruto, as he and Ino were, and made no move to stop him as he crossed over to their position amongst the rubble.
He grasped Naruto by the throat, hoisting her up in the air to examine her with a closer eye.
"Let go of her!" Sasuke yelled, fighting his incapacitating pain to grasp a kunai.
He forced it into the man's leg as Naruto scraped at the hand blocking her airway and kicked her feet, trying to remover herself from his grasp. The kunai phased right through his leg; he stared at the man in alarm, confusion, and fear. How could he just move through an object without hand signs?!
Naruto, seemingly frustrated by the physical attempts to release herself, glared at the man with swirling red eyes, trying to force her last-resort illusion on him. He titled his hooded head in surprise before letting out an amused chuckle.
"Orochimaru was right about you; you are certainly surprising" he mused, sounding entertained.
"Y-You… di-ed…! I sa-w… the kyu-ubi…! It's chak-ra… h-it you! Ho-w…" she choked, prying at his fingers.
"My, my, my; it seems the Uchiha blood runs strongly in you. I'm amazed you can remember the day of your birth Jinchuuriki…" the man spoke in a calm, colleted voice, sounding as if he had found a five Ryo coin upon the ground.
Sasuke was alarmed by his knowledge, but the surprise and shock on Naruto's face made his own dwarf in comparison.
"…but I'm afraid I have no use for you, not for the moment. I will however, leave a parting gift; it's the least I can do since you've tickled my interest so much…" he directed an unseen gaze at her from Sasuke's viewpoint, but he heard Ino's horrified whisper clearly:
"Sh-Sharin-gan!" Naruto gasped, mimicking her female team-mate.
Her hands ceasing their clawing ath the gloved hand around her throat, and she fell limp in the man's hold. He tossed her towards Ino, who caught her friend before she could make contact with the wreckage.
"Take care of that one," he ordered, not failing to cast his gaze on Sasuke; through his hood, Sasuke could make out an orange mask with an eyehole revealing a mature Sharingan.
The man turned on his heel, sprinting off after Orochimaru and his companions without another word. It took Sasuke several minuets to break out of the fear that had overwhelmed him upon sight of the man's eye; he'd never felt anything like it amongst the clan, it radiated malicious intent, choked him without the use of appendages.
"Naruto! Naruto, what the hell?! Wake up! Wake up!" Ino yelled.
Sasuke was jerked out of the fear the man had put him in, and immediately crossed towards Naruto and Ino on shaky feet - the cursed seal still displaying its affects. Naruto was clearly under a form of Illusion by the glazed look in her eyes, and Ino was frantically pushing her already meagre chakra supplies into the brighter blonde.
"Sasuke she won't wake up! I can tell it's an illusion, but she just won't wake up no matter how much chakra I use!" she cried, clearly panicking.
"We need to get hel-" his eyes, that had been scanning he face stared at a red patch underneath the blonde girl.
Moving swift as lightning, he gently moved to examine her back and he heard Ino scream; on her back, were three large profusely bleeding scratches.
"Sasuke!"
Sasuke looked up from the spot on the floor he had been staring at since arriving in the hospital to find his shaken brother standing in the doorway, struggling to catch his breath. His ANBU uniform had a few slashes, but he seemed relatively unharmed.
After being taken to the hospital by one of the other Jonin, Kakashi had arrived and re-sealed his cursed mark, much to his relief. Naruto had been rushed into one of the wards for injuries or condition brought on by illusions, and he had yet to find out what had happened to her.
"What happened?" Itachi asked taking a weary seat on the bench next to his brother.
"I don't know; there was a man leaving with Orochimaru and…" he paused, wondering how to explain without revealing the fact Naruto had a Sharingan.
"I already know. I knew before you did" Itachi stated, drawing a stunned look from his brother.
Sasuke saved the questions for later and proceeded to explain the encounter with the strange masked man, noting the building worry on Itachi's face as he did.
"That…is not at all good," Itachi concluded after listening raptly to the explanation.
"Really? I didn't notice at all…"
Itachi ignored Sasuke's sarcastic reply.
"Where is father when he's needed?" he grumbled to himself.
He had been searching for almost an hour, but no one had seen hide nor hair of his father; it was an uncomfortable feeling given that the man who had been walking in their midst under the orange mask had a significant grudge against him.
Apparently, his father had noticed too; he recognized the signs of his two deadly techniques on the west side of the village. Knowing the damage that befell his eyesight, they were very rarely used - only a very dangerous opponent was given the honour of witnessing them. His thoughts were interrupted by the presence of one of the hospital doctors.
"You are here for Naruto Uzumaki?" he asked, his expression looking rather unoptimistic.
"Yes" Itachi answered, standing up top talk with the man directly.
"There is a problem with the illusion she has been placed under; her medical records state that her guardian is Fugaku Uchiha, and I need his permission before attempting any kind of treatment. Is it possible to speak with him?" the frazzled looking ma asked.
Itachi felt like screaming or cursing in a manner very reminiscent of his sister or her blonde friend.
"I'm sorry doctor; I've been looking for him myself, but I haven't found hide nor hair of him. Would you at least be able to tell us what's wrong with her?" he asked, maintaining his neutral shell.
The doctor sighed.
"Fine; were too busy to argue." he grumbled.
"The illusion cast on her is as far as we can tell, forcing her to relive certain events; we don't know what exactly, but they include some form of physical injury." he began.
"This…I don't know what it is to be honest, but it is forcing a physical manifestation of her injuries to appear, and no medical techniques are having any lasting effect. After thirty minuets, her wounds reopen," he explained, running a frustrated hand through his hair.
Sasuke did not like the look on his brother's face at all.
"What does that mean?" he asked.
"It means that, unless we can break this illusion-like technique, she will likely bleed to death within two weeks at the most without treatment"
I do not know about anyone else from the UK, but in my opinion, all these damn frozen molecules of hydrogen and oxygen are DISGUSTING!
This amount of snow is beyond a joke now! I cannot walk down my garden path without falling on my as every time I move! It was all good at chrismas, but I have college to go to and I can barley walk down the street!
This is sick and wrong I tell you! It is a bloody met office conspiracy! That is probably why I made this chapter so twisted; I really needed to vent, and Naruto and Sasuke were easy to vent on. As long as I'm writing this, theyre probably not going to catch a break for a while.
At least, not until all this DAMNABLE FUCKING SNOW MELTS!!! I cant stand all the fucking white anymore! This all because of industrialisation I tell you! It ruined our ozone and now we're moving back into the fucking ice age! I swear to god, penguins would enjoy the climate up here right now!
Penguins! Pingu is going to m ove into my garden! This is plain wrong ad disgusting and I can't stand on the pavement anymore and there's too much damn snow!
Phew. Rant over. Who saw the last manga chapter? Sakura just confuses me now! How does 'oh my god, Sasuke evil' generate 'I'll follow you!"? loved the Sharingan club Madara's got going though; he's so twisted its adorable! Has Sasuke gone apeshit or what? Really freaky drawing there Kishi; I think your stash is out of date.
Go buy a new one. You have problems if you're adding flashbacks to the already insanely fucked up Chunin exam arc with flashbacks. Am I the only one who thinks that?
I tried to keep up with Kishi's naming of Japanese gods in Uchiha techniques for Fugaku's Mangekyo technique; Fujin is the Japanese god of winds, according to Wikipedia. Or one of them… Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong; I love Wikipedia and all, but I'll be the first to admit it can be particularly unreliable (Yeah, I killed Fugaku, get over it. It was a necessary death).
Reveiws, as always, are appreciated.
Nat
xxx