With each story I write I try to find a 'theme' or a way of writing. I have written a stereogram in my short story 'I will follow you into the dark'. In "the Arrangement' I wrote according to a type of thought-process, so the chapters are very long, because thought is very long and complicated.
This story is a strange kind of story; it is written like a poem. Or I like to think it is written like a poem, the last lines always haunting, and each chapter alike in whole but very different than the last. I'm not sure if it turned out that way but that was an intension of mine. It cannot be said that I didn't try. I am sorry that this chapter may seem so disconnected, it was written recently (except the epilogue that was written July-30-08, nearly a year ago.) But I needed this finished.
Also would like to clarify; Naruto is not weak, just emotional; I hope that it doesn't come across as weak, his strength is understated by everything in this chapter, I feel.
Anyway; without further ado:
Chapter 14
A small bird fluttered from my window, bearing a message. A small black bird from Suna, it would arrive in Suna the day we took Naruto. It couldn't be said I stood and did nothing as my former best friend and teammate was stolen away into the dark clutches of an organization composed entirely of evil. But it couldn't be said I tried very hard either. I just felt Gaara should know, deserved to know, that his first friend would suffer a fate so similar to his own. …Regardless if the bird actually made it or not.
I grabbed my light pack and left my room, Itachi stood outside the door. I knew he had seen the messenger bird I had called, but even he wouldn't question my antics. He probably wouldn't even question my sanity. I liked that about Itachi, it was almost as if since he had a secret agenda, he believed everyone else did too. He never really underestimated anybody. Vaguely, in the back of my mind; I wondered if he knew about the snail I had send to Tsunade.
We walked side by side to the doors, an odd pair. I had chosen not to wear the traditional Akatsuki cloak, rather loose black clothing and the hat for my hair. I felt a hand grab my arm as Itachi sought to fix that, handing me my cloak. I didn't want to wear it, but this was not a time to argue. Later, perhaps, if we lived through the week, but not now...
"Itachi, there is a feeling in the air, a rather foreboding sense lingering here in the fire country, is there not?" I spoke, conversational tones masking the real question beneath the words. He said nothing as he held the Akatsuki base's door open for me. I sneered at him and he ignored me. Not that that was anything new.
The time spent traveling was hardly worth the mention; we became creatures of the night in the broad horizon of day, shadows of our material selves. The forest seemed to whimper in our wake; the wind in our faces, begging us to turn around. Turn around and leave now. But we didn't.
The gates of Konoha did not bow down to its former assassins, but neither did it prove an unfortunate encounter. Itachi stood on the sidelines as I crept into the place once my home, my chakra was masked, my footsteps unheard. There was something to be said in the predictable antics of one blonde jinchiriki; and I found myself appalled and fascinated by the solid routine he kept. Naruto was sitting at the ramen stand. Alone this time; for whom else has he left? …A few old teachers, no teammates… no team.
"Naruto," I whispered, as if I couldn't help myself. I reached out with my fingers, hidden against the side of a building, as if to draw him in. I removed my cloak, placing my hand on my hat to make sure my giveaway hair was covered; I approached the ramen stand, my feet making soft noise on the floor, and ninja, but a friendly or unskilled one. As I sat down I mentioned "Miso" to the girl working the stand, she would see nothing unusual in the request.
"Naruto," I whispered. He startled and looked over at me, in the blink of an eye I removed the glass beads from my hat, just in case. "Eh?" He questioned, "Do I know you?"
"Naruto" I must have discovered a sick obsession with whispering his name. "It's me; I finally found him. I found Sasuke… But I can't beat him."
I made no attempt at hiding my voice; my melancholy tone coloured with the natural soprano that he would remember as my voice. "Sakura? No…" He may have grown up. His voice was even, in tone and volume "You are a missing nin now too."
"Naruto, you needed to stay here, but I knew. I knew Sasuke would follow Itachi, and now he has, he is near one of the Akatsuki bases. We could finally bring him back, and then we'll all be together." I spun my lies into an enticing spider web. "I was a special breed of ANBU, I could only enter and spy on the Akatsuki if I was a missing nin. I did a good job, ne?"
I laughed, to assure him, but my laugh was bitter. "Naruto we need to go now if we want to catch up with him."
I watched as his eyes furrowed "What if we meet up with trouble, I'm gonna go talk to the Hokage and assemble a team."
"There isn't any time. I want to find him; and I'm leaving now. This is Sasuke!" I started to get up, but Naruto had grabbed my arm.
I had hit him where it hurt, where he would feel it for the rest of if life if he walked out of this mess feeling anything at all. "Okay."
And with that I bolted out of the village, him following eagerly behind, the guards at the gate tried to stop us but recognizing Naruto and hearing me call "Late night training, be back in an hour!" Seemed to make them think everything was okay. Personally I thought they were just stupid and lazy, I was planning to cast a genjutsu when I decided they were unworthy of me wasting my chakra on when I would need it later. Itachi would stay behind us, near the village to see if we would be missed, and of course to follow us back to base, a cat stalking the mouse, I was only the bait in this tragic, hypocritical metaphor. I could see the side of Itachi's accuse of hypocrisy now, Naruto would use me, to find Sasuke, but I would use him first as a meal ticket; a ticket for power, and maybe freedom.
The base where the King of Hell statue stood was only two days from Konoha, though this was a definite secret, on a roundtrip from Suna, and not knowing the shortcuts, it was more. I could feel Itachi in the distance as we travelled this distance. It wasn't because Naruto wasn't powerful enough to sense him, but rather I was so fine-tuned to his chakra that I could feel it at unbelievable distances these days. He was, of course out of both our ranges.
My conversations with Naruto as we stopped and started our journey were all carefully constructed of genuine real and unquestionably fake smiles. I smiled as I spoke of how we would finally all see the face underneath Kakashi's mask. I couldn't call him Kakashi-sensei in my own mind; he was someone I had outgrown. I laughed bitterly at how Sasuke was still technically a genin, hoping Naruto would feel safe with me, at least enough to follow, that was my job. I was a good ninja, I did my job.
"Sakura, I think I see, him, over there--- look! Sasuke!" He supplied. What he saw of course was a set genjustu of Itachis'. I knew he would be drawn into the image of an irate Sasuke challenging his infuriating elder brother. I did not see the image, rather an entrance to a cave, and the only dept I never really paid bounding off and running toward that dark entrance. He never knew what hit him.
Kisame's sword would draw out his chakra, a weak genjustsu keep him sleeping. And there, lying at my feet was the product of my trust used as a tool; an invention of my final dark and maddening deed. I felt my own soul spiral beyond the pits of hell that the Kyuubi container had lived through. My own soul would find a place in hell beside that of Uchiha Sasuka, the Queen for the King, the only people to betray the sun. Naruto truly was the sun, brought down for the time of the red dawn, the brutal Akatsuki, his face would be the one forgotten when the last demon was pulled from him, in the days from now, I felt that the demon would be the only one remembered. The demon was the only face I wanted to remember, the only one I deserved. I could not shoulder the memory of the face of the angel being moved to lie at the ground in front of the bound statue. The covered mouth and chained hands of the King of Hell conveying a message of true peace. Speak no evil. Do no evil. See all evil.
"Let us begin." The voice of the Leader sounded about the walls. Suddenly the world stood still, time stopped, but only for a moment. We took our places, to wait, to let our chakra be pulled from us, to suffer in silence.
At first there was a feeling of spiders, like insects crawling on your skin. The feeling of an innocent child caught doing something wrong; guilt. I may have been the only one still able to feel it. Naruto would call it hope, since I once said I never felt anything at all. But actions speak in volumes louder than pitiful words, and I was not taking it upon myself to act. I was not doing anything worth doing.
I wondered what we would do with this at the end of all things, I could feel the Kyuubi's angry chakra battling not to be caged anew, I begged a distraction, and voiced my question aloud.
The response was instantaneous where it mattered, Itachi's eyes flashed over to my form and stared with discontent. Deidara whined, "Who cares, yeah?" And the one person who would be able to answer the question truthfully didn't. The Leader did not even acknowledge me. I didn't care anymore though. All I wanted was a distraction, and I found it staring at Itachi's blank and yet enduringly emotional eyes. So much anger boiled so deep beneath that it didn't even touch the surface.
"What will you do, Sakura?" He asked… I knew his plans; he planned to finally let his brother find him. The day that the Akatsuki was done with this sealing wound be the day he finally took up his reserved place in hell. I could always be wrong though, He was Itachi, and if I was betting on this, he would make me lose.
I needn't search long for any answer. Not today. "I will make the sun rise in the sky, in exchange for one more star." I wondered if he would figure out my metaphor. I wondered if this would be the last thing I ever spoke aloud. I could feel the chakra of many ninja of the Will of Fire outside the entrance to this place. They were chomping at the bit to charge… "Itachi, Kisame, delay them."
But we were to be overestimated; the entirety of chakra the Kyuubi was ripping from us was causing a strain on the clones meant to delay. Konoha was expecting a great fight; we had not put ourselves in place for a great fight. Not yet. The statue would be nearly complete soon, and we would have some kind of strange untold and untamed alien power, a power I knew nobody truly deserved.
As the once fledglings entered the area, breaking down the walls and tearing through the distraction clones, the statue was unveiled to their eyes. But it was all over. They had taken too long, their beloved Naruto lay at the base.
They were expecting a huge display of power having arrived too late; expecting something more horrible than can be imagined. We all watched, in an awestruck terror as the statue began to move, the members of the Akatsuki mixed in with the members of Konoha Shinobi as first the fingers of the statue came to life.
"Isn't it stunning in how fucked up it is?" I whispered to Itachi upon noticing his comforting proximity. His answer was not disappointing. "A true portrait of a lady."
And as it moved, it began to decay, rapidly. The hands crumbled at the overload of power was finally complete, there had been something wrong in the sealing, it was too fast, the chakra had not been refined enough to be contained. And as the statue crumbled, our final enemy was named right before our eyes.
It looked down at the body of Naruto, thirsty red eyes mocking. I recognized my mentor as she stole the body of my former teammate from the before the grasp of the giant beast. Kyuubi no Kitsune stood in all its glory before this ragtag group of soldiers. "I will not be caged." Its voice echoed and growled, the final pieces of the King of Hell Falling at its feet; shaken loose from the deep snarl. My lessons kicked in, and I dodged the flames that came pouring from the things mouth, dousing us in a small river of lava. I kept my eyes from wavering from the form of Itachi, watching as his ninja instincts kicked in and he fought to subdue the raging beast. The sky was on fire with the sight of its tails, and I was forced to watch as Itachi dodged, making seals as he went. "A Uchiha!" The tone of the beast was accusatory.
The severity of the situation was enforced as the jutsu seemed to bounce off the beast; I hear screams of pain reach my ears, and from the corner of my eye I saw my teacher hunched over the body of Naruto. I ran to her as she fell, I knew what jutsu she had used. It was the only one that could be used in these kinds of situations. It was a life giving, life taking jutsu. I could not feel anything for the woman who doomed and raised me even as she gave everything up for this. I could see Naruto awaken as she fell, the seal on his stomach pulsing in flashes of fiery red, melting his shirt.
I knew that the power of the seal could be used to save us all from the horror of this monster, and that Naruto himself would have to do it. He was taking it hard as he woke to see Tsunade crumpled beside him, his eyes calmer than I have ever seen them as he seemed to drink in the situation of this place. That alone was frightening, I knew he was out for revenge when those eyes flashed with that Will of Fire that brought Konoha here in the first place.
I viewed it through his eyes, objectively, this place was chaos; the ninja's who came here were retreating, only a handful left. I knew that if Naruto saw me, it would break his heart, he would know the truth, that I had led him here to die, hoping that a message to the Hokage would urge her to keep the plan from even coming down to this, doing nothing in his eyes to save him. There was no salvation for me in his eyes; He didn't need the confirmation of his last teammate's betrayal as he was sent to save the world from ever seeing the wrath of the Kyuubi no Kitsune.
I withdrew to the nearly non-existent shadows as I stood. I withdrew to the part of me that felt slightly less of an abomination that the rest. I could see Itachi still fighting the Kyuubi, but I knew today was not the day, he would fulfill Sasuke's wishes, and that would mean a tomorrow. "Itachi," I called softly. Reaching out my hand in his direction, I could see that the rings had been melted off, falling to dust and memory. He held my hand within his own as we retreated, stopping only to see the beast's destruction from a semi-safe distance. I saw what Konoha had watched as the Yondaime had brought the king of nightmares to the ground. But I saw the other side, the part where a beast, different and blood-lusting was in a world that had outgrown it, a world that no longer needed that soul. And so the world had created stronger beings, not strong enough to put the beast out of its misery, but just strong enough to cage and hold it for another day, when the world might need it again.
True to his suspected ancestry, Naruto would be that one soul to bring the beast down. In a comical fashion, he leaped to the head of the gigantic fox, avoiding its frothing mouth and searching teeth. Upon contact with the cranium of the Kyuubi, the seal immediately began to work, righting the wrongs, proving some sick faction that no one should hold all the power in this world. The legacy of the Yondaime had not died the sacrifice of the Godaime not un-witnessed in the failsafe of the seal and the bravery of the young man who I could not say I knew anymore. I didn't want to know him anymore.
A blinding flash, and all that was left was a pulsing seal and a boy, there was no hope for that monster, and none for the monster inside of me either. I was better now, I wasn't dark and corrupt and angry with nothing to lose, because I had lost things that I had claimed not to own, and yet still felt the loss of these things, I felt the loss of my very last chance, my very last tie with that village, Konoha. I had not saved Naruto.
"Itachi, there is a special place in hell for angels like us, isn't there." I asked, we were still the same distance away, but now it was time to leave, to move. His hand still grasped mine though; kept me in place.
"Hn." He answered; we'll see. I don't think he wanted to answer at all; but I knew his habits enough to get the gist of it.
I let go of his hand, but did not vanquish from his presence as we began to move from this place. We would find somewhere else, after all the world had outgrown its need for monsters, and who were we to challenge that. I finally smiled at the thought of becoming more than the tool I was now, even if I was less in the eyes of everyone else; and then I smiled even wider as I knew I'd continue to be a tool. I wanted to; I hadn't really been lost in the end; just misplaced.
Epilogue
-And it Was- (Six months later)
Clan: Haruno (Konoha)
Name: Sakura
Rank: S-rank
Status: Missing
Previous Affiliation: Red Op. ANBU of Konoha
Akatsuki
Information:
Graduated the Ninja academy at twelve, was placed on a team with one Kakashi Hatake, one Uzumaki Naruto and one Sasuke Uchiha.
Was trained by one Tsunade, the Godaime Hokage
Was made a chunin at fourteen
Was made a jounin at 15
Was made ANBU, Black Op. at 15
Was made ANBU, Red Op. at 15
Abilities:
Skilled exceptionally in healing and medical jutsu
Maintains combat style of Tsunade, Godaime Hokage
Charges:
(Treason) Defecting out of the village with knowledge of its secrets and shinobi
(Treason) Indirectly responsible for the death of the Godaime Hokage
Responsible for the original death of Naruto Uzumaki while in collaboration and cooperation with the Akatsuki
Conclusion: Fearsome opponent
Bounty: -----
Other:
Assumed to have trained specially under instruction of the Akatsuki
Suspect of being involved with one Uchiha Itachi
With a new and painful entry to his bingo book, the young, new Hokage set the book down on his desk with its first new entry since his initiation as Hokage. The irony didn't fail to irk him.
Do you think; that somebody who cannot even save one of their friends can become Hokage?
He had always liked to prove people wrong. He never knew how wrong you could prove yourself.