Thanks for all the reviews and favs!
There are a lot of holes in my "save people before you can die" plan, but I did have an underlying reason, which Madara realizes in this chapter. I was surprised there weren't more complaints. I know it's not "killing" him, but it's also not keeping him alive as a ninja.
This chapter is short, I'm sorry about that. It's just kind of cleaning up from the last chapter and setting up for the end.
Kisime! He needs a hug. Everyone hug him xD I wonder if he's really dead, though? His backstory fits in nicely with how I was writing him, I think, so that's good. I'm worried about Konan, though. I don't want her to die. Maybe Konoha will show up and save her. Hey, I know, she and Nagato have a kid and the kid has the Rinnegan and shows up and saves her. Okay, anyway, please read the story and let me know what you think. Have a good weekend!
Disclaimer: Kishimoto owns Naruto
Chapter 82 - Time to Think
Even if it was a simple matter of unlocking doors and releasing the remaining the remaining Jinchuuriki, getting five demon possessed people, one Akatsuki, and one pre-teen – all of whom were also Shinobi - in an enclosed space and expecting them to patiently wait for rescue was asking too much. And certainly, they were not patient.
Bee was the most vocal, insisting they could break through the sand cocoon and bust through the rock using his demon.
Gaara snorted derisively, "If we break through the seal of my sand cocoon it'll hold up of course, but the rock on the other side is still unstable. It's better if we stay here and wait to be dug out."
"What about you, Deidara? You can get through!" Bee was obstinately insisting they bust their way out of their prison.
"I might, but it's too dangerous, un. I can move about the earth to a degree since I'm an Earth type, but in a landslide I could also be buried alive doing that, un. The geology here is weak." He paused for a second and scratched his head, smiling, "When you think about it, un, this cave shouldn't even exist. I suspect it was probably going to naturally disappear in a few decades on its own. Whatever caused that earthquake just sped things up, un."
"Roushi, you can do it then!" Bee turned to the red-haired middle-aged ex-Stone ninja who was the Jinchuuriki for the four-tailed Yonbi.
"I'm certainly willing to give it a try." Roushi answered in a gruff voice, "No point waiting around here. They'll just recapture me and send me back to Stone if one of those idiot villagers rescues us."
"No, you're not." Deidara insisted, "Your Lava element will melt through the sandstone and bring the whole mess down on top of us."
"And you're going to wait here for them to capture you as well?" Roushi insisted.
"I'm with them." Deidara pointed defensively at Sasuke and Naruto.
"Yah! Don't worry so much!" Naruto grinned, "If you don't want to go back you can come to Konoha."
Deidara shook his head, "I don't think that's the point he's trying to make, Naruto." Roushi had left Stone a couple decades before the teen, but he had heard stories of the man's powerful earth-fire fusion jutsus, shrewd intellect, and most importantly, the harassment he had endured while living in the Earth country's ninja village. He understood why the man was so unwilling to return home.
"Great. Just great." Bee plopped himself on the ground and pulled and pulled a long cloth out of his back pocket and wiped the sweat off his face. "It's too hot in here."
"Yeah… well, that's because of all the hot air coming out of your…arghhh!" Deidara found himself shoved against the wall by an angry six foot tall, muscular man who held him firmly by the throat.
"What were you saying, blondie?"
"You're blond too!" Deidara managed to gasp petulantly as he fixed his gaze with Bee's.
Bee released him, "Oh yeah. Actually, my hair is more white than blond…" He returned to his spot on the ground so he could go back to pouting as Deidara rubbed his sore neck and scowled.
"Are you guys finished?" Sasuke was also getting impatient and the bickering was just about to get on his last nerve.
Gaara came to the rescue, "If they aren't I'll just practice my sand coffin technique on the pair." That earned him some dirty looks, but on the whole everyone quieted down. Or perhaps they were just too tired and pissed off to keep arguing.
Sasuke turned his attention to Naruto whom seemed to be concentrating rather heavily on something. The boy's eyes were squeezed tightly shut and his hand were in clenched into fists.
"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked his friend quietly.
"I'm trying to see through the rock with my chakra. Since my sage technique uses a different type of chakra than what we're born with I'm thinking it should work. But it's harder than I thought it would be. It's almost as if something is blocking me."
"That's the sand." Gaara had joined them and was now leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets. The flickering light created by the flame jutsu in the center of the cave cast dark shadows on the shorter boy's face, which only served to accentuate the kanji "love" symbol on his face and the dark circles under his eyes.
"The sand?" Naruto repeated, confused. "It's infused with chakra, I can feel it swirling around, but I got past that…"
Gaara interrupted, "No you didn't. You just think you did. Instead of looking for holes in the chakra, try to use the chakra in the barrier and extend it out. Then you can see beyond it."
"Okay…" Naruto was still confused but he closed his eyes and relaxed. After a couple minutes he spoke up, "You're right! That works! I can see the entire dome you built. Or I guess 'feel' is a better way to describe it, ha ha, I can't see anything with my eyes closed."
Gaara and Sasuke rolled their eyes at the boy's astute observation, but they had to grin as well. After all, what else would Naruto say?
"Okay, there's a lot of rock…"
"No kidding." Yugito added drily as she also joined them.
"No, really, there is." Naruto was so intent on his jutsu the woman's sarcasm failed to register. She just blinked a couple times, then shook her head in resignation.
"Can you sense anyone?" Gaara flashed Yugito a reproachful gaze.
"No… yeah! There's someone… one person… he's really close… just on the other side of…"
There was a booming crash near the spot where Sasuke, Deidara and Naruto had initially been trapped and a large, eight foot-long and five-foot tall beetle crawled out of the darkness of the opening and into the dimly lit sand cocoon.
Both Yugito and Bee buried their heads in their hands and groaned loudly. Sasuke gritted his teeth, "Naruto! You had everyone thinking he was a ways away! Not inches away!"
"Sorry about that." Naruto laughed and scratched the back of his head nervously.
Deidara raced forward as the light from the fire revealed the beetle to be a large oval shaped puppet, "Sasori!"
"I beat you here." A mechanical voice was heard from the center of the room and everyone looked, seeing a man, half black and half white, rising up from the ground.
Sasori responded in his raspy voice, "I wasn't aware we were racing, Zetsu."
Zetsu's human voice laughed, "That's why it was so easy to win."
"Zetsu…" Sasori couldn't think of a response and decided to ignore the schizophrenic man, "Deidara, I swear, only you could get yourself trapped like this. I don't know why I even bother." He flexed out his puppet arms as if making sure they were still there, then retracted them.
Three was a shuffling sound, as well as grunts and mumbling coming from the hole. Moments later Kakashi and Sakura climbed down, both covered in dirt and coughing.
"I thought you said this would be easy." Sakura shook her head to get some of the small rocks out of it.
"Easy for me." Sasori laughed.
Gaara ran over to the opening and looked through it, "Does this go to the surface?"
"For a little while." Kakashi answered. It's very treacherous, though."
"I'll take care of that." Gaara started to gather more sand so he could coat the small tunnel and fortify it.
"No one appears to be injured." Sakura breathed a sigh of relief as she repeated the information into a radio transmitter attached to her neck.
Zetsu spoke up, addressing Deidara, "I have new orders for you. As I already told Sasori, Madara has lost to Itachi and is ordering everyone to stand-down and go home. Or in the case of Akatsuki… you are now officially unemployed."
"Great. I bet I don't even get a check with that." Deidara replied grumpily, before grinning broadly, "That means you and me can travel around and practice art without anyone telling us what to do!"
Sasori sighed, then spoke in a sarcastic voice, "Yeah, great. I'm really looking forward to that."
"The Jinchuuriki are free to go, of course."
"Then I'm out of here." Roushi ran forward and within seconds was not only out of sight, but his chakra was gone.
"Us too." Bee responded as he stood up, then yelled as loud as he could, "This party is over!"
X x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Madara opened his eyes slowly, and as consciousness returned so did the events of his fight with Itachi. An intense feeling of loss and humiliation washed over him as he pushed himself up to a seated position and tried to get a handle of his current situation.
His eyes were immediately drawn to a large statue that stood motionless towards the back of large, dimly lit cave. It's many eyes and the massive forty foot tall hands that were positioned in front of it brought out a new emotion: regret.
"So you're awake." The woman's voice was calm and even as she knelt down and handed him a cup of water, "Drink this. You've been asleep for several hours. It's almost five-o'clock."
He grasped the cup with both hands and drank greedily, holding it out for a refill a moment later. She dutifully poured more of the refreshing cool liquid and sat down in front of him, placing the pitcher nearby.
"Konan, why am I here? Where's Sora?" he looked around and found his uncle snoring peacefully nearby.
"Nagato ordered us to bring you two here. Kisame's crew had decided to rip you into a hundred pieces when they realized the fight was over and you were still alive. He was trying to get them back under control when we left."
"Humph." Madara had a sudden urge to be alone, to hide from the world and die. But if what Itachi had said was true, if Izanami had placed a curse on him then death was definitely a long time coming.
Konan continued, "The Uchiha clan are parked outside the cave and are waiting for your guidance."
"Humph." They were the last people he wanted to see. He heard Konan sigh and looked up at her. She was staring fixedly at the ground, her dark eyes seemed clouded behind heavy thoughts and the bags under her eyes spoke of a lifetime of sleepless nights. In spite of that, her smooth skin was like porcelain and her blue hair perfectly arranged in a bun. She was nothing short of elegant. An angel.
"They… they are disappointed the plan has failed. But at the same time… I think they are also relieved."
"Perhaps."
"Madara…"
"Look, I'm not really in the mood to talk right now…"
"Too bad." Nagato transported his life-support unit a few feet from the elder Uchiha. "There are some things you need to decide and while you think you may have the luxury of time, you don't. In many ways, you have less time than I do."
Madara looked up curiously at the Rinnegan user and frowned, not understanding the man's meaning. He had been tasked with saving the lives of way too many people and could not die until that task was completed. Nagato, on the other hand, had used his jutsu to call forth the god of death far too many times, dramatically shortening his lifespan.
Nagato continued, "Aya is still waiting for you, as well."
"She will leave me. There is nothing to hold her to me." Madara declared morosely.
"I think you don't give her enough credit." Konan spoke up, "She's grown up a lot since you first met her. I believe, in a way, both of you were fated to be together. She is quite worried about your welfare, but as an Uchiha, is unable to show it. You should have realized that by now."
"That makes her one of the people I would be punished for hurting." Madara said quietly. "I really don't understand how this is going to work. I can't be the Mizukage anymore. So how…"
"It seems to me that Water country is full of unfortunate circumstances." A strong voice broke into the conversation followed, moments later, by its owner. A tall blue man with a large sword strapped to his back.
Madara nodded his head, surprised at Kisame's sudden arrival, "That it is."
"Pein… well, I guess I should call him Yahiko now, told me everything and from what I can gather helping people one at a time is not going to work."
"So what do you propose? You sound like you've been thinking hard about this." Madara replied sarcastically.
"For years, actually." Kisame admitted, "I realized a long time ago that there were two ways to save Water country. The first was to kill the Daimyou, which I did, and the second was to follow you and bring about the 'eye of the moon' plan." He sighed and turned to stare at the statue, "Killing the Daimyou didn't change much. The country is still knee deep in poverty and civil war. And of course, your plan fell through. So, near as I can figure, the only option now is for you to become the Daimyou."
That was too much and Madara wondered just when his old friend had gone insane. His blank stare was certainly a signal to Nagato, however, and the red-head nodded, "Perhaps that is the best option, at least for now. However, I am opposed to the Daimyou system of hereditary governance."
"As am I." Madara admitted. "However, I will think about what you have said and discuss it with Sora. Perhaps… there is merit to your thinking."
"I would be willing to work with you." Kisame admitted reluctantly.
Madara sighed, he knew what it would mean for the man to return to the Daimyou's castle. How hard it would be for him to walk through the halls of the government that had been responsible for the death of his family. "Thank-you for the offer Kisame, but you don't have to…"
"I do." Kisame interrupted. "I joined Akatsuki to make a difference. To end this perpetual lie we call life. Your failure is also my failure."
"So, you are also one of them…" Madara realized there were a lot of people he could easily hurt without realizing it and an overwhelming feeling of helplessness washed over him. As the number of people piled up, the lives that he could touch directly and indirectly multiplied exponentially. "This is impossible. It can't be done."
"Maybe Itachi hasn't told us everything." Sora had awoken and was pushing himself up. Konan got to her feet so she could offer him some water. His haggard face and slumped shoulders mirrored Madara's feelings so perfectly that he actually felt a little better. At least he wasn't alone.
Sora smiled at the look his nephew was giving him, "Finally realized it, huh?"
"Yeah, I think so." Madara nodded once and returned his uncle's smile. He was still feeling overwhelmed, humiliated and pissed off, but perhaps there really was a way to get through this. And perhaps, there was also a way to bring some semblance of peace to the world as well. If only for a little while.
X x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
"We've stabilized his condition but he should rest here overnight. We'll ship him back to Konoha in the morning." The medic addressed a worried Fugaku with a smile on her lips and a cheerful lilt in her voice. "In the meantime, you should go get something to eat. They should be starting to serve dinner soon. Itachi, I'm sorry, but you'd be better off sipping some soup right now."
"That's fine. I'm not hungry." The teen was feeling ten times worse than he had when his father had dropped him off at the medic tent several hours earlier and food was the last thing he wanted to deal with at the moment.
"Understandable." The orange-haired woman nodded, "You won't die if you miss a couple meals. I'll setup an IV to keep you from getting dehydrated though." She wondered off to find the equipment and Fugaku knelt down on the floor next to the futon Itachi was reclining on.
"You look like shit." The man relayed with a straight face.
"Yeah. Thanks for stating the obvious." Itachi responded quietly. "What's going on outside? Are they still fighting?"
"The Mist Uchiha backed down immediately. Two Akatsuki, Kakuzu and Hidan were still fighting but disappeared a few hours ago. They said something about having enough bodies… not sure what exactly was going on there… probably related to Hidan's crazy region. Sasori helped Kakashi's team rescue the Jinchuuriki. The earthquakes from Madara's naginata collapsed the cave they were in. There really wasn't much else going on. Everyone was so focused on Madara that when Zetsu told them all he lost they just kind of backed off and disappeared."
"That's to be expected, I guess. Their paycheck dries up and they go off to look for a new one." Itachi was relieved that the danger was over, but he was also knowledgeable enough to understand that it wasn't as simple as it sounded. But for now, he was content with leaving the clean-up to others as another concern crossed his mind, "What about Sasuke?"
"Kakashi just got to them a few minutes ago so I haven't seen him yet. He's going to be disappointed that I'm sending him to live in Mist. But, he hates me already…"
"Don't say that." Itachi replied in a tired voice, then laughed. "You two are so much alike."
"Perhaps." Fugaku wasn't sure he agreed with that, but arguing the point would be, well, pointless.
"So have you heard anything form Madara?"
"Konan and Pein took him to the cave Nagato was waiting in. I spoke with Kisame for a few minutes as well and he said he was going to make an offer to Madara. Don't know what they're up to, but I guess whatever it is, it won't be taking over the world."
"True. But the statue… the demons already in it..."
"There are four, yes. I hate to say it, but they will have to be removed. It can't hold them for long. But we don't have to think about that for a while so don't worry about it."
Itachi closed his eyes. He was feeling very sleepy and as the healer inserted the IV in his arm he found himself drifting off. Sheeta and the twins crossed his thoughts and his eyes opened wide, he was alive and in the morning he was going home to his family. The pain in his lungs, muscles and the headache that throbbed in his skull were forgotten at the realization that his life had just shifted again. And this time, it was a good shift. Perhaps the nightmare he had been living was finally over.
X x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Next week, Fugaku and Sasuke talk, Itachi returns to Konoha and Madara is still sulking, but realizes he has a new goal to achieve.
Again, I'm sorry this was so short.
Please review!