Chapter 49 Rage
The room was a bloody mess in every sense of the word, it had been clearly designed as a medical lab. It had stainless steel countertops that could be cleaned with ease. There where multiple large pieces of medical equipment spread out around the room, all of which Kushina Namikaze had no idea what they did. The only pieces of equipment that she kind of understood was the microscope, she wouldn't know how they work. She was always a combat ninja not a medical ninja, she was on the front lines with Minato whenever possible however due to her having the Kyuubi in her at the time the village elders had a habit of holding her back. She moved around the room, it was clear that someone had called this place home. There was a cot in one corner with mounds of dirty smelly cloths which assaulted her kitsune sense of smell. In one corner was a steel beam along with a large and heavy looking cart. It was clearly used to bared the door, likely set up by the man to keep out the sickness which was raging outside. She opened a steel closet to check to see if any equipment was missing and instantly jumped back before rushing forward to close it again.
"Found where he set up his bathroom." Thought Kushina to herself as she looked around the room again. Everything seemed to be in place, there was nothing really missing that she noticed. She was about to leave when she heard movement outside her door. She paused for a moment and listened, kitsunes had the best hearing of any demon. She closed her eyes for a moment as new muscles around her ears moved to focus on the sound. It was coming from up from the stairs and heading toward her. "Minato-kun is down the hall in the opposite direction, the Harunos are on the floor above us and the Inuzukas are checking out the basement and outer area. Could this be Naruto? Or maybe someone else."
She sniffed the air, it smelled of decomposition flesh and human waste however even through the smell she was able to pick up the scent of another demon. She didn't know who this was but it was a Bakeneko, she could tell that by the scent and that her mystery approaching Bakeneko was a male. They tended to have a stronger scent and that removed the only Bakeneko in their little group, Mrs. Haruno. She moved toward the center of the room with her back toward the door, she quickly pulled out a scroll from her weapon pouch and prepared to face the intruder. If he was a ninja because of the way he moved, a perfect balance of quiet and speed. If she was a human, she may have not even heard him. Using the reflection of the window she was able to get a view of him as he poked his head around the corner. If he was a friendly he would lower his guard and walk in instead she saw him move toward her at such a speed that if she hadn't been prepared for him his knife would have gotten her.
She sidestepped the blade which looked like a hunting knife someone would have found in a camping store, not one designed for ninja warfare. She brought her hand up and grabbed the back of his neck, her sharpened claws digging into the extra skin that was there and adding her strength to his momentum sent him flying out the window. As she released him she brought her hand down on the scroll and with a single moved unsealed one of her personal favorites weapons a naginata.
She followed her attackers out the window and landed on top of some of the broken glass from the window. Her shoes had kept her feet from being cut apart, as she did she spun her Naginata around into a combat ready position. The Naginata was taller than she was with a long slightly curved two foot long blade, however there was a second smaller blade on her weapon. The but was also sharpened to such a point that it could be used to cut into an enemy or stabbing into someone's eyes.
"Kushina!" yelled Minato from above her, she never turned her gaze away from her attacker. He was maybe 18 or so years old and Bakeneko with deep black fur. He was dressed in a mix of ninja gear and civilian cloths with a long knife in his hands. She didn't have to turn around when she felt Minato land beside her, his scent was all she needed to smell.
"Who are you?" inquired Kushina
"I am Rock Lee, ninja of the Leaf Village and I will avenge humanity for what you demons did." Said Lee as the two Inuzukas came running around the corner. They had heard what Lee had said and always looking to deliver a funny in his view line Kane spoke up.
"Have you looked in the mirror, Lee?" inquired Kane as Lee turned and looked at him and Tsume.
"Tsume?" inquired Lee
"Rock Lee is one of our children's friends." explained Tsume as she looked at Kushina.
"I am Minato Namikaze and this is my wife Kushina, I believe you know our son Naruto?" said Minato as he moved toward Kushina's side with his three pointed kunia in his hands. The two Namikazes shared a quick glace they knew how to fight side by side, if they had to they would fight this Rock Lee. "Yes, I am the 4th Hokage."
"Lee, it is us the Harunos" said the Harunos as they came around one of the corners. "Now why don't you put down that knife and let us talk this out."
"That will not work." added Kakashi as he and Rin entered the scene. "Lee is like his sensei Guy, he will go down swinging."
"Yes, I will." Confirmed Lee with determination in his voice as he got into a combat stance. Before anything else could be said he bolted forward toward his biggest threat Minato Namikaze. His speed amazed even Minato, Lee was always known for his speed however now that he was a bakeneko demon which was the fastest sprinter his speed was on another level. Even if the additional short term speed boost that came from the new muscles in his legs did cost some in his endurance running.
Minato jumped back away from the attack as Kushina moved her Naginata up and slammed the staff just below the blade into the bottom of Lee's knife holding wrist. She was attempting to disarm him but that is what Lee was expecting he released his knife and let it drop as he pulled his hand back. Kushina missed her mark hitting empty air, this allowed Lee to get down and deliver a punch to her stomach that sent her backwards a couple of steps while grabbing the falling knife out of midair. He slashed toward Kushina's face coming within inches of running the blade across her face. The blade came so close that Kushina was able to smell the blood of other demons on that blade.
Lee jumped back avoiding a strike from the blade on the Naginata, since the Naginata had over a six foot reach he had to get back quickly. The sound of footsteps caused Lee to duck down as Tsume and Kane Inuzuka entered the fight. With a quick kick he pushed Tsume away and proceeded to attack Kane with his knife. He stabbed toward the face only to have Kane move to the side just in time to avoid getting stabbed through the face.
By then Minato had entered the fight for full and here Lee was at a massive disadvantage, he had been attempting to take them on one at a time by taking on a single enemy then kicking them away before fighting the next one. However Minato was himself an expert at close combat, he had made his name in close combat and that was all Lee really had. He had almost no ninja tools, his weapons were found in homes and local small town police stations. He had no kunai, he had none of the personally designed and customized weapon that Tenten's parents would provide to her teammates. Minato was fully equipped, with much more experience, he could also use Justus and worse of all he didn't have to watch his back. Lee was outnumbered the 4th Hokage wasn't, the sound footsteps caused Lee to jump back again as Kakashi entered the fight.
Down in the bunker Naruto was running toward the security office, he had been walking toward the medical area with Sakura to push Karin for information about her work on the red flu only to have alarms go off. With that Naruto had taken off toward the office, he had reached the office and instantly saw the reason the alarm was going off. On one of the screens was a battle raging on between his parents and another demon. It was a black furred demon cat creature, a Bakeneko if he remembered correctly. He watched as his father and the demon creature that Kakashi become was fighting the other demon. His mother moved in and joined the fight, Tsume and Kane Inuzuka where circling the battle like a pair of wolves waiting for their moment to strike. Sakura's parents were standing back along with Rin, that made some sense from what he knew Rin was a medical ninja and Sakura's parents had been in more involved in the supply side of the ninja core. All three of them knew how to fight, all ninjas did but compared to the Yellow Flash of the Leaf and the Copy Cat Ninja they didn't stand a chance. They were better used as outer defense and that is what they where doing.
"Why are demons fighting each other?" inquired Naruto
"No idea, we don't really have sound." Answered Hanabi as Naruto looked at the image of the demon they were fighting. For a moment, he saw the demon's face, even with the changes to his face that came from being transformed into a cat like demon he could make out the bushy eyebrows and trademark haircut.
"Lee?" inquired Naruto, he wasn't sure why he was fighting with his parents but it didn't really matter. He knew his parents where working with the demons, even if he understood the reason why they were working with the demons they were still working with the enemies of humanity.
"Rock Lee…yes it does look like him." Admitted Hanabi in a monotone voice, she was watching the battle impassivity beside her Anko wasn't doing the same. She was laser focused on the battle watching it in detail.
"It is hard to read their lips." Stated Anko as she replayed the opening moments of the battle repeatedly. "With the new facial forms, I am actually surprised that I am getting as much of it as I am. It seems that Lee is going to get revenge for the Leaf."
"I thought that demons like being demons for a while at least?" inquired Hanabi
"They are supposed too." confirmed Naruto as he remembered what his sister and Sakura had said. Both had said something along the lines of the transformation makes people like what they see for a while by releasing chemical into the brain and by the time it wears off a person is used to being a demon. The human mind can adapt to almost anything if given time and in this that time allowed people to get used to being a demon.
"But Lee has always been strong willed, he made it through a level 3 infection." Added Naruto as he remembered that little detail about his friend. Most people died in a level 3 infection from the red flu, a handful did get better but those where board line threes more than likely just high level 2 infections. Only Lee had lived through all the pain of the boils bursting and the blood pouring out of him. Only he had made it through that and had gone into what was supposed to be an impossible 4th stage where the brain was swelling and he had to be put under.
"Well strong willed or not he doesn't stand much of a chance here." stated Hanabi as she watched the fight.
"Can we help him?" inquired Naruto
"No, not without risking everything we have down here." explained Anko as the fight raged on the screen. Lee was putting up a good fight but it was clear that he was being pushed back and wouldn't last long. "We could open the doors and send some backup but what good would that do? That is the 4th Hokage and some of the most highly trained ninjas in our history. We are good but there is no way we could get Lee out of there without losing people either to being captured or dead."
"The best that could happen is that we could lead one of the Inuzuka's back to our base." Added Hanabi, the Inuzuka clan had a long history of alliance with the Hyuuga clan and therefor she knew what they were capable of. Naruto lowered his head a bit in a mix of anger and resigned understanding when Hanabi spoke up again. "I take that back, the best that could happen is if he kills one of them and lessens our possible enemies."
Naruto let out a low growl at the idea, Hanabi turned and looked at him daring him to say it wouldn't be for the best for them if Lee took out one of their enemies. It didn't seem to matter to her that group was made out of both of his parents, Sakura's parents, his and Sakura's sensei and Kiba's and Hana's parents. There was only one person in that group that was connected to the people down here either through blood or training and that was Rin. He had to correct himself, Rin was his sister's sensei so everyone up there was connected to people in the bunker. Naruto's fists tightened his nails digging into his palms, he grinned his teeth fighting the need to hurt Hanabi who didn't seem to care about the situation taking place within a few hundred yards away from them.
Instead of doing that he stormed out of the room and headed toward the training area in one of the prisoner areas, he needed to work out some steam. He had only taken a few steps out the door only to run into Guy who was rushing toward the same room Naruto was walking out of.
"What is it?" inquired Guy "What sort of threat are we under?"
Naruto lowered his head a bit.
"We are not under a threat." Growled Naruto "But Lee is fighting for his life against overwhelming odds in the city and there is nothing we can do."
"Lee's alive?" Inquired Guy with a smile, then it faded. "Is he still human?"
"No." answered Naruto "But he still seems to have the same mind and he is fighting the demons."
"How is that possible?" stated Guy
"No idea, and there is no way we will find out." Stated Naruto "As much as I hate to admit it, Hanabi is right we can't help him. If we did we would put all of humanity at risk."
Guy lowered his head as well, he understood the situation as well if not better then Naruto did. They could do nothing to help Lee.
Down in the medial area Sakura and Ino where hard at work, Karin had yet to show her face in the medical area. The alarms had stopped which told the two women that the threat had pass to them at least.
"Maybe we should go find out what is going on?" inquired Ino
"Maybe however we need to find out more about this plant." Countered Sakura as she and Ino looked at the handful of samples they had gotten from the plant that somehow turned humans into demons. Now that they had a working theory that the first demons where transformed humans which had stumbled onto this plant. They turned their focus on it, here Ino with all her time working at the Yamamaka clan flower shop.
"Alright Ino talk to me?" inquired Sakura "You are the expert here."
Ino leaned over the leaf and studied it with all the expert of years of informal study at the flower shop.
"It is thicker then what it should be and the vine structure is more like an animal then any plant." Said Ino as she looked at the Leaf. "And we have all seen how it acts, it acts like an animal more than a plant."
"Agreed, most plants don't have sharp teeth and a stomach." Added Sakura as she looked at one of the needle like teeth that had fallen out of the plant when Hinata had been turned. She picked it up with care, due to everything going on they hadn't put much focus on it. She leaned over and studied the tooth. Beside her Hana the veterinary ninja had entered the study of the plant. "Looks like it has a grove here."
"Like a snake's fang. I don't handle snakes often but I do know that." Stated Hana "In a snake it is a channel for demon, in the plant I assume it has something to do with the liquid."
"Yes, maybe they inject demon chakra into their victim like a snake would." Added Sakura
"And then somehow it splices none human DNA into the human making them a demon." Added a new voice as the three women turned and looked at Karin who stood in the doorway to the lab. "I expected that is how it worked, however I am not sure how one person is turned into one demon and the next one is transformed into a totally different one."
"Karin, we wanted to talk to you." Said Sakura as she put the tooth down. "We have a theory about the demons, we think the demons come from the plant. That they turned primitive humans into demons and that maybe we can find a way to turn them back this way."
"That is nice." Said Karin without much of a care, which confused the three other women. "However what does that do to help us?"
"Well it is a pathway to understanding the process humans become demons and therefor…" started Sakura
"It will not matter, you are putting the cart before the horse." Countered Karin "The red flu is killing millions of people and so far nothing I have tried, nothing anyone has tried has cured it or even stopped it. You may find a way to turn people back from become a demon but how will that help those who are already sick and how will it stop people from being turned back into demons."
"Well we can break the process, I know of some herbicides which would likely kill this." offered Ino
"And then everyone will die." countered Karin "The red flu is still spreading and we have no evidence that turning back into a human will stop someone from getting sick again. In fact it may be nothing more than dooming people to death, the likely thing keeping the demons alive is their chakra. Take that out of a human body and you have no defense against the red flu. Right now without the cure to the red flu we are stuck."
"Sakura…" said a voice as Sakura turned to see Sai standing there. "We have a situation happening outside, you need to see what is happening."
"What is happening?" inquired Ino
"Lee is fighting the demons outside and it isn't looking good." explained Sai as everyone's aside from Karin's eyes widen at the news.
"Why don't you three keep working on this, I need to see what is going on." ordered Sakura as she headed out the door and toward the guard room to see what was going on.
The fight was going ever more against Lee as he was forced to focus totally on the defense, finally he was kicked back against a wall by Kakashi and there was a pause for him to take stock of his situation. He was bleeding from multiple small wounds, and he could feel each of the blow from the older ninjas.
"Lee, stand down." Ordered Kakashi "As a ninja of the Leaf I am ordering you to do so."
"No." said Lee definitely "You have lost all rights to call yourself a ninja of the Leaf, all of you have lost that right. The Leaf's fire may of gone out but mine will not, I am youthful, I am strong I will fight on."
"I say we just bash his head in." said Kane only to get a look from his wife. "Not hard enough to kill him, our children may be upset at that. They are friends with him however we can knock him out."
"Listen, there is honor in what you are doing." Said Minato in the tone of voice he used whenever he was talking to a young chunin who was doing the right thing but going about it the wrong way. "There is nothing you can do, the Leaf the will of fire which is what makes the Leaf the Leaf isn't gone. It is only being changed into something new, something different."
"Something horrible." Added Lee as he crossed his arms in front of him. "And I will not go down without a fight."
"Well we already had one, so can we call it quits?" inquired Kane as Kakashi's eyes widened as he saw chakra dance around Lee.
"He is opening the gates!" yelled Kakashi as Minato and Kushina's head snapped toward him.
"He knows how to open the chakra gates, but that is supposed to be banned isn't it?" inquired Kushina but she never got a chance to say anything more as Lee rocketed forward, Kakashi jumped in front of the blow meant for his sensei and his wife and grabbed Lee by the arm. He could see steam coming off Lee's body as the visible cuts healed and the color of his fur had turned from a black to a reddish brown. If the fur now acted like skin would have been when a gate was open meant that at least the 3rd gate was open.
Lee rounded on Kakashi punching him so hard that he did multiple backflips before coming to a stop with a thud.
"Kakashi-kun!" yelled Rin as she rushed forward to help her teammate and lover. By then Lee had moved the focus of his attack onto his biggest threat Minato. Minato for his part now knew he was dealing with someone who knew how to open chakra gates and that he couldn't treat this young man like a kid. He reached into his pack and pulled a scroll and tossed it up in the air, Lee paid it no mind until the scroll exploded and sent dozens of kunia falling from the sky. None of the kunia's where sharpened but instead of sharpened blades they had sticky glue on them. This meant that when they went flying they wouldn't hurt anyone however they did stick to everything that they touched.
Lee was so focused on his target that he never noticed that on each of those kunias which now covered the area where multiple seals. With that Minato moved forward with his personal favorite weapon a three pointed kunia. He was within a couple of feet of Lee when he disappeared in a flash of light and reappeared at one of the kunai which had stuck to the ground on Lee's right. For a moment, he had the advantage was prepared to strike but with the chakra gates opened Lee had enhanced strength, spend and reaction time. He spun around his demon claws out and like a feral animal he slashed at Minato who disappeared again this time leaving his kunia behind. He appeared on the opposite side of Lee and delivered a blow to his lower back before jumping back to his original place. By then Lee's attack had passed him by and he grabbed his kunia which was still falling out of the air. He grabbed the kunia and moved to strike Lee's stomach with the hardened metal ring at the bottom of the kunia. He delivered a blow that should have dropped any ninja but Lee remained standing. Minato then began a full assault striking lee from multiple directions from using the thunder god technique to move faster than Lee could block.
Down in the guard office Tenten, Neji and Guy stood watching the battle raging outside between their friend and the legendary fourth Hokage. They all watched with a mix of pride and concern, pride that Lee was holding his own so well against the 4th Hokage but large concern because it was clear to them that Lee had already opened five of the eight chakra gates.
"How many Gates does Lee know how to open?" inquired Neji
"Seven." answered Guy
"And that is all he can open without killing himself." Added Tenten. "If he or anyone opens the 8th gate they die at the end of it. So the question should be if Lee is willing to end his life in this battle."
That is when Sakura and Sai entered the already crowded room.
"My God." said Sakura as she studied the scene on the screen. "He is in trouble."
"That is an understatement and we can't help him without putting ourselves and humanity at too great of a risk." answered Hanabi as she turned back to the screen.
With five out of the eight chakra gates open, Lee was holding his own very well against the full assault of the Legendary Yellow Flash of the Leaf. He was doing so well that Minato was having trouble delivered blows in even as he teleported around the battlefield at the speed of light. Finally, he paused for a moment to rest, he was breathing heavily and his knuckles where bloody. He could have ended this with ease if he had gone for the killing blow but so far he hadn't.
Lee was in a horrible state with broken bones and blood covered fur but he was still on his feet.
"I…I…I will never…quite!" yelled Lee as more chakra surrounded him so much so that the water vapor in the air began to boil.
"Shit." cursed Kakashi, he knew just like Minato did that meant that sixth gate was now open. Then the chakra round Lee began to change colors a sign that Lee was jumping from straight from the 5th gate to the 7th gate. He knew that Lee wouldn't stop and that there was nothing sure they could hold Lee off from hurting maybe even killing someone.
"Lee, stand down you can't win." said Minato again as he tried to talk Lee down.
"Minato-sensei he will never quite." said Kakashi as Lee turned his attention toward him and Rin, seeing a chance to remove two of this enemies. He bolted forward with a knife in his hands. He appeared behind Rin which was leaning over him with her back to the threat. Kakashi was on the ground and could do nothing to get Rin out of the way of the killing blow. Then a yellow flash of light appeared behind Lee and then it was over. Lee's body went limp and he fell to the ground with a kunia in the back of his neck, positioned in such a way that the blade would have cut off the electrical messages from the brain.
"You two alright?" inquired Minato as Kakashi and Rin nodded their heads.
"Minato?" inquired Kushina
"It is was the only way." Explained Minato with pain in his voice.
In the bunker the humans watching the battlefield horrified.
"My God…Lee." Said Tenten
"Lee." added Neji as he lowered his head as he watched his teammate fall to his knees.
Sakura didn't say anything instead she turned and headed out the door, she needed to talk to Naruto.
Naruto was working up a heavy sweat when he heard the door opening, the heavy metal door made enough noise for anyone to hear yet alone someone with demon enhanced hearing. He turned his gaze toward the upper level, the training area was at the bottom most level of the cylinder like room. Even from down here he could make out the white outfit and green hair of his fellow former jinchuuriki Fuu. She didn't even mess with the stairs and instead jumped down and landed softy on the ground only a couple of feet away from him.
"Fuu." said Naruto
"Naruto." Answered Fuu as she nodded back at him, both of their eyes had changed, Naruto's eyes turned silted while Fuu's turned into two overlie diamonds.
"Is it over?" inquired Naruto
"Is what over?" inquired Fuu as she starched the back of her shoulder at the shoulder blade. "Damn this is just a pain, isn't it."
"Yes it is," confirmed Naruto "So you don't know how the fight between Lee and the demons up there ended?"
"Lee…Lee is dead." Said another voice as Naruto looked up to see Sakura standing at the top of the entrees. Naruto's blood turned to fire as Sakura took the long process of moving down the stairs to reach the bottom level.
"How?" inquired Naruto as Sakura stood before him, she appeared to be close to tears as well.
"Your father." answered Sakura as Naruto bared his teeth but not at Sakura but at his father. Red chakra shot out around him and the whole room began to shake as his hair began to length a bit and his whisker marks darkened. The changes didn't even cause alarm within Sakura.
"Naruto-kun, I know you are in pain but we can't lose our focus." Said Sakura "So calm down."
While Sakura was moving toward Naruto Ino was trying to get ahold of Sakura, she headed toward the training area only to see Meiko Namikaze heading toward it.
"Where are you going?" inquired Ino
"I need to talk to my brother." Answered Meiko as they just reached the door to the training area when she felt a burst of demon chakra. The anger was so strong that she who was never the greatest of sensing chakra could tell that it was Naruto even at that distance. They threw open the door and looked down into the lower level. What she saw surprised her, Fuu, Sakura and Naruto where at the bottom of the prison area. Red demon chakra whipped around the area like a wild beast, lashing at the pillars with such force that pieces of concrete where flying off. Fuu was surrounded by demon chakra as well but her was a strange greenish color instead of Naruto's red and her demon chakra was holding Naruto's at bay. The chakra was so thick that she couldn't even get a full view of the three of them, however she could tell that neither Fuu nor Naruto looked fully human. That wasn't totally strange, she had heard of how demon chakra would surround Naruto and take on the form of a fox. Even so it was unsettling and on top of that, Sakura was standing in the center of the storm beside Naruto, demon chakra whipped around her and even wrapped around her but she didn't seam concerned or effective by it.
"Naruto-kun calm down." ordered Sakura as she reached out and put her hand on Naruto's shoulder. He turned his head which was covered in chakra toward her and within seconds the chakra began to fade and Ino began to get a better view, a demon chakra still surrounded Naruto in the form of a fox however he appeared normal to Ino at this distance, maybe his blonde hair was wilder and maybe had a hint of red in it but that passed as well. He wasn't the only one surrounded by demon chakra, green chakra surrounded Fuu just like Naruto until finally that too passed and everything was back to normal.
"What the fuck was that?" inquired Ino
"I don't know." answered Mieko as she sniffed the air, she smelled her brother but he didn't smell human he smelled like a kitsune and Fuu smelled like a demon as well. Then it passed and the only scents she smelled were human.
Slowly the two of them made their way down the stairs until they reached the bottom level where Fuu, Sakura and Naruto where all standing together talking in such low voices that even Meiko was having trouble hearing them.
"What are you two doing here?" inquired Sakura with some concern in her voice.
"Well I wanted to talk to you about what I have learned about the planet from the samples we have." Explained Ino
"And I wanted to talk to my brother about what just happened outside." Explained Mieko
"I know what happened, Dad killed Lee." Said Naruto as Ino's eyes widened, she hadn't heard that yet.
"Yes, but have you seen the video? He didn't really have much of a choice, Lee wouldn't stop they had no choice but to end it. He was seconds away from killing Rin-sensie." Said Meiko as she came to her parents' defense. "Rin is basically family, she is my sensei and my godmother. Lee wouldn't have stopped with her he would have had an open shot at Kakashi, your sensei. He would have killed our family members, mom and dad if given a chance. Dad had no choice."
"And Lee is my friend, he was fighting for humanity." countered Naruto "And now I am not sure what I will have to do. I am in a no win situation, my own father killed my friend and therefor I may have to take him down."
Meiko's eyes widened at the word.
"What?" inquired Mieko stunned at her brother's words. "You would kill Dad?"
"Yes, if I had to." Admitted Naruto "If the choice is between killing our parents and saving humanity I will choice humanity."
"But…they are our parents." Countered Meiko as she looked at Sakura. "Your parents are up there too would you make that choice? Kill your parents to try to save an already doomed humanity?"
"I would." Admitted Sakura "I wouldn't do it if there was no hope but now that we have a line on
"Un that case you should watch the video of the battle that your parents where just in." offered Fuu as she looked at Naruto. "It could provide insight in any battle you fight with them."
Naruto nodded his head while Meiko looked at her brother horrified at the idea of her brother killing their parents.
"Yes, you are right." Said Naruto "Maybe Lee's sacrifice will have some good."
"Naruto." said Meiko as she grabbed his arm. "I love you, our parents love you but this has gone too far. It is time to end this before someone gets hurt."
"People are already dead Meiko." countered Naruto as he closed his eyes and lowered his head. "Millions of people are dead. I don't want to fight mom and dad, I really don't but I can't…I won't throw away humanities last chance and if I have too I will do what is needed."
"Humanity doesn't have a chance left…." Said Meiko as she turned and looked at Ino and Sakura. "None of you have found anything that helps with a cure for the red flu yet alone a way to turn people back into humans."
"No but we are still working on it and as long as we can we will keep working on it." Said Ino
"Meiko, we are down here and your parents and the other demons are up there." Explained Sakura with a reassuring smile. "There is no way they can find us down here and while we are separated there is no reason why there should be any conflict between us and yours and Naruto-kuns parents. Besides Naruto-kun is upset at the moment because he couldn't help Lee and if there is one thing your brother hates it is when he can't help his friends."
Elsewhere in the base Sasuke held his side in pain, he had watched the entire battle that had happened outside. He turned his attention away from the battle toward the video that showed the plant that turned humans into demons. He knew he didn't have much time left.
"We may need to turn the time table up." said Sasuke as he looked toward Suigetsu "We may have to simple trust the demons will keep their word and that I will live through a transformation."
"Well you are kind of doomed if you wait. If you wait for proof you may die before you get the proof." said Suigetsu "I just hope that they honor the part for me, I would rather become a demon. Either way I would talk to your girl and make the choice sooner rather than later."
"We will talk about it tonight." Said Sasuke "And decide then."
"Alright, just let me know." Stated Suigetsu as he took a bite of yogurt as if there wasn't a care in the world.
Well I hope you are not too upset with me, I killed Lee. I would like to thank everyone who reviewed and I ask that you keep reading. Thanks Wilkins75.