iieee
Why does there gotta be a sacrifice?
"I've never seen him like this before," Shikaku Nara breathed to Inoichi Yamanaka, as the two men watched their team mate staring into the distance. "It's as if he were trapped in a genjutsu."
Inoichi was not surprised. He could not bear to look into Chouza's terrible, empty eyes; it was like staring into a vacuous abyss which threatened to suck him into it, without any hope of escaping. He had been so loud, so stroppy and full of life, and here he was now, reduced to an empty shell of a man, barely speaking, moving or even eating – and for an Akimichi, that was quite a feat. Inoichi wondered if Chouza was wishing that that thing from Akatsuki had killed him too instead of leaving him to rot, stuck in an existence which was not an existence. Shikamaru and Ino had been like that too, understandably, but then they were healing faster, probably because the death of their sensei had given them strength.
And Chouji...
"How are we going to get him back?" asked Shikaku tetchily. "I mean, I've tried talking to him, but it's like trying to move Mount Myobuzan."
"Well, what do you expect?" Inoichi answered wearily. "Are you really expecting him to snap out of it so quickly? Come on, Shikaku, you're an intelligent man."
"You can help him."
"How?" Inoichi was bewildered.
"By using your jutsu," explained Shikaku. "C'mon, you unlocked the memories of that corpse, right? I bet you can do it to Chouza."
Inoichi looked thoughtful.
"I'll talk to him."
He walked up the mountainside and approached the Akimichi clan head, who sat there, staring into space.
"Chouza."
"What?"
"I can help you."
Chouza laughed bleakly. It was a horrible sound. Inoichi shuddered. "Thanks, but no thanks. I don't need your help."
Inoichi tried again. "Look, I know you must be feeling horrible..."
"Of course I did," Chouza said tersely. "You would too, if it had been Ino."
Inoichi decided it was now or never, and bit the bullet. "Shitenshin no Jutsu!" His body slackened as he entered Chouza's mind.
The Akimichi clan are facing one of Pein's bodies. Kakashi Hatake is with them. Chouza can feel the spiral eyes of the enemy boring into him. Chouji is worried. "Kakashi-san, is it dead?"
"I believe it is," says Kakashi, but Chouza knows that the younger jounin is unsure. The clan prepare to leave...but Chouza has his doubts, and sure enough the body is moving.
Everything is a blur. Kakashi activating his Sharingan, Chouji shouting. Bubun Baika no Jutsu activated. Giant hands smash the monster into the ground, again and again. It is most definitely broken. Chouza breathes a silent prayer to Uke-mochi, the clan's goddess.
He turns and leaves to go.
Is that body moving? No. Bollocks. It can't be. Surely it's dead.
It is Chouji who spots the body raise its arm in one last gasp and fire its cannon. He screams, "Dad!", Chouza spins round and suddenly, time has stopped, or at least is in slow motion, and he shields his eyes as something explodes and the light becomes too bright for him to bear...
...and tentatively...he removes his hands from his eyes...
...Chouji is on the ground.
He is bleeding from his chest. His clan armour has been broken. His lips are moving, but no sound is coming out. Blood streaming out of his mouth. His skin is pale, the spirals on his cheeks seem to be fading...
...fading away...into the light...
...he has been hit. By a missile that would have hit his father instead if he had not jumped in front of it. He died so Chouza might live.
"Dad..." Chouza is sure he hears his son say. "That..was...close...I'm sorry..." Then his eyes close.
Chouza takes his son's pulse. So does Kakashi, who sadly shakes his head, and Chouza feels as though his internal organs have been torn out and he is falling, falling, falling...
Chouji...
My baby...
You died to protect me...now I'll never get to eat dinner with you again, I'll never get to discuss missions or tell you how proud I am to have you for a son...I am...oh gods...Chouji...I can still remember when I first held you in my arms...
You were still a baby then...now you're sixteen...you'll never see your seventeenth birthday...
Chouji...
Why couldn't it have been me? Why couldn't it have been me?
Why did my son have to die for me?
Chouji...
"No."
Inoichi was sure he heard Chouza speak.
"Chouji...Chouji..."
Yes. Shitenshin no Jutsu, success.
And Inoichi quickly released the jutsu as the big man seemed to fold in on himself, collapsing onto his hands and knees like an animal as a thin moan escaped his lips.
Then it came.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
And Chouza curled up into the foetal position and buried his head in his hands as pain coursed through his body and mind, the memories that Inoichi had awoken finally brought to the surface, as he remembered his son's smiling face as the life seeped out of his body. He let himself collapse into Inoichi's arms as the horrible feeling that had been building up inside him seemed to pour out like lava. Inoichi felt the tears of his team mate coursing down his chest as he held the other man to him and let him cry out the pain which had been poisoning him.
He did not speak. There was nothing to be said.
He knew Chouza would be OK.