Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Last Airbender.
Bodyguard of Azula
Chapter 64: Failed mission and Breaking point
"Talking"
"Thinking"
"Bijū/spirit talking"
"Bijū/spirit thinking"
(Location: Konoha)
They all stood in the office of the Hokage. Tsunade sat behind the desk staring at them. Outside, night sky was filled with storm clouds, ones that looked like they threatened to unleash what they held at any moment. "So, not only were unable to succeed in your mission, but Kumo's last Jinchūriki, the Raikage's own brother, was kidnapped as well." Tsunade summarized as she stared at Team Paragon.
"Yes." Sokka answered. "But that last one wasn't entirely our fault. If the Raikage had let us gone with them when they left, we would've been able to help fight against Pain."
"That may be your opinion. But as far as what I've heard from all of you, the Raikage is furious about what transpired at Unraikyō." She told him.
"That would be a bit of an understatement." June remarked to herself quietly. Once he had learned that Bee had been captured, the Raikage had all but exploded at them. There might've been injuries, had they not kept a respectable distance between them and him. Finally, when he had calmed down some, he told them to get out of Kumo and that he would rip them limb from limb if they ever came to there again.
"Look, the bottom line here is that we don't have all the blame in this." Jiraiya said, getting Tsunade's attention. "The Raikage is partly to blame for it as well."
"I'm not willing to bet money on the fact he'll see it like that." She retorted, staring at her teammate. "If anything, he'll put the blame solely on Konoha; probably even try to make it look like we're the ones who screwed up."
"Then he has to keep being reminded that he was the one who invited us to Kumo as well as the one who sent Naruto and Killer Bee right off without letting any of us know." Azula said.
"I wasn't aware you knew how to handle village politics, Azula." The Slug Sage said with a slightly acidic voice. Azula didn't not to push it, considering that everyone was a bit more than tense at the moment.
"She's not wrong, Tsunade." Jiraiya said, agreeing with her. "Let's hope the Raikage comes to that conclusion as well."
"Indeed. In the meantime, I'm going to have to make sure this doesn't escalate into war between us and Kumo." She sighed and rubbed her forehead. "I just hope someone will be willing to cooperate over there." She looked at the team. "You are dismissed." The younger members of the team turned around and started to leave the room. Both Jiraiya and Tsunade shared a look, after which the Hokage spoke again. "Naruto, stay a minute."
The blonde stopped. During the entire debrief, the only time he had spoken was when he described the Pains he had. It had been short and to the point, if not a little clipped. Aside from that, he didn't say a word. He had been like that ever since they were effectively kicked out of Kumo. The rest of the team kept walking; the only ones who looked back at him were Sokka and Azula. When he didn't return the look, they kept on walking, closing the door behind them.
Soon, they were out of the Hokage building. "Are you going to wait around?" Sokka asked Azula. "Suki and I were going to head back to the apartments. Odds are the others will be waiting there for information on what happened."
"And it might rain at any moment." Suki added, looking up at the sky. They all knew that Azula would want to wait until Naruto came out. But they also knew that now wasn't the best of times to go with that plan of action, not with the way the blonde had been acting since they left Kumo.
Fortunately, Azula also recognize this. "I'll join you." She told them. "They'd want everything we know, especially Ino. Besides, I'm not a Water Tribe barbarian or Earth Kingdom peasant. I don't like getting rained on." She retorted with a smile. She was by no means insulting them and they knew it.
"Oh yes, we can't let your pretty little Fire Nation head get a little wet now, can we?" Sokka asked with almost scathing sarcasm, even though he was smiling too. "If we let you stay too long in the rain, you might melt."
"Come on, you two." Suki told the two of them. "Let's go already." She looked over at June. "Will you be joining us, June?"
"Yeah, I might. I could use a drink anyway." She said with a shrug of her shoulders. "But there's something I need to take care beforehand, so I'll meet you guys there." They all nodded in acknowledgement and went down the street, leaving her alone. She turned and went down a different street. It was all but empty, and the few other people who were on it were hurrying along, not wanting to get caught in the storm that was to come. They paid her no heed and she extended them the same courtesy. She soon reached her destination, a forest that was in the village, but was thick enough to allow no one to see what happened in there. "Nyla," She called out as she walked past the trees.
The shirshu answered her call without hesitation, coming to her with a friendly hiss (at least, friendly for a shirshu). She stroked his snout for a brief minute and then went for the bag that was tied to the saddle. Unhooking it, she held it in her hands and opened it, taking out what was inside. "It's about time you took me out, bitch." The head of Hidan said as she held him by his hair. When they were close enough to Konoha, she had decided to take off the gag and blindfold while he had been asleep. "Where are we, anyway? Some private spot where you can have me blow you?"
"We're in Konoha." She answered shortly. "And like I would someone like you do that, even if you are just a head." It was a disturbing, if not a downright disgusting thought.
"You don't know what you're missing, but that's your loss." He told her with a grin that was equal parts manic and lecherous.
"Shut up." She told him.
He rolled his eyes. "Is that the best you could come up with? Please, that other brat could do it better than you. Just take me to whatever passes for a bounty station here and turn my head in."
"Believe me; I would like nothing better than to cash in on your head. But you've caused enough trouble for the world and I'm fairly annoyed right now. So I'm getting rid of you in a very permanent way."
He smirked at that idea. "And how are you going to do that, you stupid whore? In case you forgot, I can't be killed. You and your little team beheaded me and I'm still around. You can't kill Lord Jashin's divine instrument."
"Don't be so sure of that." She said with a chilling smile that somehow made him nervous. She then tossed him up into the air and let him hit the floor of the forest. "Nyla, dinner," She announced before turning around and walking away.
Hidan's eyes went wide as he watched the blind creature lean down and sniff him, checking him over like someone inspecting a piece of meat. Once the shirshu was done, he bared his teeth and began to snarl. As June left the forest and made her way in the direction of the Konoha Eleven apartments, the sounds of someone screaming and teeth ripping meat apart came out of the forest, loud at first but then faded away.
(Location: Naruto)
"What?" The blonde asked the two Sannin shortly, not even looking at them. Instead, he chose to keep his focus on a part of the wall just past Jiraiya's shoulder.
"Are you alright?" Tsunade asked him. The minute she did, she regretted it. It was quite possibly the dumbest thing she could've asked at that point.
"What the fuck do you think?" He snapped at her. "Did you think I'd be all smiles and happiness?"
"No, but we expect you to feel something." Jiraiya said, joining the conversation. "We both know what you're going through, gaki."
"Do you?" The blonde asked, cutting him off. It was probably a stupid thing to ask, considering how long the Toad Sage had been around, but he didn't care at that point.
"Yes, we do, and I'm not just talking about Orochimaru here." The name of the dead Snake Sage made Naruto grit his teeth and stifle a snarl. "We've lost friends and family, and we know it hurts."
"Were any of those deaths your fault?" He shot back, a challenge in his eyes as he looked at the two of them. "Did any of them die because of a mistake you made?"
"…There were a few." Tsunade quietly admitted after a brief moment of silence. "But what happened with Killer Bee was not your fault."
"Yes, it was." He replied stubbornly. "It was my fault. If I had paid more attention, I could've—"
"You could've what?" Jiraiya interrupted him, a scowl set on his face. "You could've lasted longer? Fought harder? Won faster?"
"I would've been able to help him!" He almost shouted. A small (almost tiny) part of his mind admonished him for speaking like that to the Hokage and her teammate but at that point, he didn't care.
"You don't know that." Tsunade said.
"Yes, I do. I do know that. If I had helped him, we could've lasted long enough for the others to get there." He argued.
"And would've it mattered?" She asked, earning a small glare from her teammate. "You said it yourself, Pain managed to take down Bee, a Jinchūriki who had complete control of his Bijū. If he couldn't win, how would more solve the problem?"
"All six went at him and he was trying to protect me. If I wasn't unconscious and the others were there, we could've prevented them from ganging up on one of us." He wanted to believe that. Truly, he did. But the hard fact that he was unconscious and the others weren't there still echoed in his head. "Is there any point to this conversation other asking stupid questions?"
"We're concerned for you, Naruto."
He scoffed. "You're concerned? How touching. Just when I don't need your concern, you pile it on."
Their eyes narrowed at those words. "And what does that mean?" Jiraiya asked him.
"You know what it means." He said with a bite in his voice. "Where was all the concern three years ago, when I needed it? Where was it when you decided to have me banished?" He was beginning to get annoyed and then angry with this conversation. That small part of his mind tried to tell him off for speaking like that to his superiors, but he didn't care to listen.
"It wasn't banishment, Naruto, and you know it. We've already been told about how you were listening in." Both he and Tsunade had been surprised to find out that he did. They had thought Naruto wouldn't do something like that back then (at least, not without being detected).
"Oh, right. Of course, how could I be so stupid? You were just going to kick me out of the village until you needed me again." The blonde said with very heavy sarcasm. It disappeared as he scowled at them. "You'll have to forgive me if I didn't see it like that. It looked like banishment to me, especially when you announced I was to be thrown into the jail in front of the whole council."
"If you had waited for us to let you free, you would've seen we meant for the best." Tsunade told him. That night she and Shizune tried to free him, only to find that he had already ran still haunted her.
His anger was mounting as the conversation went on. "How could I when you stabbed me in the back like that?" He asked them.
"We didn't stab you in the back, Naruto!" She snapped at him, accidently losing her temper.
And it was enough for him to lose his. "Yes, you did! You betrayed me! When I was listening in on that meeting and your 'plan' was suggested by your advisors and agreed by all of the Clan heads, I was scared. But I thought that Granny and Ero-Sennin would stand for me. To tell the others that I wasn't going anywhere, that I was a loyal shinobi of Konoha who followed his orders, and that I deserved to be defended. Do you two have any idea how hurt I was when I listened to the two people who I thought would've had my back agreed to that plan!?" He shouted at them, unconsciously clenching his fists. "If that's how I was going to be treated, why would I stay loyal?" Without waiting for an answer from the two Sannin, he turned around and left the room, slamming the door behind him.
He all but stormed out of the building and onto the street. He didn't stop, he just kept on walking. When he was about five blocks or so away from the Hokage building, he stopped. He no less angry but he wanted a smoke, figuring it could help him calm down. "Kami, I shouldn't have lost my temper like that." He admonished himself as he fished around in his pockets for a cigarette and lighter. "I never lost it with Ozai. Why would I lose it with Lady Tsunade and Lord Jiraiya?" He paused as he went over what he had just thought. "Where did that come from? I've never called them that before. Ah, whatever, it doesn't matter." He finally found the lighter and a cigarette. As he placed the cigarette in his mouth, he couldn't get the lighter to light.
As he struggled with the lighter, two footsteps walked up behind him. Despite knowing who those footsteps belonged to, he didn't turn around. He just focused on the lighter. "Dobe," Sasuke's voice said from behind him. "We heard about what happened."
"We're sorry." Sakura told him. He didn't know if it was the words or the way she tried to sound sincere, but he got angry again. He tried to squash it and was mostly successful, but some of it was still there, gnawing at him.
He still ignored them, focusing on the lighter. "Will you just light already?" He mentally said to the object.
"Well, aren't you going to say anything?" Sasuke asked him, sounding vaguely irritated.
"You want me to say something?" He asked back, still not looking at them. "Fine, I'll say something. Go away." He started walking away, hoping to leave them behind.
"That's it?" The Uchiha demanded, striding after him. "We try to offer our condolences and you tell us to go away."
"I did just say that. Now kindly do so." He wanted to be alone. More importantly, he didn't want to be around them.
"Kami take it, Naruto! Can't you just accept our apologies!?" Sasuke all but shouted at the blonde's back. Both he and Sakura were trying to be sincere about it. But the fact that he told them to go away and giving blatant signals to be left alone (which he had been giving anytime they were near him) irritated them.
"No. Go away. I have no wish or desire to see either of you when I know you're not sincere. You're just trying to get me back into your team and you will do anything to get me." They had made several attempts to talk to him when he was in Konoha. But he would ignore them, give short clipped answers to their probing questions, or walk right past them.
"We're not trying to get you back, Naruto." Sakura told him. Even though her temper was getting just as short as Sasuke's, she was doing a better job of keeping it in. "We've realized that it's not going to happen. But we do hope to be at least your friends."
"I call bullshit." He said with a scoff, his back still facing them. "Like you would actually stop wanting me to come back to the team. You would've come after me in the Bending Countries if the old hag had decided to tell you I was there."
"You will not speak of Lady Tsunade like that!" She said sharply. It was one thing to being insulted herself, but she would not listen to ones about her sensei, even if it was from a former teammate.
"I will speak of the old hag any way I please." He replied, trying to stay calm but with some showing itself in his voice. His attempts with the lighter weren't working but he still kept trying, wanting that cigarette. "Besides, what are you going to do about it?"
"Naruto, we're trying to be your friends." Sasuke said with gritted teeth and scowl.
"I don't want you to be, nor do I want your phony apologies. Now for the last time, go away." He kept walking, even though they had stopped. "And don't ever bother me again. When we're done here, I'm gone and that'll be the last you see of me."
"We're truly sorry for what happened, Naruto." The pink-haired shinobi said to him. "I know how you must feel about Bee's lose, but—"
He suddenly whirled around and lunged for her, his fist drawn back and ready to slug her. He would've done so, (Sakura had been caught off guard by his sudden leap and couldn't react in time) had Sasuke not stepped in between them. "You do not know!" The blonde snarled at her, lighter and cigarette forgotten.
"What the hell is your problem, dobe!?" The Uchiha demanded, Sharingan blazing with furious anger. "You think you're the only one who's lost somebody?"
"'Just shut up for once.'" Naruto said, cutting him off. "'What the heck do you know about it? It's not like you ever had a family in the first place.'" He looked him straight in the eyes, repeating the same he heard three years ago. "'You were on your own right from the beginning! What makes you think you know anything about it, huh!?'" He asked, not expecting an answer and continuing before he could get one. "Your words, Sasuke, not mine! You have no idea how feels when you lose something you could've had or tried to protect or even work for! Everything you've lost, you took for granted!"
"I still lost people!" He roared back. "And not just my family, I lost you as well! And now you're here but instead of coming back you should've, you refuse to do anything with us, even when we tell you we want to be your friends!"
"SO TAKE THE FUCKING HINT AND LEAVE ME ALONE!" The blonde bellowed, his voice echoing all down the empty street. Some lights are the upper floors were being turned on, people surprised by the bellow were about to look for who spoke. The two didn't care. They just glared at each other.
"This isn't the place." Sakura told them. She knew what was going through their heads and she couldn't agree more. Her temper was just as gone as theirs were. But she also knew that it wouldn't be a good idea to start in the middle of a village street. ANBU would be on them faster than they could blink or breathe. "Let's go somewhere a little more private."
Both Naruto and Sasuke nodded silently in agreement, the latter letting go of the former's fist. Before anyone from inside the buildings could open a window to see what the commotion was all about, the three were gone. They sped through the village, intent on finding a spot a little (more like a lot) quieter. They didn't say a word to one another. If they did, they would've started prematurely and risk the possibility of getting caught. And they most certainly didn't want that.
They finally found what they were looking for an empty training ground. Naruto landed on one side of the open field while Sasuke and Sakura landed on the other side. They didn't wait, not for a single second. The tension between the three had been rising ever since their first meeting in three years, whether they realized or not (and at that point, they didn't care). That tension had finally gone past the breaking point and as such, broke. Now, the two men and woman who once made up Team 7 were going to brawl.
Naruto went directly for Sasuke, kunai in hand and ready to use. As he raised his arm to strike, the Uchiha reacted instantly by grabbing his chokutō and drawing it. The screech the kunai made as it slid down the flat of the blade filled the training ground. Once it was fully out of its sheath, Sasuke used it to full effect. Both kunai and sword clashed against each other again and again as they fought. Sasuke's Sharingan blazed as he focused on Naruto, but the blonde knew better then hold his gaze. Instead, he focused on the hand that held the chokutō.
But because he was focused on Sasuke, he had forgotten about Sakura. He paid for it when she drove her fist into his stomach, sending him flying backwards and crashing into the ground. If he had eaten before the fight that probably would've been the first point in the fight he would throw up. "What the fuck has she been learning from that old hag?" He silently asked as he tried to get his footing back.
"You mean aside from her strength?" The fox inside his mind asked in return.
"Shut up." He told the Kyūbi. "Note to self: ensure she never learns Earthbending stances and moves."
"I thought that was a given."
"Furball, if you don't have anything worthwhile to contribute to this fight, shut up and stay out of it." He all but ordered the Bijū. He stood back up but a low kick from Sasuke sent him crashing back down onto the ground. Both he and Sakura stood over the blonde. Normally, they would've stopped the fight there. Butat that point, all they wanted to do was beat Naruto completely bloody (not even black and blue, bloody).
They didn't get the chance as Naruto swung his legs up into a circular motion, forcing the two of them back. Getting onto his hands and into a handstand, he went after them, swinging his legs around and around (he was secretly glad he had good balance, otherwise he never would've been able to do this Airbending stance). Both Sasuke and Sakura tried to go for his upper half, but the length, spin, and speed of his legs kept them away.
Naruto pressed his advantage, going after Sakura. She kept back away from him and he followed. However, because he was focused on her and was not thinking calmly (he was too angry for that), he had not paid attention to Sasuke. The Uchiha darted behind him and watched him carefully. When he was ready, the black-haired shinobi reached out and grabbed one of the blonde's legs. He gave enough of a hard shove to make him lose his balance, stumble and fall.
Naruto landed on his back however. So when he saw that Sasuke was about to attack him, he folded his legs up to his chest and then shot them out like a loaded spring. Caught off-guard by the move, the Uchiha got both legs to the stomach, which sent him through the air. But unlike Naruto, he was able to regain his footing as he landed.
But once again, the blonde had forgotten about the other person until it was almost too late. He rolled away and jumped to the side just in time to avoid Sakura, who swung her fist down with a battle-cry. Her fist hit the ground where Naruto had been moments ago. The exact spot where her fist made impact with the ground was the epicenter of a small quake, causing the ground around to split and shatter. Once it was done, the ground that was affected was more like rubble then actual earth.
"Where did he go?" She demanded as she stood straight again, looking around. Her answer came in the form of Sasuke throwing shuriken directly above her. This in turn, made Naruto, who had snuck around Sakura and had leapt into the air to knock her out swiftly, instantly create a clone that pulled him out of the way. He landed on his feet and immediately threw kunai at both Sakura and Sasuke. They deflected them with their own kunai and then converged on him.
Both Konoha shinobi knew how the other fought and were able to work in tandem with it. If Sakura went for a punch, Sasuke threw a kick. If he tried to slash with his sword, she would keep the opponent's arms busy. It's a process that has worked well for them for the past three years and allowed them to survive multiple instances where they might've been killed otherwise. On the other hand, Naruto was well used to being outnumbered on the battlefield and knew how to fight accordingly.
Both Sasuke and Sakura pressed and he didn't try to press back. It was taking all of his concentration to properly defend himself against them (it would've been easier, if he wasn't angry). He was careful not to let them back him into anything. He kept moving in an angle, so for intents and purposes, he was leading them around in a circle. As he couldn't get around, due to the fact they could cover each other quite well, he could not use Airbending to get free of their attacks. Instead, he had to rely on Waterbending to deflect them.
Gritting his teeth at the sheer annoyance of it, Naruto kept on blocking them. "This is getting annoying!" He thought to himself in growing anger (the fox wisely decided not to comment). Ever since the fight had started, he kept getting angrier. He didn't exactly care what it was about; as most of his mind was on the fight (that one small part of his mind that had berated him for speaking rather rudely to the Hokage and Lord Jiraiya was now telling him that he shouldn't be fighting fellow Konoha shinobi like this). He just wanted to beat the two in front of him into the ground and make them leave him alone.
When they both threw a kick at him (one at the head, one at the side), he saw an opening he could use. He grabbed both legs and threw them to the side, sending the people the legs belong to with them. As they stumbled, regained their balance, and charged back at him, he was given enough time to create a clone. The field of battle was now a bit more even, as he could now apply his Tsuinken.
As Sakura went in for a punch to the chest and Sasuke tried to stab him in the chest, the clone met Sakura with an Earthbending defensive stance and the original moved his hands like an Airbender, making the chokutō swing wide and miss him. "I'm sorry, were you two trying something?" The two blondes taunted them, speaking in unison. Neither Sakura nor Sasuke said anything in return. The fight just continued.
The pink-haired shinobi kept trying to break through the guard the clone held against her, but he remained firm, almost like a wall. He did, however, tried to make sure she didn't get a good hit on him (there were a few close calls). If she did, he would be dispelled and she would be free to help Sasuke. The Uchiha in question was getting frustrated with the original Naruto. The blonde still refused to look him in the eye (insuring he could not use the Sharingan to full effect), and the Airbending moves he was using kept making him miss with his sword.
Biting back a snarl, he pulled out a kunai and began to use it in his free hand. Due to its shorter reach, he couldn't use like the chokutō. So he was forced to slash with one hand and stab with the other. While he didn't get any farther in winning against Naruto, he did make it harder for the blonde, as he now had to deal with two blades instead of one. The Uchiha never used them at the same time. If he had tried to block the kunai, he also had to keep an eye out for the chokutō. Also, he was never given either time or space to pull out kunai of his own to use.
Meanwhile, his clone and Sakura were also at a standstill. The clone held the Earthbending guard against her and was even able to get in a few shots himself. But the majority of the time, he blocked her attacks. The blows she threw had a surgeon's precision to them (which befitted her, considering who she learned from). But the strength in the blows were like war hammers backed by actual Earthbending (for which the original Naruto had a healthy respect for, after nearly getting his head bashed in by a pair during the war). The two went back and forth against each other, taking a step here or there but never really moving.
On and on the fighting went. The two blondes kept their backs facing each other while they fought their respective opponents. The sound of flesh hitting flesh as well as kicks and punches flying through the air alongside the whistle of steel filled the air. Both Sasuke and Sakura had some bruises but they were still holding their own against Naruto. But what the blonde didn't know was that every time the Konoha shinobi made eye contact, they were also silently communicating. It was something that they developed over the years, using small subtle things like the twitch of the nose, the speed of their blink, how high they raised their eyebrows, and how they shaped their mouths. They couldn't explain exactly (despite one of them actually trying and the other one not), but they could always tell what the other was thinking and respond accordingly.
The brief plan set and ready to go, they went back to the fight. As they exchanged blows with Naruto and his clone, they also mentally counted down. As soon as the two of them had hit zero, Sasuke leapt back away from the blonde, dropping the kunai and stabbing the chokutō into the ground. His hands free, he flipped them through handseals that were familiar to him. "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu)!" As the giant ball of fire spewed from his mouth, Sakura gave the clone a hard shove, sending him back into the original. The idea was to have the clone accidently push the original into the fireball.
But that didn't work, as the original Naruto immediately dived to the side when he saw the incoming fireball. But the clone still caught him in the leg, making him stumble, mess up the roll he was trying to do, and fall to the ground. Sasuke instantly clapped his hands into another handseal. "Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu (Fire Style: Great Dragon Fire Jutsu)!" A dragon's head, which was completely composed of fire, shot out of the Uchiha's mouth and flew at the blonde. Whenhe saw what was coming at him, Naruto gave an undignified yelp and scrambled out of its path, getting back onto his feet as he moved.
"Do not get hit by the flaming dragon head!" He mentally screamed as the jutsu smashed into the ground behind him. When he felt the heat of it caressing his backside, he moved even faster. But even though he was trying to get away, he also saw Sakura coming at him with a fist raised. He couldn't help but smirk at this. As she reached him, he moved behind with ease, flipping his hands through the handseals. "Fūton: Renkūdan (Wind Style: Drilling Air Bullet)!" The bullet he spat out of his mouth slammed into her back and sent her flying through the air before crashing headfirst into the ground.
He had no time to celebrate the fact, as Sasuke had grabbed his chokutō and attacked the blonde again. The blonde immediately drew two kunai, now ready for the Uchiha. When the chokutō swung down, he caught it between the two kunai, trapping it. As Sasuke put his second hand on the hilt to add more weight to it, their feet were trying to strike the other. It didn't really work as they kept hitting the other's feet. This continued until Naruto decided to do something both risky and potentially stupid.
He lowered the two kunai, bringing the chokutō with them. Once there was ample space, he closed his eyes and head-butted Sasuke. Surprised by the move (along with the fact he couldn't block it) the Uchiha stumbled back away from the blonde, eyes closed due to the pain. He tried to keep his chokutō up, but Naruto swatted that aside with ease and delivered a kick to his side. As the black-haired shinobi fell to the ground, the blonde stood over him. He raised his foot, readying it to stomp down hard the Uchiha's face.
But before he could, two hands encircled him around his waist and tightened. "No, you don't!" Sakura said in a snarl. Pivoting her feet, she turned and pushed/shoved him away. "Sasuke, you okay?" She asked her teammate, who was getting back onto his feet.
"Yeah, but focus on him, Sakura, not me." He told her, opening his eyes again.
She nodded in acknowledgement, never taking her gaze off of the blonde in question. She stood guard over her teammate, giving him time to get back up. Knowing what kind punches she had and would pull made Naruto hesitant to get in close combat with her again (which was mostly why he made the clone fight her instead of himself). Instead, he tried his luck with shuriken, throwing many at her. She replied with her own. This turned into a shuriken duel, each of them throwing as many shuriken as they could and as fast as they could at the other. Only a few got through, only to give minor cuts, things that they ignore as they continued the duel. The rest ended littering the field.
Realizing that he was down to his last three available shuriken (he had more sealed away, but he doubted that Sakura would give the seconds to pull them out and unseal them), he palmed one of them and threw the other two, flipping through handseals as soon as they were airborne. "Fūton: Shinkūjin (Wind Style: Vacuum Blade)!" He breathed wind onto the flying shuriken, making them much more deadly. But if this worried her, she didn't show it. As they got close enough to cause harm, she simply leaned out of the way, allowing them to fly pass harmlessly. But as she straightened back up, another shuriken was coming at her. And this one had four explosive tags tied to it.
Both she and Sasuke leapt out of the way of the highly dangerous (and explosive) shuriken. They could feel the heat wash up behind them and see their shadows be illuminated in front of them because of the fire. Even though they didn't show any signs of it, they were quite glad to have avoided the shuriken. They had no doubts it would've killed them had it hit them.
Naruto, on the other hand, was still angry and kept getting angrier. "Why can't they just leave me alone?" He thought to himself as he stared at both Sakura and Sasuke. No matter what he did, they just wouldn't stay down. He hated the way they were looking at him with those eyes. Those eyes that said to him they still wanted him to come back, to be friends again. "Just leave me alone!"
"Kit, what are you doing?" The Kyūbi asked as he felt his chakra being taken. The blonde had unconsciously taken the fox's chakra by force. But instead of letting it go and wondering what the hell he was doing, he welcomed it and the power he felt from it. With it, he was certain he would beat the two Konoha shinobi.
As the red chakra engulfed him, the two shinobi in question just stared at him in horror. "Is that…?" Sakura tried to ask Sasuke. She couldn't finish the question, but he knew what she meant and nodded to answer. He couldn't help but remember the last time he had seen his former teammate like this, at the Valley of the End. Somehow, he got the feeling that this time won't be any easier.
When the red chakra completely covered him, the blonde looked at them both and roared a challenge before charging straight at them, running on all fours. "Chidori Senbon!" Sasuke cried as he covered his hand in lightning and then flung it in a sweeping motion. The lightning left his hand and flew towards Naruto, taking the form of several senbons. But whatever it was he hoped would happen, it didn't. The maddened blonde simply raised a hand and swatted them away.
With that annoying jutsu not trying to stop him, he leapt at Sasuke and Sakura. Again, they teamed up together and fought in tandem. But this time, it wasn't working. Naruto wasn't using any of the Bending stances or moves, nor was he using Taijutsu. He was just simply trying to tear them apart with his bare hands. He took all the hits and didn't once try to block any of them. This negligence allowed him to focus solely on offense, which he did with great gusto.
While Sasuke and Sakura tried to avoid getting even touched by the chakra claws that covered the blonde's hands, they were still getting hurt. And every time they made contact with the red chakra, whether it was a punch or a kick, the chakra burned them. They also had to deal with the tails (the second had sprouted when Naruto charged), which acted like they had minds of their own. And all the while, Naruto snarled, hissed, growled, and spat at them. It made him look like he really was just a beast, out to kill them.
"Sakura, we need to put something between us and him!" Sasuke all but shouted at his teammate. He had an idea that might work, but he needed some distance for it to work. "Leap back on three!" They both again mentally counted down, not wanting to key their opponent into anything. At three, they both leapt back but he leapt further than she did. She paid no mind to this. Instead, she raised her fist and slammed it into the ground, again causing it to split and shake. She leapt back again, getting clear of it while the blonde was caught in the small quake.
It didn't last long. Naruto didn't wait for the quake to stop in order to move. Instead, he reached out to grab the large rocks that were uprooted by the punch, which were threatening to fall down and crush him. With an angry growl, he tossed them aside (one after the other) and charged directly at Sasuke and Sakura. By then, the Uchiha was ready with his jutsu. "Chidori Eisō!" The Chidori that covered his hand formed a spear at the end and elongated itself. As it elongated, it went straight at the charging blonde and made contact. When it hit, Naruto stopped moving.
"Did it work?" Sakura asked as they looked at him for what felt like a long couple of seconds. Before Sasuke could even answer that question, they got it when Naruto looked at them with anger, fury, and hate in his eyes. As a third tail sprouted, he grabbed hold of the jutsu that had tried to pierce him and shoved it away.
Not wanting to get dragged along with it, Sasuke quickly canceled the jutsu. When he saw that the maddened blonde was charging again, he readied a smoke bomb. "Split up!" He told Sakura, who nodded in agreement. Just as Naruto was about to reach them, he threw the smoke bomb down to the ground, engulfing the three of them in smoke.
Both he and Sakura broke out of the smoke cloud on opposite sides and made a break for it. The idea was to regroup and come up with new (and better) strategy against their former teammate. But two elongated chakra arms shot out of the smoke cloud and stretched towards them. They were both grabbed by the leg and started getting dragged back to the cloud. Not wanting to go back in there, Sasuke stabbed his chokutō into the ground and held onto it like a lifeline. Sakura did the same thing with two kunai. The grips they had were strong and they held on for a good couple of minutes. But in the end, Sakura's grip loosened and her hands slipped out of the two kunai. Sasuke, on the other hand, held on so tight that he actually caused his chokutō to snap in half.
By the time they had reached Naruto again, the smoke cloud had dissipated, allowing him to see quite clearly. With a savage grin, he slammed the two Konoha shinobi into one another. He didn't realize it then, but it was that blow that knocked the two of them out. He slammed them together again and again, seemingly having a delighted glee about him as he did. When he got tired of slamming them together, he started to beat them, inflicting pain on them with punches, kicks, and sometimes the tails. It was almost like a juggling act (in a brutal and horrifying kind of way), as one went into the air, he turned his attention to the other and beat that person before sending them into the air just as the other came down. In the end, the unconscious forms of Sasuke and Sakura became human rag dolls.
Finally, as the both of them lay on the ground aside one another, the maddened Naruto stood over them and let a victorious roar that echoed all around him. It was then he suddenly felt tired. The red chakra disappeared and it left the blonde panting slight along with a slight headache. "What just happened?" He asked himself, shaking his head slightly. He felt like he had blacked-out at some point and couldn't remember what happened afterwards. But when he looked down and saw who it was he was standing over, he went completely still and stared at Sasuke's and Sakura's unconscious forms.
Quite frankly, they looked like something had mauled them and very badly at that. They had bruises wherever their skin was showing as well as wounds that oozed blood. They were literally black and blue, yet when he checked himself, he was completely fine. No wounds that needed bandages or bruises anywhere (although, some of his clothes were torn in some places but that was nothing a little sewing couldn't fix). But he also noticed something on them that made him furious. He saw that they had wounds that looked a little burned and were vaguely claw-like. "What the hell, fox? I didn't ask you to give me any chakra!" He shouted at the Bijū inside him.
"You're right. You didn't." The Kyūbi replied emotionlessly.
"Then why did you give me your chakra?!"
"I didn't. You took it." He answered honestly. He had tried to stop the flow of his chakra during the fight but there was nothing he could do about it. In the end, he was just forced to watch.
"…You mean…I did this to them without any of your help?" The blonde asked in a horrified whisper. When the fox didn't answer, he knew that was what had happened. All of a sudden, he aware of how shaky his legs were, how cold it had become, and how wet he was due to all the rain coming down in a deluge ("When did the rain start to fall?" He had asked himself, unaware that it had started raining). Seeing the two unconscious bodies and knowing that he was the one to have done all of that to them suddenly made his stomach queasy and very, very sour. "I…I can't stay here." He said to himself, slowly turning around and away from Sakura and Sasuke. "I need to…get away from here. I need to get away from here!" With that said, he all but bolted out of the clearing and towards the village (if he hadn't been in such a panicked state, he would've saw a rather pale person in the shadows of nearby trees, who watched the entire fight).
He didn't stop. Even though he slipped, stumbled, and fell, he got right back up and kept on running. The rain kept on pounding down all around him, making the roads and streets of the village slippery and slick. But he didn't care about that. He just kept running, heading towards home. He wanted to go home. When he reached the stairs leading up to the house, he took them three at a time, not caring for a second that if he missed a step, he would've fallen. He got to the door and took out his keys with shaky hands, fumbling around with the lock before finally getting it to turn.
He burst through the door and saw that the house was empty. There were no lights on and nothing looked like it had been moved since they left for Kumo. But he didn't care about that either. After all but tearing his feet out of his shoes, he stumbled into the bathroom. Once inside there, he knelt down in front of the toilet and became nosily sick.
He sat there for fifteen minutes, alternating between retching and flushing the toilet. All the while, what had just happened and the fact that he had done it kept playing over and over again. When he was done, he didn't feel any better, he just felt cold and numb. Standing back up, he undressed, fingers that felt thick trying to undo everything. Kicking the pile of clothes away, he stepped into the shower and turned the water up to a temperature that could easily be called blistering.
He sat there, under the constant pounding of incredibly hot water. "You shouldn't have done that." That small part of his brain admonished him. For some reason, it started to sound a little clearer.
"Why shouldn't have I?" He asked sullenly aloud.
"They are your teammates, your fellow Konoha shinobi. To attack them like that is akin to treason!" It told him. "Just like talking to the Lady Hokage like that."
"I'm not a Konoha shinobi!" He replied in a growl. "And I can speak to the old hag however I want. She doesn't command me!"
"Yes, she does. She does command you and you obey, like a faithful and loyal shinobi." It said, sounding clearer.
"I don't belong to Konoha anymore!" He protested.
"You came back when they needed you. What is that, but loyalty?"
"I came back of the promise I made with Jiraiya." He argued. That was the reason why he had to come back to the village. And yet, a part of him didn't believe that anymore.
"A promise can easily be used to come back in order to serve." It told him, somehow making sense to him and yet, also making him angry.
"Just shut up! I'm not loyal to Konoha anymore. Once I'm done here, my team and I will be gone." The blonde declared, trying hard to believe it.
"Your team will leave once the mission is over and done with. But you know where your loyalty truly lies. When it comes times, you will see it and stay with the village." Again, the words made sense to him, but they also made him angry. He didn't want to believe them, even though they seemed to be right somehow.
"I am not a shinobi of Konohagakure." He said with gritted teeth as the hot water pounded down on him. "I haven't been one in three years and I will never be one again. When I am done here, I will leave and never see these lands ever again."
"You're quite mistaken. Once the mission is done, you will be given another one, and you'll accept it. You will stay and you will never see those Bending Countries ever again."
"Just shut up!" He snapped. "Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up! You're wrong! You're completely wrong!"
"Am I?" It asked him, somehow sounding smug. "Ask yourself this: if you are not loyal to Konohagakure, why does it make you sick to your stomach to attack your fellow Konoha shinobi like that?"
The image of Sasuke and Sakura lying there on the ground came to him again, making him close his eyes and try shutting it out. He still couldn't believe that he was the one who had done that to them. The last time he had lost control like that…he had caused that massacre. And yet, he still took the Kyūbi's chakra willingly during the fight, fueled by his anger, and allowed it to take control. "Why would I let that happen again?" He asked himself. Then he remembered what had happened at Unraikyō. He had tried to use the fox's chakra and ended up allowing the Akatsuki to take Bee. It was because him that had happened and all because he tried to use the Bijū's chakra. He wanted to be in control of it, instead it took control and it ended horribly. "Never again," The blonde said quietly.
"What was that, kit?" The fox asked him. "I didn't quite catch that."
"I said never again." He repeated, standing up. "I will never try to use your chakra ever again. It's led to nowhere but horrible outcomes every timeit takes ahold. I don't care what people will say or how they will tell me that I need to learn how to harness it. I am never, ever, touching your chakra again."
End
Author's note: Thank you for all the reviews you've sent me.
I think I've come up with a unique way of killing Hidan (At least I hope so). So far, I've never read a story where Hidan or his head gets eaten. If you think about it, it makes sense. It's not like he's going to be coming out the other side in complete parts.
If any of you tell me I wrote something wrong about the three-years-ago-plan, that Tsunade came up with it instead of the advisors, that was on purpose. This will be one of those things I will be reediting once I've completed the story.
And thus, here is the fight that's been coming for quite some time now. With any luck, I did a decent job of it. As for the things they lost, Naruto was right. What Sasuke had lost (i.e. his family and his clan), he did take for granted. Naruto, on the other hand, struggled to get his own kind of family (like Bee or the soldiers he fought besides). And I think that hurts a bit more then what Sasuke lost.
This might just be me, but I think that Airbending actually had offensive capabilities (not like what Korra does, that's just straight up brawling), it would look a little like capoeira. Anyone else think the same?
And for those of you who thought Naruto was going to try and figure out how to harness the Kyūbi's chakra: good guess, but no.
I'll see you all next chapter!