Flash of Red and Black
Chapter XIX
Work. Work. Work, damn it! I cursed mentally, focusing on trying to lasso my own chakra around Kurama's to force it into submission. Kurama was getting tired, my body was wearing down, and the others weren't fairing much better. Of course, it didn't help that I was getting impatient.
Kurama was just about to launch a Rasengan into the face of one of the Sharingan guys when I suppressed a flare of his chakra too much, so the Rasengan dissipated. The guy ended up with a broken nose still, but a palm in the face doesn't work nearly as well as a swirling ball of chakra to subdue an enemy.
"Damn it, brat! You're not helping anyone by doing that," Kurama roared at me inside my mindscape as he threw a solid roundhouse into the face of the broken-nosed guy, effectively ending that fight with a loud crack coming from the guy's neck.
"What the hell am I supposed to do then?" I snapped back at him. I never was good at chakra control, but now I had to do a crash-course in the middle of a very dangerous battle.
"Do what that medic-nin told you about chakra control," he grunted as he took on two more enemies with taijutsu, apparently not trusting me to keep from ruining another jutsu.
"I don't exactly see any dead fish to bring back to life around here, do you?" I shot back, glaring at him.
"Let it rip you up then! I don't give a damn," he growled.
I just sighed, frustrated before turning back to the task at hand. Still, I knew I had to hurry. Everyone was having a tough time handling the endless stream of curse-marked thugs crawling out of the tunnels, and I could tell Orochimaru wasn't taking us seriously in the least.
Instead, he just cackled gleefully as he dodged Lee's attacks. The Suna ANBU assisted as best they could, but they weren't used to fighting with Lee so they could only do so much without getting in one another's way.
Everyone else worked on taking down the thugs, but we were ridiculously out-numbered and losing chakra fast. Sakura didn't have the luxury of time to heal anyone, even herself, and though Sai's expression would never give it away, anyone could tell he was getting worn down. What little of Kurama's chakra I gave to them all earlier had been exhausted, leaving them to run on what was left of the rest of their reserves. And the frown Shikamaru's face had been stuck in since we first saw Orochimaru gave away the worries flashing through his head, and his heavy breathing made his exhaustion obvious. Temari stuck close to him, covering him as he forced himself to use his shadow jutsu again and again. Shino was obviously getting worn down, and his bugs were slowly but surely dying off. Kiba and Hinata didn't seem to be doing any better.
Kakashi, though, was probably in the worst position. He'd fired off Raikiri too many times to have even a quarter of his reserves left, and since he'd had the Sharingan activated since entering the lair I was thanking every god I could think of for keeping him breathing every second he kept fighting, I just hoped that I would be able to continue giving thanks for a long time to come.
"Shit!" Kurama cried out as a kunai dug into my arm. I grimaced, feeling the pain despite not being in control of my body. Kurama was about to stick a kunai in the gut of the guy who just slashed me, but suddenly there was no stomach to put the weapon into. Instead, Kakashi's gloved hand pulled out from the enemy's back, leaving the man to crumple between our feet.
"How's Naruto doing?" he asked, looking me over for more wounds quickly before turning to slice the throat of another enemy.
"Same as you," he snapped as he engaged a guy with two Sharingan. Kakashi frowned and glanced me over again before returning to the fight, saying nothing else. He was trying to think up a plan too, I could tell, and I knew I wouldn't like it in the least. So I knew I had to figure out how to force my body to accept the chakra before Kakashi put his strategy into motion.
Please work, I begged mentally before forcing myself to relax and act like I was going into Sage Mode. Sage training was the most advanced kind of chakra training I'd ever done, so I hoped that it would help me this time too, though I didn't get much time to concentrate.
"Kid, you're gonna want to hurry. No one's going to last much longer at this rate, least of all that mate of yours," Kurama growled. My brow furrowed, but I said nothing. Panicking wouldn't help Kakashi any, so I just stuck with what I could do.
"Help him as much as you can," I told him before going back to molding as much chakra as I could. I figured that the imbalance between my chakra and Kurama's chakra was about the same as having an imbalance of natural energy and my own, but I couldn't just expel Kurama's chakra by getting hit like during Sage training, so instead I decided that I'd just have to make my own chakra large enough to regain a balance.
"Useless brat," Kurama grunted before he fought his way over next to Kakashi, covering him where he could.
"Shikamaru! How much longer until backup arrives?" Kiba called out as he dodged a sword swinging down at him.
"At least two hours," he shouted back, grimacing as his jutsu wavered with his shifted focus, and everyone else wore a matching expression. They all knew they wouldn't be able to last that long, and I knew it was going to take me at least that long to get enough chakra built up to regain a balance.
"Kurama, I've got an idea."
"Ideas aren't your thing," he spat back, blocking an attack aimed at Kakashi's back.
"Well hear me out anyway," I said, giving him a glare. He gave a growl, but said nothing else and I told him my plan.
"If you really think that'll work, brat, you're even more of an idiot than your village makes you out to be," Kurama growled at me, still trying to fight.
"Well do you have a better idea? 'Cause I can tell that Shikamaru doesn't. Neither does Kakashi, so you'd better speak up fast before this whole mission fails and we all die," I growled back. I wasn't going to let everyone die, and I wasn't going to let this mission be a failure. Not to mention Orochimaru knew that a backup team was on its way, which meant that if we couldn't hold out, they would either be headed into a trap or Orochimaru would be long gone, and either way, I couldn't let that happen.
"Why the hell did the Yondaime have to seal me in a brat like you?" he muttered, and I gave a small grin.
"You're one to talk," I shot back, giving a little laugh. He just huffed before fighting his way over to Shikamaru to relay my plan. Shikamaru was about to protest, but Kurama cut him off.
"You know better than anyone what will happen if it continues like this until the other teams arrive. The kid trusts you guys to take care of your part, so just leave this to us," Kurama said, looking at Shikamaru levelly until he had to fight off another of the Snake Sanin's mutated soldiers.
"Damn it, Naruto. You'd better know what you're doing," Shikamaru hissed, giving me a glare. Kurama nodded and I gave a little laugh inside my mind. Honestly, I hoped that I did too. Kurama was right after all, planning wasn't exactly my best skill. Still, I trusted them, so I knew that I would follow through on my part somehow too.
Shikamaru relayed orders to everyone else, but when he told Kakashi, I saw his face turn visibly pale before glancing over at me.
"Uhh… Kurama, you may want to let me take over for this bit," I said as Kakashi fought his way towards me.
"Go for it. I have no interest in a lovers' quarrel," he muttered and I immediately took over. My knees nearly gave out at the pain that still wracked my body (though now it was coupled with various wounds), but I recovered just in time to dodge a few shuriken and kick down my attacker. Kakashi appeared just in time to finish him off and I moved on to the next one.
"You can barely stand, Naruto. What the hell are you thinking?" he asked, though his tone burned with anger and worry.
"I can manage, but the rest of you can't. Even Shikamaru knows that this is the only plan that doesn't involve all of us ending up dead," I replied.
"So you're just going to—"
"I believe in you guys, so I know I'll make it out okay. But my first duty is to protect the village, and this is the best way I can at the moment," I said, looking at him hard for a moment before turning back to the fight. He didn't say anything for a while, but then I heard Raikiri crackling behind me for a moment before several loud thuds of bodies hitting the ground, then a heavy sigh.
"We will do our part perfectly," he said, turning to me with his jaw locked in place. I nodded, responding to the implied threat, "So I'll never forgive you if you don't keep your end of the deal." Then I knocked down another enemy and pulled him to me for a moment just after he downed his own opponent.
"See you again soon," I said, giving him a quick kiss before fighting my way over to Orochimaru, steeling my nerves. I took Lee's place fighting the Sanin, leaving Shikamaru to tell Lee and the Suna-nin the plan. Orochimaru cackled gaily when I arrived to fight him.
"Really, none of you seemed to have improved at all since the war," he taunted.
"Doesn't mean much coming from the man who slithers back into his hole in the face of the slightest danger," I shot back, narrowly dodging his attacks, though I knew he wasn't even trying that hard. I silently cursed to myself, hating that I couldn't control my body like normal.
"This time I think I'll just drag you down with me," he grinned, licking his lips.
"Like it'll be that easy, bastard," I shot out just before I dodged another attack.
"Now, Shino!" I heard Shikamaru call behind me. Orochimaru suddenly couldn't move, caught for a moment in Shikamaru's jutsu, but that moment was all they needed. What were left of Shino's bugs immediately covered the battlefield, making it impossible to see farther than an inch in front of you. The bugs also jammed chakra, so by the time one of Orochimaru's followers set off a Katon to kill some of the bugs, everyone else was gone with a pretty good head start and I stood at the perimeter of the field, ready to buy them some time. Various shouts of anger came from the curse-marked shinobi, but I just stared back at Orochimaru.
"So, are you going to make all these guys retreat back to your little hole and drag me along with you, or are you going to send them after my friends and only have my charred, worthless remains left to use for experiments? Because I'm not letting a single person past me until my bones are ground to dust," I called across the field. Orochimaru glared back silently for a while, but then he smiled and licked his lips again.
"I think you and I both would find it boring if you came with me without a fight," he called back, and I grinned.
"Damn straight," Kurama roared, switching with me while I went back to concentrating on molding chakra.
The curse-marked shinobi started to rush at me, only to realize they couldn't move. They were all trapped up to their knees with rock, a parting present from one of the Suna-nin. While they worked on breaking free, Kurama grabbed out a kunai and began rushing their ranks, efficiently killing everyone within reach. Still, the handicap didn't last for long. Thankfully, though, the thugs all seemed to have forgotten about the other shinobi and rushed me instead. Apparently Kurama noticed and headed in the opposite direction from where my comrades retreated.
As more and more of the shinobi broke free of rock, Kurama and I became more surrounded and more injured. My reaction times were still terrible, and both of out chakras were still too unstable to risk trying another jutsu, especially since I was concentrating on molding more of my own chakra rather than trying to contain Kurama's.
Despite not being the one in control of my body, I could still feel the pain of all the wounds piling up the longer Kurama fought, and I knew that we wouldn't be able to last much longer.
"I really thought you would make this more interesting," Orochimaru jeered from afar.
"Come over here and I'll make sure you're entertained," Kurama shouted back just before another terrible pain started throbbing in my side.
"No need," he grinned.
Poison, Kurama growled to me before slicing the head off the snake that just bit into my side.
"Your chakra won't heal it?"
"Right now, my chakra is basically a poison to your body too. Until you get a balance back, my chakra's doing more harm than it can do good, brat," he said, trying to keep up the fight, but my body was lagging more with every movement which only piled up more injuries.
"Thanks for everything, Kurama," I said, smiling at him.
"Giving up already?" he growled.
"Not exactly, but my body can't resist capture much longer," I said, and he just grunted in response.
He kept fighting, but soon my body could hardly move at all. Then Kurama cried out in pain when a kunai sliced into the back of my knee. I collapsed, and try as he might, Kurama couldn't force my body back up.
"Well, that's about enough. Don't want to ruin my perfect test subject," Orochimaru hissed, calling off his shinobi. Then he released some snakes which wrapped themselves around me, binding me like rope, and one of the curse-marked shinobi picked me up and tossed me over his shoulder, carrying me towards the hole my team blasted earlier.
Some of the shinobi remembered my comrades, apparently, and started heading that way, but Orochimaru just called them off.
"No need to attract trouble for now. Besides, I'm sure some of those rats will scurry into my lair, looking for their precious Hokage," he crowed. I grimaced, but trusted that Shikamaru would know that my rescue would be filled with traps.
"Well, we're captured just like you wanted, brat," Kurama muttered as my body started fading from consciousness. I nodded.
I'm relying on you, guys, I thought just before everything went black.
Sorry for the wait! The semester's over, so hopefully I'll be able to get chapters up more often. Thanks for reading, and I hope you liked it!