Flash of Red and Black
Chapter XXXII
We moved as fast as we could through the sand, trying to reach the cover of the forest as soon as we were able.
While we didn't want to delay our departure from Suna any longer than absolutely necessary, it was risky crossing the vast expanse of the desert, running towards the rising sun while missing-nin were active in the area.
It felt like we were sitting ducks, just waiting to be attacked. We had no cover to speak of in the openness of the desert, and, even worse, we wouldn't even know if we were running straight into an enemy until it was too late with our vision limited by the sun in our eyes.
To any civilian, the world seemed less dangerous beneath the sun's rays, but for shinobi like us, the world was more deadly with fewer shadows.
So we pushed forward quickly, rushing towards the cover that we would find at the edge of the Land of Wind.
We all donned ANBU gear with the hope that the uniform would cause missing-nin to want to avoid us, rather than make us look like enticing targets, and I had Sage Mode hidden beneath my hood and mask, hoping that maybe I would be able to sense threats just a little sooner.
I felt anxious, not having bunshin mixed into our two teams, but a group of eight was already too large to move through the sand in daylight subtly, and adding another team of bunshin would only make us more likely to draw the eye of an enemy. Not being able to go into chakra mode to help detect enemies also added to my anxiety, but doing so would have undone the entire purpose of being in disguise.
Deciding that speed was more important than conserving chakra, the other Konoha shinobi and I concentrated chakra on the soles of our feet, treating the shifting sands beneath us like the rippled surface of water. While the Suna ANBU were used to the ground slipping every which way beneath their shoes, the rest of us weren't as proficient with running on sand, so we had to find other ways to keep up and push through the desert as quickly as we could manage.
As best I could, I tried to force myself to keep focused on the mission, on getting home, but the silence around me gave opportunity to the noises in my head.
Going on an away mission so soon after being trapped away from home wasn't the best of ideas for my mentality, especially since I was stuck within Suna's walls for so long.
I was uneasy. I was worried. And I felt a fear clawing at me with sharp, nightmarish memories.
I knew that it was irrational, and I tried to lock it back as all good shinobi should, but my mind was as restless as the ever-shifting desert.
Every bit of me wanted to reach out to Kakashi, to hold his hand, to make him tell me that everything would be okay, that soon we would within those walls, in our home, under our covers where love and skin and whispers shut out any memories that plagued me.
But we were still on a mission, and time was of the essence.
I didn't know that was going on with the missing-nin causing problems everywhere, and Shikamaru didn't list any theories in his report, but I knew he had plenty of them. And I was sure that there wasn't a single one among them that I wanted to hear.
But what I wanted to hear even less was the sound of the kunai flying towards us, smoke bombs whipping on a wire behind them.
"Shit!" I cursed aloud, as much because of the attack as because of my own stupidity. I had been too wrapped up in my own head to notice the enemy nearby.
We dodged and deflected easily enough, and the moment that we were covered by the smoke, I created a bunshin, leaving it at just one since we were still trying to conceal our identities in spite of the attack.
While the smoke gave us a moment's preparation, it also further hindered our already limited vision, and the moment that we were given to prepare was short.
Faster than the vice-captain could fully react, a Katon sailed into the cloud right at his blind spot, and the rest of us were unable to help, avoiding attacks of our own. The captain was able to dodge in time to avoid a fatal blow, but the jutsu still managed to scathe his arm, leaving some obviously harsh burns in its wake.
I grit my teeth, but forced myself to remain calm. I couldn't reveal my identity.
So as I dodged the attack aimed at me, my bunshin threw kunai in the direction of the attackers, trying to buy us a moment of time to prepare for more.
"Fifteen," I called to the others as I righted myself, finally concentrating on the chakra around me with Sage Mode.
It was a larger group than usual. Before we left, Gaara had warned that most of the missing-nin groups that they had run into had been around ten, that we would probably be slightly outnumbered.
This time we were unlucky.
Suddenly, eight new figures appeared inside the cloud with us, engaging each of us separately, and I heard a groan from the vice-captain behind me, probably from using his injured arm. My bunshin ran over to him, helping him engage his attacker.
The enemy went down quickly between the ANBU and my clone, and I was able to down my own assailant soon after, and the three of us moved to help the others. But before I could even land a single hit on Ino's opponent, jutsu and shuriken ripped through the smoke from all directions.
"Watch out!" I called as I kicked the enemy in front of me to create a distance and pulled Ino out of the way of a fast-approaching Suiton that was flying straight for her.
The second that we were out of the way of the attack, I heard cries ringing near me, and I looked through the smoke, terrified about the source of the cries, but I felt the chakra of my team members still flowing strong. The attacks from the enemies still outside the fading cloud held no regard for the safety of their comrades, and because of it, they lost some of their advantage.
"Nine more!" my bunshin called as it forced a kunai into the neck of another enemy.
My kunai clashed with that of the opponent that I'd kicked, and I saw him gritting his teeth as sparks flew. He was injured from the Suiton of one of his comrades.
With pain slowing him down, it made it all the easier for me to gain the advantage, but just before my kunai bit into his neck, I saw red and black flash in his eyes in front of me.
Ino's kunai completed the job that mine was unable to finish.
"Sharingan."
The word tumbled from my mouth, and I was paralyzed, not from genjutsu, but from panic. Every concern I'd ever had froze me to the ground, and it felt like I was getting sucked under.
The missing-nin had Sharingan. Orochimaru's reach still lingered even though all that was left of his body were charred remains.
We hadn't gotten rid of him.
We'd liberated the world of the man, but his treachery had a firmer hold than his mortality.
And this time, the danger was doing more than lurking.
It had surrounded us. It had surrounded the nations that I'd been fighting to protect—that I'd been captured and tortured and fought so hard to keep safe.
And it was for naught.
The world wasn't safer. I hadn't helped. I'd done nothing.
The air cleared of smoke, but my vision was clouded with haunting images.
Vaguely, I heard calls coming from around me, and while I knew that the calls of names that weren't mine were meant to grab my attention, they made no sense and I couldn't move.
Had we really done any good? How many Sharingan were there still floating around the world without the Uchiha name attached? Did we cause more damage than we were able to save by killing Orochimaru?
"He's in shock!" I just barely heard. It sounded like water filled my ears, the words were slow and garbled.
Had we missed a base? I knew that if anyone got their hands on Orochimaru's research, it could be repeated and continued, so we sent out teams to dismantle all known bases, but we couldn't be sure that we knew about all of them.
"I'm already injured, damnit! You'll be faster without me! Just get him out of here!"
The sounds held no meaning to me, washed out in the panicked chatter of my own mind.
How many had we missed? Just how many missing-nin had Orochimaru experimented on? How many more did we have to fight? How long would fighting go on?
I was supposed to be bringing peace, not letting snakes out of their cages.
Somewhere in front of me in some dream-like haze, the vice-captain stood with his back to me, stance low and prepared for another attack.
The scene crept along in front of me as I felt a vague tugging on my arm, trying to pull me in the opposite direction of the back that filled my vision.
But there was a blackness moving towards that back from the opposite side that the connecting mask was facing.
It was wrong.
Through my inner monologue of panic, I wanted to scream out, something to alert the mask of the approaching threat that it was missing, but no sound came.
My mind was disconnected from my body, and nothing was working properly. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't scream. I couldn't stop them. I needed to stop them. I couldn't let anyone else get hurt. I had to save everyone. I was supposed to keep everyone safe. I was supposed to be a savior. I was supposed to be the strongest. I had to keep them safe. Keep them safe. Save them.
SAVE HIM!
Suddenly, I was in the air, and my head turned, seeing the vice-captain next to me with a large, wart-covered reptilian hand wrapped around him.
My head moved to look down, seeing a similar hand wrapped around my torso as blood dripped from my thumb.
I blinked, just looking as another drop fell, and as it crashed into the sand, so did we. And with the impact, my consciousness smashed itself back into my body.
"Get him to the forest! We'll follow behind in a minute!" I ordered, back in control. Be damned the what-ifs. That wouldn't protect anyone at the moment, and too many people had already died protecting me.
"Hawk! You follow after and heal his arm! We'll handle this here!" I shouted to Sakura, forcing the tremble out of my voice as the massive toad took off towards the border.
She stiffened as she looked at me, but then nodded and raced after my summon.
I could feel the concern radiating off the rest of the team, but I ignored it for the moment and rushed forward, kunai in hand as I engaged one of the seven remaining enemies.
My body moved slower than normal and I gripped my weapon more tightly as I tried to overcome the shaking in my limbs. As I crossed kunai with the enemy, a cry rang out as another enemy's life ended. Then I found Kakashi next to me, fighting my opponent with me as barely-contained emotions lined his shoulders.
I knew that he wanted to scold me and worry about me and hold me, but that would have to wait until we were safely back home.
Still, it was all the more reason for me to want to rush and end the fight so that I could follow behind Gamakichi, but as frustrating as it was, we couldn't risk using any jutsu that might give away our identities. Even though we would be sure to end the witnesses, we couldn't be sure how the missing-nin groups were communicating among one another, and we couldn't afford to put any more targets on our backs. I just hoped that summoning Gamakichi hadn't already ruined that precaution.
Once Kakashi and I downed our opponent, we split up to engage the others. The moment I clashed with the next enemy, my bunshin left, racing after Sakura to work as backup since we couldn't be sure that there weren't other missing-nin groups around. We could handle the remaining shinobi on our own.
But even as I thought that, my kunai was knocked from my sweaty, shaking palm, and the attack that I meant to block connected with my shoulder instead, slicing into my flesh. I couldn't help letting out a cry of pain even as I whipped out another kunai with my uninjured arm and gouged it into the attacker's chest before he could rear back to make a fatal blow.
My kunai didn't sink in far with my arm trembling even more with the added pain, but the attack gave me enough of a moment to right myself and create a distance. My shoulder would be healed soon enough with Kurama's chakra, but that wouldn't lessen the pain any for a while, and we needed to end the missing-nin before they took note of my rapid recovery.
Grinding my teeth together, I readied another weapon and moved to clash with him. Absently, I was glad that I was in Sage Mode, so that the enemy's kunai didn't slice any deeper than it already had, but it did little to ease the pain.
I rushed towards him, clashing kunai again, though I made sure to keep a firmer hold on my weapon this time, even as my insured arm nearly gave way with the pressure.
I heard a faint thud against the sand nearby, and then I felt a strong heat flying towards me. I ducked and dove out of the way, making my attacker lose his balance, falling forward into the path of a Katon sent by the captain.
I glanced up at her and nodded my thanks before regaining my footing.
There were six of us and four enemies remaining. We finally had the advantage, though it wasn't much.
I ignored the burn of sand grating against my injury and pressed on to help one of the Suna ANBU with his opponent. I wasn't much help with my injury and arms that just couldn't still, but I was able to create enough of an opening for the ANBU to take our enemy down.
I immediately moved to help with the next missing-nin, throwing shuriken at him as Kakashi and Ino forced him into the line of a doton of the ANBU I'd just aided.
The remaining two were quickly overwhelmed by our numbers, but I didn't let myself have any time to pause.
"Let's go," I called, and immediately the other five followed behind me as we raced towards Suna's border.
Kakashi and Ino pressed forward to be next to me and I could just feel them getting ready to scold me and tell me to rest, but I beat them to it.
"Not now. The priority is to meet up with the others. We can rest once we make it there," I told them.
We were already delayed, and while the sun was no longer blinding us as we ran, making us more prepared in case of another attack, we couldn't risk hanging around any longer. We had to get back as soon as possible, and what I'd seen only added to the urgency.
How many of the missing-nin had Sharingan? Surely they didn't all have them, otherwise there would have been reports on it already.
I grit my teeth.
I needed to talk to Shikamaru as soon as possible.
What could their aim possibly be by causing trouble for all the nations except the Fire Nation?
I couldn't think of anything. It didn't make any sense to me. And that only served to worry me even more.
My mind continued spinning in circles until we finally reached the shade of the forest.
We paused, and I held back a sigh of relief and forced myself to focus, searching for the chakra of our teammates. I didn't want to disperse my bunshin in case they did run into more missing-nin, so I searched out with chakra mode.
When I felt the chakra of Sakura and the vice-captain still holding strong, I didn't bother holding back a quiet sigh, but then I straightened myself.
"This way," I told them before dashing from limb to limb, heading for the chakra signatures.
Once I could see them, I dissipated my bunshin and landed on the ground next to them, looking the two over as Gamakichi headed back to Mount Myoboku.
"How are you doing?" I asked, and Sakura turned to look up at me, her posture stiff and I could just feel the frown beneath her mask, but then she turned back to her patient, wrapping up his wound.
"He'll be fine, but he sooner we get back, the better," she said, her voice flat and cold. I just nodded. She was upset with me, I had no doubt, but it wasn't the time to talk about it, not when we didn't know how far off the next team would be.
"Alright. Can you move on for a while longer?" I asked, looking at the vice-captain, and he nodded. I returned the gesture as Sakura tied off his bandage, and then I turned to the rest of them.
"We're moving on. We can rest once we get within the borders of the Land of Fire," I told them, and while Ino and Kakashi's bodies were lined with tension the same as Sakura's they nodded, and we pressed on. My injury would heal on its own, so there was no need for Ino or Sakura to waste any more of their chakra or for us to waste any more of our time.
So we pressed on, from tree to tree, and I had to continually force myself to concentrate on searching for enemies instead of dwelling on concerns.
But I couldn't keep myself from slipping down that hole.
Where else could Orochimaru's hideouts be? How could we find them? Did all those tunnels beneath the battlefield lead to more? Just how extensive could those tunnels be? Were the teams searching through them still safe? When did Shikamaru say that the last report had been? Were Iwa and Kumo really having trouble with the missing-nin too?
Questions spun through my head, and I had no answers.
The fear and panic slowly started creeping back up in me, clawing its way up to my lungs, making it hard to breathe, but I forced a calm posture, glad for once that I had a mask.
We were on a mission. I couldn't let myself get overwhelmed again. I had to keep going. I had to make it home. I couldn't show my weakness yet, not when we could run into more trouble. More missing-nin. More Sharingan.
Breathe, damnit!
I could still feel my hands trembling behind me, and every branch I landed on jarred my entire body, making me feel like my legs would give out beneath me, but I forced them to push off the branches again and again.
My body felt all wrong with panic inside it. It felt totally foreign, and the disguise didn't help.
While the mask helped to hide my worries from the others, it felt suffocating. I kept breathing in my same hot breath and it felt like the mask was forcing my worries to stay trapped inside me too. I couldn't use Kurama's chakra to make myself move faster. I couldn't use it to help heal the vice-captain or restore the chakra of the others.
I was trapped.
I was trapped inside my own body, my own mind.
And I didn't do well with being trapped.
Trees blurred past as I pressed forward more and more, paying no attention to the trembling in my legs.
Suddenly, something snapped below me.
"Shit!" I cursed, hand reflexively moving to my weapons pouch as I concentrated my chakra, convinced that I'd been too distracted and I'd tripped a trap wire and that there were enemies.
But then I found myself falling towards the ground.
Branches whipped at me as I fell and I tried to grab onto one to break my fall, but it just snapped off instead, leaving me to continue my rapid descent.
I shut my eyes, bracing for impact against the ground, but instead I felt a pair of arms around me and I could tell that I was moving forward, not down. I opened my eyes again to see a fox mask staring back down at me as we slowed and then purposefully dropped to the ground, my other mask-clad teammates following behind.
"Owl! Are you—"
"You four go set up a perimeter. We're resting here. You will work together best," Kakashi ordered the Suna ANBU, cutting off one of them as he kept his grip on me. "Hawk, go ahead and set up camp. Lion, fix up Owl's shoulder," he finished, and the Suna ANBU immediately set out doing their tasks. Then Kakashi sat me down on the ground and Ino moved glowing hands over my shoulder, doing as told.
Sakura stood there, staring for a while longer before she turned away and went about her own task.
I just stared up at the leaves above me, yet again glad for the mask that I found suffocating only moments earlier.
I was ashamed of myself.
I couldn't focus enough to even get home, let alone protect anyone.
"Rest. The mission will be over soon. Just rest for now. It'll be easier then," Kakashi whispered through his mask above me, and I nodded.
I hadn't slept the night before the mission, so even though the sun was barely starting to set, I was exhausted.
Soon, we would be out of the Land of Rivers and back into the Land of Fire, and then we would be that much closer to getting home.
"Just sleep," Kakashi said, and I nodded. I wanted to curl into his lap, to hold him until my mind cleared, but I couldn't. It wasn't safe, and we were on a mission. Even with the Suna ANBU making a perimeter, we couldn't be certain.
I forced my eyes shut and concentrated on the sound of his breathing next to me instead, letting myself drift off into unawareness.
Hi guys! Thanks for sticking to this story for this long! I really hope that you enjoyed the chapter and that you'll be looking forward to the next one!
I realized today that my word count is significantly higher than that of the first Harry Potter book. To me, that fact is just totally unimaginable and so exciting because I never thought that I could actually write this much without getting totally stuck. And while there have been a few times that I've been a little stumped, getting such amazing reviews from you guys and knowing that there are people looking forward to every chapter has really helped me keep at it.
So thank you so much! And I hope that you'll keep enjoying the story!