Chapter 6
Sakura ran towards the terraced hill, atop of which sat the fortress where Danzō had set off to meet Itachi about half an hour earlier.
As she ran, she healed a 4 inch long laceration on her left bicep. That wound was courtesy of the enormous bandaged blade that bobbed in front of her, hefted over its wielder's shoulder.
He was running ahead, and Sakura knew that even if he was carrying Kiba and Akamaru on his other shoulder, he would still manage to keep a good distance ahead of her.
She did not question her own strength. The guy was pumped full of chakra, and had gotten even more off the three of them during their brief bout. It was just completely unfair, like reprimanding a non-Hyūga because they could not see through walls.
In fact, seeing as she was just about to tap into the last of her chakra reserves herself, and Kiba was just as badly off, she would say they were doing pretty well just to keep up with this guy.
Not that they were chasing him. He was not their objective anymore; he never had been really. They were all simply heading in one direction; she and Kiba to Danzō, and he most likely to his partner.
As the battle on that hilltop had gotten more intense, their own battle's intensity had lessened, both sides finding the skies of fire, hurricane force winds, a giant crimson warrior dressed in full battle armour and randomly growing trees quite distracting.
However, it was the massive orb of black, swirling chakra that finally ended the fight. At least for the giant, who had clenched his wickedly sharp teeth and jetted off, with the Konoha shinobi right behind him.
Sakura did not recognise the effects of this jutsu, but judging by the way their former opponent, Kisame, was picking up speed, they were not good.
She blinked, catching something that glinted in his left hand. A medicine capsule. A personal favourite of Sakura's, and very convenient in battle against poison users.
Why would he have one though? He was not a medic-nin as far as she could tell.
Wait… She looked to the fortress and back again. Could it be…?
By the time they arrived, the bunker was nothing more than a hollowed out shell.
Perfectly hollowed out, as though a giant hand had come down and scooped half of the building away, leaving a flawlessly smooth curve in what was left of the ceiling and floor, and a pristine circular crater ten feet deep into the ground.
And lying dead in the centre of that crater was Danzō. Kiba and Akamaru ran to him immediately, but Sakura, only needing one look to know his fate, looked around. Her eyes spotted Kisame naturally – someone that big running at top speed in an empty room was very hard to ignore – but she tore her gaze away from him, instead following the line to where he was headed.
And there she found Itachi, lying face down, looking just as dead as Danzō. His Akatsuki cloak was torn to shreds, and Sakura saw blood from a stab wound just above his appendix.
She looked from Danzō to Itachi. Kiba knew the procedure for handling a comrade's corpse, she was sure of that. That aside, her goal was right in front of her. It might as well have been Sasuke lying there.
But with Kisame kneeling next to him, Itachi might as well have been in another country entirely.
Still, she was closer than Naruto got to be. She could not go back to the Hidden Leaf and face him without at least trying.
She pulled a kunai and took one step towards the duo. Kisame swore and stabbed Itachi right in the jugular with the capsule. Sakura's eyes focused on the rapidly draining liquid; opaque with leafy green colour; medicine made with many herbs and left mostly untreated from its natural state. With what Sakura knew about the nature of his disease, she narrowed down the possibility to a powerful and highly distilled broncholidator.
That meant Itachi was still alive.
But Kisame was still hovering over him, with a look of concern that she did not want to acknowledge. He was a missing-nin, the same as Itachi. There was no telling how many people he had slaughtered before, and after joining Akatsuki.
That, and she might still be bitter about her arm, which still throbbed. He had almost taken the whole thing off, which would have been an especially messy and painful amputation with that serrated blade of his. And still, she was sure that to him, that was only a 'love tap'. If he had swung at her seriously, well, let's just say her ninja career would have come to an abrupt end.
She shook her head. This was not the time to be thinking about these things. Itachi was there. And he was dying. He was only a link to Sasuke if he was alive.
"Hey. Kisame, right?" The blue man looked up, his mouth, and the shark-like teeth in it, set into a definite frown.
That terrified her. Between the two, she preferred the sadistic smile he had worn when he 'nipped' her with his sword a lot more.
"I'll get right to the point." Her voice betrayed nothing of her fear, and for that she was glad. Inhuman strength and 'miraculous' healing were not the only things she inherited from her Shishou. "I can heal him. Enough that he'll live."
The eyes with pinpoint pupils widened, even as his frown deepened. Hope awakened, but he was waiting for the catch.
"In exchange, you hand him over to us." Kisame snorted. Sakura smirked. "Fine, let him die then."
The light smirk fled from Kisame's face. But it returned too soon. "You need him alive to find his brother."
"Not really," Sakura shrugged her shoulders. "It's not like he's on another planet. He's somewhere out in the world, it will just take a little longer to find him. It's not impossible. After all, we did find Itachi, didn't we?"
Only because of a very loose lead supplied by the intricate underground information networks built by Lord Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin, over the course of decades, but he did not need to know that.
Kisame stared at her, his face an impressive mirror of Itachi's blankness. Not that Sakura would recognise it. But she did know he was trying to make his thoughts inscrutable.
She considered the option that he might just be all right with letting Itachi die in front of him. But he had truly seemed concerned about the man, if sprinting all the way here to inject him with medicine meant anything.
"All right. You have a deal. Do what you can and Itachi-san's yours."
Well. That was easier than expected.
"Drop your sword and kick it over there first," she said, pointing to the crater. Kisame grinned – Sakura took a tiny step back – and did as he was told.
"Heads up Kiba!"
"Wha – OW! What the hell?!" Sakura could only assume that Samehada had dropped right on Kiba's head, or on his foot.
She did not have the luxury of laughing. Instead, as per the deal, she walked over to Itachi, knelt down, and pressed healing palms of chakra to his back.
She gasped and recoiled. She stared at him, while Kisame stared at her, doing his best not to ask questions and break her concentration.
With sudden movement, she turned Itachi's body over, using a bit of chakra strength to move the dead weight.
She suppressed a gasp and swallowed a bit of saliva upon seeing his face; absolute caked with dust to the point that his sweat left visible tracks. Streams of dried blood ran from his right eye, while wet and tacky gore shimmered on his bottom lip, what showed of his teeth, and the entirety of his chin. She glanced to his hands; his fingers were covered thickly with the sticky substance.
If he had been coughing up blood like this, and still managed to win against Danzō, then the old man had been right. Not about Naruto of course, but they had been way over their heads about capturing Itachi.
Behind her, Kisame swore again. She glanced back at him.
"Get a cloth or something and apply pressure to that wound," she told him, nodding to the stab wound in Itachi's side. "I'll deal with it later."
Along with that hole in his left arm. Sakura blinked and confirmed her suspicion. He had cauterized the wound with Katon chakra so his arm was still functional enough to create seals. It would have still hurt like hell. But by this point, Sakura was beginning to think that even amputated limbs would not stop Itachi from winning a fight.
The thought was not comforting, and quite distracting, so she shook it away with a short fling of her head.
Right now, she had to stabilize Itachi's heartbeat and get him breathing again.
But, as she ran her glowing green chakra over his chest, she became more convinced that this was not the body of a sick man.
This was the body of a man who had no right to be alive at all. He should have been dead over a year ago. His lungs were so filled with blood and mucus that she could not figure out how any air got in at all. Not to mention they had more or less collapsed under the weight of the fluids.
His heartbeat was stuttering, and he was not breathing. This was a healer's worst nightmare.
Actually, scratch that, because now he was entering the first stage of shock due to extreme chakra exhaustion.
All three conditions usually took top priority, and giving attention to any one of them would neglect the others. He would die either way. Unless…
"Kisame." The sharpness in her voice towards a man she was losing pitifully against a few minutes ago was staggering. Kisame looked up, still holding the piece of his Akatsuki cloak that he had torn off to Itachi's wound. The red clouds looked much darker than they should be.
"Answer me quickly and do everything exactly as I say. Do you know how to do chest compressions?"
"Yes."
"What about first aid for chakra exhaustion?"
"Yes."
"Good. Create three water clones." Kisame did as told. It would have been comical if not for the dying man beneath them.
"Kisame, start the compressions. You (she nodded to a clone), go to his legs and start pushing in your chakra. As much as you can, he needs every drop. You (another clone) take the original's place and apply whatever first aid you can for that stab wound. You (the last clone) create enough water to fill a fifteen inch wide basin."
It was the farthest from ideal. For one, the positioning was terrible. Sakura had to stand straight up on her knees to get the height she needed. After all, Kisame was pressing right over the area she needed to do her work.
The clone treating the stab wound basically had to straddle Itachi, since the two large men (with large being an understatement) could not stay side by side without getting in each other's way. And Sakura needed the side she was on to herself, for obvious reasons.
She glanced at the clone that had a bruising grip on Itachi's ankles. She suppressed a sigh; being so large, as well as an international criminal, it was not surprising he did not know when, or even how to be gentle.
Well, as long as the chakra got in – Sakura wished it was that easy.
Pushing foreign chakra into someone, even gently, always carried the risk of rejection, sometimes to the point where the body went into shock. Shock on even the tiniest scale, like the jolt one feels from missing a stair, would kill Itachi right now.
Kisame's clone was like a waterfall trying to pour all of its water into an empty wine glass.
"You by the ankles, calm down." It looked up at her; Sakura suppressed a flinch. "You're being too rough. Let Itachi's chakra network pull from yours. Don't force your own chakra in."
The clone nodded and eased up its grip a little.
He's worried. Sakura did not entertain that thought. The dichotomy between 'cold-blooded killer' and 'human' was too complex for her to deal with.
She took water from another clone, shaping it into an orb and sticking it to her palm with chakra. Ideally, the water would be deionized and natural, not the product of a jutsu and thus filled with chakra, but it was the only option she had.
It was just like Kankuro. Had that really only been a few months ago? Somehow, it seemed longer than that.
But whether months or years, she had gotten better. She could do it now through clothes, and even through the skin, muscle and bone of two living hands.
"Kisame. Don't stop."
And with unhesitating force, she plunged the orb through Kisame's hands and into Itachi's lungs.
The giant shuddered. Sakura did not, she simply moved her other hand to the spot under Itachi's diaphragm and pulled.
Kisame's chakra did not fight hers; she was both impressed and grateful for his control, as she pulled more and more of Itachi's blood and mucus from his lungs.
It was shocking and disgusting. Whereas Kankuro had small flecks of poison floating around his orbs when she pulled them out, Itachi's was filled with blood, as though she had not used any water at all.
She pulled the blood orb out; it jiggled grotesquely under her palm before becoming still. All four Kisames eyes were on it, probably thinking a repeat of her own thoughts.
How was he still alive?
She glanced around. The clone who had supplied the water quickly got the message and provided a scroll, inside of which a metal washbasin was sealed.
Sakura decided that now was not the time to question that. He was an S-ranked missing-nin, she was sure he had his reasons.
She dropped the orb into the washbasin, where it sloshed around like partially set gelatin. Probably due to the mucus.
She ran her hand over Itachi's chest again. And frowned. Then held a hand out to the water supplying clone.
"Another." The clone raised its eyebrows. Sakura lowered hers into a dead serious expression. "Another."
Five. Five. The fluid in Itachi's lungs had filled five washbasins.
Well, at least Itachi was breathing again.
His body had not rejected Kisame's chakra, but it would still take a while for his own chakra to rebuild and stabilize. He would not be able to use jutsus or techniques for at least a day.
That was very good news for her.
Kisame's complexion had changed from blue to green and he looked quite pale. He quietly sat back while she coaxed Itachi's heart to its normal, independent beat. Once in a while, he would glance at the washbasins. A strange shudder would shake his body, he would look away and his face would become a half-shade paler.
Sakura just could not believe it. But she did revise her previous diagnosis. The man should have been dead a year before Sasuke left Konoha.
He was THE Itachi Uchiha; that she understood. But there should be a limit to what willpower could do, dammit!
Then she reminded herself that one of her best friends was Naruto Uzumaki, and immediately shut up. She had no place to talk.
Instead, she glanced over at the crater. Kiba had finished wrapping and sealing Danzō's body for transport, and now stood on level ground, watching the process with simple fascination and a bit of wariness. Akamaru sat by Samehada, the sword lying docile save for the occasional rattling growls that were more sighs than anything.
Sakura had a distinct feeling that the sword was bored, but that led to too many questions like 'how is it possible for a sword to feel emotion' and right now, she really just wanted to finish up, hand Itachi over to her team and take a week-long nap.
"He didn't do that." Sakura glanced up at Kisame, who in turn jerked his head to the wrapped-up Danzō. "Itachi-san didn't kill him on purpose."
"Don't." Her voice was as sharp as a scalpel, even though her hands glowed so gently. "He's a missing-nin. A murderer."
"True. But he's not like me. He does not enjoy fighting, or killing. He's a strange one. He's one of the strongest I've seen, yet he almost runs away from fights – doesn't engage unless he has to. He would fight a year's worth of battles using genjutsu alone. And if the genjutsu does not work, he'd make it quick." Kisame looked around the ruined fortress. "It's quite rare that I'll seen him get so… physical."
He shook his head, as though trying to rid it of unpleasant memories. "Anyway, if it turned out like this, I'd bet my own Samehada that your guy instigated it." He fixed Sakura with a hard look. "He came here looking to kill Itachi-san all along. I knew it when I saw his eyes…"
Sakura could already hear the unspoken sentence. One that made her blood run cold while ironically giving him credibility.
I've fought and killed enough times to know that look in the eye.
"That look," Kisame was speaking. Sakura made sure to pay attention. Even though he had helped her, she did not forget who – what – he was. "That scent. It was bloodlust, no matter how diplomatic he tried to act."
Sakura swallowed. This man…she could not feel any kind of deception coming from him. Akatsuki and deceit had always gone together in her mind but…none of its members had actually ever lied to her. Not Sasori, though he had cursed her, poisoned her, stabbed her and overall tried to slaughter her.
And not Kisame. He had no reason to lie. After all, why should he care what she thought had happened? He himself admitted to being a murderer. He had… been honest.
"If you knew what Danzo was planning, why didn't you stop him?"
Kisame gave her a wide-eyed look that made her feel stupid. "I thought Itachi-san could handle it. I underestimated the geezer."
Sakura thinned her lips. She supposed there was no harm in it now. "We knew Itachi was sick. All of us."
She felt bad somehow. Even when justified, even when done against international criminals, taking advantage of someone's illness was a nasty way to fight.
"Danzō, the geezer, he used wind techniques. With all this dust on Itachi's face – I imagine he used dust to aggravate his condition."
"I see. I would've done the same in your position." A muscle was working in his jaw. Sakura knew he was upset, making his smile all the more terrifying. "Serves him right," he shrugged. His large shoulders and the violent rigidity in them ruined the gesture's nonchalance.
"Itachi-san always scolded me about respecting my elders. That's how I know your guy forced his own death out of him."
Sakura remembered falling into that warm, dark world of illusions; and waking up to a cold voice by her ear, threatening her to silence.
No! She couldn't think that way. Danzō was Leaf, Itachi was a traitor. But, if Kisame was right and Danzō had truly planned to kill Itachi all along, then Danzō betrayed both them and the village.
She shook her head. Itachi had killed his entire clan; he had slaughtered his own family, Sasuke's family. There was no such thing as self-defence for the likes of him. He was a villain who belonged chained up in hell.
"Why are you telling me this?" she said, her voice as cold as the blood in the washbasins. "Why do you care what I think about Itachi?"
Kisame blinked. The question had genuinely thrown him and for a while he did not answer. Then he shrugged his oversized shoulders again and said nothing else.
After a few moments, Sakura carefully took her hands away from Itachi's heart, and put her ear to his chest to listen.
For the first time since she came on this mission, she smiled. She looked to Kisame and nodded, he responded with a shark's grin.
"It's about time." And before Sakura could blink, Kiba had been kicked clear across the room, where he smashed into the remnants of what had once been a plain throne. Akamaru snarled and lunged at the assailant to avenge his partner, but was sent to join him instead.
It was the mask-wearing freak. Though his voice was different; deep, hard and cold. And with a subtle arrogance in each word that made her skin crawl.
Sakura tried to stand, but her world spun and she collapsed to her knees, panting.
Chakra exhaustion. Figured. Come directly from a fight where almost half her chakra was literally eaten, she had performed five patients' worth of healing on just one, and still, the fix would not be permanent.
Itachi would get just as bad again, maybe even faster than it had been the last time. He needed proper treatment and…
Why was she thinking like this? He was Itachi Uchiha, member of Akatsuki, reason for Sasuke's torment and desertion. She should hate him, not think of treating him. He only needed to be alive long enough for them to get Sasuke back.
She shook her head again and gritted her teeth; cold steel filled her hands as Tobi swore and kicked the bandaged corpse.
"Old bastard," he snarled. "He destroyed the eye." He sighed, deflecting the kunais thrown with razor precision at his head with a flick of his wrist. His head was tilted; he was thinking.
Undeterred, Sakura threw more, this time with explosive tags attached. "I should've killed him back then and taken it when I had the chance," the mask muttered, this time just letting the knives pass right through his head and fly out of the bunker to detonate harmlessly in the sky and forest below.
When she had thrown her last kunai, Sakura swore and slumped over Itachi, panting too heavily for her liking.
"But the Third and a few clan heads were lurking around…I made the right decision. It can't be helped," Tobi sighed, abruptly ending his private debate.
What is he talking about? Sakura struggled to breathe, to think. She needed to think. The Third? Clan heads? Wait…he had met Danzō before?
Tobi looked at Sakura, and even though his face was covered, she knew his expression was bland. He was only seeing a brief annoyance that needed to be dealt with; she did not even weigh as much as a small stepping stone in his eyes.
"Fine, you can keep him then," he pointed to Danzō, speaking as though Sakura had not just tried to pierce his skull with a small armoury's worth of steel. "I'll just take Itachi and –"
"Itachi's mine!" And, desperately fighting the heaviness in her limbs, she hunkered down over his body, snarling like a mother bear over her cubs. "He's my key to Sasuke-kun! I won't let you have him!"
The mask sighed and turned to Kisame, who had gone so pale he almost looked normal.
"Tobi? I thought you were…"
"Go get your sword. We'll talk later, Kisame." The Kiri-nin's eyes widened; apparently his new voice threw him as much as it had done Sakura. He did go retrieve Samehada though, more out of not feeling whole without it than anything else.
Tobi stepped forward; Sakura watched him approach, her eyes fierce.
"Move."
"No."
Tobi kicked her in the face. She spat out blood and held her ground.
Something inside the single hole in his mask flashed crimson at her for a brief moment.
What was that?
He raised his foot again. Her muscles tried to tense, to strike out, but her chakra streams were a trickle, and instead of a punch her arms just spasmed and shook; boneless. Her left arm hurt. Droplets of blood and an unpleasant clear liquid oozed from the slowly opening laceration.
Damned Samehada.
If she had not been trained by one of the Sannin, she would have been unconscious a long time ago.
"We made a deal." The desperation in her voice disgusted her, and Tobi's grunt of pure derision shamed her because she knew she deserved it. There was nothing she could do to stop him, and they both knew it. "In exchange for healing him, I get to –"
"You made that deal with Kisame, not me," he raised his foot higher, preparing to shatter her jaw this time. "And I … I …" Tobi froze, staring straight ahead at something behind her. She looked straight up into the hole of his mask. Familiar scarlet glinted back at her.
That can't…
Tobi snarled, kicked Sakura hard enough to send her rolling away, and plunged a kunai into Itachi's chest.
The corpse, with its finger pointing subtly at Tobi's ankles, dissolved into a murder of crows.
"Genjutsu. Itachi, you –!" Tobi turned, Sakura raised her head, and there Itachi stood, next to Kisame, panting as he partially leaned against him.
He's still full of Kisame's chakra! He has almost none of his own! Sakura's brain screamed furiously, while her heart trembled in surrender. She too had been under genjutsu – he had touched her and she hadn't even…
He shouldn't be able to do that!
Itachi, after regaining some breath, opened his eyes. Eye. His left eye remained closed. There was none of the tension that should have accompanied the conscious effort of keeping it closed.
Instead it was the reverse. It looked like Itachi could not open that eye even if he tried.
Sakura weakly catalogued all of this. Observing was the only thing she could do now, the only way she could be useful.
"Get us out of here," he ground out. Kisame had no clue what was going on, but grabbed Itachi's arm none-the-less.
"Itachi," the mask said with the kind of obscene calmness only a mass murderer could produce. "I will find you. And I will kill you."
And then, in the most surreal moment Sakura had ever had awake, Itachi smirked and nodded to Danzō's corpse.
"Go ahead. He already tried."
Then they disappeared in a Shunshin, not even leaving a puff of smoke. A tear rolled down Sakura's face. Her body felt too heavy to move.
"They won't get far," the mask muttered, walking over to the washbasins filled with Itachi's blood. "It won't do to leave these here." And in a manipulation of reality, the washbasins twisted into the single hole in Tobi's mask, spilling not a drop of blood.
"Now then… I could dispose of you…" Sakura stiffened. "But it would be pointless. I've got some wayward members to catch anyway. And an old cat I need to see. So, later."
And then he disappeared in the same manner as the washbasins, his entire body swirling into the mask until that too was gone.
Sakura lay there, trembling with anger and frustration. She heard Kiba moving, and swearing, and knew he would be all right. One good thing at least.
Struggling, she pushed herself to her knees. Her chakra was still pitifully low and her head spun because of it. Her limbs felt as though she had strapped a pair of Lee's leg weights to each of them. They trembled with the simple effort of sitting on her knees; she longed to slump back onto the cold, hard and incredibly dusty floor.
'That's strange…' A dreamy voice in her head spoke. 'All this dust on the floor, and none in the air. If it was this much…it couldn't have all settled.' She thought back to the battle. There had been a part where she had seen whole trees flying through the air and disappearing into the fortress. She looked around while removing one of her gloves. She slowly brought her ungloved hand up to her face. There were no uprooted trees around. 'Must be where all the dust went…'
SLAP!
The sound of Sakura's naked palm hitting her own face resounded through the ruined battleground. Kiba stopped swearing for a moment and stared at her.
She took no notice, only shook her head briskly. Ah. That was much better. She no longer felt like she was slipping into a dream. Her head was clear.
And there was something nibbling at her ankles.
She ignored it. She would have to tell Naruto that she had failed. And after she had left that note promising they would succeed. That she would actually do something for once and bring Sasuke home.
She was ashamed. He was right there, right under her, and she let him get away. How could she even face –?
Okay, that was annoying. The something that nipped at her ankles had turned into a dozen somethings.
She looked; then groaned as her head spun from turning around too fast. Black…mice? Made of ink.
Sai.
Her mouth bent in a small frown. Under Danzō's cold eye and even colder frown, Sai had…reverted to what he was when they first met him.
Not completely. Sakura would not let him; when she was not trying (and failing) to control the amount of killing intent that oozed out of her at the mere sight of Danzō, she would talk to Sai, or give him some friendly grief whenever she saw his pale face becoming too still, or his eyes too blank.
Sai would respond to her with a fake-looking-but-real smile, or blink when he did not understand her jokes. The toneless interpretations he gave to some of the things she said ended up being funnier than the joke itself anyway.
Sakura smiled.
She was depressed, but would not ignore a message from her (true) comrade. She pulled an empty scroll from her pouch, unfurled it, and watched as one of the mice (they were a little low quality for Sai's usual standard) walked up to it and melted into words on the paper.
With a sigh and an unheard apology to her dear friend back in Konoha, she began to read.
Jiraiya, Toad Sage of Mount Myōboku, encountered very few things in his life that shocked him when it came to the people he cared about.
Orochimaru's betrayal had saddened and angered him, but he had seen it coming. He had only hoped, desperately hoped to the point of foolishness that he was wrong.
He wasn't.
Tsunade growing to a bust size as legendary as her medical abilities had surprised and greatly delighted him.
And even now, whenever he showed her just how much this fact delighted him, he always woke up either on the floor with green chakra flowing over his head, or in a hospital bed.
The last time he had been shocked like this… Jiraiya thought hard… ah, yes. It was in a country forsaken by the sun but loved, even smothered, by the rain. With thunder and lightning taming the skies, the waterlogged but distinct scent of freshly spilled blood in his nostrils and his ears filled (despite the rain) with the small, shivering breaths of dying adrenaline and speechless horror; the greatest shock of his life had come when he had first seen Nagato's Rinnegan.
What he stared at in front of him, what he had been staring at for the past fifteen minutes, almost matched that kind of shock. Almost. It was not quite there, but very, very close.
"So, that's everything?" he said in a flat voice that betrayed nothing as he sat cross-legged in front of his student, his elbow resting on his knee, his chin propped in his hand, his head tilted and his eyebrow raised.
Naruto nodded. Sasuke blinked slowly, his head tilting into Naruto's stomach.
The kitten – child? – Uchiha had not said much, if anything at all. Probably because being gently rocked in someone's arms while they spoke in low, calm tones was indescribably soothing. Jiraiya had forgotten what that sensation felt like long before he had grown old enough to recognise how wonderful it must have been.
The fact that Naruto could talk in tones like that only compounded the paralysing shock he was already feeling.
He did not shake his head; that would give him away.
"Ero-sennin, are you okay?"
Huh? How? He hadn't said or done anything that could have…
"You've been staring at Sasuke without blinking for the past fifteen minutes," Naruto said, worried but slightly impressed.
Oh. That was why his eyes were burning then.
"I'm just thinking, Naruto. Don't worry about it."
"Oh, okay." Naruto leaned back a little as he continued to rock the baby kitten.
It had taken a shameless guilt trip to get his student to sit down and tell him what was going on.
Kakashi and Sakura. Two other trump cards that helped when dealing with an obstinate Naruto.
They were still on the mission field when they did not have to be, because Naruto had selfishly hidden their mission's purpose from the Hokage.
That statement, delivered in so many words, had turned Naruto's spine to iron.
Without hesitation or preamble, Naruto plopped himself in the grass and, still holding Sasuke close to him as though afraid he would be taken away, told his sensei the entire story from the beginning.
Now the Toad Sage sat, absorbing the strange and unbelievable tale in silence.
He finally moved his eyes from the transformed avenger, looking instead to the orange top and mesh shirt that were lying on a large leaf, drying in the sun.
Sasuke's puke had washed off easily, since his diet was only milk and fruit.
The kitten in question was blinking more and more slowly, his cheek pressing against Naruto's stomach as his head lolled.
Naruto couldn't help but smile. He started humming. If he had looked up and seen the size of Jiraiya's eyes just then, he would have stopped, blushed, and had the sudden urge to challenge Gamabunta to a fight.
Sasuke gave up. His eyes closed, his face smoothed and he fell into peaceful sleep. Naruto stared at him a moment.
Then sighed in relief.
"Much better," he said to no one. A tick developed over Jiraiya's eye at being ignored. But, looking at the scene, he felt he could understand a little of why Naruto had kept this… development a secret.
This understanding could not be explained with words. It was just a flitting thought, a ripple of emotion formless and without language to describe it.
When he saw Naruto cradling Sasuke so gently, Jiraiya felt that he would hurt anyone who got in the middle of that.
Whatever 'that' was.
And Naruto… when was the last time he had smiled like that, as though he truly had no more worries in the world?
Sasuke was home. What else did he need?
Jiraiya paused. This time, he did shake his head. The world was still moving. And despite Naruto's smile, there were still plenty of worries.
He brought his hands up in a familiar seal.
"Tell Tsunade everything." With that simple command, the Shadow Clone was Reverse Summoned back to Konoha in a puff of smoke. The original Sage turned back to Naruto, who was looking around at the mountain's plant life with growing wonder in his eyes.
"Hey, Ero-sennin."
If he asks what I think he's going to ask, I swear I'm going to –
"Where are we?"
Jiraiya's entire expression grew flat, with all the abruptness of a fallen brick.
What was the point?
The roaring energy, the flawless choreography, the all of five seconds of thought before his grand speech flowed from his lips.
The boy remembered none of it.
Really. That was just rude.
"Mount Myōboku," Jiraiya supplied, his voice the same as his flat-browed expression.
"Oh." Naruto looked around again, and finally spotted the two toads who were playing cards a few yards away.
"Gamakichi, Gamatatsu, what're you guys doing here?" he smiled and waved, and was greeted with the same fallen-brick expression as Jiraiya's.
"Oh, nothing much," Gamakichi answered in flawless deadpan. "Just hanging around."
"Here?" Naruto looked around a third time, as though expecting some secret door to open up somewhere.
"Yeah. It's our home after all."
Naruto's eyes grew wide, the blue colour sparkling. "This is your home?! It's really beautiful!"
"Oh really. That's surprising, considering you were threatening to burn it all to the ground a few minutes ago."
Naruto blinked. Then laughed. "No way Gamakichi. You guys are my friends, I'd never do that. That's way too morbid for a joke, come up with one of your normal ones next time."
He laughed again. The toads, and Jiraiya, stared. Gamakichi turned to the Sage, an obvious 'what the hell?' look on his face.
Jiraiya shrugged in a way that simultaneously said, 'hell if I know' and 'at least he's back to normal.'
Naruto missed the exchange entirely, opting to put Sasuke to lie down in his lap instead. His arms were getting a little tired. The kitten shifted minutely, but soon stilled, softly purring in his sleep.
Naruto smiled and stroked the soft ears a little. He looked up at his white-haired master.
"So, Ero-sennin."
His sensei flinched. If Naruto even…if he dared…
"Why am I here?"
I'll kill him.
Jiraiya did not kill him. Even if he could bring himself to do it, there was a buxom blonde back in Konoha who could, and would return the favour.
And shinobi though he was, he would not kill in front of a baby. A child, yes, if he had to. Not a baby, even if that baby was asleep.
So he settled for sighing a long, heavy sigh that the wind carried through the mountain's massive leaves, and explained. From the top, and without grandeur or choreography.
"Sage Mode? Is it like Rasengan?" Naruto finally asked, tilting his head and scratching the bandages around his left calf.
Sasuke had probably held on to Naruto for dear life. Those puncture wounds had been deep. Baby or no, that kitten was far stronger than he looked. He had promise.
Jiraiya blinked, rewound and replayed his thoughts, and decided that if he stayed here much longer he would become mentally unsound. Not crazy, but close enough.
"Yes and no. You will get some new abilities, but it's not a new Jutsu. It's more of a … transformation."
"Transformation?" Naruto repeated, looking slightly queasy. For some strange and frighteningly accurate reason, he glanced towards the two toads who had abandoned their game and were listening quietly.
"It's a good thing, Naruto," Jiraiya quickly assured, while inwardly shuddering. How had Naruto known ... there was no way he could have heard about it elsewhere…
Then the answer hit him like a slap in the face. With Sasuke's new 'form', things like animal transformations must have been on his mind.
"You'll be stronger and faster and the power of all of your jutsu will be boosted exponentially. You'll be transformed from a human to a Sage."
Naruto nodded, excitement overtaking his face for a moment. But it mellowed out, replaced by a thoughtful look. Jiraiya was impressed; looked like all that time reading books did something worthwhile.
"Wait. If you wanted me to become a Sage, why give me the key to my seal?"
Jiraiya grinned. Good question. "Because it couldn't hurt." Naruto blinked. Unknown to him, his sensei secretly loved that dumb, clueless look he got whenever someone said something he did not even begin to understand.
And he absolutely relished being the one saying those things. "Like I said, I have full faith you can learn to control the Kyūbi's chakra. However, I have no idea how it can be done. That's something I cannot teach you.
"The only thing I can do is pass Sage Mode on to you. I don't know how it will help, or if it even can help. However, it will make you stronger, and that is always a good thing. I feel that…" Jiraiya shook his head. "Some hard times may be coming your way. And you still have your dream of becoming Hokage. Sage Mode will take you one step closer."
The sparkle slowly returned to Naruto's eyes. He looked determined now. "Cool! Let's start!"
"Oh, right now?" false enthusiasm questioned.
"Yeah!"
Jiraiya frowned. Naruto was confused.
"Remember what I told you before? You can't (he pointed to the sleeping kitten) just move around as you like now, Naruto."
Naruto froze. His eyes lowered and his hand gently brushed back Sasuke's hair. "Y-yeah. Sorry Ero-sennin, I'm an idiot who keeps forgetting that."
At Naruto's self-reprimand, Jiraiya's eyes softened. "You're better than a lot of guys I've seen. Especially for your age."
Naruto looked up, careful hope in his gaze. "You mean that? I mean – the first day, I left him alone, and he got sick and –"
"You made mistakes. No denying that. But Sasuke trusts you. He (Jiraiya chuckled) almost dug through your leg just not to be separated from you. You've done well, Naruto."
'Better than I ever did', silent regret spoke as he stared at the grown young man before him.
"I'm proud of you."
Naruto grinned, making the world a little brighter. Jiraiya did the same.
A moment passed like that. The wind blew, bringing the vibrant scent of mountain flora to Naruto's nostrils. Sasuke turned in his sleep.
Naruto thought a little. Paused. Squinted his eyes, then opened them until they were pure white and perfectly round.
"You knew about Sasuke?" The pure fact simply masked itself as a question.
"Yeah." Jiraiya answered casually, cleaning his ear with his pinky.
"Like before I told you anything?"
"Yeah."
"How?"
The Sage slowly raised an eyebrow at him. "Going to the Uchiha cemetery? Impersonating Ayaya Azumi? Looking for a book on kittens in the library?"
Naruto blinked. He slowly looked to the side, as he did whenever he tried to look innocent. Ironically, the gesture made him look thrice as guilty.
"You have a point," he finally muttered, defeated.
"I have about twelve points. I only have enough patience right now to name three. Honestly, are you even a ninja?"
Naruto looked scandalised. He opened his mouth, no doubt to tell his master just how much he resented that remark, when the man in question stood. His face had gotten a little firmer.
Naruto swallowed. The mood had changed. He kept his eyes on Jiraiya, not noticing the small green frog that was hopping up to him.
"I've really got to get going now."
"To Amegakure?" Jiraiya did not answer. "Akatsuki's leader is really there?" The only response was from the toad brothers, who inhaled sharply at the mention of Akatsuki. "Ero-sennin I –"
"Take care of Sasuke." Naruto froze, his eyes wide. There was something in his gaze that looked like it wanted to fight; whether to fight him to go with him, or fight him to make him stay, Jiraiya did not know which.
"He's not just your best friend now. Now…" Jiraiya knew this would be embarrassing, but it was not the first embarrassing thing he'd ever said. He was sure it would not be the last, "Now, he's yours, right? So you've gotta stick around to take care of him."
"Ero-sennin…" there were no more words. Naruto looked up at Jiraiya's cheesy but so sincere smile and found nothing else to say.
"Care for him. Watch over him so he'd never choose the path of darkness again. Train hard and learn – no, master Sage Mode so you can grow strong enough to protect him."
Jiraiya was not over-speaking. Tsunade would still do her tests (she probably already started with the hairs he sent her), but he could tell just by looking.
Sasuke's appearance was no Jutsu. Neither was his age. He'd seen enough age regression Henge (including Tsunade's) that his eyes alone told him it was unlikely, and he had only to touch Sasuke once to confirm it.
Whatever did this to him – turned him into this – it was real, as real as if this had been Sasuke's form from birth. And most likely just as irreversible.
But, he did not have to say any of that. Naruto would find out soon enough.
He clapped a hand on his student's shoulder and gave him a rough smile. There was one more thing he did need to say before he left.
"You hurt Tsunade, you know." Naruto gasped, his eyes huge. He seemed to be in some sort of mild shock.
"She may not show it, but you're precious to her. It hurt her that you didn't trust her enough to come to her about Sasuke. And I was half-ready to kill you for it."
In that last sentence, Naruto heard an emotion that could split a mountain. His heart shook, and not for the first time he was starkly aware of just how powerful his master was.
If Jiraiya wanted to hurt him then even after three years of training, there was not much Naruto could do.
But with Jiraiya's gentle smile, the pressure lifted.
"When I saw you with that kid, though, I understood why you couldn't take the smallest chance. Danzō…" Naruto stiffened and his eyes dulled.
Jiraiya squeezed his shoulder and brought himself nose to nose with his student.
In his mind's eye, Jiraiya saw a faint image of the high back of a plain and comfortable chair, a perfect throne for the strongest woman and worst gambler the world has ever seen. A slender hand reached back and replaced a sake bottle on the desk behind it.
"Figures he wouldn't trust me," a voice that held back a dry laugh and a lifetime of tears spoke. Jiraiya knew this would just be another pain she would stash away in her breasts, while smiling that fake smile of hers that he loathed.
A rough sip, a brief swallow, and the hand reached back for the sake once more.
"I'm just an impotent Hokage who couldn't defend him when he needed me most. Even Naruto's not nice enough to forgive that kind of weakness."
"This is a message from Tsunade. If Danzō tries to take Sasuke from you when he gets back," Jiraiya held up a clenched fist in amazing imitation, "then just like he's always wanted," the fist tightened and a vein throbbed between its knuckles, "his face will be a new, permanent addition to Hokage mountain." Naruto swallowed. Something warm leaped in his stomach.
"Sasuke's your mission now. You have nothing to be afraid of, now or ever again."
A wet film shimmered over Naruto's eyes; he quickly brought an arm up and wiped it away before it could become anything more.
"Who told you guys I was afraid?" he laughed as he sniffed.
In the next moment, he was shaking out his sunshine hair and jabbing a proud thumb into his chest.
"I'm the Great Naruto Uzumaki!" he proclaimed, ignorant of the irritated twitch of Sasuke's ears. "Just you watch Ero-sennin! I'll master Sage Mode, control the Kyūbi's chakra, and be the greatest Hokage the world's ever seen – ouch!"
"Quiet, Nawuto…" Sasuke muttered half-asleep, his claws digging a little into Naruto's stomach and his face scrunched up in an adorable frown.
Naruto's eyebrow twitched, but he shut up until Sasuke was fully asleep again.
"You little… You've only gotten smaller you little brat you haven't changed one bit!" he whispered in mock anger.
Jiraiya laughed and patted Naruto's shoulder. "There's one thing you left out in that speech."
"Huh?"
"You'll be the best big brother he's ever known." His voice was solid with confidence.
Naruto smiled. If Jiraiya saw something very slightly…off…in that smile, he dismissed it.
His time was up. He couldn't stay here any longer. The small, green frog behind him opened its mouth.
Jiraiya stood, his hand leaving Naruto's shoulder.
Why does it feel like…
Naruto stared as Jiraiya stuck his foot inside the frog's mouth. He smiled one last smile at his student before his entire body slipped inside, white mane and all.
…this is the last time?
The frog's throat sack expanded to the size of a man. Behind the translucent film, Naruto could see his sensei's dark shape before it disappeared with the frog's great swallow.
His eyes followed the amphibian as, with eerie normality, it hopped up to the pool where he had washed his clothes and disappeared with a splash.
He blinked. That was gross. And awesome. And still better than (he retched a little) swallowing one of the damn things.
But…wait a minute…
Naruto turned slowly to Gamakichi, who blinked at him. "Uh, how do I get back to Konoha?"
"Well isn't he just tha cutest little thing!"
"Kaa-chan keep yer voice down, you'll wake – uh – whadtcha say his name was again?"
"Sasuke."
"You'll wake Sasuke-chan."
"Keep yer mouth shut, ya old geezer! I've raised more kids than ya can shake a stick at, ya think I wouldn't know how not to wake one up?"
She has a point. Sasuke had not stirred, even with the grandma toad yelling less than a yard away from him.
"Put him here, dear."
"Uh…" Naruto set Sasuke to lie in a soft-looking bed of leaves. "I really just want to…"
"Yer 'Kichi-chan's friend right?" the grandpa toad asked, gesturing to the large orange toad who looked both apologetic and amused at Naruto's plight.
"Dinner's almost ready, you boys came at just tha right time."
"Uh, that's real nice grandma, but you see… I really just want to get back home and…"
"Nonsense! Ya can't travel yet."
"What d'you mean?"
"Walkin'll take ya'at least a month. You'd have to use the Enshinsui portal. Tha little one will drown if he goes through that sleepin'."
"O-oh," Naruto swallowed a lump of ice in his throat. "I get it."
The grandpa toad folded his arms and nodded, while the grandma toad stirred something that was an even darker purple than her hair, and slimy in a pot. Part of that something wriggled out, or tried to, before she wacked it back in with a swipe of her spoon.
Sasuke, hurry and wake up already.
"By the way, I didn't get your names."
"Fukasaku," said the green grandpa toad, still studying Naruto. "Shima," the purple grandma toad called from the kitchen, giving another wriggly something another whack.
"Ya can just call us grandpa and grandma, like you've been doin'," said Fukasaku warmly. Naruto nodded, more comfortable with that option anyway. He shifted on the floor of the small (for a human) room and took a sip of tea; it tasted normal enough after all. "So, you're Jiraiya-chan's kid."
Naruto choked on his tea. Jiraiya…chan?
"Uh, yeah," he coughed. "How'd you know?"
"I'm tha one who trained that boy in the Sage Arts," the toad proudly explained. "He came here earlier and told me about'cha. That he wants you to learn it too."
"Really? So you're going to train me?"
For a moment, the toad looked surprised. "I could. But why not wait for Jiraiya-chan to come back from his mission?"
There was that strange feeling again. The same one he had felt when he saw his master's last smile. A kind of heaviness, similar to the despair Danzō's genjutsu had given him, but not as severe.
Not similar either… more of a…
Naruto thought hard. He had seen it in those books, the thing that sometimes came before the real stuff.
Introduction. That was the word. What he had felt when he saw Jiraiya leave, the ripples that he was feeling now, both were introductions to the real feeling. To despair.
Naruto shook his head. Since when did he think like this? 'Introduction to despair'. Sounded like a chapter title out of Ero-sennin's books. No wonder they didn't sell.
His mockery did nothing to shake the feeling. So he ignored it. It would go away when Jiraiya came back anyway.
"I'll wait for Ero-sennin (Fukasaku smirked at the name) but could you show me what it looks like grandpa?"
"What it looks like?" the elder repeated, bemused.
"Ero-sennin said it was a transformation."
"Huh?!" The toad laughed an odd, croaking laugh that made Naruto think of summer for some reason. "Well, well, the way Jiraiya-chan uses it, I guess that's a fair description." He hopped off his cushion and over the table, turning back to Naruto with a grin and a few chuckles. "Come outside kid, I'll show you a little of this transformation."
Naruto heard his laughter all the way down the stairs. He shrugged, glanced at Sasuke, smiled when he saw Shima shooing him out the door and left. Sasuke was in good hands.
He arrived at the last stair to find Fukasaku sitting perfectly still with his knuckles pressed together. Gamakichi, who had followed him, made a silent motion for him to wait. Naruto lowered the finger that had been about to poke the elder and waited.
"All right," Fukasaku breathed, rising from his seat. Naruto squinted as hard as he could and saw that the toad…looked no different from normal.
"I would start with strength, but there's nothin' here to toss but tha' wife's lawn gnomes." Naruto looked at one of the squat stone toads sculpted with closed-but-smiling eyes and a contented expression.
"How about showing him some Frog Kata?" Gamakichi suggested, looking like he would've enjoyed some gnomes being tossed.
"Yeah, that could work. Okay Naruto-chan (Naruto held back a wince at the honorific – no one had called him 'chan' even as a kid) stand right here. Now, I'm gonna punch ya. Not hard, just a little tap."
Naruto had the wisdom not to say that a 'little tap' was all he would expect from the diminutively statured Elder.
Fukasaku leaped and aimed a pitifully gentle punch at Naruto's stomach. He missed deliberately, side-swiping at the last moment, his fist sweeping past Naruto's waist.
Less than second later Naruto doubled over and staggered back a few feet. He felt like he had been socked in the gut by an iron fist. If that had been full strength, he'd have a hole where he only now had a dent.
Little tap his –
"Sorry 'bout that Naruto-chan! I held back as much as I could but it wasn't enough. Ya'all right?"
"Wh-what hit me?" Naruto wheezed.
"Frog Kata. It's basically Sage Mode taijutsu. When you're in Sage Mode, natural energy surrounds your whole body like an extra suit of clothes. You can use that energy to hit yer opponent. So your punch always connects, even if your physical fist misses."
"Uh… huh…"
"It's like having an extra fist attached to your arm that can always land a hit when your normal fist misses," Gamakichi supplied.
"Oh!"
Fukasaku blinked, a somewhat grotesque image coming to mind at Gamakichi's analogy. Well, whatever worked he guessed.
"So how'd you get that extra fist grandpa?"
"Oh…well…uh…" that dumb explanation only made things worse for him. Now Naruto had it in his head that natural energy was a fist. How was he supposed to explain that there were fists all over his body? "Well… wha –"
"WAAAAAAH!" Naruto froze and stood upright, pain in his gut forgotten as his head whipped towards the tower where the Elders lived.
Less than a second later he shot off in the direction of the stairs, unconsciously using chakra to gain speed as a wailing cry of "Nawuto! Nawuto!" reached the gardens.
Less than five seconds later, Sasuke was in his arms.
"N-Nawuto – I – I…" he hiccupped and cried, and was soon choking on his tears. Naruto put him on his shoulder and patted his back. He was moving automatically, mimicking what he had seen mothers do with fussy babies in the market.
Sasuke soon calmed down, his cries dwindling to sniffles and the occasional hiccup.
"What happened?" he asked the grandma, who looked somewhat impressed.
"He started wakin' up so I brought some soup for him. He took one look at me and started cryin'." Almost as soon as she finished her explanation, she whipped round to grandpa, who stiffened, his mouth frozen in a quarter of a smile. "Don't. You. Dare."
The smile-that-almost-was vanished.
"He probably got scared because I was a stranger."
Naruto doubted it. Sasuke was crying too hard for it to be that alone. Shima saw the look on his face and hesitated.
Then her purple lips firmed. "When I was giving him tha soup…he called me Kaa-san."
Naruto froze. Sasuke's claws dug into his jacket.
"We're going outside," he said shortly. Shima looked to follow him, but stopped in her tracks. Fukasaku stiffened.
Naruto left. If he had looked back, he would have seen the two Elders look at each other, shudder simultaneously, and hear the whispered 'Jiraiya-chan' between them.
He would have then questioned the high-collared cloaks they chose to don. They would have responded that the two Elder Sages of Mount Myōboku could not enter a battle scrappily dressed.
It simply would not do.
Naruto picked the perfect spot. It was still within view of the Elders' tower. A sparkling stream flowed at his feet. He sat at the base of a particularly large… tree? … enjoying the shade that the awning-sized leaf gave to him.
"Sasuke." He did not say it too gently. Sasuke's claws rolled in the fabric of his jacket, as the kitten clenched and unclenched his hands. "What happened?"
"I… had a dream about my parents. And Nii-chan. They were alive. We were having dinner…"
"Go on."
"I woke up. And smelled food. It smelled j-just like Kaa-san used to…" For a moment, Naruto thought Sasuke was going to start crying again. The kitten took a big, trembling gulp of air, willing himself to hold it in. "It wasn't Kaa-san." It was all he managed before the dam broke and Naruto felt a wet spot growing on his shoulder.
He closed his eyes and took a breath.
"Stop crying, Sasuke."
The kitten choked. His body was hot from crying, and stiffened as Naruto pulled him from his shoulder. Sky blue met puffy black.
"What do you wanna be, Sasuke?" A shining smile. For a moment, Sasuke was blinded. "Well?" Naruto shook him a little.
"A ninja," Sasuke was dazed. Where had all this light come from, all of a sudden?
"Thought so." The smile got bigger. "Ninja aren't supposed to cry so much, ya know."
Sasuke's face crumpled a little. The light dimmed. "I can't stop. My family's gone, and I'm all alone."
"Cut that out, Sasuke. That's mean." Sasuke gasped. Naruto was… pouting? "What am I then?"
"My friend."
"That's right. And I'm even closer than that."
"My… best friend?"
Naruto was beaming. "Closer than that. I'm your brother, Sasuke. I'm your family."
The light was back. It was glowing, getting brighter…
"Family?" Sasuke repeated, afraid to believe it. "You're my family, Nawuto?"
"Yup! I'll always be by your side. So stop saying you're alone. I'm here. I'll never leave you alone."
A moment as bright as the sun.
His was the biggest, brightest, dumbest grin Sasuke had ever seen; so different from the monochrome straight faces of his clan.
He was mesmerised.
He had never thought to ask for it, it was too good a thing to just ask for.
But Naruto was offering it freely; his sun-bright smile burst and overflowed with these things too precious to request.
Light. Warmth. Family. And it was all for him.
How could he help reaching out to it, grabbing it all, consuming it all, like a starved and helpless child?
How could he help being so, so grateful for it?
"Thank…you," the tears spilled. Sasuke, if he had a mountain's strength, would not be able to hold them back. "Thank you… thank you, thank you thank you thank youthank you Nawuto!"
"Oi, oi. What'd we say about crying?"
"Th-this is – the last time – p-promise," Sasuke hiccupped. Held in Naruto's grip, his knees curled up to his stomach and his ears drooped as he wiped fervently at his eyes. "B-but – I c-can't…"
"I know," Naruto pulled Sasuke to his chest in a hug, "I can't stop either." He stroked Sasuke's ears, once again feeling a wet spot grow on his clothes.
The same wetness ran unimpeded over a pure smile. The somewhat sad, somewhat relieved and overall joyous smile that spoke of the accomplishment of a great life goal.
Finally. I finally got you to acknowledge me, Sasuke.
"Y'know, Sasuke, it's okay to cry sometimes. When things are really sad, or when you're really happy, you can cry. But…"
Sasuke looked up at him, his eyes meeting a pair of shimmering blues.
"But if you cry too much, you can't live. And I know from my deepest gut (he put a fist to his heart) that your family wants you to live."
Sasuke's eyes widened, and before he could rein it in a grin as big and stupid as Naruto's lit up his face.
Nii-chan, he thought, as he squeaked out a teary 'Un!' and threw himself into Naruto's chest, hugging him as tightly as he could.
He's too big and too loud but…would it be okay…?
Sasuke could feel himself falling asleep. After hearing Naruto's words, he felt so calm, so relieved. The sleep that called him wasn't dark and dreary anymore. For the first time since he saw them, he could look away from his family's tombstones.
'Your family wants you to live.'
Is it okay, Nii-chan…?
Sasuke closed his eyes.
If Naruto becomes my Nii-chan too?
Naruto opened his eyes wearily. He was on the verge of falling asleep again.
When had he fallen asleep the first time?
He could not remember. He did not even know how long he had been sleeping.
That made sense. After all, he did not remember the last time he had slept. Two nights ago, he had stayed up taking care of a sick Sasuke and cleaning up his mess. He had only caught one, maybe two hours of sleep before Sasuke was tugging on his hair to wake him.
Last night, he had held Sasuke as the kitten mourned his clan's death. Naruto did not even think of sleeping then.
As a ninja, this really should not have bothered him. He was fine staying up on missions, and had gone longer without sleep. One or two hours of shuteye should have been plenty for him.
But the past two days were not missions. He was in the village. His brain and body knew he was in the village. So he could not sum up the willpower or stamina to go without sleep, as he would out in the field.
It was weird, but it was how he worked. And he knew he was not the only one.
So he had about two nights' worth of sleep to catch up on. And so, Naruto realised, did Sasuke. After all, illness was exhausting, especially to a baby. Mourning the death of an entire clan…
If Naruto had a bit more hubris, he would have been able to (truthfully) admit that, were it not for his presence, for the comfort he offered, Sasuke's fits of grief would have killed something very important inside him.
He certainly would have never been able to smile like he had a while ago.
Naruto turned his head, more a lolling really, as he let its weight dictate its movement.
They were still in Mount Myōboku, under the same tree. It was still daylight. He shifted his arms. Yup, Sasuke was still there, snore-purring away on his chest.
Out of habit now than anything else, he stroked one of the soft ears. Sasuke purred deeply and snuggled up closer to him.
Naruto smiled. He couldn't see Gamakichi or Gamatatsu anywhere, but he did not expect them to be standing by watching them sleep anyway. That would have been creepy.
His eyes slid closed. Everything was fine. They would go back to Konoha later and face Baa-chan then. But they were too tired now. They finally had a chance to sleep, and in a paradise to boot.
Everything else could wait.
Naruto's head tilted, and he slept.
Less than a minute later, something exploded in the distance, its shockwaves shaking the ground under him.
Naruto woke up. Sasuke grumbled. Naruto did not check to see if he was awake. He only stood, staring at the cloud of dirt and dust that rose into the mountain's spotless air.
Something big and heavy had smashed, rather brutally, into the ground. Naruto stared, shook his head, and ran for the Elder's tower. He would leave Sasuke with grandma toad and go see what…
Poof!
Naruto stared at the white smoke spreading out of the tower windows. It looked like…
"Ero…sennin?" Naruto whispered. He summoned the Elders? Why?
His stomach clenched slightly, remembering that punch.
They were strong. As strong as Ero-sennin. Maybe even stronger. But during the three years they travelled together, Jiraiya had never summoned them. Even in their most dire situations.
'I've got a lead on the location of the leader of Akatsuki. I'm headed over there right now.'
"Ero-sennin." Naruto was shaking. That 'introduction to despair' feeling was growing, becoming closer and closer to the real thing.
He shot off, abandoning the now empty tower and sprinting for the place where smoke still rose. Later, out of the corner of his eye, he could see Gamakichi and Gamatatsu join him, along with a small blue frog that looked eerily similar to the one that left with Jiraiya.
Sasuke opened his eyes.
Naruto did not notice.
The trees parted, and in the field ahead of him, on top of a large circle that had been cleared of grass, he saw a massive body the size of Gamabunta. It was not him. He was a completely different colour, and did not have any warts. His weapons were different too. They lay at his sides, clattered to the ground as their wielder's fingers grew too weak to hold them: a saucer-shaped shield that reminded him of one of Baa-chan's sake cups, and a massive sasumata.
"Ken-jisan!" Gamakichi yelled. Yellow eyes opened blearily. A loud, echoing groan from huge lungs told them the toad was alive.
But he was beaten. There were vicious, ragged puncture wounds – bite marks – on seemingly every part of his body. And each wound was bleeding profusely.
Before Naruto could do anything, or even think of what to do, a flurry of white hopped past him. Toads. Dozens of them. All dressed in white robes with the symbol for 'doctor' on their backs. It was like Konoha's but without the circle.
They billowed forth like the white snow clouds of an avalanche, and soon the warrior's body was covered with them. Spots of glowing green chakra lit up his wounds like fireflies.
"Wow," was all Naruto could say.
"Fast as always," Gamakichi smirked, though it seemed wilder somehow. "They can smell blood from anywhere on this mountain." His teeth gritted and he looked to his uncle, who was blinking slowly, trying not to fall unconscious.
"I'm gonna go talk to jisan." It was neither an invitation nor a prohibition. Naruto would not have cared which one it was anyway. He followed Gamakichi.
"What happened?" the nephew demanded. 'Ken' turned his head. He blinked.
"Kichi-chan." He glanced at Naruto. A question sparked in his eyes, but before he could speak, Gamakichi stepped forward.
"What. Happened."
The toad's face crumpled into a grimace of pain. The blanket of white toads shifted as one, and Ken's face smoothed out as the pain eased. Naruto was impressed, but more than that, he wanted answers.
So did Sasuke, who remained completely silent and still. He knew if he did not, Naruto would leave him somewhere like he tried to do before.
"Nothin'," the toad finally answered. "I was just clumsy."
The cryptic answer irritated toad and human both. "Jisan –!"
"I was clumsy," Gamaken insisted. "I couldn't help him against that guy. I could only stall for time."
"What guy?"
"The guy with the purple eyes. I couldn't even beat one of his summons."
"Another summon did this to you?!" Gamakichi could not believe it. If this guy was anything like Gamabunta, neither could Naruto.
"It wasn't normal. It had purple eyes too, and it kept multiplying itself. I couldn't do anything. Jiraiya was the one who got rid of it in the end. I took out another one. But the guy was still too strong. Jiraiya sent me back because I'm too clumsy."
"He sent you back cuz you woulda died!" Gamakichi cried. "Look at yourself Jisan! You're bleeding all over the place!"
"Because I'm –"
"Stop! Stop saying that!"
There were tears in Gamakichi's eyes. Gamatatsu, who had been crying silently during the exchange, looked at his older brother in shock.
Gamaken opened his mouth. A pale pink tongue slithered out and patted both toads on the head.
"Because I'm clumsy," he stubbornly finished. "But I won't die. So don't cry."
"Wh-who's crying?!" Gamakichi just as stubbornly wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.
In Naruto's arms, Sasuke quietly realised that these toads were family. Just like him and Nii-chan and Naruto.
Was this Jiraiya person family too? Gamaken talked like he was. And Naruto was shaking. He started shaking when he heard Jiraiya's name. Sasuke vaguely remembered a big, white-haired man staring at him. He remembered how Naruto had talked to him – how comfortable he seemed.
His resolve hardened.
"Ken." Naruto spoke, looking the toad in the eye. "Did Ero-sennin summon the Elders?"
Gamaken stared at the recklessness in his eyes before carefully responding. "Yeah. They'll win. The Elders aren't clumsy."
Naruto did not budge. His eyes only lowered slightly. Then shifted from left to right. Gamaken followed the movement.
"If you go, you'll die. You're clumsier than me."
Naruto's eyes hardened, but did not stop moving until they alighted on something. He did not speak, just moved. A tongue as hard as steel cable flew after him and wrapped around his legs. He crashed to the ground, turning on his side to avoid squashing Sasuke. Instead he landed hard on his arm and winced at the pain that shot through the limb.
A fracture. Great.
He was inches away from the blue frog, who stared at him in as close a look to shock as a frog could get.
"I said no." Gamaken spoke calmly, and surprisingly easily considering his tongue was sticking out of his mouth by about three meters.
"Please," Naruto begged. "I have to get to Ero-sennin." The introduction was finishing up, reaching the last few paragraphs. The real despair was coming up faster than Naruto wanted.
No. He did not want it to come at all.
"Naruto, didn't you hear what Ken-jisan said?" Gamakichi hopped up to him and patted his shoulder. "The Elders are going. Teamed up with Jiraiya, they'll win. No other way it could go."
Naruto swallowed. Something was wrong but he could not place it.
"They'll beat this guy and his summons," Gamakichi further encouraged. "Even with their freaky purple eyes!"
Purple…eyes?
Naruto's brain was stretching, desperately trying to remember something. A book. One of the books he had read that day. A book on myths.
He had been looking for cat myths – maybe Sasuke had encountered one, or had gotten on one's bad side – but had stopped on a picture of purple eyes.
His mind stretched to its limits. What had that book said? There was not a lot of detail, Naruto remembered that. But what had been there? What…?
Words bubbled up, like gas escaping from the depths of a lake. Naruto desperately grabbed any words he could.
'Sharingan'. The Sharingan was said to be descended from these eyes.
'Defect'. Recent studies have proved that the rippling in these eyes was not a symbol of 'god-like' power, but the result of a genetic defect.
'Exist'. … do not exist and probably never have. In the same way that children believe in dragons, these eyes are legend for Shinobi, overly powerful and exceedingly perfect but ultimately unattainable.
Wait. What don't exist? A name… a name… Naruto spotted it and plucked it from the waters of memory before it could sink below the surface.
'Rinnegan.'
'The Eyes of God.'
They were real. 'Overly powerful and exceedingly perfect'. They were real. 'The Sharingan was descended from these eyes.'
They were real.
Oh no.
Naruto pulled. Gamaken's tongue did not budge. Naruto pulled harder, scraping at the ground. If he was calm enough to think, he would have summoned his Shadow Clones; a few Rasengans to that tongue and he'd be free.
He was not calm enough. In fact, the look on his face was one that made Gamakichi back up, and reminded him that the boy who had threatened to let loose the Kyūbi and destroy his home was not wholly dead yet.
"Let me go!" Naruto snarled, his eyes almost manic. "Jiraiya is… Ero-sennin is…!" There was no time to explain – they wouldn't know what he was talking about. Jiraiya probably already figured it out, but still…
Still!
"Let me –!"
Sasuke finally decided to act. In a flash of silver steel Gamaken's tongue retracted with a cry of pain and surprise. One of the white medic-toads left the team handling the warrior's left foreleg and went to heal the cut that was surprisingly deep.
Naruto scrambled away and scooped up the blue frog.
"You're like that other frog. The green one."
"H-he's my twin brother."
"What's your name?" The frog quivered, its vocal sac swelling minutely. "Tell me!"
Naruto needed to know. As Jiraiya's student, he technically had the authority to summon every toad on Mount Myōboku. But without a name to place to the Summon, that authority was useless.
The Summoning would fail, either by not working at all or, if one succeeded in muscling their way through it, calling someone utterly useless.
Most decent Summons, and especially the most powerful ones, only responded to their names anyway.
"Gama…kawa."
Naruto brought the frog closer until they were inches apart. A thin sheen of something slimy covered the frog's skin and it trembled.
"Take me to Ero-sennin."
"I – I don't know where…"
"Amegakure. Now."
"You don't have to, Gamakawa!" Gamakichi insisted, this time sounding angry. "He's not Jiraiya."
"I'm his student."
"You're still a tadpole," Gamaken returned. "You're clumsy."
"So what?" Naruto was near-screaming now. Sasuke winced and lowered his ears a little to reduce the impact of noise. "So are you! Did that stop you going?"
Gamaken paused. "I…am clumsy. But I could still come back alive. You can't. You will get in Jiraiya's way, and die." Gamaken took a deep breath and delivered the crushing blow. "We're both clumsy. But Jiraiya called me to fight by his side. He left you here. That's all there is to it."
The truth, spoken with a samurai's simplicity, crushed Naruto. His grip loosened; the frog, its skin already slick with mucus, slipped through and hopped a few yards away, staring at him warily.
Naruto let it go. That's right. Jiraiya had not wanted him to come. Not just because of Sasuke, but because he wasn't strong enough.
He was never strong enough. That was why Danzō was able to convince Baa-chan. If Naruto was stronger, she wouldn't have been willing to trade him for…
"– family?"
What?
Sasuke was staring at him. His eyes were sharp. The nails on his right hand were broken and bleeding, but save for the little crease of pain in his forehead, he seemed to be ignoring it.
"What?"
"Is Jiraiya your family, Naruto?" And suddenly, Naruto's mind felt as clear as when he had been released from Danzō's genjutsu.
"Yes," he said, his voice strong.
Sasuke smiled. "Don't let your family die, Naruto. It's already (he held back the tears gathering in his eyes) too late for mine. Don't let yours die too! Or else you'll cry all day like I did and you won't live!"
Sasuke's words… brought the light back to Naruto's eyes. He grinned.
"Thanks, Sasuke."
He set the kitten down and, in an instant, caught the blue frog that had futilely tried to run for it.
"I don't care if I am a tadpole. Or clumsy. I'm gonna help Ero-sennin." He fixed Gamaken with a defiant glare. "And I'll come back alive. After all, I have a responsibility to take care of someone important."
"Who?" Sasuke asked curiously.
Naruto smiled and knowingly wagged his finger. "I'll tell you when I get back." Sasuke pouted, not enjoying being left out.
He hated being left out. And left behind.
The corner of Sasuke's lip turned up, the child to his habitual smirk.
He was not going to be. Not this time.
As Naruto finally got his way with Gamakawa, who reluctantly opened its mouth wide enough for him to step inside, Sasuke tensed his legs.
His Nii-chan was always trying to leave him behind. One time, though, he had managed to follow him on the way to a mission. It was the first time he had actually focused chakra to another part of his body besides his claws.
It let him move fast. Really fast. Fast enough to escape those weird people back in Konoha who had snuck into his room, use his claws to break through the weakened part of the bedroom door, and cling to Naruto before he was Reverse Summoned to the Toad Mountain.
And he would do it again. Naruto and his Nii-chan were the only family he had left. He would not be left behind, ever again.
He crouched minutely and waited patiently; waited until the last of Naruto's sunshine hair disappeared.
Then he darted forward on all fours, faster than Gamakichi could blink or take a breath. By the time he shouted 'Sasuke!' the kitten had already disappeared into the depths of the frog's throat.
"Wait! Gamakawa, spit him out!"
The frog would not listen. He had had enough; Naruto downright scared him and all he wanted to do was get them both out. But fear also gave him an extreme case of paranoia; he was convinced that if he spit Sasuke out, it would anger Naruto because they would be wasting time. Naruto wanted to get to Amegakure as fast as possible and had told him to go as soon as he was inside.
So that was what he did, hopping the fastest he could. He felt a hand pushing against the inside of his mouth but ignored it. It pushed between his lips and the frog heard horrific hissing, screeching, and some rather … obscene yelling. He hesitated, then sucked the hand back in and swallowed heavily.
Get to Amegakure. Spit them out. Go home and snuggle with your wife until the tremors went away.
Yeah, he thought, diving headfirst into a nearby pond. That was simple enough.
A/N: Wow sorry sorry sorry for the long wait. I really wanted to make this a double update, so it took way longer than expected. Soooo sorry!
You guys really responded to the last chapter and your comments made me so happy. Thank you for each and every one of them.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter.
See you all soon!
Edit (27/03/2015): It's nothing, just removed Naruto's blurb about the toads getting big. Somehow when I wrote this I forgot all about the Three Tails Arc, then I realised I forgot, then I panicked, then I calmed down and realised I didn't need to do anything about it. And if some of you have no idea what I'm talking about... good.