Not Sick Chapter 16
Family Drama
The darkness could not be breached.
It flowed around Sasuke, smothering him. Juugo's steady breathing besides him stirred the void, but did nothing to dispel it.
Sitting in the darkness, his only companion a muffled cycle of inhale, exhale; Sasuke stared at nothing in particular. His eyes refused to penetrate the pitch around him: they still weren't ready. His bandage had slipped off, but they refused to open anyway, filled with the empty, black void.
The darkness asked him questions, and Sasuke did his best to answer.
Who was he?
Sasuke Uchiha, of course.
The darkness wasn't happy with that answer. It pressed in, denying him air. Juugo's breath was lost in its opaqueness. Sasuke was truly alone, abandoned in its crushing depths.
Who was he?
Sasuke Uchiha. Avenger.
The darkness laughed, its ebb and flow producing a sound too similar to a deep chuckle to be anything else, and asked a different question.
Are you, really?
Of course he was Sasuke Uchiha. Sasuke of the cursed clan, Sasuke whose brother had maimed him, Sasuke who was alone in this tower with no one for company but an unconscious berserker and the storm outside.
He was Sasuke.
But are you an Avenger?
Sasuke couldn't answer that with the certainty he had the last one.
What was he avenging?
His family, slain by his brother.
His brother, who loved him. Who believed in him.
Did that matter? What did it matter if a murderer cared for him? Even if that murderer was his brother? His last family? Certainly Madara didn't count.
No. It didn't matter if the murderer was family. It didn't change the fact that he was the architect of his family's destruction.
And…
'I'll bring them back.'
Lies, or truth: it hardly mattered. Itachi had lied to him too.
The darkness spun bemusedly at that.
But were Itachi's lies so blatant?
Madara might not have been lying, though. Perhaps he could bring the Uchiha back. Then, Sasuke would have his clan returned to him.
Where would that place Itachi, then?
Outside, and for the best. He would have no place.
The darkness lay for a moment, before shifting.
Didn't he want his brother back?
Sasuke refused to answer that, no matter how the abyss prodded him. Eventually, it changed tact.
But you haven't answered the question, the darkness pointed out, and Sasuke stiffened.
Are you an Avenger?
A blind man in a tall cell, and a victim who couldn't bring himself to condemn his tormentor. If he was an Avenger, he was a pitiable one.
But if you're not an avenger, what are you?
Sasuke considered that for a moment, before the answer pierced through the abyss in a moment of cold clarity
Sasuke Uchiha… and nothing else.
At that, the darkness shifted. A flare lit within, far and away from Sasuke. A depth charge, feebly illuminating the emptiness around it: a sputtering torch in the endless blackness of the abyss.
And nothing else, hn?
Nothing else, Sasuke confirmed. He was hollow now, without purpose. He couldn't bring himself to hate his brother, and so his revenge was denied him: but neither could he place his faith in his ancient ancestor. His promise was simply too good to be true. By all indications, it was a bribe to buy his loyalty, an easy oath that would never be fulfilled.
He might as well be dead. It would provide little change from this endless, interrogative darkness.
Would dying really be so bad? What had he lived for, before?
Killing Itachi. Completing his revenge. It always came back to revenge. It always had, ever since he'd laid eyes on his parents as they bled out on a familiar floor.
But he'd done it once already.
And it hadn't…
It hadn't helped.
Had the emptiness he'd felt in the Tsukuyomi been his own, or the illusions?
Sasuke wanted to think that it had been Itachi's. That his brother had been trying to trick him: to force him to manifest the Mangekyō that had been stolen.
But that would be a lie.
So killing Itachi… killing Itachi served no purpose anymore, even if Sasuke could bring himself to reignite the spark of hatred his brother's truths had smothered.
What could, though, after that? Killing Itachi had been Sasuke's reason for living for nearly a decade. If his brother hadn't delivered his challenge to him that night… Sasuke doubted he would be here today. This pointless darkness would have consumed him years ago.
So if that purpose was gone, what remained?
The flare pulsed again, and the darkness swirled towards it, staining itself pastel red… and orange.
'However much you want to avoid it… You belong here, Sasuke.'
Impossible.
Completely impossible. Ridiculous, even.
Team Seven was dead. The first bond he'd made since the death of his family; he'd cut it apart himself. There was no going back to that.
'You could have killed him at the Valley of the End.'
He could have. He should have. Killing Naruto three years ago would have saved him some time. He wouldn't have had to put up with his moronic ramblings in the hospital, all those days ago.
Perhaps he even would have awakened the Mangekyō. Then, he could have defeated Itachi, instead of falling prey to his genjutsu, and kept his spark intact.
'But you didn't. And you won't.'
What did Sakura know? He hadn't killed Naruto because…
Why? Why hadn't he killed him? To spite Itachi? To spite the man he'd hated, the man he'd sworn to kill by any means necessary? That alone?
Yes. That alone. No other whim: Naruto had lived by his whim, and he could just as easily have died by it.
The darkness coiled, and Sasuke fell farther into it, spinning without an anchor.
'You can't leave us behind.'
It couldn't. It couldn't be that simple. It was… insulting, that he would miss something so pathetically obvious.
And yet…
He was missing something. It scrabbled against his spine, digging into the grooves of his back. Sasuke leaned back into the solidity of the cold steel behind him, taking a ragged breath.
What could it be? What was he-
"Sasuke?"
He started: the darkness fled, slipping away into the cracks of his brain, and the world was left merely empty but for the sound of the rain outside… and the inquisitive voice.
He turned to the side, unable to believe what he was hearing.
"Karin?"
"It's me," she confirmed. There was a muffled snort, and Sasuke could practically hear her eyes rolling. "And Suigetsu is here too." She bent in closer: he felt her breath on his shoulder as she cut the ninja wire holding his arms at his sides. "Are you okay? What happened to your bandages?"
Sasuke would have blinked if his eyes had been open. "They fell off," he muttered, shifting and revealing that he'd been sitting on them. "Why are you here?" he continued, massaging his arms and trying to get some more blood flow into them.
Suigetsu snapped his fingers. "To save you, of course." Sasuke could imagine him flashing his teeth. "You didn't think we'd just leave you out to dry, did you?"
Sasuke just shrugged.
"We've got to hurry," she whispered, unmistakable worry in her voice. "He'll be here soon." She clenched her fingers: the knife she'd used to cut Sasuke wires clinked against something.
"Who?" Sasuke asked, slowly easing himself away from the wall. Karin arms snaked into his, and he allowed it to help him to his feet.
"Oro-" Suigetsu started saying.
"Me, of course." Another voice, sibilant and rasping, cut through Suigetsu's like a knife through silk, and Sasuke froze.
"You," he said coldly, not showing a hint of the discomfort he felt, and the chuckling faded.
"Oh Sasuke," the familiar voice rasped. "Could you really be so naïve as to believe you'd actually escaped me?"
(Ten Minutes Ago)
"Nagato…"
"Listen to me, Konan." The bald man, his arms crossed and his ringed eyes gleaming, stared at the paper woman with cold eyes. "This is my fight now; return to me while I deal with them."
Konan hesitated. "As you wish," she finally said, and then she took to the skies, vanishing into Amegakure's black night.
The Path stared up after her, then lowered his head, staring Sakura in the eye.
"Where's Naruto?" she growled, shaking out one of her fists. Behind her, Sai readied his brush, and Chōji huffed, flexing his oversized arms. Shikamaru, standing up the wall of a nearby building, watched the confrontation with slit eyes, with Ino right below him, slumped against the wall and clutching her bleeding shoulder. Hinata stood behind the Path, her Byakugan active, and her hands raised.
"Busy," the Human Path replied, glancing around and taking in all the Konoha-nin.
"He's nowhere nearby," Hinata confirmed, just loudly enough for everyone to hear. "But more are coming. Three of them."
"I left him behind," the Path said, turning his head to her. Hinata stared back fearlessly.
"Why?" she asked.
"And why'd you send Konan away?" Sakura said shortly, her whole body shaking. She was realizing the import of the situation, and was already running on fumes as it was.
The Path sighed. "I came here to prove a point, and Konan will be unnecessary for that," he said ponderously, looking back at Sakura. "Naruto and I have had a… disagreement. You six will be the deciders of our little argument."
"And what exactly does that mean?" Shikamaru asked, his hands wandering towards his kunai patch. The Path gazed up at him.
"Naruto insists that understanding can bridge any conflict. That people can comprehend each other without the kind of pain I would grant them." He snorted. "He's mistaken, of course, but he refuses to see that. So…"
He settled back, a black rod slipping from beneath his sleeve and falling into his right hand. "I'll prove my point to him. When you all lie dead at my feet, then he will surely understand my pain… and be forced to concede."
Sakura blinked. "You're crazy," she whispered.
"Everyone seems to say that," the Path muttered. And then he charged.
"Above!" Hinata shouted at the same time, and three orange-haired blurs exploded from nearby rooftops simultaneously, diving down into the street: one headed for Shikamaru and Ino, one for Hinata, and one for Hinata and Chōji.
The next few moments were very confusing.
Sakura met the Human Path's charge headlong, slamming aside the black rod it led with with a brutal backhand, before continuing the spin and trying to take its head off with a high right hook. The Path bent with the deflection, dropping low and sweeping Sakura's feet from below her in a single unbelievably quick motion. The Haruno went down, hitting the pavement with a heavy thud, and the Path loomed over her, raising a foot to stomp down on her throat.
Before he could, Chōji hit him like a furious avalanche of meat, bowling the bald man over. Sakura scrambled to her feet, ready to follow after him, before the Asura Path came down in front of her, narrowly missing her scalp with an extended chainsword. The fat man grinned and rushed her, and Sakura screamed in frustration and leapt to meet him as came at him from the other side.
The Naraka Path had gone after Ino and Shikamaru, hands extended. As Ino struggled away from the wall, still clutching her shoulder, the Nara sent a shadowy spear at the oncoming Path. The woman bent in midair, and the shadow tore a long gash along her robe, exposing the whole of her left arm, before punching a neat hole in her hair.
She hit the wall, leaving a crater in the steady steelwork. As Shikamaru jumped backwards, fishing for a kunai, she seized him by the throat, her Rinnegan flashing. Shikamaru froze, and then immediately began struggling like a man possessed, kicking his legs and beating his hands against the woman's, his eyes watching something only he could see with dawning horror.
Ino shouted in alarm and sprinted up the wall. She threw a kunai at the Path's face, and one of the woman's hands shot out and intercepted it. The Path hurled the knife back, and Ino dodged to the left, nearly losing her grip on the wall and falling away.
Shikamaru, however, took the moment of distraction to punch the woman in the eye.
The Path blinked, glaring at the Nara. She opened her mouth, and he froze.
Then Ino shot into her side, burying a kunai deep into her kidney. She, the Path, and Shikamaru all tumbled off the wall, falling the twenty feet to the ground in a tangle of limbs.
The Preta Path was after Hinata alone. It hit the wall about ten feet behind her and turned, coiling for another jump. Hinata, her Byakugan still active, didn't bother turning. The Path launched, and she spun, lancing out with a hand glowing with deadly chakra.
The Path extended a hand, crushing Hinata's grip and draining all the chakra out of the Jūken strike. Hinata's eyes went wide, and she pivoted, striking out with her other hand. The Path caught that one too, hitting the street and skidding to a stop in front of her.
Hinata responded by burying her knee in the man's crotch. He didn't even flinch. Instead, he began steadily draining her of chakra, the air around them turning blue with excess energy.
Hinata stumbled, the man keeping a steady, painful grip on her hands, and the world flashed white. She was already leaning towards chakra exhaustion; having even more drained out of her was sending her to the edge of depletion. Katsuyu was feeding her more, but it wasn't nearly enough. Darkness started to encroach on her vision.
'Like this?' she thought, staring into the man's emotionless face. Her eyes were slipping close.
'I die like this?'
There was a flash of white, encompassing her world. It looked like the Byakugan.
Like her father's. Who had expressed pride in her for the first time she could ever remember, not two weeks ago, as he watched over her beaten and bruised body.
'You are just like your mother,' he'd said, sitting at the edge of her bed.
'Her stubbornness lives on in you.'
Hinata gritted her teeth. The Path cocked his head, a question working its way into its purple eyes-
The Hyuuga slammed her face into his, hard. The man's nose broke with a crack that echoed across the street.
The Preta Path stumbled back, blood running from its nose. Hinata didn't hesitate: she charged, broken, malformed chakra stuttering along her arms, and punched him in the face.
As the Preta Path fell back again, more blood gushing from its face, Sakura and Sai dueled the Asura Path.
Sai swung high with his gleaming tanto, trying to take the Path in the shoulder. The man grabbed his wrist, halting the strike. Sai's other hand shot forward, a ink scorpion clutched in it, and the Path spun, carrying Sai with him and swinging him at Sakura.
The Haruno ducked, Sai hurtling over her, and ran forward, pulling a fist back for a deadly punch. The Path's left hand, still shaped into a grotesque chainsword, swung at her side. Sakura dropped into a slide, slipping beneath the ravening teeth. She kicked the Path in his leg, and the bone snapped with a hard crunch, breaking through his calf.
She moved out of her slide, straight into a jaw-shattering uppercut, intent on wiping away the Path's malicious smirk… and the man bent back, the medic's fist barely grazing his jaw.
Sakura didn't even have time to look surprised at the his ridiculous speed before he sent the chainsword screaming for her chest, staying up on one leg.
A turtle, thick and inky, crashed into the sword, gumming its workings, before a flock of ink sparrows smashed into the man's face, blinding him. Sai came from behind Sakura, his face set in a grimace, and knocked the sword to the left, ensuring that instead of gutting her it merely opened an ugly cut on her side.
The Asura Path took a step back, but with only one working leg, it didn't take him far. Sakura, angry and bleeding, didn't give him the chance to collect himself. She stepped into a haymaker, ignoring the tearing sensation in her side.
She didn't say anything. No scream, no cry of defiance, nothing. She just punched the man in the chest.
There was a grotesque shattering sound, and the man's ribcage crumpled under the blow, blood blooming under his cloak. Sakura's fist didn't stop, burying itself further into the man's body. His spine gave way next, cracking like the thunder above, and then Sakura's fist burst from his back, splattering the street with bone fragments and thick, congealed arterial blood.
The Path stared at her with ink-ringed eyes. He almost looked impressed. Blood, just like the stuff covering the concrete behind him, dribbled from his mouth, the contrast against his pale skin startling. The rain washed it away quickly.
The man collapsed like a broken doll. Sakura yanked her fist from his chest cavity as he did with a sick squelching sound. Her fingers were cold, even through her glove.
She allowed herself to fall to her knee, groaning in pain, and clutching at her side as Katsuyu helped her seal the wound. She did it hastily, her chakra growing thready; there would be a scar.
Chōji yelped, and Sakura snapped her head towards him just in time to watch the Human Path break his wrist with a disinterested expression and a simple twist of his hand.
Sai began to move for him, but he didn't have time before the Akimichi roared, his other arm swelling to immense size. He swung towards the Path, whose expression didn't change in the slightest; until Chōji's broken hand clamped down on his unbroken one, keeping him in place
The Path flinched, even as Chōji growled in pain, and then the clan heir's arm pounded him into the ground, shattering the street for a couple meters around. One of the Path's legs, sticking out from under Chōji's hand, twitched for a moment, before stilling.
Chōji withdrew his hand, revealing the crushed body. Katsuyu ran herself over his wrist, setting it noisily, as the large boy closed his eyes and ground his teeth, making a sound somewhere between a whine and a snarl.
Hinata finished beating in the Preta Path's face at about the same moment, ending the series of blows with a kick to the throat which crushed his windpipe and sent him wheezing to the ground, his features flattened. The Hyuuga stood, watching her opponent go down, and then collapsed on her back, breathing shallowly.
All of the Konoha-nin stood for a moment, looking around. They were beaten, bleeding, and in a considerable amount of pain, but still standing: and the Paths were down.
With the exception of Ino and Shikamaru's opponent. The Naraka Path had regained her feet, along with the members of Team Ten, and they stood opposite each other. The woman stared at them, her long hair matted, before her eyes flitted over the other fallen Paths.
Her features hardened, and she sprinted to the left, Shikamaru trying to keep pace with her as Ino lagged behind, still slowed by her injury.
"Stop her!" he shouted, his hands coming together in preparation for a shadow binding jutsu. "She's-"
The Path changed her trajectory and came straight for him. Shikamaru's eyes went wide, and his shadow writhed, trying to trip the woman. She danced through the lashes of darkness and lunged, a rod extended, attempting to stab him in the throat.
Shikamaru bent to the side, barely avoiding the rod, and the woman's elbow snapped out, taking him in the temple. He stumbled to the ground, and she burst past him, effortlessly scooping up the bodies of both the Asura and Human Paths as Chōji swiped at her and Sakura lunged, her whole body burning with the effort.
The woman flowed past both of them. The Preta Path, she left where it lay. Carrying the other two Paths, she sprinted up one of the buildings and vanished back into Amegakure's night.
There was a beat of disbelieving silence as all of Naruto's friends stared after her. The fight had barely lasted thirty seconds.
Then Hinata whimpered, and the silence broke.
"Hinata!" Sakura shouted hoarsely, running to the girl's side, the wound in her side reopening. Soothing chakra sputtered from her hands, running itself over the prone Hyuuga. "Are you okay?"
"Just… tired…" Hinata whispered, closing her eyes. "I'll be... okay…"
Sakura panted, looking around. Chōji was on one knee, holding his wrist lightly. Katsuyu had fixed the worst of the damage, but it was only a temporary patch. Shikamaru was lurching to his feet, Ino helping him up; blood was running in a steady stream from his temple. Ino herself didn't look any better.
Sai was the only one without any hampering injuries, but he was breathing heavily, his blade hanging low at his side. He was just as tired as any of them.
They were all on their last leg. Katsuyu was doing all she could; she was probably the only reason some of them were still standing.
But it wouldn't be enough.
The slug in question spoke up at that moment, murmuring into Sakura's ear from her shoulder.
"You just have to hold on a bit longer," she said. "Help is on the way."
Sakura turned her head away from Hinata, trying to ignore her shallow breathes. "Is it Naruto?" she asked, eyes wide.
"Naruto is still being held up, unfortunately." A woman's voice rang from the rooftops, and Sakura, along with the rest of the Konoha ninja, looked up. The Naraka Path, and the two Paths she had taken with her, stood there; they'd been revived, somehow. She glared down imperiously, her orange hair dull in the rain.
"He won't be here to help you anytime soon."
Sakura sneered. "We won't need him!" she shouted, her voice perfectly clear.
She wished she could believe it.
"Of course," the woman said dryly. "Bravado will do you no good here, you know." She took a step forward, dropping off the building. The Paths at her side followed, and then they were all right in front of Sakura, Hinata at their feet. "Why not just accept your fate?" the woman said grimly. "It were certainly be less suffering, both for you and your-"
Her voice cut off, and her head snapped to the side. Both of the other Paths began moving. Sakura exhaustedly tried to follow their heads, trying to find what had distracted them.
She found it a moment later, when a green blur burst over her head and kicked both the Naraka and Asura Paths in the face, throwing them through the wall they'd jumped down from with the thunderous sound of concrete shattering. The Human Path leapt back, face twisting in confusion and anger.
"Double Dynamic Entry!" a joyous voice boomed, before the green blur followed both of the Paths through the hole they'd made.
Sakura stared in disbelief. Ino voiced what she couldn't.
"Lee?"
"Not just him!" Tenten shouted, landing next to her, a chain and sickle in one hand a short polearm in the other.
"We have finally arrived," someone intoned from the roof opposite the ones the Paths had been on. Shino Aburame pushed up his glasses, uncaring of the raindrops covering them.
"And just in time, looks like!" Kiba howled, bursting from besides him. Akamaru followed after, his growl filling the street. They both landed next to Sakura, standing over Hinata protectively and glaring at the Human Path with vicious eyes.
Akamaru nosed at the Hyuuga, and then slipped forward, working under her and rolling her onto his back. She lay there, draped over the nin-dog.
"Akamaru?" she murmured, clinging to the dog's sodden white fur. He barked in affirmative, and Hinata dropped her head, allowing her eyes to close. Akamaru moved back, towards Chōji and Shikamaru.
"Looks like I was right to come." Neji stepped out of a nearby shadow, and Sakura almost jumped: he'd approached with barely a sound. He walked forward, his hands clenching and unclenching rhythmically.
He looked at Hinata, expressionless, and then at the Human Path, which had been inching towards the hole, watching all the new arrivals carefully.
"Your work?" he asked, his voice apparently unruffled.
The Human Path bent down, seizing the body of the Preta Path, left lying where Hinata had killed it. "Of course," he intoned, and then he spun and hurled the body into the building Lee and the other Paths had entered.
There was a crashing sound and a loud protest.
"Most unyouthful!"
The Human Path didn't care. It just watched Neji, his eyes narrow. The rain slipped down his hairless head.
"She put up more of a fight than I'd have expected," he admitted. He shifted a foot back. "But… it wasn't enough."
Neji didn't say anything. He just attacked.
One of his hands lanced forward, aiming for the Path's throat. A hand came up, knocking it aside, and the bald man pivoted into a kidney shattering right hook. Neji dropped an elbow, breaking the strike. The Path responded with a rising knee, which the Hyuuga matched.
Neji shot into an upward stab with his left hand, and the Path leaned its head back, the hostile chakra behind the Gentle Fist grazing his face.
"She did show me something, though," the Path spat.
Then, the bald man burst forward, and hit Neji in the face with a bone-bruising headbutt.
The genius staggered backwards, his guard broken, and the Path swept forward to finish the job.
Kiba interrupted him, followed closely behind by Tenten.
The Path spun backwards into a handspring, kicking a brace of shuriken out of the air and buying himself some distance from the charging Inuzuka. The boy jumped into the air, spinning into a Gatsuga.
The Human Path came out of his handspring, and his hand shot out. It fastened on Kiba's rapidly rotating head, and the boy stopped cold, yelping in surprise. The bald man twisted, and then spiked Kiba into the ground, completing his turn to face Tenten as the boy bounced off the concrete behind him, all but insensible.
Tenten shouted, swinging her chain and sickle out at the man's chest. The Path bent at the waist, leaning back and allowing the weapon to pass over him. Then, he cartwheeled to the side.
Tenten's eyes went wide as the man moved aside, revealing Lee as he careened out of the building, his arms braced in an X. He hit Tenten back-first, and they both went down, tumbling backwards.
The Human Path turned to Kiba, prone and stunned. He stepped forward, raising a foot-
And Sai slammed into his side, sending them both to the ground.
The pale boy whipped his tanto back, flinging rainwater from it, and drove it into the Paths side, digging deep. The bald man blinked, and then his hand shot out, seizing Sai by the throat.
The Root member gagged, and the Path stood up, lifting him off the ground.
The Naraka, Asura, and Preta Paths emerged from the building behind him, silhouetted in the building's darkness. Sai's legs began flailing.
"You're the artist, aren't you?" the Human Path said flatly. "The one with the ink jutsu."
"Let go of him!" Sakura shouted, pulling Kiba away from the other Paths. The boy shook his head, and then scrambled to his feet, wiping away some blood from his cheek.
"Oh, I will in a moment," the Path said. "Now, as I was saying-"
Sai kicked the tanto buried in the man's side, and the blade jolted, shifting back and opening a sizable slash. The Path staggered.
Chōji, Tenten, and Neji charged past Sakura, the Akimichi holding his injured arm low and limp. A swarm of kikaichū followed them overhead, weighed down by the rain.
The Human Path reached down, lightning fast, and ripped the tanto from his side, whipping it around and trying to bury it in Sai's chest. Sai's hands, formerly scrabbling at the Human Paths hand, shot down and clapped around the blade. Blood ran freely, and the teen snarled in pain.
The Path frowned and spun, throwing Sai at Chōji. The large ninja skidded to a halt and caught him. Sai was still clutching the tanto's blade in his lacerated hands. Tenten and Neji continued forward, with Kiba scrambling after them.
Tenten targeted the Asura Path, who welcomed her with a wide, unnerving grin. The skin on its arms began writhing, and its neck twitched erratically. Neji went for the Human Path again, blood running freely down his face and into his grimacing mouth.
Kiba jumped for the Naraka Path, still wearing her small smile. The kikaichū buzzing overhead set themselves for every Path Shino could see.
Tenten struck first, bringing her polearm around in a blow meant to decapitate the Asura Path. The fat man ducked, and his arm shot out, extending far farther than it should have.
A blade, crackling with electricity, popped out of his palm. Tenten growled and swung the chain and sickle in her other hand down. The chain wrapped around the electrified blade, and Tenten yanked it to the left, off course.
She threw the polearm straight up and reached back, drawing a katana from the edge of her weapon scroll. She swung it down at the Asura Path's shoulder.
A steel spur ripped through the man's cloak, deflecting the blade, and Tenten fell back, drawing something that could only be called a battle axe.
Kiba and the Naraka Path tore at each other. The woman was taller and stronger, and just as fast, but Kiba was far more vicious, and he had the greatest amount of kikaichū backing him up. He took blows to the chest and arms without flinching, and returned savage punches and claws which tore at the woman's cloak and opened gashes in her arms.
The Path went high for a disabling right hook to the temple, and Kiba slipped underneath the blow, driving his claw-like fingers into her abdomen. Cold blood spilled out.
The woman's Rinnegan narrowed, and she drove a knee into Kiba's gut. The Inuzuka grunted and pulled away, winded… just in time to receive a powerful straight kick to the chest, sending him tumbling backwards.
The Human Path hurled a black rod at Neji as he charged forward. The Hyuuga spun into an aggressive Kaiten, carving away the street below him and vaporizing the rain that came in contact with the rolling sphere. The rod pinged away, high into the black night.
The Human Path leapt up, over the Hyuuga's head, headed for the injured Team Ten behind him. Neji turned out of the Kaiten, striking up with an Air Palm, and the Path twisted in the air, neatly avoiding the concussive blast.
He rode what he couldn't avoid farther forward, headed straight for Shikamaru and Ino. He raised his hand, palm open.
The rod that Neji's Kaiten had knocked up fell neatly into it, and the Path plummeted down at the frowning Nara, the black metal spearing ahead of him.
Ino gasped and leapt backwards, her arm impairing her as she fumbled a handseal.
Shikamaru cursed, diving to the side and throwing a kunai with an attached hissing tag upwards. The Human Path kicked out, diverting it right at Lee, who was trying to join the fight against the Naraka Path. The youthful teen barely had time for his enormous eyebrows to rise before the explosive went off. Lee vanished in a cloud of smoke.
"Damn it!" Shikamaru shouted. He clapped his hands together, his shadow dancing, and the Human Path landed between him and Ino.
"It's useless," the man said. He stared at Ino, to his left, and then slowly turned his head towards Shikamaru. "Why bother? All of you… all you do is fight, fight, fight…"
He shook his head. "It gets tiresome."
His attack was so fast that Shikamaru barely saw it. The Path whirled, sending the black rod he'd caught sailing towards the Nara, and then sprinted at Ino, cutting a visible path through the rain with his speed. Shikamaru cursed, twisting out of the way of the rod and sending his shadow searching out, but the man was too fast.
"Ino!" He shouted the warning even though it was clear the blonde knew the man was coming.
Ino snarled, hefting a kunai in her left hand; her uninjured arm. "C'mon!" she shouted, fear and rage distorting her voice.
A black rod sprouted from the Path's forearm, falling into his hand, and he swept it forward like a rapier. Ino parried the blow, driving the attack to the side-
And the Human Path dropped the rod, grabbing hold of Ino's blocking arm. His weapon's residual momentum carried it to his other hand, on the other side of Ino's guard. The Yamanaka's eyes went wide with panic.
And then the Path stabbed the bleak metal rod clean through her stomach.
"No!" Sakura's scream carried over what seemed like the entire village. At that moment, there might as well have not been an Amegakure, but for the street all of the shinobi were fighting across.
Ino choked, gagging. But no blood emerged.
"Gotcha," she hissed.
And then she exploded in a cloud of smoke.
"More Shadow Clones!?" The Human Path actually shouted, incredulity and anger shooting through his normally calm voice.
"That's not all!" Shikamaru shouted in triumph, his shadow threading into the Human Path's as it viciously turned towards him. The man stopped in his tracks, momentarily confused.
Ino stepped out of the Nara's expansive shadow, something between a grin and grimace swallowing up her face.
Pain's face twisted. "Impossible!"
Ino didn't care what he thought.
"Shintenshin no Jutsu!" she snarled, and both she and the Human Path went rigid, the Rinnegan glaring into her pupilless eyes.
"You…" the man hissed, and then he slumped, his Rinnegan not closing. Ino did the same, her pale eyes sliding shut, and Shikamaru caught her with a shadowy tendril.
The other Paths all froze at that moment, and the fight paused.
The Preta Path staggered backwards, his feet slipping under him like a drunk man's.
Then, as one, all of the Paths leapt away, scrambling up walls and over rooftops or smashing through windows, vanishing into Amegakure's night.
The street was suddenly, impossibly silent. Even the rain seemed muted.
"Where are they going?" Lee asked, stepping forward. He was covered in soot, and bleeding from several shallow scrapes, but was in the best shape of the party by far. "We must pursue-"
Neji stuck an arm out, halting his teammate.
"Right now, we have to recover, and consolidate our forces. Buy time for Naruto to arrive," the Hyuuga bit out, wincing at the movement of his cheek: there was a sizeable bruise blooming on it.
"Ino's on it," Shikamaru informed the group, who gathered around the prone blonde. She looked like she was peacefully sleeping.
"Will that even work?" Sakura asked, jerking slightly as the pain in her side flared. "I mean, the other bodies didn't stop or anything like that."
"But they did retreat," Shikamaru said, easing to his knees. "We've got a minute: let's not waste it."
"What about Ino?" Chōji asked, still holding his wrist. "Will she be okay?"
Shikamaru hesitated, and then shrugged. "She said she knew what she was doing," he said lowly. "That she could find Sasuke, and make sure we could get this thing over with."
He sighed. "I trust her. But let's get ready, just in case."
"In case of what?" Lee asked.
Shikamaru's face grew infinitely harder.
"In case she doesn't come back."
The nape of his neck caught fire, and Sasuke gasped wetly. The curse mark, dormant ever since Orochimaru had been expelled from him, boiled with brief life, before fading away once more.
"Did you think I would truly abandon you?" The chuckling returned. "What kind of master would I be if I were to leave my student like that?"
"You," Sasuke growled lowly, something stirring in his chest, "are no master of mine."
"You certainly learned quite a bit from the man who wasn't your master, then."
"Yeah he did, right before he crushed you like a bug," Suigetsu said. His bravado didn't manage to mask the shaking in his voice.
Sasuke was still blind, but he didn't have to see to know Orochimaru was smirking.
"And Suigetsu, too." The Sannin's voice never shifted from its amused rasp. "Should you really be out here? Don't you miss your tank?"
Suigetsu growled hoarsely, but didn't move forward. Sasuke heard and felt the tremors as something metal, probably the Butcher's Blade the boy insisted on lugging around, smash to the floor.
Orochimaru shifted his focus: his killing intent was filling the room like a lighthouse beacon, cutting through even the darkness cloaking Sasuke's world. He felt it pass over him, making his thigh tremble minutely, before settling next to him.
On Karin.
"And you," Orochimaru hissed, and Karin gasped, the killing intent focusing in on her like a bloodied spear. Sasuke knew that to her enhanced chakra senses the sensation was probably physically painful.
"I never believed it would come to this, Karin," Orochimaru muttered sadly. "That you would go so far for him."
"What d-do you mean?" Karin ground out. Sasuke could feel her whole body trembling through her arm: the kunai she clutched in her hand brushed his.
"When I planted that compulsion all those years ago, in the forest…" Orochimaru trailed off, and Karin went completely still. "The fact that you would betray me for someone like Sasuke… you've disappointed me, Karin."
Compulsion? What was he talking about?
"But maybe it's not too late," Orochimaru continued. "You could return to me yet. I could still use someone of your skills. Not to mention that... talent of yours."
The air grew even heavier, and Karin staggered back, almost taking Sasuke with her. Then, she planted her feet, pulling herself up straight.
"I'll never go back to you," she hissed.
"Really?" Orochimaru chuckled. "You understand your attraction is purely a genjutsu? It is not reality, and it never will be: little Sasuke just isn't interested."
"I-it's not about that," Karin said firmly. "What you were doing… was wrong. I went along because you saved me, because you told me I special, and because…" She paused, before speaking with more confidence. "Because I was good at it. But Sasuke's shown me that I don't need you…"
She took a deep breath. "I won't be one of your experiments. Not again."
There was a moment of pregnant silence.
"Oh, you stupid little girl," Orochimaru laughed. His killing intent spiked for a moment, and then Sasuke heard him move.
Karin was knocked away from him, hitting the wall with a gasp and sliding down with a subtle scraping noise. Suigetsu shouted something indistinct, and there was a rush of air, a blade whistling towards it target, before there was a solid thump, a clattering noise, and a great deal of splashing.
Sasuke dove to the right, trying to get away from the noise but unable to do much more than fumble through the dark. He didn't make it three feet before something thick and slimy wrapped around his waist, jerking him backwards.
The Uchiha's face twisted in disgust. Orochimaru's tongue looped around him again, securing his arms but leaving his hands somewhat free, before lifting him into the air. And then, the Snake was right in front of him.
"So, Sasuke." Somehow, he spoke clearly, despite the fact his tongue was extended far beyond his body. "Will you give me your body? Surely, it's a better fate than remaining in this tower for the rest of your-"
"You've always talked too much," Sasuke growled, and then his hand flashed up, the kunai he'd grabbed from Karin's flailing hand held tightly in it, and sliced through the tongue binding him.
The tongue fell away, Orochimaru making a sick choking sound, and Sasuke tumbled to the ground, barely knowing which way was up. He landed clumsily but managed to stumble forward, the kunai held in a ready grip.
"Oh? Tho' y'u th'ill 'ave 'um fi't 'ef in y'u?" Orochimaru slurred, laughing through the blood filling his mouth. "Gu'd! I 'ould 'ate for my 'essel to 'ive up!"
Sasuke charged.
"I am not!" he shouted, swinging the kunai high and hoping to take Orochimaru in the face. He heard the man duck, felt his hair swish past his hand, and kicked out low. "Your!" Sasuke's foot connected with something, and he pushed, blowing the laughing man backwards. "Vessel!"
"Y'u a'e 'o'hing els'!" The Sannin chuckled, unruffled by the kick to the face.
"Wrong." A glacier crashed down on the room, and everyone in it froze.
"He is my brother."
Time seemed to stand still for a moment as Itachi Uchiha's voice faded away, swallowed by the pounding rain outside.
"Ahhh… I'achi," Orochimaru slurred, turning towards something Sasuke couldn't hope to see. "'Inally a'ived, 'ave y'u?" His speech slowly began to grow more coherent: there was a sick slurping sound as his tongue grew back. "Tha' was quicker than I-"
"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu," Itachi said calmly, and the room was filled with fire. Sasuke flinched away from the sudden heat, shielding his face.
Orochimaru hissed, but the sound receded, and the room was deadly silent in the wake of the fireball. Sasuke waited in anticipation of the next attack, but none seemed to be coming.
"He'll be back," Itachi finally said. He moved to Sasuke's side, his sandals tacking on the concrete. "Karin. We must do this quickly."
The redhead walked over as well, muttering something under her breath.
"Itachi." Sasuke's voice was completely emotionless.
"Sasuke." Itachi's didn't match it: he sounded… concerned. Almost. "Now is not the time. If you have doubts, you must shed them immediately. Unless we work together, things will go badly for all of us."
The darkness, returned from its pit, spilled upwards at that moment before falling back.
You could hit him now, it wheedled. Show him that you don't forgive him.
But they'd already done this. It didn't matter if Sasuke forgave Itachi or not: he couldn't muster enough to act on either resolution. For now, Orochimaru was the problem, not his brother.
"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked. "You already drove him off. Even if he comes back-"
"Orochimaru is not the problem," Itachi said. Sasuke frowned. "I will handle him. But he's forced me to show my hand too soon by going after you. Naruto is in the village, battling the leader of the Akatsuki as we speak. He was the cause of that earthquake several minutes ago."
Despite himself, Sasuke perked up. Naruto had been the one responsible for that shaking? How could he possibly have caused that?
"You have to go help him," Itachi continued, and Sasuke jerked his head towards him.
"How?" he snapped. He gestured at his face. "With these?"
"Yes," Itachi said simply.
"How am I supposed to do that?" Sasuke muttered. He was still blind. What was the point-
"I can help, Sasuke." Karin's voice came from his other side, and Sasuke unconsciously twitched: he hadn't even noticed her approach, wrapped in the conflicting emotions his brother was drowning him in. "How long do your eyes need to acclimate now?"
Sasuke remained silent as Karin waited for an answer. Eventually, she spoke up again, hesitantly. "Sasuke?"
"Two days," Sasuke finally said, trying to push his confusion down. "Two days until they can be safely used. It's too long."
He heard Karin shake her head, and then something nudged his shoulder. "Bite me," she said.
He turned towards her, staring with closed eyes at where he knew she must have been standing. "Will that work?"
"It worked for your brother," she insisted. "Now c'mon: Orochimaru will be back any second. We've got to do this now!"
The darkness, returned from its pit, spilled upwards at that moment before falling back.
If you retrieve your vision, it asked, would you be an Avenger once more? Or Sasuke still?
They're the same thing, Sasuke pointed out, and the darkness laughed.
If you really believe that, then you're more foolish than you think.
Karin's arm nudged his mouth, and Sasuke bit down, hard. The taste of her distinct chakra filled his mouth, and the red-haired girl gave out a high scream.
"Jeez," Sasuke heard Suigetsu say. "Louder every time."
He barely paid the Hozuki any attention. Power rushed through his body: his aches vanished in an instant, melted away by Karin's chakra. A thousand scrapes and sprains he'd never even noticed were forgotten just as quickly as they were brought to his attention.
His eyes caught fire. Something wormed through them, filling them with burning mercury, completely unlike the sensation throughout the rest of him, and Sasuke hunched, gasping and falling back against the wall.
"It hurts, doesn't it Sasuke?" Itachi said calmly. "They will be like that for some time: the sensation never really goes away." He sighed. "Unfortunately, circumstances have forced us forward. I'm sorry we've had to resort to this: I would have preferred your eyes developed naturally."
"Nggh," Sasuke groaned, straightening up again. The burning refused to fade. "Itachi…" he hissed. "Why should I help Naruto?"
"Because," Itachi said, his voice almost amused. "He's our best chance."
"Best chance at what?" Sasuke asked. Itachi didn't answer.
Sasuke winced, the agony in his eyes spiking. He slowly, ever so slowly, opened them.
And the darkness fled. The world returned to Sasuke Uchiha, brighter, more brittle, and undeniably beautiful.
He blinked, shielding his eyes, and looked around. The room was as dismal as he'd imagined it: cold iron and protruding pipes marked every surface, and there were no windows; just a single, partly opened iron door. There was a puddle in the corner, seemingly sprung from nowhere, and a large scorch patch in the center of the room, the mark of Itachi's fireball.
Sasuke flinched again, feeling raw and tender. His eyes hurt; there was no way around it. They burned his synapses, stabbed at his brain, carved up his lobes; they pulsed an undimming agony right into his mind.
But Sasuke didn't care.
He could see.
He could see.
He blinked, the motion deliciously familiar, and turned to Itachi.
"... You're still wearing your bandages," he said slowly, the surrealism of the moment attacking him. Sasuke was seeing the world through his brother's eyes: though he'd never really given the idea thought, he had partly expected more grandeur. Instead, they were both high in a cold, dark tower, with a psychopathic bodysnatcher lurking somewhere below them.
Perhaps the situation was appropriate after all.
"I swore I wouldn't see through your eyes till you saw through mine," Itachi said with an invisible smile. "It was the least I could do, after what I forced you through." His hands came up, and grasped the back of the wrapping.
Itachi tugged, and the bandages fell. His eyes remained closed for a moment.
Then, he opened them.
Onyx eyes watched Sasuke warily, as he stared with mild fascination. They were his own, after all.
Itachi jerked, almost undetectably, and the onyx began to change. Black bled away into red, and three slowly whirling tomoe split off from the pupil, forming a triangle. But instead of stopping there, the tomoe continued to stretch, becoming the eerie, sharp three pronged shuriken of Itachi's Mangekyō.
And then, the whole eye changed in a moment. The red of the Mangekyō's iris bled into the triangle, leaving the entire iris completely black, with the triangle gleaming red instead. A dark star with six points burst into existence at the center of the shuriken, spiralling out until it lay at the center of the eye, three points of darkness extending into the blackened iris and three points running up the triangles spars.
Sasuke watched, fascinated, as Itachi's Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan awoke.
His eyes burned again, but it wasn't the painful jabbing that had been plaguing him since Karin's hasty healing. This was something he'd felt before. Warm chakra racing down neglected paths, filling his head, leaking into his eyes.
His Sharingan was activating.
The world changed, the clarity of his doujutsu leaving it completely without secrets to him. The darkness melted away even farther. Itachi smiled.
Sasuke knew, somehow, that his own Mangekyō must have been a mirror of Itachi's: a red star surrounding a blackened triangle, instead of the other way around.
He blinked again, savoring the feeling of sight, of the chakra pulsing through his eyes. He'd forgotten how satisfying the sensation was.
Something dawned on him as he and Itachi stared at each other, both marvelling at the novelty of the moment.
"What is Naruto? Our best chance at what?" he asked again. Itachi still hadn't answered his question.
HIs older brother's lips pulled back, revealing his teeth. He spoke with an undercurrent of undeniable amusement… and something more.
"Change."
Change?
"And what does that matter?" Sasuke said, his lips curling back in a manner completely unlike Itachi's.
Itachi's new eyes narrowed. "You'll have to trust me, Sasuke, when I say that it does."
"I don't think I do, Itachi," Sasuke said coldly.
"Sasuke," Karin murmured. Suigetsu shifted behind her: the boy looked uncomfortable, bouncing his sword on his shoulder. "Now's not the time. We've got to get out of here first."
Sasuke stared at his brother for a moment longer, and then turned to Karin, his expression not changing, his Sharingan remaining active. The redhead almost stepped back.
"You're right," he said, finality tinging his voice. He glanced at his brother. "We'll settle this later."
"As you wish, Sasuke," Itachi said calmly. "Now, as I said: I will deal with Orochimaru."
"If we both fight him, there's no way he'll win," Sasuke pointed out. "He couldn't possibly stand before us now."
"He's right," Suigetsu pointed out. "If both of you go after him-"
"Then Naruto will fail here, and we will all be in trouble," Itachi said, cutting the shorter boy off. He focused intensely on his brother. "Sasuke, he came here to save you. I have the feeling you're going to have to return that favor."
Sasuke opened his mouth to prove Itachi wrong. To tell him that he didn't care about Naruto, that nothing sounded better to him than killing Orochimaru now.
The floor exploded before he got a chance to.
Sasuke leapt back, dulled instincts carrying him beyond the blast, which opened a hole several meters wide in the concrete floor. Karin did the same, Suigetsu at her side. Itachi simply vanished: even with his Sharingan, Sasuke didn't see him avoid the explosion.
Something rose up through the hole, large and white, flapping ugly, malformed lumps masquerading as wings. Someone was sitting on its back, a red cloak ripping around him. Someone with long blond hair, and cracked, parchment-pale skin.
"Am I interrupting something, yeah?" he said, in a cheerful voice Sasuke had been sure he'd never hear again. "I heard there was something interesting up-"
He froze, staring at Sasuke with black eyes holding a single pale blue iris. One went wide; the other remained limply shut.
"You," he hissed, all lightness banished from his tone.
Sasuke blinked.
"Me," he said, suppressing his confusion and giving the man an infuriating smirk.
If his brother and the rest of Hebi being here was confusing, then Deidara of all people being present called reality itself into question. Maybe this whole thing was a genjutsu, placed by Madara for the sole reason of keeping him entertained as he rotted in the tower.
Then again, Sasuke acknowledged, Deidara would be a strange subject for the genjutsu to pull up. Maybe he really was here.
"That asshole," Deidara said, his voice breaking down. He threw back his head, cackling, his whole body shaking. The sound filled the room, almost drowning out the sound of distant fighting below: it sounded like a tidal wave was filling the lower levels of the tower. "That bastard!" the blond screeched. "He brought me back to fight you?!"
His lips peeled back, and he settled on his clay bird, both of his hands coming together in front of him. A glow began to work up through his skin.
"Perfect," Deidara snarled. He began to go translucent, black veins revealed across his entire body as his skin slowly vanished. "You won't escape me this time, Sasuke Uchi-!"
Deidara choked, his voice vanishing. He glanced down at the arm shoved through his heart, and then over his shoulder, at the lightning covered hand protruding from his back. He turned back, staring into Sasuke's Sharingan.
"-ha?" he finished, entranced by the new design; the star within the shuriken.
Sasuke didn't care. "I already know that technique," he said, yanking his arm from Deidara's body, leaving the suicide jutsu safely defused. The blond tottered as if in pain, though the wound was already sealing up, flecks of something paperlike running over the hole and leaving it unmarked skin. His face twisted in undeniable hatred.
"Try something new," Sasuke remarked, and Deidara tipped over, falling off his clay bird and vanishing into the depths of the hole he'd created. Sasuke jumped back to the broken floor as the bird fell too, without its master to guide it.
"Interesting." Sasuke's head slowly turned up, and he found his brother on the ceiling, his arms crossed and his hair hanging down. "He's brought out the Edo Tensei already," the older Uchiha said ponderously.
"Edo Tensei?" Sasuke asked. He mulled the name over. "Reanimation?"
"Precisely." Itachi effortlessly dropped from the ceiling. "Copies of the dead, made to fight for their master."
"He's got zombies?" Suigetsu called from where he was hugging the wall, Karin at his side. He bared his unnaturally sharp teeth in a nervous smile. "Oh, that's just fucking perfect."
Karin slapped him. Sasuke barely noticed.
"Orochimaru is controlling them?" he asked. "How? His arms are still sealed. He shouldn't be able to perform any sort of-"
"Dear Deidara wasn't mine, Sasuke." The sinuous voice came from every direction. Sasuke spun, Itachi doing the same, both scanning for the source of the voice with their new eyes. "He is Kabuto's work, along with the others whose company Kisame is so enjoying."
The Sannin slid out from behind one of the many pipes studding the room, his arms held at his sides, his smirk poisonous. "He's become the perfect apprentice, really: a much better one than you ever were."
"I can't say I'm disappointed," Sasuke said flatly, and Itachi smiled. Slightly.
"You wound me, Sasuke," Orochimaru sissed. "It's that kind of attitude that convinced Madara to hand you over to me, you know."
"I'm not yours." One of Sasuke's hands clenched, and he felt the chakra in his eyes spike of its own volition. His new Sharingan was spinning. "I'll never be yours."
"Hmm." Orochimaru shifted, falling into a ready position. Itachi and Sasuke did the same: Suigetsu readied the Kubikiribōchō, before Karin clapped her hand down on his arm.
"What did he promise you, I wonder?" the Sannin said idly, keeping the tension of the room from boiling over. "You could have wandered off; your binds were hardly inescapable. What did he tell you he would give you?"
"Nothing you could," Sasuke shot back, narrowing his eyes.
"Oh?" Orochimaru said with amusement. "Perhaps I will surprise you."
"Not even a man as disgusting as you could return my family to me, Orochimaru," Sasuke hissed. Itachi glanced at him with wide eyes, and Sasuke looked back at him, expecting sorrow or a stark realization in his brother's eyes. Instead, all he found was horror.
Sasuke blinked. It didn't make sense. What could make his brother look like that?
Orochimaru started wheezing, and Sasuke snapped his gaze back to him. The Sannin doubled over, leaning against the wall. His rough laugh grew louder and louder.
"Your family?" Orochimaru rasped, his fangs shining. His arms, formerly relaxed at his sides, slowly came up in front of him. They began running through signs. Tiger, snake, dog, dragon...
Sasuke stared. It was impossible. Orochimaru's arms were sealed: he couldn't channel chakra, couldn't use jutsu.
Couldn't-
"Kuchiyose," Orochimaru sneered. He clapped his hands together and slammed them into the ground, a sealing pattern spiralling out around them. "Edo Tensei!"
He could.
Sasuke stared at the fountain of smoke, unable to believe his eyes. If Orochimaru had, impossibly, regained the use of his arms, then this battle would be a lot more interesting.
"Sasuke," Itachi said quietly. "Stay calm."
"What?" he glanced at his brother.
"You can't let him unsettle you," Itachi continued. He reached up one of his sleeves, and withdrew a paper tag, tossing it to Sasuke.
Two coffins ground out of the concrete, sealwork covering their fronts. Orochimaru stood behind them, his sneer only growing. Suigetsu growled.
Sasuke caught the tag, looking at his brother questioningly. "Unsettle me?" he asked
"Open it," Itachi stated, ignoring the question and turning back to watch the coffins.
Sasuke ran his chakra through the tag, and it exploded in a puff of smoke. His katana and its sheath, both lost in the bunker all those weeks ago, popped out of it. Sasuke snatched them out of the air with a hint of disbelief.
Itachi had retrieved his sword?
"Get ready," his brother said, and Sasuke refocused, bringing both items into a ready position.
Orochimaru let out another wheezing laugh, and the coffins creaked open, their lids slamming into the floor with a final, thunderous boom. Real thunder echoed outside in the same moment.
The smoke cleared. Sasuke saw red.
There was a second of silence as the sound of the coffins opening receded. Karin gasped.
"Orochimaru," Sasuke said with perfect clarity, his voice utterly calm. The snake stared at him expectantly, his lip still curled.
"I'm going to kill you," Sasuke promised, and for just a moment, the Sannin's smile slipped.
Then, he snorted.
"You'll have to go through them first, Sasuke," Orochimaru said, as each of the coffins' occupants took an unsteady step forward, both looking around in confusion.
One of them, an older man with stressed crinkles below his onyx eyes, stared at Itachi in astonishment. "Itachi?" he asked, his voice hard. "Impossible. What's going on?"
The other summon stared at Sasuke, her mouth falling open, her eyes red iris stark against black sclera.
"Sasuke?" Mikoto Uchiha whispered, and Sasuke took a deep breath, his hands going white as they gripped his sword.
"Hey," he choked out, and his mother smiled.
AN: well, that was fun. I wonder if any of you saw the title and predicted what was going down...
We're dipping our toes into the endgame. The next few chapters are going to be tricky, with so much going on at once across Amegakure... and other places.
But nothing worth doing is easy, right?
Story rec today: Silly But Killy, by Palladius. A Mass Effect fic where Humanity is swapped for Warhammer 40K's Orks, following the adventures of Kommando Sheppurt. What's not to like?
Hope you enjoyed the chapter.
Serendipity, out.