Not Sick Chapter 24
Uzumaki and Uchiha
Under normal circumstances, it was impossible to fight something like the Kyuubi. It was a monster, a demon, an enormous, hateful parody of a fox. It was something that treated mountains as a temporary inconvenience, oceans as polite suggestions, and S-Ranked ninja as particularly irritating gnats.
Shinobi didn't fight things like the Kyuubi. They got out of the way if they were lucky, and they died if they weren't.
But as often existed in the Shinobi World, there were exceptions.
There were seals, costly and rare, that could contain the beast. Both for trapping it and for stopping it in its tracks. There was the Mokuton, one of the world's rarest Kekkei Genkai, that gave its user the opportunity to entrap the Fox. There was the Sharingan, nearly extinct, that could allow someone with an indomitable will to enslave the beast.
And there was the least famous of them, an Uzumaki Hiden fūinjutsu, the Kongō Fūsa. The Adamantine Sealing Chains, named for their impossibly durable nature. Chains powerful enough to hold something like the Kyuubi by themselves.
Chains that had only been used by fifteen people in the history of the world. The technique had been in use since the Uzumaki's clans inception, a gift from a forgotten ancestor. It was lost for three generations in the midst of the Clan Wars... before being rediscovered by the wife of Hashirama Senju, Mito Uzumaki.
She, in turn, had passed it on to a single disciple in the wake of the Uzumaki's utter destruction in between the Second and Third Shinobi Wars. Unfortunately for Naruto Uzumaki, that disciple was now dead.
Unfortunately for the Bijuu trying so desperately to shatter the last of Naruto's chakra, Kushina Uzumaki didn't let little things like death stop her from fighting to save her son.
"This isn't working!" Minato yelled.
Kushina panted, the chains sprouting from her back and buried in the ground straining. They whirled around her, striking like snakes with a metallic hiss at the Kyuubi. She and her husband had been using a simple strategy. She would hold the Kyuubi, ensuring it couldn't advance, and Minato would push it back into its cage, sealing it and stopping the constant leak of its chakra into Naruto's system.
And like her husband said, it wasn't working.
The Kyuubi took a halting step forward, snarling at the burden Kushina was laying upon it and sending out waves of violent ripples. The chains swarming over and around it clanked and stretched, filling the air with the harsh clashing of metal on metal. The Kyuubi's voice cut past it all, piercing the din like a shining knife through paper.
LITTLE IDIOTS, it growled, striking at Minato like liquid metal: its paw became a red blur, swiping at the ground and violently throwing water everywhere. The attack cleanly missed. Minato may not have had access to the Hiraishin within the seal, but he was still fast. More chains cast themselves around the Kyuubi's claw.
YOU CAN'T STOP ME, KUSHINA, the Fox hissed, locking eyes with her. YOU AND YOUR PITIFUL HUSBAND ARE NOTHING BUT SHADES. It reared up and slammed down the whole of its weight in a single fluid motion, shaking away some of Kushina's chains and hurling Minato back with the force of the impact. A great pulse of force shot out around it, sending a knee high wave of copper water sweeping across the void.
The Yondaime found his feet before he hit the ground, his landing barely making a ripple, but the moment still bought the Kyuubi enough time to advance forward another step or so. The seal shook.
Kushina snarled and threw out more chains. One of them, the tip sharp and cruelly barbed, punched through the Kyuubi's left paw, anchoring it to the ground. The Fox paused, staring at the offending chain. Its lips curled back into an inhuman smirk.
I KILLED YOU, it said casually, ripping its paw from the ground. The chain tore through its paw, opening a ragged, unbleeding gash from the center out through between two of its digits. Crimson chakra bubbled in the wound, knitting the Kyuubi's paw back together in an instant, swirling like boiling water. I STRUCK YOU DOWN WITH A SINGLE BLOW. NOW, AS A MERE SHADOW OF WHAT YOU ONCE WERE...
Kushina fell to her knees, biting her lip.
PATHETIC, the Fox coldly declared. THIS TIME, YOU WILL BE REDUCED TO NOTHING.
"For a natural disaster, you always talked too much."
Minato, and the water-tower sized Rasengan he was carrying, smashed into the Kyuubi's jaw. The Fox's head snapped up. It fell back, its tails coming around to crush Minato.
Kushina shouted, and more chains sprung from her back. They lanced and smashed the Kyuubi's tails away. Minato surged forward into the opening, a yellow flash. The Fox snarled, enormous claws raking for the Kage as he sprinted forward, and Minato jumped, landing on the Kyuubi's leg.
One of the Fox's claws slammed down on its thigh, barely missing Minato as he sped up the Kyuubi's bulk. More of Kushina's chains struck out, ensnaring the Kyuubi's paw and leg in a single loop, and then more followed, twining around the monster's chest. They buried spikes and barbs into the Bijuu, securing themselves. Minato was preparing another Rasengan, the blue glow brilliant in the dim copper light of the seal.
The Kyuubi roared, shaking itself like a wet dog, but Minato didn't slow his sprint. He reached the Bijuu's shoulder, and as he pulled back his Rasengan, more chains whirled up the Kyuubi's back. They looped over its neck and choked it, and the Bijuu roared again, thrashing in rage. Its head was yanked backwards, forcing it to look away from Minato.
Then, Minato smashed right into the Fox, leading with the screaming Rasengan. The whirling sphere crashed into the Kyuubi's face with a tremendous crunch and the chains around its neck snapped taught. The Fox's neck twisted at an impossible angle, bending almost completely backwards, until its jaw was parallel to its back. It regarded Kushina with a single burning red eye.
Then, as Minato jumped away to deliver another blow to push it back, it laughed.
THAT'S IT? the monster chuckled, its neck rolling around and straightening itself. Its head swept towards Minato, and it roared. The Yondaime was sent hurtling back, crashing to a stop next to Kushina. Water flew everywhere, and the Bijuu's laughter grew deeper.
THAT IS ALL YOU HAVE? the beast cackled. It straightened up with a toothy grin, looming over the Uzumaki and Namikaze. WHAT A WASTE. YOU CANNOT HOPE TO DEFEAT ME HERE, WITH SUCH PALTRY ATTEMPTS!
"You think we'll just stop!?" Kushina screamed, climbing to her feet. "I'm going to tear you apart, Kyuubi!"
YOU WILL NOT STOP. The Kyuubi's voice swept over Kushina like acid, and she grit her teeth. Behind her, Minato stared at the monster with narrow eyes, trying to find another angle of attack. YOU ARE INCAPABLE OF STOPPING, it sneered. YOU'RE FIGHTING TO SAVE THAT IDIOT OF A SON THAT YOU GAVE TO ME. HE WAS MUCH THE SAME AS YOU.
Kushina stared, horrified. Her mouth moved, trying to form words, but nothing managed to emerge.
BUT HE FAILED, the Bijuu declared, its teeth shining and its tails contently waving behind it. AND NOW NEITHER YOU, NOR ANYONE ELSE, WILL DENY ME THE FREEDOM I SO RIGHTFULLY-!
It froze.
Kushina stared at it for a silent moment, and Minato with her as he slowly pulled himself from the water. All of the ripples vanished in an instant, dying where they rolled.
NO.
The Kyuubi narrowed its eyes, lowering its whole profile. All two hundred meters of it flowed to the ground, like an animal crouching to avoid a hawk. It glared at the shades, past them, and Kushina slowly started to turn away from it, looking behind her while keeping an eye on the Fox. Minato looked with her.
NO! The Kyuubi shook the seal with its rage, its tails lashing. The last of Kushina's chains broke away, but the Bijuu didn't press the advantage. It shook its head, gnashing its teeth. LEAVE! YOU HAVE NO PLACE HERE!
"Is that so?"
There was a boy standing behind Kushina. He was just a bit shorter than her, with thick black hair. All he was wearing was a soaked, bedraggled pair of simple grey pants, secured by a string around the waist: the kind given to Shinobi in a hospital. Little more than pajamas. The rest of him was bare. There was a sword in his right hand, a steel chokuto. His left was covered in dried blood, as well as most of his chest and the lower half of his face.
And in his eyes shone a black-and-red starburst pattern, three sickle points lying in the center. A Sharingan, but not any kind Kushina had ever seen.
An Uchiha.
"Huh?" Kushina asked.
The Uchiha turned to her, his eyes intense. If the Kyuubi was a thousand tons of boiling water being dumped over her head, then the boy's presence was a sliver of black ice being jammed down her spine. Kushina didn't back away, glaring right back at the bizarre red-and-black pattern.
"Where's Naruto?" His presence was ice, but his voice was fire. There was a fury there that Kushina hadn't heard in a long time.
Her eyes narrowed, and glanced at the Kyuubi. It was still lying low, glaring at the Uchiha with an unbelievable loathing. Its skin was bubbling in places, patches of fur replaced by raw, corrosive chakra, dripping over the monster's skin.
"In it," she said, looking back at the Uchiha.
The boy's eyes spun. The water around him starting subtly rolling away, and a faint aura of purple snapped and flickered into existence. The Kyuubi growled, more of its skin beginning to boil. It stayed pinned where it was by an invisible force.
NOT ENOUGH, it snarled, taking a straining step forward. NOT NEARLY.
"Naruto was devoured by the Kyuubi," Minato said, interrupting the monster. The Uchiha snapped his Sharingan to him. Minato just met it with the steady, passive gaze he adopted during a fight.
"Yondaime…" the Uchiha whispered, frowning. He looked back at Kushina, and his eyes went wide in momentary surprise. "Then… Kushina Uzumaki?"
"A safeguard." Minato shook his head, and Kushina peered at the Uchiha curiously, wondering why he'd had that reaction. "We have no time. You're Sasuke Uchiha, aren't you?"
Sasuke nodded. The seal juddered again, and the Kyuubi took another step forward.
"I thought so," Minato nodded. "You're the right age. And Naruto talked about you, before..." He broke off. Kushina just stared. This was the chubby little baby Mikoto had shown off to her before she'd gone into labor? This was Sasuke Uchiha?
Minato continued as if he weren't affected by the surreality of the situation at all. Trapped in a decaying seal, facing the strongest of the Bijuu, with their son in its belly, and talking to a blood-soaked teenager with furious and exhausted eyes who had been a baby less than a day ago.
"Can you help us?"
Sasuke bared his teeth in a predator's grin. "That was the plan." The smile crept away. "I can't control it by myself. Can you two-?"
"Of course," Minato cut him off, voice still impeccably polite.
"You got it!" Kushina shouted, spinning to face the Kyuubi. She banished her confusion: all that mattered right now was that they had a new ally. "You're done for, asshole!"
THE ARROGANCE, KUSHINA! The Kyuubi rumbled, pushing itself up onto all fours. Its arms trembled, but it bared its teeth in a vicious snarl, its eyes red slits. Its lips were gone, replaced by coursing chakra. YOU THINK THAT WHELP CAN HOLD ME!? It gnashed its teeth, breaking into a run and quickly picking up speed, thundering into a full-on sprint. The seal shook again, and hundreds of gallons of water splashed in every direction. The Kyuubi roared, and the world became nothing but the sound, filled with unquenchable, burning, eternally violent rage.
YOU CANNOT STOP ME NOW! I WILL NOT LET YOU!
Sasuke bared his teeth again, Kushina threw back her head in a guttural, mocking laugh, and Minato restrained himself to a simple smile. Before, it had been two shadows against the full force of the Nine-Tailed Fox.
But now, it was not just two shadows. It was two shadows and a friend.
"Wrong," Minato said, and they all moved at once.
For a monster fox, the Kyuubi was fast. But Kushina was faster. Chains sprung from the water, buried under the non-existent ground of the prison. They whirled around one of the Fox's legs, and the Kyuubi went down, plowing into the ground. It screamed, the sound loud enough to make Kushina flinch. The Kyuubi thrashed, snapping at the chains. It took every ounce of Kushina's remaining strength to hold them in place.
PATHETIC! The Fox wracked itself in rage, slamming its whole body into the ground repeatedly as it attempted to loose the chain. Its eyes were red beacons in the darkness, windows to hell. I WILL DEVOUR YOU, KUSHINA! I WILL CRUSH YOU, BURN YOU, FORCE YOUR HUSBAND TO CONSUME YOUR ASHES-!
Minato and Sasuke both charged in from the left, the side the Kyuubi wasn't pinned on.
Any ideas!?" Sasuke shouted, his voice barely audible over the Kyuubi's rage. Minato glanced at him, his eyes cool.
"We have to get Naruto out," The Yondaime said, his calm voice somehow still louder than the Fox's bellowing. "He won't last much longer surrounded by the Fox's chakra." The world trembled and the Kyuubi flailed more, sending out waves of water. Both Sasuke and the Yondaime sprinted over the waves as if they weren't there. A blue glow began forming in the former Hokage's hand, in preparation for whatever was coming.
Sasuke glared at the Bijuu. "Then we have to flip it!" he yelled, sprinting in. Minato followed close behind. He had an inkling of the Uchiha's plan.
"All at once!" Minato shouted. "It's the only way!" Sasuke nodded, and then they were silent.
But not the Fox.
AND YOU! The Kyuubi jerked its head towards the Yondaime, breathing flames and spurts of vicious chakra that the blond effortlessly danced around, throwing up great gouts of boiling water and clouds of billowing steam. Sasuke fell back, outsripped by the Hokage's speed. A MAN WHO SACRIFICED HIS FAILURE OF A SON! A WORM LIKE YOU HAS NO RIGHT TO LOOK AT ME, LET ALONE SHUT ME IN THIS HOLE!
The Rasengan rapidly expanded. The Kyuubi, pulled off balance, lashed out with its tails and free legs, trying to crush the oncoming Yondaime. The rattling of Kushina's chains holding it in place was like a timer, counting down to its freedom. Sasuke stayed back, out of reach of the Bijuu's attacks. As the Yondaime charged in, the Uchiha glared.
Suddenly, the Rasengan was covered in black fire. The Amaterasu didn't eat into the chakra of the attack: merely dancing along its surface. Minato didn't react to the development. He just continued to weave through the Kyuubi's tails, leaping into the air and running along one of its arms for a brief moment. Then, he was past the onslaught.
There was no prelude. The Yellow Flash was moving so quickly that he didn't need to prep the attack. He just slammed into the Kyuubi's side and stomach at full speed at a slight upward angle, leading with the flickering black and blue Rasengan.
The Kyuubi howled in rage, the force of the attack throwing two of its arms high into the air as its center of gravity shifted. But it didn't fall.
WEAKLINGS! it screamed, its anger boiling the water around it and sending Minato flying backwards, his Rasengan spent. The Amaterasu started to spread across the Fox's body, but it ignored it, thrashing towards the tumbling Yondaime like a shark darting after a slippery diver. Its paw slashed out, claws extended. YOU'LL BE THE FIRST-!
"FAT CHANCE!" Kushina roared, her hair rising up around her like a swarm of enraged snakes. The chain around the Fox's foot yanked back, and the Kyuubi slash fell short. It hissed in frustration, spinning towards Kushina.
It screamed at her, finally shaking her chain from its foot and lumbering forward. THE BOTH OF YOU! I WILL BURY YOU! ONE THOUSAND YEARS FROM NOW, THEY WILL NOT DARE SPEAK OF YOU FOR FEAR OF MY VENGEANCE! I WILL KEEP YOUR MEMORY ALIVE TO BE CAST IN THE DIRT!
Sasuke crashed into its hind leg like a dark bullet, and the Kyuubi kicked out at him in irritation. The Uchiha rolled under the attack and stabbed his sword deep into the Kyuubi's ankle as he came to his feet. The Kyuubi howled in annoyance, turning to nip at him. The Uchiha leapt away, the Susano'o pushing against the ground and providing him the necessary boost to barely clear the Kyuubi's mouth.
As the Kyuubi smashed its hand down in an attempt to squash Sasuke, one of Kushina's chains erupted from the water barely three meters behind her soaring husband. The Yondaime didn't even look back: he just hooked one of his hands into the Adamantine Chain. Kushina laughed, and the golden chain cracked, whipping towards the Bijuu. Minato swung around it and made it to his feet. As the chain flew, spear-like, right for the Kyuubi's side, Minato sprinted along it, twin Rasengan forming in his hands.
The Kyuubi swung for Sasuke again, and then turned towards the whistling noise.
WHAT?!
Kushina's chain split into three, Minato still running along the center one. They all angled slightly downward, and then shot up as one, slamming into the Kyuubi's lower chest and burying themselves there. The Kyuubi rocked upwards, one of its feet coming off the ground.
Sasuke turned and leapt. The Susano'o lashed out with a pulsing purple fist, and the Fox howled as the Amatarasu already rippling across its chest flared in response. The Susano'o fist struck, burying itself in the Fox's gut, and the Kyuubi staggered, constricted by the chains. It howled.
Minato reached the end of the center chain and sped into the already unsettled Kyuubi as nothing more than a blue streak.
The double Rasengan lifted the Kyuubi farther into the air with a horrific grinding sound. There was a moment of eerie silence, filled with nothing but dripping water, and then the Bijuu screamed. Like a toppling skyscraper, the Fox slowly fell, crashing onto its side and rolling onto its back as the whirling black flames finished across its chest. It howled again, this time in undeniable pain.
KILL YOU! the monster howled, coherence forgotten. KILL YOU ALL!
It was time.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed, blood trickling from them, and he jumped.
Two ethereal arms slammed into the ground on either side of him as he did, and the Uchiha flew, higher and higher into the void. He went as high as the Kyuubi was long, and for a timeless moment, hung there in the inky darkness of the prison, the Susano'o fading away. He drew his arm up, and his sword flashed for a second, a point of brilliant steel amongst the utter black.
Then, Sasuke fell. He thrust the sword down, traveling faster and faster: a dark arrow with a shining tip. His face was set in a rictus of rage, eyes glaring. He didn't spare the monster any words.
The darkness above him, the void of the prison, twisted and warped, bleeding red. The starburst and sickles of Sasuke's Sharingan wracked themselves into existence, the crimson framing the utter blackness that loomed down on the Kyuubi. The Fox glared at the hated eyes, its face twisted in painful loathing. It strained upwards, pinned to the ground by unknowable forces: the Doujutsu dominating its senses and pressing down on it like the weight of the universe concentrated in a single point.
Still, the Kyuubi mustered the strength to press itself up on one arm, roaring futilely, spraying bubbling chakra and exposing its gleaming teeth.
SASUKE UCHIHA! it bellowed, shaking the air. All of the water in the prison erupted upwards two or three feet. The Sharingan wavered, before snapping back into place. The Fox snatched at the chains buried in its chest, slowly ripping them from its skin. Chakra bubbled and swirled, and as Kushina gritted her teeth the Fox slowly ripped the chains from itself.
But not quickly enough.
I WILL CONSUME YOUR SOUL! the Bijuu screeched. MY REVENGE UPON YOU SHALL SHAKE THIS PITIFUL WORLD!
Sasuke finally spoke, the anger and desperation in his voice crushing the world below him.
"Your threats are empty!" he shouted, his eyes wide and filled with a hate that almost matched the Kyuubi's own. "And you! Have! LOST!"
Then, he struck, tearing into the Kyuubi's exposed stomach after his two hundred meter fall. He dropped like a guillotine, the Amaterasu spread across the Kyuubi's front all coursing towards Sasuke, covering his descending blade, and then exploding out in one final burst of opaque fire before vanishing for good as he sliced down.
The Kyuubi screamed.
Darkness. Darkness and pressure and heat. The core of a sun formed not of fire and light but of hate and utter, impenetrable darkness. Hate that gnawed at his bones, darkness that wreathed them and drained them of all hope and life, and pressure that crushed them into powder.
Naruto couldn't even writhe in pain. He just remained as he was, slowly succuming to the heat and pressure. Slowly being consumed.
Digested. The Kyuubi had eaten him. He remembered that. He'd ripped off the seal and then everything had gone red and this voice had filled his head and then-
-chomp-
If Naruto could have laughed, he would have. But he was busy being digested, so he didn't.
So this was what he was now. Almost nothing. Soon enough, he would just be nothing.
That seemed nice. Hopefully, being nothing would just be an emptiness. No pressure. No heat. No darkness.
Just… free.
Then, something changed.
The suffocating, crushing pressure lessened.
The heat, once blaring from all sides, dropped to a simmer.
And suddenly, the darkness peeled back.
Just barely. The slightest hint of light pierced the void, pushing the dark away. It was on the cusp between nonexistence and reality, but it blinded Naruto all the same.
Then, there was a sound, a tearing terrible sound, and more light poured in. Now, Naruto was truly blind.
Something blocked the painful light. Naruto blinked, and eyelids that felt like they hadn't been used in centuries slowly scraped themselves over his eyes. He turned his head, the slight motion throwing his brief clarity into disarray.
There was someone standing there, in front of the light. Someone familiar.
Naruto blinked again, and suddenly, there was a hand in front of his face, soaked in blood, extended in what could only be an invitation. He looked past it, into eyes that were painted red and black.
His whole body shook with violent disbelief. His arm came up slowly, unconsciously reaching for the offered hand, as he gaped. The agony suffusing his body crept away, and was replaced by a dull, but ignorable, ache. The heat became warmth, and the light became something to be welcomed rather than painful. The pressure was almost entirely gone, barely scrabbling at his lower body.
His lips split apart, cracked and burned, and Naruto croaked.
"Sa...suke?"
Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"Grab my hand, idiot."
Naruto did.
AN: As if I'd keep you on a cliffhanger like that.
This chapter was produced with the exemplary assistance of Zenthisoror and Lord Darkly. I've recced them before, and I'm doing it again: the both of them are fantastically skilled, and sorely unappreciated.
And with that: hope you enjoyed the chapter, short as it was.
Serendipity, out.
EDIT: Chapter has been expanded. Still short, but more exciting.