Insanity's Slip
Chapter Twenty Five
By Boejangles
-/-
The names Rock Lee and Akado Yoroi appeared on the bored.
The green clad boy shot his arm into the air with a happy cheer, "I knew my flames of youth would cause me to be first"!
Yoroi was a male on the previously introduced Kabuto's team and was a leaf ninja. He walked down the steps to meet the excited male that had jumped over the banister.
"I am happy to be fighting you today Sir Akado, I wish us a merry fight and may our youth shine bright!" Lee exclaimed with tears in his eyes holding out his thumb and grinning. The other male simply raised an eyebrow before getting into position.
"And begin!" the proctor called.
Yoroi started the fight by swinging at the other male. However, the green clad one simply dodged each hit with a smile on his face. "You have much youth Akado, it is impressive."
Angered the male dressed in black flicked both of his hands out igniting them with chakara. "I will end this fast and just suck you dry of chakara."
The other male shook his head when the first one grabbed on his chest intent on stealing his chakara. "I am sorry Sir, but I do not function on chakara so your attack is useless." With this statement he brought his arm back and punched the black clad boy in the face sending him tumbling to the other side of the stadium.
Yoroi shook his head standing up with slight horror in his eyes, this guy was abnormally strong. He quickly raised his hand and shouted that he quit. With his ability to suck chakara out the window there was no way that he could win on strength alone.
"Thank you for the fight Akado, next time we meet perhaps we can show are youthfulness a bit longer," Lee spoke with a smile.
The proctor called the fight naming Lee the winner and ushered the two out of the arena so the next fight could began.
The board flashed several times before landing on a pair of names: Hyuuga Neji and Hyuuga Hinata.
Neji let out a small snort as if he thought it was a joke entering the center, while Hinata simply grinned at her cousin.
The male looked the female over from head to foot, "You know that you are going to lose, it is in your destiny. It is impossible for you to win against me. So why try? Just give up now."
The dark haired female let out a condescending laugh, "You must have not checked your fortune cookie today, you will be gravely sorry that you were paired to fight me."
The older male simply shook his head and took stance, "You think simply being a head member will make you powerful enough to defeat me? You are weak, and as a branch I will reveal where you truly belong- on the ground with me looking down on you."
Lavender eyes simply smirked in response before the girl fell into her own stance.
"Ready and begin!"
Neji shot out with his hands in points striking at the female. Her hands were quick to fight his off, her hands taking the same shape that his were in. Their arms were moving so quickly it was difficult for spectators to follow the movements. The males hand caught the female's wrist causing it to twist slightly which enraged the female.
"You ruined my life!" Hinata screamed at her cousin, "Why can't you be more like Neji, why aren't you strong like your cousin, why are you weaker than a branch member, how are you supposed to run the clan if you are worthless! So, I became smart and trust me smart beats strong every time"! With this proclamation her hand shot out and smacked the male in the face.
He was shocked to find that she hadn't applied chakara to it and then became furious as he felt belittled. His arms began to move faster hitting the girl several times in the stomach. She bent over clutching her stomach with one hand while warding off his moves with the other.
It seemed the Neji had taken control of the fight since he was landing more blows then the female. "Give up now or suffer," he declared.
Hinata shook her head and landed a particularly forceful hit on the male. Neji pulled his hand back and landed an aggravated blow on his cousin's chest. With the impact the girl flew forward curving around the male, her second hand moving for support. There was a sharp cry from the tangled mass.
They both stood tall unmoving, then there was a cough and blood fell to the ground. Hinata smiled with a mouthful of blood. She could feel her heart becoming erratic, but she grinned as blood trickled down her chin. "I win," she said smoothly.
Neji's eyes were wide and his mouth was slightly open. His eyes moved to look at his side where his cousin's hand was- blood was gathering around the hand. "Whe…n…n"? He had never seen her grab the weapon.
She jerked out the kunai with a small cough of blood, "When you hit my stomach. Now that I have removed it, you will drown in your own blood." She winced as her hand moved to her chest and she fell to her knees- the pain in her heart becoming intense.
Gasping for air, Neji found it hard to breath. The blood was filling up his lung and he couldn't make it work properly so the other one was going crazy trying to compensate. His world swam before fading and he faintly felt pressure as his body met the floor.
Hinata soon followed to the floor after her eyes became very wide then closed. Medics ran into the center and started administering to the two Hyuuga's.
The proctor cleared his throat then called the match a double knock out and neither would go onto the final round.
-/-
Naruto had watched the fight with wide eyed apprehension. They were family and they tried to kill each other. He simply couldn't understand how one could be so violent to someone that they loved. His eyes slide to look at Sasuke. Sure his brother could be violent, but he never tried to kill him, not really.
His eyes refocused on the medics carrying the two out of the stadium. Even though he didn't know the two very well, he hoped that they would be okay.
Shaking his head he voiced his thoughts with a hushed, "That was harsh."
Sasuke turned to look at his younger brother, "It's a battle, only one can win. This means you have to go all out. If you were paired against me I would expect you to do your best to defeat me."
With shocked eyes Naruto shook his head, "I could never"!
Narrowed eyes pierced into blue, "If you didn't I would be very angry with you and disappointed that you would let me down."
"But…but I love you Aniki, I couldn't hurt you…" the blond trailed off when his brother's glare intensified.
The raven haired boy grabbed the younger boy's shoulders, "If you love me then obey me." With saying that he gave the boy the slightest of pushes and turned his attention away and to the ring.
The arena had been cleaned of blood and was ready for the next match. The board sparked back to life and produced two more names: Uchiha Sasuke and Misumi Tsurugu.
Sasuke sent a quick glance to his brother then jumped over the banister and into the arena. He was ready to let out a bit of anger and this fight was a perfect resource.
Sakura watched Sasuke leave and looked to Naruto. The boy seemed fine now, but she was worried. Sighing, she looked behind her at where Kakashi was leaning against the wall. The sensei had entered the building when the need for preliminaries was announced. She slowly made her way back towards her sensei, making sure to not alert Naruto.
"Kakashi, I need to speak with you alone," she spoke very quietly once she was directly next to the man.
The silver hair male raised an eyebrow, but nodded and led them to the corner of the observation deck. "What is it that is bothering you, Sakura"?
"It's Naruto," she said shooting a quick glance his way, "He has been having fits. I think he is sick. He would go into seizure like things and cough up blood. I don't think he should fight. I think, Sensei, that you should stop him."
Kakashi rubbed his chin while looking at the girl. "I'll keep my eye on him and if something happens I will step in. Now tell me, did something happen in the forest"?
Moving her hand to the back of her head, she felt her still healing wound. "I...I don't know. I can't remember the first part of the exam. The first thing I remember is waking up in a cave with Ino's team."
The older male frowned, but nodded. "Alright, let's go watch Sasuke's fight." He was concerned and would have to find out what happened from his other two students. Leading the girl back to the banister they had been at before, he gave a careful look to the blonde and wondered what he was going through.
Naruto grinned at Sakura, having not noticed her leave or come back. "Sasuke is going to win no problem, I know it!" He turned back to watch Sasuke fight. Even with everything he had gone through, he loved his brother unconditionally and loved to watch him succeed.
The fight had been going on for a few minutes, but no one had pulled out any special moves. They were simply testing the water, seeing what the other's level was. Sasuke smirked as he circled with the other male.
"You know the Anaconda is more deadly than most snakes in the wilderness. Do you know how it kills?" Tsurugu spoke for the first time.
The raven raised an eyebrow and shook his head.
"One would think a bite, poisoning the victim. That, however it wrong." The larger male shot his arms forward, stretching them to impossible lengths and wrapping them around the Uchiha. "They squeeze their victim until all of their bones snap and it suffocates."
Sasuke pushed against the hold fighting against the squeezing pressure. He was able to force his hands together and into a string of symbols. His face was scrunched in pain against the ninja's attack. He performed the last hand sign as the air escaped from his lunges. With a wheezed grunt, his body ignited in flames catching the opposing ninja on fire.
Screaming Tsurugu released his attack and waved his arms around trying to put off the flames that were spreading to his chest.
The raven took in a few deep breaths of air before regaining his stature. "Hey moron, if you are on fire there's a set thing you are supposed to do." Whirling around, he lashed his foot out knocking the other teen in the face sending him flying. "Stop, drop, and roll."
Tsurugu indeed rolled along the floor from the force of the blow and stopped when his body collided with the wall. When he was completely still smoke trailed from his slightly charred body. He did not move to rise.
"Winner, Uchiha Sasuke," the proctor announced.
Sasuke smirked and made his way back to his team.
Naruto was staring at him with wide eyes and mouth open. "That was amazing! When did you learn to do that? How did you learn to do that? I've never seen that before in my life. That was awesome Aniki"!
The older Uchiha ruffled his brother's hair and gave him a smile, "I was inspired by your exploding clone. I'll show it to you when you are ready."
"Quite an impressive fight Sasuke, don't you think you went a bit overboard?" Kakashi spoke, motioning to the ninja with char marks that was being carried out on a stretcher.
"I didn't kill him," the boy responded bluntly.
Sakura gave a small smile and turned to see who would be fighting next. So far a lot of strong opponents had fought and she was getting nervous for her battle.
-/-
The board proclaimed the names for the next fight: Temari and Yamanaka Ino.
Ino, feeling confident in herself, swayed her hips as she made her way down the stairs to the arena. She was going to show Sasuke just how amazing she was with this fight.
Temari tsk-ed as she saw what was going to be her competition. Swinging open the piece of metal strapped, she revealed a fan, which she hopped onto and glided into the arena. Jumping to the ground once she was close enough, she snapped the fan shut. "This is going to be easy."
"Oh yeah! Don't underestimate me!" Ino screamed at the sandy haired girl.
Temari laughed and shook her head, "I can't believe I have to waste my time with someone that would rather do their hair then practice their skills. You aren't really a ninja. You are a waste of space."
The platinum blonde had turned red with rage. "How dare you"! Her hands were out in front of her as if exposing claws.
Seeing that the girls were about to go out it, the proctor shouted a quick, "Begin."
Ino lunged at the taller girl wishing to claw her eyes out.
Temari raised an eyebrow and lashed out with her fan knocking the other girl away. "Pathetic."
The purple clad girl was seething, simply because the older girl's words rang true- without her teammates, most of her attacks were useless. "Don't call me that"!
"Don't like the truth? I'm sorry; I'll just end this now." Flicking open her fan part way she smirked, "I don't even need my full fan." She crossed her arms in front of her before flicking them both outwards to her side. With this motion a spike of wind shot at the other girl.
Ino was lifted by the wind and pushed into the wall. She slid down the wall and growled. Glaring at the fan wielding girl she shot up and ran towards her.
Temari lashed her fan in front of her body one way and then the other, sending two waves of wind. The long haired blonde dodged one but caught the other in her chest sending her sprawling. Disappointed with the other girl's weakness, the older blonde walked over to the sprawled out girl.
"Pathetic," she said again before bringing the butt of her fan down on the girl's head, knocking her out.
"Winner Temari," the proctor announced on a bored voice.
A medic come out to look at Ino and discovered that she would be completely fine and handed her off to her Sensei, Asuma.
Sakura frowned at the outcome of the fight. She considered herself an equal to Ino, who was just beaten very badly. She was foolish to ever think she could fight and win. Looking to the ground she was slightly shocked to find a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey Nee-Chan, don't look so sad. I know you are great. You'll do fine," a grinning Naruto said. Sakura wished she could believe him. She was knocked from these thoughts when the board sparked to life again.
This time it read: Nara Shikamaru and Tenten.
"What a drag, I have to fight a girl." The protest came from Team Seven's right. Naruto giggled slightly at Shikamaru's response and shot the boy a thumb up of encouragement.
The Nara slowly made his way to the ring to the annoyance of the waiting girl with buns.
"Just because I am a girl doesn't mean that my skills can be taken lightly," Tenten said, irritated at the boys previous comment. She was older and had more experience than the boy walking down the stairs; at least he could have a little respect.
"It's not that I don't trust your skills, I just don't like hurting girls," Shikamaru spoke his longest sentence since he had entered the building.
The brown haired girl seemed even more annoyed at this. "Don't you dare go easy on me"!
The pony-tailed boy finally made it to the arena without saying another word.
The proctor looked impatiently from one to the other, "Alright, begin."
Tenten immediately reached by throwing a fist full of kunai at the boy. Shikamaru moved out of the way of the flying weapons with the smallest amount of effort possible. The brown haired girl reacted by throwing twice the amount of weapons. The Nara dodged again, but one kunai grazed his cheek.
His mind whirled to sort through everything he knew about the girl. She was a weapon specialist. She could fight at any range, but was best at long distance. Her teammates were Neji and Lee, so she didn't have to know Taijutsu, but more than likely knew how to move around it. She had no bloodline or family ability. Something finally clicked in his plan and he shifted the direction his feet were facing ever so slightly.
Tenten was angry; so far he hadn't even moved to attack her. "Fine! If you don't want to fight I'll just end this"! She pulled two scrolls from her waist and through them into the air. They shot towards the sky, spiraling as they did. She crouched down then leaped into the air semi-floating when she reached where the scrolls were fully unraveled. "Twin Dragons of Death!" She raised up both of her arms, but then couldn't bring them down. "What"?
Shikamaru looked up at her from where he was at the ground. "Shadow manipulation jutsu, success." He spun around in circles on the ground. However, in the air where Tenten was spinning, she became tangled in the scrolls. Jumping into the air, the Nara landed on crouched knees. Tenten moved up, and then, came crashing to the ground the scrolls wrapping around her even more.
Shikamaru moved towards the falling girl, who in turn caused Tenten's dropping form to move closer to him. He held out his hands and caught the girl releasing his technique. Setting her on her feet, he helped untangle her from the scrolls. He didn't like hurting girls, let alone a fellow Konoha Ninja.
Tenten was red with embarrassment, but knew when she had been beat. To attack now, when the male had proven he could have seriously injured her, would go against everything she believed in. "I give up."
"Winner, Nara Shikamaru."
"Go Shikamaru!" Naruto shouted from the upper level, giving his friend a huge grin. He had a very high level of respect for the older ninja. Even with this shout, the blonde was still fidgeting over the battles. He hadn't fought yet and the numbers of opponents were decreasing. His nerves were starting to get at him.
The board once again announced its presence and Naruto hoped his name would appear. He was let down when the names Yakushi Kabuto and Inuzuka Kiba appeared.
"Yahooo! I've been itching to fight," Kiba exclaimed as he jumped over the banister with his dog in tow.
Kabuto walked down the stairs making eye contact to a Sensei leaning against the wall before giving a short nod that went unnoticed.
The parka wearing boy grinned when he realized who his opponent was. "I'm up against the seven time loser? Haha, and here I wanted a bit of a challenge."
The white haired boy simply shrugged his shoulders. "I am sorry to bore you Inuzuka." He wasn't quite sure how he was supposed to do this- he couldn't show his true skill, and giving up before the fight started might raise suspicion. He didn't really want to be a human punching bag for it to look real. Perhaps he would take a few hits then back down with a slightly more believable story.
"Begin," the Proctor called from where he was standing.
Kabuto took a sloppy stance that could be described as basic academy.
Kiba laughed before jumping into the air and twisting himself into a human bullet that rocketed to the boy.
The older male took the hit and allowed himself to be pushed back. He slapped his hands back against the wall to keep the impact from being painful. That was when a sharp pain went up his shin. He looked down with a hiss and kicked the dog, which he had forgotten about, off of him.
Kiba growled, his eyes becoming darker. "Don't touch my dog"! He lunged forward with a barrage of punches aimed at the taller male.
Kabuto was at first shocked by the attack, so the first few hits made solid contact. Gathering his bearings, he blocked the rest of the attacks and moved out of the way. "I give up! I give up!" he shouted looking at the boy. He shot a quick glance at the shadowy sensei before making his way out of the arena.
The proctor coughed a little shocked that the male had given up so easily. "Winner, Inuzuka Kiba."
"Hell yeah!" Kiba shouted grabbing Akamaru and rushing up the stairs.
Sasuke shook his head watching the white haired teen, something seemed off about that kid. He shook the thought out of his head and looked around at the opponents to go. Only six people were left. He shot a glance at his brother to see how he was fairing.
The blonde was gripping the guard rails and staring intently at the board. He seemed slightly nervous, but mostly excited.
Sakura glanced for one teammate to the other. She flicked her eyes to the board that was moving. There was a small dread inside of her that she would be fighting her younger teammate. The board stilled and she hoped that Kami was on her side.
The bright white letters read the names: Akimichi Choji and Aburame Shino.
-/-
Choji gulped from where he was standing and sent a glance to the ever stoic Shino.
Shino on his part simply descended the stairs leading to the arena for fighting.
Ino who had woken up a few minutes ago slapped Choji on his back. "Come on, go and get him! You can win I know it. Now go fight"!
The larger boy flinched slightly before making his way down the stairs. He looked at the taller boy then down at the ground before looking up again. With determination in his eyes he walked over to his opponent and whispered in his ear.
The Aburame gave a swift nod of agreement and took a few steps back.
The proctor raised an eyebrow at the boys' antics, but said nothing. "Ready, begin"!
Both boys took a step back and fell into a defensive stance with one hand back.
"One," Shino spoke quietly.
"T..two," Choji squeaked out.
"Three," the two boys said together. Moving their hands forward then struck out towards each other- Choji with a fist and Shino with his hand flat in a slashing motion.
The larger boy held his head down, "He won."
The proctor coughed confused by this declaration. "Wh...What"?
"Paper beats rock," Choji explained walking up the stairs, "So, he wins."
The proctor blinked slowly watching the quiet boy follow the larger out of the arena. "Uhm, Winner Aburame Shino."
Sakura's eye twitched at the outcome of the fight. "What was that all about"?
Naruto was grinning ear to ear as he turned to look at his sister figure. "Choji was scared to fight and requested that form of battle from Shino. Shino is a really amazing shinobi, I mean he could have easily beaten Choji in battle, but decided to chance it with a game to help support a fellow Konoha ninja. That is just admirable in every way."
Sakura tilted her head to the side, never thinking of anything along those lines. Sasuke simply scoffed and shook his head. In his mind it was completely stupid to leave something so serious to chance or luck.
Sakura gulped and picked at her finger when she realized there were only four of them left. She really didn't want to fight her younger teammate, and judging from what she had seen and heard the other two were really strong. Her eyes focused on the board intently hoping that it would be for good.
The board stopped with two names and Sakura didn't know if she should be relieved or not. The board read: Haruno Sakura and Gaara.
Naruto shot his attention across the balcony to the redhead that was descending the stairs, it was the same boy that had kidnapped him earlier in the exam. He moved his eyes back to his female teammate feeling a little nervous, but forced a huge smile. "Alright you can do this nee-chan!"
Sakura smiled slightly and nodded her head. She looked to her other teammate to see he was impassive and then her sensei to see him nod at her. She nodded her head to herself and with a new resolve made her way down the stairs to the waiting boy.
The blonde clutched the railing as the proctor announced the start of the fight. Neither person moved at first, then, the pink haired girl threw a kunai at the male. Sand came up to block the attack, shocking the girl.
She took a small step back, before hardening her face and running at the male. She went to punch him, but met sand instead and hurt her hand. Jumping back, the member of team seven wondered how she could win this.
So far, the male hadn't even attacked. Naruto could feel his stomach tighten; he wanted to scream at her to give up and leave the fight, but he didn't want to doubt his sister. He gripped the rail tighter hoping everything would be okay.
Sakura reached into her pouch and shot another kunai at the male. It again was caught by the sand, but this time when it was caught- it exploded.
Being forced back a step, the red head glared at the female. His mother was now screaming at him to finish this pathetic excuse that dared make him move. Lifting up his arm, sand shot out around the female and wrapped around her body in a spiraling motion. It trapped her legs together, her arms tight to her chest, and even wrapped around her mouth.
Sakura's eyes were wide in panic. She couldn't even scream that she wanted to quit, which she desperately wanted to do. The way the sand wrapped around her reminded her of the way Naruto's shadowy thing had wrapped around the sound nin and tore them to pieces. Trying to jerk her body out of the hold, she screamed desperately not wanting to die.
Naruto's mouth was moving before he could even register what he was doing. He had leaned almost completely over the railing and stretched out his arm in a desperate move while screaming, "No! Don't kill her!"
Gaara shot his eyes to the blonde that had caught his interest and tilted his head to the side slightly.
"Please," the younger boy begged with a pleading looking in his eyes.
The red head didn't make a move to respond to the male in the positive or negative. Instead, he focused back on the squirming girl in his grasp. Lifting his hand higher into the air, he watched the girl rise off the ground. The higher he moved his arm, the higher she went. Then in a sudden motion he brought his entire arm down. This caused Sakura to be slammed against the ground in a hard motion.
Before she could get her bearings, she was being lifted in the air again. When she hit the ground the second time, everything went black for her. This however didn't stop the male from lifting her form in the air again.
"No!" Naruto screamed and jumped off the balcony. The fight was over, she was passed out, the fight needed to end, and he couldn't let her die. He grabbed onto the sand that was in between the two and started jabbing at it with a kunai. He was so busy trying to free his sister that he didn't notice Kakashi had been one second ahead of him and was freeing Sakura, or that the proctor had moved to stop Gaara by naming him the winner and ending the fight. He, however, did notice when the sand he was on flung him into a wall.
Standing up and shaking himself off, Naruto glared at the red head that seemed to be glaring back at him. The red head made his way up the stairs, while the blonde took in deep breaths trying to calm himself down. He turned his attention to his sister figure and saw Kakashi handing her over to the medics. The older man turned to his youngest student and motioned that she should be okay.
The blonde gave a small nod before he noticed another male entering the ring. It was the same guy that had punched him for running into him back before the exam started. Glancing at the board he found his name and Kankuro, so that's what the male's name was.
Kankuro simply grinned as he entered the ring. "Haha, I'm fighting against you? A little wimp that can be beaten with one hit. Oh this is going to be great." He then started to laugh. "To think you are even weaker then that little girly teammate of yours that Gaara beat the life out of."
Clenching his fists, Naruto tried to control himself. He sent a quick look to the proctor wanting the fight to start. There was a quick 'start' and Naruto took off. He ran up to the male and kicked the white bundle from his back, wanting to separate him from his weapons.
The older male was in complete surprise. The little punk didn't have that speed or power when he was beating the kid earlier. When he hit the ground he had lost focus on his chakara strings and his puppet fell lifeless.
Surprised, the blonde watched what he thought was Kankuro fall to the ground, as the bundle started moving. Moving to the bundle, he kicked it. There was a grunt, confirming that the real Kankuro was inside.
The black clad boy quickly untangled himself and stood to where he was glaring down at the boy. "Stupid brat, I hope that stupid bitch dies of internal bleeding."
Naruto's eyes flashed red, as he began to growl in a low animalistic manner. Moving faster than he had before, he punched the older male in the gut. The black clad boy flew into the wall before sliding down it.
Jumping onto the older male before he could get his bearings, Naruto started wailing on the others face. Punching with one hand then the other without pause, this caused the boy's face to bounce side to side. He didn't stop when his hands became wet with blood or when the screams turned into gurgles. Inky black eyes glowed in delight at the suffering they caused.
Kankuro's fingers twitched as he attempted to reconnect to his puppet. He could feel that if he didn't do something quick, he would drown in his own blood. Connecting a string, he pulled it to him. This caused the puppet to fly towards the blonde's back.
Too occupied with beating the other's face in, Naruto didn't even sense the attack coming at his back. His first alert was the metal sliding into his back and out the front of his stomach. He paused mid punch, and looked down at the arm sticking out of his stomach.
Sasuke's eyes widened as he watched his brother be impaled. It all seemed to happen in slow motion, that he didn't know what to do or if there was anything that he could do. He could feel the panic coming off of his sensei from right beside him, but neither of them moved.
The blonde screamed, but it didn't seem to be in pain, it was an angered sound. Black shot out from around his body, sending the puppet across the stadium, into the wall, and into pieces. Red then shot out from his midsection before the black consumed it. Then, the boy seemed completely untouched, like there was no wound to begin with.
Kankuro had lost his fight against breathing through his blood and was unconscious. The proctor quickly called the end of the fight and pulled the blonde off the boy. Medics were there immediately to open up the older boy's windpipe and attempt to reconstruct his face.
Naruto took a few steps back, barely registering that he had won. He was in shock of what he had done, and everything was getting extremely fuzzy.
The blackness had been in such a rush to heal it's host, that is had sealed the poison inside the boy. The fox's chakara swirled around trying to heal the poison from her kit's system. However, every time her power clashed against the darkness it would cause further injury to the boy. Part of the fox was pissed that the boy had been angry enough to let down all of his guards and let the darkness get a grasp on him. The other part of was afraid, afraid they truly were killing him from the inside out.
Naruto staggered, it felt as if his body was revolting against himself. He attempted to make it to the stairs, but as soon as he touched the railing, his body fell back wards. His eyes had rolled into the back of his head before he even touched the ground.
-/-
Naruto screamed in agony. It felt as though his body was being torn in two.
"I have to heal him!" He heard a scream from his right.
"You'll just steal him away again!" Was a hiss from his left.
Trying to force the pain down enough he looked to see the giant red fox on his right and the darkness to his left. He had somehow moved out of the cage of protection. He looked down to see a mixture of red and black wrapped around his body, both trying to pull him in a different direction. He let out another agonized scream at a painful tug.
"See you stupid fox, you are killing him. Just let me have him and this will all stop."
Kyuubi growled, "I'm not killing him, you are! Let go of him now before I eat you whole!"
Laughing filled the room. "If you could eat me, you would have done it already!"
Naruto couldn't even form words as pain wracked through his body and tears made their way down his face. He really didn't think he would die like this.
-/-
Sasuke watched his brother's body fall, before the blonde started convulsing. "No!" He ran down the stairs and came to his brother's side; to find the Kakashi had materialized on the blonde's other side.
The silver haired male looked over his student, trying to find the cause of the convulsions. He spotted the curse mark and his eyes widened, "Oh no…" Picking up the blonde he took off running. He had no idea how the curse seal would react with the Kyuubi seal, but based on the boy's reaction it was not good.
He went into an unused medic room and bound the boy to a bed after removing his shirt. At the moment, he didn't care that Sasuke had followed him. Whirling on Sasuke, he ordered the boy to go and get ink.
Searching through his scrolls, he found the one that contained the scroll his sensei left him. Unsealing it, he searched through it before finding the seal needed to bind the curse seal. Pulling out a vial of ink he started drawing the seal on the boy's body. He hoped that the older boy would return soon with the rest of the ink needed to complete the seal.
His youngest student appeared to be in excruciating pain and would not stop convulsing. Sasuke ran in carrying a few bottles of ink. Taking them quickly, he finished drawing the seals, which covered the boy's body, the bed he laid on, and the floor. Standing back, he motioned Sasuke to do the same, before he went through several hand motions and slammed his hands against the ground.
-/-
Naruto had lost his voice from screaming so hard and wished that unconsciousness would take him, but part of him knew that he was unconscious already.
The darkness started to loosen its grip, before letting go completely to attempt to fight off the glowing words that were circling it.
The blonde watched in slight awe as the words wrapped around the creature, before they solidified into a cage. The darkness lashed out against the cage, but could not free itself.
Startled, Naruto looked around when he was picked up. Then he saw it was the fox pulling him into its warm body. He allowed his eyes to slide shut, when an overwhelming sense of comfort replaced the sensation of pain.
-/-
Sasuke paced in front of the bed, wondering why his brother had not woken since the seal was done. His body had stopped convulsing and seemed to be calm now, but he would not wake.
"Sasuke, his body went under a lot of stress. He needs to rest, just be patient," Kakashi's calm voice attempted to comfort the boy.
Sasuke huffed and sat on the bed his brother was asleep on.
"There you go, now tell me what happened in the forest and how Naruto received that," he motioned to the curse seal when he spoke.
Sasuke nodded and began to explain how they encountered a really powerful enemy, the fight they had, how Naruto had been sick and convulsing, about the fight Naruto had with the sound nins. He only spoke what he felt was absolutely necessary, so he left out all the conversations and how Naruto had been kidnapped for a short period of time.
Kakashi started to put all the pieces together, but still felt something was missing. Glancing over at his blonde haired student, he hoped that what he was missing wouldn't cause problems.
-/-
A/N: Alright, finally, I know I know, finally an update. I am very sorry that it took so long to get here. I allowed myself to at first get discouraged by what a few people said and then distracted by college. So life got in the way, but I finally have it. I was actually pushed to finish this chapter after a very polite review rnc4- thank you for helping snap me back to focus and working on the story.
I hope you enjoyed the story. Like always, tell me what you think. As a side note, if you are critiquing my work please attempt to do so in a calm polite manner without being violent or cussing at me. Thank you and review please! Again I gravely apologize for it taking so long. I have no idea when the next update will be and what happens next in the story is still fuzzy and I have other stories (specially the one I am almost done with, which I am going to send to a publisher) that are also taking space in my mind. Tata till next time.