As I've forgotten do so earlier, let me use the opportunity to answer what I've failed to answer:
Dawghere123: I promise that there will be a big Neji Hyuga vs Rock Lee fight in this story. It'll be a pain to write, as melee is difficult to translate into words, but it will happen.
Kaleidophoenix: This fic is cursed with bombed POV shifts. It's why I'm not rolling in thousands of reviews already, really... :P
Anyway, the chapter closes the first half of Book 2. It's not as impactful as expected, and will feel really rushed at the end. It's very intentional; blame Kaleidophoneix.
A wide open field in the forest of silent movement, now hidden in the shadow of the ruined Rashomon – it was an exemplary battlefield, and not one of the shinobi present would have it any other way. The grassy field seemed to dance and sway with the continued breeze that kept rolling in from the south, giving off the illusion that they were standing atop a vast sea of green.
Their opponent, a gaunt, pale young man with the insignia of the Kaguya clan on his forehead and a curse mark on his collarbone, silently watched the assembled group of genin, his loose robe swaying just as the grass did.
The sky above grew brighter with every passing second, night slowly turning into dawn.
"Choji..." Shikamaru began, turning his head just enough in order to make eye contact with his best friend, "… I'm going to need you to hang back for this one."
"Are you sure, Shikamaru? I can still fight," came the Akimichi's response. The boy was drained, sure, but abandoning one's friends to an obviously dangerous foe would never come easy to a leaf ninja.
"Yeah," Shikamaru sighed, "I'm sure."
Wasting no time, Choji did as he was told, backtracking and disappearing behind the Rashomon in a matter of seconds. The remaining four genin began fanning out, more intent on making themselves unappealing target than with the hope of surrounding the Kaguya.
"Naruto, now!" came a shout, and the blonde wasted no time in reacting – in moments, the field was flooded with doppelgangers, about two dozen or so – a miniscule number compared to the full extent of the genin's capacity, but a useful wall of bodies nonetheless.
As the smoke cleared, it was apparent that the technique's purpose was twofold; not only was there an excessive amount of bodies between Kimimaro and his targets, but his prime goal, Uchiha Sasuke, had ducked out of sight in the brief window supplied by his teammate.
The Kaguya closed his eyes for a moment, though not long enough for the remaining genin to make their moves, and gave a small sigh:
"I've already told you, running won't make any difference…"
There were five dances to the Kaguya's fighting style, and each one of those dances carried a symbolism that was unknown to anyone but the Kaguya themselves. While the rest of the world saw them as barbaric and savage even at the height of their power, they knew that utilizing the Dead Bone Pulse meant accepting one's own pain and grief before inflicting it unto others.
Most of the clansmen were incapable of moving past the dance's second stage – had they been able to, there would never have been any doubt to the clan's ability to overcome their enemies in the mist. It was only with great experience, or exceptional talent, that a single Kaguya could master all five of the clan's dances, utilizing them in proper sequence and with expected effectiveness.
The first stage of the Kaguya's… Kimimaro's dance, was the Dance of the Willow, which itself was tied to the act of Denial.
There was no sound as the bony protrusions tore through the bright lavender robe of Orochimaru's prime enforcer, jutting out of his palms, elbows, knees and shoulder blades in perfect symmetry and perfect form. The dull white of the bone gave no reflection, and yet looked as polished as the blade of a kunai.
The purpose of this dance was twofold – the user denies conflict, refusing to consider his enemies as threats; swaying according to the flow of the battlefield, much like a willow in the wind, the one who uses the first dance will never be the first to strike.
Although the breeze on the battlefield was negligible, it carried Kimimaro across the opening as if it was a typhoon. The blonde child's many clones were parted by his blades as easily as blades of grass were parted by wind.
"Agk! Ack!" One by one, the clones fell…
They were numerous, that was certain – a solid clone technique shouldn't be this easy to use for a mere child… perhaps he too was special in some way?
But what possible ability could a child clad in bright orange possess? His attacks were erratic, verging on the unpredictable, but they were still too slow, too sloppy to pose a real threat. The other one, the only one of the group with a chunin vest, was a more immediate danger, Kimimaro realized.
And truly enough, the boy's shadow, almost indiscernible in the morning's low light, was slowly, but steadily, slithering through the mass of semi-solid bodies and waiting for its' chance to lash out and attach itself to his own. Yet, as it swerved left and right, ducking into other shadows to gain velocity or conceal itself anew, it never quite could connect with the pale dancer.
The Nara's brow furrowed, and he pushed it harder, skipping it across the legion of Naruto clones, between blades of grass and all across the battlefield, only to find the shot impossible, time after time. Still, he grit his teeth and pressed on, his shadow joining the Kaguya in a high-stakes dance of death and battlefield control.
Yet, soon enough, the first batch of clones was nearly depleted, and another puffed into existence to carry on their fight. Only, instead of being focused on the clones, the Kaguya's eyes were trained on a clear target – the Nara himself.
Shikamaru's teeth grit as he released his technique, realizing that sustaining it further would only be a waste of chakra. This Kaguya was somehow, despite all logic, one step ahead of his own shadow. To try and latch onto him with the Shadow Possession Technique would be not only pointless, but even dangerous, now that he was their enemy's prime target.
"Naruto!" he barked, praying to anything that would listen that the real blonde was somewhere within earshot – if they were going to fight, they needed to do it simultaneously, all at once.
"Sir!" the blonde replied immediately, skidding to a halt next to his chunin comrade; he had a grin on his face, which, once you thought about it, was to be expected. People like Naruto and Sasuke grow fastest when pitted against impossible odds.
"I need you to get him into the air," came the command, delivered clearly and concisely as the Nara handed something to the blonde.
Regardless of the impossible feats ninja accomplished on a daily basis, aerial maneuverability was rare even amongst their kind, so odds were that the Kaguya's swaying style would be completely negated if he was somehow taken into the sky.
"Gotcha!" came the reply, not from the blonde, but the Inuzuka, who was already dashing past he two of them, zigzagging through the mass of clones.
Again, the Nara grit his teeth in frustration, as he stood up and began moving clockwise around the center of the battlefield, the area currently held by their adversary. If he could duck out of view for even a moment, such a moment would be enough to catch the Kaguya off his guard.
oOoOoOo
On the far side of the battlefield, Sasuke Uchiha carefully snuck his way to the base of a colossal senjuwood, smirking upon realizing that he has a perfectly clear shot of the entire battlefield. He might've made the mistake of messing his hand up, handicapping himself enough to invalidate close quarters combat as an option, but he still had his throwing stars and fire jutsu, which would be more than enough to blow Orochimaru's thug away…
It was fascinating, how the forest was still so silent, despite the carnage taking place on the open field. It was as if he was watching one of those old educational movies, rare footage from past wars against the cloud and the stone, where his Uchiha ancestors sowed chaos among the enemy ranks via their bloodline abilities.
Yet, now that he thought about it, it wasn't the eyes that made exceptional Uchiha… Sure, there was the legend of Madara, who supposedly had a Susanoo powerful enough to ruin the countryside, but the exceptional Uchiha of his lifetime weren't famous for their Sharingan, but rather something else…
Shisui, an Uchiha, wasn't ever known for his heritage. He was known as Shunshin no Shisui, Shisui the teleporter. It was his mastery of a mundane technique, one employed by hundreds of shinobi across the continent, that made him the local legend he once was...
How could someone like him decide to just throw himself into the river? Sasuke knew Shisui… or at least he thought he did… He also knew his brother, and that very same brother…
Itachi, he had to admit, would be nearly as dangerous a foe if he didn't have the Tsukuyomi, the Susanoo, or even his considerably less impressive basic Sharingan abilities; Itachi Uchiha was one of the shinobi world's bogeymen because he was simply better than anyone else. His stars flew truer, his blades struck faster, his body moved with more grace – Itachi Uchiha was the perfect shinobi, and Sasuke was going to have to kill him.
But none of that mattered right now, right now, Orochimaru's pawn was the immediate threat, intent on slaying not only his teammate, but also the few people that all but volunteered for a mission he himself demanded. They could've refused; it might've gotten them a slap on the wrist, but that was it – the Hokage couldn't afford diminishing her already dwindling ranks further; and still they chose to go along, to once again risk it all in service of the village, and all that just because he asked them to…
As day broke into the sky, working to dispel the last traces of night, Sasuke Uchiha smirked, recognizing his faraway team leader's stratagem – a stratagem he knew how to assist.
What few people realized about Inuzuka Kiba was the fact that, among his peers, his speed was second only to the unmatched agility of Rock Lee. So, when Shikamaru said that the key to beating their pale-faced enemy was to take the footing underneath him, Kiba recognized his moment to shine.
Each stride longer and quicker than the last, he blazed across the battlefield, caring little about what happened to the duplicates of Naruto he shoved out of his way. His chakra coiled and spun, generating ever-increasing amounts of energy within, just waiting for the moment it's all released.
"Gatsuga~!" he roared lunging into a corkscrew dive with unnatural speed, spinning out of control. His chakra, bottled up until that point, roared outwards, manifesting as a rough, jagged shell, more than powerful enough to protect him from the Kaguya's bone blades.
Kiba shot forward, intending to collide with flesh and bone, only finding himself skidding along the ground, his chakra fizzling out as his technique ran its' course…
"Inadequate," Kimimaro growled, sliding across the ground as if it was ice, "You cannot hope to…"
Yet, before he could finish his sentence, a wicked blast of heat and soot shook him from the left; one of the clones, the ones that fell to his blades en masse, almost as if they were doing it on purpose, just detonated.
He gasped for air, trying to regain his balance… but it was too little, and too late. A grasping feeling of stiffness overtook him, and merely moving his head enough to see the dark streak connecting with his shadow was a painful effort.
They were catching on, he realized. Attacking the Willow was a pointless effort, and the form's only known weakness was a concentrated attack, a stratagem employed flawlessly by Konoha's children… If he wasn't so far beyond their ability, Kimimaro might've been impressed with the elegance with which their plan was executed.
But the Leaf's genin weren't yet done. The Gatsuga was a feint, the clone-bomb made an opportunity, and the shadow kept him pinned…
Kimimaro realized that the fireball was coming only when it was close enough to sear his skin, close enough that even release from the shadow's grasp wouldn't do him any good. The Kaguya's form was consumed in the ensuing conflagration, and the battlefield was once more truly silent.
oOoOoOo
"Aw yeah!" Naruto cheered, pumping his fist, "way to go, guys!"
"Not nearly done here, Naruto," Kiba cut in, coming to a stop near his orange-clad comrade, "wish it was that easy, though."
The smoke cleared quickly – the Kaguya's protruding blades were gone, and his gaunt figure staggered only for a moment before regaining its' composure and stepping towards the genin.
"That's one trick we won't be using again…" Shikamaru sighed, slowly moving further into the back lines, concluding that without the legion of Naruto's clones to act as a buffer between them and their foe, most of them would probably be dead by now.
Kimimaro hunched over, grinning as the pain of extracting his Humerus rang out through his body. The children managed to overcome the Willow, but he was still not done on this stage; after the first dance came the second, and its' name was the Dance of the Camellia, and it's associated emotion was one well-known to all the Kaguya – Anger.
"Trash will only ever be trash… I will kill every last one of you by the time this is done."
This wasn't a threat, at least not in Kimimaro's eyes. This was a promise, and it was one he had every intention of keeping. To be humiliated by a bunch of Konoha upstarts with a freak clone user and a would-be strategist… it was ridiculous, and it would be quickly rectified.
Drawing his sword, Kimimaro prepared to lunge… at Sasuke Uchiha.
"Hey!" came a shout from somewhere, from two different voices.
"Woof!" the pup barked as Kimimaro effortlessly leapt over its' attempt at a tackle.
The fireball came from the tree line, and quickly enough did the Kaguya find his target – the smug look on the face of his prey was quickly overshadowed by a battle-appropriate scowl.
His first strike was a miss, the Uchiha somehow managing to roll out of the way, forcing him to waste a valuable second prying his bone blade from the massive tree's thick bark. Ordinarily, his blades would cut trees cleanly in half, but as with all things connected to that blasted village, Konoha's very trees were defiant, doing their part to slow his advance.
He felt a momentary sting of pain in his side, plucking the shuriken from his side. It was merely a scratch, but enough to draw blood, another small victory for the Konoha children, if one was to look at it that way.
"Really? You want to stop your reality with shuriken?" Kimimaro sneered, turning and poising his blade to stab once more, "Lord Orochimaru will have you, Sasuke Uchiha. It's only a matter of time."
"Hn," came the boy's reply, followed up with another salvo of throwing stars, to cover his withdrawal.
Sighing in frustration, Kimimaro lunged forward in pursuit, batting away the annoying shuriken. Once again, he abandoned the tree line, finding himself in the open field, one illuminated by the awakened morning sun.
Minutes ago, as they began their fight, they were standing in a swaying field of green; now that sea was a mere green flat, the legion's batter of feet pressing the blades of grass back into the earth, leaving the battlefield looking worn and battered, as it ought to be. Yet, now, with the sky looming in the far side of the sky, the presence of the Rashomon was announced once again – its' shadow, as deformed as it was from the Akimichi's mighty blow, stretched across the battlefield, marking an entire half of the battlefield as favored terrain for the Nara.
Their numbers advantage was making a difference… having to admit the fact angered him futher, but the truth of it was unavoidable. Had he been facing any one of them alone, he would undoubtedly come out victorious…
The Leaf found strength in unity… so it was up to him to use his blade's anger to sever the connection between the genin. He needed only land a single blow… so he dashed once more.
"Sasuke, watch out!" Kiba shouted, redundantly reminding the arm-breaker that he was their foe's primary target.
"I got him!"
"More clones? Enough!" Kimimaro roared, his patience for these stalling tactics having long since run dry. He lashed out again and again, his honed blade finding the clones' hearts and necks with every stroke. Had he kept count, he'd already be in the low hundreds.
His frustration, as well as his anger, grew more intense with every failed attack – his swipes, aimed at the Uchiha, would always be intercepted by an orange-clad boy with a stupid grin on his face, or diverted by the looming shadow of the Nara, or the flicker of motion from the Inuzuka and his partner. He prepared to lunge once again, seeing yet again that the duo of boy and pup intended to force him into a miss.
Instead of lunging at the Uchiha, however, Kimimaro cut his dash short, spinning in place and driving the blade forward, smirking.
Kiba, having intended to divert the blow again, as he did almost a dozen times by now, suddenly found himself moving directly towards the Kaguya's outstretched blade.
"Konoha trash…" Kimimaro muttered, feeling the weight of the boy's body fall upon the bone held in his hand. Kiba felt the edges of his mouth contort in pain, flashing a savage grimace before it became too much for him to endure, and the world lost its' light.
'I did my part, guys….'
"No!"
"Kiba!"
"WOOF!"
Kimimaro unceremoniously withdrew his blade, giving it a quick jerk to shake the majority of the blood off of it. His victim collapsed onto the ground without a sound, simply lying there.
There was a brief noise, and then a yelp. The boy's pup tried to attack, only to be met by the sole of the Kaguya's bone-fortified foot colliding with its' skull. It came to a stop close to its' master, collapsing.
"Hand over the Uchiha, and I will make your deaths as quick as his," Kimimaro offered, turning his blade towards them in an almost fencing stance, poised to lunge.
There was no reply.
They knew this was a risk, but the reality of seeing one of your comrades collapse is never something you simply stomach. Naruto, Sasuke and Shikamaru, the only three remaining of the task force sent to deal with the sound ninja, slowly came to realize that this wasn't a mere test concocted by the snake Sannin – he sent his primary enforcer, and they've just lost the one advantage they had over the Kaguya…
Yet, before they could act on this new offer, Kimimaro dropped his blade, beginning his new dance.
He would not Bargain with the trash, thus he had no need for the Dance of the Larch; he would, however, share in the Depression he had brought to them, and grace them with the Dance of the Clematis.
As Orochimaru's right hand, the hand of force, Kimimaro was assumed to lack empathy for the pain and suffering he inflicted. In truth, however, the opposite was true – his unwavering loyalty to the man who gave his life meaning was the only thing that kept the grief from consuming him. Every death he brought about in his anger was a death he regretted once the blindness of the rage passed.
Thus he needed to end this quickly. The Clematis required chakra, as much of it as he could get, so using the seal was necessary… regretful, but necessary.
He felt the perverse power flow from his seal, spreading across his skin and seeping into his very bones – his only weapons. The rush of the transition was quickly quelled by the initiation of the Clematis' flower technique, forcing the excess chakra into the rapid calcifying and reinforcing of the bones in his left hand. Simultaneously, he funneled just as much power into his spine, forcing it to grow and extend into a unnatural column of bone and cartilage, plucking it from his own back and lashing out with it like a whip.
In one sweep, almost all of the remaining clones were smashed apart.
"Give in. You don't have to suffer anymore; I will give you the release of a quick death."
"No."
Surprised, Kimimaro hesitated, long enough to see that both the Uchiha and the Nara have disappeared, leaving only the blonde standing in the Rashomon's shadow. The split-second for which he looked away in order to slay the rest of the clones was enough for the Leaf's children to flee…
"You want to hurt my teammate and you actually hurt my friend. There's no way I'm going to give in and run away; Naruto Uzumaki of the Hidden Leaf never gives up, and he never runs away!" the blonde declared, pointing to his own chest with an outstretched thumb.
Kimimaro's eyes darted to the side, noticing that the boy he thought he'd killed was also missing, as was his mongrel partner.
Turning back, he had just enough time to dodge the blonde's outstretched hand and the bright blue chakra ball it held. Scowling, he lashed out with the vine, sweeping low.
Naruto, mumbling a curse over missing with the Rasengan, quickly made a clone to use as a rebound from which he could leap away and dodge we sweeping attacks of his foe's…spine. Gritting his teeth, he pulled a kunai, bringing it up high, looking for an opening…any opening.
He didn't know what happened to Sasuke, Shikamaru and Kiba. One moment he was feeling the backlash of having two dozen clones eradicated, the next he was standing alone in the shadow of the blasted Rashomon, staring down Orochimaru's curse-marked thug.
It didn't matter, though. They wanted Sasuke, and they hurt Kiba… he didn't want to consider the other possibility. The look in his eyes was fanatically zealous; such a person couldn't be redeemed… the Kaguya, Naruto judged, genuinely believed what he was doing was the right thing. He didn't like having to stop someone who was manipulated and mislead, but the guy went too far, and now he had to be stopped.
"Childish ideologies. You will die, and I will bring the Uchiha back to Lord Orochimaru."
"I don't care!" the blonde replied in a vicious shout, ducking under another of the vine's swipes.
"Then you die, trash!" came an equally vicious roar, and its' owner followed after it, leaping across the battlefield in an attempt to skewer the blonde with the flower's impossibly sharp edge.
Naruto rolled out of the way, slashing at his foe's legs as he did so. Unfortunately for him, his kunai was about as effective as a stiff breeze, just sliding along the bone-hard skin of the Kaguya.
'Oh great, he's armored too?' The blonde groaned mentally, getting back on his feet and reassuming his admittedly sloppy stance.
Kimimaro looked like he was about to lunge again, but then stopped himself, tightening his grip on the vine, "You're all alone… the friends you fight to protect aren't here. They've fled without you, left you to the wolves… left you to me."
Naruto frowned; this guy had the gall to call his comrades cowards!?
"Oh, I'm so gonna-"
"He's not alone."
'That voice…'
With speed unmatched since his Willow Dance, Kimimaro swayed out of the way, dodging the fireball coming from behind him. His arm lashed out on instinct, trying to seize his primary target with the vine – only to see wood splintering and breaking, utterly destroyed by the hardened bone.
"Rasengan!"
Just in time, Kimimaro brought up the flower, brushing the genin's jutsu away, the small ball of chakra barely scratching his indestructible arm.
"Wind Style: Wind Cutter Technique!" another voice came, this time female, and strangely familiar.
"Wha-"
Not fully recovered from his parry, Kimimaro could only barely register the silvered blade of wind tearing its' way across the open field, blasting the ground from underneath him.
Now knocked prone, the Kaguya struggled to get up, finding himself held in place by a similar stiffening sensation.
"Shadow possession… complete," came the Shikamaru's voice, the strain he was under apparent even from his voice.
Naruto, dumbfounded by the amount of things going on, felt a hand on his shoulder.
"…Gaara?"
"Leave this place, Naruto Uzumaki. We can take over from here."
"But I don't…"
Before he could continue, however, the blonde was gently pushed backwards by the Suna shinobi's sand, guiding him towards the Rashomon.
"Sand!? Reinforcements from the sand!?" Kimimaro raged, struggling against the technique the Nara had him under.
"We are merely repaying a debt," Gaara replied in his usual emotionless monotone, "though I have no qualms about putting down someone like you."
oOoOoOo
Slowly dragged away, Naruto could do little but stare in awe at the scene unfolding in front of him:
The sky was bright now, and the shadow of the Rashomon was slowly receding. Their foe, the Kaguya, his form twisted and mutated by the curse mark, lay pinned on the ground, held in place by long dark streaks of Shikamaru's shadow technique. Gaara, clad in a long red robe, the same old gourd on his back, slowly made his way to the middle of the battlefield, a loose cloud of sand drifting hazily around him.
As he made it to the other side of the great summoned gate, Naruto saw his friends and teammate, breathing a small sigh of relief upon noticing the black-clad puppeteer already applying the finishing bandage to Kiba's wound.
"W-What's going on?" he finally managed to stutter out, looking over the assembled genin.
"We're here to get your asses out of the fire," Kankuro muttered, working diligently to stop the rather nasty wound Kiba had gotten, "now be quiet, will ya? I'm saving lives here."
"Where's Sasuke?" the blonde continued, unperturbed.
"Far side of the clearing – he's with Temari, so they should be ok," Choji replied, looking a bit better than he did earlier.
"I gotta get back out there…" Naruto began, turning around, only to see the grotesque face of the crow puppet descend in front of him.
"No, you don't. Let Gaara do his thing, ok? We delayed going home for this, mostly because he insisted," Kankuro spoke, flicking his wrist and recalling the puppet to his side, "You did your part, now shut up and let us do ours."
Naruto wanted to complain, to say that his friends need him now, more than ever… but he was also tired. His clones kept everyone safe, and he did go through quite a lot of them, perhaps more than he ever used earlier, aside from two very specific situations.
And then Kiba went and gotten himself hurt, maybe even killed, Naruto couldn't tell. Then Gaara showed up and his sister threw out her jutsu and everything just became so chaotic with the shouting and anger and the foul chakra of the curse mark…
Sighing, Naruto sat down, looking up into the freakish face of the Rashomon construct – he wondered, if only briefly, if it was going to stay in the forest forever. A massive, hideous monument to the hard battle they all fought together… And the worst part was, when they get back to the village, it'll still be the same old Sasuke, thinking he's better than him, and Sakura will still be swoon with him…
It wasn't really fair, now that he thought about it. People like old man Hokage gave their lives protecting the village, but people like Orochimaru and Kabuto always slip away somehow to keep stalking the Leaf, a constant danger to everyone Naruto ever cared about. No matter how brightly the Leaf's heroes could shine, there were always more than enough threats and shadows; there was always another Orochimaru, or an Itachi Uchiha, or who knows what.
What happens if Kiba doesn't make it? He's tough, real tough, but he's still just a genin, like the rest of them, Shikamaru excluded… How could he live up to his legacy as the son of the fourth Hokage if he couldn't protect his friends?
"…"
The great gate shook for a moment, a cloud of sand briefly clouding the sky. There was a brief shriek of pain, then a gust of wind and a blast of fire. After that, it was simply silence.
"Was that..?"
"Quiet, damn it!" Kankuro snapped, glaring at the blonde, "your friend is bleeding out, and it's taking all I've got to keep him alive, ok? So please, be quiet!"
"Sorry…" the blonde whispered, sulking back to his spot against the gargantuan construct. As he did so, he was joined by a somewhat ragged-looking, yet somehow smiling Choji.
"We did it, Naruto," the boy announced with some pride in his voice, "we finished the mission, we stopped the spies… we got Sasuke to break their arms too," he finished, grinning.
"But Kiba…"
"Is going to be ok. I always carry blood pills with my gear, and Kankuro knows enough medical jutsu to stop the worst of the damage. Trust me, I was just as shocked as you are."
Giving a weak smile, Naruto slumped down, looking listlessly at the ground, "I couldn't stop him, y'know? The bone guy. He was too strong for me."
"So?"
"Eh?" the blonde stuttered, surprise jerking him from his murky mood, "what do you mean 'so'?"
"So what if he was too strong for you alone? You weren't alone," Choji spoke, giving a honest, genuine smile as he motioned to the approaching quartet of shinobi, "you had all of us."
Raising his head, Naruto watched as the rest of the Suna trio and the remainder of their anti-sound squad gathered at the base of the Rashomon, each and every one of them looking a different degree of ragged.
Sasuke looked the worst-off, his hand now looking painfully swollen and almost as red as his eyes; still, he was smirking, and truth be told, he managed to keep his promise, breaking the sound ninja.
"You guys ok?" the blonde asked, standing up.
"He tore my fan," Temari replied, looking not-too-happy about the fact as she crossed her arms, "but he's in the ground."
"And that's where he'll stay," Sasuke added, leaning against the construct's surface, somewhat relieved that it was finally over.
It was… at least for the moment. Everything the Sannin Orochimaru had to offer the last Uchiha was completely denied, the reply lying dead, half-buried in some nameless field in the forest of silent movement. He might've picked the wrong enemy to make, but it was too late anyway – whatever the case, the audacity of their actions could not be denied.
Sasuke was content – people would hear of this, and that meant that Itachi would hear of it. Sasuke wanted his brother to know that he wasn't just going to roll over and make the choices that were laid out for him; his choices were his to make, and he chose to stay with Konoha, for better or worse…
But there will be time enough to worry about Itachi, revenge, and Orochimaru… right now, he was tired, and he was pretty sure that all his problems would still be there after a night's sleep. So, for now, he could afford a day to sort things out, see what's to be done about Konoha and Team 7…
The Sound Four were stopped, as was Orochimaru's prime enforcer. Sure, Kiba might've taken a nasty hit in the exchange, but it wasn't a career ender, and the Suna puppeteer stabilized him well enough. For a mission started on a whim, it was surprisingly successful.
"We should head back… it's been a long night."
Rushed, wasn't it? Don't worry, it's probably a one-shot thing... or I might revisit and rewrite it eventually.
Two things you should know, however:
1. Next chapter comes out on the second day of next year, or at 131 reviews, whichever comes first.
2. If 'Divergences' ever breaks the 200 review mark, I will start publish a 60.000 word crack fic featuring the Akatsuki; it overflows with pop-culture references, ridiculous situations and socially-unacceptable 'humor'.