5
A Moment of Respite
It's to the pained groans of a well-known voice that Naruto awakes. Blinking, his eyes still hazy from the grogginess of unconsciousness, he glances up and finds Sasuke standing before him. For whatever reason, he's doubled over, gasping for air as he speaks, his voice hoarse.
"Sheesh… no matter how many times… I warn you… Naruto… you're always getting in my way…"
Naruto takes a closer look, his eyes squinted as he tries to make out the motionless figure stretched out on the cold concrete.
Then, to his surprise, as his vision slowly adjusts, he realizes it's the masked boy they were facing off against.
He's out cold! The bastard's won!
"You did it, Sasuke!" Naruto squeals happily, but his enthusiasm evaporates just as quickly when he gets a clearer look at Sasuke's battered body and the alarming pool of dark blood forming under his feet.
"Fnn… Now… haah… get that… get that lame expression off your stupid face," he grouses, choking as he wheezes, his face contorted into a grimace and his eyes watering as he laboriously tries to draw breath. "You look like a total loser!"
Sasuke's battered body is a ghastly mess: senbon needles pierce his flesh at multiple spots, covering him like a blood-soaked porcupine of steel.
"W-Why…" Naruto tries to get up, but he can't. He is sitting there, freaking out. A rollercoaster of emotions hits him—confusion, shock, anger, and despair—as he stares at his rival's broken body. "Why did you cover me?"
"Why…?" Sasuke looks up, his eyes glazed over. "You ask me why?"
He chuckles, but this time it isn't the derisive scoff he usually reserved for him. Instead, it carries a warmer, more lighthearted tone.
"I…" he rasped, "I used to fucking hate you, you know?"
Naruto finally finds the strength to get up, "Then why?! It doesn't make any sense! Why would you… protect me?! Why me?!" he demands, his voice almost breaking.
But Sasuke never replies. The blood drips from his lower lip.
"I DIDN'T FOR THIS!" Naruto shouts, closing his eyes. "I DIDN'T ASK YOU TO SAVE ME!"
Tears began to flow from Sasuke's eye as he spoke.
"How should I know…?" he wheezed. "My body… just moved on its own… there was no time to think… you… loser…"
His body begins to fall, and falls, and falls…
Naruto abruptly shot awake, the vividness of his dream making him feel like he was returning to the Land of Waves, now he was back in the real world.
Sasuke… he whispered to himself. Wonder where are you.
He tightened his eyes shut for a moment, took a deep breath, and let the sunlight streaming through the glass bathe his skin in its warm glow. He wasn't wearing his jacket, so he was just in his usual orange pants and the black t-shirt he usually wore underneath. The bed felt so soft and plush compared to the one at Konoha that he didn't want to move. He just lay there, enjoying the moment for a little while longer.
And then he realized that he felt a lot better than he had on the day before.
In fact, he felt so much better that he sat up and discovered that all the wounds he had sustained were completely healed, like they were never even there to begin with.
Even his broken arm was fully mended.
The scar on his cheek was permanent though. Not that it actually bothered him. Naruto believed it made him look more tough, so, he never complained.
He grasped his arm firmly from the shoulder, testing its range of motion, hoping it hadn't atrophied during his slumber. Thankfully, it didn't seem to be the case.
"All right!" Naruto smirked contentedly as he clenched his fist shut.
There was a click from the door, and a soft flutter of a voice emanated from the other side. "Wonderful, everyone was worried about you!" It was Siesta. She walked in with a bowl of water in her hand.
"Yo! Siesta!" Naruto weaved her with her healed arm, "Nice to see you again!"
"Ah! You shouldn't be moving around like that!" she exclaimed, concerned, as she hurried to his side. "Your injuries are still—"
"Relax! I'm completely healed!" Naruto proudly declared.
"Check it out! YAAHOO!" With a burst of energy, he executed a show-stopping backflip, before landing seamlessly on the floorboard. Then, with a radiant smile, he put both arms to his side. "Honestly, it's like I'm good as new!"
"Shhh!" Siesta hushed anxiously, then she pointed to the side.
Louise was lying on the circular desk of her suite, her head resting on the fine wood, her sweet voice filling the room as she purred in her sleep.
The two peasants continued to talk in the meantime.
"So, err, what's Sleeping Beauty doin' snorin' her ass off there on the table?" he wondered as she pointed at her with her thumb. "Lemme guess, she made you take care of me while she was sleeping the entire day, right?"
He chuckled, as he placed his arms behind his head, squeezing his eyes shut in his trademark way.
"Not really." Naruto looked at her at a loss. "Miss Vallière stayed by your side the entire time, watching you day and night."
Naruto looked at her adorable face, as she slept peacefully, "She changed your bandages, brushed the sweat from your brow, and got you the best medicine she could afford, which is why the poison has left your body."
"Ah!" Naruto looked at the maid in surprise. "S-Sorry for not telling you… I didn't want to worry you…"
"It's okay," Siesta smiled. "I should be the one to apologize," she bowed.
"Huh?" Naruto blinked at a loss.
"All I did is run away and look for help," she admitted as she clutched at her arm when she straightened herself up. "I couldn't imagine that a peasant could beat a noble…" Then she smiled brightly, her eyes sparkling with enthusiasm, "But I'm not afraid anymore! Because you won, Naruto-san! You were fantastic!"
"Oh, really?" Naruto said, his face turning red as he smiled a goofy smile and scratched the back of his head. "I'm flattered!"
Suddenly, she wrapped her arms around him, taking him completely by surprise. "Naruto-san!" her face was beet red as she spoke, "Because of you I have the courage I never had before! I can be strong too!"
"S-Siesta… you… you're too close…"
The girl blushed madly and immediately stepped back.
"S-Sorry…" she bowed, "If you excuse me…"
She turned around and was about to exit when Naruto called her out again.
"Hey, let's talk a bit more later, yeah?" Naruto grinned.
She nodded, her freckled cheeks still red as she left.
He chuckled, "She's kinda like Hinata, now that I think about it…"
A few moments went in silence, as Naruto wondered how was everyone at home.
Then he realized.
"So…" he looked at his hands, "My chakra's back to normal now?"
He brought his hands together in a hand sign as he looked at his 'mistress' sleeping peacefully, and an amusing prank suddenly sprang to mind.
Transform!
Louise stirred up, finally waking up.
Fuaaaaaaa~ the mage let out a stretched-out yawn as she stretched her arms.
"That's a mighty yawn," Naruto commented, offhandedly.
After a long sleep, Louise rubbed her eyes.
She paused, blinking a couple of times, and then rubbed them again.
Why was there a perfect copy of herself staring at her from the other side of the bed?
Had she put a mirror there?
The doppelgänger looked at her, and waved.
"Yo!"
Oh, dear Brimmir, it spoke with Naruto's voice.
What kind of bizarre nightmare had she been thrown into?
She pinched her cheek until it hurt, but nothing happened. It was still there, staring down at her innocently.
So, Louise de la Vallière did the sensible thing: freaking out.
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! A DOPPELGÄNGER! THAT MEANS I'M GONNA DIE!" she cried out.
She frantically reached for her wand and, without a second thought, aimed it at the monster.
Suddenly frightened, the monster begged like crazy. "H-HEY, WAIT A SECOND, IT'S A PRANK, LOUISE WAIT, IT'S ME NA—"
"DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
BOOM!
"GYAH!"
Her wand unleashed a particularly strong explosion, rattling her whole room.
Her doppelgänger shot through the air and slammed into the wall, its whole body covered in brown soot and ash. It slid to the ground, where it remained dazed.
It groaned in pain and then dissolved into a ball of smoke, revealing Naruto of all people.
Louise blinked in confusion, "Naruto? What just happened?"
"Owww… my head…" Naruto hobbled to his feet, rubbing the spot on his head where he'd bumped it. Then she glared at Louise, though his eyes were again shut in that way of his. "Hey! Careful where ya unleash those explosions, will ya?!"
Surprisingly, Louise didn't shout back, being completely dumbstruck.
"What… did you just do…"
"What you mean what?" Naruto folded his arms, looking ass though the answer was blatantly obvious.
"That thing you just did!" Louise shrieked. "You transformed into… into me! How?!"
He shrugged, "Basic Transformation Jutsu."
"A…" Louise shook her head, baffled. "A Transformation What?"
"Remember when I told you I was a ninja?" Louise nodded, hesitantly. "Well jutsu are special techniques us shinobi can use. I can do plenty more like the Shadow Doppelgänger art, the Rasengan…"
"That's… that's magic! But… but you're a peasant! You didn't use anything like that while you were fighting Guiche!" Louise shouted, in complete disbelief.
"First off, it's not magic, I just told you it's ninjutsu. Second, I couldn't because I was poisoned, I dunno what happened but Sakura-chan's kunai disrupted my chakra somehow, so I couldn't mold any to use any of my jutsu…"
"Wait… mold?!" The mage was speechless. "Jeez! What are you talking about?!"
Naruto folded his arms again, looking at the confused girl. "Guess I owe you an explanation, huh?"
For the next few minutes, Naruto explained ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu to the best of his knowledge to the young mage. Since he knew Louise was more than trustworthy, he went into great detail about each thing. He even explained the tools he used, such as the scrolls, kunai, and shuriken.
Unfortunately, since he wasn't the best at explaining things, Louise was growing more and more confused with the terms he was talking about.
"AHHH, JEEZ! NONE OF THIS MAKES ANY SENSE!" she whined.
"Yeah, I get you, I also struggled with this stuff when I was a little brat," Naruto sighed as he nodded, his arms folded. "Let's see," he cupped a hand to his chin, "How can I make this easier…"
Then, he snapped his fingers, and he had it.
"That's it! I'll show you! That's how I learned this stuff!"
He drew both hands together in a cross-shaped sign. Louise looked at him puzzled.
"Art of the Shadow Doppelgänger!"
"Ah!" Louise cried out in surprise when an identical copy of Naruto appeared.
"This," Naruto gestured at the doppelgänger, who just smiled proudly, "is a shadow Doppelgänger. I make them by tapping into a part of my chakra and molding it. He's pretty much a perfect replica of me, doing everything I can, but he'll disappear if he gets damaged or if I run out of chakra. I can make many of them, though that would split my chakra into each doppelgänger I make. This is what we call ninjutsu."
The clone then spoke, "Here's another one," he brought both hands together. "Transform!"
The young mage was taken aback when she saw the replica turn into a girl version of her familiar. She had long pigtails and a body that would've put Zerbst herself to shame.
"This is the Ninja Centerfold Technique," the female Naruto spoke, paradoxically, with Naruto's voice. "I mostly use it for distraction."
Trying to keep calm, Louise looked at the girl version of her familiar. She was taller than himself, looking like she was in her twenties.
"And you can keep that form for as long as you want?"
"I wish," Naruto said. "Pervy Sage once told me I had stupidly large chakra stocks, but they ain't infinite, so at some point the jutsu will break if I use too much."
"Impressive… so that's why you were so good at physical combat…"
Naruto nodded with a typical grin of his, "I told you I was pretty badass!"
"Wait a second…" Louise said, her face scrunching up as she spoke, "why is her bust this large…"
"Huh?" Naruto blurted out, clueless. "What are you talking about?"
"H-H-H-H-Her b-b-b-b-bust!" Louise shouted, her face turning red, as she pointed at the clone. "W-W-Why is it so large?! A-A-Are you making fun o-of your mistress?!"
Naruto looked at the clone, then back at her. Then back at the clone.
"Of course, not! Guys like stacked girls not flat washboards, so I modeled the Ninja Centerfold to look like this to make it work as a distraction," Naruto said flippantly.
"Oh, I see how it is…" Louise hissed, her voice suddenly dropping some octaves, having completely missed the last part.
Too bad he didn't realize he'd just pressed one of Louise's berserk buttons. And he'd pressed it badly.
He laughed, "HAHA! Yeah, you should've seen the way it worked on the Old Man Hokage! Especially with the nosebleeds and—"
"GRR!" Louise snarled animalistically as she violently clutched her wand's tip with her other hand.
"AH!" Startled, Naruto looked at her. Her tiny hands were shaking as she clutched her wand, looking as if she was about to snap the damn thing in half. "W-What's wrong…?"
"I see how it is… I get it completely, now… and here I thought you might be different from the other guys, but it's just like my older sister say, they're all animals…"
Louise's eyes were shadowed by her hair. She walked slowly up to him, hissing with every sentence like an angry cobra. "They always ogle at those areas with such lustful eyes… such dirty eyes… SUCH BLOODSHOT EYES!" She finished with a roar, leaning her absolutely livid face mere inches away from Naruto's.
"W-Wait!" Naruto gulped, reeling back. "T-That isn't w-what I meant…!"
Louise straightened, looking down at him in disdain.
"Why would you make a technique as lascivious as this, then, I wonder?" she glared at the transformed clone. "Is it the face… or maybe… the chest?"
Naruto stiffened, "H-Hey! Just hear me out! I-I just saw the way those pervy old guys ogled those strange magazines back at home, and I thought I had to make the jutsu look just like that if I wanted to prank them!" He laughed nervously, hoping that Louise would get it. "Isn't it hilarious?"
"You think this is a laughing matter, lecherous dog?" she was shaking with anger. The explanation seemed to make piss her off even more, somehow.
"Ah!" Naruto shuddered, realizing she wasn't listening through the blood rushing to her ears. "Louise…?"
"The b-b-b-b-b-b-breast?" she gritted her teeth, her face beet red. "You like them b-big, huh?"
Her wand began to glow blue. "Y-You like big breasts, huh?"
"LOUISE!" Naruto shrieked, turning completely pale as he knew what was about to happen. "WAIT A SECOND, THAT'S NOT WHAT I—!"
"THE BIGGER, THE BETTER, RIGHT?!"
She raised her wand aloft, the electricity dancing around her wand, growing in intensity as she roared like a banshee in anger.
"GYAAAAAAAAAAH!"
BOOM!
"ACK!" Naruto crashed into the window, cracking it a bit with his face, as he was sent hurtling through the room. The blast ripped out of the tower, shaking some of the nearby birds and startling everyone in the vicinity.
The clone was also on the ground next to a fuming Louise, who was still breathing hard, knocked out cold by the explosion's blast until it vanished in an explosion of smoke.
She turned around, "Don't you think just because you beat Guiche and you can do any of that ninja mumbo jumbo means things have changed!" She raised a finger triumphantly at him, "You're still my familiar! Now, stay here and reflect on what you did, lecherous dog!"
And then she slammed the door shut.
I didn't… even… do… any… thing, were his last thoughts as he slipped down to the ground unconscious again.
At least the Nine-Tails' chakra healed him back up in no time when he eventually regained consciousness.
Within the lair's darkness, the man in the orange spiral-embossed mask studied Shimura Danzō's ravaged corpse, sprawled out on a stone gurney.
Despite his silence, his entire body was tense as if tethered with wire strings.
Green light from the glass boxes behind him glowed with a dull, sickly hue. Sharingan eyes lay in each of the cases. He had reclaimed them shortly after partaking in the massacre of his own clan for his own purposes.
The lights, silent and unmoving, fell ominously on his shoulders. The lone Sharingan in the mask's eye socket was the only visible light from the other side of the room, aside from the embalming solution itself.
"Damned Danzō…" he growled lowly. "He took Shishui's eyes before dying, huh?"
He chuckled ominously.
All of a sudden, a mysterious figure emerged from the ground, having literally materialized out of the stone floor.
It looked as though it was an extension of the ground itself, taking on a humanoid shape, the left side of his body missing. Its skin was smooth and eerily pale, almost as if it was made of root, with large, amber eyes and misshapen teeth. Green hair speckled its head, but it looked more synthetic than natural.
"Zetsu…" Madara nonchalantly said, not even turning around. "What's the matter?"
"Sasuke's gone…"
The masked man turned in his direction, his slow turn filled with palpable tension. "What do you mean he's gone?"
"He clashed with the Nine-Tails," Zetsu said. "Both are gone. Vanished entirely."
The masked man let out a chilling chuckle. "Things just keep spinning out of control, don't they?"
"What do you mean?" Zetsu looked confused and uneasy.
"Perhaps we… overestimated how loyal Sasuke would ultimately be to us… He really is the disciple of Orochimaru, just like Kabuto before him," Tobi said.
"What did he do?"
"Cunning little punk…" he scoffed, "He took Itachi's eyes and left a decoy to throw me off." He lifted a jar, "These eyes are fake."
Zetsu was caught off guard when Madara violently smashed the jar into the ground with a booming crash.
"Eh? But I thought he didn't want to take Itachi's eyes!"
A low, gravelly voice spoke up, "Maybe he had a change of heart after what happened at the Summit and with his old little squad."
There was another figure in the room who walked up to the other. It was the polar opposite of Zetsu, missing its right side. Although its skin was equally smooth, it was pitch black like soot and lacked any distinctive features except for the single amber orb that looked like an eyeball.
Spikes like blades of grass sprouted from its waist.
"He was all but blind the last time I saw him," Black Zetsu said.
Tobi turned around, watching at his brethren's eyes. "My original plan was to have Sasuke end up abusing his Sharingan and falling deeper into darkness, eventually having to resort to implanting Itachi's eyes and awakening the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan." He turned to face both halves again, "Suffice it to say, it went horribly right."
"Waddowe do now?" White Zetsu asked. "We already declared the war to the nations, didn't we?"
Tobi went on to explain, "The nations are concerned about the safety of the rest of the Jinchūriki. There is a reason why I told them that it is necessary to have all nine tailed beasts in order to begin the Moon-Eye Plan. Without the Nine Tails, the Infinite Tsukuyomi cannot begin."
"What about the Sage's Relics?" Black Zetsu asked. "Kinkaku and Ginkaku fought the Nine-Tailed Fox, and legend has it that they absorbed a portion of its chakra. Maybe we can use that?"
"The relics haven't seen in eons after they mysteriously vanished during a solar eclipse," Tobi stated.
"Can't you start the Moon-Eye Plan with the chakra we have currently?"
"Don't be foolish," Madara murmured, his words laced with acid that dripped from his masked mug, "All I have of the Eight-Tails is a single tentacle that Sasuke and his team of bumbling fools got their hands on. With so little chakra, it would take decades to resurrect the Ten-Tails. We do not have that luxury now that everyone knows what we're after."
Black Zetsu snorted, "So, all parties are stuck in a stalemate until all the cards are in their proper place again, eh?"
"What do we do, then, Madara?" White Zetsu wondered as he turned back to the older Uchiha.
He remained silent for a moment, before speaking up. "Move our pieces first, before the nations get the upper hand, obviously."
"I think I know where we can start," Black Zetsu stated, piquing at Madara's attention, "Uzumaki Naruto's chakra is completely gone. But I highly doubt he's dead. Neither is Uchiha Sasuke."
"How do you know?" A blank stare of confusion etched his chalky face as he turned to face his darker half.
"Let me put it this way," he addressed his white half. Though it lacked any particular facial features, his voice carried a hint of amusement, "I'm connected to those two in more ways than you can fathom, heh, heh… I can sense their souls, though I can't pinpoint their exact location." He paused for a moment, "Given that and how… tenuous it feels, I would assume that they aren't in this reality anymore." The humanoid turned to face the masked man, "The only time such an occurrence happens is when we enter that little pocket dimension of yours."
"So, both have been warped to a different world altogether?" White Zetsu frowned, at a loss, "Is it because of a Space-Time ninjutsu, like a Reverse Summoning?" the white half asked his darker half.
Black Zetsu nodded, "Looks like it. At least the Nine-Tails was as I felt a burst of an uncommon chakra—Sasuke might have been caught in the wake of whatever phenomenon happened and dragged with him."
"All I care about is Uzumaki Naruto," Tobi looked at the lifeless body of Danzō again, "but I also wish to scold our little snake a bit for stabbing us in the back." His hands balled into tense fists, without him realizing.
"So, what should we do?"
"Heh!" Tobi snorted, his Sharingan glinting ominously, "We have a Space-Time Ninjutsu of our own, remember?"
"But your jutsu only ties to your pocket dimension, doesn't it?" Black Zetsu pointed-out, "How will you locate the Nine-Tails?"
"I have a few theories, especially regarding the connection with the solar eclipse, but first, I need to pay some ex-colleagues at Amegakure a little visit."
"You will collect the Rinnegan?" Black Zetsu asked. "I doubt Konan will allow you."
"If she refuses to comply with us in an easier way, then she'll have to do it the hard way," Tobi snarled.
White Zetsu looked at Danzō, "What do we do about him?"
"Harvest as many Hashirama cells as possible from that carcass right here. We'll be needing them for when the moment arrives," he turned to glare the body one last time, "Then, get rid of him—for good."
"Understood."
Tobi turned around, walking away.
Twenty years, I have meticulously planned every step to achieve the dream world. I did my waiting long enough for something as ridiculous as another world to get in the way of my path, he scowled, I will get the Nine-Tailed Fox—if I have to cross the very fabric of reality to do it, so be it.
When either Zetsu looked up, the man had already disappeared.
Uchiha Sasuke shuffled from one foot to the other, struggling through the treacherous, muddy forest, growling under his breath.
Each breath tore at his lungs, and blood dribbled from his mouth, staining his chin. His deteriorating vision was another obstacle, clouding his view and hampering his progress through the unforgiving territory.
Losing blood… the clash… re-opened the wound Danzō gave me… Sasuke thought, stopping for a second as he hunched over and propped an arm against a tree, trying to recover his energy. He didn't sit down, afraid that if he broke stride even for a moment, he'd lose himself even more due to the blindness.
"Karin…" he grunted. "Karin, where the hell…" A sharp jab of pain that ripped through his lungs, followed by a sudden hack of blood, cut him off. "Where the hell… are you…?" Sasuke finished with a wheezing voice.
Then, a grim memory made him stop…
"Don't move, Karin," his voice was a deadly drone as he tilted his head, blood dripping from his chin. "Hold still."
The red-haired, glasses-wearing captive smiled with a glimmer of hope, but the avenger's vicious and cold sneer quickly shattered that hope with a brutal reality check.
The Chidori, blazing with fiery electricity from his raised arm, expanded, creating a deadly lance that impaled not only Danzō but the defenseless woman as well.
Karin's lips parted, stained with crimson, as blood seeped from her ruptured lungs. She gasped in shock, her eyes widening in incredulity at the vicious betrayal from the very man she loved so dearly. The one who rescued her from the all-consuming flames of the Amaterasu, refusing to leave her behind mere weeks ago. The man who protected her from that danger at the Chūnin Exams years ago.
"Ugh…" Danzō's fading gasp filled Sasuke with unadulterated elation.
"One down, soon the rest, Older Brother," the last Uchiha said, his grin widening.
"Sa…" Karin rasped, the words slipping from her lips as her compromised lungs faltered. "Sasuke…"
Sasuke looked at her dead in the eyes, a merciless gleam in them when he spoke,"Karin, if you're slow enough to be taken hostage, then you're just a burden."
He just watched her collapse in front of Danzō like a sack of potatoes with a final cough of blood as he allowed the Chidori Spear to disappear, having fulfilled its purpose.
"Oh, right…" Sasuke finally gave in, collapsing against the very tree he had stopped at, the weight of his actions now dawning upon him, as his eyes narrowed "I'm on my own… it was always… gonna end like this, I guess…"
The avenger chooses to die alone, without anyone to mourn him.
This was his ultimate end. When he decided to dedicate himself to isolation years ago, he knew this would be how he would leave this world.
It only irked him a bit that he didn't go in the heat of battle.
But, he was furious that the people who used the Uchiha tools before discarding them would go unscathed. Then again, how could one possibly fight the unrelenting grip of death that now loomed large over his head?
He looked up, sightless eyes picking out dozens of specks of light in the blanket of night sky.
Yet, the presence of two large heavenly bodies, each with distinct hues, troubled him greatly.
While his sight was nearly impaired, it was clear that those distant celestial objects were moons.
That just isn't right, he remarked internally.
He closed his eyes, and everything went pitch black and silent.
Maybe when he was born again, he'd get to live a happier life with his family.
…
Forgive me… Sasuke… Itachi had said as he died, a smile on his marred, exhausted visage, This is it…
…
For the peace of the Konoha village, and most of all, for you Uchiha Sasuke, he desired to die a criminal and a traitor. He bequeathed the Uchiha name to you, fooling you to the very end…
…
Sasuke's bloodshot eyes sprang open, lit up by a primal fury. His chakra hummed with adrenaline as he drew on his reserves to summon a Chidori, bringing it down crashing onto the gash across his abdomen.
"GUH! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Sasuke's agonizing screams pierced the countryside, and the heat from his lightning chakra ultimately sealed the wound, stopping the bleeding.
"DAMMIT! SHIT!" He hissed, squirming from the third-degree burns he'd just given himself.
He stopped for a moment, breathing heavily, the pain not going anywhere anytime soon.
But Uchiha Sasuke had grown used to pain. It had been with him for so long like an old friend along with his hatred. Like any other shinobi, he could endure it.
"Not yet… I can't let it all just disappear…" He was talking about his clan, he was their last scion, dying in a place like this would be the last thing they wanted.
Itachi's words from that night echoed in his head. They had been the thing that kept pushing him for so long, even now.
"I will cling to life and survive no matter how unsightly," he clenched his teeth, "until our clan's honor is restored, I will keep marching forward and living!"
His head leaned on the tree, as the adrenaline subsided, so did his energy. Once again, Sasuke was sleeping, though his dreams were ragged and tortuous.
I'm really glad I got to meet you!
That damn smile of his. How much he wished he could crush it.
"Oh, no…" The soft voice, distinctively feminine stirred him awake. "Please, stay with me…"
Through the veil of blindness, he could see that her golden mane was long and glistened beautifully in the warm light of morning. So bright and vivid, in fact, that it almost hurt his aching eyes.
Also, her ears were long. Extremely long, in fact. No human could have ears like that.
"Can…" she almost sounded shy, reminding him of that obnoxious Hyuuga girl, "Can you understand me?"
Sasuke was blunt with his answer, resolute on his path, "You… buzz off…"
The girl with the long ears, however, didn't do so.
"Let me heal you…" she reached her hands towards him but Sasuke slapped it.
"I don't… need your help…" he snarled. "I…"
With that he went unconscious again.
Tiffania Westwood, a half-elf, felt compelled to help a poor soul with terrible wounds, despite how rude he had been. It was the type of thing her mother had always taught her to do, ever since she was a little girl, before her death.
She reached for her wand, and with a gentle gesture, levitated his battered body as gently as she could, carrying him to her little cottage. The injuries he bore were so shocking and painful, he looked like a soldier who'd fought through hell and back.
Tiffania couldn't help but worry about him, especially when he looked as young as herself. What in the world could have happened to him?