Mari Makinami
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Everyone, thank you very much for your awesome reviews! I loved all of them, but couldn't reply due to the lack of free time during the last few weeks. Hopefully you guys will like this chapter as well! Enjoy!
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Chapter 14. Stalemate
Hinata scowled as the ice cold drops of rain were falling onto her face, making it more and more uncomfortable for the girl to stand the annoying waiting. Sasuke and Jun were quietly discussing something she had no interest in, and unlike her the two of them looked pretty comfortable at the moment. They – their team, that is - had to wait for the shift of the Tower's guardians before attempting to infiltrate the huge, ugly – at least in her opinion - building, and it's been approximately two hours of standing there by now, doing nothing but trying to catch a cold thanks to the damned weather.
The rain... she certainly didn't like it. She never quite enjoyed rain in the past, and now it was especially unpleasant – mostly because the kunoichi still felt incredibly lonely and frustrated, even though her relationship with the Uchiha came back to what it was before it's crisis... well, sort of. And the weather, as well as Sasuke being seemingly alright in such conditions - quite unlike her - didn't make it any better for the Hyūga.
Of course, she didn't hope for Sasuke to change his mind the instant she told him about her feelings. He didn't give any real response to them, actually – not counting that kiss, of course. That was truly incredible.
But afterwards they just went back to their normal behavior with each other. And although something definitely had changed that night on the roof, both of them were reluctant to openly admit it – for a good reason.
Despite the really stressful situation they were going through for the last few weeks, Hinata wasn't a bad kunoichi. At least not anymore. She realized that they had to accomplish their mission above everything else, especially above their personal feelings – they were insignificant comparing to their country's well being. Sasuke realized it too, obviously – therefore both of them made a silent agreement: what happened back then on the roof of the building she was currently thoughtfully gazing at was merely due to the frustration of doing absolutely nothing for way too long, being locked together in a single room for three weeks straight – these things hardly were healthy for one's psyche.
Of course, they would deal with their relationship later – probably much later, considering how dramatic the upcoming events could possibly turn should their rather doubtful plan fail.
Still, she was feeling the strange anger slowly building inside of her as Hinata watched the Uchiha casually chat with that piece of abomination he invited to join their group – Sasuke's attitude didn't give away anything that could seem like being bothered at all. Truth to be told, if she didn't know him so well, the girl would most likely decide that he's either a bastard who doesn't care about her specifically or an idiot who doesn't care about anything at all. Of course, either of these options would be much easier to accept, but now they sounded ridiculous to her considering everything she discovered about his past and his true nature.
And that was the problem for her – for the first time in a while, she couldn't figure him out. What was he thinking about her? About them? About that kiss? About their operation? About this... Jun? Did he truly enjoy talking to him more than he enjoyed talking to her...? Why was he basically ignoring her whenever this man was around?!
The Hyūga brushed the strands of rain off the sleeve of her brand new dark coat, looking down for a second to once again see the pattern she used to fear so much... the Akatsuki symbol. Red clouds. How come she was wearing it now...? She, the girl who used to be afraid of her own shadow...
Fate was truly ironic.
Back when Sasuke was teaching her, shortly after she had left Konoha, Hinata felt like she desired to completely destroy the person she was, and to create a new one. To become someone else.
Did she succeed?
Yes, in a way. The girl certainly was different now – much different from before, actually. If she returned to Konoha now, everyone would probably believe that she was brainwashed, under genjutsu or something among these lines – the visible changes in her were too clear, and she wouldn't try to soften the impression - because why the hell would she want to? Hinata most certainly wouldn't let them see through her mask. She would never reveal her weaknesses to them. Not after it led to so much pain in the past.
After all, Sasuke taught her to deceive really well.
But... her passionate desire to be someone else still wouldn't become reality, not matter how good and strong her mask would become.
It was true that Hinata changed – there was no denying this fact. But on the contrary, she realized that it was impossible to get rid of some things from her past – it would require to erase her memories completely, which she certainly didn't want. Any experience, no matter how painful it was – it became a part of her. This was what made her stronger. What made her realize her mistakes and flaws. And these realizations were priceless.
Yet still Hinata knew that no matter how strong she'd become, deep inside, she still was that hurt, closed and insecure girl everyone remembered. And she would never be able to get rid of that – which meant she had to accept it and move on, simple as that. There was no other way, after all.
But at the same time, Hinata believed that people are able to change. Everyone could become better if they put enough effort in it. Which she did, for... for Konoha? For Naruto? For her clan? To prove her father and her family that they were wrong, that she was better than they thought?
Or she did it for Sasuke?
No. That would be a lie to say so, and she didn't want to ever deceive herself anymore. The truth was that Hinata did it for herself and only for herself. She needed to change, she craved it, because she used to be awful. A pathetic, useless worm that deserved nothing but pity, that's what she was before. And remembering it now was embarrassing to say the least – that's why everything she did in the last few months was desperately trying to change for the sake of satisfying her own ego. To atone for her sins before herself. To be able to live comfortably in this world which she used to think was cruel, but in reality it was just... indifferent. Indifferent to her own and to everyone else's dreams, struggles, desires and pain.
Because she, them – they were no ones. Their lives were nothing compared to the history of shinobi. They were mere sparks in the immense darkness.
And only when the girl had realized it back in their hideout when she was reading another stupid book only to distract herself from her physical frustration... she also realized once again that Sasuke was the same, in a way. Considering the events he himself told her about, and everything he went through... under the shell of the almighty shinobi - even godly from a certain perspective, the Uchiha still remained a lonely child whose life was ravaged multiple times in the past. He was hurt, deeply so.
Of course, he was the chosen one. He and Naruto, both of them – as far as she understood from that vision. They weren't nobodies, far from it – these two decided the fate of their world.
Which led Hinata to the simple conclusion - no matter how powerful you became, some things would never change. Both Sasuke and Naruto were still only humans, each with his own past and pain, with the same problems everyone else went through.
And right now, the Uchiha was the only person she could open to. And she was the same for the raven haired boy - she just knew it.
Was that why he decided to push her away once again? Because he wanted to stay alone, like he used to prior to his fight with Naruto? Or was it only because of their mission...?
Hinata clenched her fists, looking away and checking the street to their right. Usually there were nobody out so late. Now, there were quite a few people sneaking around, slowly uniting in small bunches.
Was something about to happen on that side?
According to what Jun reported, with each day passing, more and more people started to believe that their 'true god' was about to return and that the current one was fake.
After all, even such bigots didn't fancy being fooled – that's why many of them started to try to resist, breaking the rules this village followed for so many years. For instance — going out after the curfew like they did now.
Sasuke's plan clearly was working, which was good for their mission. But... they still didn't know what awaited them inside the Tower. According to Jun, the guards wouldn't be any trouble – the only man of decent skill there was their leader, but... there also was that weird 'weapon' he had mentioned, the girl they brought a few weeks ago. Apparently their leader was obsessed with her for some reason – he didn't do anything but trying to 'stabilize' her for the last few weeks, which sounded weird, again. The only idea she and Sasuke came up with was that the girl was, in fact, a jinchūriki. After they explained the concept of sealing the tailed beasts in a human body, he agreed that it their assumption most likely was correct, and that the leader sealed a bijū inside of her, but... which bijū, exactly?
No matter which one - to her, a jinchūriki would be a trouble to deal with. Fortunately enough, Sasuke could take care of a bijū if they managed to free the beast and thus kill it's host. Still... she felt quite nervous. The Hyūga just had that feeling that something was ought to go wrong – the smoothness of their performance up to that moment only strengthened her insecurity.
And then her eyes widened in surprise - the people on the street suddenly formed one big crowd, a few torches lighted up their angry faces, and they marched towards the Tower's entrance, the discordant chorus of their voices instantly drawing attention of a few shinobi patrols.
A scrimmage started.
"It's time. Get ready. We're going." The Uchiha suddenly snapped, jumping onto the edge of the balcony they were standing at.
"Affirmative." Jun replied, still smirking – apparently he found something Sasuke told him just prior to that quite amusing.
But she thought that it was probably for the best that she didn't hear that part. The girl silently joined them, standing to the right of their leader.
And then Hinata blushed, felling as Sasuke's palm impertinently tapped her slightly below her waist, doing it so lightly that only her would be able to notice it.
"Don't worry. It's gonna be alright. Just do your best." The girl could hear him whispering in her ear, blushing even deeper as she felt his hot breath.
"Just don't screw everything yourself, kami-sama." Hinata muttered and he smirked, jumping forward.
Meeting Jun's playful gaze for a second, she quietly cursed, turning away and following the Uchiha.
Breaking through one of the Tower's windows, which was fairly easy since they were now able to freely using their chakra considering that everyone outside were too busy to react to the foreign chakra activity, they landed onto one of the empty staircases. As they expected, there was nobody inside – only the cold, howling wind that made Hinata shiver a bit.
"Well done, Jun. I didn't expect this to go this perfectly." Sasuke casually wiped the dust off his cloak, looking upstairs.
The bearded man smirked.
"Told you. I know this village too well. They are way too predictable."
The Uchiha nodded distantly, and Hinata barely managed to suppress a grimace — just how cocky could this moron become...? And how could Sasuke even tolerate his attitude?
The way to the top of the Tower felt quite easy, at least to her. Too easy, actually – deceptively so, making the girl think for a second that the rest of their task would be equally simple.
A loud scream of agony echoed through the tower, making the three of them stop and look above worriedly.
It just so happened that Hinata decided to scan the hall they were heading to with her Byakugan – since they already knew what awaited them there and had a plan to counter all of their opponents according to the available intel, it didn't feel like being a necessity.
That's why she gasped in awe, gripping Sasuke's wrist and stopping them once again when they were only two floors away from the entrance.
"What is it?" He blurted, clearly knowing that Hinata wouldn't react like that without a very good reason.
She swallowed hard before whispering:
"It's... we were right. It's a jinchūriki." The girl wasn't moving the piercing gaze of her white eyes out of the certain point above them.
"Yeah... figured as much. So? Which one?" He uttered impatiently, peering at the girl.
"It's... Sasuke, it's the Kyūbi...!"
Now it was the Uchiha's turn to gasp in surprise.
"The... the Kyūbi?! How the hell is that possible...? Surely nothing could happen to Naruto while we were here..."
"I know, but didn't Naruto let the other half of his tenant stay free? I thought he mentioned that back when the two of you were about to fight..." She mumbled perplexedly, still looking at the girl who was now wriggling on the floor of the grand, empty hall, screaming in terrible agony – the lashes of the demonic chakra Hinata herself once used to utilize during the war were now bursting out of the poor captive's body chaotically, as if she wasn't able to hold the bijū inside her body properly, which was weird – the seal on her abdomen seemed to be pretty decently made.
Sasuke suddenly clenched her shoulders, shaking the Hyūga and making her meet the wary gaze of his only visible Sharingan eye.
"How do you know that?!" He asked demandingly, making the girl want to slap herself for being so careless to mention the contents of the vision she witnessed a few months ago.
"I..." She stopped for a second, not knowing what to say on the matter at the moment. She didn't even know why she avoided this conversation for so long – perhaps the girl just didn't want to ruin the privacy of his memories to him? "Can we talk about it later?" She nearly begged, making the Uchiha see that she didn't intend to hide it from him anymore – it just wasn't the right place and time to discuss that.
After a few seconds of being locked in the silent eye contact with her, he sighed, letting the girl go and glancing at the ceiling above them.
"Fine... but I still don't understand, how on earth did they manage to capture the Kyūbi? Is there even any way to control it aside from Sharingan...?" He then paled, meeting her eyes again. "Don't tell me..."
Hinata looked up through the walls of the building again, covering her mouth with her palm a second later after focusing her eyes on the man that stood next to the jinchūriki, rapidly weaving hand signs.
She then met Sasuke's shocked gaze, not being able to utter a word – it was at this point obvious anyway.
He sighed, closing his eyes.
"Fine... I should've expected something like that. Jun, we're changing our plan." The man didn't argue, seeing how tensed the Uchiha suddenly became. "You're gonna take care of the other guardians... alone. Can you make it?"
The bearded man shrugged.
"I guess... they are just a bunch of neophytes anyway. Shouldn't be much of a difficulty."
Sasuke nodded, sighing heavily.
"Good. Hinata..." He glanced at Jun again, suddenly looking a bit insecure which was quite unlike the Uchiha's usual self. He stepped closer to the girl, lowering his eyes. "Under different circumstances, I'd never ask you to do it. But... I have no other choice. Can you...?"
She met his Sharingan eye again, trying to not show any sign of fear.
That's probably what she felt was coming – and it was horrible to say the least. Originally they intended to quickly kill the leader, and then to take care of his 'weapon' – but of course, that sounded too easy for the likes of them. Luck was probably too much of a luxury to ask from fate at that point...
Now that they discovered that the leader of Amegakure was, in fact, exactly who Sasuke had been looking for this entire time – his lost relative, the surviving descendant of the Uchiha clan – killing him was not an option. Therefore Sasuke needed to take him out of the fight and give the man a talk... a long one, considering everything...
Which meant she was the only one who could and would have to deal with the jinchūriki - on her own, considering that Jun would be busy fighting the guards, and he wouldn't be much of a help against such a foe anyway... not to mention that the Hyūga would rather have her arms cut off in action than fight alongside with that smug retard.
But then she noticed something in Sasuke's gaze, something... unexpected... it was...
The girl could feel her heart skip a beat as she finally realized what was truly going on with her companion right now.
Hope. This was his... no, their hope. If he somehow managed to save a survivor from his clan, it would mean that the burden of responsibility of reviving his family would come off his shoulders. He would become free to live the life he wanted to live. And maybe... to be with her?
If that's what he was thinking right now, then it made perfect sense, considering how important was finding this man to him even prior to all... this. And now, that's why he was going to put everything at stake.
Even their mission.
Hinata smiled assuringly and suddenly hugged the Uchiha.
"Don't worry... I understand. Just be sure to make it in time. I will stall the jinchūriki as long as I can, but I doubt I'll be able to take her down on my own."
He nodded, hugging the girl as well, ignoring Jun's mocking whistling.
"I know. I'll be there as soon as possible. Just make sure to survive."
"I will."
She could feel that he wanted to kiss her again, for the first time since the events on that roof a week ago, but apparently Jun's giggling spoiled the moment – Sasuke hesitantly let her go and turned away, jumping over another flight of stairs. "Let's go!" He yelled, and they quickly followed.
There were no locks – apparently the leader never considered a possibility of anybody aside from his trusted guardians daring to enter the Tower. That's why when the three persons wearing the famous Akatsuki coats entered the great hall, the man didn't even care to pay any attention to his unexpected guests.
"Jun! Come over hear and help me maintain the control over this damned seal! It's getting out of my grasp again...!" Hinata silently watched the man shout, taking her usual fighting stance and waiting for Sasuke's signal.
The Uchiha stopped, eying the crying, agonizing girl that was now lying on the floor, twisted by the flows of red chakra as her body was nearly being torn apart by the lashes of this familiar energy.
"Sorry, Yutaka-sama. I'm afraid I'm not going to follow your orders anymore." Jun said casually, making the remaining five guardians turn to them and drew their weapons as they noticed the unexpected visitors.
The Uchiha clan's descendant slowly turned to them, and Hinata expected Sasuke to visibly react somehow, but he didn't, despite the man's activated Sharingan with three tomoe being clearly visible.
"What's the meaning of this, Jun...?" He slowly uttered, brushing a strand of his reddish dark hair away from his face. "Who are these two you brought here? Why are you wearing these...?" He asked, clearly getting more and more nervous as the realization of their possible identity was slowly coming to him.
"Oh, they...?" Jun smirked. "The two of them are the ones who are going to take over. I suppose I should let the new leader of the village introduce himself... right, kami-sama?" He smirked, and for a split second it seemed to Hinata that the man she couldn't stand winked at the younger Uchiha who now looked collected, yet still the tiniest bit nervous, although it was probably only her who were able to notice it – they didn't know him as well as she did.
"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I'm the last surviving member of Akatsuki. I believe we have a lot to talk about... first of all, your former subordinate is right. I am here to take the control over this country, but I'd like to discuss a few things with you first. I suggest a peaceful conversation, if you please." He added, which was quite unusual, even weird for Sasuke – but Hinata quickly realized that it was probably the first time for him to talk to someone from his clan as a mature and as the said clan's head, so he probably didn't really know what to say and how to behave with this new man.
Yutaka laughed maniacally, gripping the jinchūriki girl's arm and pulling her towards himself.
"To do so, you will have to go past her first! I'm not going to let you traitor have everything so easily!" He snapped, hatefully looking at Jun who simply spread his hands, sighing.
"Told you, he's a tough one." Sasuke ignored his comment – Hinata felt a strong wave of chakra coming out of her companion's body, and then he was already gripping Yutaka's neck just a second later, glancing at her with his Rinnegan over his shoulder.
"Hinata... take care of her, will you?"
The Hyūga girl quickly nodded.
"I will! Don't worry!"
Sasuke waited for a moment, and then nodded in return, disappearing along with his clansman as he used his Rinnegan's ability she was already familiar with – Amenotejikara. It's range was limited, she knew that much – which meant they were somewhere close, probably still inside the building.
Nevertheless, she and Jun were now on their owns against an unstable jinchūriki and a bunch of bigots, each of them on the level of elite jōnin...
"Jun..."
"Yes, princess?" She ignored his usual addressing, trying to be as collected and serious as possible – in a way, she was imitating Sasuke's attitude which she always considered to be the most suitable for a real fight. "Are you certain that you'll be able to handle them on your own?"
"What kind of question is that?" He blurted, snorting. "The sole fact that you're so hot for Sasuke that you didn't even allow me to relax and have fun with you doesn't mean that I'm not a capable man, you know..."
She rolled her eyes, not able to suppress a slap her face with her palm.
"Remind me, why shouldn't I kill you right away, you moron?"
He smirked.
"Probably because you have a jinchūriki to take care for... more than ample for one evening, ain't it?"
She slowly nodded, watching the brown haired girl slowly being covered by the familier red, demonic chakra, three tails appearing from her back.
"I guess... you are right. Anyway, you better don't survive this – if you do, you can have my word that your death will eventually be caused by my hand. Sooner or later."
"Meh, doubt it. You'll be too busy shagging your godly boyfriend. Perhaps he'll be able to smoothen your *****y attitude at least? After all, he seems like a cool guy for a brat..."
Hinata could feel herself blushing horribly now, but for some reason, the girl felt relieved – almost as if it wasn't a legendary demon she had to face right now, but rather a funny game she had to play along.
"And perhaps you should finally get yourself a woman to spend time with, you loser? Simply doing what you do, imagining me every time you are in a shower won't be any good for you..."
"And who said that I'm imagining you only when I'm showering, darling?" She rolled her eyes, seeing the fourth tail appear and the girl's body being covered with dark red chakra as the transformation into the beast began.
"Still, you are but a loser compared to Sasuke."
"Hey, you don't need to be so offensive. I'm only trying to clear the air here, you know. After all, both of us are about to die." He mumbled, and Hinata suddenly smiled, feeling the unexpected sympathy for the man – it was the first time when she felt him being a part of their team for real.
"Fair enough. But spare the talk. We have a job to do. Let's go!" She charged towards the raging demonic creature, dodging a swing of it's tail and channeling the lightning chakra into her right hand's.
She was careful to wait for an opening to strike, but her attempt to damage the beast with her jūken failed miserably – instead of destroying the jinchūriki's tenketsu, Hinata just burned her fingers, and then she gasped in surprise and fear – the claws of the bijū nearly cut her head off.
Dodging another few swings of it's tails and hands, the Hyūga jumped away, but apparently the beast didn't plan on stopping it's furious series of attacks. Barely avoiding them, Hinata rapidly tried to come up with an idea of stopping... it.
And just when the body of the first guard killed by Jun hit the cold floor, the girl narrowed her eyes, meeting the demon's hateful gaze, recognizing the familiar pattern.
It's eyes... they weren't normal. Of course, Hinata had no idea how they supposed to look normally, but... the eyes of the Kyūbi most certainly weren't the Sharingan eyes, right?
Which could mean only one thing - it was being under Yutaka's control, which made perfect sense – if the Kyūbi sided himself with Konoha during the war, surely it would be able to recognize Sasuke, Naruto's best friend? And the bijū didn't seem like a mindless creature back then anyway... but it did now.
But then... it was going to stop as soon as she put the beast out of the man's control. At least she hoped it would. But how to do this? How to undo this genjutsu...?
She nearly wanted to slap herself for her idiocy.
If anyone knew how to dispel the Sharingan genjutsu, wouldn't it be the one who was taught by the strongest Sharingan user alive?
But then again, she never considered that particular piece of information really valuable. After all, Sasuke was supposed to remain the only surviving Uchiha out there. And if he decided to put her under a genjutsu, she would hardly object with his decision – whatever his reason could be in this case, Hinata was sure it would be very justified and important.
He told her something about the ways to undo the control, the girl now remembered that fact as she dodged another attack, nervously noticing that the fifth chakra tail slowly appeared from the creature's back.
She needed to be quick before the full transformation occurred.
Think, Hinata, just think... the seal was out of the option – as far as she remembered, it had to be placed onto the controller's body, not the host's. And she wasn't any good at sealing arts anyway...
What else could she do? There had to be an option...
Destroying the girl's body was one, for instance. But could she make it, considering that she wasn't even able to come close enough to land a decent blow...? If she managed to kill the jinchūriki, the bijū's chakra would be dispersed for a while, and the genjutsu would be automatically canceled.
And if Hinata didn't kill her, she would have to face the completely transformed nine tailed fox, dedicated to kill her and Jun... considering the power she saw when Naruto transformed into it, the Hyūga decided that this certainly wasn't what she wanted right now.
But what to do then...?
She felt the dire chakra burning the left side of her face as she barely managed to dodge another attack, jumping towards the opposite side of the hall and landing onto the ceiling.
If that Yutaka managed to control the Kyūbi, then he was quite powerful. No match for Sasuke, of course, but it was a very delicate situation for her... master? Lover?
She shook her head, trying to collect her thoughts. It certainly wasn't the right time to think about it...
No matter. Sasuke obviously couldn't just bring Yutaka down. Which meant it was going to take some time for him to come back and help them.
Time... that was the problem – they had absolutely no time.
What to do...? Damn it...
Surely waiting for the Kyūbi to perform the complete transformation was out of the question. She didn't remember the way to undo the control over it, either, which meant...
She had to defeat it somehow. And apparently if she had any chance to begin with, there was no choice but to use the strongest move in her arsenal...
There was no other way. Ironically so, the jinchūriki's fate was sealed the moment she received that seal on her body – after all, thanks to Sasuke, Hinata still considered herself a Kunoichi of Konoha. And the Kyūbi was Konoha's bijū, no one else's... no. It was Naruto's friend and their savior as well. They needed to remember it.
In any case, it was Hinata's duty to free the beast of her village. She had to do it. Somehow...
"Jun!" She yelled, jumping down and avoiding another strike at the same time. "Be careful, I'm going to use my kekkei genkai now!"
"Understood!" Came the immediate reply, and Hinata weaved a few signs, hugging her shoulders and kneeling, not moving the gaze of her activated Byakugan off the roaring demon.
"Here goes nothing..." She whispered, waiting for another deadly strike to come, and then the Hyūga channeled as much of her chakra to her limbs as she could.
The beast roared in anger, and Jun, who couldn't stand the temptation to see Hinata's mysterious power, gasped in awe, nearly getting hit by one of the few surviving guardians – but it was quite a show, so the man guessed that the risk of distraction did worth it.
At least because it all clicked for him now. This was how she managed to catch him off guard weeks ago, when she lured him to their trap by trying to seduce him – he was sure that she had no weapon with her and that it wasn't a ninjutsu, and he was right.
The huge red chakra arms of the jinchūriki was pierced by a few large bones that were now protruding out of Hinata's shoulders.
The beast snorted, seemigly confused, but the girl didn't give it any chances – another vicious strike followed as a long, sharp bone came out of her palm, piercing the demon's abdomen and making it roar so loud that it seemed like the walls of the tower trembled under it's fury.
With a loud crack, the bones were broken and a strong paw crashed into Hinata's chest, throwing the girl back at the wall, but apparently she wasn't going to simply give up now, which could only amaze Jun even more – another few sharp and thick bones came out of the girl's back, digging into the floor and thus preventing her from being hit by the wall behind her.
"Is that all you got, huh?! And here I though we were going to have fun! Bring it on!" Hinata yelled, but Jun, who had just finished another man, leaving only one guardian to deal with, could see that she was equally as frightened and desperate as cocky she was now, taunting this demonic creature when there was hardly a way to beat it, even with her dreadful kekkei genkai he never ever heared about before.
The sixth tail appeared behind it's back, and the beast's body began covering with it's own skeleton.
This wasn't going to end well...
Yutaka fell onto the platform just below the Tower's spire, quickly getting back on his legs and watching down to the street, gasping in surprise – apparently he had no idea about the ongoing riot in his village.
"You..." He growled, meeting his opponent's calm and collected gaze. "No matter who you are, I would rather die than let you take my village!" He drew a kunai out of the holster on his hip, taking a stance Sasuke wasn't familiar with – it looked a bit similar to what Karin sometimes used in the past, but it still was quite different.
"Why is that?" Sasuke suddenly asked, surprising Yutaka by the absolute lack of any sign of aggression in his tone – there was nothing but curiosity. "Is your lust for power that strong?"
Yutaka clenched his kunai and charged towards the Uchiha.
"You would never understand...!" To his surprise, just when he was about to cut the throat of his nemesis, some mysterious power suddenly threw him away from the black haired boy, making the man fly a few yards back and fall hard onto the platform, wincing of pain.
"I will try." The man raised his head, slowly getting up and meeting the indifferent gaze of the boy's only visible black eye.
"You scum... the Akatsuki... your so-called leader had abandoned this village just when it needed him the most. But as far as I know... your organization never intended to ensure Amegakure's well-being to begin with, right...?" He now tried to analyze his enemy with his Sharingan before attacking again, but Sasuke knew beforehand that it was futile – he wasn't using any justu right now aside from that Shinra Tensei. And even if he had to use the other Rinnegan technique he had mastered just a month ago, Yutaka wouldn't be able to see anything with his eyes.
"And I take it you consider yourself a worthy leader?" Sasuke asked, and his clansman cursed, clenching his teeth.
"I know what you're trying to say. Perhaps I'm far from perfect, but at least I tried to do something. And you... the Akatsuki... you just used the village to achieve your own goals! You are the ones responsible for all this...!" He charged towards Sasuke again, but this time he could feel a significant mass of chakra leave the boy's body, but for some weird reason he couldn't see anything, which was more than strange – his blessed eyes always allowed him to see any chakra...! Then why...?
And then he gasped, feeling as his body suddenly became nearly paralyzed – Yutaka couldn't move a limb, and the man could feel himself being slightly pulled up in the air by something he couldn't see – he was floating there without being able to do literally anything but cursing and talking.
Just who on earth was this boy...? And how powerful he really was, being able to do something like that without moving a finger?
"I will not harm you... no matter what you do. Don't try using genjutsu – it won't work on me. Nothing you can do will." His right eye flashed with red, and Yutaka became speechless as he saw the familiar pattern.
It was the same eye he himself had. The red eye with three tomoe.
"H-how...?" He whispered, unable to move his eyes away from the boy.
"Are you going to listen now?" Sasuke asked, stepping close enough to the man that he could see every feature of his scarred face. "If you don't try to attack me again, I will let you go."
It was a lie, of course – the Uchiha knew that he'd have to let the man go anyway, since the technique he was using now had it's time limit, but why not gamble a bit, especially if it was for the greater good?
Yutaka slowly nodded, and then he felt the grip of the invisible hands let him fall on his knees, breathing heavily.
"Why..." he blurted, trying to catch his breath. "Why do you have this eye...?"
"I was born with it, just like you."
Did... did he say he was born with it...?! Was he trying to tell that...?!
"Are... are we...?"
The Uchiha nodded.
"We are related. But in order to explain it all to you, I need to understand if you know anything about your origins. Tell me... what do you know about your parents?"
The man hesitated for a few seconds before sighing and shrugging.
"Not much. I never got a chance meet my father. Mother told me that he was from some powerful clan... and she herself was an Uzumaki. I don't remember her that well, though – I've been taken from her when I was a kid. Never saw her ever since."
Sasuke's eyes widened. There was no mistake... this man was the son of that Uzumaki woman they met in the Land of Whirlpools a few months ago. Which meant... he probably knew absolutely nothing about his legacy, since the man was raised too far away from Konoha... basically as a slave.
"I see. Then you are the one who I was looking for. Tell me... your mother's name is Uzumaki Otomi, right?"
The man fell onto his back, deactivating his dōjutsu and staring in Sasuke's eyes in complete shock and disbelief.
"How... how did you...?" He mumbled, barely being able to squeeze words.
"I've met her before. She told me the story of your family, and I decided to find you. Your name is Yutaka, right?"
The man slowly nodded, apparently still having a hard time believing what was happening to him.
"Y-yes... but why did you want to look for me?" He quietly asked, not moving his shocked eyes from his... enemy? Relative? He didn't even what to think anymore...
Sasuke suddenly smiled warmly, which looked a bit weird considering the situation they were in.
"Because you're a descendant of my clan. Like I told you before, my name is Uchiha Sasuke. I suppose you never heard about the Uchiha clan, right?"
Yutaka shook his head, still finding it hard to comprehend what was happening to him.
"No... I only heard the name once before. But they said the clan is no more..."
Sasuke smirked.
"Well, they were wrong. There is me. And you, now that I've found you."
The leader of Ame lowered his eyes, peering at the floor under his feet thoughtfully.
"Does it mean that my father is...?"
"Yes. He was an Uchiha, just like you and me."
"Are they... still alive?" It was a pain for Sasuke to hear that humble, smallest sign of hope in his voice, and it was even more painful to break it. But there was no other choice. He couldn't lie to him.
The boy sighed, slightly shaking his head.
"Unfortunately, no. I witnessed your mother's death just few months ago."
Yutaka brushed his dark-red shaded hair with his fingers, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.
"Did she suffer?" He suddenly asked, and Sasuke shook his head again.
"No. She died peacefully."
Yutaka opened his eyes, meeting Sasuke's sympathetic gaze again.
"How come you're with Akatsuki? Why did you say that you're going to take over?" The older Uchiha became serious again – apparently the initial shock of the revelations that fell onto him was now gone, bringing back the tension of the presence of the intruders – they were still his enemies, Uchiha or not.
Sasuke looked away, glancing at the crowd down on the street – there were quite a few dead people now, and the fight was still ongoing.
"Because you did a very stupid thing. You attacked your clan's homeland, Konohagakure. This led us to nearly catastrophic consequences. I need to stop it all before it's too late."
Yutaka narrowed his eyes, quietly growling:
"Consequences? Such as...?"
The younger Uchiha met his piercing glare again, without any sign of any emotion but sadness in his own eyes.
"Listen... I know that Ame is a rather closed village, and that your people usually don't take part in the major events of the shinobi world. But there was a war just half a year ago. That war nearly destroyed this world . After it ended, the Five Great Countries made an agreement to prevent anything like that in future – no village among these countries is to attack another village, no matter what are the circumstances. They can only defend themselves, nothing else. Surely you noticed that Konoha didn't strike back, no matter what you did to us – and you used it as an opportunity, which makes perfect sense, but it can't last any longer. Konoha is weakened because of you, and we are about to cross the point of taking unacceptable amount of damage. And if it happens, the truce will be broken, and the world will be consumed by another war, which will likely be the end for all of us."
Yutaka suddenly laughed, and Sasuke's heart sank as he heard the signs of complete despair and incredible pain in the man's voice.
"So... is that it? You're just going to destroy Ame from the inside to protect your own village?"
The younger Uchiha quickly shook his head.
"No. I plan on making it a part of our country. This way, the Land of Fire will provide all the necessary resources to reform this village and to help your country, as well as granting the protection you need."
"I'm sorry, then. But you will have to step over my dead body if that's your plan. Clansman or not, but I'd rather die than let you annex my country." Yutaka's voice suddenly became incredibly harsh as he took his kunai again, apparently prepared to fight Sasuke to the end.
The black haired boy frowned.
"Why? Do you want to continue the pointless misery of your people? Don't you think they've suffered enough pain by now...?"
Yutaka laughed again, reactivating his Sharingan.
"Pain...? What can a kid like you possibly know about pain?!"
Sasuke's black eye became bloody red as well.
"I know enough."
"Oh, really? Then tell me... that girl you came here with. I saw how you talked to each other, so tell me now – do you love her?!" He yelled, taking his exotic stance again.
"What does it have to do with anything...?" Sasuke mumbled, confused by the sudden question, and Yutaka laughed maniacally again.
"Oh, it does! Because it's going to be the prime example of the difference between you and me, between your people and mine! All you care about is avoiding pain, while we take it for granted! Pain is what makes us stronger! And this is what's going to happen to the two us! You will be broken, and I will only become stronger!"
"You're not making any sense..." Sasuke narrowed his eyes dangerously – he certainly didn't expect, nor like this turn of events. Was he... insane? Or quite the opposite...?
Yutaka cocked his head to the left, grinning devilishly.
"Oh, really? I'll make it clear for you, then. You and me are about to lose our beloved ones! Both of them will die!" He laughed again, and Sasuke gasped, quickly channeling his chakra into his eye.
And just as he did so, a horrible anguished cry echoed through the building from somewhere just few levels below the platform they were standing on. It was... Hinata!
"Now tell me, boy... what do you know about pain?!"
