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Hurray, new chapter. so sorry about chapter 32's length. I hope you all enjoyed it anyway. This one is also a little long, but it is shorter than the last. Please browse and be happy XD
Naruto fanfic: A future without you
chapter 33: compensation and confession
PRESENT TIME--SASUKE'S POV
The monster went after Kiba first, with a thirty meter long spear of ice sprouting from one of its billion tiny arms and stretching at top speed. Kiba and Akamaru barely escaped death, managing to jump back at the last second.
With the scream out of her system and her comrades in danger, Sakura finally took action. Gulping, she pushed Sasuke behind a tree and bolted.
He immediately forced himself up and tried to follow her. But the world twisted before his eyes, and he found himself face down in the grass.
Gritting his teeth, he dragged his face out of the mud and pushed his fingers through the greenery.
NO... He thought, glaring as Sakura gathered enough chakra in her fist and prepared to attack. NOT AGAIN...
He had to move. He WOULD move.
Snapping his eyes open, he shot up. There was a moment of swaying vertigo, but he leaned on the tree and got control of himself.
Then he watched.
Sakura buried her fist in the monsters belly. This seemed to cause it no apparent pain, but it's entire left side and a bit of its right exploded into water droplets. Sensing the danger, Kiba, Akamaru, and Sakura retreated to a safe distance before any of the acidic water touched the ground. Sasuke noticed Sakura's arm was fine.
SO IT TURNS TO ACID WHEN BROKEN UP. Sasuke noted. IF ONLY WE COULD FREEZE IT...
He paused, deep in thought, and looked at his free hand. Activating his sharingan, he focused all his memories on Sakura's healing palm technique. This took longer than he'd hoped, but his hand eventually glowed with green (yet unstable) chakra.
Placing it on his head, he vowed to be quick. Sakura and Kiba dodged every assault, but they couldn't keep it up forever.
The monsters limbs had locked on to their chakra signatures, stretching and sprouting endless blades of ice that sought them out from all directions. If they went right or left, so did the limbs. If they jumped, the blades skyrocketed, if they ducked, the blades nosedived, and so on. Each new blade grew from the previous one, and at such speed that Sakura, Kiba, and Akamaru had barely finished dodging one attack when the new spikes were at their noses. Thus they moved constantly, endlessly, with chakra concentrated in their legs to help them move faster, and as time went by they used more and more.
Sasuke took off, having finished the crude, rushed, untrained healing. His vision spun slightly, but he squinted and forced himself to keep moving.
When you're up against an enemy you know nothing about, there are two rules. One, don't allow even a single hit. Two, find it's weakness ASAP, before you run out of chakra.
Sasuke knew of no way to freeze it. He wasn't Haku. And it used blades of ice, so there was no guarantee that was a weakness. However, this thing was made of water, which meant it should respond to the same treatment as Suigetsu.
"It's so large, I might have to overdo it a bit." Sasuke muttered lethargically. "I'm already low to begin with... Damn monster."
He ducked as one of the spikes shot for his head, and kicked off the ground. Grabbing one frozen limb, he spun and released before hundreds of tiny spikes would have butchered his hand. Jumping lightly from spear to spear, he glared up.
"Ox, rabbit, monkey--" he muttered, performing the matching hand signs.
The monster noticed him moments before he leapt up, attaching himself to its reformed belly with the walk on water exercise and barreled up the side. Down below, Sakura, Kiba, and Akamaru were retreating once more, this time to the trees.
He reached its head, his ears filled with the familiar CHIRP, CHIRP, CHIRP. Plunging the chidori shoulder deep into the monsters head, he winced as he noticed the thick outer layer and the bubbling, freezing, inside.
"Ugh! Disgusting!" He spat.
But it did the trick. Sakura, Kiba, and Akamaru were half bent over, panting. The limbs shook, paralyzed like the rest of the monster.
However, Sasuke knew this was only temporary. He wouldn't be able to keep the spark in the palm of his hand alive for long. They were okay for now, but once his chakra ran out...
He tensed, watching what could have been the longest scroll ever coil in the air around the monster from below and stopping at its head.
He felt somebody's arms wrap around him directly under his armpits and he nearly cast the culprit into tsukuyomi before noticing it was Hinata.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
She ignored him, choosing to act instead. Pushing off the monster with the heels of her feet, she grit her teeth and tried to pull him loose. He had no idea what was going on, but suspecting a plan was in motion, he dispelled his chidori and allowed himself to be pulled free.
Hinata jumped away from the monster into the air behind the scroll.
"RELEASE!"
Instantaneously, the monster became a frozen, giant glob of ice. In seconds, the scroll rolled back up, snapping shut and falling neatly into Naruto's raised, open hand.
Hinata and Sakura separated, landing neatly on their feet on either side of Naruto, who was twirling the scroll in his hand nonchalantly and watching the monster carefully.
"There you are!" Sakura exclaimed, trying to straighten up only to fall to her knees.
"Don't move around so much!" Naruto ordered. "You're low on chakra!"
"Don't belittle me!" She rebuked, revealing a chakra tonic in hypodermic form. Stabbing the needle through her skin, the strange liquid emptied itself. She immediately tossed one to Kiba, whom Akamaru was watching carefully.
"Where were you?" Sasuke asked.
"The outer forest!" Naruto pointed in a certain direction. "What about you guys?"
"The village ruins." Sasuke said, looking back in their direction. "Actually, I need to talk to you about that."
"We have a lot of things to tell you to." Hinata said with a smile. "But we should probably do something about him first."
She gestured to the colossal monster in front of them.
"Can you seal him away somewhere?" Sasuke asked Naruto, who squared his shoulders and let out a low whistle.
"Nope." He said, disappointed. "It's way too huge. It'll break my seal stones, and if I was going to use scrolls, I'd need like a hundred more of them."
Sasuke knit his brow. "So what? We just leave it be?"
"We've got no choice." Naruto sighed. "Let's try to put some distance between us and it! I'll think of something in the mean time."
"Hinata!"
Kiba grabbed her shoulders and spun her around so she faced him.
"Are you alright? I was looking everywhere for you! I was worried sick!" He stated frantically.
Naruto made a face at him and he turned away to pout.
Sasuke eyed the giant frozen glob monster (there really was no other way to describe it). Then he turned his skeptic gaze on Naruto.
"How did you do that?" He asked.
Naruto grinned triumphantly, and held the scroll up. It rolled open 12 inches and stopped, revealing a sealing formula surrounding the Yuki clan symbol.
"Ice style! I stole it from a Yuki clan ninja in the arena!"
"Stole? Arena?" Sasuke questioned.
Naruto flinched and looked around nervously, trying to avoid Sasuke's narrowed gaze as much as possible.
"Ah, well, you know! You see, uhhh, ummmm..." He trailed off, sweating under Sasuke's scrutinous gaze.
"What are you hiding?" Sasuke asked in a demanding tone.
"Oh well, uh! The containment seal captures jutsu energy! Like fire style, or water, earth, and kekkei genkai styles too--"
"I mean about the Arena." Sasuke clarified. "Jugo mentioned it too. You know something. Tell me now."
Naruto looked away. "I--I don't know anything."
"Naruto--"
CR-CRAAACK
They all flinched, whirling at the sound, but were too slow. A vine of ice wrapped itself around Naruto's ankle and yanked him with great force through the grass to the gorge.
"Naruto!" They all cried out in unison.
He wasn't nearly as tired as them, and sat bolt upright to stab a kunai into the center of the ice vine. Quite a large crack appeared, but it restored itself instantaneously.
Sasuke ran to him, with Kiba at his heels. They infused their kunai with chakra and prepared to attack. However, mini forests of long needles shot out the sides of the vine and they had to stumble back.
Naruto transformed part of his body, revealing all nine tails of the Kyuubi. They each stretched forward, wrapping themselves around nine different trees. This slowed his descent into yet another void, but it wouldn't last long.
Sasuke revealed three more kunai, using the last of his chakra to imbue them with lightning style and hurl them at the vine. All broke through, splitting it and allowing Kiba to toss him to the girls.
"Let's run!" He yelled, turning to Sasuke, but wincing instead.
Sasuke flinched too, feeling icy, slicing pain around his ankle. His eyes widened in horror as he noticed two new vines had sprouted from the severed one, each having ensnared them both.
The two gasped.
"Sasuke!" Sakura cried out, dashing towards them.
"STAY THERE!" He ordered, seconds before getting dragged down along with Kiba, into the darkness.
NARUTO'S POV
Immediately after taking them, the monster groaned so loud it made their ears ring, and slowly descended into the gorge.
Naruto stared into space, stunned. Beside him, Sakura was sitting on her knees, angry tears streaming down her face, her hands balled into fists and braced against her thighs. Hinata was equally devastated, one hand clapped over her mouth as she sobbed, with her other arm wrapped over Naruto, pinning him down.
"S--Sasuke...!" Sakura called out to him through gritted teeth.
"Kiba-kun...! Sasuke...!" Hinata cried.
"Stop crying!" Naruto yelled, making both of them tense. "What are you doing, just sitting there!? What's that gonna do?!"
They both shuddered, sobbing internally.
"Let me up!" Naruto yelled, pushing himself up and startling Hinata in the process. "I'm going after them."
"No!" Hinata threw herself over him and pushed him back down. "You can't!"
"Hinata! Let me up!"
"No!"
"Hinata!"
Sakura whipped her head around, angry. "She can't, you fool! It's too risky!"
Naruto grit his teeth and glared at her. How could she say that? Even if it was true, he still had plenty of chakra! He could go after them right now, if they would just let him!
"Hinata, move!" He tried, once again, to get up. But Hinata buried her face in his chest, tightened her arms around him, and just plain refused to move.
"What's wrong with you two?!" Naruto shouted, making an agonized expression. "Are you just gonna leave them?! They're our friends, right?! Let me up! Or go after them yourselves!"
"Shut up! Stop being selfish!" Sakura ordered.
"I'M being selfish?!"
"Yes! They were willing to go that far for you and you would gamble away their sacrifice just like that?!"
"YES!" He bellowed. "IF YOU THNK IM JUST GONNA SIT HERE AND LET THEM DIE, YOURE CRAZY!"
Sakura laughed bitterly. "That's almost funny..."
"WHAT?!"
"None of us are going!" Sakura said, putting her foot down. "I'm low on chakra, and Hinata can't go alone. They're strong. They'll come back on their own. Sasuke wouldn't did so easily."
"That's ridiculous! You're just assuming things! They're low on chakra too, and you're just sitting there!"
"Shut up! Look at Hinata and Akamaru! They're the ones that are worried the most!"
He looked down at a shaking Hinata whose grip was making it hard to breath. Then he looked at Akamaru, who had jumped over the mote to peer into the gorge. Even his back looked tormented.
And Sakura... Sakura looked like she wanted to beat herself up.
They wanted to go more than anything. But they couldn't...
Looking dejectedly at the gorge, he hugged Hinata back. No, they couldn't go. Not in this sorry state. There was no telling what was down there, maybe guardians and more monsters like the one they just saw.
But he could.
"Sorry." He apologized in advance, making her look up at him in confusion moments before one of his tails knocked her off of him and into Sakura.
Lighting up one finger, he drew an eternal imprisonment seal in blue chakra and pushed it over to them, where it attached itself to the ground and trapped them inside.
Sakura sat bolt upright but she couldn't move outside the circle.
"What are you doing?!" She screamed.
He ignored her and stood up, fixing his headband. He didn't care what anyone said! He was hell-bent on rescuing them, and he WOULD bring them back.
"Stop!" Hinata begged as he reached around for his hood.
He half turned to face her.
"Please! Our goal is to protect you! That's why Sasuke and Kiba-kun did what they did!" She explained.
"We all... Promised... Not to let you feel alone again..." She spoke through tears. "To do whatever it takes to restore your memories. To make sure you got home safely!"
He just smiled sunnily at her.
"If you go down there you'll--!"
"Disappear, like that other guy?"
She bit her lip when he said this. He frowned at that. It almost seemed like the words alone had crushed her.
"It's not gonna be like that!" He assured, crouching next to her. "I'm going to bring them back! And who knows, they're super strong! They just might me halfway!"
Sighing through his nose, he leaned his forehead on hers. She was making such a sad face! Like she really would fall apart if he let her behind.
"I promise I'll be back!" He smiled. "I promise! I swear, okay, Hinata?"
She only bit her lip some more and sobbed.
"Just believe in me, and wait here! I'll be back with both of them!"
She was still crying! Maybe he should kiss her? But... Sakura was watching them! His face nearly caught fire at the thought. On top of that, she was sure to tell Sasuke and Kiba later, and then the incessant jeering would begin! That would be mortifying.
So instead, he revealed his seal stone, the one Yuuki had given him, and placed it in her hand.
"Hold onto this until I get back okay?"
She sniffled, looking down sadly at the stone before slowly curling her fingers around it and holding it close to her heart.
"Good!" Naruto nodded, hopping up and walking off.
He could feel Sakura's furious, worried eyes on his back as he jumped over the mote and stood at the edge of the gorge. Hinata wasn't even looking at him anymore.
I'LL MAKE IT UP TO YOU. he promised, reaching down to pet Akamaru reassuringly.
The gorge... It really did look like there was nothing but infinite darkness down there.
"Why does it feel like I've seen this before...?" He muttered before flinging his hood over his face and jumping into the darkness.
NARUTOS POV [THE GORGE]
Falling slowly through infinite darkness got boring quickly.
He had tried using the chakra solidization so he could ride it to the bottom, and biju mode so he could see, but neither worked. For some reason he just couldn't summon any chakra.
He fell quietly through the air, his arms folded behind his back.
"Well this is bad!" He decided. "I can't sense Sakura or Hinata anymore! And I can't sense Sasuke or Kiba either!"
"I'm bored. We better think of something, or else we'll die." Kurama stated.
"Eh? Die?" Naruto asked.
"Think about it. We can't see anything. Not the walls, not the ground. We just might die without realizing what's happened."
"What?!" He screamed, eyes bugging out. "No! It can't end like this! Gyaaah!"
"Knock it off, you big fool!" Kurama ordered. "Calm down and think!"
Naruto immediately gulped and looked up at he little sliver of light sunshine that couldn't reach this level of the gorge. He'd fallen pretty far... Wait!
He threw his arms out and flipped so he faced the ground. Gale winds pushed him up like a parachute, and forced his eyes shut. He reached blindly for a shuriken and sent it slicing through the air.
Thirty seconds. That was how long it took the shuriken cut into the ground. He grunted as he kicked through the air to the wall and dug the toes of his sandals into the smooth dirt packed walls.
"Ugh!" He hit the ground a lot less roughly than he would have, but it wasn't easy.
"Darn it!" He complained, sitting up and gripping his shoulder. "What now...?"
There had to be some way to see in this darkness! Without being able to sense their chakra, he needed to be able to see them!
"Calm down." Kurama said, drawing his focus to his mental self. "I can still sense SOME chakra. And anyway, you can still hear. Not as well as you'd like, but still!"
"I don't hear anything though." Naruto replied while waving his arms about. He didn't expect to touch anything but dirt, but as soon as his fingers brushed the wall he felt some strange gelatin like substance that made him shudder in disgust.
"Gross!" He said, reaching down to wipe his hand off in the dirt. "Creepy gorge..."
Cupping his hands around his mouth, he called out: "Kibaaaaa! Sasukeeee!"
"Stop!" Kurama warned.
"Why? No one else is down here!"
"Maybe, maybe not!"
Naruto crossed his arms and grumbled. "Well you got a better idea?"
The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as the small portion of darkness whose space he occupied lit up. Turning, he saw a small red globe sitting in a net hanging from a wooden pole. A lantern, and the person holding it stood behind the globe, or lantern, making them hard to see.
"Who goes there?" A dead but fruity female voice asked from the shadows.
"Uhhh... Uzumaki Naruto." He answered, relaxing. "I'm looking for my friends. They got dragged down here by some monster."
The lantern swung leisurely to the right as the person, a woman only slightly than Naruto, stepped into the light.
"You...!" He gasped, noticing her red hair, her wide violet eyes, and her Uzushio headband. "You're..."
"Why would you bring outsiders to this sacred place?" She questioned. "Are you after Kairi?"
"How do you know her name?" He asked. "And no I'm not! I just wanted to make sure she was safe, so I came looking for her. And I never said--"
"You don't have to. It's written all over your face." She interrupted quietly. "What else were you looking for?"
"Mami." He didn't mind admitting it. "And my, I mean our, clan. We're supposed to rendezvous here."
"Don't call them that. Those people are not my clan anymore." She stated flatly, walking past him.
"Hey, where are you going?" He asked, spinning and following after her.
"To your friends." She answered, making him stare at her in elated confusion. "I assume the monster that stole them was made of water?"
"Uhhh, yeah."
"Then they're probably in that place. Keep up with me."
He laughed at that. People never said that to him. And he was almost positive no one had said that to him in years.
HINATAS POV
"It's getting dark." Sakura noted.
Hinata nodded silently. The two sat back to back, their legs folded to their chests. There were minor differences in body language. While Sakura sat up straight, kunai in hand, she had a slight pout that had formed from anger and worry and spite. Every few seconds, she eyed the gorge before returning to her careful scan of the area. Hinata kept her byakugan active with her head resting on her knees. Her hands were clasped around the seal stone as she stared off into the distance, dazed and tired, yet still battle ready.
"Why didn't you stop him?" Sakura asked in a way that didn't hide her disappointment.
Hinata frowned, not fazed by the question. She'd been expecting it, though maybe not from her.
"You could have tried harder to make him stay." Sakura continued. "If we lose all of them, we'll fail this mission completely. And we'll probably be trapped here."
"You sound like you've already given up." Hinata pointed out flatly.
"I haven't!" Sakura rebuked. "It's just... If they don't come back, I won't be surprised."
"Yes, you will." Hinata argued.
"No I won't."
"YES you will."
"NO I won't!"
Hinata whipped her head around. "Yes you will!"
Sakura, turned to argue, but Hinata steeled her nerves and let all of her confidence and faith burn in her eyes. This froze Sakura, her mouth hanging open from a comeback left unspoken.
Hinata relaxed, but tightened her grip on the seal stone.
"I understand that you're afraid, and that saying that is your way of protecting yourself." She whispered. "But don't say things we both know aren't true."
Sakura's mouth opened wider, but instead of producing sound, it shut tight. She turned away, but her shoulders shook and her back lurched. Hinata could have been deaf, and she still would have known she was crying.
"I was always really afraid of you." Hinata admitted, turning away. "You're the strong, brave, confident and beautiful Sakura-chan that Naruto-kun loved. It was easier back when we were both crybabies, but then you came out of your shell, and I was alone in that boat. And when you smiled, Naruto-kun smiled. You weren’t much different from the others, but he forgave you no matter you did. So when I realized I loved him, I... Felt so insecure. So doomed. Like there was no hope for me. He would never look my way, when he loved you so much. Still I... Was stubborn. I wanted him so badly, more than I wanted to breathe. I did my best, and strived to change. And still he didn't look my way. It was so painful, all those years of watching his face light up whenever he saw you, how he would blush when you tended to his wounds, how he became strong enough to DODGE those punches, but let you hit him anyway. Still I... I don't hate you. I never have."
Sakura squared her shoulders. "Really...?"
"Really. You are a good person, who took care of him for a long time. I'm grateful for that."
Sakura peeked over her shoulder at her, hugging herself as she sniffled and looked back at the gorge.
"I had... A rough idea of how he felt." She admitted. "About me, I mean. It was always a rough idea, until Sai told me. At first I... Didn't care at all. And then when I started to care, I ignored it. It was more convenient than telling him the truth. I was so... I just... I'd been picked on so much and I gained an inferiority complex. I was shy, and scared of others. I became Ino's tag a long, and later I started leaning on Naruto. I scolded him, showed off, did whatever I could to make myself feel superior. Feel... More. But I always hid behind him and Sasuke when things got tough. And when Sasuke left, I took advantage of all that infinite kindness he had for me and asked him to bring Sasuke home. I knew he wouldn't say no! I knew I could have asked him for the moon and the stars and he would have brought them to me or died trying! And even after I got stronger, I still used him. Maybe not as much as before, but it was still there! I used him to try and get Sasuke back, to quell my insecurities, it was all a big hoax! Sasuke... Sasuke was right..."
You're just upset that he's not your little ego-boost anymore.
Hinata stared at her for the longest time. It was the strangest thing to see her crying. It felt so nostalgic, and yet it made her feel uneasy.
"Do you remember?" Sakura asked, finally meeting her eyes. "Back then, on THAT mission, we were having trouble tracking the enemy. You and Sasuke suggested we call for reinforcements, but I came up with a plan to use the terrain against them. We'd lead them to the cliffs, and force them over the edge. But it went wrong...! The ground was unstable in that area. And when it was weakened from the fight, and we were injured, Naruto grabbed us. He held onto us with his chakra tails and clung to the edge. I don't know how much time passed exactly, but it was morning at the start and nighttime at the end. We passed out, and when we woke up, Kakashi sensei and Guy sensei had found us. Then Sasuke told us what happened..."
Sakura gripped her knees to the point they started changing colors.
"I should have... Said thank you. Again. As many times as it took--"
"Sakura-chan."
Hinata placed her hands over Sakura's white knuckles and looked her in the eye.
"There's no need for you to feel this way." She smiled, shaking her head. "I don't think that's what your relationship was. You, Sasuke, and Naruto-kun are team seven. The three of you share a bond, just Ike Shino, Kiba-kun, and I. You were yourself, and he accepted you as you were. I'm a little jealous of that, but I wouldn't say you used him. He just... He understood you better than anyone, right? All of the time you spent together... He wasn't just an ego boost. He was an irreplaceable ally, and he saved you. You just... Couldn't do the same for him..."
Hinata smiled weakly. That was right. Both Sakura and Sasuke had felt his loss was THEIR mistake. They blamed themselves, and conducted their own thorough search of the continent and its surrounding islands. For two years, they stayed gone. Until the mysterious ninja dove Dokohato appeared, reported that Naruto was in the land of waves, and disappeared. Lady Tsunade had sent Hinata and Sai to the traveling duo to summon them home. The looks in their eyes had been ones of pure elation.
But he was not in the land of waves after all. A certain innkeeper had seen him, but both he and the mysterious man who had carried him had disappeared from the room, leaving money on the bedside table.
And just like that, they were back to square one.
Hinata had been particularly crushed, but Sasuke and Sakura had been eager to set off in search once more. Lady Tsunade had forbidden it, and told them to leave it to the search parties. A big argument had ensued between Sasuke and the hokage.
Hinata remembered the words even now.
JUST LEAVE IT TO THE SEARCH PARTIES! YOU ARE NEEDED HERE. Lady Tsunade had told him moments before he kicked her desk in.
IF YOU CANT FIND NARUTO, THEN YOURE OF NO USE TO US!
Yes the two of them had suffered too much from this. When they'd left, Hinata had expected them to become closer in their determination to find him. But when they'd returned they'd been so distant, and even on this mission they had hardly spoken at all.
He was all they thought about. In their minds, the ones at fault for Naruto's amnesia were themselves.
But if that was true, then she was at fault too. After all, she was also there, on that mission. And given what happened before it took place, it was possible she carried more blame than Sasuke and Sakura.
"Time has passed. He's alive, and he's here, and I'm certain he'll remember us." Hinata smiled brightly at her. "There's nothing to worry about, since we believe in him. And anyway, there's something else right? Something you want almost as much as Naruto's memories?"
Sakura jumped, blushing, and quickly looked away. Hinata giggled at that. Maybe they were similar after all.
"You should tell him again." Hinata advised, turning so they were once again back to back. "I'm sure this time, things will be very different."
ME TOO. She thought, a little of the sadness reflecting in her eyes. THERES SOMETHING ELSE I WANT TO DO.
She sighed through her nose, and raised her head with a smile. The seal stone between her hands felt warm, and seemed to comfort her.
"Please come back soon."
Naruto fanfic: A future without you
chapter 33: compensation and confession
PRESENT TIME--SASUKE'S POV
The monster went after Kiba first, with a thirty meter long spear of ice sprouting from one of its billion tiny arms and stretching at top speed. Kiba and Akamaru barely escaped death, managing to jump back at the last second.
With the scream out of her system and her comrades in danger, Sakura finally took action. Gulping, she pushed Sasuke behind a tree and bolted.
He immediately forced himself up and tried to follow her. But the world twisted before his eyes, and he found himself face down in the grass.
Gritting his teeth, he dragged his face out of the mud and pushed his fingers through the greenery.
NO... He thought, glaring as Sakura gathered enough chakra in her fist and prepared to attack. NOT AGAIN...
He had to move. He WOULD move.
Snapping his eyes open, he shot up. There was a moment of swaying vertigo, but he leaned on the tree and got control of himself.
Then he watched.
Sakura buried her fist in the monsters belly. This seemed to cause it no apparent pain, but it's entire left side and a bit of its right exploded into water droplets. Sensing the danger, Kiba, Akamaru, and Sakura retreated to a safe distance before any of the acidic water touched the ground. Sasuke noticed Sakura's arm was fine.
SO IT TURNS TO ACID WHEN BROKEN UP. Sasuke noted. IF ONLY WE COULD FREEZE IT...
He paused, deep in thought, and looked at his free hand. Activating his sharingan, he focused all his memories on Sakura's healing palm technique. This took longer than he'd hoped, but his hand eventually glowed with green (yet unstable) chakra.
Placing it on his head, he vowed to be quick. Sakura and Kiba dodged every assault, but they couldn't keep it up forever.
The monsters limbs had locked on to their chakra signatures, stretching and sprouting endless blades of ice that sought them out from all directions. If they went right or left, so did the limbs. If they jumped, the blades skyrocketed, if they ducked, the blades nosedived, and so on. Each new blade grew from the previous one, and at such speed that Sakura, Kiba, and Akamaru had barely finished dodging one attack when the new spikes were at their noses. Thus they moved constantly, endlessly, with chakra concentrated in their legs to help them move faster, and as time went by they used more and more.
Sasuke took off, having finished the crude, rushed, untrained healing. His vision spun slightly, but he squinted and forced himself to keep moving.
When you're up against an enemy you know nothing about, there are two rules. One, don't allow even a single hit. Two, find it's weakness ASAP, before you run out of chakra.
Sasuke knew of no way to freeze it. He wasn't Haku. And it used blades of ice, so there was no guarantee that was a weakness. However, this thing was made of water, which meant it should respond to the same treatment as Suigetsu.
"It's so large, I might have to overdo it a bit." Sasuke muttered lethargically. "I'm already low to begin with... Damn monster."
He ducked as one of the spikes shot for his head, and kicked off the ground. Grabbing one frozen limb, he spun and released before hundreds of tiny spikes would have butchered his hand. Jumping lightly from spear to spear, he glared up.
"Ox, rabbit, monkey--" he muttered, performing the matching hand signs.
The monster noticed him moments before he leapt up, attaching himself to its reformed belly with the walk on water exercise and barreled up the side. Down below, Sakura, Kiba, and Akamaru were retreating once more, this time to the trees.
He reached its head, his ears filled with the familiar CHIRP, CHIRP, CHIRP. Plunging the chidori shoulder deep into the monsters head, he winced as he noticed the thick outer layer and the bubbling, freezing, inside.
"Ugh! Disgusting!" He spat.
But it did the trick. Sakura, Kiba, and Akamaru were half bent over, panting. The limbs shook, paralyzed like the rest of the monster.
However, Sasuke knew this was only temporary. He wouldn't be able to keep the spark in the palm of his hand alive for long. They were okay for now, but once his chakra ran out...
He tensed, watching what could have been the longest scroll ever coil in the air around the monster from below and stopping at its head.
He felt somebody's arms wrap around him directly under his armpits and he nearly cast the culprit into tsukuyomi before noticing it was Hinata.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
She ignored him, choosing to act instead. Pushing off the monster with the heels of her feet, she grit her teeth and tried to pull him loose. He had no idea what was going on, but suspecting a plan was in motion, he dispelled his chidori and allowed himself to be pulled free.
Hinata jumped away from the monster into the air behind the scroll.
"RELEASE!"
Instantaneously, the monster became a frozen, giant glob of ice. In seconds, the scroll rolled back up, snapping shut and falling neatly into Naruto's raised, open hand.
Hinata and Sakura separated, landing neatly on their feet on either side of Naruto, who was twirling the scroll in his hand nonchalantly and watching the monster carefully.
"There you are!" Sakura exclaimed, trying to straighten up only to fall to her knees.
"Don't move around so much!" Naruto ordered. "You're low on chakra!"
"Don't belittle me!" She rebuked, revealing a chakra tonic in hypodermic form. Stabbing the needle through her skin, the strange liquid emptied itself. She immediately tossed one to Kiba, whom Akamaru was watching carefully.
"Where were you?" Sasuke asked.
"The outer forest!" Naruto pointed in a certain direction. "What about you guys?"
"The village ruins." Sasuke said, looking back in their direction. "Actually, I need to talk to you about that."
"We have a lot of things to tell you to." Hinata said with a smile. "But we should probably do something about him first."
She gestured to the colossal monster in front of them.
"Can you seal him away somewhere?" Sasuke asked Naruto, who squared his shoulders and let out a low whistle.
"Nope." He said, disappointed. "It's way too huge. It'll break my seal stones, and if I was going to use scrolls, I'd need like a hundred more of them."
Sasuke knit his brow. "So what? We just leave it be?"
"We've got no choice." Naruto sighed. "Let's try to put some distance between us and it! I'll think of something in the mean time."
"Hinata!"
Kiba grabbed her shoulders and spun her around so she faced him.
"Are you alright? I was looking everywhere for you! I was worried sick!" He stated frantically.
Naruto made a face at him and he turned away to pout.
Sasuke eyed the giant frozen glob monster (there really was no other way to describe it). Then he turned his skeptic gaze on Naruto.
"How did you do that?" He asked.
Naruto grinned triumphantly, and held the scroll up. It rolled open 12 inches and stopped, revealing a sealing formula surrounding the Yuki clan symbol.
"Ice style! I stole it from a Yuki clan ninja in the arena!"
"Stole? Arena?" Sasuke questioned.
Naruto flinched and looked around nervously, trying to avoid Sasuke's narrowed gaze as much as possible.
"Ah, well, you know! You see, uhhh, ummmm..." He trailed off, sweating under Sasuke's scrutinous gaze.
"What are you hiding?" Sasuke asked in a demanding tone.
"Oh well, uh! The containment seal captures jutsu energy! Like fire style, or water, earth, and kekkei genkai styles too--"
"I mean about the Arena." Sasuke clarified. "Jugo mentioned it too. You know something. Tell me now."
Naruto looked away. "I--I don't know anything."
"Naruto--"
CR-CRAAACK
They all flinched, whirling at the sound, but were too slow. A vine of ice wrapped itself around Naruto's ankle and yanked him with great force through the grass to the gorge.
"Naruto!" They all cried out in unison.
He wasn't nearly as tired as them, and sat bolt upright to stab a kunai into the center of the ice vine. Quite a large crack appeared, but it restored itself instantaneously.
Sasuke ran to him, with Kiba at his heels. They infused their kunai with chakra and prepared to attack. However, mini forests of long needles shot out the sides of the vine and they had to stumble back.
Naruto transformed part of his body, revealing all nine tails of the Kyuubi. They each stretched forward, wrapping themselves around nine different trees. This slowed his descent into yet another void, but it wouldn't last long.
Sasuke revealed three more kunai, using the last of his chakra to imbue them with lightning style and hurl them at the vine. All broke through, splitting it and allowing Kiba to toss him to the girls.
"Let's run!" He yelled, turning to Sasuke, but wincing instead.
Sasuke flinched too, feeling icy, slicing pain around his ankle. His eyes widened in horror as he noticed two new vines had sprouted from the severed one, each having ensnared them both.
The two gasped.
"Sasuke!" Sakura cried out, dashing towards them.
"STAY THERE!" He ordered, seconds before getting dragged down along with Kiba, into the darkness.
NARUTO'S POV
Immediately after taking them, the monster groaned so loud it made their ears ring, and slowly descended into the gorge.
Naruto stared into space, stunned. Beside him, Sakura was sitting on her knees, angry tears streaming down her face, her hands balled into fists and braced against her thighs. Hinata was equally devastated, one hand clapped over her mouth as she sobbed, with her other arm wrapped over Naruto, pinning him down.
"S--Sasuke...!" Sakura called out to him through gritted teeth.
"Kiba-kun...! Sasuke...!" Hinata cried.
"Stop crying!" Naruto yelled, making both of them tense. "What are you doing, just sitting there!? What's that gonna do?!"
They both shuddered, sobbing internally.
"Let me up!" Naruto yelled, pushing himself up and startling Hinata in the process. "I'm going after them."
"No!" Hinata threw herself over him and pushed him back down. "You can't!"
"Hinata! Let me up!"
"No!"
"Hinata!"
Sakura whipped her head around, angry. "She can't, you fool! It's too risky!"
Naruto grit his teeth and glared at her. How could she say that? Even if it was true, he still had plenty of chakra! He could go after them right now, if they would just let him!
"Hinata, move!" He tried, once again, to get up. But Hinata buried her face in his chest, tightened her arms around him, and just plain refused to move.
"What's wrong with you two?!" Naruto shouted, making an agonized expression. "Are you just gonna leave them?! They're our friends, right?! Let me up! Or go after them yourselves!"
"Shut up! Stop being selfish!" Sakura ordered.
"I'M being selfish?!"
"Yes! They were willing to go that far for you and you would gamble away their sacrifice just like that?!"
"YES!" He bellowed. "IF YOU THNK IM JUST GONNA SIT HERE AND LET THEM DIE, YOURE CRAZY!"
Sakura laughed bitterly. "That's almost funny..."
"WHAT?!"
"None of us are going!" Sakura said, putting her foot down. "I'm low on chakra, and Hinata can't go alone. They're strong. They'll come back on their own. Sasuke wouldn't did so easily."
"That's ridiculous! You're just assuming things! They're low on chakra too, and you're just sitting there!"
"Shut up! Look at Hinata and Akamaru! They're the ones that are worried the most!"
He looked down at a shaking Hinata whose grip was making it hard to breath. Then he looked at Akamaru, who had jumped over the mote to peer into the gorge. Even his back looked tormented.
And Sakura... Sakura looked like she wanted to beat herself up.
They wanted to go more than anything. But they couldn't...
Looking dejectedly at the gorge, he hugged Hinata back. No, they couldn't go. Not in this sorry state. There was no telling what was down there, maybe guardians and more monsters like the one they just saw.
But he could.
"Sorry." He apologized in advance, making her look up at him in confusion moments before one of his tails knocked her off of him and into Sakura.
Lighting up one finger, he drew an eternal imprisonment seal in blue chakra and pushed it over to them, where it attached itself to the ground and trapped them inside.
Sakura sat bolt upright but she couldn't move outside the circle.
"What are you doing?!" She screamed.
He ignored her and stood up, fixing his headband. He didn't care what anyone said! He was hell-bent on rescuing them, and he WOULD bring them back.
"Stop!" Hinata begged as he reached around for his hood.
He half turned to face her.
"Please! Our goal is to protect you! That's why Sasuke and Kiba-kun did what they did!" She explained.
"We all... Promised... Not to let you feel alone again..." She spoke through tears. "To do whatever it takes to restore your memories. To make sure you got home safely!"
He just smiled sunnily at her.
"If you go down there you'll--!"
"Disappear, like that other guy?"
She bit her lip when he said this. He frowned at that. It almost seemed like the words alone had crushed her.
"It's not gonna be like that!" He assured, crouching next to her. "I'm going to bring them back! And who knows, they're super strong! They just might me halfway!"
Sighing through his nose, he leaned his forehead on hers. She was making such a sad face! Like she really would fall apart if he let her behind.
"I promise I'll be back!" He smiled. "I promise! I swear, okay, Hinata?"
She only bit her lip some more and sobbed.
"Just believe in me, and wait here! I'll be back with both of them!"
She was still crying! Maybe he should kiss her? But... Sakura was watching them! His face nearly caught fire at the thought. On top of that, she was sure to tell Sasuke and Kiba later, and then the incessant jeering would begin! That would be mortifying.
So instead, he revealed his seal stone, the one Yuuki had given him, and placed it in her hand.
"Hold onto this until I get back okay?"
She sniffled, looking down sadly at the stone before slowly curling her fingers around it and holding it close to her heart.
"Good!" Naruto nodded, hopping up and walking off.
He could feel Sakura's furious, worried eyes on his back as he jumped over the mote and stood at the edge of the gorge. Hinata wasn't even looking at him anymore.
I'LL MAKE IT UP TO YOU. he promised, reaching down to pet Akamaru reassuringly.
The gorge... It really did look like there was nothing but infinite darkness down there.
"Why does it feel like I've seen this before...?" He muttered before flinging his hood over his face and jumping into the darkness.
NARUTOS POV [THE GORGE]
Falling slowly through infinite darkness got boring quickly.
He had tried using the chakra solidization so he could ride it to the bottom, and biju mode so he could see, but neither worked. For some reason he just couldn't summon any chakra.
He fell quietly through the air, his arms folded behind his back.
"Well this is bad!" He decided. "I can't sense Sakura or Hinata anymore! And I can't sense Sasuke or Kiba either!"
"I'm bored. We better think of something, or else we'll die." Kurama stated.
"Eh? Die?" Naruto asked.
"Think about it. We can't see anything. Not the walls, not the ground. We just might die without realizing what's happened."
"What?!" He screamed, eyes bugging out. "No! It can't end like this! Gyaaah!"
"Knock it off, you big fool!" Kurama ordered. "Calm down and think!"
Naruto immediately gulped and looked up at he little sliver of light sunshine that couldn't reach this level of the gorge. He'd fallen pretty far... Wait!
He threw his arms out and flipped so he faced the ground. Gale winds pushed him up like a parachute, and forced his eyes shut. He reached blindly for a shuriken and sent it slicing through the air.
Thirty seconds. That was how long it took the shuriken cut into the ground. He grunted as he kicked through the air to the wall and dug the toes of his sandals into the smooth dirt packed walls.
"Ugh!" He hit the ground a lot less roughly than he would have, but it wasn't easy.
"Darn it!" He complained, sitting up and gripping his shoulder. "What now...?"
There had to be some way to see in this darkness! Without being able to sense their chakra, he needed to be able to see them!
"Calm down." Kurama said, drawing his focus to his mental self. "I can still sense SOME chakra. And anyway, you can still hear. Not as well as you'd like, but still!"
"I don't hear anything though." Naruto replied while waving his arms about. He didn't expect to touch anything but dirt, but as soon as his fingers brushed the wall he felt some strange gelatin like substance that made him shudder in disgust.
"Gross!" He said, reaching down to wipe his hand off in the dirt. "Creepy gorge..."
Cupping his hands around his mouth, he called out: "Kibaaaaa! Sasukeeee!"
"Stop!" Kurama warned.
"Why? No one else is down here!"
"Maybe, maybe not!"
Naruto crossed his arms and grumbled. "Well you got a better idea?"
The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as the small portion of darkness whose space he occupied lit up. Turning, he saw a small red globe sitting in a net hanging from a wooden pole. A lantern, and the person holding it stood behind the globe, or lantern, making them hard to see.
"Who goes there?" A dead but fruity female voice asked from the shadows.
"Uhhh... Uzumaki Naruto." He answered, relaxing. "I'm looking for my friends. They got dragged down here by some monster."
The lantern swung leisurely to the right as the person, a woman only slightly than Naruto, stepped into the light.
"You...!" He gasped, noticing her red hair, her wide violet eyes, and her Uzushio headband. "You're..."
"Why would you bring outsiders to this sacred place?" She questioned. "Are you after Kairi?"
"How do you know her name?" He asked. "And no I'm not! I just wanted to make sure she was safe, so I came looking for her. And I never said--"
"You don't have to. It's written all over your face." She interrupted quietly. "What else were you looking for?"
"Mami." He didn't mind admitting it. "And my, I mean our, clan. We're supposed to rendezvous here."
"Don't call them that. Those people are not my clan anymore." She stated flatly, walking past him.
"Hey, where are you going?" He asked, spinning and following after her.
"To your friends." She answered, making him stare at her in elated confusion. "I assume the monster that stole them was made of water?"
"Uhhh, yeah."
"Then they're probably in that place. Keep up with me."
He laughed at that. People never said that to him. And he was almost positive no one had said that to him in years.
HINATAS POV
"It's getting dark." Sakura noted.
Hinata nodded silently. The two sat back to back, their legs folded to their chests. There were minor differences in body language. While Sakura sat up straight, kunai in hand, she had a slight pout that had formed from anger and worry and spite. Every few seconds, she eyed the gorge before returning to her careful scan of the area. Hinata kept her byakugan active with her head resting on her knees. Her hands were clasped around the seal stone as she stared off into the distance, dazed and tired, yet still battle ready.
"Why didn't you stop him?" Sakura asked in a way that didn't hide her disappointment.
Hinata frowned, not fazed by the question. She'd been expecting it, though maybe not from her.
"You could have tried harder to make him stay." Sakura continued. "If we lose all of them, we'll fail this mission completely. And we'll probably be trapped here."
"You sound like you've already given up." Hinata pointed out flatly.
"I haven't!" Sakura rebuked. "It's just... If they don't come back, I won't be surprised."
"Yes, you will." Hinata argued.
"No I won't."
"YES you will."
"NO I won't!"
Hinata whipped her head around. "Yes you will!"
Sakura, turned to argue, but Hinata steeled her nerves and let all of her confidence and faith burn in her eyes. This froze Sakura, her mouth hanging open from a comeback left unspoken.
Hinata relaxed, but tightened her grip on the seal stone.
"I understand that you're afraid, and that saying that is your way of protecting yourself." She whispered. "But don't say things we both know aren't true."
Sakura's mouth opened wider, but instead of producing sound, it shut tight. She turned away, but her shoulders shook and her back lurched. Hinata could have been deaf, and she still would have known she was crying.
"I was always really afraid of you." Hinata admitted, turning away. "You're the strong, brave, confident and beautiful Sakura-chan that Naruto-kun loved. It was easier back when we were both crybabies, but then you came out of your shell, and I was alone in that boat. And when you smiled, Naruto-kun smiled. You weren’t much different from the others, but he forgave you no matter you did. So when I realized I loved him, I... Felt so insecure. So doomed. Like there was no hope for me. He would never look my way, when he loved you so much. Still I... Was stubborn. I wanted him so badly, more than I wanted to breathe. I did my best, and strived to change. And still he didn't look my way. It was so painful, all those years of watching his face light up whenever he saw you, how he would blush when you tended to his wounds, how he became strong enough to DODGE those punches, but let you hit him anyway. Still I... I don't hate you. I never have."
Sakura squared her shoulders. "Really...?"
"Really. You are a good person, who took care of him for a long time. I'm grateful for that."
Sakura peeked over her shoulder at her, hugging herself as she sniffled and looked back at the gorge.
"I had... A rough idea of how he felt." She admitted. "About me, I mean. It was always a rough idea, until Sai told me. At first I... Didn't care at all. And then when I started to care, I ignored it. It was more convenient than telling him the truth. I was so... I just... I'd been picked on so much and I gained an inferiority complex. I was shy, and scared of others. I became Ino's tag a long, and later I started leaning on Naruto. I scolded him, showed off, did whatever I could to make myself feel superior. Feel... More. But I always hid behind him and Sasuke when things got tough. And when Sasuke left, I took advantage of all that infinite kindness he had for me and asked him to bring Sasuke home. I knew he wouldn't say no! I knew I could have asked him for the moon and the stars and he would have brought them to me or died trying! And even after I got stronger, I still used him. Maybe not as much as before, but it was still there! I used him to try and get Sasuke back, to quell my insecurities, it was all a big hoax! Sasuke... Sasuke was right..."
You're just upset that he's not your little ego-boost anymore.
Hinata stared at her for the longest time. It was the strangest thing to see her crying. It felt so nostalgic, and yet it made her feel uneasy.
"Do you remember?" Sakura asked, finally meeting her eyes. "Back then, on THAT mission, we were having trouble tracking the enemy. You and Sasuke suggested we call for reinforcements, but I came up with a plan to use the terrain against them. We'd lead them to the cliffs, and force them over the edge. But it went wrong...! The ground was unstable in that area. And when it was weakened from the fight, and we were injured, Naruto grabbed us. He held onto us with his chakra tails and clung to the edge. I don't know how much time passed exactly, but it was morning at the start and nighttime at the end. We passed out, and when we woke up, Kakashi sensei and Guy sensei had found us. Then Sasuke told us what happened..."
Sakura gripped her knees to the point they started changing colors.
"I should have... Said thank you. Again. As many times as it took--"
"Sakura-chan."
Hinata placed her hands over Sakura's white knuckles and looked her in the eye.
"There's no need for you to feel this way." She smiled, shaking her head. "I don't think that's what your relationship was. You, Sasuke, and Naruto-kun are team seven. The three of you share a bond, just Ike Shino, Kiba-kun, and I. You were yourself, and he accepted you as you were. I'm a little jealous of that, but I wouldn't say you used him. He just... He understood you better than anyone, right? All of the time you spent together... He wasn't just an ego boost. He was an irreplaceable ally, and he saved you. You just... Couldn't do the same for him..."
Hinata smiled weakly. That was right. Both Sakura and Sasuke had felt his loss was THEIR mistake. They blamed themselves, and conducted their own thorough search of the continent and its surrounding islands. For two years, they stayed gone. Until the mysterious ninja dove Dokohato appeared, reported that Naruto was in the land of waves, and disappeared. Lady Tsunade had sent Hinata and Sai to the traveling duo to summon them home. The looks in their eyes had been ones of pure elation.
But he was not in the land of waves after all. A certain innkeeper had seen him, but both he and the mysterious man who had carried him had disappeared from the room, leaving money on the bedside table.
And just like that, they were back to square one.
Hinata had been particularly crushed, but Sasuke and Sakura had been eager to set off in search once more. Lady Tsunade had forbidden it, and told them to leave it to the search parties. A big argument had ensued between Sasuke and the hokage.
Hinata remembered the words even now.
JUST LEAVE IT TO THE SEARCH PARTIES! YOU ARE NEEDED HERE. Lady Tsunade had told him moments before he kicked her desk in.
IF YOU CANT FIND NARUTO, THEN YOURE OF NO USE TO US!
Yes the two of them had suffered too much from this. When they'd left, Hinata had expected them to become closer in their determination to find him. But when they'd returned they'd been so distant, and even on this mission they had hardly spoken at all.
He was all they thought about. In their minds, the ones at fault for Naruto's amnesia were themselves.
But if that was true, then she was at fault too. After all, she was also there, on that mission. And given what happened before it took place, it was possible she carried more blame than Sasuke and Sakura.
"Time has passed. He's alive, and he's here, and I'm certain he'll remember us." Hinata smiled brightly at her. "There's nothing to worry about, since we believe in him. And anyway, there's something else right? Something you want almost as much as Naruto's memories?"
Sakura jumped, blushing, and quickly looked away. Hinata giggled at that. Maybe they were similar after all.
"You should tell him again." Hinata advised, turning so they were once again back to back. "I'm sure this time, things will be very different."
ME TOO. She thought, a little of the sadness reflecting in her eyes. THERES SOMETHING ELSE I WANT TO DO.
She sighed through her nose, and raised her head with a smile. The seal stone between her hands felt warm, and seemed to comfort her.
"Please come back soon."
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