Capítulo 43: Twilight of the Thunder God part four
Part four is here and it covers the stuff not covered in the others. You think the previous had all the action, think again.
I've written arguably the most graphic non-experiment POV of Orochimaru I've seen in a very long time.
Several POV shifts will occur. Multiple perspectives are needed because of all the shit going down.
(Again: Something happens, keep reading.).
Anyway, here it is.
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'I have to get out of here.'
Orochimaru raced away as fast he could, an emotion that he hadn't experienced in a long time plaguing him.
Fear.
His chakra reserves were dangerously low, lower than they had been in decades.
Since Hanzo.
He had been 'killed' four times by a 13 year old boy in the course of his hunt.
He had failed to mark Sasuke.
He had been guided by hatred when he marked Naruto, wanting to hear his screams of agony for almost getting him killed.
But it wasn't over yet.
Sasuke was yelling and chasing after him, being reckless in wanting revenge.
Kabuto was trusted with knowing to withdraw when he needed to in his fight with the two females.
Based on how effective the three of them were in fighting him, Kabuto would need to be wary of the two.
Hatake was a very good teacher.
The Hyuga heiress was fast and agile, managing to close one of his tenketsu.
Sasuke was unsurprisingly better than any genin and most chunin, which was expected from the younger brother of Itachi.
But the blonde Uzumaki had him realizing something when she used a Rasengan, and Naruto tore his chest out with one.
Namikaze was their father.
It all made sense. The Yondaime was so sickeningly honourable, just like Jiraiya, that he wouldn't seal the Kyuubi in anyone but his own child.
Hatake was her Jonin Sensei, obviously training his Sensei's son as well, judging by the Chidori that nearly disemboweled him.
The little things came together, the pining looks Namikaze gave to the hyperactive, red haired seal mistress, the reciprocation from her, it all came together as he was racing through the trees, knowing the noise Sasuke was making would attract the ANBU, who still weren't here after the extended battle between him and Naruto.
"What did you do to him?!" The raven haired boy roared, blurring through hand seals and sending a fire jutsu flying at him.
Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu.
The ball of fire was very impressive for one his age, but wasn't on the level of Itachi or the elites.
Orochimaru avoided the flames by using a Kawarimi, seeing the tree behind where he had been get scorched down to the center, leaving it completely blackened.
Sasuke flung several kunai at him, embedding them into the tree behind him.
Orochimaru didn't expect it to have ninja wire connected, an oversight he chalked up to fatigue.
Sasuke yanked on the wire, wrapping it around him, and pulsed lightning chakra into it.
'Fire and lightning? Better than I expected.' Orochimaru thought as he felt his body spasm from the electricity.
Sasuke dropped the wire and blitzed towards him with a Shunshin, albeit less effective than Naruto's.
Orochimaru drew his sword from his throat and extended it out at Sasuke, not having the patience to test him further, especially with his chakra lower than he was comfortable with.
Sasuke's gorgeous eyes tracked the tip of his blade and avoided it, twisting to the side so the blade didn't pierce through his shoulder, instead cutting a gash across his arm.
The blade had some poison still left on it, but most of it had been used on Naruto. But whether he was resistant as an Uzumaki, or the less likely situation that he was immune to his preferred poisons, Naruto hadn't slowed down from his poison noticeably.
He just needed to keep retreating until Sasuke passed out.
Sasuke yelled in fury as he smashed his kunai into the Kusanagi, the metal sparking and screeching.
"I will kill you!" Sasuke raged, being pushed back as Orochimaru pushed down.
"You're friend could not kill me," Orochimaru looked into Sasuke's Sharingan, seeing two tomoe in each, "What hope do you have?"
Sasuke growled and shoved as hard as he could, flipping over him to avoid a stab and landed behind him.
Sasuke started slashing with his kunai, Orochimaru dodging most of the swings and deflecting the last one, knocking the kunai from Sasuke's hand.
"You are but a mote of dust compared to what Itachi was at your age." He backed away, knowing such a thing would be a vulnerable subject.
Sasuke's eyes widened for a moment, before he howled in fury and started attacking him ferociously with a series of punches and kicks.
Orochimaru blocked a punch with his forearm, shifted to avoid a kick, caught the next punch, and drove a kick into Sasuke's face.
Sasuke staggered back and Orochimaru flipped over him, catching his foot on Sasuke's head and sticking the sole of his foot to the boy's hair with chakra.
He was still a few feet off the ground when he flipped his body harder and flung Sasuke by his hair away from him, his scream of pain being cut off when he hit a tree.
Orochimaru looked at the boy, a tuft of his hair still stuck to his sandal.
Orochimaru dropped the chakra feed to the limb and turned to leave, not being able to mark him and have enough chakra to shed if he needed to.
"If you wish to be strong enough to kill Itachi," He said, needing to wiggle bait in front of the boy, "seek me out and I shall make you great. The life of Rin is at stake if you are not strong enough to protect her."
Sasuke was obviously close to them if he growled at him with such vitriol when the three fought him.
Sasuke looked up and spat at his feet.
'To hell with risk.' Orochimaru thought, wanting Sasuke marked. 'If I get killed by the ANBU, Kabuto can pull me from an underling's curse mark. The look on the old monkey's face when he hears that I'm dead, but came back, will be worth it.'
Orochimaru stretched his neck out and shot towards Sasuke, who was still dazed from the hit, the poison now taking effect, and from what he offered.
As he bared his fangs and shot towards Sasuke, he heard a deafening roar, the high pitched screeching of lightning, and a hair raising level of Killing Intent.
He twisted his head around as his neck was stretched and saw something that filled him with a fear that brought back images of years long passed.
'Constant explosions. A blur of movement. Rain coming down in an endless torrent. A modulated voice coming through a breathing mask, mockingly giving the name 'Sannin' for surviving, but feeling like a stiff wind was all that separated me from hitting the ground in exhaustion.'
Naruto was screaming at the top of his lungs, teeth elongated and whisker marks deeper, covered in a red chakra cloak that took the form of a fox, one tail trailing behind him.
Orochimaru barely avoided the blade of lightning in the Jinchuriki's hand from decapitating him, his would be killer crashing into him anyway.
He couldn't even see the boy move. His entire body was crackling with lightning and his limbs were spasming as he felt an ironclad grip grab ahold of his temples.
Orochimaru clawed at the two hands that were trying to crush his head, gritting his teeth in pain.
The caustic chakra of the Kyuubi was burning him, and whatever Naruto was doing with the lightning was causing his entire body to shake.
Orochimaru started driving punches into Naruto's chest, desperately trying to get him to let go.
He felt Naruto's ribs break, but they healed right as he drove another punch into his chest.
'Die! Die! Die!' Orochimaru was screaming in his mind, feeling his skull begin to crack from the pressure as he kept punching with a primal desperation.
He was wrong, so very wrong.
Naruto was the Jinchuriki, not his sister.
He could feel the mark begin to burn away from Naruto's flesh, the chakra cloak fluctuating like the seal was being disrupted by the mark.
He wasn't going to have either Sasuke or Naruto. He was too weakened to mark Sasuke or the girl now.
He could only try and escape.
He felt his teeth break and his left eye popped out of its socket in a spurt of blood, his skull cracking more.
His hands were beginning to fracture as he kept trying to punch Naruto, who had blood flowing from his mouth from the constant fracturing and healing of his ribs.
Orochimaru refused to get killed a fifth time. He would not stand for it.
The last thing Orochimaru saw before the sickening sound of his own head caving in drowned out all other sensation was the unnatural shift of colour in Naruto's eyes.
Going from yellow and slanted, to red, and finally to a familiar violet in a constant shift.
His skull gave in to the pressure of the fury of the Uzumaki Jinchuriki and his head exploded in a blast of blood, bone, hair, and brain matter.
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Rin POV:
Sasuke had raced after Orochimaru once Naruto had got up from being thrown into the tree following his shout of warning on who was pursuing them.
Rin caught a glance of Naruto charging at Orochimaru and the two clashing, but turned to the new threat.
Kabuto was evidently a traitor and was helping Orochimaru.
She ran at him, Rasengan in hand, and tried to drive it into his chest.
He dodged the hit by a few inches and his fingers tapped her elbow, pain shooting up her arm.
She groaned in pain and was kicked to the side, Hinata taking her place and trapping Kabuto in a taijutsu fight.
Rin hissed as she got up and flexed her arm, not seeing any damage to her sleeve. No blood at all.
She made several Kage bunshin and ordered them to attack Kabuto, her tanto now laced with wind chakra.
Kabuto was being much more conservative in fighting Hinata, dodging her attacks or using a kunai.
Rin caught a flash of chakra from his off hand as he tapped one of her bunshin attacking him as the punch came in, the clone popping.
Rin got the feedback and it felt the same as when her elbow was hit.
He was using some kind of chakra technique to cause internal damage.
Kabuto avoided Hinata's hits and made a quick hand seal, sinking into the ground.
"Scatter!" Rin shouted to Hinata, the girl understanding the message and switching with a bunshin several meters away.
Rin disregarded how the feedback would feel and blurred through hand seals and tore her hand downward and let out a shout of anger.
Futon: Beast Tearing Gale Palm.
A claw of wind chakra tore across the ground and left a corridor of ground torn to shreds where Kabuto had sunk into the earth.
Rin tried to hear for movement under her, trying to tell whether Kabuto survived it.
She screamed when she felt her leg give out as something grabbed her ankle and cut something in it.
She fell over and saw Kabuto's hand on her leg, the older boy rising from the earth.
She kicked at him with her good leg and he grunted in pain, letting her go.
He ignored her and ran towards Hinata, who had been surprised by the intensity of the futon jutsu.
Kabuto clashed with Hinata, his chakra technique in use and was hurting her arms, based on the tightness in her expressions.
Rin put weight on her ankle and tried to stand, growling as it was wobbling horribly.
She saw Hinata's guard break and Kabuto drove a hit into her side, her friend screaming and falling down.
She pulled a shuriken and pulsed chakra into her hands, flinging it.
Kabuto didn't turn around.
Shuriken Kage bunshin no Jutsu.
The shuriken turned into over a dozen, Kabuto ducking under them, his glasses glinting as he looked at her.
He grabbed Hinata and pulled her up, the girl yelping in pain.
"Give up." He pointed a kunai at Hinata's throat, the girl looking frightened.
Rin was about to have a bunshin try something from behind, but Hinata winked, stomped on Kabuto's foot, a faint flash of blue appearing from her foot, and twisted her head to the left.
Kabuto groaned in pain and fell backwards, the kunai cutting into the shoulder of Hinata's jacket as her head shifted.
Rin charged at Kabuto to help Hinata, but the sound of a blood curdling scream caused all three of them to pause.
They turned and looked at where Sasuke and Naruto were fighting Orochimaru.
Orochimaru was running away, with Sasuke standing over Naruto, who was flailing on the ground, clutching his neck and screaming.
Sasuke then stood up and ran towards Orochimaru, yelling.
Rin felt her hatred rise up, the only object that could be an outlet for it was the four eyed traitor in front of her.
She screamed and dashed towards Kabuto, her ankle now healed.
She smashed her fist towards his head, wanting to turn it into paste. He ducked under it and backed away, wary of her.
Naruto was still screaming and she couldn't get the sound out of her head.
"Help Naruto." She said to Hinata, who's hands were glowing green as she pressed them to her side to help heal whatever Kabuto did.
Hinata ran as fast as her partially healed injury could allow, Kabuto trying to stop her. Rin dropped a kunai into her hand and flung it, coating it in wind chakra.
Kabuto pulled back to avoid the projectile screeching towards him, Hinata getting away.
"You can't beat me," He said, the leg Hinata stomped on was being treated gingerly as he circled her slowly, "Orochimaru-sama has what he wants."
"You'll have to kill me if you want to get away, traitor!" She snarled, a wind blade taking shape in her hand.
Kabuto smirked. "That can be arranged, Rin."
She charged at him as fast as she could, blurring by the scar in the ground left from her jutsu.
Her wind blade screeched against Kabuto's kunai, the two seemingly equal in physical strength, despite the difference in age and height.
Rin pulled her blade back and slash and stabbed swiftly, trying to hit an opening.
Kabuto knocked one aside, dodged one by shifting to the side, and ducked under the other, driving his kunai up towards her ribs.
She twisted and knocked the kunai away, kicking Kabuto in the chest from the opening.
He staggered back from the kick, breathing a little heavier.
She pressed him again and flung an exploded tag at him, the kunai whistling.
Kabuto switched with a large rock, the rock exploding in bits, and rushed towards her from the side, cutting through the bunshin that rushed him.
He had a look of determination on his face as he drove his kunai towards her chest.
She blocked his stab by short checking his forearm with her own, kicking at his leg.
He shifted his legs and grappled with her, her wind blade twisted aside and away from his head.
She strained to get an advantage, desperate to end this fight to help Naruto.
Kabuto was the first to break their grapple and dropped down, aiming a punch at her stomach.
She blocked it with her left arm and backed up, throwing several punches to his ribs and an axe kick to his head, hearing the thump of her foot striking his forearm to stop the kick to his head.
He gritted his teeth and countered with several quick attacks of his own, a kick breaking through and hitting her in the chest. She staggered back from the impact and wasn't able to avoid his chakra strike, the hit managing to jab her in the thigh.
She hissed and blindly swung her tanto at him, but he grabbed her arm and threw her to the ground a few feet away, backing away from her.
"You're pretty good for a kid." Kabuto said, adjusting his glasses, "Is this village really worth fighting for?"
She pulled herself to her feet and gave him a look of contempt.
Her grip tightened on her blade, not answering.
"They'll turn on you the moment they have the chance," Kabuto continued, looking at her with understanding, "They hate you because of something that their kage did to you."
She gasped in shock, realizing what he was saying.
"How do you know that?" She demanded, her rage causing her chakra to react with volatility.
That was when she remembered that it was Orochimaru that tried to kill Naruto.
"I'll kill you for trying to take them from me." She growled, refusing to let it get to her.
"You can't kill me," Kabuto laughed, his hand glowing with chakra, "Even with the Kyuubi sealed in you."
If he honestly thought continuously mentioning that was going to get to her, he was a bigger idiot than she thought.
Rin made a hand seal and spawned several bunshin, half of them charging at Kabuto.
Kabuto scoffed as she charged right alongside her bunshin, a Rasengan in her left hand.
She grinned viciously as her bunshin popped right in front of him, the smoke screen obscuring his vision at the ideal moment.
He backed away and blindly jabbed at her, but she ignored it.
Her Rasengan struck him in the gut and sent him flying back, bouncing across the grass and landing in a heap.
She tried to cheer and rush to Hinata and Naruto, but she started coughing and hacking.
She fell onto all fours and saw the ground stained with blood from her coughing.
'Kabuto must have hit me.' She thought, trying to not start coughing harder.
The armour she wore was supposed to stop hits like that. Unless Kabuto's technique was still able to slip through.
She laid there for a moment, trying to crawl to Naruto as she felt the pain in her chest slowly fade.
'Fox,' She tried to open up the connection to the Kyuubi. 'Is Naruto ok? Please, talk to me.'
She thought she'd been struck in the head from how painful the backlash was from the fox when it spoke.
"Something is wrong!" The fox shouted, making her head pound, "I can't feel my half in him."
Rin couldn't even think of what that meant, but she saw Kabuto a distance away, coughing up blood and looking far worse than her.
She caught him by surprise, probably being why she was able to hurt him. But how the hell could he be getting up after that?
She managed to stand up and move towards Naruto, when she was driven back to her knees when Naruto screamed louder.
Hinata had been removing the sword from his chest and was trying to knit the wound back together, but Naruto sat straight up and kicked her away, the crack of her forearm being heard by Rin.
Rin saw images swimming through her mind, things she'd never experienced.
She couldn't breathe, feeling like she was being crushed under the weight of the world.
Her whole body had a phantom pain from the memory, the smell of blood hitting her.
She thought she was going to pass out from the overwhelming feel of it, but it vanished when Naruto was engulfed by a blast of purple chakra.
He stood up and drunkenly swayed, before a red chakra cloak appeared around him in the shape of a fox.
Rin was assaulted by a nauseating level of Killing Intent, coming from her brother.
She was struggling to breathe from the pressure of it, never feeling anything like this before.
Naruto looked between her and Hinata, his eyes blood red and slanted.
Just like the Kyuubi.
She screamed his name, but he didn't seem to either hear or understand, because he turned and shot towards where Sasuke had chased after Orochimaru, an after image in his wake.
Rin rushed towards Hinata, who was moaning as she cradled her broken arm, her breathing coming in rapid gasps.
"Hinata," Rin knelt by her friend, putting her hand on her shoulder, "How bad is it?"
Hinata's eyes were active, tears streaming down.
"It's b-broken." She choked out, rocking back and forth.
Hinata then gasped and looked over Rin's shoulder.
"Behind us." She said frantically, trying to stand up, but sitting back down from jostling her arm.
Rin wheeled around and prepared to fight Kabuto again, but what she saw shocked her.
The team from Kumo was about a hundred or so yards away, looking worse for wear.
Their clothes were a mess and the red haired girl had a bandage stained red around her arm, while the two boys had minor cuts all across their arms.
"Oh you got to be kidding me." Rin growled to herself, realizing she was the only one on her team that was here and able to fight.
She made a dozen Kage bunshin and had them guard Hinata, another half dozen being made for personal use.
Kabuto was about 50 yards away from her and was now standing, a massive hole in his shirt where her Rasengan struck him.
He looked to have healed the damage mostly, meaning he was an extremely skilled Iryo-nin. She thought mostly healed because he was spitting out blood tinged spit periodically while looking at her, clutching his side.
"Hey, guys!" She shouted to the Kumo genin, "Help me kill this asshole and I'll give you whatever scroll you want!"
The leader of the group, a boy that looked about 14 and had bandages wrapped around his fingers, pointing to him being a taijutsu specialist, stepped forward and looked to be considering it.
She realized things were not looking up for her when Kabuto smirked at her, glasses flashing in the fading sunlight, and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
"Hinata!" Rin shouted at the injured girl, gesturing towards her eyes.
Hinata stretched her vision to look for him, but she shook her head, meaning he was already gone.
Rin slowly turned back to the Kumo genin, realizing she had just painted an enticing target on their backs from offering a scroll.
Hinata was injured, her dominant arm being broken. The Hyuga focused on taijutsu, which involved a functioning arm.
The three adjusted their stance and took a fighting position, ready to fight her.
'I didn't come all this way to lose to a bunch of Kumo bastards.' She growled internally, pulling out most of her tags, which thankfully weren't hit by Kabuto or Orochimaru.
It was difficult to keep premade tags intact, especially in a taijutsu fight.
She tossed them to her bunshin and ordered them to scatter and wait for her signal in her and Naruto's language.
She then turned towards the three new opponents, her knife resting to the side.
"You think you can get my scrolls?!" She shouted in challenge, baring her teeth and hitting her gut to taunt them.
The older one laughed and adopted an unknown taijutsu stance.
"You're just a cute little girl in over her head." He grinned, "You're not as scary as our Sensei."
Rin spiked chakra into her blade and returned a grin, her's having more bite to it.
"You're about to find out I'm a whole lot scarier than you are."
She pulsed chakra into her legs and Shunshined straight at them, the fight commencing.
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Sasuke POV:
Sasuke had the image of the Sannin, Orochimaru, get his head crushed by Naruto burned in his mind, the boy collapsing to his knees on the ground in front of him after Orochimaru's headless corpse stumbled forward a step and collapsed in a heap.
Sasuke's vision was swimming as he fought to stay conscious, suspecting poison on the blade as to why he was feeling this way.
His Sharingan picked up the chakra outline of Naruto almost vanish when the fox shaped chakra cloak vanished into nothingness.
Naruto gasped for air and looked at Sasuke, but his eyes had a faraway look to them, flickering between blue and violet.
Sasuke fought to try and get up to stop Naruto from falling forward, but his body refused to respond.
As he looked at Naruto, he saw a figure behind Naruto rise from the ground, sword in hand.
Orochimaru.
Sasuke wasn't able to yell in time, everything going in slow motion.
He saw the glint of the setting sun strike the steel, bathing it in an orange light.
He saw Orochimaru lunge forward, looking mere minutes from death.
He heard the sound of steel parting flesh as Orochimaru struck.
Naruto gasped as a blade stabbed clean through his chest from behind, blood flowing out.
Naruto looked at Sasuke as blood ran from his mouth.
"S-sasuke." He gasped, the light in his eyes beginning to fade.
Sasuke saw everything with an unforgiving clarity. The Bloodline he was so proud of was taunting and torturing him by burning this into his mind in slow motion.
His best friend.
Orochimaru pulled the blade out and swung horizontally, Naruto's face going slack.
Sasuke watched in horror as Naruto's head slid off his shoulders, eyes empty.
A spurt of blood struck him in the face as Naruto's body pitched forward.
Thump thump...Thump thump...He could only hear his own heartbeat.
Sasuke didn't see Orochimaru run, he didn't feel him run. The forest didn't exist, the sun was not fading into night.
All there was, was death.
He realized the screaming he was hearing in the distance was coming from him.
He wasn't in the forest. He wasn't sitting on the ground.
He was home. His tousan and kaasan were dead in front of him, Itachi standing above them.
"It's your fault." Itachi voice said. "It's your fault."
Sasuke didn't realize when, but Itachi's voice eventually shifted to sound like his own.
"You did something that no Konoha Shinobi that wants to come back alive does..." Naruto's voice echoed in his head, "You split from your teammates."
"It's my fault." Sasuke wept, feeling hot tears run down his cheeks and mixing with the blood on his face, "It's my fault."
He wasn't fast enough. He wasn't strong enough. He let his rage blind him and he got hit by Orochimaru, splitting from his team.
He killed his best friend.
Sasuke lost the battle to remain conscious and fell forward, everything going black.
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Anko was frantically racing through the forest, a stitch in her chest forming.
Orochimaru was in the forest. The corpses of the Kusa nin were found with their skin stripped off, something Orochimaru had done before.
He had to have been the Kusa nin Naruto was worried about.
The ANBU on standby had been struggling to get through the traps that she had no fucking clue who placed in the forest, but she was the most capable of wading through it all from how well acquainted she was with the Forest of Death.
Orochimaru had to have been the one to place the traps. He had to have expected the ANBU to ambush him.
The ANBU had trailed behind her as she took a commanding lead, avoiding the explosives and traps.
'I'm not letting you fucking get away!' She shouted in her mind, feeling Killing Intent from a distance away.
She would never be free until he was dead. He had betrayed her and taken everything from her. No more would she wallow in self hatred for being taken in and fooled by him.
She saw him, looking weak and slow.
'Whatever did this to you, I hope it fucking hurt.'
She pulled out a kunai and charged at him, her entire will power going into this very moment.
Just as she was almost within arm's reach, he turned and she saw a look she would never have thought possible on his face.
Fear.
He sloppily avoided her stab and kicked at her back, knocking her forward.
She recovered almost immediately and got a closer look at her traitorous Sensei.
Orochimaru was favouring one leg, sweat covering his body. He appeared to have multiple partially healed injuries and he looked like he was close to suffering from chakra exhaustion.
"Anko." He managed to gasp through his heavy breathing.
"Whoever made you this weak, I'll buy them a drink every day for life." She charged at him, but he made a hand seal before she got to him.
She felt like a brand was placed on her neck and she fell to the ground, writhing on the ground.
"You look just like Naruto did." Orochimaru gasped, stepping over her.
Almost crying out from the pain of her mark being activated, Anko gritted her teeth and pushed herself to a kneeling position.
"What did you do to him?" She managed to growl out, knowing he was lying.
"He wouldn't accept my gift," Orochimaru said, leaning on his sword like a cane, "So I gave it to him anyway."
Anko felt her rage hit the roof. A boy she had trained and seen as a pseudo little brother had been marked by this monster.
"I'll kill you before I let you corrupt him."
"I would not have marked him if I was aware he was a Jinchuriki. I dare say I saved this village by correcting my mistake." Orochimaru replied, a lilt indicating irony in it.
'What does he mean?' Anko thought, not following.
She then noticed his sword was coated in blood.
"No," She said to herself, horrorstruck, "You're lying."
"Such a shame when a Jinchuriki let's anger get to their heads." Orochimaru stressed the word, "Especially when their seal starts failing." He then took his sword from the ground.
The traitor turned to her and tilted his head in curiosity, just as he had when something perplexed him when she was his student.
"Tell my former Sensei I'm curious how he managed to set up traps similar to the ones that the Uzukage did in Uzu to attempt to trap me here." Orochimaru said simply, sinking into the tree and vanishing.
Anko couldn't muster the strength to even get up. Her chakra network was aching and her mind was conjuring up images of Naruto dead on the ground, eyes vacant.
'He's lying.' She tried to assure herself, groaning as she managed to sit with her back against a tree, trying to get the pain to subside.
She'd be no good if she couldn't run without falling flat on her face, so she'd wait until her legs would stop twitching.
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Naruto POV:
I didn't understand what the hell just happened. I was screaming bloody murder as I was marked by Orochimaru, that fucking hurt, then the next thing I know, I'm seeing several blurred images, sensations, and screaming.
The most coherent was when I saw what I was doing to Orochimaru, squeezing his head with all my might.
The look of terror in his eyes, or eye, since the other popped out from me squeezing, was one of the most pleasant things I'd ever seen.
He looked like he realized he was going to die.
But then, everything blacked out again, my thoughts barely functioning as my knees hit the ground, two images overlapping in my sight.
I saw the ground, caked with the contents of Orochimaru's head, the other being nighttime, the scent of blood and feeling of Killing Intent in the air.
'Is this like what happened with Ino all over again?' I wondered, thinking that Orochimaru marking me had screwed with my mind.
It looked like it could have been the ground after Kurama was let out, judging by the amount of blood on the ground.
But I couldn't be sure.
I then felt a blade go through my chest, Sasuke's eyes widening.
I was so out of it, I didn't even register the pain.
The blade came out and I heard it whistle through the air, everything going black.
...
I felt that I was unconscious, but it was off. My mind felt completely clear now, thankfully, but my chakra sensing was rapidly fading. That wasn't normal for when I was passed out or unconscious.
I focused my sensing on the area around me, the feeling I got back had my mind freezing.
Something was very wrong.
My head wasn't connected to my body.
'HE CUT MY FUCKING HEAD OFF!' I screamed in horror, panicking at realizing why my sensing was fading.
Blood was leaking from either my head or neck, killing me slowly. I don't know where 'The Self' resides in regards to being either the brain or the main chakra network that was 80% in the body, but I was freaking out as I was dying.
I tried to do what I did with the mist, pushing my chakra out to make a tendril of water and pull my head back on, but my chakra wasn't strong enough.
'I will not die.'
The seal on my gut was collapsing, I could feel it. Kurama's chakra was leaking out of it and dissipating seconds after it fell out, meaning this half was dying alongside me.
'If anyone is listening, whoever gave me another chance, I'm not ready to go. I don't care if you say it's time. I will defy you until the end, even as you drag my soul to whatever afterlife I deserve.'
I focused every inch of my will and grabbed at the fading Bijuu chakra and reached towards my head with it.
I felt it brush against something, my thoughts floating as I kept pulling.
My head rolled to within range of my neck, the water in my blood on the ground getting completely overwhelmed with the last of my chakra, pulling it in place.
'I am the master of my Fate.'
I felt the tendons and arteries fuse together from Kurama's chakra, a spark of light dancing in my 'vision'.
'I am the captain of my soul.'
Something cracked from my exertion and my vision was consumed in white, my eyes flying open, the sky above me flickering between evening and night, the setting sun giving way to a majestic full moon.
I tried to gasp for air, not being able to breathe or think straight again.
My ears were ringing in a deafening roar, my vision spinning as I tried to move.
I couldn't feel my body from the neck down and my vision started fading again, my chest burning from some unbelievable weight.
My last coherent thought I had before feeling myself fall into my mindscape was a plea.
'Help me.'
///////////////
I was in my mindscape and the oxygen deprivation was no longer inhibiting my thoughts, but I was met by a grim sight.
My mindscape was rumbling and the bars were starting to crumble.
I rushed towards the bars and started shouting for Kurama.
I needed his chakra to fuse my spinal column back together so I'd start breathing.
"Fox!" I shouted, hitting the bars to make noise.
I couldn't rip the seal tag off the bars without Kurama's consciousness being in this half. Kurama's chakra would automatically be caustic if he wasn't in here to thin its emotional potency, making it risky.
If he got here, I could have him stretch the already breaking seal to heal me, and Minato can come waltzing in to fix the seal.
It could work.
I could survive.
"Fox!" I roared, hitting the bars harder, "I'm not going to fucking die yet!"
CLANG.
"I'm going to live on!"
CLANG.
"I'm going to survive this!"
CLANG.
"I'm going to have grandchildren to spoil!"
"I WILL NOT LEAVE THEM!" A primal roar from me and the sound of a bar shattering under my fist was drowned out by me being blasted back from a backlash of chakra.
Kurama rushed towards the bars, the ground rumbling harder.
"What the hell happened?!" Kurama shouted, "Why couldn't I feel you?"
"Talk later!" I shouted, pointing to the environment. "I'm dying."
Kurama looked at me with complete shock on his face.
"Shit." Was all he managed to say, a chunk of the ceiling falling next to me.
"Blast your chakra through the seal and it should jumpstart my healing to fuse my spine together." I shouted pleadingly.
"The seal will break."
"It's already breaking!" I screamed, almost crying in despair.
"I don't wanna die." I moaned as I hugged myself and fell to my knees, remembering the ceiling of my home, the rattling gasp that was my last breath.
Kurama exhaled and rose to his full height.
"You are absolutely insane, but I'll do it."
I felt my hope rise and I looked up at him.
"Pull on the seal tag, but do NOT remove it." Kurama instructed, "It will stretch the seal enough where the tightenings wont shatter and kill us both."
I jumped up and ran straight to it, not hesitating to grab a corner and pulling.
I felt a flood of chakra shoot out for a couple seconds, my mindscape no longer deteriorating.
A vision that I didn't recognize got drilled into my head, an image of a young girl with Rin's face and eyes, no whisker marks, and my hair was looking up at me.
'What is this?' I thought in the couple seconds it lasted.
"I love you, Kushina-chan." I heard in my own voice, not making sense at all.
This was my mom, but I wasn't alive when she was 11 or 12 by the looks of it.
"I know you miss your grandfather, but it was his time." 'I' said again, putting an aged hand on her shoulder.
"I want to see you every day, 'ttebane," Kushina cried, grabbing ahold of me in a hug, "I miss home. I'm gonna miss you."
I realized this was Mito that I was seeing through the eyes of, saying her final goodbye.
"You will never be alone." 'I' shooshed her, running my fingers through her hair, just as I did with Rin when she was upset, "I want you to think of me everytime you feel the seal. It will be my chakra that painted it. I will always be a part of you."
I felt myself start to tear up at what I was seeing.
The last of Kushina's family was holding her just a short time before Kurama was sealed into her.
"Just pulse some of your chakra and you'll feel an echo of mine." I whispered softly, kissing her forehead.
Kushina sniffed.
"Okay." She whispered, letting go of me, "Where will it be?"
"Just lift your shirt up a little." I said, "Just up to your stomach, no higher." 'I' explained.
The memory slowly faded away where I couldn't hear anything else except for a garbled mess, something in my peripheral vision catching my attention.
I saw a blur of a familiar golden colour smash into me and carry me away from the seal, the memory completely vanishing.
/////////////////
Rin avoided another lightning charged fist from the older Kumo genin, having learned her lesson after getting shocked.
The gash she got from the one boy who kept flirting with her as they fought was already mostly closed up, her sleeve still getting stained red.
She was pissed at how well the three worked together, especially the two around her age.
Hinata had managed to stabilize the fracture in her arm and was trying to run and evade attacks, occasionally flinging kunai at them when she had an opening.
They were fairly even on strength wise, her chakra and stamina carrying her through.
The fight with Orochimaru and Kabuto may have cut into her reserves some, but not enough to make a decisive difference with three low chunin level Shinobi that didn't know how she fought.
She switched with another clone as another lightning coated fist came towards her.
"Just leave me alone!" She shouted, flinging a shuriken at the sword wielding boy.
The boy deflected it and sighed in exasperation.
"Just accept the offer of giving us a scroll," He explained, "And you'll be honoured with having me as company for dinner."
"Bit me," She growled, a kunai in her off hand, "Flirt with your girlfriend instead." She looked at the red haired girl that kept giving her looks of anger throughout the fight, trying to actually hurt her.
"This pervert is not my boyfriend." She spat the last word.
"Karui, Omoi," The older of the three scolded them, "She's trying to distract you." He was glancing at Hinata as he said this, the girl walking slowly around the four of them, her arm tucked against her chest.
Rin's bunshin had finally gotten the seals placed in their proper alignment, Hinata using her Byakugan and signaling when they had been.
'Showtime.' Rin thought, planning on doing the same thing she did to Naruto in the spar where she caught him off guard with the lightning seal working.
She made a hand seal and made two more bunshin, each flanking her.
"You're just wasting chakra," Omoi scoffed, holding his blade in a defensive position, "Kaito just has to touch them and they're dead."
All of her bunshin were popping the moment they touched Kaito from the unique way he channeled lightning chakra in his hands and across his body.
She ordered the bunshin to attack the other two and she herself blitzed Kaito, drawing her tanto and forming a visible wind blade.
Lightning was weak against wind.
Kaito backed away as she slashed at him, bobbing and weaving under and to the side of her attacks.
He stopped and grabbed her kunai as she stabbed towards him with it. His wraps on his hands got cut as he grabbed it, but he didn't seem to care. He pulsed lightning through the metal and Rin dropped it before it could hit her too much, but her hand still went numb.
Kaito wasn't able to press an advantage because Hinata made her presence known and threw a well placed kunai at him, even more impressive that it was her left arm.
Kaito shifted to avoid it and wasn't able to dodge the kick Rin sent to his chest with as much force as she could muster.
He made an 'oof' sound as he was sent flying back.
Rin went through hand seals, slower since her fingers were twitching from the lightning.
Futon: Daitoppa.
She blew a blast of wind chakra from her mouth and sent Kaito flying back, landing right where she wanted him.
She made a hand seal and activated the area effect gravity seal.
Kaito fell back to the ground as the seal activated, his teeth gritting as he was stuck on his stomach.
Karui and Omoi had been harassed by her bunshin, the constructs avoiding up close combat to delay them helping Kaito.
"Leave and I'll let him go." Rin promised, shaking her hand to get feeling in it.
"We need a scroll, my golden sunflower." Omoi bowed, glancing between the two clones, "You know, it'd be really hot if you started making out with one of your bunshin. I could pretend it was your twin or something."
Rin almost retched at the image that appeared in her mind. It wasn't her kissing a hypothetical identical twin, but her actual twin that got burned in her mind.
There was no way he actually was serious. It had to be a tactic to throw her off, and it was working.
But two could play at that game.
'I'm aiming for your balls, pervert.' She promised, her eyes going down to his crotch.
Omoi probably mistook it for something else and started snickering giddily.
"You sure you don't want to have dinner?" He asked, puffing his chest out, "I know I'm irresistible." He flexed is above average muscles from wielding a sword.
She decided she wanted the pervert to hurt. She wasn't strong enough to beat some sense into Naruto when he made perverted jokes, nor could she do it to Kakashi.
'I need to get to Sasuke and Naruto.'
"You are pretty cute," She sauntered towards him, mimicking the way Anko would sway her hips around Kakashi sometimes, "And you've got a really big sword."
She saw Karui look shocked and Omoi's eyes bugged out.
Rin made it more convincing by dropping her blade as she kept walking towards him.
"Omoi, she's trying to trick you." Karui warned.
But Omoi wasn't listening.
He lowered his sword and was practically drooling as his eyes roved her form, looking up and down.
"I'm not really experienced with big swords," Rin said huskily, just a few feet from him, "But I think you can help me learn." Her eyes shined brightly.
She was going to kill Anko for being so good at it that she could mimic it perfectly without trying.
A small trickle of blood went down Omoi's nose and he nodded slowly, looking blissful.
Rin's eyes hardened and she rushed towards him, closing the short distance between them as his weapon was out of position.
She grabbed his sword arm with her left, grabbed the back of his neck with her right, pulled down, and drove her knee into his groin.
He squeaked in pain and collapsed to the ground, clutching his balls.
Karui rushed towards her and tried to punch her in the face, but Rin tilted her head to the right and countered with a punch of her own, the hit being blocked by Karui.
"You're a bitch and a slut!" Karui shouted, aiming a kick at her midsection.
Rin growled at being called those two things and blocked the kick, pushing the leg away and sending two quick jabs with her left and a strong one with her right.
Karui stopped the two, but the stronger punch smashed into her chin and she was sent reeling.
Rin did a scissor kick and knocked the air from Karui's lungs, sending her to the ground.
Rin made two bunshin and had them stand over the two genin, while she went to Hinata.
Hinata was starting to look ill from the fractured arm, her normally pale complexion starting to look a shade of green.
"Hinata," Rin looked to her friend, "Do you see anything else around us?"
Hinata narrowed her eyes and looked around, her eyes shutting off a second later.
"Team 10 is near us." Hinata pointed with her good hand, "Someone else is with them. She has bright chakra."
Rin didn't know what she meant by that, but she didn't care because she saw some familiar faces arrive.
Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji looked tired and dirty, but fine, a girl with a very specific shade of red hair trailing behind them.
"Rin," Shikamaru rushed to the front, "Have you seen the Jinchuriki?" He asked frantically, his eyes wide in panic.
"No," Rin replied, her eyes on the red haired girl, who was looking at her strangely, "Why?"
"I felt his chakra," Ino cut in, shivering visibly, "We almost ran into that team and we heard him screaming about 'Mother' wanting Uzumaki's blood."
"He said that to Naruto yesterday." Hinata gasped, her eyes wide in fear.
Rin felt her blood chill.
Naruto wouldn't be in any shape to fight Gaara, if he was even still alive.
'Don't think that.' She shouted in her mind, refusing to believe it possible. He promised to never leave her, and she was holding him to that.
"We have to find Naruto." Rin said frantically, looking at the others and realizing they didn't know about Orochimaru.
"The missing nin Orochimaru attacked him and us," Rin explained quickly, hearing them gasp in shock, "Orochimaru ran and Sasuke chased after him."
"We can't win against him." Shikamaru gave her a sad look, filling her with rage.
She lunged forward and grabbed ahold of him, shaking him violently.
"I am not losing him!" She shouted in his face, feeling her teeth elongate, "I won't abandon my brother to that monster."
Shikamaru glared back at her and ignored the Killing Intent from just an inch away from his face.
"I didn't say leave him, Rin." He growled back, grabbing ahold of her shoulders too, "I don't care if we can't win, I'm not abandoning a friend."
Rin blinked and paused, her anger fading.
"I'm sorry." She looked down, letting go of Shikamaru, "I thought you were..." She trailed off.
"No," Shikamaru shook his head, "This'll be hard, but we might be able to make a big enough noise to get the Jinchuriki to do the work for us and get him to distract Orochimaru if we have to."
'Kami bless you and your amazing brain, Shika.' Rin thought at what Shikamaru said.
"Then let's go." Rin said with fire in her voice, ready to fight the snake bastard if she needed to.
"Ino, Hinata," Shikamaru took charge, looking at the two girls, "You two will be taking point. Scope out where Naruto is. You know his chakra." He then glanced at Hinata's broken arm, "Ino, you'll need to be ready to treat Sasuke and Naruto. You up to it?"
"Yes." Ino said with no hesitation, her eyes filled with determination.
Rin couldn't believe the fangirl had transformed into the true kunoichi that stood in front of her.
"Choji, same regular thing with us two," Shikamaru looked at the Akamichi, "Karin," He looked at the red haired Kusa kunoichi, "Stay back and out of the way."
'I'm a medical ninja." Karin said, her bright red eyes flashing behind her glasses, "I can help my cousin."
'Cousin?'
Shikamaru nodded and moved forward.
"Alright guys, we've got two friends to save. Move out!" He shouted, darting forward into the tress, the sun setting behind them.
None of them even thought twice of the Kumo nin on the ground that heard the entire conversation.
///////////////
I was tempted to cut it off where Naruto gets his head cut off and say the story is over now, the MC is dead, but I decided to not be a dick. The final part will be up next shortly.
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