Ultra Sonic 007
Trying to keep things simple~
- Location
- Colorado
Dadgummit Minato you were so close.
Obito-Sensei (A Sakura-Centric Naruto AU)
- Thread starter Ser_Serendipity
- Start date
Oh cool Tenpenchii.
There are things referenced or glossed over for the sake of the narrative in the body of the story that sound as interesting as the main story, all of them just begging for some kind of side story. I wish I had the time...
Poor Konan, a timeline where she's happy would be nice. Just one.
Here was where I would have opined about nobody challenging Hashirama's world order (even though the fic is more focused on the larger-picture that is Hagoromo's world order), but that gets addressed later, so kudos!
RIP Yahiko. You were certainly a real one, for better or worse. This fic is a nice twist on the classic Naruto (fanfic) theme of idealism leading you to all the wrong places, especially in a world like this one. Which, ironically, the actual manga just validated Naruto's world view even though it was just a less-weathered version of Hashirama's.
Something about Obito since getting the EMS has seemed kind of off to me, but this and everything afterward is some of the best Obito content in the fic.
Even with his performance during the battle in Rain, Minato standing with all of these flashy monsters who can tear cities apart with their bare hands with just his ingenuity and a funny knife and doing more last ing damage than the Tailed Beasts combined really goes to show why he had a flee on sight order.
It's a good thing Nagato didn't have Limbo, huh. And that he held back on Tengai Shinsei. I always assumed he could use it, given he can also form three hand signs at once, he just never did because it's horrifically destructive, has a steep chakra cost, and the collateral damage it does would almost certainly wipe out his allies.
After all, isn't there a little of Shippuden Sasuke inside all of us? Sasuke was right about that, by the way. At the very least A and Ohnoki absolutely deserved it, and I'm an Ohnoki stan.
Minato reaching this conclusion wasn't unforeseeable, he wrestled for a long time with what it meant to be the Yellow Flash and the Fourth Hokage, and if he could be both at the same time. It's not a terrible synthesis, especially after the misery of the summit.
It's not an uncommon idea. Tobirama wanted to do it, Madara had similar thoughts before the Zetsu shenanigans, Danzo had a more roundabout way of doing it, it's even similar to what Yahiko intended to do. I know that's an unsavory list, but there's a reason even diametrically opposed people came to that conclusion. Though, it seems like Minato isn't just intending to dangle the sword of damocles over the world's head, but he's going to use it to fundamentally change what the shinobi world is. And he's sick and tired of the Daimyos' collective guff as well. I may be biased towards his way of thinking, but maybe they should hear him out.
Hundreds of words of ranting, gushing, and theorizing aside; this was the best chapter of the summit so far. Can't wait to see how Sakura and her pal Zetsu manage to make everything even worse.
Minato coming to similar plans as Yahiko when we just had a repudiation of it feels both disappointing and like a waste.
I also wish Kushina had more screen time and part to play.
I'm just coming out of lurking to complain but otherwise I think this is the best Naruto fanfiction I've ever read.
I also wish Kushina had more screen time and part to play.
I'm just coming out of lurking to complain but otherwise I think this is the best Naruto fanfiction I've ever read.
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Walker Of Chaos
Best/Worst Dynasty
- Location
- Sweden
"We shall teach them our peaceful ways way force."
I really love this whole summit arc as it's the culmination of the Shinobi system. Time and time again we see how people who only want the best for the world and their loved ones only poison it further due to the Shinobi mindset. Minato taking this turn makes perfect sense and is a good contrast with Yahiko. One representing the pursuit of the Greater Good while the other focused on their loved ones. Both coming to the same conclusion due to the perverse incentives of ninjutsu.
I gotta love how you have this horrible high stakes drama with Nagato v the world straight into Minato pulls a post Kaguya Sasuke and then in the background there's the looming threat of Sakura with the chakra of a god of evil, being empowered by a plant monster from prehistory directly born from aliens and about to seize the entire United States nuclear Arsenal.
Is there even going to be anyone left to fight her by the time she starts?
Is there even going to be anyone left to fight her by the time she starts?
Ser_Serendipity
Building Character
It's telling that the closer I get to the end, the closer I want to explore What-If's of my own damn fic, lol. But I think that's part of any fiction worth reading, pondering the roads not taken.
At least he's at the finish line: it certainly wasn't impossible for Minato to go full sunk cost and double down on his Sacrifice mindset rather than throwing it away. I give him credit for that.
lol, too true. Everyone at the Summit except for Obito himself has ben consumed by Silver Bullet Syndrome. I mean, who wouldn't be? Everyone wants to believe there's one fight out there you can win once and be set for life afterwards.
Eyy, good catch on the Tenpenchii.
In terms of hearing Minato out, I definitely personally don't think he's wrong, per se. Obviously killing a bunch of people at a diplomatic meeting is faux pas even for shinobi, but the Summit itself was founded on the threat of annihilation so it's kinda a half of one, 50% of the other situation as long as Minato understands and is willing to bear the consequences. Obito's opposition is born of personal idealism, not necessarily a thoughtful and holistic view of the situation.
All that said, Murder Bad is a pretty boilerplate and universal theme, and if there was ever a time to attempt genuine diplomacy rather than legislation by bullet it would be now. It's a complicated situation that no one has a 100% understanding of. I struggled with it for a long time before writing it out: didn't even outline the Summit beyond extremely broad strokes until the rest of the fic was done first because I wanted to look back on everything the characters had done and learned in the emergent, non-outlined parts of the narrative.
Happy to hear it! I said a while ago that I wrote Obito-Sensei with the intention of it being reread, as arrogant as that sounds; there's a lot of foreshadowing and extra import throughout that I'm proud of.
I might actually sig this lmao, I've never seen the fantasy of violence so elegantly summed up.
Kushina's (and Kurama's) role in things is next chapter, promise. They have pretty much the same thing to say as you though: people make the same mistakes over and over again, regardless of how recent or strong the lesson, so is there a point in teaching it? Should be an interesting debate.Minato coming to similar plans as Yahiko when we just had a repudiation of it feels both disappointing and like a waste.
I also wish Kushina had more screen time and part to play.
I'm just coming out of lurking to complain but otherwise I think this is the best Naruto fanfiction I've ever read.
I got nothing to add, you nailed what I was going for.
I had an old meme stuck in my head from back when the manga was still running when Sasuke dropped his "Execute the Kage" line: just a simple text edit where instead he went "Now, to make this last another twenty chapters." Made me chuckle then and now.
Though just like the actual manga, I expect this to be wrapped up in about five chapters. The sticky part is the epilogue: there's a lot I want to cover, a lot of loose ends to tie up and some new ones to tease as the story passes into speculation, but doing them all in a single chapter would be ridiculously long. I know there's some people out there that like 20k+ chapters, but I'm definitely not one of them. We'll see when we get there.
I'm sure her team will be there for her, one way or another.
Thanks for the comments everyone! Think I'm back on biweekly updates for the foreseeable future while I navigate this precarious finale, but I'm feeling confident about pulling it off. Hope you have a happy holiday!
WinterLantern
Smoked bird
- Location
- North England
In a rare occurrence for ninja, unless that fortress had a school i think this is the first major ninja battle without a load of child/teen casualties. The world has already begun to heal.
Chapter 101: Once More, With Feeling
Ser_Serendipity
Building Character
Drowns In A River Of Blood
Shortly before his father and teacher came to blows, Naruto was finishing up his treatment of Mikoto. He leaned back, taking in his work with a nod. Her eye was irreparable, but the rest of the damage she'd suffered had been simple enough to fix. The real lingering problem was chakra shock; her system had suffered so badly that normal medical jutsu wouldn't get her back on her feet anytime soon.
"Alright," he said. "You should be safe here. I'm gonna go find everyone."
"Wait," she croaked, taking his hand before he could pull away. Naruto squeezed it back, getting ready to leave nonetheless, but Mikoto's next words stopped him. "You can still do more, can't you?"
"Mikoto, no," he said, trying to be kind, but some of his impatience bled through nonetheless. "It would be a bad idea."
"Why?" she whispered, body shaking. "Your Adamantine Rebirth-"
"It would fix you up, yeah," he said, trying to impress the danger on her as sincerely as he could. "It might even replace your eye. Jiraiya said there was a chance for things like that. But with the way your chakra system is now, plus fixing so much… it would take a lot. You could die ten, even fifteen years sooner than you should."
She wasn't as strong as his mom. The Uzumaki were tough, Kushina in particular: his father had told him that before giving him permission to use the technique on her. It was why she'd been chosen to hold the Kyuubi in the first place. But with Mikoto like she was now…
"But I wouldn't die today," Mikoto said. Naruto shook his head. She looked up at him, her Sharingan swirling in her remaining eye. He'd never seen her Mangekyo's pattern up close before; it wasn't anything like Obito's. "So do it."
"I won't," he said firmly, tugging his hand away. Mikoto nearly collapsed, but she kept eye contact with him.
"You won't?" she asked. Naruto's mouth pressed into a line, and he shook his head again. It felt rotten, but it was the right thing.
"Listen to me," he said. "I know you want to keep helping, but it's done. You're my patient right now, so-"
"So you'll do it," Mikoto said. Her Sharingan spun, devouring all light; the world faded away but for the hypnotic pattern of her eye.
Of course he'd do it. Naruto reached forward, laying his hands on both of Mikoto's shoulders and he gathered his chakra in his core, a burning power radiating out through his whole body. Why hadn't he done it sooner? Healing his allies was the natural thing to do, it was the whole reason he was here. Mikoto stiffened, feeling the tremendous amount of chakra he was generating, the way her own system responded to his touch. Her body began steaming, orange energy glowing under her skin.
"Yang Release: Kongō Saisei," Naruto intoned, and Mikoto collapsed, screaming and writhing in pain.
The genjutsu broke. Naruto awoke with a start, panic and confusion sweeping his brain clean.
"What did you do?!" he demanded, horrified as Mikoto rolled around on the ground. Her wounds closed and her chakra system rewound: the burn scars covering her face cracked and fell away, revealing unblemished skin underneath.
And her collapsed eye regrew, his chakra transformed into raw flesh and fibrous tissue as Mikoto's body remembered its original shape. She staggered to her feet, gasping for air and shivering from the pain as Naruto grabbed her arm, fury pulsing through him. "What's wrong with you?! Why the hell did you do that?!"
Mikoto glared at him with mismatched eyes; her right eye was still a Sharingan, the Mangekyo spinning away as its power faded, but her left was ordinary, so black the pupil was nearly invisible. She looked around, seeming dizzy. With one eye being predictive and the other not, her vision had to be vertigo-inducing.
"The Summit's not finished, Naruto," she grunted, yanking her arm away from him. "I have to help Kushina."
"You didn't have the right!" Naruto shouted, conflicting emotions only able to be expressed with angry yelling.
"It's my life!" Mikoto shouted right back, already looking around and trying to get her bearings. The battle with Nagato raged in the distance, though it looked like most of the Jinchuriki had been taken out. Naruto's thoughts instantly turned to Fuu, but there were too many people he cared for here already. "The decision was mine!"
"What the hell am I going to tell Sasuke?" Naruto said, his voice hoarse, and Mikoto froze. "How am I supposed to tell him that I let you do that to yourself?"
Mikoto took a couple seconds to answer. "I'll tell him," she eventually said. "I'll explain it myself."
She turned and ran, but Naruto caught a flash of shame before she did. She didn't spare another word as she rushed towards the battle and left Naruto behind.
Naruto looked down at his hands, wondering just how many years he'd stolen from his loved ones today. Decades from Mikoto for sure; had Sakura and Sasuke and Obito's seals gone off? Or Hinata's? Jiraiya's? Even Itachi's? It had seemed simple when he'd created his Yang techniques, the natural thing to take advantage of his talents, but Tsunade's warning had come true. Even if he'd saved their lives, he was a medic that burned their futures for the present: the kind of medic only a ninja could be.
He needed to know. The uncertainty would kill him. Naruto turned back towards the Fortress, sure that the rest of his team would be there. If Obito was fighting Nagato, Sakura and Sasuke would be heading for the Cannon. That was where he needed to go.
Naruto started running, pushing into the ruins of the Fortress. There were people everywhere, scattered samurai for the most part but also a handful of shinobi. Many were unconscious or tending to other wounded, but none had approached him or Mikoto: his mother being overtaken by the Kyuubi had chased them all away, and even after she and his father had run off, they hadn't returned.
But before he could reach the walls of the Fortress and begin climbing towards the Cannon distantly teetering above, Naruto's instincts started murmuring at him. Someone was coming, and not someone he knew. He slowed down, looking around for the source of the feeling, but couldn't hear anyone approach over the deafening battle raging between Nagato and everyone else in the distance. He saw his mother, visible even from more than a mile away as a brilliant golden light, get thrown through a mountain peak with earth-shaking force, and the sight distracted him yet further.
It was only when a nearby wall burned cherry red and collapsed into slag that Naruto was able to refocus. Three ninja stepped through, all spattered with fresh blood: The Mizukage Mei Terumi, and her two guards. Eyestealer Ao led the way, moving without pain, but behind him both the Mizukage and the other guard, Chojuro, were obviously injured: the Mizukage was covered in cuts and bruises, picking her steps with the obvious care of someone with a concussion, while Chojuro dragged a broken arm and twisted leg, gritting his teeth with every step.
Naruto came to a stop, looking over the three of them. Up in the front, Ao raised his hand.
"Naruto Namikaze," he said, calmly, not kindly. "We require your assistance."
"Do I get a choice?" Naruto asked, instantly realizing the situation. With his stolen Byakugan, Ao was the only person here besides Karin, Hinata, and maybe Nagato who could have followed everything that was happening despite the chaos. He knew Naruto was a medic, and alone.
"No," Ao said in the same flat tone. Naruto looked over to the Mizukage, trying to gauge how threatening she was. Ao, he felt like he could take in a fight. Chojuro was half-unconscious. But Mei Terumi's eyes were alive, if clearly concussed and struggling to keep her feet, and Naruto felt a ghost of the feeling that had overwhelmed him when he'd faced the Tsuchikage. Even injured, even tired out by battling the false flag ninja from Rain, the Mizukage was still unbelievably dangerous.
"Okay," he said, slowly stepping forward and holding his hands up. "But you know relying on an enemy medic can get you in trouble, right? What's stopping me from messing with their chakra systems?"
"That's an adorable thing to say." Mei spoke for the first time, a smile quirking her lips. "But if I sense anything untoward, Namikaze, I will melt your flesh off your bones."
She was entirely serious. Naruto swallowed, moving the rest of the way to meet them. He kept eye contact with the Mizukage, recognizing her authority: Ao had fallen quiet, closing his visible eye and straining: his chakra fluctuated. He was obviously devoting all his attention to observing the battle.
"Who should I get first?" he asked, and Mei shakily tilted her head towards Chojuro.
"Lady Mizukage!" the boy grunted, sounding offended enough that Naruto almost laughed. "That's not acceptable-!"
"Your injuries are simpler," she said with the same amused lilt. "And will take less time. Obey me, Chojuro."
Chojuro dropped his head, ashamed, and Naruto moved to him, gently maneuvering the boy who was barely older than him down to the ground. Without a word he went to work, reconnecting broken bones and mending internal injuries. It took him several minutes, his orange chakra suffusing Chojuro's body with glowing power, and at about the halfway point Ao spoke.
"You're not using the same jutsu," Ao said, and Naruto paused, looking back over his shoulder at the man. His eye was still closed, but Naruto felt watched nonetheless. He didn't say anything, and so Ao spoke again. "The jutsu you used on Mikoto Uchiha; the jutsu you branded your companions with."
"It's dangerous," Naruto said quietly, turning back to Chojuro and attending to his arm's hematoma. "It's a Yang technique, and if you were watching, you should know I didn't want to use it on her. Forcible regeneration is harmful in the long run."
"Then you're holding it back for our own good?" Ao said, just as quiet, and Naruto ground his teeth.
"There's nothing here that I can't fix with ordinary medical ninjutsu," he said, and Chojuro winced as Naruto's chakra spiked, mending something just a bit too quick to be painless. "Why should I make your life shorter, just because it would be quicker? Would you prefer if I did?"
"Your sensei did this to Chojuro and I," Mei said mildly. "But it seems you feel the same way he does. You truly came here not intending to kill anyone. And you're not working with the rest of the intruders."
"Yeah," Naruto said. "Those other guys have nothing to do with us. We just came to save the Jinchuriki."
"Your mother," Mei noted. Naruto stayed silent, focusing on Chojuro until the work was completely done. He finished, the Mist ninja giving him a bug-eyed look as he stood up and faced the Mizukage. She gave him a nod, and Chojuro bowed back, giving Naruto a thankful glance as he stepped to her side.
"Why, then, did your teammate kill the Kazekage?" Mei asked, and Naruto blinked, surprised despite himself.
"The Kazekage's dead?" he asked, and Mei's smile grew a little wider. A supernatural surety hit him. Mei wasn't lying, and Sakura was the one that had done it. She'd gone to distract Rasa, and she'd ended up besting him. The more surreal mix of pride and fear churned in his gut. Sakura had defeated a Kage, probably by herself, but the consequences could be beyond belief.
There had been a fantasy that they could just come here, save his mom, grab the Jinchuriki and the Cannon, and leave. But that had been ripped away now. An entire village could be after Sakura's head now, or maybe even the entire world. Any chance of not needing the threat of the Cannon to keep themselves safe was long gone.
"So it's an individual ideal, then," Mei said, gesturing for him to come closer. "And done without collusion with the Hokage. How incredibly foolish."
"I get if you'd think that," Naruto said, cautiously reaching out. Mei didn't warn him off, and so he placed two fingers to her temple, feeling for the invisible bruise inside her skull. He probed with just a tiny surge of chakra, keenly aware that even looking like he was up to something funny would get him killed. "But if Sakura killed the Kazekage, she probably didn't have a choice. He's had it out for her for years; it's not a big surprise if he took this opportunity to try and kill her."
"That's irrelevant. I meant all of you," Mei said, shivering and shaking her head as Naruto found her brain injury and began to massage it, trying to coax the delicate cells into regeneration. "The chaos you've unleashed here threatens everything, and you did it without even a unified intent. The irresponsibility is truly unbelievable."
"Maybe, yeah," Naruto said, looking over at Ao. He couldn't help but grin. "But are we winning?"
Ao was silent for about ten seconds before he spoke. "Nagato is losing," he admitted, and Mei stilled, a flicker of disbelief crossing her face. "He had defeated most of the Jinchuriki, including Utakata, but Obito Uchiha is still fighting him." He shook his head. "I could not describe it, Lady Mizukage. He has grown even more since his battle with you. Even the Hokage has fled-"
He paused, and Naruto did too, feeling something unseen sweep over all of them as Ao straightened up and sucked in a breath. "Scratch that," he said bluntly. "It's over. The Yellow Flash returned, and caught Nagato off guard."
"Dead?" Mei asked, adapting to the new and unbelievable reality with the speed only a Kage was capable of, and Ao shook his head.
"Not yet. Paralyzed. But he will likely be gone any moment. Konan and their honor guard are disabled as well. The Hokage and Obito are debating their fate," he said, his brow furrowing. He was reading their lips, Naruto realized, just like Hinata could. Even if the Byakugan hadn't originally been Ao's, he clearly knew how to use it, and had a range of at least a mile.
Naruto took his chance. "If Nagato's down, we can all go home, right?" he said, and Mei looked back at him. His medical jutsu was working; the dizziness that had clouded her eyes had vanished, but the work wasn't fully done. He kept attending to her as she spoke.
"The Cannon is still intact, and its creator has scurried off," Mei said. "Even Ao cannot locate him, but he is certainly still alive. Until that thing is dealt with, there's no reason to celebrate."
"So what?" Naruto said, putting the finishing touches on Mei's head as he stepped back. "Now we all get to race for the Cannon instead?"
"I'm sure your father is thinking the same thing," Mei said. One hand came up and rested on Naruto's shoulder, and he looked over at it with a grimace. "He was prepared to sacrifice the Nine-Tails, but he clearly recanted if he chose to fight Nagato. Family is important to him in some capacity. So…" She smiled sweetly. "Would you mind being my hostage, Naruto?"
"Lady Mizukage," Ao said quietly, but both Naruto and Mei ignored him.
Naruto brushed her hand off, but Mei's smile didn't fade. "It really would be the best choice," she said. "I have no interest in fighting the Yellow Flash, especially after fighting alongside him. So I'll ask you again, before we have to get a bit… rougher."
"Lady Mizukage," Ao said, a bit louder this time. Once more, he was ignored.
"I fixed you up; you're gonna let me walk away in return," Naruto shot back, and Mei's smile was tinged with genuine amusement. "I did the same thing with the Tsuchikage, you know. If you're so scared of my dad, you should also know that I can't stop him from doing anything. He let me run off to Rain, and he was gonna let mom die until we showed up. I won't figure into whatever he decides one way or another."
"Mei!" Ao said firmly, and the Mizukage whirled on him with a furious expression. The suddenness of it pulled a laugh out of Naruto, but he was thankfully ignored.
"Who do you think you're being so familiar with?!" she demanded, but Ao cut her off, frantically gesturing to the north-east.
"The Hokage is coming!" he said, and Mei rocked back in surprise. "He intends to-!"
Naruto would only understand everything that happened over the next second with the benefit of hindsight.
His father appeared as if from nowhere, leaping down from above and landing behind the Mizukage without a sound. Mei was already turned, lips puckering as chakra boiled through her body, but it wasn't fast enough. Minato swung a Hiraishin-marked knife in a fatal arc that would punch clean through Mei's skull; all of Naruto's work would be undone in an instant.
And Obito swirled into existence between the two of them, catching the blade on his arm guard and knocking it off course. The Hokage attacked again, this time with a Rasengan, and Obito caught it barehanded, Kamui swirling in his palm. The Rasengan and Kamui spun into one another in opposite rotations, mutually vanishing.
Mei launched a jet of lava over Obito's shoulder, and Minato tossed his knife underhand in the same instant, appearing behind the Mizukage once more and leaving the lava to uselessly splatter against the already melted walls of the Fortress. Chojuro and Ao were both moving, and Naruto too, but all in slow motion compared to the Kage and Obito. As the Yellow Flash appeared he kicked out, catching Chojuro in the chest and knocking him away. Ao flung a Water Dragon from between two hands like a thrown hammer, and the Hokage obliterated it with another massive Rasengan, standing his ground and not losing a step.
And despite all that, his free hand had caught the knife and driven it deeply into Mei's liver.
Naruto stumbled forward, words he didn't understand bursting from his lips. He had no idea what was happening or what to do; the situation wasn't helped when Obito reached out as Mei spun on Naruto's father and clapped his hand down on her shoulder the exact same way she had on Naruto's.
Mei swirled away into the Kamui, bleeding and cursing, and everyone froze.
"Lady Mei!" Chojuro called from the ground, completely distraguht, while Ao let out a vicious swear. Minato straightened up, breathing out and flicking the Mizukage's blood off his knife.
"They'll just kill each other in there, Obito," he said. Obito shook out his hand, wincing; the Rasengan he'd blocked had ground countless small bleeding grooves into his palm, shredding his glove. "Not only are you doing my job for me, you're putting Rin in danger."
"I trust Rin to keep herself safe," Obito said. "And if they kill each other, that's their problem, not mine. I can't babysit the whole damn world." He looked over, a smile lighting up his face. "Oh, hey Naruto."
"Sensei, Dad, what the fuck?" Naruto stuttered, and his father chuckled, sounding completely ordinary. "What's going on?"
"We have a small disagreement, Naruto," Minato said with a reassuring smile. His hands and arms were soaked with blood, but he looked cheerful and free in a way that Naruto had never seen before. "It's nothing to worry about."
Obito snorted. He looked more beat up than Minato, but the indomitable strength of his Eternal Eyes was still apparent, and this close Naruto could tell that his Yakushi Shiki still hadn't been activated. "He's after the Kage," Obito said, which both answered Naruto's question and raised a whole lot of other ones. "But I wouldn't worry about it, Naruto. I've got it." He gestured up towards the Fortress. "Go make sure the Cannon's secure and that no one else tries to nab it. Sensei and I will handle everyone else, one way or another."
Naruto blinked, trying and failing to wrap his head around the situation. He decided to default to following his teacher's orders. He didn't know if it was a good or a bad thing to kill the other Kage considering they had all agreed to execute his mom, but Obito trying to stop it made sense. Even if they had the Cannon, all of the other villages knowing that the Hokage was the only one to walk away from the Summit would probably be bad for Konoha in the long run… unless Obito and his dad killed a lot of people, so many it made him dizzy to think about.
"Okay," he said, the triangle of tension relaxing. His father's friendly smile didn't fade. "The Kazekage's already dead though. Sakura killed him."
Obito facepalmed, and Minato's grin grew even wider. "Really?" he asked with a light, mischievous look in his eyes. "Wow. That girl is always one step ahead, huh, Naruto?"
"I guess so," Naruto said. His father's smile was infectious. No matter how crazy the situation was, he couldn't help but smile back. "What about these guys?"
The Hokage looked at Ao and Chojuro, both of whom had stayed frozen through the conversation. "Obito," he said conversationally. "Pull them into the Kamui, or I'll kill them too."
Everyone present tensed, but Obito was the one who spoke; Naruto could see that Ao was trying to figure out a way to escape, his eye darting in every direction following the vision of his hidden one, but Chojuro was frozen in fear, sweat running down his face. This close to his dad, the Hokage's chakra was so heavy and sharp that it far surpassed the feeling of a blade being pressed against your neck; it was like it was already in your throat.
"You want them with the Mizukage?" he asked, and Minato grinned.
"You trust Rin, right?" he said. His tone wasn't mocking, but Naruto could tell from the way Obito's face twisted that he was poking at something. Was Rin in the Kamui already? Why had he put the Mizukage in there too then? Rin was a badass, but she wasn't the kind of person that could face a Kage alone. "I'm sure she'll be fine."
Minato moved so fast that Naruto could barely follow, and Obito moved too. He intercepted the Yellow Flash's attack and yanked Chojuro into the Kamui with a touch, then ripped Ao out of the world with a glance, despite the honor guard trying to dive out of the way. The Hokage straightened up, his knife piercing through the air where Ao's head had been just a millisecond before.
"Nice!" Minato said, sounding genuinely proud. "But the more you add, the more complicated it gets. You're gonna hesitate eventually, Obito."
"Naruto, get moving," Obito said, ignoring his teacher's teasing. "Keep everyone as safe as you can. I'll find you once this is over."
Naruto nodded, mouth dry, and his father mirrored him. "Thank you for coming here, Naruto," he said, and Naruto blinked, unable to believe what he was hearing. "You gave me the courage I needed."
Then the both of them were gone, off on the most perverse race in existence. Naruto sucked in a breath, hardly able to process what had just happened, and started running again.
He needed to get to the top of the Fortress; he needed to find Sasuke and Sakura, and Hinata too. The world was going crazy, and he was sure they were the only place he'd find sanity.
He ended up being very, very wrong.
###
When her husband ran off to commit mass murder for her sake, Kushina was left on the mountainside with injured and unconscious Jinchuriki scattered around her, and a young girl with hair as red as hers bound in her Adamantine Chains. She sighed, massaging her head as the last of Kurama's chakra burned away within her. Returning to feeling mortal and human was both a relief and a rotten feeling simultaneously.
DON'T GROW TOO USED TO MY POWER, Kurama grumbled, sensing her mixed feelings. I DON'T EXPECT YOU WILL EXPERIENCE IT AGAIN.
"Well, thanks for what you did anyway," Kushina said to herself, turning her attention to her imprisoned clansmen. The girl, Karin, was struggling, golden sparks dancing under her skin as she struggled to manifest her own Adamantine Chains and push Kushina's away. "I know I said we'd talk about what came afterwards when things were done, but do you mind if I deal with this first?"
YOUR HUSBAND HAS REDEDICATED HIMSELF TO KILLING, Kurama said with a chuckle, and Kushina felt her blood run cold. WITHOUT A THOUGHT FOR ME. HE STILL CONSIDERS YOU MY CAPTOR; HE DOES NOT UNDERSTAND THE EQUITY OF THE RELATIONSHIP. WHAT COMES NEXT MUST BE OBVIOUS.
"You of all people don't have much of a leg to stand on when it comes to judging killing, y'know?" Kushina retorted, maybe a bit too hot-headed for her own good. It shut up Kurama nonetheless, so she kept speaking as she approached Karin. "Besides, Obito is trying to stop him, and I'm gonna do the same. Let's at least see how that goes before you decide what to do, huh?"
FINE, Kurama grumbled, and fell silent. Kushina hadn't expected that; she couldn't hide her gratitude, and could feel the way Kurama flinched away from the feeling like it was fire.
"Who are you talking to?" Karin gasped, still straining against the chains. Kushina sighed and shook her head.
"The Kyuubi," she said, and Karin went still, terror bleeding off her. "Don't worry, it's not about you." She put her hands on her hips, looking her clansmen over. "I'll let you out, so long as you promise not to try anything."
Karin nodded mutely, and Kushina withdrew her chains. The redhead fell to the ground wheezing, finally able to draw a full breath, and Kushina knelt down in front of her, staying close but not trying to be threatening.
"I didn't know anyone else had awoken the Adamantine Chains, y'know," she said as Karin sucked in air. "Well, before Minato told me about you. I don't expect that you'll care much that we're from the same clan; you probably never knew the Uzumaki, right?" Karin shook her head, and Kushina pursed her lips. "Well, that's how it is for almost everyone, I guess. But we're not enemies anymore."
"Lord Nagato and Lady Konan-" Karin started to say, shivering from the chakra pouring over her.
"Are alive, and I intend to keep them that way," Kushina cut her off. "We'll see how things shake out, but right now that's what Obito wants, and he's the one who came here to save me. I'll respect his wishes. So we're not enemies, get it?"
Karin shook, lowering her head. Kushina couldn't help but feel pity; it was way too easy to see herself in the girl. The same legacy, the same technique; she'd just had the good luck of being born a generation earlier, before the destruction of Uzushiogakure. If she'd been Karin's age, she would have easily ended up in the exact same situation.
"Okay," Karin said quietly, slumping. "But then…"
"What should you do?" Kushina asked, and Karin mutely nodded. "You're a sensor, right? The important thing this second is making sure no one else gets any bright ideas about flipping the world upside down. All the Jinchuriki are here, and really beat up." She reached out and pulled Karin to her feet, dusting her off and flicking a piece of snow out of her thick red hair. "Can you keep them safe?"
Karin blinked. "What if I run off with them?" she asked, and Kushina laughed.
"I think you understand what would happen if you tried that," she chuckled, and Karin weakly laughed back. "You're strong, but you're not as strong as Nagato, and look what happened to him. But I'll consider it a personal favor; both to me, and to the Hokage's wife, y'know?"
"But aren't you-?" Karin started to ask, before she realized. "Ah, I get it. Should I heal them, too?"
"If you want to," Kushina said, turning towards the Fortress. She needed to get a move on; at the rate Minato could go, he might have already killed a Kage or two. "But all I want you to do is keep guard, and watch out for anyone coming after them."
"Okay," Karin said quietly, wringing her hands. "But someone's coming right now."
She pointed, and Kushina turned just in time to catch Mikoto leap up to the ridge. Her friend looked both completely awful and better than she had in years. Her face and chest were covered in dried blood, her hair was a mess, and only one eye burned with the Mangekyo Sharingan. But the thick scars that had obscured half of Mikoto's face for nearly a decade were gone and she shimmered with vitality. Kushina smiled, stepping forward and spreading her arms.
"Mikoto!"
"Kushina?" Mikoto took a hesitant step, looking around at the devastated battlefield, the decapitated mountains, the trenches dug into the cliffside, the multiple avalanches and pockmarks of melted stone, her hair frizzing even more from the leftover ozone that filled the air. She wrapped her arms around Kushina, hugging her, feeling her solidity, and then pulled back in disbelief. "It's over?"
For some reason, she looked terrified. Maybe even regretful. Neither were expressions that Kushina was used to seeing on Mikoto's face.
"Not quite yet, but Nagato and Konan are taken care of," Kushina said, squeezing her back and then releasing, trying to comfort her. She pointed to Karin, and then back towards the Fortress. "Karin and I have had a talk: she's gonna take care of the Jinchuriki. You gotta come help me."
"What's left?" Mikoto asked, following after her as Kushina started walking towards the Fortress.
"Minato's decided to kill the rest of the Kage," she said, Mikoto nodding along. "I don't wanna fight him, but we have to help Obito stop him."
"Why?" Mikoto asked.
Kushina stopped.
"Why?" she repeated, and Mikoto nodded. "Well, I guess mostly 'cause I don't want that many people to have died because of me, assholes or not. It's one thing to kill someone in a war, but I don't want anyone, even the Kage, getting murdered because Minato thinks he needs to keep me safe. It's a little patronizing, y'know?"
"You might see it that way, Kushina," Mikoto said quietly. "But it's what Minato should have done from the beginning." She stood up straight, her mismatched eyes filled with determination. "I'll help him. My Sharingan might not be at full strength, but-"
"Mikoto," Kushina said, taking her friend's hand. "I know this is kinda what you wanted. The whole thing with the coup… but this really isn't the time."
"The coup has nothing to do with it. If this isn't the time, when will there be a better one?" Mikoto insisted, taking Kushina's hand in both of hers and pulling it up between them. "This whole Summit was called to seal your fate; killing the Kage is just returning what they were intending to do in the first place. If it empowers Konoha in the process-"
"And that's why I can't let it happen," Kushina interrupted, a burst of clarity crystalizing in her head and heart. "It's not gonna fix anything, not today. Even if Minato could keep me safe, nothing's permanent. The grudge he'd create would last beyond any of us. It'd be generational, like the Senju and Uchiha, but from the whole world towards Konoha. Don't you see how that could be a disaster?"
"Konoha would just have to stay on top, managing it," Mikoto insisted. "Forever."
"There's no such thing as forever," Kushina said, feeling the scales tip away from her. Dread suffused everything; she could hear Kurama laughing. "Mikoto, I really don't want this. Minato didn't respect that; can't you?"
They stared at one another for a couple seconds, feeling their heartbeats through one another's hands as Mikoto struggled and Kushina silently pleaded. Please, don't make me go against my husband and my best friend about my own fate. I'm seeing with clear eyes now, for the first time; they're the ones that aren't. Can't they just see that?
"I swore I'd see you, not what's inside you," Mikoto eventually said.
"And I told you there's no point in agonizing over a past that never showed its face," Kushina responded, lightning quick.
"This is the present," Mikoto insisted. "If they return home, they'll try again. They'll see Konoha's newfound strength and fear it with all their hearts. It has to be today."
Kushina made her decision.
The Adamantine Chains burst out, ensnaring Mikoto in the blink of an eye. She had already started moving, warned by her superhuman eye and instincts, but even so her arms and legs were bound.
"If we're so strong, we can afford to wait and see," Kushina bit out. "Mikoto, please don't-"
Mikoto's chakra boiled, blue steam rising from her body. Blood ran from both her eyes, and her left eye, black and unmarred by the Sharingan's red hue, spun out.
Kushina's chains melted away. The Mangekyo had reformed.
She stepped back, feeling weakness fall across her like a heavy shadow. Mikoto stalked forward, her bloodline suppressing Kushina's chakra.
"I won't hurt you, Kushina," she said, sounding on the edge of tears. "But I can't let you interfere either."
Kushina raised her fists. "If you wanna fight, we can fight, Mikoto," she warned. Kurama's laughter was getting louder. "Just don't whine if you get a black eye, y'know!"
"You can fight, if you'd like," Mikoto said. "But you'll lose."
They both threw themselves forward, meeting fist to fist. All the while, Kurama laughed.
DON'T YOU SEE, KUSHINA? he asked as Kushina was pushed back. Robbed of chakra, she was weaker and slower than Mikoto, and her friend landed a decisive blow that knocked the air out of her lungs. IT'S ALWAYS THE SAME.
HUMANS FORGET LESSONS THE SECOND THEY'RE LEARNED. THEY SQUANDER SECOND, THIRD, FOURTH, COUNTLESS CHANCES. AGAIN, AND AGAIN, AND AGAIN. As he 'spoke,' Kushina was assaulted by visions; Kurama's own memories clawed at her, distracting her further as Mikoto beat her back. Countless cycles of people, ninja or not, rising up and forming towns, cities, countries, empires: each being cast down by the people they'd turned into meat and labor, and those who'd triumphed doing just the same, over and over again. THEY CANNOT BE TAUGHT, NOT FOR GOOD. THEY FORGET TOO QUICKLY, AND TOO EASILY. THERE'S ONLY ONE LESSON THAT IS PERMANENT.
Corpses stretched beyond the horizon, burning nexuses of evil that Kurama had incinerated illuminating the world in bloody firelight. Kushina caught a punch and hammered Mikoto back, landing a solid hit on her solar plexus that sent her stumbling away, massaging her chest. The Susano'o flickered around her as more blood ran from her eyes, and Kushina snarled, feeling her Adamantine Chains writhing beneath her skin, begging to be unleashed.
"I don't believe that!" she declared, standing up straight and shouting at Mikoto and Kurama both. "I'm not going to lose, and it's not that they forget; they just don't have the context to learn the lesson at all! I won't let you make the same mistakes, Mikoto! You, or Minato!"
She stomped her foot, and Mikoto closed her baleful eye, overwhelmed by Kushina's chakra. The chains burst forth, and so did the Susano'o, slamming against each other a dozen times as both women stood their ground.
"And if they do forget that easily," Kushina said, "then someone will just have to teach them again! Again and again and again and again and again, as many times as it takes! That's what we've got here, an opportunity like never before: I won't let it slip away!"
She and Mikoto battled across the Fortress grounds, gold on blue and fist on fist, drawing closer to the center of everything.
High above, unnoticed by everyone but Karin, the Cannon whined, and began to charge.
###
Another thrown kunai, and another interception: Obito flung a shuriken out and knocked the pronged knife off course, tarnishing the seal inscribed on it. Minato clicked his tongue and they circled a collapsed pillar. They had stumbled into this half-submerged room, Obito finally managing to corner his teacher.
"You're really not making this easy, Obito," Minato said. "I'm pretty sure that was the last one."
"Really?" Obito said, panting. Chasing Minato around had finally tired him out. Since saving the Mizukage, they hadn't found another Kage, but Obito could hear activity nearby, just outside the Fortress, that Minato could doubtlessly hear too. "I figured you woulda scattered a ton."
"I was focused on defeating Nagato," Minato admitted with a bashful look that didn't fit his face. "I undid his seals instead of placing my own." He straightened up, blowing out a breath. "I wish you'd reconsider. I never took you for someone in favor of chaos, Obito."
"That's not what this is," Obito said, continuing to circle as Minato paced towards one entrance. His sensei wasn't bluffing, but that just made his sincerity more painful. Obito, and Nagato before him, had destroyed a countless number of the Hokage's marked kunai: he truly was out of mobility, both at the Summit and across the world, since Minato had spent a significant amount of time and chakra removing all the various seals he'd placed god knows where after Nagato had stolen the Hiraishin. For the first time in ages, his sensei wasn't essentially omnipresent.
Of course, he could still mark anything he wished: all it would take would be picking up a piece of rubble or another knife, and Minato could hurl it out of this room and be on his way. The tension burning through Obito's body couldn't be allowed to abate.
No matter how strange this was.
"You came here without a plan," Minato pointed out. "I've made a new one. You don't have a moral or practical objection, just a gut feeling."
"I have both a moral and practical objection," Obito retorted. "You just don't agree with them. I did just the same as you, sensei. I've made a new plan too."
"Really?" Minato said. "In that case, let me tell you something else." He clapped his hands, chakra surging, and Obito frowned. It was the same pattern of the Hiraishin, but Minato wasn't holding anything: he hadn't marked the ground either. Had he been bluffing after all?
Minato suddenly rushed forward, and Obito went to meet him. He couldn't pull his sensei into the Kamui, so he'd already resigned himself to having to beat some sense into him. He came from below with a skull-shaking uppercut-
And Minato disappeared and reappeared a foot to the left in the blink of an eye, lashing out with his palm.
It was a movement that defeated the Sharingan's prediction, but Obito still saw the attack coming once he adjusted to Minato's new position. He tried to deflect the attack and succeeded, knocking the palm strike off course. As he did, his superhuman vision picked up two details.
Firstly, the Hokage's palms were marked with the Hiraishin. Both of them. Without a weapon to seal, he'd placed the recall for the Flying Thunder God on his own body.
Ah, duh. That was how he'd teleported to the same position. Minato could choose where he appeared near the seal, to within about a foot. Right now, he could instantly transport to anywhere in a four foot radius or so. That was incredibly dangerous.
His teacher had never marked himself or his allies out of a fear of exactly what Nagato had accomplished: someone else cracking the Hiraishin. But it seemed that just like every fear, he'd thrown that one away, too.
Secondly, Minato's pupils had extended and orange pigmentation spread around his eyes. His chakra hardened, becoming like stone and rooting him in place despite him impossibly continuing to move. He'd entered Sage Mode instantly, mid-teleport.
An invisible palm struck Obito's cheek and flung him into the wall, shattering it as the Susano'o formed on instinct and blunted the blow. His head reeled; even a glancing strike felt like it could have torn it off. Minato grinned, bouncing from foot to foot as Sage energy burst out of him.
"The other reason I didn't place any more markers," he said, sounding as happy as he looked, "is because I was busy making a Shadow Clone."
Minato turned and ran towards the sounds of the battle, crashing right through the walls of the room, and Obito cursed. Half embedded in the wall despite the Susano'o's efforts, he yanked himself free and ran after his teacher. He felt dizzy; Sage Mode strikes were something else. He dove through the Kamui, catching a flash of figures in the bright darkness. Mei and her bodyguards were surrounding Rin and Konan; Nagato was prone between them.
Obito scanned the situation and realized what was happening instantly. Rin wasn't holding Nagato hostage: her chakra system was practically melded with his, waiting for a flex of will to awaken him. It was beyond dangerous, but she was using him like a suicide vest, warding the Mizukage off with the threat of returning Nagato to consciousness. She and Konan were both arguing with Mei, demanding she back off.
He laughed, the sound echoing through the Kamui, and was gone before anyone inside could turn and see he'd ever been there. Obito burst out into the snow, between the walls that surrounded the Fortress and right behind his sensei. Once again, he had only a heartbeat to take in the situation, his Eternal eyes greedily devouring the scene.
The first person Obito marked out was Gai: the second was Itachi. The former was defending the latter, who was laid out on the ground heavily bleeding and barely conscious. They were being attacked from every angle by shinobi from Cloud: Darui, Karui, and Omoi, all recovered from the damage Obito had dealt them. Were any of them medics, or had they found a friendly one? Did the samurai have some? Questions that didn't immediately matter.
And of course, Minato was there, throwing himself into the chaos. Darui was his first target: Obito took a deep breath, desperately making hand signs.
Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu.
The Grand Fireball burst out and engulfed the whole battlefield. It was so obviously telegraphed that everyone avoided it with ease: Gai scooped Itachi up and leapt out of the way without question, landing nearly fifty feet away atop an outcropping of broken stone, while the Cloud ninja retreated to the top of the wall in confusion and anger. Minato vanished as well, leaping up to follow Darui, but Obito caught him in the air with a teleported blow from the Susano'o, his guardian's fist appearing in the Hokage's path and striking him back down into the inferno. Steam exploded as snow evaporated, shrouding everything in boiling mist, and the battle crashed to a stop for just a moment as everyone took stock of the new arrivals.
"Obito!" Gai called out, patting out a fire that had caught on his shoulder. Itachi groggily shifted on the other, blood covering his chin and continuing to leak from his mouth. He made eye contact with Obito and started to speak, but Gai's voice drowned him out. "That was sloppy!"
"What the hell's going on here?" Obito said, loud enough for everyone to hear, and Darui shouted back down at him from the top of the wall.
"We're removing an enemy," he said, calm despite his raised voice. "Itachi Uchiha is responsible for Yugito Nii's kidnapping; independently or at Rain's behest, it doesn't matter. We were… shocked to find a ninja of the Leaf defending him." He drove his enormous broadsword into the wall, crossing his arms. "He's your ally, Obito Uchiha? Given what happened to your clan… that's impossible to believe."
"It's a complicated situation!" Obito called back up, noting that Minato seemed content to watch and wait for now, a faint smile remaining on his lips. No, it wasn't just that: his sensei was perfectly still, not even breathing. He was using the opportunity to gather yet more Sage Chakra. Maybe whatever trick he'd used with a Shadow Clone hadn't been perfect on the first try.
But it would be if there was a second. That was just how Minato was. And more than that, he might have been waiting for the commotion-
"Just how complicated?" An aged voice called out, and Obito cursed under his breath, looking up to find Onoki looking down on him from directly above. The Tsuchikage was flying about thirty feet off the ground, hands loose at his sides. Both of his honor guard were there as well, clinging to the side of the Fortress nearby: Obito immediately noted that while Kurotsuchi looked eager, Yui seemed confused. His eyes pierced through her at just a glance. She stood without pain, her posture perfect; something about her had changed, and while it had improved her body it had unsettled her mind.
"Extremely," Obito said, choosing to understate. "Lord Raikage and Tsuchikage, I'd very much like if we could-"
Minato moved, and Obito moved slightly before him thanks to his Sharingan, and then everyone else did too.
His target was Darui, so Obito did the best thing he could manage: he ripped away the wall from under Darui's feet with the Kamui. He'd been getting ready to jump, and as he fell Minato tore through the air right where the Raikage's chest would have been, a Rasengan big enough to pulp everything in Darui's torso in hand. Karui and Omoi both attacked from either side, shockingly quick up the uptake, but Minato caught Omoi's lightning-sheathed sword with his bare hand and shattered it while kicking Karui away. She flew out of sight, and Omoi would have died if Obito hadn't shifted his focus, drawing the guard into the Kamui as the Rasengan struck him.
It wasn't a full impact; Omoi might still be alive. But Obito didn't have time to think about that, and Darui didn't either. As he fell from the wall, he was already running through a complicated set of handsigns, twelve in total. He put them to his mouth, fury pulsing off him.
"Storm Release: Laser Circus!"
A barrage of thunderous lasers burst from the Raikage, three dozen burning lances of light breaking the sound barrier with a sharp crack and locking onto Minato from every side. The Hokage slapped away one, took another in the side, and then began flickering in and out of reality, teleporting again and again as he dodged each beam by a fraction of an inch. The beams were self-directed: after missing they twisted and came once more, transforming the space around Minato into a blinding prison of screaming energy as they turned again and again, forming a circular sphere that, impossibly, Minato was untouched by.
"Obito-!" Gai shouted, seeming ready to launch himself to his Hokage's defense, but Obito flung a hand out at him and snapped, feeling his face twist into something frightening.
"Take Itachi and go, Gai! Get out of here!" he shouted, already moving to capitalize on Minato's temporary incapacitation. The Tsuchikage drifted into position, a baleful expression falling across his face as his honor guard leapt to the wall and began to run towards Minato as well.
"But the Shadow-!" Gai called out, already picking Itachi up.
"Now!" Obito roared, and Onoki launched a disintegrating ray at the coruscating mess of lasers. Obito was the only one who could have possibly noticed a shredded piece of the Hokage's bloodied cloak fall down out of the field, marked with the seal of the Flying Thunder God.
"The Shadow is gone!" Gai roared back, turning with Itachi nonetheless, and Obito froze. "Sasuke is pursuing it: he believes it's fled to Sakura!"
Gai ran, leaving the battlefield behind, and for a critical second Obito was paralyzed by terror. The Tsuchikage's attack struck the laser prison and erased it, but Minato was already gone: he appeared just below at the bloodied scrap of his cloak and kicked off the wall, slamming down into Darui on the ground. The Raikage just barely blocked with his sword, bursting with Black Lightning, but Minato teleported in place to dodge the counterattack and retaliated with a Rasengan, catching Darui right in the gut. The Raikage was sent spinning back and broke through the thick wall behind him, badly injured even as Karui came to his defense, eating a spinning kick that broke her arm and slammed her to the ground unconscious in return.
Throughout it all Obito couldn't bring himself to move. He was trapped in his own head, on the edge of hyperventilating.
Black Zetsu had left Itachi. It had gone to Sakura? Why Sakura? Why would Sasuke think that? Every cell in his body was screaming at him to abandon all of this, to go find his students and make sure they were safe. Sakura was going to the Cannon: if Sasuke was right, that meant Black Zetsu was going to the Cannon.
Minato wouldn't turn away, not quickly enough. Had Obito even told his sensei about the Shadow? In that moment, overwhelmed by panic as he was, he genuinely couldn't remember. Pursuing Black Zetsu had been his personal quest. And regardless, even if he begged Minato to stop, he wouldn't. His teacher was set on his path with the same endless determination that he'd approached everything else with. The only thing that could dissuade him now would be defeat.
But Obito couldn't defend the Cannon and the Kage at the same time. If he left here, the Raikage, Tsuchikage, and their guards would be dead in moments. If he left Sakura to her own devices, the disaster could defy imagination.
'My Will could only bring out what was already there, boy!'
Had Madara been wrong? Obito didn't have much respect for the dead man, but he didn't think so. Not about this. Itachi had been a happy young boy with a political disagreement with his clan, and the Shadow had encouraged him to murder his own father, Shisui, and dozens of others.
Sakura had seen and suffered so much, far more than Itachi had; she had no sympathy left for anyone.
How far could the Shadow push her?
Obito breathed out, closing his eyes and listening to his heart.
He listened for a full second, an eternity in darkness, and then leapt forward, keeping Minato from crushing Karui's head under his foot. The redhead whipped away into the Kamui, and Minato spun on him with an irritated look. At the rate things were going, he was running out of people to kill.
It was simple, even if Obito hated it. He'd trusted Rin to take care of herself, even as he kept shoving more and more dangerous people into the Kamui with her. He'd sent Naruto towards the Cannon and Sakura, and Sasuke and probably Hinata were already heading there too.
His team would take care of each other. If Sakura really was carrying Black Zetsu, Naruto and Sasuke would handle it, and Hinata would kill the Shadow. He was the one who had to keep Minato from doing something that would never be forgiven; the only person with the power to accomplish it.
"We'll have to speed this up," Minato noted, striking out at Obito, who counterattacked with the Susano'o. They both raced up the wall, drawing closer to the Tsuchikage. Yui called out from above, a brace of knives in both hands.
"Yondaime!" she shouted, and Minato glanced in her direction as he dueled Obito, infuriatingly collected. "I made this technique for you!" The swirling script across the half dozen knives lit up with purple chakra, and Yui hurled them down in a spread.
Nice attack, Obito had to admit. Yui clearly had good instincts and understood both Minato's speed and his current limitations on the Hiraishin, because the knives formed a pattern of attack that he wouldn't be able to dodge, hemmed in as he was by Obito. He watched in slow motion as Minato's eyes darted from knife to knife, and Yui made a hand sign, triggering the jutsu marking each of them.
A nice attack, but naturally, it wouldn't work.
Like they were all moving through molasses, the Hokage reached out and snatched the nearest knife out of the air. His chakra surged, burning yellow energy searing the seal inscribed on the knife.
The other five burst in the air, imploding in silent crushes of air that rendered everything within range down into atoms, including a small piece of Obito's Susano'o. He observed the jutsu, fascinated; he'd never seen such a self-destructive seal, though it reminded him of something several ROOT members had used in their final moments.
But the kunai in Minato's hand didn't burst. Yui's face went white, and she stepped back from the edge of the wall in terror as the Hokage raced towards her.
"You can have this back," Minato said conversationally. He flung the kunai up, flipping it through the air towards Yui's face. She jumped back, but the seal was already activating. Not far enough, and Obito wasn't close enough to save her. He reached out with the Kamui, but Minato teleported right into his line of sight, interrupting the jutsu. No matter what, he couldn't place his sensei in there.
Yui desperately grasped at the blade as Minato turned his attention to the Tsuchikage, trying to pull the same trick Minato had. She seized the seal as it started to implode, channeling enough chakra to blow her hair back. It was her own technique; it was a question of reaction time.
Hers wasn't quite enough.
The jutsu burst, devouring Yui's left hand and forearm. She fell back without a scream, her arm now ending just past the elbow as blood exploded out in an arc, and barely made it out of Minato's range as a burst of Dust Release prevented him from following after to finish her off.
"Bastard!" Kurotsuchi shouted, rushing in as chakra covered her body, armoring her in molded stone. Minato watched her come without a care as Obito reached the top of the wall and began to rush him from behind.
"Stay back, Kurotsuchi." The Tsuchikage's voice cut through the haze of the battle without effort, and his granddaughter stumbled to a halt as he drifted down beside her. "You're no match."
"Unfortunately true," Minato said, raising both hands before him. Obito struck out from behind, and Minato skipped aside as the Susano'o shattered more of the wall. Onoki began attacking as well, pale geometry lashing out and vaporizing more stone, but Minato remained untouched, stepping past most attacks and teleporting through what he couldn't dodge. "Dust Release always fascinated me, Onoki. You knew that, right?"
The Tsuchikage grunted, flinging multiple massive translucent cubes at the Hokage that took out large sections of the wall and sent it crashing down. It was a technique that could kill an army, but none of them connected; if not for the Kamui, Obito would have been hit, but it carried him out of danger without issue.
A light began to burn in between Minato's hands.
"I tried to make it myself, but I couldn't quite manage it. No bloodline, you know?" Minato continued conversationally. "But I figured out something pretty good."
Obito knew the Scorch Release Rasenshuriken existed. He'd seen the damage it had left behind. But he'd never actually seen Minato use it.
A sun blossomed in the Hokage's hands, the purest expression of fire. All of the snow for hundreds of feet around evaporated, steam clouding the battlefield. Obito started sweating; summer had instantly come to the Land of Iron. Plasma began to circulate on the edges of the Rasengan as Wind and Fire drew closer, preparing a thermobaric reaction of untold strength.
Obito turned and ran, chasing after where he'd seen Yui fall. He had maybe two seconds. Kurotsuchi ran: Onoki began soaring up into the sky, preparing a Dust Release cone of incredible size and leveling it at the Hokage.
He dove over the edge of the wall, finding Yui below: half a second. She was tying a tourniquet around her arm, finishing the knot with her teeth. Obito remembered doing something similar an eternity ago and felt a sick nostalgia.
"Knives?" One second. Yui looked at him in shock, hand falling to a pack at her hip. Obito reached out, faster than she could dream, and yanked one out, looking her in the eyes with deadly seriousness.
"Activate it."
Yui did, her remaining hand making the seal. Obito only saw the prediction of it; he had already spun around and raced up the wall, mounting it just as Minato grunted in effort and hurled his ultimate weapon.
"Goen Bakufu Rasenshuriken!"
The sun soared up into the sky, and Onoki let out a shout of his own and fired off his disintegrating technique.
Obito added his own meager contribution; he threw the bucking knife in his hand, concentrating all of his focus on it. The knife whipped away into the Kamui mid-flight, disappearing.
Dust Release was a diabolical technique that destroyed things at a molecular level; as far as Obito knew, there was no practical counter to it besides not being hit.
He learned in that second that he was wrong: the Scorch Release Rasenshuriken shredded right through Onoki's disintegrating cone, detonating it in a wash of pale chakra midair. The Tsuchikage flinched back, fear and astonishment plain on his face.
The jutsu had not only been inspired by Dust Release: it had been designed to force it to go off prematurely. Even in the midst of that impossible moment, Obito felt his admiration for his sensei rocket even higher. The Rasenshuriken rocketed higher too, drawing to within just a foot of Onoki. Minato closed his hand; the jutsu started to burst, an explosion of shredding wind and fire and a vacuum blast that would obliterate the Tsuchikage completely.
And Obito blinked, Yui's knife popping out of the Kamui right next to the Rasenshuriken.
Minato was faster than Obito and faster than Yui, but their combined efforts proved greater than the sum of its parts. The knife burst as the Rasenshuriken began to expand, and devoured it wholesale.
There was a puff, a wash of intense heat, and a loud pop, and then Obito was left panting next to Minato while Onoki stared down in terror.
Minato slowly looked over at him, Sage Mode fading. He'd channeled most of his remaining Sage chakra into the Rasenshuriken, and Obito could tell that he needed to rely on Sage Mode's toughness to survive being that close to the complete jutsu in the first place. That had been his definitive attempt at ending the battle in one shot.
"Why didn't you just pull it into the Kamui?" he asked, and Obito sighed.
"That would endanger Rin. You knew that," he said. Minato nodded with a frown.
"I knew that," he said, crossing his arms. "Damn. I really didn't think you could stop that one."
"What did you do, Obito Uchiha?" Onoki asked from up above. He had another Dust Release cube prepared, but his hand shook; even if it didn't show on his face or his voice, the Tsuchikage was intimidated. He'd stared death in the face plenty of times, but the kind that Minato brought was so sudden and brutal that Obito completely understood being unsettled. Kurotsuchi felt the same way, but it was obvious on her face.
"Your subordinate saved you. I just helped her," Obito said. Minato looked back to where Yui had fled, and Obito spoke up, trying to take advantage of the lull in the battle. "I really wish we could talk instead of this, sensei. My team's in danger-"
"Then just let me finish this, Obito!" Minato suddenly said, raising his voice. "Why try to stop me, again and again? Do you think Onoki would give you the same grace?" He pointed up at the Tsuchikage, a flash of teeth showing. "If we fight each other, he'll try to kill us both! He's the greatest threat left: help me finish it!"
Onoki and Kurotsuchi both looked unsettled, preparing for a fight. Obito breathed out, trying to appear harmless. For at least this moment, he had a chance to maybe talk Minato down.
"That doesn't matter," he said, and Minato narrowed his eyes. "I came here for Kushina, but this is all bigger than her, sensei. Everything I've experienced…" He stepped forward, spreading his hands. "My whole life, your teachings, and especially since I got my team: it's all helped me realize that killing the Kage here isn't gonna work. It'll start a cycle of revenge that'll destroy everyone involved. Yui…" He gestured back to wherever she was hidden. "Naruto told Kushina about her, and she told me. She was one of your victims back in the Third War, and because of that she hunted Naruto when he was with Rain. If you go through with this, it doesn't matter how many people you kill. In fact, it will just get worse the harder you work to prevent it. You'll create a hundred, a thousand, a million people just like her, who hate your family's guts because of what you did. Naruto and Kushina will never be able to live in peace. And that's not even accounting for the village!"
Minato's expression didn't change, so Obito kept talking. "Nothing about this works, and I don't mean what you're trying to do!" he said, unable to keep some passion out of his voice. "The Shinobi System doesn't work, not at what it's meant to do: just look at Kakashi!"
That got through: Minato twitched. "The Villages create too many perverse incentives to spread misery and kill because otherwise they'll go broke; Ninjutsu itself is a poison that we're all full of from the moment we're born! It can't be rolled back, and it can't be escaped, so it has to be managed, but creating more and more ninja is just a recipe for endless disasters, because it only takes one to decide to kill the rest for everything to collapse! This whole Summit summed everything up!"
Onoki and Kurotsuchi reacted to that as well; Onoki lowered his hand, the cube vanishing, and Kurotsuchi looked between her grandfather and Obito, clearly having no idea how to proceed. Minato stayed stuck where he was.
"Everyone," Obito said, pouring as much of himself into the words as he could, "just needs to sit the fuck down and listen. There's only two things that'll keep the Fourth War from continuing and grinding another couple countries into a bloody ruin: you can kill everyone that looks at you or your family funny, sensei, forever, or we can make this an actual Summit." He looked over to the Tsuchikage, spreading his arms wide. "All the Kage are still here, even some of the minor villages! We can stop here: we can sit down, and we can talk this out! We can all make a future we agree to, together!"
Onoki laughed, and Minato chuckled and shook his head. Obito blew out a frustrated breath.
"I don't want you to burden yourself with the first choice, sensei," he said. "And…" He massaged his forehead. "We've all done horrible things to one another. But nothing's happened here, or even before, that can't be taken back." He gestured over at Kurotsuchi. "The Hidden Stone killed my best… basically my only friend that wasn't family. But no one here is a monster: we're rational people. We're just separated by ideologies, nationalism, fear: those are little things! We all speak the same language, and we all want the same thing!"
Kurotsuchi looked shocked, while both the Kage remained basically unreadable.
Obito grabbed his sensei's shoulder, trying everything he could to make him see sense. "We've all nearly drowned in a river of blood," he said, the words coming from somewhere he'd never seen but knew well nonetheless. "But that doesn't mean we're doomed to struggle in it forever. We can swim to shore! It's not too late to bring everyone together, and create something new!"
Minato gingerly took Obito's hand, and pushed it away.
"That's a wonderful thing to say, Obito," he said, and Obito bit back a curse. "I can see you've been talking to Jiraiya a lot, and that's admirable. But Obito…" He smiled sadly. "Sensei was wrong, and so are you. People aren't rational. They won't pick what's best for them. If we try to make an agreement today, someone will eventually shatter it."
"That's fine," Obito insisted, the fire of ambition filling him up. Minato cocked an eyebrow.
"That's fine?"
"It doesn't have to be everyone," Obito qualified. "Just the Kage, and the Daimyo too." He grinned back at Minato, feeling the tension start to fill the air again. The Hokage was about to move, and when he did, the Tsuchikage would too. The final stretch of the battle was about to begin.
"And if they can't see the opportunity right in front of them, right now, like you can't-" Obito said, preparing to punch his teacher in the face.
"-then I'll teach them how."
Minato moved, Obito did indeed punch him in the face, and everything exploded again.
But as it did, Obito felt a terrible pain in his heart.
Chapter 102: Deepest Shadows
Ser_Serendipity
Building Character
Sacrifices
When she reached the top of the Fortress, Sakura was surprised at how simple the Cannon was to use. An electronic system that operated a set of cranks which aimed it; a series of switches that controlled the coordinates it would fire on; a dinky little CRT screen that confirmed the various factors necessary for the firing (such as elevation); and a large, unpainted button beside a safety lever. Idiot proof, or at least as close as you could get with a weapon of mass destruction.
'That's because it was operated by idiots.'
She chuckled to herself as she got to work, carefully calibrating the biggest gun in the world. Nagato's arrogance had ensured it was already charged. She didn't pay a single thought to the ongoing battle in the mountains. It was all a stupid waste of time: the real power to change the world was right here, not out there.
With a bit of trial and error, she aimed the Cannon, confirming its coordinates: itself. It didn't have a safety feature to prevent it from firing on its own position, to keep the payload from exploding the second it left the barrel. Why would it? It had been designed to destroy distant and helpless targets, not the important ones. As she worked, time passed without meaning or rhythm; she was alone in the universe but for the Cannon humming under her hands. A final pull of a lever and a flick of a switch, and it started to charge with a teeth-buzzing hum. It would take a couple minutes to finish, and then she'd be good to go.
'Alone, but not anymore.'
Sakura turned around, alerted by her instincts, and found Sasuke and Hinata behind her.
"Oh, hey!" she said, glad they were there. If they were all gathered in the same place, it would be easier for Obito to come and save them all at once. "Sasuke, Hinata! You're both alright!"
They shifted, sharing a glance, and Sakura's smile faded. Something was off: they were hesitating, fearful. Could they be rogue ninja in disguise? She hadn't sensed a Henge or anything like that, but the best ninja in the world were all gathered at the Summit.
"We're fine, Sakura. You're okay?" Hinata said, stepping forward while Sasuke stayed quiet. Sakura's suspicion grew.
'They're in disguise, or worse. You have to be careful.'
"I'm okay," she said, gesturing back at the Cannon. "I've got it all set up, so I'm really glad you guys are here. Hinata, where's Naruto?"
Hinata activated her Byakugan, and Sakura let out a breath. After killing Rasa, everything had seemed fine, but so close to the end, she couldn't shake a sense of overwhelming paranoia. If Hinata had a Byakugan, it was the real her. Everything was fine.
"He's coming, actually," Hinata said, keeping her Byakugan active. "Something is happening though. The Hokage and Obito-sensei are… fighting?"
"Oh, that's weird," Sakura said, the words passing over her without leaving an impression. "Well, I'm sure they'll work it out. What happened to Nagato?"
"I'm not sure," Hinata admitted. "But he must have been dealt with-"
"Sakura," Sasuke cut in. He looked cruel, his eyes full of fanatical energy. "Let us look at your shadow."
'What?!'
"What?" Sakura asked, a chill running down her spine. Her shadow: the only thing Sasuke could be looking for was Black Zetsu. What had happened to Itachi? "Why?"
"Black Zetsu wasn't in Itachi's shadow," Sasuke said, stalking forward. Hinata followed after him, more hesitantly, looking apologetic. "I think it left. I think it's in yours."
'That's ridiculous. They think so little of you? That you wouldn't notice? Does the shadow even exist? From the start, he's only had guesswork, looking for an excuse not to blame his brother.'
"Sasuke, that's ridiculous," Sakura said, trying to hold back the burning anger that was inexplicably spreading through her chest. Suspect her? After all she'd done? They wouldn't even be here if it weren't for her. Attacking the Summit had been her idea, and now Sasuke was here with such accusation in his eyes? "I would have noticed. I haven't had anything like what Itachi told you. There's no 'other me.'"
"Itachi didn't notice at first either," Sasuke said, pacing to the side. Hinata did the same: they were surrounding her. Sakura forced herself to stay calm. His Sharingan spiralled out, and then the Mangekyo pattern. He was looking at her like she was an enemy. "Just stay still, Sakura. We're just going to examine your shadow. We won't touch you."
"What did I do?" Sakura demanded. "What did I do that would make you compare me to Itachi?!" She looked back and forth between the two of them, her anger starting to carry her away.
"Sakura, that's not what-" Hinata started to say.
"Shut up, Hinata," Sakura said, both surprised and gratified at her viciousness. Hinata's eyes went wide. "You're just a hanger-on: you've always been. You're not the one who came up here; you were just following Sasuke like usual, right?" She laughed, turning back to Sasuke. "So, what? What the hell makes you think you can accuse me of something like that, Sasuke?!"
"It's just a guess," Sasuke admitted, looking angry. What, just because she'd spoken the truth about Hinata? "You were there when Itachi told me about the Shadow. If it left, it was probably soon after that. And you and Itachi shared a goal."
"Shared a goal?" Sakura demanded, and Sasuke nodded.
"You both wanted to collect the Bijuu. You mentioned it to the Amekage, and I told Itachi that," he said, clearly trying to stay calm. Sakura felt the same struggle; being doubted after coming this far made her angrier than she could have believed. "So I think the Shadow went to you. Sakura, since that day, you've been…"
"Did you have to kill Suigetsu?" she asked, and Sasuke went still. "You don't understand me, Sasuke. You never have. You've always had a clan, and a bloodline; you've been coddled from the day you could walk." She sneered. "But my parents barely cared about me; everything I have, I got it myself. I had to kill Haku. I cut his hands off so Tenten could cut him almost in half." She drew a line down her chest, from collarbone to hip. "Like this. If you think I've been acting strange, maybe you should think about that instead of some shadow your mass-murdering psycho of a brother probably made up so you'd forgive him."
Sasuke's mouth opened and closed: he was too stunned to speak, standing there and flopping on his feet like a fish that had never tasted air.
"Sakura, please," Hinata said, trying again. "We just want to examine it-"
"No!" Sakura declared, her chakra roaring around her. The Cannon shook, and Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "I'm not going to let either of you doubt me! Not today, and not ever again! I've got this all figured out! I'm going to use the Cannon to solve all of this-!"
She turned back towards the Cannon to explain how she could use it to fix everything, and her instincts screamed at her; Sasuke and Hinata had both leapt forward, trying to tackle her to the ground.
Sakura's mind ground to a halt.
Betrayed? Betrayed right at the finish line? Betrayed like Yahiko had betrayed Konan and Nagato, like Ino had attacked her from behind? The farther she'd gone, the more people had turned on her. Haku and Rain, Ino, her parents, and now one of her own team?
'What would you do if Naruto betrayed you?'
Konan had known; she'd somehow known that this was exactly what would happen. But this was Sasuke and Hinata, not Naruto. She'd been spared that, at least. And Naruto was everything to her, and she was everything to Naruto. If he'd gotten here, he could have talked some sense into Sasuke. They should have waited for him.
But instead, they'd acted.
Sakura spun, her body on autopilot, and struck out. As she did, she realized her instincts had been slightly off. Hinata and Sasuke had moved forward, but it wasn't a rush: there was still a couple feet between her and them. Hinata had raised one hand, the faint face of a lion forming around it as Sasuke moved in from the other side. They were attacking, but it was a slower, more cautious advance than the lighting-fast ambush her shinobi senses had warned her was coming.
That didn't stop her from lashing out with a Flowing Hail Blade formed between her hands and cutting Hinata's four-fingered hand off.
The hand fell to the roof with a soft plop, and Sakura, Hinata, and Sasuke all stared at it, speechless.
Hinata let out a whimper of pain. Sakura would have preferred she scream.
When Sasuke attacked, he didn't make a sound; he just charged with a murderous expression.
His chakra was what screamed; he came at her intending to kill her.
'He's been overcome with his delusions. He'll blame anyone to spare his brother, even you.'
Sakura remembered the feeling she'd had over a year ago, when Sasuke and Naruto had caught her before she'd left for Rain. How her hand had fallen to the sword Tenten had given her, the sword Gaara had stolen from her, how she'd wanted to lash out at them, cut down her own teammates for trying to interfere. Then, she'd relaxed.
Today, she embraced it.
Sakura fell back, lashing out at Sasuke thrice as Hinata collapsed, bleeding and clutching her truncated arm. Blood ran from Sasuke's eyes, and he dodged every attack without issue, preparing a Grand Fireball as Sakura landed and found her footing.
Right, he could see the future. Very dangerous. He knew everything about how she fought, but the same went for her and him. Sakura lashed out again, manifesting a second blade, and Sasuke dodged through the storm of strikes, his Sharingan keeping him an inch ahead.
"Sakura!" he roared. "This isn't you!" He blew out the Fireball, covering the roof in flames as Hinata ran past him towards safety. Her severed hand was clutched to her chest.
"You asshole!" Sakura roared back, cutting the Fireball into so many pieces that it exploded in a wash of steam. There was a lot of steam: much of the snow around the Fortress had evaporated, though she didn't know how. "I can't even fight you on my own?! Everything I do has to be something else's fault?!" She intensified the speed of her attacks, carving the rooftop to pieces as Sasuke barely stayed ahead. "You've always been like this! Looking down on me, thinking I'm weak, that I need help! I don't need help, Sasuke! It's just like I told you before I left for Rain! That was my mission, but you still butted in! That's how pathetic you thought I was! I don't need help to beat you!"
More blood. Sasuke was really using everything to stay one step ahead of her, burning his eyes in a desperate attempt to show her up. Sakura laughed, the familiar feeling of being unstoppable rushing through her, and dropped one water blade, letting it vanish in a wash of chakra. She brought her hand to her core and began circulating chakra, forming a Rasengan. Seeing the future, Sasuke's hands began flickering with fire; he threw out a laser of flame, and Sakura caught it on the Rasengan with a grin.
"Suiton!" she laughed. "Uzushio Rasenzan!"
The Whirlpool Spiral Cutter exploded out, piercing right through Sasuke's jutsu faster than even he could see. He must have seen the future, Sakura thought, but his reaction time was still too slow. The burst of hypersonic water pierced right through his hand and whipped down through his leg. It cut off a slice of his thigh and sent him spinning to the ground with a cry of pain, bleeding everywhere.
Sasuke flipped over, preparing to fling himself back into the fight, and found Sakura's water blade leveled at his face, the edge revving loudly. He froze, and Sakura felt herself vibrate from her anger.
"See?" she hissed. "I beat Gaara, I beat Haku, I beat the fucking Kazekage, and you think I'm weak enough that you can just sneak up behind me? And for what? Some shadow? There is no shadow, Sasuke! It was just your brother! A worthless piece of shit the whole time! You and Obito have been chasing nothing!"
Sasuke trembled, fear and rage and despair flashing across his face. "Sakura," he begged, so pathetic that Sakura couldn't believe it. "Please, you have to believe me."
"Why?!" she demanded, not pulling the blade back. "Even if it were true, what difference would it make?!"
"Sakura?"
Sakura smiled at the quiet, familiar voice, turning towards the edge of the roof. She found Naruto standing there, miraculously unhurt and whole. His beautiful blue eyes were locked on her.
"Naruto," she said gratefully. "You got here right on time. Sasuke and Hinata are hurt."
"What…?" Naruto staggered forward, and Sakura's smile faded. Why was he looking at her like that?
"Sakura, what did you do?" he asked, sounding heartbroken.
"Naruto," Sasuke wheezed. "It's the-"
"Shut up, Sasuke!" Sakura revved her sword again, trying to wrap her head around the situation. She'd gotten so angry, but seeing Naruto looking at her like that made her want to throw up. What had happened? Had her anger ever led her wrong before?
'Calm down. Get to the Cannon. It's almost finished.'
That's right: the whine of the charging Cannon was evening out. Sakura backed towards it, her breath speeding up as Naruto approached. He looked between her, Sasuke, and Hinata, obviously completely unable to understand the situation.
"Seriously," he asked again. "What happened?"
"They attacked me," Sakura said. "They tried to jump me from behind-"
Naruto blinked. "Why?"
"They think Itachi's shadow is in mine," Sakura said, scoffing.
"Okay…" Naruto said slowly. Of course, he understood how ridiculous that was. Sakura relaxed. "Is it okay if I fix them up?"
"Of course!" she said brightly, relief coursing through her. "I'll finish up the Cannon while you do!"
"You're gonna fire it?" Naruto asked. "Already?"
"Yeah! I've got it all figured out!" Sakura said. Naruto had been the first one she'd gone to, the one who'd made this all possible. He'd get it.
'What if he doesn't?"
He would!
"Everyone important is here," she explained. Naruto bent over Sasuke, stopping his bleeding, and moved onto Hinata as she continued. "All the Kage, some of the minor villages, everyone. The Cannon itself can't be kept safe: I know that was the initial plan, but we proved that wouldn't work. Someone is always gonna be willing to risk everything to try and steal it. So we just need to kill everyone."
"Everyone?" Naruto said quietly. Sakura was so glad he wasn't surprised; maybe he'd already come to the same conclusion.
"Well, everyone except us. Obito can pull us out before the Cannon fires, and Nagato will probably be fine with the Rinnegan," Sakura explained. "But all the Kage will die, and a lot of the Jinchuriki! So it'll just be us, Obito, Fuu, and your mom and dad left. Then we can grab the Rinnegan, and even without the Cannon no one will be able to mess with us. I mean, the village's will be decapitated, they'll probably turn on each other. Shinobi are made for war, you know? So we'll be as safe as can be. It's not like anyone will know it was us!"
Naruto stayed quiet, finishing up Hinata and turning back to her. Sakura was glad about that too: she couldn't believe she'd cut off Hinata's hand, but there hadn't been any other choice at the time. Naruto would probably be able to reattach her hand, since he was such an amazing medic. There wasn't any permanent damage done. And anyway, the Yakushi Shiki would have gone off if Hinata had bled out. She wouldn't have died. It had been fine.
'Activate it.'
Not quite yet: she had to make sure Naruto was on board first.
'Activate it!'
"Sakura," Naruto asked, stepping towards her. She cocked her head curiously, the Cannon whining behind her. "Would you really do that?"
"Of course I'd do it," she said, not sure if it was a rhetorical question. "I mean, wouldn't you, Naruto? All these people have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that they don't deserve to live. You must know that things can end peacefully here, right? We've got to kill everyone that could threaten us, and with the Cannon it would be easy. I mean, with the Rinnegan and the rest of the villages out of the way, we'll basically be the gods Nagato wished he was. We could go where we want and do whatever we want. There'd be nothing and no one to hold us back. Doesn't that sound amazing?"
Naruto swallowed, and Sakura continued, the words spilling out of her. She barely recognized the sound of her own voice.
"Everyone is so caught up about killing. Like it matters! But I killed Haku, and it was fine. Ending someone's life isn't a big deal, no matter how much people cry about it. It's easy! And most people don't even care! I mean, how many people have we killed, in Waterfall, in Konoha, in the Land of Frost? How many of those people do we really give a second thought, even though we didn't know their names? Gaara was an asshole, but he was right about how simple it was. When we do this, make it obvious what we want, how powerful the people who are on our side are, even if people find out, they'll just accept it! The same way they accepted wars before, the Shinobi System before, slavery, genocide, empires, all the things in history that everyone rails against but let happen anyway or can't stop in the first place: it'll just be the new status quo!"
She stepped forward, away from the Cannon, despite feeling a twinge of pain run the length of her body at separating herself from the weapon. "Isn't that wonderful? We'd basically rule the world. Don't you wanna rule the world with me, Naruto?"
Naruto paused, started to speak.
'Activate it!'
"Sakura," he said, looking like he was going to start crying. Sakura couldn't believe it: she'd never imagined Naruto looking so weak. "I don't think I want that."
"What?" she stepped back towards the Cannon, her heart burning and hammering in her chest. Things were making less and less sense; moments were becoming disconnected. The world seemed to progress in fits and starts from second to second. "What do you mean?"
"I mean I don't want that. My dad's trying to do the same thing right now, and I don't agree with him either. I don't want you to be the kind of person that could kill that many people. That's not…" Naruto swallowed. "That's not the kind of girl I fell in love with."
Sakura's heart stopped, but her head started pounding. The urge to fire the Cannon was overwhelming; nothing else in the world besides her, Naruto, and the Cannon existed.
At least, until Karin crested the top of the Fortress, looking panicked and waving golden chakra chains around her. She looked around, a faint "What?" escaping her lips.
Sakura's head snapped towards her, and then back towards Naruto. Her hand settled on the safety lever. Karin advanced, but Sakura ignored her. She didn't matter: she was barely real.
"Take that back," Sakura demanded, feeling empty. Naruto shook his head, and Karin drew closer. "Take that back right now, or I'll fire it without telling Obito first."
"Sakura, think about what you're doing," Naruto begged, stepping closer. Sakura's hand tightened around the lever, her chakra gathering in her free hand, sheathing it in liquid. "We came here to save people; the Cannon was just a means to an end, a threat: we weren't actually going to kill everyone." He licked his lips. "Doesn't this sound… a little like what happened with Itachi?"
The Flowing Hail Blade came out, but Naruto didn't move to defend himself. He just took another step forward, his hands up, helpless, pleading.
"Why don't you believe in me?" Sakura begged. "Why does everything I accomplish have to be someone else's fault?!" The world was going red, the sound of her raging heart drowning out everything else.
"Sakura, that's not-!" Naruto said, and Sakura struck out.
She struck out, fully intending to strike Naruto, collar to hip, just like Haku had been, but Karin's chains were unbelievably fast: they burst out, tangled into Sakura's hail blade, and trapped it in place a foot from Naruto.
So Sakura lashed out with her other hand, manipulating the water blade as only she could through another tangle of Karin's chains, and cut the Uzumaki open from belly to chin.
She went down with an agonized scream, and Naruto let out a shout of disbelief. Sakura spun, ready to attack him again, and froze. Sasuke and Hinata were moving as well: the rooftop was converging on her. She should have lashed out and cut them all down, coated the Fortress in their blood and turned back to the Cannon. That was all there was left to do.
But instead, she froze. Time froze. Everything ground to a stop.
What had she just done?
Had she really just tried to kill Naruto?
…
…
…
She had. It was just like the Land of Frost: the attack on Kushiro, the room full of civilians. Her body had moved on its own.
She hadn't even hesitated. She'd been ready to kill him in a single blow.
'Focus! You're so close!'
Sakura did focus. But she didn't focus on the situation. Not on Naruto, Sasuke, or Hinata as they pushed through clear amber towards her, terror plain on their faces. How could she ever have made them look like that? How could she ever be forgiven for doing that?
Instead, she focused on the voice in her head.
It had always been there, for as long as she could remember. A little her that had been braver, more ambitious, sometimes crueler. It had quieted in Rain, no longer needed, and come back with force after the attack on Amegakure.
But it had been different after that. Sakura had understood that, because she had been different after Amegakure. It made sense. Now, she questioned everything she'd ever heard, ever thought, ever done, her friends bleeding bodies forcing her into the past.
'You're running away from your responsibilities. It's your fault Haku is dead, and if you don't do what needs to be done so many more deaths will burden you. Are you that weak, that people need to console you like this? Hurt him like he's hurt you. She just couldn't endure what you could. They think so little of you? So close to the end, so close, so close-'
'Activate it!'
Oh no, Sakura thought with frightening clarity as the world started moving again.
Sasuke had been right.
Just as fast as her thoughts, her shadow sprang to life.
It wrapped around arms and legs, encasing her in ethereal chakra that was harder than steel. Her body began to move on its own: she pulled the safety lever for the Cannon, and a k'chunk sound broke the stasis on everything.
"Sakura!" Naruto screamed, rushing forward. She reached back towards the Cannon, her fingers brushing the firing button. One centimeter from oblivion, a blink of an eye from all-encompassing destruction. Her other arm lashed out on its own accord, her Flowing Water Blade shattering the sound barrier. Once more, the jutsu she'd invented was set to kill Naruto where he stood.
NO!
"Naruto…" she tried to say. Her body was paralyzed, but Sakura moved nonetheless.
She was a prisoner, enslaved inside herself. It was like a Yamanaka's mind-stealing jutsu, but a million times worse. The Shadow needed her body; that's why it was controlling her, why it had gone to such lengths to get her here.
But she'd been here before. She had a single moment of defiance.
Just one jerk of her arm.
Just one heartbeat.
Just one way out.
The Shadow surrounding her writhed, and she felt its fear.
Sakura took control of the attack, and threw it away from Naruto.
"I…" she managed, but that was it.
Sakura sent the Ryusuiken straight through her own heart.
Namer
ᵘʷᵘ
- Location
- Maryland
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Holy shit you actually made it even more chaotic after Nagato and the Bijuu were all taken out of action.
Also I'm awful for thinking this but
Also I'm awful for thinking this but
Ultra Sonic 007
Trying to keep things simple~
- Location
- Colorado
Okay Jashin
You've been hanging out in Sakura for who knows how long
She just pierced her heart
Now is the time
/also
//holy crap this is so freaking intense
You've been hanging out in Sakura for who knows how long
She just pierced her heart
Now is the time
/also
//holy crap this is so freaking intense
- Location
- US
Burning the future for the present is a bit of a theme in this chapter. We have Naruto being forced to take years off of Mikoto's life, we have Rin preparing to heal Nagato to stay alive, and most clearly, Minato and Sakura giving in to the cycle of violence for a victory here and now.
And like, I can see it. They've been trapped in this cycle for so long that they don't even believe it's possible to escape. Sakura is plainly off her rocker, but Minato has simply thrown away all considerations for 20 years in the future.
Cause I 100% believe that if Minato kills every Kage right here right now, Konoha can just coast for the next 10 years. If he's active, acts like a tyrant and kills every rising power, maybe 20. But he's already, what, late 30s, earlier 40s? What happens when he's not as fast anymore? What happens when he dies?
Right now, his answer is "not my fucking problem" because he's been tested this entire story and his final conclusion is, "I'd burn the world down for the people I love".
Just a damn shame that the people he loves don't want to burn the world down.
And like, I can see it. They've been trapped in this cycle for so long that they don't even believe it's possible to escape. Sakura is plainly off her rocker, but Minato has simply thrown away all considerations for 20 years in the future.
Cause I 100% believe that if Minato kills every Kage right here right now, Konoha can just coast for the next 10 years. If he's active, acts like a tyrant and kills every rising power, maybe 20. But he's already, what, late 30s, earlier 40s? What happens when he's not as fast anymore? What happens when he dies?
Right now, his answer is "not my fucking problem" because he's been tested this entire story and his final conclusion is, "I'd burn the world down for the people I love".
Just a damn shame that the people he loves don't want to burn the world down.
Evil Minato is so fucking cool.
I like how Black Zetsu is basically just even more toxic Inner Sakura. It makes sense that this ageless, evil thing would know how to manipulate basically anyone, but slipping right in as Sakura's inner voice and slowly ramping up the gaslighting and madness is really ace.
The scene every NaruSaku shipper wishes happened. /s
Very, very interesting inversion of the trope. Poor Sasuke, this just isn't his day. Something tells me his mother will be an eye donor before the end of it, too.
Evil Sakura, on the other hand, is slightly less cool.
I'm sort of surprised Black Zetsu would be willing to kill off almost all of the Jinchuuriki, but I guess time doesn't really matter to him, he can just try again, especially when he's already so close. Then again this also appeals to Sakura's sense of rationality, if you could still call it that.
The scene every SasuSaku shipper was waiting to happen during Naruto Gaiden. /s
Man, if Black Zetsu had a nickel for every time someone did that to escape his influence...
Fantastic chapters, even though it's still so frenetic and action-packed, it feels like things are winding down. Poor Sakura, she never could find moderation.
Ser_Serendipity
Building Character
Coming Friday, even I couldn't live with this cliffhanger. I ended up with this double update because I originally intended for all of this to be one chapter, but the pacing just didn't quite work out.
Sakura responded to her first confession with murder, to her second with "Fuck off and die," and to her third with "Take that back or I swear I'll kill us both." I'm honestly not sure if that's an improvement or not!
95 chapters in the making: we'll finally get to see why that cut saved Sakura's life.
But for those who remember, there is a dramatic tension about whether that's a good thing or not.
Insightful enough that I don't have much of anything to add tbh, you nailed it.
As awful as it is I think it's my favorite trick in the fic, ngl. I put a lot of work into Sakura's inner monologue and Zetsu's corruption of it, and I think it 100% paid off.
We'll have more details on Black Zetsu's plan soon: it's not quite as simple as resetting the board.
Thanks for the comments everyone. So close to the end now, and so very tired, but I'll do my best to finish strong.
If Nagato wanted to destroy the cannon after the summit, why the hell did he charge it? Without access to the biju no one would have been able to use it anyway, at least not quickly.
If I was Nagato, I would ask all the kage to use their best techniques on the cannon to absolutely obliterate it. That way they are all complicit and can't complain about it being gone or doubt that it was destroyed or whatever. I definitely wouldn't charge it so it's ready to fire. Did he even have a target? Also, what is it with Rinnegan users and leaving weapons of mass destruction lying around?
If I was Nagato, I would ask all the kage to use their best techniques on the cannon to absolutely obliterate it. That way they are all complicit and can't complain about it being gone or doubt that it was destroyed or whatever. I definitely wouldn't charge it so it's ready to fire. Did he even have a target? Also, what is it with Rinnegan users and leaving weapons of mass destruction lying around?
Walker Of Chaos
Best/Worst Dynasty
- Location
- Sweden
well then this was certainly an impactful pair of chapters. I'd been kinda hoping for a more extended fight between Team 7 before Sakura got overtly possessed but that would risk becoming bloat. Still excellent as always and I loved the sheer scale of power conveyed by the Obito Minato fight. After Nagato getting to showoff for so long it was a good reminder that Minato has some good reasons to think he can solo the world.
I'n assuming Nagato is somehow involved. I'm assuming Sakura's talk about grabbing the Rinnegan is coming from him, either finding some way to take over a drasticly weakened Nagato or outright stealing the eyes in order to access the statue.
Solarshade
Friendly Local Dyson Swarm
Remember that the enforcement mechanism for the conference was supposed to be that if anyone violated the truce Nagato was to use the cannon to obliterate their village. It just turned out that despite saying it he couldn't bring himself to go through with it.
Ser_Serendipity
Building Character
Precisely. As Konan noted back in chapter 91:
Nagato would have fired the Cannon on anyone who interfered, and kept it loaded so he could make good on that threat. Ironically, if it weren't for Yahiko invading as well, Konoha probably would have been destroyed, assuming Obito didn't destroy the Cannon himself right before it was fired.
(also lmao, Naruto got to answer that question real quick)
I was hoping for a more extended fight too tbh, but I wanted to keep things as zippy as possible. Plus, Sakura making this huge betrayal and then immediately turning her sword on herself felt truer to her than allowing her to continue deluding herself that what she was doing was acceptable. Otherwise, I think she'd be too similar to Itachi in her capacity for self-justification.
Chapter 103: Death
Ser_Serendipity
Building Character
Finds Peace
Team Seven You'll pass and they'll fail You know Sakura, you really remind me of myself sometimes back when I was a genin You're all going to drown in a river of blood His hand was warm Just go That's the stuff you said you liked She didn't have clarity now Did you think we weren't friends She'd always been prepared to fail I'm probably meant to kill you, right Kabuto Yakushi Suigetsu Hozuki Haku Yuki Haku Yuki Haku Yuki Haku Yuki
Killing someone is a terrible crime terrible crime TERRIBLE CRIME
The only service shinobi can offer is violence Maybe you could look at all this and come up with a better answer than me SAKURA HARUNO - - - GAARA OF THE DESERT If I'm going to be a ninja I want to be the best I gotta get stronger Tomorrow I'll go longer A ninja can't murder or be murdered If you step foot in the arena with Gaara he will kill you All this training has been nothing Holy shit, Sakura I'm definitely going to fight By mutual knockout, the match is a tie You picked up a sword, Sakura, you know what that means Kick his fucking ass, Sakura You're the only one worth killing around here You might have taken it too far Honey, we're worried Just write on that paper Where one of you goes all of you will She's hunting a real beast I'm really glad I met you guys
Rain wouldn't do that
The problem is that once one person is practicing Ninjutsu everyone around them only has two choices
Take up Ninjutsu themselves
or have their life held at the whim of those who have
I have a mission for you, Sakura Tales of a Gutsy Shinobi I really like it, Ino What the hell kind of friends would we be if we let you do this alone You'll be a traitor to both Leaf and Rain It's not that easy to redefine yourself But if you're loyal to ideals and reality doesn't meet them, where will you go I guess it's kinda like Rain Are you guys happy? You can't run off and leave us all behind I wonder why they changed We were all chasing after you ARCHER A failure to the end Gaara's coming You can't run today Sakura Haruno Today you're going to die I hope you know this is all your fault
The next time her hands were left empty they needed to be ready to cut someone down with all the violence of a sword
He's so damn cool Towards peace This is my best try You've got something that other people don't, Sakura
She missed.
She missed.
You okay Take them Don't forget who you are, where you came from Let's go home None of my clothes fit anymore
Haku…
Sakura, please… you need to come back to Rain
Haku…
Before it's too late
Haku…
I can't forgive you for that
Haku…
That's not what I meant to do!
Haku…
If I had the ultimate weapon
Haku…
I wouldn't have let this happen
Mom… This is just for me But even if you do convince Rain to sue for peace once and for all, everyone here is going to remember what they did Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke What're you doing here Sakura, you're not a murderer You never will be They're going to fire the Cannon The largest mass grave in history Ninja shouldn't exist And then, it will be us dictating terms Just Us Next time, I'll actually hurt you It ends today A shinobi can't be murdered I'm almost there I need to finish this That's not that's not that's not that's not the kind of girl I fell in love with it's not it's not it's not IT'S
NOT
NOT ME
IT'S
THE SHADOW
###
Sakura woke up to an unfamiliar sky.
She sat up, expecting pain. She'd stabbed herself in the heart, after all, which was probably supposed to be incredibly painful. But there was nothing more than a vague ache in her chest.
Oh, Sakura thought dimly to herself. Right. She was probably dead. Dead people couldn't feel pain. Hopefully, anyway.
She looked around, wondering if she was in hell. It was dark and warm, and a fire flickered nearby. Curious and seeing nothing better to do, Sakura rose to her feet, astonished by how solid and real her body felt.
There was a scattering of stones surrounding the fire, and Sakura sat down on one of them, staring into the flames and wondering where she was. Was this a dying dream, some kind of pointless hallucination? It was pleasant but lonely, and she closed her eyes, finding herself basking in the warmth of the flames. The Land of Iron had been cold; dying had been cold. But the fire was warm and friendly, almost to the point she wanted to fall into it and burn away.
"Do you mind if I sit?"
Sakura opened her eyes, looking back over her shoulder. Her throat closed up; her eyes stung.
She nodded.
Haku sat down on the stone next to her, shifting his haori as it bunched around his shoulders. He didn't speak again, just staring into the fire as well.
They stayed like that for a while, Sakura listening to the familiar sound of his breathing while she fought to control her own. That just wasn't fair. If she was dead, shouldn't she be beyond stupid things like breathing?
"Are you…" she eventually managed to whisper, before her voice cut off. Haku turned, patiently watching her as Sakura struggled to control her words. Eventually, she breathed out, calming herself enough to speak again. "Are you mad at me?"
"No," Haku said, not instantly but not hesitating either. Sakura lowered her head, looking back towards the flames.
"Maybe you should be," she whispered, and Haku chuckled.
"I knew I could die from the start," he said. "I accepted that outcome. It's not your fault we were put into a position where there was no good decision."
"I don't think you were." Sakura couldn't stop herself, and moreover didn't see any reason to. "I think if you had listened to me instead of Yahiko, it would have turned out okay."
"Maybe," Haku acknowledged. "Maybe. But I wasn't brave enough to make that decision." He shifted towards her, and Sakura turned back to him as well, marveling at his beautiful brown eyes, his friendly, loving face. The ugly black rods that had pierced his body were gone, leaving him unblemished. "I didn't know how to, just like you didn't know how to stop moving forward."
Sakura shuddered, feeling her face twist up. "I'm really sorry," she said, on the verge of choking on her tears. "I didn't mean to kill you. I really didn't. It was an accident."
"I figured," Haku said with the same gentle smile. "I was surprised, but it was pretty impressive. Though I could see when it happened that there was something strange about you. Your shadow came to life: it pulled out all my senbon. I had no idea you could do that."
"I couldn't," Sakura says. "It wasn't me. It was…" She searched for the right words, giving up: no matter what, Haku would understand her. It had always been like that. "It's called Black Zetsu; some old shadow, no, a Shadow, that attached itself to me. Some kind of demon, like the Bijuu. But that doesn't really matter anymore."
"Oh?" Haku asked, leaning forward. "What do you mean?"
"Well, it's not my problem now," Sakura said, managing to laugh and shrug. "It took control of my body, so I killed myself. I'm dead, so it can't use me anymore. Naruto and Sasuke and Hinata and Obito-sensei will kill it. They already had a plan too. And if they fail…" She looked around the endless, lightless space. "I guess I'll see them here?"
"Oh…" Haku said, his smile fading. He shifted over, and Sakura made room for him on the stone. Haku settled in next to her, and put his arm around her, squeezing her shoulder. It felt like the most natural thing in the world. Sakura tried to lean into him, but Haku stopped her. She turned her head towards him curiously.
"Sakura, it's important you understand this," he said with a serious look. "You're not quite dead."
"Huh?" There was no way she could have thought up a more considerate question.
"This isn't the afterlife," Haku said in the same educational tone he'd used when explaining so many other, ordinary things to her. "It's a border space: a land between life and death. I've been waiting for you here."
"Wait, all this time?" Sakura asked, and Haku laughed. "And what do you mean, I'm not dead?! I stabbed myself in the heart!"
"What's a month when infinity is on the other side?" Haku said, and Sakura was forced to concede that point. "And as for you not dying, I'm not sure. I just know it. I couldn't tell you how." His smile appeared for a moment, and then faded again. "Which may mean that if it was controlling your body, you'll have to face the Shadow nonetheless."
"If it still has my body, everyone's still in danger!" Sakura said, struggling away and standing up: Haku followed her. "The Cannon could still be fired! How do I get back?!"
"You'll find your way," Haku said with a shrug. "You'll need help to do so, but I believe in you, Sakura. That's why I was waiting, so I could tell you this." He stepped closer, and despite her panic Sakura found herself unable to turn away. "I'm glad you're not dead."
He took her hands in his. "It's selfish of me, but I wish we'd known each other for longer. I'm happy with the time we did have together. Even if things seem hopeless now, please keep going. Don't forget what's gotten you all this way. It may have led you wrong sometimes, but it's still what makes you a great person."
He bent forward, and Sakura unconsciously did as well, a happier memory overlaying the infinite darkness and flickering fire. They were on her bed in Amegakure again, trying on her Akatsuki uniform for the first time.
Haku gently kissed her, and then pulled away. The darkness and fire returned, Sakura's lips stinging with the kiss that had never happened.
"Haku…" she said, but he shook his head, already knowing what she was going to say.
'Should I come with you?'
"I think you'll make the world a better place, Sakura," Haku said. "And I hope not to see you again for a long time."
He squeezed her hands and then let go, turning and walking into the darkness. Sakura watched him go, yearning to run after him but knowing what it would mean. The fire was life: the darkness was death. If she left this place of warmth, she would never return.
But Haku did, fearlessly striding into the abyss and disappearing forever.
Sakura's chest hurt, like she was being torn open and hollowed out. She clutched at it, baring her teeth and crying silent tears as she nearly doubled over. Behind her, the fire grew larger and hotter, a roaring pillar of flame that filled the endless black with burning light. Within moments, it was like she had the sun at her back, illuminating an unexplored twilight that stretched infinitely in every direction. Her shadow grew as well, stretched farther and farther by the fire. It danced and shook, given life by the flame, like there were a thousand different distortions of her out there in the half-dark.
It felt like she was being watched.
"You're here, aren't you?" Sakura said, speaking out into the dark. She stood up straight, hand falling away from her chest, her eyes hard.
"Show yourself."
And all of her shadows stood up to face her.
There were more than she could count, all so dark that they were nearly featureless and warped by the fire to be different shapes, sizes, and heights. But they all shared two things: her green eyes, glowing in the twilight, and a smile too wide for her face, stretching from ear to ear and suggesting long, impossibly sharp teeth.
The fire behind her guttered, nearly going out. All she could see were countless glowing green eyes in the dark.
"I've always been here," it said in her voice, the voice of a legion, and Sakura felt fear prickle across every inch of her body. She rooted herself in place, unwilling to step back as the army of shadows leered at her with her own eyes. "From the beginning, you've had that little voice pushing you forward. Giving you the courage and ambition to be the best you can be." All of the shadows' smiles spread even further, splitting their heads in half. "I am the whisper that tells you to take what's yours, Sakura."
"Why are you bothering with this now?" Sakura asked, crushing down her fear. Despite that, it refused to die. "I'm basically dead. Shouldn't you just move on?" She took a step forward, the fire behind her roaring back to life, but it only made the shadows larger, more definite. "Or are you dead too?"
"I cannot die," the Shadow laughed, and Sakura's fear swelled. "But we are bound together." The eyes narrowed, considering, appraising. "Your will is strong. Certainly stronger than anyone I've bonded with before. You have trapped me here, soldered me to your soul, at least for a moment. So there is no harm in this conversation. It is an… opportunity. For you to accept an offer."
Soldered it? Sakura blinked, remembering the panicked feeling in her last moments of latching on and refusing to let go. She'd accidentally dragged it down with her into this place on the edge of death: so long as she lived, the Shadow couldn't leave her body. It couldn't use the Cannon.
"Why me, though?" Sakura asked, desperate to know and not hiding it, and desperate to buy time to figure out what to do. "Why choose me in the first place? Was it really because of my plan for the Bijuu?"
"Yes. Your ambition," the Shadow said, always smiling. "And children are easier."
Sakura felt her gorge rise. "Easier?"
"They have a less defined sense of self." The Shadow's stare was unwavering. "But you're special, Sakura. Consider how long it took Itachi to suspect me, when you managed the same in a month. Like so many, I underestimated you. In that sense, consider my offer an apology."
"I don't think I should accept any sort of offer from you," Sakura said, feeling like she was going to throw up. Whatever this thing was, she instinctively understood that it had no connection to humanity: it was a wholly alien intelligence. It felt down to the deepest recesses of her soul as if she were speaking with pure evil, speaking with something that had never understood anything but itself. "I think you've been steering me wrong for a while now. It must have been after Rain was destroyed, like Sasuke said." She grit her teeth. "You're the one who made me-!"
Her laughter poured over her, a whole world of her own shadows deafening her with mocking cackles. The fire behind her flickered, stretching them yet farther and higher until they seemed to encircle her, wide smiles and flat, glittering green eyes everywhere she looked.
"Made me, tricked me, steered me wrong," the Shadow repeated in a simpering mimicry of her voice. "That's what humans always say. Always looking for an excuse or a scapegoat so they don't have to consider their own actions with clear eyes for even a second." The endless eyes narrowed, cruel beyond sanity. "It's been the same throughout all of history. Every shinobi all the way back to Hagoromo and Hamura, their sons, their clans and all their descendants. Even the Bijuu, infected as they were by human failings. No matter how many terrible things they did, they always looked for something to blame it on other than themselves. My father should have given me more; my clan should have been more obedient…"
The eyes gleefully drilled into her, the smile so wide the corners almost met. "Haku should have listened to me."
Sakura felt like she was drowning in darkness. The Shadow was still there, so the fire must have been as well, but she couldn't see it. The abyss covered everything. Even the unfamiliar names barely pricked her curiosity, buried as it was beneath the dark.
"But it's always only them, and it was always only you, Sakura. I can't make someone do something they don't already desire. My job is only to enhance what already exists."
"That's a lie," Sakura said, hating how feeble her voice was. "You're lying."
"You wanted independence. I gave you the strength to strike out on your own. You wanted to experience what ninja really are. I kept you safe while you did. You wanted to punish Haku for betraying you. I made your deepest wishes come true."
The Shadow grew closer, nose to nose with her, still wearing her own face: Sakura saw her own terrified features reflected in its flat green eyes, so without detail it was like they were painted on. "You're thinking I'm not human. And you're right. But I'm no demon, Sakura. I'm your savior."
"You tried to blow up the whole Summit," Sakura stammered, desperately trying to anchor herself. There was no ground or sky anymore, only the Shadow, and only one pair of eyes. It circled her, and she spun to keep up with it, filled with a primal fear of the dark that she had thought long forgotten. "You-"
"Weren't you listening? It was your plan, not mine," the Shadow simpered. "And a good plan. It was the perfect solution, the one you've been looking for since you woke up to the truth of the world. Killing all the Kage, decapitating the Villages, and…"
If it had lips or a tongue, Sakura felt the Shadow would have licked them. "Merging all the Bijuu."
"What?" Sakura struggled to keep hold of herself. She could feel the fire beyond the darkness going out. When it was gone, she would be too.
"Your sensei knew this, having achieved Eternal eyes," the Shadow said harshly, "but he fearfully concealed it from you, frightened by your strength of conviction. I tried to tell you, but you refused to listen. The nine Tailed Beasts are fragments of a greater power, the Ten-Tails: a power beyond any other, even the Cannon." Sakura felt her feet lifting off the ground, carried away by the promise of unspeakable power. "But the Cannon, through some accident of its creation, is the greater emissary for this truth. Its maker considered chakra nothing more than a weapon, but it was born as a medium for connection. I felt it in the Land of Frost through you, though you did not have the context to understand what you witnessed. Its mindless chakra can rebind the Tailed Beasts. It can reunite that which was broken."
Sakura reeled, unable to imagine something of the scale the Shadow was talking about. It continued to speak to her, its voice dropping to a soothing whisper that poured over her like hot spring water.
"With all of them here, the Cannon would bring them together into a simulacrum of their original form. The devastation in Frost was the result of the chakra lacking a guiding consciousness. But we could substitute for such a thing. Then, it would be a simple matter of retrieving the Juubi's original body, imprisoned and starved here on Earth. The greatest and most terrible power in history would be reborn."
The Shadow was right there, on both shoulders, whispering in both ears.
"And that is my offer. Let me in. Do not resist. Let me guide you, so that you could guide it. You could be a god, Sakura."
"A god?" she said faintly, visions of every mistake, every failure, every embarrassment she'd ever suffered flashing across her mind. "How do… how do you know this? What are…"
"I know because I was there, at the beginning of everything. I am the forgotten son," the Shadow said, its enticing tone suddenly filled with gravitas, and hatred, hatred like Sakura had never imagined, such hatred that it burned her and she shied away, suppressing a cry of pain. "Hagoromo, the one you know as the Sage of Six Paths. Hamura, the unseen sentinel. And me. Me. The only one that did not betray, as shinobi do, debase, as shinobi do, forget, as shinobi do."
The Shadow's hatred intensified, surrounding Sakura and searing her. "Humans aren't born with a purpose," it said. "I was. Fate has unfailingly guided me right up to this very meeting. Join me, Sakura, and you too will have a destiny. You could be more than a cosmic mistake."
'Everyone ends up where they are because of who's around them, not because they're born with a purpose or something. Have you been worried about that this whole time?'
Sakura blinked, hearing Tenten from across an impossible gulf of space and time. The Shadow didn't seem to notice, but a voice that wasn't hers had pulled her from the abyss at the last second. The burning pain of the Shadow's hatred receded; she felt a measure of coherence return.
"You could be reborn in the image of our creator, our beloved Mother. With that power, you could do whatever you desired. Life and death would be as clay to you. You could resurrect anyone you desired; create or erase memories; bend space and time; enforce your will without check or equal. You could create a world of your own perfection, populated only with those you desired. Even your sensei would be nothing compared to you."
The Shadow drew back, its eyes still painted on, its smile satisfied, beatific. "Isn't that what you've always wanted? To be the one that everyone else had to respect?" The smile shifted. "Had to fear? Why else would you have struck out at Gaara like you did, killed his father like you did, joined the Akatsuki like you did? No matter how many ideals you cloaked everything in, those were just words you devoured without understanding in your search for meaning."
Sakura felt herself start to buckle again, and refused. She stood up straight, staring the Shadow dead in the eye. It sneered.
"Peace, freedom, safety. These are all just worthless human disguises for power, and power is inevitably expressed through violence. You have known this from the start, Sakura. Why deny yourself? Embrace it!"
"That's not what I want anymore!" Sakura suddenly shouted, the words ripping out of her chest with such force that it felt like they bruised her lips. "I don't know what I want, but I know it's not that! All that matters now is for the people I love to be safe!"
She lunged forward, the pure instinct of someone trying to scare off a wolf that had found them in the night, and the Shadow slithered away, reforming beyond the ring of firelight. Suddenly, she was free. Sakura kept screaming at it, pacing in the sudden sanctuary formed by the flames.
"I want to see my mom and dad together again! I want to make Naruto smile, not look at me like I'm a monster! Who cares about being a god?! It won't do any of that! Even if they don't, I'll know it's fake! I'll be left alone, forever!"
"All human desires are false!" the Shadow said with a laugh. "Love has no quality that marks it as authentic. How could it? It doesn't exist." It paced with her, matching her step for step. "Do not think you have any other option, Sakura! You killed a Kage, mutilated your friends, humiliated your family. Even if they survive, you'll be a criminal of international repute. You will never see your family again. You will never see Naruto again. I gave you this generous offer out of pity, seeing how deep you've dug yourself! Beyond recovery, beyond sympathy, and I am the only one kind enough to throw you a lifeline!"
The Shadow had raised its voice, her voice, but now, it spoke more calmly, stopping its pacing in the same moment. Sakura stopped too, her chest heaving as she stared out at her dark doppelganger. A familiar burning anger was filling her aching heart, but doubt followed it. Anger had gotten her here; how could she ever trust it, or herself, again?
"You would be a true fool to reject it."
"I think you're lying," Sakura hissed, trying to marshal the flame of anger inside her. Don't just let it run wild, like it had in the past. Shape it, forge it: not like a shinobi would their chakra, but like anyone would hammer out a shield. "I think your game's about to come crashing down. Sasuke and Obito-sensei figured you out."
It came to her as a thunderbolt, lighting up the whole infinite space for an instant.
"I think you're scared."
"Ridiculous," the Shadow said with a chuckle, but Sakura could have sworn there was a hesitation there that hadn't existed before. "Relying on others, who have betrayed you so many times? Your sensei did not fight for your promotion, and sent you off to Rain despite knowing how much harm it would cause you." It mirrored her, leaning in with a mocking smile as it dug up long-suppressed and rancid grudges. "What you speak of is Ninshu. You learned of it through that oaf Jiraiya. Who better could be the epitome of failure? He has no children, and yet his sons and daughters have torn this world apart nonetheless, Sakura. Do you really want to tie yourself to that wretch? Just like every other human that's sought salvation through others, you'll be disappointed."
"Who cares about a stupid promotion?" Sakura laughed, throwing her arms wide.. "They were right! I was immature! I couldn't get over myself; I would have gotten killed if it weren't for the Hokage! And Jiraiya did his best; it's not his fault if his students failed to take the real lesson! They should have read his damn book!" She pointed at the Shadow, her heart hammering and fanning the flames. With every beat, it hurt more and more, like it was tearing itself and her apart. "And you know what, asshole?! I think life might be about being disappointed! Nothing goes right, not all the way! Everyone just has to work with what they have!"
The Shadow shrank away for a moment, its mocking smile fading, and Sakura pressed forward, her anger becoming sharper with every word. She grabbed hold of it, letting it clear her head but not letting it take over. "You said fate brought you here, but how long have you been sneaking around, you creepy little shit? Keeping to the shadows, trying to get the Tailed Beasts back together for a god or the Infinite Tsukuyomi or whatever… and now, it's all gonna be for nothing!"
Another thunderbolt; a storm brewed above, lightning painting blinding arcs in the dark. Sakura could have sworn she could see other figures in the distance patiently watching the confrontation: countless men and women who she didn't recognize, but knew nonetheless.
Other children who had been waylaid: other victims of the Shadow. More than she could imagine.
"You're lying about the Cannon too!" she said, her anger finally controlled. It covered her like a second skin, beating back the Shadow, dampening its whispers and further defining it. The amorphous shape resolved into a perfect mirror of her. "It'll put the Bijuu together, but it'll kill me, won't it? It'll kill everyone here, but not you. It'll leave you behind, to steer whatever comes out of the fusion."
She stepped forward, and the Shadow did as well, striding to meet her. The mocking grin had returned; it seemed totally unconcerned with her lucidity. And why not? It was apparently a peer to the Sage of the Six Paths. For all her yelling, Sakura had no idea how to resolve the standoff.
"Delusional as humans ever are," the Shadow said smugly. "But even if I were lying, could you truly believe you deserve to live after what you've done, Sakura? You know as well as I that I was not lying about that. What you did was your true will."
"That's true," Sakura admitted, breathing out and resisting the urge to cry again. "That's why I'm gonna have to ask for a lot of forgiveness."
"There are those who could never offer it," the Shadow laughed. "Why, what would Haku think of that?"
Sakura twitched.
It hadn't seen. It didn't know. That moment had been hers and Haku's alone. That should have kept her calm, knowing the Shadow's words were empty.
And yet, the fact it would try at all-!
She didn't care that this thing was impossibly beyond her anymore. As her anger started to burn the world away, she seized it once more, trying to keep it from running out of control.
But she was hurt, and frightened, and fed up, and so she failed.
Sakura leapt forward, beyond the heat of the fire, and fastened her hands around the Shadow's throat, around her own throat. It watched her, bemused, as she started to squeeze.
"I wanted to kill him," she said, the truth so painful it could draw blood. "But I never would have if it weren't for you. Maybe it still wouldn't have ended well, but you made the blade sharp. Not me."
She felt tears in her eyes, and squeezed as hard as she could. "It killed my heart to do that. And that's your fault."
"Are you truly this idiotic? I had higher expectations of you," the Shadow said with an inhuman sneer. "How could you ever strangle a shad-"
Then, it choked.
Sakura's skin, she realized, had become translucent. Her muscles, blood, and bones were all visible through the flesh; she had transformed into something out of a medical textbook, an unapologetic display of humanity: the total opposite of the featureless Shadow. Her heart burned, so hot she thought it would explode, and something painful slipped out of it. Like a parasite or a rogue worm, it rushed through her body and filled her with fleeting, immortal strength of a kind she'd never imagined wherever it passed.
She squeezed even harder, crushing the Shadow's throat. It gagged and flailed, its hands, her hands, coming up to bat and scratch at her arms and face. Sakura kept going, driving the thing down to its knees, filled with an insane urge for her palms to meet in the middle of its neck.
Whatever else she was, she was still a shinobi. She knew how to strangle something until it died.
"What was that?" she asked it, the same mockery that had filled its voice echoing in hers. "You sound a little short of breath."
"I-impossible!" the Shadow gagged, trying to push her off. Sakura held firm. She was flesh and blood, while the thing was just malice and spite. It couldn't budge her no matter how hard it tried. Her fingers sank deeper and deeper into its neck. "How could… where did you get this chakra?!"
Death, Sakura realized. That's what was running out of the wound in her heart that she hadn't known existed, infusing her entire body.
Pure death.
She tasted blood, felt crushing heat, but was too focused on her task to give it any mind.
"Who knows?" she said, her whole body shaking with effort. The Shadow squealed and shifted, whirling beneath her as it tried to escape. She remorselessly bore down on it, crushing it beneath her will and continuing to strangle the life out of it.
"Stop this! You are dooming yourself!" the Shadow screeched, but Sakura paid it no mind. "I am your only hope!" It sounded like it was in pain. After the suffering it had caused, that was all that mattered.
"Don't care," Sakura said with a smile.
"Pathetic, delusional little girl!" it screamed back, trying to buck her off. "You will be nothing without me! All you love will abandon you and die!" She squeezed harder still; her fingers interlocked, such was the force of her grip. "You know what Haku's last words were! You know! How could you keep going?! Lie down! Give up! Die! 'Sakura, I hate you!' He hated you, he hated you, I hate you, I HATE YOU! GET OFF OF ME!"
"That's not true. I know what he was trying to say," Sakura said quietly. "It's the same thing I was going to say to Naruto."
'I love you.'
Her palms met: she completely flattened the Shadow's throat. It collapsed, wheezing and scrambling away, a terrified little thing before the force of her fire. If it weren't what it was, Sakura might have pitied it.
She stalked after it.
"You don't seem like you can understand that, Black Zetsu," she said, uttering the name like a curse. "Considering that…"
She raised her foot high, the Shadow staring up at her in horror. She met her own eyes for the last time.
"It's no wonder you're going to get killed by a delusional little girl."
Sakura stomped down as hard as she could, and crushed the thing's head into a pulp.
The Shadow died. Sakura felt it so clearly that she would never be so sure of anything else in her life. Crushed by her will and poisoned by the chakra that had hidden in her heart, Black Zetsu vanished from the world forever.
The ground shattered, and Sakura fell into infinity. The fire fell with her, surrounding her, consuming her completely, and she welcomed it.
###
Sakura woke up to an unfamiliar sky, and immediately vomited what felt like ten pounds of blood. She was lying down, and most of it ended up on her face and chest.
"Sakura?!" Naruto was there, his hands on her, working the wound in her chest. "Sakura, Sakura, Sakura-!"
He kept saying her name, a meaningless mantra, and Sakura groggily looked down at the hole she'd torn in her chest. Her heart had been shredded.
But it was still beating. Torn to pieces, damaged beyond repair, but impossibly beating nonetheless.
Sakura sluggishly looked back up. Naruto hadn't realized she'd regained consciousness, as engrossed in his work as he was. He'd used the Adamantine Rebirth on her, she realized; she could feel his impossibly alive chakra pouring through her. But her heart wasn't mending. The deathly chakra that was leaking from it was what was keeping it beating, but it was total anathema to the Yang chakra Naruto's technique used.
She reached down, her hands feeble, and took his hands. His head whipped towards her, and Sakura could have died at the hope and fear in his eyes.
"It's a weird chakra," she said, sounding more than half dead. Well, she was. "Rebirth won't work. You have to use-"
Sakura gagged, her throat full of blood, and collapsed, the pain that shock had delayed crushing her. White agony washed out the world, and she spasmed, so tortured by the feeling of her torn heart that she wished against rationality that she was dead.
But Naruto understood her.
Naruto would always understand her.
With the ordinary medical jutsu that he'd tirelessly honed to keep his friends alive, he reunited her broken heart.
It stopped beating on its own about halfway through, and Sakura died for the second time, though only for about eight seconds. The second time she woke up, it was with Naruto's mouth on hers as he breathed for her.
Once more, she vomited blood from her mended lungs; Naruto pulled back just in time to avoid the worst of it. Sakura writhed and whimpered in pain on the ground for what felt like hours, coughing until she cried and bruising her body against the cold stone of the Fortress roof. The whole time, Naruto held her, stroking her hair and muttering nonsense to her.
Eventually, Sakura was able to take a full breath. As soon as she did, she burst out into uncontrollable tears.
A month of grief and guilt crashed into her all at once.
"I'm really sorry," she sobbed. She was vaguely aware that Sasuke and Hinata were there, and Karin too; by some miracle, none of them were dead. All of them were covered in blood; hers and theirs both. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry-"
"Sakura…" Sasuke seemed to have no idea what to do; she couldn't see his face. "It's okay. We know it wasn't you. What happened to Black Zetsu?"
"It was me!" she screamed. There was no self control anymore. For so long, she'd stayed in control even when she shouldn't, suppressing everything. Now, she was disintegrating, collapsing, falling apart. If not for Naruto holding her, Sakura was sure she would explode. "It was me! Always me!"
"That doesn't matter," Naruto said, and Sakura stopped, reduced back to sobbing. "But Sakura, it's important. What happened to the Shadow?"
"It's dead," she sobbed, and she heard everyone take a breath of disbelief. "It's dead. I killed it. I killed it before it could kill us all."
Then she was completely beyond any hope of being coherent, and remained weeping in Naruto's arms for a long time.
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