Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Between A Rock And A Hard Place ❯ What's Worth Fighting For: Part I ( Chapter 33 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

An almost foretelling shadow hung over the town of Konoha the past few days. For some it was nothing more than a case of bad luck days where the sun was hesitant in shining its fullest. But others had a feeling the village had lost its spark of excitement and vivid amusement when merely three ninjas continued to stay outside of Konoha's protective barriers. There was no surprise for who missed who. Sasuke, being the top of the longed for members of group seven, had plenty of fans that wondered where he had wondered off to and if he was fairing well. Kakashi was second among the illustrious Uchiha. No doubt his own friends among sensei's and students wished for his safe return. Sakura was dismal with the lost of both her teacher and crush.

Gai would always have the boisterous support from his favorite student Rock Lee. And lastly, as was almost accustomed for him; Naruto came. The villagers that hate him so barely seemed to notice his absence, but Iruka had been drowning himself with worries over his son figure. Sure he had spared some concern for his close friend Kakashi who was responsible for the hyper blond, but Naruto had always consumed most of his heart. A majority of the rookie nine were just curious as to where their usual distraction and moral bug disappeared to for so long. In all, things were not as they were the past couple of days and judging by the aura about today it would only continue to get worse.

The market place had become a common hang out for the ninjas who no longer received orders for missions as long as Tsunade continued to stay in Suna. Poor Azune could not handle all the paper work required for such a thing. At least no other village would dare attack them as long as most of the ninjas of their home remained close by. Despite having all these opportune costumers around now, the small Ichiraku Ramen shop was still at a loss when their star costumers was away. Even with the rookie nine and their sensei's stopping by more often , the place refused to sparkle with energy.

A tired sigh escaped thin pink lips just before the young girl decided on taking a break. "I can't take much more of this. I miss Sasuke-kun so much!" Sakura cried out pathetically as she folded her arms on the counter and settled in them. "At least he would know what to do with all this extra time we suddenly got." She assumed. Ino couldn't help but agreeing to some stint, but in truth it was quite obvious she was wrong. Sasuke would have clearly told them to leave him alone and most likely go practicing all day on the training grounds with Naruto. With the exception of watching it meant the girls would still be left with nothing to do to pass the time.

"This is a total drag..." Shikamaru moaned, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he pulled up in a stool on the other side of Sakura. Shikamaru was in a damper as well. With less sun the less shadow there was for him to practice with. The cloud watching was still very much available but he, himself, could only take so much laziness when finally provided the chance.

Chogi ignored the other three as he ordered several bowls of ramen to chow on. "I don't know about you guys, but this has been the best break from missions ever." He claimed, drawing up his chop sticks when the first bowl arrived.

Ino glowered at her thicker teammate. "Oh, shut up Chogi. Not everyone likes to eat all day and nothing else like you. You just hate working." Ino complained. Shikamaru, being defensive about his friend, gave her a serious look.

"Lay off Ino. Just because you like starving yourself for a hopeless cause doesn't mean the rest of us want to." Shikamaru grumbled. Chogi couldn't help laugh at the girl when she got all flustered and turned away from them with a pout. Ino had been dieting a lot more because Sasuke was a away. Mostly she was hoping to win him over when he came back to find her a completely changed 'woman'.

"You guys never change." came a warm laugh. The four turned around quickly to see Iruka sensei holding several bags of groceries in his hands. His smile was weak but still sincere. "You all should be grateful for the reduction of training. As soon as the Hokage comes back the work will be laid on us all pretty heavy to make everything up. So you better enjoy the time now." He chuckled.

Sakura frowned seeing the other man. It wasn't a mystery why his joy seemed to fade over the past days. "Don't worry Iruka-sensei. I'm sure all of them will return safe and sound." Sakura said hopefully. "You know Naruto, he doesn't let anything get him down. Even common sense." She giggled genuinely.

"I know Sakura-chan. But it isn't quite the same as knowing than actually seeing." Iruka confessed with a sigh. He truly missed taking Naruto out for ramen every time he felt bad. Even worse he had no idea what was going on with Naruto right now. Before the blond left he had a feeling something was a mist because Sasuke had been ever so grumpy before he left as well. But Naruto wasn't even around to explain everything to him. Being the mother hen he was, it was hard not knowing something about the person you cared about.

Suddenly, shocking all the residence at the ramen shop, a loud bell sounded through the whole village. For a moment all motion had stopped and like a wave of realization came over them, many people began to flee. The four rookies looked at one another with worry and confusion. "You four get to safety!" Iruka burst in. "The village is trying to be invaded!" That was all the explanation the four needed to start off for the nearest shelter. As much as they would like to put up a fight with the other shinobi, it was apparent the situation was not for them when Iruka ordered them to do otherwise.

He dropped his belongings and dashed for the gates. This most be a serious case if they would bother getting all the other villagers inside. But who would danger try to attack their village when they were still in full support. And as far as they knew, no other village besides Suna had knowledge of their Hokage's absence. Regardless the reason or person, Iruka rushed for the entrance to the village for assistance. It was mild chaos as everyone else made their way inside. Iruka managed to spot an Anbu through the crowd and went after him. Catching up with the other, he hurriedly questioned him. "Who's attacking?"

The man in the mask sadly shook his head. "You would never guess he would come back, at least not this soon and nearly with the same tactic as before." He grumbled. Iruka stared off in bewilderment as they climbed to the top of the gates. From there nearly the whole surrounding forest could be seen. His eyes widened as he looked on in dread. It couldn’t be. The third Hokage should have taken care of him!

"Orochimaru..." Iruka hissed under breath. Though not nearly as fearsome as the three snakes that slithered into town last time, a single purple beast slid its way toward the gate only a few miles away. "He has some nerve coming again." Iruka accused. "But if he is after the new Hokage than he is out of luck." He said with a smirk. Any one would have thought the same thing, but they would soon find out for themselves how much trouble Orochimaru provided. Several ninja already had decided to take the offense instead of guard the gate, and left outside the village to pursue the large snake and stop Orochimaru's 'pathetic' attempt at an attack.

"Come here boy, I want you to see every moment of this." Orochimaru cooed sickly. Naruto had nearly gone unconscious with the pressure of the sand encasing his ribs and limps, not to mention being dragged around like a rag doll. A faint grown made it past his lips as the sand shifted forms to bring him up toward Orochimaru. He didn't bother jerking his head away like before when the man dared cup his face in an affectionate manner. "Look boy, I want you to see your comrades fall by the hundreds." He laughed shortly in his raspy voice. The sand crawled up Naruto's shoulders to his head and forcefully turned his gaze to the gates of Konoha only a few miles ahead.

Try as Naruto wanted, he couldn't close his eyes or turn his head without the sand trying to readjust him once more and he preferably didn't want any sand getting into his eyes. He reluctantly looked forward and saw several ninja approaching Orochimaru's beast. "You what, I think I'll have a little fun with these ones Kabuto; test out my skills." He clarified. Kabuto only nodded in agreement. Naruto fidgeted with anxiety at those words. "Be still boy, I shall enjoy hearing you scream as I kill your fellow shinobi." Orochimaru hissed out.

As expected, five shinobi came toward the snake. Each plotted themselves on a branch and started a series of hand signs, probably trying to trap the summoning in a barrier or something of the sort. Orochimaru only had to focus to send his sand after one of the men. "No! Leave hem alone!" Naruto cried out instinctively, but was quickly quieted by a gag of sand. The unsuspecting shinobi was suddenly washed over by a small wave of sand and brought up toward Orochimaru. His smirk and cold yellow eyes only widened as he manipulated the sand. The man struggled in his sand bonds but released a horrid cry when suddenly several streams of sand started to slip into every crevice of his body. His screams were muffled by a follow of sand coming right into his mouth. Naruto watched in a silent horror as the sand seeped into the man's ears as well. A sickening cracking sound resounded inside and soon enough a flow of sand fell through the man's nose, except carrying a corruption of blood in it's grains as it made its way through the man's body. Naruto could only imagine Orochimaru had surrounded the brain in so much pressure and the skull cracked and was crushed in the weight.

The blond boy shuddered with terror as the sand slowly made it's way back out. Naruto nearly lost it seeing the sand seep out from the man's eyes as well as if he were crying bloody, sand tears. Naruto jerked fiercely in his bond wanting to rush over there and straggle Orochimaru himself for what he did. Orochimaru laughed maniacally as Naruto struggled. "Calm yourself boy, this is only the beginning!" He shouted with excitement. He let the dead body fall through his sand and moved on to the next victim. It was unbearable to just stand by and watch as his own villagers were being slaughtered by this freak. If he had been any other person, Naruto would have went mad as he watched the next shinobi be held by each limb as Orochimaru broke them one by one until finally making his way to the man's neck and jerking it back to silence all the screaming. Insane the boy was not, infuriated he was; so much that all his chakra flamed with a red glow as it surrounded him. But this was what Orochimaru wanted.

"That's right boy, let me see the power of the nine tail fox!" Orochimaru demanded. They were nearing the gate quickly and he wanted the teen's chakra to bring about more fun by massacre. Kabuto was amused by the scene and only laughed as he watched the rest of the shinobi retreat back to the gate. But it was too late. The colossal snake broke through the wall, smashing a few shinobi unable to get away quick enough.

Among those at the gate, Iruka was thrust to the side with the force of the impact. He stared with wide eyes as the snake passed by. If that had been all he had seen, he wouldn't have been so fearful. But he had clearly made out on sun-kissed head that he had known for so long riding on top of the beast with Orochimaru and his assistant. "Naruto!" Iruka shouted out. How the hell did that bastard get a hold of Naruto?! And if Naruto was here, then where in the world was Kakashi, Gai and Sasuke! What happened to the Hokage?

Naruto stared down and noticed his sensei as well. He wanted to yell out and tell Iruka to get away, but that was hard as long as this disgusting sand blocked his mouth. Orochimaru, who was more observant than one would think, kept his eye on the boy's reaction. A friend of his was all he needed to finally push him over the edge. "Since you are taking so long, let me give you a helping hand my boy." Orochimaru cackled. The snake swung its large tail to the side, smashing another part of the gate as well injuring several more ninja. Iruka just barely escaped the surprise attack. He was unfortunate enough to avoid the sand that came up from the ground and rumble around him and encased him tightly.

"Um! Urgh..." Naruto thrashed his head side to side, trying to break from his captivity. If Iruka died all because him, he would never be able to live with himself. Not that there was any guarantee he would live after this. He couldn't let this happen! Not to his friends, not to those he cared so much about!

"STOP IT!"

A gush of winded chakra shot from the form. The sand couldn't contain the power and broke apart in clumps from the boy. "Leave my friends alone!" Naruto growled, his voice had hardened and deepened. Orochimaru glimmered with excitement as the true Kyuubi vessel stood before him. Furious glowing red eyes glared back at him like two fierce piercing daggers. Elongated fangs and claws emerged as the whiskers on Naruto's face darkened and grew. "Lay one more grain of sand on any of the me again and I'll make sure you know what real pain feels like!" Naruto hissed out husky and menacing.

The fury didn't seem to last out well when Orochimaru only laughed harder at his efforts and empty words. "That is what I'm talking about boy. Show me the real power of the Kyuubi. Soon to be my power..." Orochimaru gloated.

"Just shut up and fight!" Naruto lashed, breaking forward in a run. But like most of his upfront assaults, it was easily blocked by Orochimaru's sand defense. But with a new need for release of all his furious tension, Naruto came at the other repeatedly. His kicks and punches were powerful enough to crush the sand enough for a dent, but Orochimaru always replaced the holes with more sand. It didn't seem to sink in that this wasn't the proper way to fight, even as he clawed mercilessly at the sand to no avail. Surely he would ware himself out if he continued this for much longer.

"Stupid brat, you can not defeat me so easily." Orochimaru, believing in a little tough love for his new pong was in order, sent spikes of hardened sand emitting from his sand barrier. And with Naruto at such a close range with no where to go, received every hit full force. He doubled back with each impact, but showed no signs of pain even as blood dripped from his limps. "Fight me boy! Really give me a run for my money!" Orochimaru laughed mockingly. "I need you to put up fight to at least make taking away all your hopes and dreams more interesting. it was simply too much of a bored when that pathetic Kazekage of yours willingly handed over his power to me. But we know how the saying goes; with great power comes great responsibility. I just guess the responsibility was too much for that little weakling."

"Shut up!" Naruto screamed. "Gaara is no weakling and he certainly isn't a quitter!" Naruto defended. Orochimaru was just trying to mess with his head. Gaara wouldn't do something like that. Even if he didn't know this was Orochimaru, he would never hand over Shukaku's power. That isn't the Gaara he knows! He had more pride, more heart than that! And Naruto was going to show Orochimaru even if Gaara couldn't. Summoning up a few shadow clones, Naruto drew out his hand with chakra for a powerful rasengan. "I'll show you Orochimaru!", he shouted racing for the other rapidly. This was going to end now!

To Be Continued...

A/N: The first update of the year yay! Sorry about the graphicness if it was too much for some. But I’m not all that great at taking away the appeal of senses. I hope you enjoyed! See you all soon and have a Happy New Year!