Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Blood Stained Hands ❯ Blood Stained Hands ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter Two: Blood Stained Hands
 
The day was already over. Night was steadily spreading its veil of darkness over the land. Sasuke wasn't sure when time had flown by so quickly before. For as long as he could remember he had gone through the long and meaningless days like a chore, never having anything to look forward or anything to break the monotony of his routine. At times he felt like a robot. For all anyone else cared, he could have very well been one. He had no friends, no relatives, no hopes or reason to go on. All he had were the shattered remains of his dream to someday avenge his family, but after his attempt to leave Konoha even that had been taken away from him. For all intents and purposes he was nothing more than the living dead. After all, what else did he have to look forward to now but Death to free him from this hellish, lonely prison he was forced to call his life?
 
But with the return of a single person Sasuke began to wonder if maybe there still wasn't something in this miserable, wretched world worth living for.
 
Said person was currently sitting beside him at the counter of the same noodle stand they'd been at just the day before slurping down his second bowl of ramen. Finishing off that bowl and pushing it aside, Naruto called to the owner for yet another.
 
Sasuke meanwhile quietly ate his own - still only his first - while he basked in the unfamiliar sense of contentment the presence of his loudmouth companion gave him. He didn't know how they'd managed to meet up again, but as he'd been leaving his house earlier that morning - expecting another soul-wearying day of meaningless existence - who should he come across but his former teammate and friend. The blond had been wandering around with a confused look on his face. When approached by a curious Sasuke he'd explained that he'd managed to get himself lost. The village had changed over the last two years, he'd said. The Uchiha heir didn't think the village had changed that much - hardly at all, really - but then again it was Naruto he was talking about…
 
Sasuke hadn't intended to end up spending the entire day with Naruto - showing him the newer sights of the village and doing nothing more than whiling away the time with the blond - but somehow he had, and found himself strangely content with the world because of it. He couldn't explain it but for the first time in as long as he could remember he was truly… happy. He'd forgotten what it felt like to have fun or enjoy being alive. He'd forgotten what it was like to have someone actually want to be around him and not glare at him in suspicious distrust. But most of all he'd forgotten what it was like to just have a friend.
 
Somehow being with Naruto made him feel less lonely, less hated. He almost felt human when he was with the rambunctious whirlwind and not like the despised traitor he was with everyone else. The other boy didn't seem to care about his past mistakes. He accepted him for who he was and nothing else. It was so different and unfamiliar from everything else Sasuke knew he couldn't help but wonder if something so good was really meant to last.
 
Everything else good in his life had always been taken away.
 
Drinking the last of the broth from his bowl, Naruto leaned back on his stool and gave a contented sigh, his eyes narrowing into two happy slits. “Thanks for the ramen, Sasuke,” he grinned. “That sure hit the spot.”
 
“How can you eat this stuff everyday?” Sasuke said, poking several uneaten noodles floating in his own bowl contemptuously. “By the way you go on and on about it, you'd think old man Ichiraku was drugging it or something.”
 
Naruto just quirked his head to the side, not quite getting the slight.
 
Sasuke didn't bother trying to explain.
 
“So what'cha doing tomorrow?” Naruto asked, happily rocking back and forth on the back two legs of his stool. “Want to go spar?”
 
Sasuke looked up at Naruto with a startled expression (or at least what passed for startled on the stoic Uchiha). He wanted to spend time with him again? He was still trying to get over the idea that Naruto wanted to spend time with him at all. He had tried to kill him after all…
 
“Don't you have training to do with that new sensei of yours?”
 
“Naw. The pervert said I have the next few days off. He said I earned a break, but now I have nothing to do! If I hadn't met you this morning I probably would've died of boredom.”
 
“But what about your other friends?” Sasuke pushed. He still couldn`t quite believe Naruto was serious. “Don't you want to see them?”
 
“I saw them yesterday,” Naruto explained. His face suddenly morphed into a wounded pout. “Why? Don't you want to go sparing with me?”
 
Sasuke stared at Naruto. So the idiot really did want to be around him. Even after everything he'd done. He thought that morning had been a fluke - a once in a lifetime event in which had Naruto not been lost in his part of town, he never would have willing spent time with him. But now it seemed the ramen-loving prankster hadn't just tolerated him for lack of any other friends to spend the day with, but because he truly enjoyed his presence - an almost unconceivable thing for the Uchiha to believe.
 
Taken aback by this unexpected revelation, Sasuke suddenly didn't trust himself to meet Naruto's eyes and stared at the countertop. “Stop whining, loser,” he mumbled, the familiar insult lacking any of its usual sting. “I'll go sparing with you tomorrow.”
 
Naruto's whiskered face broke into an ear-splitting grin. “Really? Awesome!”
 
Sasuke felt the tiny ball of warmth that'd begun to form in the bottom of his stomach grow a little bit bigger at his companion's obvious delight. He never thought such a simple thing as feeling wanted could be so gratifying.
 
But such feelings of happiness were not fated to last for the lonely boy. For just at that moment outside the ramen shop came the deafening blast of an explosion somewhere nearby. The entire shop shook. Naruto had to grab the edge of the counter to keep from falling backwards on his chair.
 
Outside, the echo of warning bells began to clang urgently through the falling dusk, calling all ninja to Konoha's defense.
 
Sasuke and Naruto barely waited before they were both speeding out the door.
 
People were already starting to fill the streets, talking loudly to each other as they tried to figure out what was going on. In the distance the glow of fire burning beyond the dark foreground of buildings illuminated one whole corner of the village. A giant plume of billowing smoke rose ominously up into the night sky above the area, blocking out the silvery outline of the moon.
 
“Someone's attacking the gates!” Sasuke shouted as he and Naruto took to the rooftops to avoid the crowds and sped towards the fire. The warning bells continued to clang plaintively in the background, echoing loudly across the village. “It looks like they've breached the walls.”
 
Before long the two shinobi came within sight of the explosion. For a moment neither could do anything but stare at the destruction. It was like a nightmarish scene from hell. A gapping section of Konoha's defensive wall was missing, blown inward as if by some kind of bomb. Chunks of burning rubble lay strewn around its base as sparks and roiling clouds of smoke rose into the inky night sky. All the buildings within a fifty meter radius of the wall were damaged, either scorched or demolished by the explosion.
 
Between the shifting curtains of smoke and fire, multitudes of dark figures were fighting, locked in deadly combat as waves of invading ninja streamed into the village. Even from a distance Sasuke and Naruto could feel the enormous amount of chakra being exchanged between the two sides. It took Sasuke a minute before he was able to distinguish Konoha's ninja from those currently storming the village. And when he finally was able to identify their mysterious invaders, he felt his throat tighten with an almost frightening mixture of anticipation, hatred, and dread.
 
Ninja wearing long black cloaks embossed with the stylized design of blood red clouds swarmed through the decimated wall, meeting Konoha's defenses in a terrifying clash of chakra. Screams rang through the night, a number of Konoha ninja falling under the invaders' merciless attacks.
 
Akatsuki…
 
Sasuke' vision momentarily blurred red, but not from any kind of effect of his Sharingan. A hatred he'd almost forgotten over the last two years spent withering away under the Elders' and Hokage's new regulations suddenly boiled up inside him, as strong and virulent as when he'd first tried to leave Konoha.
 
It was Akatsuki. The same crime organization his older brother belonged to…
 
Itachi…
 
Sasuke felt the immortal hatred for his brother begin to course through his veins like liquid fire. If Akatsuki was attacking the village then there was a chance his estranged brother was amongst the invaders.
 
“Come on, Naruto!” Sasuke yelled, leaping off the rooftop he and his companion had stopped on to survey the scene and charged onto the battlefield, kunai drawn.
 
“Hey, wait up!” he heard Naruto call, but didn't slow down to wait for him.
 
He wasn't going to let Itachi get away. He'd lost his opportunity to avenge his family once. He wasn't going to let that happen again. This time Itachi was going to pay.
 
The sound of dying men and the metallic stench of blood assaulted Sasuke and Naruto as they entered the fray. Without hesitation they fell into the familiar dance of life or death they'd known since their earliest days of training. Akatsuki ninja continued to pour into the village through the ruined wall; kunai, jutsu, and chakra meeting in a terrifying clash of power.
 
The Akatsuki ninja were skilled, and numerous. Although skilled themselves, Konoha's defenses were quickly being overwhelmed. With a hurried look with his Sharingan Sasuke guessed there was at least five dozen Akatsuki now inside the village. Because of the sudden attack only about two dozen Konoha ninja had responded in time to try and push the invaders back. If more didn't arrive soon, Konoha would be overrun with Akatsuki before they could be stopped.
 
Armed with kunai in both hands, Sasuke and Naruto leapt to their allies' defense. Fighting side by side the two managed to push back several Akatsuki-nin trying to break past the defensive line into the village.
 
“Naruto, watch out!” Sasuke yelled as one ninja lunged at his companion from behind. The blond managed to duck out of the path of his assailant's kunai in time, and dispatched him with a brutal kick to the head.
 
“This is ridiculous,” Naruto yelled over the sounds of battle. “There's too many of them!” Lowering his stance, the blond crossed his fingers in front of his face in the form of a cross and yelled, “Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!”
 
Hundreds of orange jumpsuit-wearing clones suddenly appeared, spreading across the battlefield in one large defensive line. But instead of backing off their attack like any other invading force might have done, the Akatsuki ninja seemed to press harder, fighting with almost frightening ferocity for entrance into the village.
 
As Naruto's clones - like one massive entity - lunged at the hoards of black-cloaked ninja, Sasuke searched the battlefield for any sign of his elusive older brother.
 
Where are you? he thought, his Sharingan eyes spinning madly. When I find you I'm going to kill you…
 
Gripping his kunai tighter, Sasuke charged after the army of Narutos currently fighting back the waves of Akatsuki ninja, unaware of the other set of Sharingan-red eyes watching the ongoing battle from the shadows of the village's surrounding forest, or their owner's almost imperceptible smirk as he assessed his friend's unnatural display of chakra…
 
oooooo
 
Naruto's breath was coming in shorter and shorter intervals as he struggled to maintain his army of clones while simultaneously fighting himself. Despite what everyone thought about his unusually high chakra level, maintaining such a large number of clones still tired him after awhile. More Konoha ninja had begun to arrive, but his clones were still carrying much of the battle themselves.
 
One Akatsuki ninja suddenly lunged at him, swiping a kunai at his neck. The blond shinobi leapt backwards, just barely missing the deadly blade. Curling his hand into a fist, he slammed it into his attacker's face. The man fell limp to the ground, his nose now an unrecognizable mass of flattened flesh.
 
Naruto took a moment to catch his breath and survey the surrounding area. Sometime during the course of battle he - along with a number of his shadow clones - had pushed the Akatsuki ninja back beyond Konoha's destroyed defensive wall. To his left the edge of Konoha's surrounding forest stood like an impenetrable wall of shadows while behind him his army of clones continued to fight off the invaders.
 
“That is quite an impressive show of power, hn?” a voice suddenly said behind him.
 
Spinning around on his heels - kunai ready - Naruto found himself face to face with two Akatsuki ninja. He couldn't say why exactly but he sensed these two were different from the other ones he`d just been fighting.
 
One was a feminine looking man with long blond hair pulled up in a ponytail on top of his head. On his forehead was a scratched headband from the land of Rocks. His companion wore a strange mask with a swirled black and orange pattern on it. Naruto lowered into a wary fighting stance, his kunai held threateningly out in front of him. He didn't like the looks of these two…
 
“So much power for such a little boy, hn?” the blond man hummed, critically looking Naruto up and down. “Who would believe such a powerful demon like Kyuubi could be sealed in such a pitiful little thing.”
 
“You shouldn't be so harsh, Deidara-sempai,” the masked man intoned. “This boy is very important to us.”
 
Naruto sank lower into his stance, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. “How do you know about Kyuubi?” he snarled.
 
“We know a lot about you, child,” Deidara replied, his lips twisting into an unsettling smirk. “Akatsuki has had its eye on you for quiet some time. We've been waiting almost two years for you to come back. You proved hard to locate after you so unexpectedly disappeared. But here you finally are…”
 
“Just come along quietly and we will call off the attack,” the other man said.
 
“I'm not going anywhere with you,” Naruto growled, gripping his kunai tighter. “I'll beat both of you!”
 
The blond man sighed, shaking his head sadly. “Somehow I knew he was going to be a brat about this. Tobi, get him.”
 
“As you wish,” the other replied and lunged at Naruto without any other warning as his hands flew into a complex series of hand signs.
 
Naruto sprang to the side, evading a large concentration of chakra that hit the ground right where he'd been standing only a few seconds before. Before he knew it the other Akatsuki ninja - Deidara- was also coming at him. As Naruto once again leapt away, Deidara produced a small figure of clay from seemingly no where and threw it at the confused shinobi.
 
For several seconds of endless eternity it tumbled end over end through the air before finally landing on the ground several feet in front of Naruto - and exploded in a tremendous burst of light.
 
Naruto screamed as he was sent flying backwards through the air and hit the ground with a sickening thud. Painfully pushing himself to his feet, the young shinobi quickly somersaulted backwards as another clay figure came sailing his way. Shielding his eyes from the resulting blast, Naruto sprang into the overhanging branches of the forest, hoping to gain some cover from the surrounding trees.
 
Without hesitation the two Akatsuki followed him into the trees. Leaping from branch to branch, Naruto delved deeper into the forest, desperate to put some distance between him and the other two ninja. As much as he didn't want to admit it, the Akatsuki ninja were stronger than he'd expected. They were going to prove a challenge. But he wasn't about to give up…
 
He could hear the other two ninja following close behind. Every so often he heard - and felt - the searing blast of a clay figurine explode close on his heels, forcing him to veer in another direction and head deeper into the forest.
 
As he was forced in yet another direction by Deidara`s exploding clay, Naruto suddenly spotted through the shadowy outline of trees a small clearing up ahead bathed in ghostly blue moonlight. Veering towards it, Naruto put on an extra burst of speed. If he could just reach that clearing he might be able to turn the tables and fight...
 
Breaking past the tree line, Naruto skid to a halt in the middle of the clearing and whipped around to face his pursuers, kunai drawn. But instead of crashing through the trees after him, the two Akatsuki slowed and leisurely came to a stop on the edge of the clearing.
 
“That was easy, hn? I thought we were going to have at least a little more trouble getting him here,” Deidara hummed, smirking at Naruto from beneath his long bangs.
 
Naruto looked between the two, confused. What were they talking about? Had Deidara been using his clay attacks to somehow herd him to this clearing? “Come on and bring it!” he yelled, eyeing the Akatsuki challenging as he lowered himself into a fighting stance. “I'll take you both on!”
 
“There's no need for that,” a deep, unexplainably dangerous voice said behind him, almost as if it had resonated from the very shadows of the night. “It will be nothing but a waste of time.”
 
As Naruto spun around towards this new voice he was startled to see several more figures wearing Akatsuki cloaks slowly materialize out of the surrounding shadows of the forest. There were four of them besides the two that had just chased him from the village. They all stood at staggered intervals around the perimeter of the clearing, cutting off any clear lanes of escape. Naruto looked around himself, startled by this sudden turn of events. There were too many of them for him to possibly fight. With his Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu already in effect he couldn't create any more clones without releasing the jutsu on the ones he already had. And he couldn't do that for fear of leaving the defending ninja at the wall without extra fighters.
 
One of the figures stepped closer into the clearing, his long cloak swishing softly over the grass. As the moonlight illuminated his features, Naruto felt a sinking feeling of dread form in the bottom of his stomach. For staring back at him with unnatural tomoe-dotted, Sharingan-red eyes was none other than Sasuke's older brother Itachi Uchiha.
 
“So we meet again,” Itachi said, his deep voice sending a cold shiver of fear racing down Naruto's spine. “I have been looking forward to this day for quite some time…”
 
“What do you want with me?” Naruto demanded, eyeing the six S-class ninja warily.
 
“What do we want?” Itachi intoned, his red eyes glowing eerily in the moonlight. A nasty chuckle echoed across the clearing. “Why, the nine-tailed fox demon you hold inside you, of course. Why else would we go to so much trouble attacking Konoha to draw you out? You are one of the last remaining demon-vessels we have yet to break the seal on.”
 
Naruto desperately glanced out of the corner of his eye towards one of the open areas of trees between the ninja surrounding him. If he could time it right he might just be able to break past them and make it back to the village. Never in his life had Naruto ever considered running away from a fight. But when faced with six S-class ninja, even he knew his chances of winning were not very good…
 
“You cannot escape,” Itachi said, as if reading the younger shinobi`s mind. “And there is no one who can come save you in time. You are doomed…”
 
Naruto looked back at Itachi, his fear doubling at the oldest Uchiha`s words. But then, his face morphing into an expression of hardened resolve, Naruto once again lowered into a fighting stance. “That's what you think,” he spat. “I'm going to be Hokage someday. It's going to take a lot more than a bunch of cloak wearing gangsters to beat me.” He slowly raised his kunai, pointing it challengingly at Itachi. “Come show me what you got…”
 
“The boy is even more foolish than we thought if he thinks he can beat all of us,” one of the other Akatsuki - a tall, shark-like looking man - said.
 
“This will be an easy sacrifice,” another man with a giant three bladed scythe smirked. “It`s been awhile since I've been able to make a suitable sacrifice to Jashin.”
 
Itachi stared at Naruto, his blood red eyes unreadable. “Very well,” he murmured. “May your foolish desire for death be an example to anyone else who tries to oppose Akatsuki.”
 
And then, like a pack of hungry predators descending on their cornered prey, the six ninja charged the outnumbered boy; while overhead the moon continued to shine its silvery light down on the clearing in cold, ethereal indifference…
 
oooooo
 
The battle was beginning to die down. More of Konoha's ninja had finally arrived at the wall, forcing Akatsuki into a retreat. Ninja had been sent to follow them while the others stayed behind to reinforce the village`s now weakened defenses and tend to the injured.
 
Sasuke looked around the almost deserted battlefield, still breathing hard from battle. He was covered in sweat and dirt and had a shallow cut on his cheek where one ninja had managed to get a lucky strike. Sometime ago just as other Konoha ninja had begun arriving at the wall Naruto's army of clones had suddenly disappeared. Too caught up in battle and still hoping to find his brother, Sasuke hadn't thought much of it at the time. But now, standing in the quiet aftermath of battle, he wondered where the blond whirlwind had gone. He hadn't seen any sign of Naruto since his clones had disappeared. He hoped the idiot hadn't somehow been hurt...
 
“Sasuke,” a voice suddenly called behind him. “You hurt?”
 
It was Kakashi. The silver-haired jounin was coming towards him across the rubble and body-strewn battlefield. His half-masked face was speckled with blood - but not his own.
 
“Just a scratch,” Sasuke sniffed, cleaning the blade of his kunai on his pants and slipping the weapon back in its holster. “I made sure I took care of the one that did it…”
 
Kakashi ignored his student's comment and looked around the moonlit battlefield. “This is troubling,” he murmured. “We had a suspicion Akatsuki might try something, but we never thought they'd actually attack Konoha on such a large scale.”
 
“Is that why all the jounin and ANBU of the village have been acting strange lately?” Sasuke asked. “They knew Akatsuki was coming?”
 
“Mm, unfortunately… But we still aren't exactly sure what they're after,” Kakashi replied.
 
Sasuke turned away from his sensei, angrily looking back across the battlefield towards the darkened forest. He hadn't seen any sign of Itachi during the fight. Whether that was because his older brother had been somewhere else on the battlefield or not there at all, he didn't know. Whatever the case, Sasuke couldn't help but feel he'd once again lost his chance to avenge his family.
 
“You shouldn't be this far outside the village alone,” Kakashi suddenly said, breaking Sasuke out of his brooding thoughts. “You know the restrictions…”
 
“Yeah, I know the restrictions,” Sasuke hissed, contemptuously spitting out the last word. “How could I forget?”
 
Kakashi ignored his student and patiently motioned him back towards the village. Unable to protest, Sasuke sullenly turned and followed Kakashi. As they neared the ruined remains of the outer wall, they came within sight of swarms of medics and other ninja hurrying about. The injured and dead were quickly being carried away on stretchers while others fought to contain the numerous fires still burning along the wall and surrounding buildings.
 
“Kakashi!” a voice rang out.
 
Turning the two saw several other ninja coming toward them. It was Gai-sensei and his team. He along with Lee, Neji, and Tenten were scuffed and dirty from battle, their clothes singed in places as though they just come from trying to help put out the fires.
 
“What's up?” Kakashi asked as they neared.
 
“The Hokage sent me to find you,” Gai explained. “She wants to see you immediately. She's over this way.”
 
Motioning the two to follow him, the bushy-browed jounin quickly led Kakashi and Sasuke towards a nearby huddle of ninja. Besides Gai's team, Sasuke noticed Sakura and the two other rookie teams with their sensei amongst the group along with a number of other village ninja and four ANBU bodyguards. In the middle of all them stood the Fifth Hokage and Naruto's Sannin sensei, Jiraiya.
 
“Kakashi,” Tsunade called as they neared, “what's your report?”
 
“Akatsuki forces are retreating. We currently have several ANBU squads pursuing them, but they've already taken to the forest. It's doubtful we'll catch any more of them now,” Kakashi replied. “There were at least fifteen Konoha ninja killed in the attack - nine chuunin and six jounin. The number of wounded is still undetermined, as is the number of Akatsuki ninja captured or killed.”
 
“Do we have any idea what Akatsuki was after?” Team Eight's sensei Kurenai spoke up. “They wouldn't have attacked Konoha without some kind of reason.”
 
Sasuke thought he saw Tsunade and Jiraiya exchanged a furtive, veiled look.
 
“We have some suspicions, but no solid proof,” Tsunade hesitantly replied, her eyes shadowed with some emotion Sasuke couldn't exactly name. Worry? Or perhaps even fear?
 
“Did anyone else notice how none of the Akatsuki ninja attacking the gate were above jounin-level?” Asuma interjected. “Where were its S-class ninja? Despite the fact they surprised us and had us on the ropes until reinforcements arrived, they didn't have the forces necessary to actually invade the village.”
 
“I noticed the same…” Gai agreed, his overlarge eyebrows scrunched together in the middle of his forehead.
 
“If it hadn't been for Naruto and that crazy clone technique of his, they probably would have gotten farther into the village then they actually did,” Kurenai said.
 
“Hey, where is Naruto?” Sakura suddenly said, looking around the group. “He should have come back to the village by now.”
 
Everyone looked around and noted the pink-haired koinoichi was right. There was no sign of the hyperactive shinobi anywhere…
 
“When was he last seen?” Jiraiya demanded, urgently stepping forward. “Who saw him last?”
 
“He was with me when we arrived at the gate,” Sasuke said, “but we got separated during battle. I haven't seen any sign of him since his clones disappeared.”
 
Everyone else shook their heads, unable to offer any more information.
 
Tsunade and Jiraiya once more looked at each other, their expressions now filled with horrified dread.
 
“I thought I saw one of Naruto's clones fighting two Akatsuki ninja near the forest,” Kiba suddenly spoke up. “It might have actually been him though, I don't know. You can never tell with clones… He went into the forest and the other two followed him.”
 
Full fledge panic now blossomed across the Fifth Hokage's face.
 
“Gather all available ninja!” she cried, starting towards the gapping hole in Konoha's wall. Her bodyguards scrambled to catch up with her. “Spread out and check the surround forest where Naruto was last seen. I want him found, now!”
 
Jiraiya hurried to follow her, anxiety written in each of the Sannin's steps. “You heard the Hokage!” he yelled over his shoulders to the confused group of ninja. “Find Naruto!”
 
For one stunned moment of silence, they just stared after them. But then, as if shaking themselves out of some kind of trance, they sprang into action, hurrying after the departing Sannin.
 
Sasuke felt the tiny ball of unease that'd begun to form in the bottom of his stomach suddenly grow and spread like a cancer throughout his entire body. He should have known something was wrong when Naruto's clone jutsu broke in the middle of battle, he scolded himself as he sped past the ruined walls of the village towards the looming black wall of trees in the distance. Nothing less than Naruto being severely injured or knocked unconscious could have done that. If only he'd been paying more attention to the klutz instead of worrying about finding his brother on the off chance Itachi might actually be there, then maybe his only friend wouldn`t be missing...
 
If the jounin sensei were right and none of Akatsuki's S-class ninja were there, could that mean they'd been hiding somewhere else during the attack, waiting to carry out some other plan Konoha's ninja still knew nothing about? Something that possibly included his hyperactive friend?
 
Sasuke's heart seized with dread.
 
Please don't let me be too late… he silently prayed to any wandering deity close enough to hear his plea as he charged into the darkened forest. Please don't let me lose him too.
 
I don't want to be alone again…
 
oooooo
 
Kiba Inuzuka leapt from branch to branch, struggling not to let the shifting shadows of the forest trick him into losing his footing. Hinata followed close behind him, also having trouble seeing in the darkness. Their teammate Shino was no where to be seen, probably off searching some other section of the forest with their sensei. Akamaru raced beneath them on the ground, weaving in and out of the darkened maze of trees.
 
As he sprang towards what he thought was another branch, but which actually proved to be nothing more than an elongated shadow, Kiba had to scramble to catch himself before he fell to the forest floor twenty feet below.
 
“Damn that Naruto!” he yelled as he regained his footing and pressed on deeper into the forest. “I'm going to kill that idiot when I find him! I should've just kept my big mouth shut and not said anything about seeing that idiot near the forest. Then we wouldn't be out here now risking our own necks trying to find his sorry ass!”
 
“But Naruto might be in trouble,” Hinata plaintively whispered. “He could be hurt.”
 
“Then serves him right,” Kiba growled. “He's probably wandering his way back to the village even as we speak. I tell you when I find him I'm going to wring his neck for this. He's such a pain!”
 
But despite his angry threats, Kiba continued to dutifully leap from branch to branch, delving ever deeper into the forest. No matter how annoying the blond loudmouth could be, he had not forgotten the frightened look on the Hokage's face when told of Naruto's disappearance, or the almost frantic way she'd ordered him found. There was something going on she wasn't telling them. And Kiba couldn't help but feel whatever it was did not bode well for their hyperactive friend…
 
A sudden howl sounded below them.
 
“Akamaru's found a scent!” Kiba announced, leaping down several branches closer to the ground. Hinata quickly followed him as Akamaru shot like an arrow into the darkness, weaving in and out of the trees after the invisible trail.
 
As Kiba and Hinata chased after the giant dog, two more figures suddenly appeared beside them, matching their pace. It took them a minute to recognize the faces of Kakashi and Gai in the shadowy gloom of the forest.
 
“Find something?” Kakashi called. The jounin's half-masked face and slouched headband made him eerily look like one blue eye hovering in the darkness.
 
“Akamaru knows Naruto's scent so it's probably him,” Kiba replied. “We just have to follow the trail now.”
 
“Good job,” Gai called. “Lead the way!”
 
Before long the four ninja saw a small clearing appear in the distance through the trees. Akamaru put on an extra burst of speed and sent up a long, keening howl.
 
“He's found him,” Kiba yelled, leaping from the branches to the ground. The other three quickly followed his example and took off for the clearing on foot.
 
As they neared the tree line a strong smell suddenly filled Kiba's nose, overwhelming him with its sickly stench. He almost staggered backwards from the assault on his sensitive nose. The dog-ninja immediately recognized it. He had smelled it many times before, just never in so large an amount as now.
 
It was the smell of blood. Sharp, metallic-smelling blood…
 
Kiba felt his stomach twist in the bottom of his gut as a cold wave of dread washed over him.
Akamaru had stopped ahead of them just short of the clearing. The dog's head was held low to the ground, his tail tucked firmly between his legs. A low whimper whined deep inside his throat.
 
The other ninja also seemed to sense something off and slowed as they neared. The clearing was quiet, bathed in silvery moonlight. One might have almost said it looked serene. But what the four ninja saw when they finally reached the tree line and saw the scene spread out before them, any thoughts of beauty or poetry were immediately banished from their minds.
 
Gai and Kakashi stepped back in horror while Kiba fought with himself not to lose the meager contents of his stomach as the overwhelming stench of blood once again assaulted him, coating his nostrils with the sticky scent of gore. Beside him, Hinata's pupil-less eyes widened, her face crumbling in despair. Then helplessly shaking her head as if in denial of the horrible sight she beheld, she let out a long and agonized scream…
 
oooooo
 
Sasuke crashed through the dark foliage of the trees, not caring anything about secrecy or stealth. His heart hammered madly in his chest, dread rising in the back of his throat like tar. Not more than a few minutes ago he'd heard a terrified scream echo through the forest. The scream was young and feminine, but somehow he knew it had something to do with Naruto…
 
Racing in the direction he'd heard the scream Sasuke suddenly saw a small clearing appear in the distance. As he neared he noticed several other people already there. From what he could see through the trees it looked like Kakashi and Gai-sensei along with Hinata and Kiba from Team Eight. He sprang to the ground and ran for the tree line at a sprint, desperately hoping his fears would ultimately be proved unfounded.
 
But when he finally reached the edge of trees and saw the horrific scene displayed before him, the Uchiha heir froze, all his hopes and prayers shattering like a fragile piece of glass somewhere deep inside him.
 
The entire clearing was covered in blood. There was hardly a patch of grass left unstained by the gory mess. On the trunks of several trees surrounding the clearing smears and splatters of red shined darkly in the moonlight. Pieces of torn flesh and trailing viscera lay everywhere like the strewn toys of some disobedient child.
 
In the middle of the clearing a mutilated body lay facedown on the ground, marinating in a sticky pool of blood. Its clothes and hair were so soaked with blood their original colors couldn't be determined. Its limbs jutted from its body at odd angles, none of them natural. Sasuke couldn't tell from the distance but he thought he saw one arm actually laying several feet away from the rest of its disfigured body.
 
Like a sickening wave, unbidden memories rose in the back of Sasuke's mind, reminding him of that terrifying night so many years ago when his older brother had massacred their entire family. He suddenly remembered with sickening clarity the bodies littering the floors of his family's mansion - laying where they`d fallen in their death throes as Itachi had cut them down - the unnerving stillness of the dead, but most of all the blood…
 
Oh gods, the blood…
 
He could never erase that image from his mind. It still haunted his memories - that sticky feeling of half-dried blood on his hands as he'd tried to wake his parents from their unnatural sleep. He could still feel that blood on his hands even now, forever staining them with something he could never hope to wash away.
 
No… Not again… he silently begged, shakily stepping into the blood-spattered clearing. Please not again…
 
He began to move towards the body, his footsteps slow and hesitant.
 
Please not again…
 
“No, Sasuke,” Kakashi said, suddenly appearing in front of him and blocking his path. The jounin`s voice was heavy and laced with undeniable pain. “You don't have to see this…”
 
“Get out of my way, Kakashi,” Sasuke snarled, trying to side-step the jounin. “That's not him. It can't be! The idiot's just lost somewhere in the forest. It`s not him.”
 
“Sasuke, please,” Kakashi begged, desperately trying to hold his student back. “You don't want to see this.”
 
“Get out of my way!” Sasuke cried, angrily pushing past Kakashi. “That's not him! It's not Naruto!”
 
As if unable to muster the willpower to try and stop Sasuke again or already knowing such an attempt would only be in vain, Kakashi silently stepped aside, his masked face solemnly bowed to his chest.
 
His path once again unhindered, Sasuke began to move towards the blood-soaked body. Behind him somewhere on the edge of the clearing he could hear Hinata quietly sobbing into her hands. His feet seemed to carry him closer to the grisly scene on their own accord. He didn't want to look just like Kakashi had said; he was frightened of what he might see. But he couldn't seem to make himself stop. He had to know…
 
Nearing the body, Sasuke gingerly stepped inside the pool of blood surrounding it and knelt beside the mutilated corpse. The overwhelming smell of death invaded his nostrils like a noxious gas. He had to fight with himself not to cover his mouth or turn away. Now close enough to see, Sasuke saw whoever had killed the victim had brutally sliced the person's stomach open, almost cutting the poor soul in half. He had to look away from the wet, shiny pile of innards laying splattered beneath the body's disemboweled stomach. As he knelt in the still warm puddle of blood, Sasuke saw that the body's face was turned down into the ground, hiding its features from view.
 
Slowly, hesitantly, Sasuke reached out and slipped his hands underneath the body's head. As he gently lifted the lifeless weight up off the ground he was sickened by the way the vertebras in the neck rolled and twisted between his palms - the unmistakable sign of a broken neck.
 
He slowly turned the head to the side, exposing the bloodstained face beneath - and felt the last tiny thread of hope he'd been holding onto snap like a brittle piece of string deep inside him.
 
A strangled cry of despair slipped from Sasuke's lips and echoed into the night. He felt his eyes begin to sting as he stared into the sightless blue eyes staring back at him from the red-smeared face. In the moonlight he could now make out several strands of light blond hair framing the pain-twisted face he held in his hands, somehow miraculously unstained by the surrounding lake of blood.
 
“No…” he moaned, shaking his head angrily in denial. “No. No, no, no…”
 
No… Please not again. Please don't let this be real. Please no…
 
But no matter how hard Sasuke tried to deny the horrible truth of what he saw, nothing could change the identity of the one whose mutilated body he knelt beside or whose bloody head he cradled in his hands.
 
It was Naruto. The hyperactive knucklehead of Konoha. Self-proclaimed future Hokage, and klutz extraordinaire. His one and only friend…
 
Sasuke felt hot burning tears suddenly flood the corners of his eyes, threatening to overflow his stoic mask. He felt emotions long thought dead rise up inside him, pulling and tearing at his already bleeding heart.
 
His only friend was dead, brutally murdered. Killed. Gone…
 
Pain so intense it felt like he was being torn apart inside assailed the boy.
 
But before the Sasuke could succumb to grief or shock, he suddenly noticed out of the corner of his eye something laying in the moonlight just outside the pool of blood surrounding his friend's body. Looking closer he felt his stomach twist at the sight of the object he beheld.
 
It was a paper fan, its paddle the same shade of red as the very pool of blood he knelt in. The same kind of fan that made the Uchiha family crest and was embossed on the back of all his clothes…
 
Shakingly picking it up, Sasuke held the seemingly out of place object up in front of him. For a moment he couldn't understand its presence there in the clearing beside his friend's dead body. But then like being punched in the gut, he understood.
 
It was a message. A message left to him from the very one he'd been so determined to find earlier that evening during that attack.
 
Itachi…
 
Sasuke felt hot, burning, helpless anger boil up inside him. Without realizing it he was crushing the fan in half, its wooden spines crackling under the pressure. He felt several of its broken ribs pierce his skin, blood pouring down his palm to mingle with the blood already staining his hands. But Sasuke couldn't bring himself to care. The pain in his hand was nothing compared to the pain now throbbing like a poison through his entire body. He'd once again failed to stop his brother. He'd once again failed to be there to protect the ones he cared for.
 
He'd failed yet again. And this time it had been his best friend Naruto - the only one that'd ever seemed to care or understand him - that'd had to pay the price for his failure. Itachi had once again won...
 
Sasuke's stoic façade suddenly seemed to crumble, his face morphing into an expression of utter anguish and despair. Then tilting his head back he screamed his misery to the pitiless night sky above. And for the first time in as long as he could remember he let the tears of loneliness, pain, and loss finally fall…
 
oooooo
 
The moon hung low in the sky, shedding its light on the quiet land below. The forest was for the most part silent - the village Hidden in the Leaves now many miles away - except for one small group of cloaked figures stealthfully making their way through the shadowy trees towards the western border of the Fire country.
 
“Ow… I think he hit a vein. I really do. What if I bleed to death before we make it back to headquarters?”
 
“Then it would serve you right for being stupid enough to let that brat get close enough to get a strike on you. You're such a disgrace to the name Akatsuki. I don't know who ever thought of actually letting you be called one of its elite.”
 
“But, Deidara-sempai,” Tobi whined, cradling his bleeding arm against his chest, “he was faster than I thought. And I didn't know he had that second kunai. Anyone could have been caught by surprise.”
 
“Be quiet,” Hidan snarled, hoisting his three-bladed scythe angrily up onto his shoulder. “You're incessant jabbering is starting to get on my nerves.”
 
“You're just angry because you didn't get to do that little ritual of your,” Deidara shot back, shooting the silver-haired ninja a dirty look.
 
“At least you don't have to put up with it every time we go on a mission,” Hidan's partner, Kakuzu, said.
 
“You shouldn't make fun of another person's religion,” Hidan growled. “It's bad karma.”
 
“Be quiet, all of you,” another suddenly said from the head of the group, instantly silencing the rest of them. He slowly turned around to spear them all with blood-red, tomoe-dotted eyes. “You knew from the beginning, Hidan, that this was not a killing mission. Our mission was to capture the demon-vessel and bring him back to headquarters alive.”
 
The other four shifted uneasily under Itachi's baleful gaze - feeling as if he was somehow looking through them down into their very souls - before the missing Leaf-nin slowly turned towards his partner, Kisame, and the unconscious blond figure draped over the shark-man's shoulder. The estranged Uchiha smirked evilly and ran the tip of his right index finger down the narrow seal-scroll pasted across his captive's forehead, lovingly tracing the complex Sanskrit characters written there.
 
“It's a shame I can't be there to see my little brother's face when he finds his friend's body,” he softly mused, tracing his finger now across a bruised, whisker-marked cheek. “It's such a waste not to see the effects of our hard work play out…”
 
“Itachi-sempai,” Tobi hesitantly spoke up, “did we really have to go to such… dramatic lengths with the body? I mean, doesn't it all seem rather excessive?”
 
“No,” Itachi replied, his tone indifferent. “I wanted to leave a lasting reminder for my little brother that he will never stop me, no matter how hard he tries. And what better way to prove that then with the blood of his own friend staining his hands? There's also no longer any reason to worry about Konoha sending ninja to rescue the boy. He's now ours to do with as we wish.”
 
Then giving his captive one more appraising look, Itachi turned - and with his companions following close behind - disappeared into the inky darkness, carrying with them Naruto's bound and unconscious form far away from everything he knew that was familiar, warm, or safe.
 
To Be Continued…