Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Hopes and Dreams ❯ Chapter 7 - A Painful Rematch ( Chapter 7 )

Chapter 7 - A Painful Rematch

 

Naruto awoke to the cooled damp misty air of the forest. He rubbed his eyes and looked up at the never ending gray of the overcastted sky. He felt something on top of his chest. He looked over to see Sakura curled up beside him, in her own sleeping bag, holding him tightly. He gently moved her head onto her pillow, as he slid out of her tender embrace to get up. He looked around the campsite to see that everyone was still asleep.

 

It had been a full month since they had left the Leaf Village, and they still had no leads on the Akatsuki. They had searched everywhere; every little town, every big city, even almost every country. Yamato and Kakashi, had been sending letters back to Tsunade, keeping her well informed on their position.

 

Naruto was on the brink of loosing his hope. Only two things kept him focused on his goal. One was the cherry blossom kunoichi that was always by his side, everyday reassuring him that they would find that trader. And the other was the loss of his father, now knowing who was responsible and why his father put the Nine Tails inside of him.

 

`Madara Uchiha,' he angrily thought, tightly clenching his fist. `I will find you. I will stop you. You will pay.'

 

Sakura awoke to the sight of the blonde shinobi, standing with his back towards her. She heard him begin to cry with anger. She saw his hands clenched into tight fists. She knew he was in pain. She suddenly felt a strong force of chakra coming from him. She knew what was happening and immediately jumped towards him and wrapped her arms around her lover.

 

“It's ok,” she said in a soothing tone. “It's ok. I'm here, your cure.”

 

She could feel the Nine Tails chakra begin to suppress, as she gently caressed his chest and stomach. He tried hard to fight back his thoughts, so that his tears would go away. He would not show weakness in front of her, but his emotions got the better of him.

 

“Naruto,” she said. “I can't imagine how much pain you're going through, but you don't have to keep it bottled up inside you. Please, please let your feelings out. Please let me in. Let me try to-“

 

“It's not fair,” he interrupted in a half calm half crying voice. “This man robbed me of whatever family I had left. I promised myself along time ago that I wouldn't cry over the loss of my family anymore. But now that I know the truth…” he paused as he continued to shed more tears. “The pain is too overpowering. I can't fight it back anymore. I've never felt so alone in my entire life.”

 

Upon hearing this, Sakura was almost to the brink of tears herself, but she new she had to stay strong. Not just for herself, but for Naruto as well. She could never remember a time where Naruto ever lost faith. He had never been this close to giving up on his hope. She turned him around and laid his head on her shoulder as she gently stroked his back. She began to whisper in his ear.

 

“Naruto,” she whispered. “We will find him, and we will bring him to justice. This I promise you.” Eventually everyone else awoke. They were all ready to begin another day hunting down the elusive Akatsuki.

 

 

*Leaf Village*

 

About a week before, Tsunade got the note from Kakashi telling her of their position. On that day, she decided to go for a walk. It had been a long time since she had seen any of them, so she tired to take her mind off of it by going to a Sake Bar.

 

As she walked down the streets on her way to the Sake Bar, Tsunade couldn't help but have a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She walked farther down the dirt street until she saw a tall tree. She stopped for a second not knowing why, until she saw nine leaves fall from the trees branches.

 

`This is a bad Omen,' she thought to herself. She immediately rushed back to her office, trying to remember what their coordinates were.

 

 

*In the Forest*

 

The two teams rushed through the many tree branches, searching for any clue they could find. Neji was now constantly using his Byakugan, constantly scanning the area, hoping to see something. Suddenly, something caught his attention. He stopped to take a second look, just to make sure.

 

“What do your eyes see Neji,” yelled Gai. The rest of the two teams stopped immediately.

“I see two,” he replied. “No three bodies to the north. Two of them are standing over the third body. They appear to be sealing something.” He focused more to get a better look. “The two are of the Akatsuki!”

 

Naruto immediately ran north upon hearing this information. He wouldn't be stopped by anyone.

 

“Wait Naruto!!,” yelled Kakashi, rushing after him. Everyone else immediately rushed after them.

 

`Your not getting away!' thought Naruto.

 

After about thirty yards Kakashi tackled Naruto to the ground just near the bottom of a hill. “Naruto calm down,” whispered Kakashi, putting his hand over Naruto's mouth to keep him quite.

 

He looked over the clearing and gasped in astonishment. Pain and Konan were in deep meditation, sealing away what appeared to be Kabuto. `Why are they sealing Kabuto?' he thought. Then he remembered. Kabuto had been able to harbor Orochimaru's spirit. `And by the looks of it they appear to be almost done.'

 

The rest of the teams finally caught up to them. They all were concerned to know what Kakashi was thinking. But before Kakashi could get out a plan, they heard a deep voice call from the other side of the hill.

 

“Why don't you try facing us,” said Pain in a calm voice. “Instead of trying a sneak attack.”

 

The teams had no choice. They immerged from the other side of the hill, knowing full well a battle was about to ensue. They stared each other down until Naruto, flooded with anger, broke the silence.

 

“Where's Madara Uchiha!?!,” he yelled, angrily staring at the Akatsuki leader.

 

“He is of no concern of yours at this moment,” replied Pain. “You should be concerned about me killing you. You left me a very big scare on my chest that I need to repay you for.”

 

Naruto gritted his teeth as he prepared for battle.

 

“Gai,” said Kakashi. “You, Ten-ten, and Lee go with Yamato and Sai and take on Konan. Me, Naruto, Sakura, and Neji will take on Pain.”

 

With in seconds, the Leaf Ninja split the two Akatsuki members. Gai and Lee tried to double Konan with two Leaf Hurricanes, but Konan blocked them both. She grabbed them both by their ankles and threw them to the ground as if she felt no pain. `Im-impossible,' thought Gai.

 

Yamato tried to hold her down by wrapping her wrists and ankles with a wood justu, but Konan broke out of it by turning into origami butterflies, narrowly missing the tiger claws from Sai's justu.

 

She reconstructed herself in mid-air. “Is that the best you can do,” she said, looking down at her opponents.

 

“Not even close,” yelled Ten-ten, jumping high into the air undetected.

 

Konan facial expression immediately changed, as she looked behind her to see two scrolls fly open.

 

“Double Dragon Scattering Destruction!,” yelled Ten-ten, as millions of various kunai, shuriken, knives, and blades fell from the sky. The other Leaf Ninja managed to get out of the way as the millions of weapons hit the ground.

 

“Massive Shadow Clone Justu!,” yelled Naruto, as hundreds of clones charged at Pain. Using is fighting skills however, Pain was able to take them out in seconds.

 

Neji charged him just after pain finished with the last clone, trying to hit him with an Eight Trigrams Mountain Crusher attack. But using his Rin'nagan Pain dodged the attack, grabbing both of Neji's arms in the process.

 

“Your eyes are no match for mine,” Pain said mockingly.

 

“They don't have to be,” replied Neji. Pain looked up as he heard a voice yell right in front of him.

 

“Fire style: Grand Fireball Justu!,” yelled Kakashi, shooting a huge fireball right at Pain just before Neji broke the hold.

 

Pain ducked out of the way, the gigantic ball of fire inches away from his face. He sensed another chakra source coming at him from his left. He narrowly spun out of the way of Sakura's fist, while knocking her down in one swift motion. He suddenly heard another voice yell from behind him.

 

“Rasenshuriken!,” yelled Naruto, charging in with two other clones.

 

Pain jumped into the air, dodging Naruto's attack. With in seconds, Pain did a hand sign.

 

“Wind style: Cyclone Blow!,” yelled Pain.

 

An intensive, massive amount of wind came crashing down onto the Leaf Ninja blow, destroying Naruto's last two clones and sending him crashing down to the ground in the process. Pain landed on his feet and immediately charged at Naruto, chakra already built up in his right hand.

 

Sakura looked up from the ground, unable to move, to see Pain charging at Naruto. `No,” she thought. `This isn't happening. I can't let this happen.' The tears started to well up in her eyes.

 

“NARUTO!!!!!!!,” she cried out.

 

Her cry echoed in his ear. Naruto quickly awoke to see Pain charging directly at him. He had no time to react. His eyes widened as the hit was only seconds away. He could see it in slow motion, yet he wasn't able to move fast enough. He braced himself for the hit.

 

All he could hear was the attack connecting with it's target, but he didn't feel any pain. Naruto opened his eyes to see that he was not hurt. He looked right in front of him to see a wall of sand protecting him. He heard a familier calm voice speak from behind him.

 

“I won't allow you to lay a finger on the future Hokage,” said the voice.

 

Naruto looked behind him to see Gaara, Kankurou, Tamari, and two Sand Village shinobi standing right behind him.