Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Hopes and Dreams ❯ Chapter 11 - Old Habits Die Hard ( Chapter 11 )

Chapter 11 - Old Habits Die Hard

 

A limp body lay in between the two hands of the enormous statue. The same statue that held seven of the nine bijuu captive for all eternity, and it was about to receive it's eighth. As the remaining 5 Akatsuki placed themselves on the fingertips of the statue, two of them looked down and smiled at the limp unconscious blonde jinchuuriki.

 

`At last,' thought Madera, `my revenge will finally be complete. Not only will I crush Konoha with this weapon, but I will destroy the only heir to the Forth Hokage.'

 

`Hmmm,' thought a smiling Pain. `Smile for me now boy. Your life will soon be over and be nothing more than just a feeble memory.' “The time has come,” he said addressing the rest of them, “to finish off one of the final missing pieces to our plan. Let us begin.”

 

With that the mouth of the statue slowly opened as the scroll fell from it. Pain made familiar hand signs. “Sealing Jutsu: Illusionary Dragon Complete Seal of Nine!” Nine dragon heads flew out of the statues mouth, attacking and surrounding Naruto in what appeared to be a tightly wound ball. It smoothed out to create a transparent shield, revealing the helpless jinchuuriki raised above the ground, and the life force being sucked out of it.

 

`Two days,' thought Pain looking down at the boy. `Two days and you'll be mine.'

 

*Outside the Akatsuki Layer*

 

Jumping from tree to tree, Kimiko led the team of Leaf and Sand ninja through the forest with Sakura, still wearing Naruto's jacket, almost breathing down her neck. It had been about two hours since they left the campsite, and Sakura could shake the feeling that something was wrong. Each second felt like an eternity to her, and with every passing tree the feeling grew worse. `Where is this place?' she thought. `Why haven't we found it yet?' She looked ahead to Kimiko hesitantly. “How far are we from the layer?”

 

“It's just ahead,” she replied. She could see the huge bolder covering the cave. She jumped down from the branches and ran towards the bolder, along with the rest of the group. “I thought I left it slightly open. Someone must have entered after me. They must have resealed it closed.”

 

“Then we have to see what traps await us inside,” said Gai. “Neji, check inside with your Byakugan and tell us if there are any traps surrounding the bolder.”

 

Neji first checked around the bolder intently for any traps. Much to his surprise, there didn't seem to be any. “There are none,” he said. “They appear to be stressed for time and didn't place any.”

 

“What's Going On Inside?” said Sakura worried. They had been standing outside of the layer and the feeling in her stomach wouldn't stop growing. “Is He Alright?”

 

Neji then checked inside the layer and saw the enormous statue. He looked in horror as he saw Naruto lifted from the ground, the life force seemingly being suck out of him. “It has begun,” he finally stammered out. “We have to get in there now before—“

 

That was all he got out before a chakra filled punched whizzed past his head and landed directly in the middle of the bolder, followed by two leaf hurricanes from Lee and Gai. The bolder was reduced to rubble in an instant and the team of ninja charged into the layer.

 

The Akatsuki members noticed the destroyed bolder and turned to see the Leaf and Sand ninja enter the layer. Pain couldn't believe what had happened until he remembered what Konan told him the night before.

 

“Pain,” said Konan. “I sense some unknown chakra here.”

 

“What is it?” said Pain a little concerned.

 

“I don't know,” she said as it started to fade away. “It's hard to make out, but it's very similar to his.” She pointed at Naruto, who was still mad as hell.

 

Pain looked around, and tried to sense anyone else's chakra. “No one else is here. You're just sensing the boy's.”

 

He knew he made a grave mistake but he didn't let it show. “Konan, Tobi (Madera), Kisame, and Zetsu,” he commanded in a calm voice, “take care of these minor annoyances while I hold the jutsu.”

 

All of the Akatsuki members sprang into action, splitting the team of ninja apart. Kisame was surrounded by Gai, Kimiko, Kankuro, and Neji. Konan took on Lee, Ten-Ten, Yamato, and Sai. Temari, Gaara, and Rukai took on Zetsu.

 

Tobi, however, tried to make a run for it. He almost made it to the open entrance before he was cut off by the legendary copy ninja. Kakashi held a kunai to the Akatsuki members' throat, forcing him to back away. “Madera Uchiha I presume,” said Kakashi confidently.

 

The masked man lightly laughed as he looked upon the ninja standing before him. “Long time no see Kakashi,” he said in a chuckle.

 

Kakashi looked at him puzzled. “I don't believe we've ever had the pleasure of meeting. How do you know who I am?”

 

Tobi let out another evil chuckle. “Let me ask you something, how has my left eye been treating you?”

 

Kakashi froze as he looked upon the ghost from his past. He almost dropped his kunai in shock of the man's question. He noticed the one eye-hole on the right side of the opposite ninja's mask. “No, th…that can't be…you're dead…I saw it happen.”

 

“Orochimaru found my dead body underneath that pile of rubble and rock. He brought it back to life when he resurrected Madera Uchiha's soul into my body. This is the one fight I asked Madera to let me do on my own.”

 

“Why? You were my friend, my teammate. Why would you allow yourself to be consumed by such an evil spirit in order—?“

 

“IF WE WERE FRIENDS WHY DID YOU LEAVE MY BODY THERE TO ROAT!?! WHY DID YOU TRY TO STEAL RIN AWAY FROM—?”

 

“DON'T YOU DARE BRING HER INTO THIS!!! SHE LOVED YOU MORE THAN ANYTHING IN THIS LIFE!!! SHE KILLED HERSELF BECAUSE SHE COULDN'T LIVE WITHOUT YOU!!!”

 

“LIAR!!” shouted Tobi before finally regaining his composure and changing into his fighting stance. “This is how it's going to be Kakashi. Prepare yourself for death.”

 

Kakashi, now fuming with anger, prepared himself for combat. “If this is the way it has to be,” he said in an eerily calm tone, “then this is the way it has to be.”

 

Sakura was able to escape the massive melee of combat and looked toward the statue. Looked in horror as she saw Naruto's limp body hovering off the ground, surrounded by a chakra shield. She looked around to see Pain standing on one of the fingertips, still holding the jutsu together. The anger grew inside her as she began to clench her fist. She charged at the Akatsuki leader, with her right hand engulfed in chakra.

 

Pain was still holding the jutsu when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He looked to see Sakura's right hand hit him directly in the jaw, sending sounds of his crushed bones into his ear, cracking as she applied more pressure with her connecting fist. Pain was sent flying into the cave wall, cracking it as he fell to the ground below. He couldn't hold the jutsu upon receiving the hit, sending Naruto down to the ground with a sickening thud.

 

Sakura jumped down to the ground, and cradled Naruto in her arms. Her eyes began to swell with tears as she looked upon his bloody pale face. She checked his pulse and was surprised when she found one.

 

Trying to keep her emotions in check, she began to check his eyes and noticed something very familiar about his present state. `I know this.' she thought. `This is the same state Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei were in all those years ago.' During her training, she specifically asked Tsunade to teach her how to treat this state of psychological damage.

 

She placed Naruto's head softly on the ground, and placed both of her hands firmly on his cheeks. She began to pump a massive amount of chakra into his body. However he would not respond. `Come on Naruto!' she thought as she kept pumping more and more chakra into his body.

 

`Don't die on me! Remember me? The other half of your life. Your cure for your afflictions.' Tears began to run down her face, faster and faster with every thought. `You have to pull through this! I won't lose you! I love you too much! Come on Naruto wake up!'

 

Her eyes widened as she felt a hand slightly brush the tears from her cheek. She looked into his eyes as they slowly began to open. He gazed upon her tear filled eyes as he was slowly brought back to reality. “Sa…Sak…ku…ra?” he whispered.

 

“Naruto!” she said heaving as she had exhausted almost all of her chakra. Just as she moved his hand from her face, a fist came running in catching Sakura in the face sending her flying.

 

“How touching?” mocked Pain, never losing his stride. Sakura flew into the wall with Pain left hand wrapped tightly around her neck before she could even hit the ground, with chakra built up in his right hand.

 

`This is it.' she though. `This is the end. How could it end like this?' Pain looked into her eyes as she gasped for air. “This is the part where you die!!!”

 

Sakura closed her eyes as Pain right hand came in for the kill. She had prepared herself for death, but the blow never came. She opened her eyes to see the attack stilled in place. She looked more closely to see a red chakra claw wrapped around his back and arms. She felt herself fall to the ground as Pain let go of her neck.

 

Then she felt it. The horrifyingly evil source of chakra coming from behind him. She looked behind him to see Naruto standing with the red chakra shroud of the Nine Tailed Fox engulfing his body. His wounds were almost completely healed and a second tail was about to form. “Sakura,” he said as his eyes met her gaze. “Run!”

 

 

Authors Notes: Hello all that are reading this story. I hope you like what is going on so far. This is my first Fan Fic so I hope its going well. A couple of things I want to say. First, thank you for the reviews Hanyou Mage and Gravenimage. I really appreciate them and I hope you send me more. I would also like to know what any other readers think so if you can send me any reviews that would be great. Second, as for Rin killing herself, that is purely speculation so don't take that for fact. Third, I have decided to make a sequel to this Fan Fic. I'm coming to the end of this one and I don't know what I'll name it. there are probably 3 to 5 chapters left in this one so don't expect me to be finished yet. The next chapter will be called Naruto's Rage, Sharingan VS Sharingan. I know part of that is from an actual Naruto episode, but I thought it was fitting for what I was thinking of. It will probably be up sometime next week. Until we meet again.