Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ On the Wrong Path ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

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

The events in this story are in the Alternate Universe of Shipuuden. Also, the Sakura in this story is the Sakura from Shippuden.

I don't own Naruto. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

Arriving… in the subconscious...

Does it hurt?

Of coarse it hurt. How could it not hurt? How could his whole being not hurt?

“Leave me alone.”

“Naruto,” the cavernous voice of Kyuubi entangled his soul. He was in that realm he and only one other man had seen in their life. Before him, behind the cold iron bars, the red eyes of the demon Kyuubi bore into his. “That agonising pain you went through. The depth of it no one else can understand but you and I…”

“Stop it.”

“Naruto. I've been sealed in this world for 17 years. Never before had I felt such pain. Take off the seal and let me run again!”

Naruto smirked darkly, “You were put in me for a reason, remember? I can't allow you to go on a rampage on Konoha again.”

For a moment there was silence before the demon chuckled at the sight of the boy standing in the murky water, his eyes closed lightly, a grin on his face. The Kyuubi watched him a little longer and felt the bubbles of his skin pop louder and faster than usual.

“You have darkness in your heart Naruto. I can feel it all over this dimension.”

The blond sighed and opened his eyes, staring without fear into Kyuubi's eyes, “Darkness resides within everyone. You just need a little nudge and you've reached it.” Suddenly his tone changed and spoke more to himself than to Kyuubi, “I've been standing on a cliff my entire life, watching the blackness of the fierce ocean below crash onto the rocks…thatis the true darkness. I've always been too scared to jump in, knowing that if I did, it would be my death… but I've been intrigued none the less. And behind me, was once, long ago, a blank, boring, rocky place. It was that boring place that made me turn away from the darkness; it was that place, where I went and sought friends. The only way I could attract attention from the forest I could not go into was by being loud, joyful and clumsy. Finally, they came out of the forest and I could share this place with friends.”

He smiled, and his voice broke a little by the pain, “But then the organisation captured me. Slowly, within me, I was being pushed pulled away from my friends and towards the edges of the cliff. I screamed and yelled with outstretched hands, Sasuke's face no longer in the crowd, as my friends watched me with blank faces, unable to do anything. I kept screaming their names, for months, but they just watched my getting pulled towards the abyss.

“And finally, during the final months of torture, a deformed figure, shaped and mashed like all the friends I ever knew, walked towards me and pushed me with one hand off the cliff.”

He looked down, “And now Kyuubi, I am falling… slowly in reality, but fast in this world, towards the black ocean. Only one with wings can catch me and save me before I drown in the darkness.”

Kyuubi chuckled in amusement, not feeling the slightest bit of sympathy or empathy, “And the only such person is in exile.”

For another long moment there was silence except the rippling of the steady water that soaked his feet. Then, Kyuubi again, appeared, “And in the meantime, I can feel the power overflowing! You know the seal is cracking Naruto, the organisation made sure of that! Every ticking hour of your existence is dedicated to keeping it at bay, but the power will soon burst from its container and you can do nothing to stop it!”

Silence, before Naruto said,

“Fucking demon.”

Chapter 3

The sun beat down on the streets of Konoha: a perfect spring morning that was fresh and reborn from the previous night's storm. By the time Naruto met up with Sakura at the ramen shop, he found out that Neji and his team-mates had gone to the North, at least a week before his arrival. They're mission was to save Kakashi, as he had not contacted them in several months, and Tsunade feared the worst.

“She asked me about that,” Naruto said seriously after slurping in some ramen, “She thought he was the one who saved me. But I didn't see him...” I do remember the organisation mentioning his name though…

“Everyone else has left as well,” she continued, telling him that last night Shikamaru, Choji and Ino had to be re-assigned together, in order to spy on the Man in Exile.

“Kiba and Hinata are still here…”

“Yeah, Kiba sprained his leg during one of the missions to save you. But he's okay now. His sister wanted him to stay here for a while before going on missions again. Hinata… well, she never gave up on you. She kept looking for you, saying that, if she were in the same situation as you were, you wouldn't give up on her. But when Kiba had that injury she had to return with him. Although she didn't really want to… she stayed with Kiba during his injury. And as soon as he was cleared, her father wouldn't let her go anymore. She's been in Konoha for a week now, because of Hyuuga duties only she can take care of since Neji and Hanabi are away...”

“She didn't want to take care of Kiba?” Naruto raised his eyebrow, ramen dangling from his mouth.

Sakura looked away, “Yeah. Don't tell anyone, but she told me she wanted to find you, more than looking after Kiba's sprain. I can understand her determination I guess. Unfortunately, quite suddenly, five days before you returned, she decided to become realistic, and said that… you must have died. But with you gone for so long… I really thought you were… Oh God, how horrible! I'm sorry!”

“Sorry? About what?”

“Nothing, nothing, just forget it,” and she ordered more lemon juice.

“Did you… speak with Hinata today?”

“Yup. She seemed, I dunno, really happy. I can't really tell dammit, you know I can't read Hinata!”

Sakura giggled and took a sip from her icy cold lemon juice. Then, she suddenly sprung from her seat in high spirits, paid the barman, and than grabbed a shocked Naruto around the arm, pulling him to his feet and smiling brightly, “Come on, I feel pumped up! Let's continue training!”

The next two days could be described as nothing less than tough training. They stretched for three hours in the morning and four hours in the late afternoon, until the sunset, and sometimes into the dark evening.

They're training was in fact excruciatingly rough.

At first, Sakura was hesitant. She knew Tsunade was still giving the hyped-up blond his medications and she noticed more than once the scars on his back, leg and stomach whenever she slid underneath him for an attack or he came crashing down on her. She held back her strength considerably, frightened to send him back to the hospital. But when he sent her flying into several trees, he made it clear enough that he meant business.

Little did Sakura know that on the third day of their training things would be very different. Naruto asked Tsunade for a jounin squad to join their training. The Hokage raised her eyebrows at his request, telling him that the squads were very busy and had no time to train them. But after much persuasion and begging, he finally got what he wanted… and that was when the nightmare began.

She noticed it the moment all 20 jounin, herself included, charged towards Naruto, and he dodged, flipped, ducked and counter-attacked each blow, each kunai and each Shuriken.

In a blurry moment, one she would remember in her short life, her universe changed. He grabbed a man's arm from the crowd and ferociously twisted it back and upwards.

“Gaaaah!!”

What…

“Naruto! Stop!”

POP!

The sickening sound of tissue tearing rang in her ears as the man's arm was forced from his shoulder blade. The world was on halt for a moment. She stared in horror at the Naruto she thought she knew. In those slow moments, she heard him chuckle slowly, then without warning, the world sped up again as he attacked the other jounin's like a rabid dog. He showed no mercy as he delved cruel, painful and nearly fatal blows to each of the defenceless fouls, laughing as he did so. Their cries soared into the night sky and limp after limp body dropped heavily to the floor. Their moans were slowly disappearing as they slipped into unconsciousness.

Sakura, still in horror, managed to snap out of her shock and move her legs towards the closest. His fingers were broken and his right foot was bent 180 degrees. She placed her hands over his injury, fully aware that she was the next to lose a limb. Her soft, warm chakra slowly lit up and she could feel the cold breeze turn her body to ice as she perspired furiously in fear.

Quickly, she began to work on the man's tissue, when Naruto's head spun towards her and her heart stopped: his eyes were crimson red. Not only that, but his smile was wiped right off his face and instead his eyes were fixated on her with killer anger. He was full of murderous intent. Suddenly, he yelled out in anguish, “DIE!!”

She screamed in shock and scurried as fast as she could away from him, but it was too late. He pulled out a kunai from his pouch and swiped for her neck. Sakura shut her eyes.

Miraculously, when she opened her eyes her head was still on her shoulders. She felt something warm and thick slither down her neck, over her collarbone and between her bosom.

“HAAA H AAA HAAA…” she panted. Her eyes were wide as saucers. The kunai had managed to only dig a millimetre into her skin.

And then the unexpected happened. Naruto groaned in pain and clutched his chest. She watched in disbelief as he stumbled away from her. Gallons of blood suddenly spewed from his mouth. He looked at her dazed, confusion in his eyes, and as though he saw her for the first time, smiled.

“Naru… to…”

THUMP!

His body hit the ground.

///////////////////

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Back in hospital, and this time, he only had one visitor. Hinata, paler than ever, was by his side and watched him as he softly slept. The 19 injured jounin were placed under intensive care, and Sakura, Shizune and four other high-ranking medics attended their near-fatal wounds, performing complicated jutsu's and not once taking their minds of their subjects that were in such critical condition. By the time they managed to save all their lives, it had been five hours later, close to midnight. The hospital had become cold, and Sakura still had to report every single detail to Tsunade, who, luckily, had her head on her paper-coated desk and was drooling in her slumber. Sighing in relief, Sakura slowly backed away so as not to awaken her sensei and decided to head back home.

She ascended two stairs before she was back in the hospital wing. Although he nearly killed her, she had to check up on him. When she opened his door, she was hit by the pungent smell of sleep-inducing drugs. Hinata, still by his side, fast asleep, was whimpering something in her sleep. Her heart pounded fiercely and Naruto's frightening face suddenly flashed in her mind. She cringed and shook her head.

Kyuubi. It must have been the kyuubi. Naruto wouldn't attack her unless he was under the influence of Kyuubi. Or maybe… no! Could those months of imprisonment driven Naruto to insanity?

No.

No. No. No.

He wasn't that easy to break. He wasn't. He wasn't.

Quickly, she left, her heart still beating, trying to take the possibility out of her mind. She rubbed her arms; it sure was cold. She strode fast when suddenly she bumped into someone and she cried out an apology before she noticed who it was;

“Kiba?”

“Hey…”

At first, she was shocked to see him there, but than she realised that the person he wanted was fast asleep.

“Hinata?”

“Yeah… Everything okay? I heard you had a rough day.”

Sakura inhaled deeply, nodding. “I need to put back some of this stuff, the gloves, and incinerate these needles,” she showed him the needles and the slippery gloves she had on. Kiba nodded, “Let me help, there's nothing better to do anyway.”

In the dark, too tired and unbothered to switch on the light, they put everything away in silence. Than, five minutes later, Kiba asked, “Sakura?”

“Hmn? Sorry, I'm just so tired right now; it's been one hell of a day. I don't even know how to describe it.”

“What the fuck happened?” Kiba suddenly snapped, “I mean, seriously, what could have knocked him out like that? Why is the hospital suddenly out of bounds? They're rumours circulating that Naruto tried to kill 19 jounin!”

“He… I don't know. I don't know what happened. I don't know him anymore… I'm sorry.”

She put her head in her hand, fatigued.

“Is,” he asked now a little calmer, “Is Hinata still with him?”

Sakura was a little taken aback by the question, sure that he must have smelt her, but then again, that room Naruto was in could block out even Akamaru's sense of smell. She replied, “Yes. It's natural. She's always admired him. “Kyuubi did it. Kyuubi made him do it,” she said. She always loved him.”

She caught a glimpse of his face; he looked pained. Then she looked at him fully and said firmly, “I thought I was going to die.”

There was silence between them as he watched her. She didn't take her eyes away from him and she repeated as strongly as she could, “I thought I was going to die…” but by her third repeat, tears built in her eyes, her voice weakened, and by he fourth repeat she suddenly clasped her hand to her mouth to kill her whimpering, and she looked away from him, embarrassed to have shown such weakness.

But what surprised her, was that Kiba did not ridicule her.

Instinctively, as though he could feel her pain, he went to her and pulled her into a hug. She accepted it without hesitation and laid her head against his chest, wiping away her tears that suddenly, yet slowly dripped from her eyes and stained his shirt. She continued to sob quietly and he waited patiently. The usual loud and aggressive wolf was now acutely sensing Sakura's pain like she were a wounded cub; as though her pain were his own, because Kiba had now become a latent tender predator, when he fell in love with the one girl who was in the other room, asleep, next to the fox. She was aware of his feelings, but she quietly and shyly hid away from them.

So when Sakura whispered, “I'm sorry,” their eyes finally locked. Slowly, Sakura was the first to advance. She was unsure, but it came naturally and Kiba moved too. They're lips met, and from the first taste, Sakura wanted more, and she kissed him again, opening her mouth further and he obliged. Her hand softly stroked his cheek. She moaned and they quickly got rougher in their kisses, hungry for one another. She moaned in his mouth. His hands stroked her back and she allowed him to take off her shirt before she took off his.

She knew that in his mind, she had transformed into the shy girl, and in hers, she couldn't decide, because both the people she loved left her cold.

They took it slow, long and passionately, her naked legs wrapped around him and her hot moans in his ear as they stoked each other, trying so hard to erase their sorrow as they drowned in ecstasy.

He was awake.

His eyes fluttered open and quickly adjusted to the darkness. On his bed, was Hinata's sleeping head. He stepped out. His bare feet touched the icy-cold floor. Still a little dazed, felt a pang in his arm, and noticed the white cords in his arm. He grabbed them and snapped them from his veins.

He opened the door and, struggling, made his way down the ochre-coloured passageway. He realised, by the time he reached her door, that something foreign must have driven him here, because he suddenly remembered something very important, and the fierce rush of realisation had actually woken him up.

With his ruffled hair, Naruto didn't waste a breath opening her door.

The 5th Hokage looked at him sternly from his desk. Naruto knew she had sensed him the moment he was out of bed a few stories down.

“Naruto,” she stated.

The next second, he was on her desk.

“The organisation,” he said, “They're coming. They're coming back for me.”

”Naruto, get off my desk!”

“Tomorrow, people will die. Tomorrow, someone who loved me, will die…”