Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ On the Wrong Path ❯ Chapter 6

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

Chapter 6

Cronos

What brings you along this way

Feeling like you wanna play

But don't do as I do

Just do exactly as I say

Coz I'm a cruel man I'll take it all away

And I'm a king I'll make you pay

Coz I'm a cruel man I'll burn it all away

I'm a king I'm here to stay

……………--“Cruel Man” by Intwine

***

By some luck, by fate she had dodged the arrow aimed at her head. Her body trembled at the realisation that Sasuke had indeed, every intention of treating her as his enemy. It angered her, pained her that he had become so heartless.

Her fist drove into a tree and it shattered, the debris hurtling towards his face. He dodged them easily, but once he turned he found her clone before him. Before he could swipe it with his sword another explosion burst behind him and he fell forwards, driving his sword into the clone's thigh. To his surprise it didn't burst into smoke, instead, it spewed out red hot blood onto his sword and face. He couldn't move as her insane strength wrapped around him and she pummelled to the earth with him.

“Agh…” she groaned in pain and stars filled her vision. Sasuke leaped off her the moment the pain coursed through her body, and was now standing a few feet from her. Sakura lay there for a moment, hoping that she had enough chakra to keep her clone behind him. She knew that he could easily kill her off now and the clone would vanish.

But she was not stupid.

“One… wrong move… and you'll blow up,” she breathed heavily as she tried to sit up.

Sasuke frowned. He watched as she gradually sat upright. He looked behind him and saw her clone hold a detonator in her hand. He looked onto his body and saw an odd seal pressed onto his leg.

“New jutsu of yours?”

“Mmm…” she answered painfully, and finally, got her hand round the hilt of sword. With the other, she revealed a tiny bottle that had gone unharmed in the explosion. She could already feel her life slip away… she had to be quick.

“You're kidding, right?” she heard Sasuke say. She couldn't see him anymore. He had become just a shadow in her vision. “You all ready have an antidote?”

She drank the whole of the green juice before she answered, “I had two years to prepare one. I would have never managed it without Tsunade-sama…”

Slowly she could feel her vision return, and all that remained was the throb in her thigh. She concentrated on getting it out, never once looking at Sasuke.

“Are you going to ignore me while you struggle?”

“Right now my life is more important than my attention to you…”

He looked bored, “Heh… you've changed.”

Finally, the steel was out of her flesh. “AAGH!” She tried to suppress her moan of pain, but it resonated fairly loudly around them. Sasuke's expression never changed. Quickly, she reached into her pocket and got a fresh roll of bandage. She bit her lip as she wrapped the bandage round her aching leg.

At last, with the help of a tree bark, she was up. And slowly, she looked up.

Taller, leaner, more handsome. His hair hadn't changed, but his clothes did. He wore black, the Uchiha symbol on his back. On his shoulder was a new emblem that had only been revealed to the Leaf a few months ago. It was a snake and a crow, the symbol of his rebellion.

“Like what you see?”

“Hardly,” she lied.

“I thought you had more pressing matters than worrying about a village that's long gone.”

Her eyes widened, “How do you…”

“Oh please, who's not talking about it? Word travels fast around Konoha. Especially if you tell sales people about who you've been looking for. He's the only person capable of defending Konoha now.”

She couldn't answer. Damn. It looked like he had spies in that village as well. How could she be so stupid? God… for three weeks they had been wandering in all around the areas where people had sighted Hyuuga. And every time she thought she caught up to him, he had disappeared. Now she understood why: Sasuke had been warned time and time again of Hyuuga's trail thanks to the spies in his village. Even if that village was kilometres apart, Sasuke was all ways one step ahead of him, and three steps ahead of her.

“So have you found Neji yet, your next Hokage?” he asked casually, his face still bored, but very aware of the bomb on his leg.

“That's classified.”

“Even from me?”

“Especially from you.”

His face remained blank. Despite her loss of blood, she could feel it boil.

“Why did you return to the village? Didn't you cause enough damage?”

For the first time since she'd seen him he smiled, “It sounds like your accusing me of something.”

“I'm doing just that!” she spat in frustration, “What's wrong with you?! Why are you doing this? Neji's after you, do you want to return to Konoha as a corpse?!”

“Watch your mouth,” he warned. There was a moment of silence as his words sliced through her. Than he said, “What makes you think I burnt down the village anyway? Clearly Sakura, you haven't been paying much attention to my rebellion.”

“If that's what you call it!” she quickly found her voice, her strength, “It's sounds more like your quest for revenge has gone out of hand and it's become more like terrorism! Every week there's news that somewhere, people are dying, murdered! You're rebellion has caused so many deaths… ” Her last sentence sounded like it was more to her than to him, barely a whisper: it was so pained.

To her surprise, he had heard her, “Yes. I've been killing shinobi. So what? But not once, have I laid hands on innocent civilians.”

There was another silence. For a moment, she felt relieved. Her head shot up, “If you didn't do it, than who did?”

He raised he eyebrow, “What makes you think I know?”

“You know, dammit!” she frowned as she gripped the tree bark.

He smiled again, his eyes closed in satisfaction: “That information's classified.”

Before she could stop herself she spat, “Even from me?”

“Especially from you.” He said with a grin.

He had her. Damn him. She clenched her fist and took a deep breath. She was taking a big risk now but she didn't care. So she told him briefly what she knew, “We are far from finding Neji. There were sightings of him three kilometres north-west of here. That's all we have.”

She realised of course that she had just given him and his men a chance to escape once again, but she wasn't prepared for that to happen today. She had never been the one to want to do this, but she knew that Tsunade would be proud of her. She had never trained for this… but today her emotions had driven her far enough for the task. She would protect Konoha from Sasuke… He would be engulfed in flames and she would be there with him. Finally, she would be with the man she loved so much… By the time Naruto got here…

“Looks like you're running out of time. If I weren't held back so much I would have attacked Konoha by now. ”

She tried to remain steady. She hadn't thought about what Naruto would do if he found them both dead…

“Tell me,” she said, “who did it?”

“Hmn,” the amusement in his eyes disappeared, “ever heard of Cronos?”

“Cronos?”

“That's right. Cronos. The exorcists.”

/\\

His half mask was barely on his face. He stumbled and cursed. They had left him. He was of no use to them anymore. As the flames had engulfed the village they had thrown him out. He was literally thrust among the screaming people as they said, “You're body's worthless. You were privileged enough to follow us for so long. But in your state, you won't be able to catch the boy.”

As he leaned against the stump where his arm once was, his eyes burnt with hatred. His life was worthless. His existence was meaningless. And yet, why was he still alive?!

Then he knew that he wasn't cursed till the very end after all.

He was here.

His demon was here.

/\\

“They came from across the sea. They're a group of exorcists, and have existed in our land for years. They managed to disguise themselves amongst ordinary people for a while… but since the disappearance of Akatsuki they've re-appeared.”

“No,” Sakura's eyes widened in realisation, “it can't be! Naruto…” she whispered.

“Naruto? So it's true? Naruto was taken by them.”

Her head shot up. She didn't care why he knew so much, “So they're just like everyone else. They want the demon for power?”

Sasuke grinned once more, still unable to move with the clone still trigger-happy, “Rumour has it a demon's blood has special powers…”

Sakura's could feel her head spin and her heart do a summersault, “No way… were they taking his blood?!”

“Not his blood. They were taking Kyuubi's.”

“From within Naruto? While he was… awake and alive…?”

Sasuke shrugged, “I'm just guessing here.”

“Monsters…” she whispered. There was another stretch of silence. Sasuke looked behind him once more. The clone seemed to be quivering… Was she at her limit?

“So why were you at the village?”

His head turned back round and he looked at her paling face, the sweat glistening on her skin.

“Let's just say that I'm looking for Cronos myself. You've fought against them. Seen their jutsu's. Their like none ever seen before… Worth copying I think.”

She had to do it, she heard enough. She would be damned if it was her fault for letting him escape. He was too dangerous. Her tears burst out. Her pain overwhelmed her: emotional and physical. Slowly, she knew she was losing control of her clone.

Sasuke took a step but she shouted,

“Don't move! I will do it Sasuke!”

Something had happened that day. Something she had wanted to happen ever since she had met him. He watched her… watched her, for the very first time that it even shocked him, with… admiration. Since the moment she had taken his blade to trap him to the instant she was planning a kamikaze, he had realised something important.

Her clone was now as threatening as a kitten. Sakura tried to get up, and he noticed that she held a seal with her one hand. She panted, tried to stand upright, but she lost her balance and fell against his body. Her head was against his chest, his slow, controlled, beating heart in her ear. Sasuke stood fairly still, but in a second had her sweaty wrist in an iron grip. She still managed to hold her seal despite his painful hold. He felt her power despite her exhaustion. In a second, the clone vanished. In her mind she cursed as her tears fell slowly against, her panting ever more pained.

“Join me or die,” he said.

She quivered and spat, “I'd rather die than join you!”

“I thought you'd say that. But I have someone here that may change your mind.”

Behind her she heard rustling and wondered why she had never noticed him. Then her eyes widened and she was unable to breathe… All logic had left her as she watched him join them in the clearance.

“Sakura.”

“No!”

TBC

PLEASE REVIEW!

I realised that there wasn't going to be much about Naruto in this chapter, which is why I dedicated Intwine's song to him! Yay! Please take a few moments to tell me whether you like my story! Sniff…