Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Sacrifice ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

SUMMARY: Duty, honour and love clash with a thirst for vengeance when a decade old lie is finally revealed. How far would YOU go for love? NaruIta, one-sided SasuNaru, YAOI!

Naruto Fanfiction

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All Fanfics created by Sandlewood (me) were written for the sole purpose of shared entertainment and not intended for publication or sale.

CHAPTER SUMMARY: which there is a difference of opinion and parting of ways.

~Sacrifice~
By: Sandlewood996

Chapter 2

He was tired. Tired of traveling to all ends of the godforsaken earth on a fool's errand at the whim of a madman. Tired of the near constant ache just behind his eyes. Tired of a steady diet of trail rations for the last two and a half months. Tired of the cloying dust coating the inside of his mouth and choking him. But most of all, more than any of the other constant annoyances that plagued his life on a daily basis, he was tired of the garbage emitting from his partner's mouth in a steady stream. He halted his steps and glared at the larger man's back. "Kisame." The taller man turned to him with a quizzical look. "Shut up." He continued forward, ignoring the narrow-eyed look his partner was now giving him as well as the sudden flare of killing intent emanating from the other Akatsuki member.

He tilted his head back, observing the nearly cloudless sky with a slight frown. They had several hours still until sundown. Looking forward again, he heaved an inaudible sigh, deciding that it would be asking too much for there to be a village with a reasonably priced inn containing a relatively clean bathhouse at the end of the long road they were currently traveling. Glancing from one side to the other, he observed the rocks and boulders of varying sizes, on constant vigilance to the possibility of an ambush. Scraggly trees dotted the sides of the road, twisted and bent by the inhospitable environment they were forced to survive in. The trees, he decided, were very much like shinobi. He wondered if he were a tree if he'd look just like the ones he was seeing now. With a slight tightening of his lips, he turned his gaze away from the ugly trees, disgusted with the way his mind was wandering.

Small clouds of dust rose from beneath his feet as he continued his slow, steady pace. Not a whisper of sound beyond the slight rustling of cloaks could be heard. Not even the annoying buzz of insects. This truly was no-man's land. He couldn't help but compare this dry and barren landscape to the lush, tree-filled lands of his former home. Once again he thrust the unwanted thoughts from his mind. It had been years since he'd thought of that place with anything but contempt. He wasn't about to start a new trend now. Glancing from the corner of his eyes, he observed his now silent partner. If he was beginning to grow weary of the dusty and dry climate, Kisame must be in complete misery, he decided. After all, the older man was from an area well-known for its wet environmental conditions.

Furtive movement off to the side caught his attention. Eyes narrowing, he drew his hands inside the voluminous sleeves of his dark cloak to mask his movements as several kunai fell into his grip in preparation. Whether the movement he'd detected belonged to natural wildlife native to the area...not that anything could actually survive for long out here on its own...an innocent traveler with the bad luck of being on the same road they were using, or Hunter-nin, it made no difference to him. Something...or someone...was about to die. With an almost imperceptible nod towards his partner, they both moved with practiced timing and dizzying speed. In his world, it was kill or be killed...and he had no intention of dying quite yet.

"Che...what a pain in the ass." He ignored Kisame's angry mutters, knowing his partner well enough to know that the anger was merely a front. In truth, Kisame was itching for a fight and reveled in the bloody gore of battle. In all honesty, he found it a little sickening. Killing, in his opinion, wasn't fun...it was a means of survival. It just so happened that he, like his partner, was unusually gifted in the destructive art of killing. He found no joy in taking another's life, but that didn't mean he shied away from doing what was necessary.

Swiftly forming the necessary seals, he disappeared from the road, leaving a Kage Bunshin in his place as he wove with deadly grace through the large boulders and sparce cover of trees along side the road. Quickly sighting his opponents, he assessed the danger as being moderately high. They were Iwa Oinin. His eyes narrowed as he pressed his back against the rough surface of the boulder he was crouched behind. He'd much rather get this over with quickly so as to avoid attracting unnecessary attention. His hands gracefully formed the familiar seals as he prepared an elaborate genjutsu before moving. He hadn't stayed alive as long as he had as missing-nin by taking needless risks. The Hunter-nin from Iwa, as with any other country, were not to be taken lightly. Once the genjutsu was in place, he made his move, swiftly dispatching the surprised shinobi closest to him while Kisame saw to the others. Within a few short moments the battle was over. After retrieving his kunai and quickly wiping the blades clean, he replaced them inside of his cloak before returning to the road.

Thoughts of a warm bed and refreshing bath were now but an impossible dream, he decided. There was no way they could risk staying at an inn so close to the botched ambush. Turning back towards Kisame he opened his mouth to tell him to hurry up whatever it was that he was doing only to have the words die unspoken as his partner regarded him with an unnerving stare. There was something in the other man's eyes that he definitely didn't like. His own eyes narrowed as Kisame slowly approached him, lazily swinging his over-sized sword at his side, the already loosened wrappings falling away to trail over the ground. "Kisame." He began, hands still concealed within the sleeves of his dark cloak automatically reaching for his weapons. "What are you doing?" He shifted his stance to alert readiness as the larger man continued his slow and steady approach.

"Y'know..." Kisame began conversationally. "I never did like you." One eyebrow rose inquisitively even as his eyes narrowed dangerously. "Yeah...never trust a man with no sense of humour, eh?" The sword swung in a lazy arc as the distance separating the two men was steadily reduced. "Seems I'm not the only one to think so." Lips pulled back in a feral grin to reveal sharp, pointed teeth. "Leader's been watchin' you, Itachi."

"Oh?" He had a bad feeling that he knew where this conversation was going. When it came to brute force, Kisame, unlike himself, had plenty to spare. The same went for chakra. He had no way of competing with the glutinous chakra eating sword, Samehada, that the other man wielded. However, Kisame was, simply put, rather stupid. Brute force combined with stupidity was a dangerous combination, but not something that he couldn't overcome if he exercised a bit of cunning and caution.

"Yeah...he has. We all have." The larger man halted and stared at him silently for a moment. "Aren't you curious?" Another grin pulled his lips back. He tilted his head to the side in silent inquiry even as his mind formed and discarded half a dozen plans of action in rapid succession. "How long have we been after the Kyuubi, Itachi?" Kisame didn't wait for an answer. "Too long. Every time we get close to capturing that brat, you pull some stupid shit that lets him get away." When he remained silent, the other man scowled. "Did you really think that Leader wouldn't notice? Huh?"

"Unfortunate circumstances." He continued to watch warily even as he formed the one-handed seals that would allow him to pull Kisame into a genjutsu. If what the other man was implying was true and the leader of Akatsuki had placed him under suspicion, then he was well and truly screwed. He only had one course of action left to him. He resisted the urge to curse his bad luck.

Kisame's eyes narrowed even as his free hand was moving. "Kai!" The word of release emerged on a snarl. "Don't try that shit with me, you fuckin' traitor!" He swung Samehada in a vicious arc, the wind from the passage whistling along the blade. "I know all your little tricks, so don't think they'll work on me!"

"Oh? All of them?" He allowed a small smirk to grace his lips even as he leapt back from the wicked blade, eyes narrowing as he felt the unmistakable pull of the drawing force as it tried to suck out his chakra. As he was moving, his hands were forming more seals in rapid succession. "Katon: Housenka no Jutsu." Multiple fireballs erupted forth concealing several whirling blades of shuriken directed at his target. He knew that such a technique wouldn't be enough to take a shinobi of Kisame's caliber down, but it would serve well as a quick distraction. The instant the last set of seals for the Phoenix Immortal Fire Technique were completed he was already forming the seals for Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, creating three Shadow Clones of himself to surround his former partner. As he'd expected, his first attack had been anticipated and Kisame was already moving towards him, rapidly forming the seals to create his Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu, just as he'd known he would. He didn't bother wasting his time copying the Water Clone technique as he'd already done so when he'd first joined Akatsuki. There were very few ninjutsu techniques in Kisame's arsenal that he hadn't already copied over the years that they'd been partnered.

"Heh. You're gonna have to do better than that, you little shit!" Kisame thrust Samehada into the ground temporarily to allow his hands free movement as he rapidly performed the seals for one of his favourite techniques. "Suiton: Bakusui Shouha!" He grabbed the hilt of his gigantic sword as he opened his mouth, spewing massive amounts of water to create the terrain that he was most comfortable fighting in.

Once again Kisame was behaving in a predictable way. Of course, this could only work out to his advantage. His eyes narrowed in concentration as he performed three sets of elaborate seals in rapid succession. "Doton: Retsudotenshou." While the larger man was preoccupied with evading the spiraling ground beneath him so as to avoid being crushed or buried, the second technique had already been set in motion. "Fuuton: Daitoppa." Naturally he didn't expect such a low ranking technique to be very effective, but yet again it would serve as a good distraction. While Kisame was distracted by the sudden gust of wind leveling the obstacles in its path, the third, and final, technique he'd prepared took effect. "Katon: Rakka Shounetsujigoku Bachi no Jutsu." A thrill of smug satisfaction filled him at the older man's look of utter disbelief as he was engulfed in a storm of blazing sakura petals. Hell's Burning Petals of Divine Retribution was his own personal technique developed over the years in the utmost secrecy. Of course, he wasn't foolish enough to believe that he'd won the battle quite yet. After all, Kisame's water techniques were more than enough to counter his own fire techniques, no matter how elaborate they were or if they took the other man by surprise, as was the case in this instance. No, he still had his work cut out for him if he planned on staying alive for much longer. Without giving the older man time to recover, he launched a head on attack utilizing a combination of taijutsu and shuriken attacks from his shadow clones, taking care to not get too close to Samehada.

He wasn't fond of fighting while standing on water, but without more time to prepare he was unable to counter the massive flooding taking place. He'd hoped that his rapid attacks might distract Kisame enough to disrupt his own ninjutsu, but hadn't really believed that it would work out that way. He spun away from his former partner quickly as Samehada swung towards him, narrowly missing being gutted. His lips tightened into a slight scowl as he felt the razor sharp edge shave along his arm, drawing blood and sucking chakra. He couldn't afford to lose much more than he already had. Unlike Kisame, he didn't have a nearly bottomless well of chakra. The familiar weight of his katana's hilt pressed against his back, beckoning him to draw it, but he refrained. Though he was proficient in basic kenjutsu, he was nowhere near Kisame's level with the sword. It would be tantamount to suicide to attempt to meet the larger man in a duel of blades.

The deadly dance continued with each trading blows, blocking, countering and breaking away to reevaluate before returning to once again repeat the process. Finally, he retreated to a relatively safe distance, watching the other man warily as he fought to catch his breath. Kisame had landed a few glancing blows that he suspected may have fractured a couple ribs, not that he'd let something so trifling distract him. He watched as Kisame pressed a hand tightly against his side in an attempt to staunch the flow of blood from a deep gash tracing from his abdomen and up to just under his ribs on his left side. "Heh. Don't know why you're even botherin'." The older man spat out some blood before slowly advancing again. "Leader has already issued the order, y'know." He tilted his head to the side in silent inquiry even as he backed away from the other man cautiously. Kisame laughed, a rather unpleasant sound in his mind. "You're a dead man and don't even know it yet!"

For each step Kisame took towards him, he retreated two as his mind worked at a furious pace to work out a viable plan of action...one that would hopefully see his former partner dead and himself very much alive. Finally coming to a conclusion he halted his rapid retreat and swiftly formed the seals for a quick, low-level genjustsu followed immediately by the seals for a much more advanced illusion which would, hopefully, mask the third genjutsu he was forming the instant the seals for the second were complete. It was an elaborate improvisation on a technique he'd once copied while passing through Rain Country during a mission several years prior. While Kisame was distracted with dispersing the illusions he'd cast, he moved with chakra-enhanced speed, delivering a punishing kick to the larger man's midsection, driving him back into the waiting arms of his three shadow clones. He couldn't quite hold back the sharp cry of pain lancing through him from shoulder to hip as Kisame swung Samehada with wild desperation towards him. He was thrown back by the sheer force of the blow, vision swimming dizzyingly as blood dripped from his wounds. Shakily holding up one hand, he narrowed his eyes in fierce concentration. He had only one chance for this. He couldn't wait any longer as he could feel his consciousness beginning to slip away. Kisame's blade hadn't merely cut him during that last devastating blow...it had also drained a large amount of his chakra. Seeing that his clones were finally in place he breathed a silent sigh of relief. "Bunshin Daibakuha." As one, the three Kage Bunshin exploded spectacularly, obliterating Kisame along with them. A small smile curved his lips upwards as he he slowly fell to his knees in exhaustion. The look of utter shock on his former partner's face had been rather amusing, he decided.

A/N: you to all who read the first chapter of and took the time to leave a review.

Tenisha-sama: Yes, I've been rather cruel to poor Naruto, ne? Hope you enjoy the second chapter as much as the first.

PITA: I'll be continuing this story for as long as the Plot Bunnies decide to stay by my side. =^_^= Hopefully this chapter was just as good as the first. Admittedly, action scenes aren't normally my forte, but I really wanted to try.

BakurasAngel: I've long thought that Kyuubi doesn't get nearly the amount of attention he deserves. I've often wondered what Kyuubi was like before the attack on Konoha and before he was sealed by Yondaime.

Smari-chan: Though I'd like to update more often, I'm afraid that time constraints just won't allow for it. T_T Stupid Real Life concerns! This whole working for a living is really the pits, ne? **grinz**