A/N: In this chapter, you can tell that I kind of ship Kabuto and Kohana. What? It’s not gross… Kabuto’s still cute here. His brain’s just a little flattened in a few places.
“Hang on!”
Kohana ducked, holding onto Hitoshi’s feathers as the explosion occurred, sending the vulture higher up in the sky, a loud squawk sending a few remaining birds off from their homes in the trees. The strength of the explosion was strong enough to destroy a particular forest, and as Kohana peered once again over Hitoshi in absolute terror, she found that the crater was nothing compared to the monster that sat in the center of it.
“I can’t believe this…” she breathed, feeling the lump in her throat. “Hitoshi, we have to go back there.”
“But we lost that Sai person… and it’s too dangerous! I won’t let you.”
Kohana’s hands curled into fists, unable to keep her eyes away from the hell below her.
“Naruto… Yamato-taichou and Sakura…”
Hitoshi hesitated a little before lurching down and gently landing at the end of the bridge where they’d come from.
“Summon Kunio and ask him to shrink. There is no way I’m letting you get caught in the cross-fire. You have to tail Sai and find out where he’s headed to. You could find answers there, you know?”
Kohana frowned as she jumped off Hitoshi. “I can’t sacrifice my friends and brother just so I could know about a past that doesn’t even exist to me.”
Hitoshi flapped his wings in anger. “Doesn’t exist! The reason why you’re even alive is because of your past. And what if Sai leads you to Sasuke? That could be a chance to rescue him! For Naruto and Sakura!”
Kohana shook her head. “Sorry, Hitoshi. It’s Naruto’s job to rescue Sasuke. Only he can do such a thing,” she said and formed a hand seal, dismissing the angry vulture just as another explosion occurred.
The red head swallowed and turned around, finding Kabuto there, standing and quiet.
It was then that something came shooting from the right, causing yet another explosion which caused Kohana to stagger back in shock. From the dust and smoke, Naruto emerged, his skin completely gone and replaced with a being with a body the same color as its chakra.
A sword pierced Naruto’s stomach, but he—the creature seemed unaffected by it.
Naruto swept his arm to the side and Kohana retreated along with Sakura, Yamato and Kabuto.
“Look at him,” Kabuto began, “did he want to save Sasuke to the point of becoming like this? His consciousness is fleeing now. Poor kid.”
Kohana’s hands trembled and she gritted her teeth, feeling her anger rise as she spun around and tackled Kabuto. The glasses-wearing nin fell to the ground with a loud grunt of pain before Kohana pulled her fist back and rammed it against the side of his face, causing his glasses to fly away along with blood and spittle.
Kohana didn’t wait before she used her left fist to punch Kabuto once again.
“Kohana, stop it!” Yamato yelled, grabbing her by the hood of her sleeveless white jacket and dragging her off Kabuto. “Take care of him later. Right now, Sakura’s…”
Snarling, Kohana turned around and threw a marked kunai at Naruto, who swiped it away right after Kohana had teleported to Sakura’s side and pushed her away, taking the sharp, white-hot blow of one of Naruto’s tails. Swiftly, Sakura caught the red head before she fell and leaped away from Naruto.
