Hikari; Cataclysm

Chapter 4

THIRD PERSON POV: In the clearing somewhere in the Grass country that was at the border of Fire and Wind country. A group of ninjas gathered together to honor the death of a shinobi who had truly lived as one. Entrusting the future of the world to Naruto and Gaara. Much to the protest of the Phoenix Sage Hitori, Chiyo-obasama had defied the natural order of things and revived Gaara who was practically dead. Death wasn't something to be meddled with and wherever there's death, it will always be one.

'Everyone, say a prayer for Chiyo-Baasama,' the newly revived Kazekage ordered and the clearing went silent. There was no use in crying for the death so noble that it left a deep impact on the Suna and Konoha shinobi that were present.

The day suddenly became brighter in a flash of light before it died down almost completely. The booming sound of a battle between two powerhouses that they heard before their own began had finally stopped. No reinforcement was called because they had a specific order to carry on. What's more, the battle happened quite a distance away from their location.

'It died down now,' a white-haired ninja named Kakashi had mumbled, looking generally at the direction where the battle might have been at.

'No!' Hitori suddenly screamed and everyone looked over, puzzled. She scrambled to withdraw a glowing golden scroll and read its content.

'No, not my Hikari! No!' she tossed the scroll away and jumped up high into the sky before changing into a large red phoenix as she took off in the direction of the blast. The Suna ninjas were startled to see the phoenix again after the event at the Konoha Chuunin Exam a few years ago. Kakashi was the one unfazed by it, instead, he took the scroll and read its content. His eyes fell to the third from the last name signed in blood and a note appeared next to it that was not there when he last saw it.

"Otsutsuki-Hyuga Hikari. (Deceased)."

Words could not describe the horror that was plastered on his face.

'Kami, no!' Kakashi screamed. 'Naruto! Do you have your Jutsu-Shiki planted on Hikari?'

'Yeah, he holds onto one of my kunai. What's wrong, Kakashi-sensei?' the blonde ninja asked his Jounin sensei. The said Jounin grabbed a pink-haired kunoichi and then grabbed Naruto's hand.

'Teleport us there. Neji, you come too. Now, Naruto!' the Jounin screamed and a white-eyed ninja held onto them just in time. In the blink of an eye, they disappeared from the clearing. The lot appeared into an unrecognizable scorching hot terrain with the hissing sound of singed trees everywhere. In front of them laid a bloodied black-haired boy. His eyes were half-lidded along with his third eye, clothes burned, and the pool of blood was nothing they had seen before.

'No,' the pink-haired kunoichi gasped and quickly went to the mangled body as her palms glowed green and placed it on the boy's chest.

'What the hell happened here?!' Naruto demanded and Neji who was looking at the mangled boy suddenly dropped down to the ground limply.

'Impossible...' he said as he was seeing that the boy's chakra network had stopped completely. Kakashi, on the other hand, was waiting on Sakura's evaluation but when the finally pinky lifted her hands, he immediately slammed it back to the boy's chest.

'Don't you dare say it!' the man gritted through his teeth. 'Don't you dare fucking say it?'

The pinky was reduced to a wordless sob and despair--her link to the earth had now gone. How could it be otherwise when the boy had lost a good portion of his abdomen and chest as if the pool of blood beneath them wasn't blatant enough. Then, they saw the fiery bird make its way to the ground before changing back into the form of a woman. She was quite a distance away still but she ran there as she stumbled down rubble or two. When she reached there, she pushed Sakura and Kakashi away, grabbing the boy's corpse into a hug.