- SOMETIME BEFORE THE EXPLOSION OF ICHIRAKU RAMEN PLACE -
Sakura Haruno awakens at the terrible sound of a thunder clap, causing her to sit up abruptly. With her mind still slightly dazed from the sleep, she utters,
" Oh shit, not again! ", ' the hospital might have need of me, no one, except Konohamaru knows where I am and I don't think he's in here ' she thought.
Taxing her brain, Sakura was hit with a harsh migraine, her left hand went straight up to her head and it glowed with emerald chakra, which she poured into her head to rescue herself from the headache.
Feeling better, she withdrew her hand.
' I shouldn't have left the hospital without notifying anyone... Although, I had no idea i'd sleep for this long, damn it. No umbrella, damn how could I have been this thoughless '
Sakura glanced around at the voluminous dark bedroom space, she could hardly see anything, since the sky had grown darker, no more light was coming through the partly opened curtains; which she could see the rain splattering against it's corner windows. As she was thinking to herself, Sakura hears as the front door creaks open and closes after a few reluctant seconds.
Believing it must have been Konohamaru, Sakura got up quickly and sprang up unto her feet, and hasted away towards the living room,
" Hey! Do you have an umbrella with you. Give it to me, I need to get to the hospi- - tal, " Sakura pauses running into the living room.
Sasuke looked at Sakura with slightly wide eyes, though he stood with his perplexity hidden, and the wet umbrella folded in his left hand, he was still shocked to see her in the house; Sakura noticed however first the left hand which she hadn't seen since the end of the war holding an umbrella.
' What the hell, how did he grow it back, ' she thought.
" Sakura... How did you find out about this place? – – hmm, that Sarutobi brat must have told you. Tch, Naruto shouldn't have trusted him to begin with... " Sasuke says, with his eyes glancing around at the living room.
Once entering, Sasuke had switched on the lights in the living room, which was a series of white bulbs built into the ceiling of the living room.
" Hn, they did a pretty good job- ", " I'll be returning soon, Sakura " uttered Sakura abruptly.
" Huh? ". " Not a day has gone by since I heard it, that I have forgotten. No matter how hard I tried, it sticks with me like glue, " Sakura says staring at the umbrella impassively, watching as a drop of water trailing down the umbrella plummets and splatters unto the floor.
" What are you talking about- ", " it was cold. I felt sick to my bones hearing that, I ran to my apartment, locked myself in and thought to myself. 'this certainly is the extent of his affection for me... I must really be such a drag, if that is all am worth, four impassive words'. Over the following months, I kept trying to make sense of it, what could Sasuke really mean by that. And it dawned on me, nothing, you meant absolutely nothing by it " said Sakura, too entranced by the wet umbrella, and the sound of rain and thunder to meet the Uchiha's puzzled gaze.
Sasuke wasn't sure what Sakura was going on about, any of her words hardly we're making sense, so he thought,
' this seems like the perfect opportunity, I should seize it while I'm here '.
" Let's get married, " Sakura's head tilts up, and she finally met his gaze with a slight curiosity on her face, as she saw Sasuke had a small smile on his beautiful face.
" Married? " She asks, " I decided it would be best for us to become husband and wife before I leave again, to make up for all my absence " said Sasuke.
Sakura's curiosity fades away, and her impassive expression returns, as she clenches her fists.
" You decided... I don't think you can make up for all the years you went rogue, and gave no thought to my existence by putting a ring on my finger, " ' what's going on here, isn't Sakura interested in marrying me? ' He thought.
" Don't you want to marry me? ", " I must be one heck of a bother for you to "decide" to want to marry me. Tch, I really did lose my mind when the war ended, since you're here now " Sakura heaves a sigh, and smiles sadly...
" Let's break up..."
At the uttering of those three words, a flash of lightning brightens the outdoors briefly, then followed after some few seconds by a blast of thunder which shook the ambiance slightly.
" Break up, why? " He asks
" Because I'm tired Sasuke, I'm tired of waiting for you to return. Being with you rids me of joy and comfort, so let's break up. I'm setting you free, you don't have to look back anymore. "
Sakura grabs hold of the umbrella, and pull it away from Sasuke's hand, an action which the Uchiha made no protest against. " I'll be leaving now, I need to return to the hospital. Goodnight. " She said.
Sakura walks past Sasuke, opens the door and proceed forth into the rain, with the umbrella.
' I just fucked up ' thought Sasuke.
Droplets of rain beat down upon the ground in rapid succession, like a shower, whilst Sakura sprinted through a narrow path fenced on each side by a brown wooden wall; the wall unto her right separated the narrow path from a large field, which was separated from another field by a river.
And over that river is a Guzei (red traditional japanese bridge) and crossing over that bridge leads to another fenced area across the field. Then beyond that field is a voluminous portion of land, upon which is the abandoned house belonging to the Uchiha clan.
Being oblivious to such a vast route, which led to the old and uninhabited Uchiha residence. Sakura Haruno went her own way feeling avid. She ran with a smile on her face, with her lips slightly parted.
' Why did I do that, why did I torture myself for years, when being through with him would feel this liberating? ' Sakura thought to herself.
It was an open ended question, to which she had no clear answer for and couldn't find an answer for before her thoughts collapsed at the blast of a thunder. Sakura in that instant stopped, she glanced around before tilting her head up to stare at the cloudy sky, she had a puzzled look on her face.
" That's strange, that sounded like thunder, but why didn't it feel like one...? "
There was not a single shred of evidence to support Sakura's doubt, and so she thought she should let it go... Till double lightnings streaked, and burned through the heavens; Sakura saw the streaks swift and briefly, then turned her face away to prevent herself from experiencing temporary blindness, as the lightnings caused a light to shine in the sky briefly.
Once the world had returned into darkness, a frightful and terrible thunder shook the land of fire like an amplified roar of a lion, it sent a seismic tremor through Konoha and up Sakura's feet, causing her to almost lose her grip on the umbrella, before managing to keep it in her grasp.
Sakura grips the handle strongly as it dawned on her. ' That earlier was no thunder. ' With that thought. Sakura sprints off, dropping the umbrella to move at top speed. Not having it was inconsequential, as the rain had eased up into a drizzle. . .
- PRESENT -
" What just happened, " asked a startled and puzzled Teuchi.
Beyond the streets of Ichiraku ramen shop, stood Teuchi and his daughter Ayame confused. They both remembered standing in their respective areas within the shop, and all of a sudden they were several meters away from the shop, with their eyes staring at the back of Naruto, which was clothed by a dark blue hoodie.
" It pains me to say this, but the shop just blew up. I was able to save both of you in time, but there was nothing I could do for the shop but to contain the explosion, " Naruto replied.
" Explosion? What the hell are you talking about, there was no– the man in the cloak ", " yes, your acute assumption is correct Ayame-chan, but that thing was no man, " " then what was it? " " the shell of one " Naruto replied somberly.
Standing in an open space with the rain having eased into a drizzle, Naruto felt a slight strain upon his left eye; which had donned a golden cross-slit upon it's luminous blue.
" There is a conflict within the truth seeking orbs box " said Kurama. ' Yeah, I feel it. But what is it, it couldn't be the explosion. There is no way it could be expanding, and neither should it have a cause to be reacting this erratically ' Naruto replied filled with uncertainty.
Beyond the sight of Teuchi and Ayame, the spot which Ichiraku ramen shop, once occupied had now been sealed and literally boxed in by four truth seeker orbs which Naruto had morphed into walls, and united to form a box.
Though Naruto had no trouble keeping the explosion contained, till he could part from Teuchi and Ayame, Sakura discovering their location would prove to elevate the difficulty of this mild task.
Sakura drops down from a rooftop, and Naruto resisted his urge to look her way as she approached in an hurry, recognizing the Ichiraku ramen shop owner and his daughter.
" What happened, why are you two out here. It's cold " said Sakura, " He said, the shop blew up " Teuchi says pointing his right index at Naruto.
Sakura oblivious to who was standing staring in an uncertain direction, glared and decided to approach him,
" hey mister, what do you mean their shop blew up. Are you responsible for– ", Sakura pressed her lips together once she had stopped in front of him.
Naruto looked back at Sakura, not daring to say a word, as the renowned medical kunoichi of the hidden leaf village stared at her ex team mate, and best friend, with a puzzled and unfamiliar expression.
" Naruto be careful, I think she's falling under the hypnotic spell of your left eye, " ' how. I thought she was immune to genjutsu '.
" Are you still a dolt, the problem with your left eye is not genjutsu, it's a sexual thing " Kurama clarifies.
' that is such a significant aspect, I turned away from Teuchi San and Ayame-chan because of that. I wasn't expecting Sakura, this isn't good... ' Naruto thought.
Sakura began to reach her hand out to Naruto's face, and the Uzumaki though desiring to move, found the task of containing the explosion rapidly grow in difficulty due to his conflicted soul, causing his control to wane.
Sakura whom didn't realize she had fallen prey to her human desires, and had began to develop the urge to touch the face of this familiar stranger. Eventually, had her hand come in contact with Naruto's left cheek, and the skin to skin contact, acted as a stimulus which dominated Naruto's will and forced him to blink.
And that was all it took, the moment he lost control, the truth seeking orbs withdrew into orbs and disappeared back into Naruto's inner sanctum in which Kurama resides.
" Fuck " Naruto utters, as the light of the explosion fills the distance, till it crashed into other buildings.
Sakura was not aware of anything till she heard the crashing sound, of the explosion into nearby buildings close to Ichiraku ramen shop. Sakura remembered vaguely standing in front of the familiar stranger, but at the moment her cognition returned to her he was gone.
Naruto moved with inhuman celerity, he entered the buildings which had been caught in the explosion, but are yet to suffer any real damage, Naruto's locomotion brought everything to an almost standstill.
Being certain of civilians inhabiting those buildings, Naruto intrudes and picks the few occupying each building, young and old, male and female. Naruto brought each and every one of them back to the spot he had Teuchi and Ayame, the same area in which Sakura was standing.
But when he stopped, Naruto marveled at the sight of the expanding explosion.
" Naruto, it's increasing in mass– wait, what's it doing "
Naruto watched with clearer vision than anyone else, as the explosion condensed in seconds, and immediately after disperse into twelve luminescent destructive balls flying off into several districts of Konohagakure.
' I can't let any of those things land! ' Naruto thought. Naruto turned towards Sakura, " Sakura, I'm leaving this people in your care. Some seem to have been slightly burnt, from being too close to the explosion. " Naruto says fast paced.
Sakura hardly understood what Naruto was saying, but she'd heard and seen the light of the explosion, giving her no option but to incline herself to the responsibility the stranger had placed upon her, though she was curious as to how he knew her name.
" How do you- "
With a whoosh, Sakura had her mouth left hanging wide open, as Naruto vanished in a blur of blue, Sakura turns to the befuddled civilians.
" Dad, I hope Naruto will be okay. He just got back, and this is happening... " said Ayame with teary eyes.
At the word Naruto, Sakura snaps her head back in the direction Naruto had vanished off too. Hearing his name made it all click...
Naruto ran after one of the flying destructive balls, with arms swinging back and forth, while his innate locomotive force carried him like a strong gale through the path he was on. Naruto had his blue eyes looking up at his airborne objective.
" What's your plan? " asked Kurama, ' capture of course. But there's no way I can use the same tactics, I need to employ another... '
Naruto changes lanes as he was approaching a wall... Sasuke was getting up to look outside, after hearing a faint crashing sound, when Naruto whooshed into the living room.
" Naruto! What are you doing– what's going on? ", " you have to come with me. I'll explain on the way, we have a catastrophy to stop " Naruto says.
Trusting his brother, Sasuke didn't have need of any form of explanation, just merely followed. Both men whooshed out of the house.
Electricity streaked through the ambiance, following the path the Uchiha takes, whilst the blue blur of Naruto kept up a equal pace. Bringing their steps into a positive correlation.
" Now tell me, what's going on, " Sasuke asked, " you see those glowing balls? " " Yeah? " replied after having visual confirmation.
" There are twelve of them, and we need to round them up, before they make contact with any surface and claim innocent lives, can we do that, Sasuke... ", " what do you take me for. Slug! ".
And in a flash Sasuke Uchiha was gone. Naruto's blue eyes dons the golden cross-slit on each eye, and thus bigger nine truth seeker orbs manifest. Then Naruto runs even faster to catch up to nine of the destructive balls, and each time he approaches a ball, he would launch his black sphere out and seal them within it.
Naruto in seconds had succeeded in bringing nine of the destructive balls into captivity, and before he could worry about the remaining three, Naruto witnessed while having stopped above a housetop; three streaks of electricity descend into the streets and pursue the last remaining destructive balls.
Naruto glanced up without blinking, and notices Sasuke high above Konoha with purple wings wide out, whilst in base form.
In record time, Sasuke's clones capture three of the destructive balls within the black flames of AMATERASU. And then used Susano-o skeletal hands to hold it.
Sasuke's clones unfurl wings and fly back to the original, Naruto watching from below leaps high up into the air, and before gravity could remind him of it's rigid nature.
Sasuke whooshes in, and catches Naruto within a perfect Susano-o; a giant purple chakra spectral warrior with huge wings. Naruto need not to inform Sasuke the complete details of his plan, for the Uchiha to take to the skies above.
The Uchiha soured higher and higher, till the world became small, and the clouds danced below the majestic form of Susano-o. In less than a minute, Sasuke breaks out of the exosphere and into orbit.
In correlation with Naruto, Sasuke's clones launched the destructive balls out, which the black flames merely prevented from exploding into space, along with the other nine.
Naruto withdrew his black spheres, and Sasuke fires twelve consecutive small Spears of chakra at the balls, resulting in a violent explosion
As Naruto suspected and feared, the near nuclear explosions, unleashes shockwaves so powerful, it forced Sasuke's Susano-o to cascade back into exosphere.
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