I’M SORRY!!!! :( EVEN MY PETTY APOLOGIES WON’T BE ENOUGH! As an author I’m ashamed of not updating! KILL ME, KILL ME NOW!
Life’s just hectic now because of university. Instead of school ending at like 3, it ends at like 7 now! My schedule is all over the place, plus tests, readings, lectures… blah blah blah. If you guys enter uni, you’ll find out! J Please forgive me!
Chapter 22: Tobi and Chasing Sasuke
Naomi’s POV
I stared at the man in front of me. His body and aura screamed ‘danger’ in huge waves. If that wasn’t suspicious enough, I don’t know what was. “Who exactly are you?” I questioned with my guard up.
He darkly chuckled before replying. “You can call me Tobi. Isn’t it surprising that I’m looking at one of the last remaining Uchihas?”
I gritted my teeth in frustration. “How did you know? I’ve always been under the genjutsu!”
I could feel him smirking behind his mask. “Once I knew who your mother was, it wasn’t hard to connect the dots to you also being one of the Sanin’s grand-daughter. I’m surprised other’s haven’t figured it out.” He said.
“Why do you care who I am? Why does it matter to you?” I asked with furrowed eyebrows.
“Well,” he smirked “You are someone who will be useful to me in the future. Your power is of use to me and will be required for my plans. You are a piece on my game board that will be watched carefully.”
“So I’m merely a pawn in your game?” I exclaimed
He shook his head a chuckled. “Oh no. No no no. You are more than a pawn… rather, should I say a knight? All of the spots for the pawn have already been taken.” Hehe total Vampire Knight moment!<3
“Let’s hear it,” I started “What exactly are your plans?” I crossed my arms and leaned back on a tree. He went on the opposite side and mimicked my actions. For some reason, we were being casual about this, but I didn’t drop my guard at all.
“Quite the curious one, aren’t you? Well my goal is to make the land of the ninja’s an idealistic world. No wars, no conflict, and peace by purging free will itself from the world.” He explained.
“And how exactly are you going to do that?” I questioned. “Peace will never be completely attained if this world still contains shinobi. As long as shinobi rule this world, true peace will never occur.”
“Exactly. You have taken on the form of your grandfather. Your words are correct, but that is why peace shall be attained in another way. Controlling the world is the only way.”
I scoffed with humor. “How exactly do you plan to rule the world? Last time I checked, it was impossible. But one thing has been bothering me for a while, why are you telling me this? Don’t you think I’ll tell the Hokage and my village?” I tilted me head.
I could hear him chuckling again. Boy, this guy smirks and chuckles a lot. “I’m not worried. I know you won’t tell them. After all, why would someone want to reveal anything to their betrayers.” He spoke. I froze with confusion.
“What the hell are you talking about? Who’s betraying me?” I asked. He just chuckled.
“My my… so naïve. You shouldn’t trust everyone in this world Naomi, not even your family. That will only cause your downfall.”
“What’s going on? TELL ME!” I screamed.
“Why it’s your own village, Naomi. Haven’t you wondered why you barely know your mother? Don’t you wonder why you don’t even know your father? Not even a photo; it’s suspicious. A mere picture should be enough. But they haven’t given you anything.” He explained.
“It’s for my safety…” I tried to convince “Jii-san has been hiding to everything to protect me.”
This time he full on laughed. “Hahahaha! Is that what your jii-san told you?! You really think it’s for your safety, Naomi? How did your parents die, Naomi?” he asked as he wiped a tear from under his mask. A part of his face was revealed, showing an amused grin plastered on.
“My mother died giving birth to me, while my father was killed on a mission.” I gritted my teeth.
“Is that what you believe? Ha! Don’t kid me. You really think your mother died merely of child birth and your father on a mission? I didn’t think that so many lies were filled in your head.” He taunted.
A million thoughts were running through my head. What is this guy talking about! I don’t even know him, and he’s been telling me that everything that I know is a lie! More and more questions were raised in my head, mostly ending with no answer.
“H-how? How do you know all of this?” my voice cracked as I looked down.
“They were murdered Naomi.” And that once sentence was all it took to make my walls come crumbling down. I snapped my head towards him with tears prickling my eyes.
“You know who my father is, right?! Tell me! Who is he!?” I yelled. He looked at me with surprise as he noticed my tears.
“You should ask the Hokage and your jii-san, Naomi. After all, they also know how he died. You will get better details.” I still didn’t trust, Tobi. He seemed shady and was trying to provoke me from every angle.
I glared at him furiously. Taking out a couple of kunai and shuriken from my pouched, I aimed it at him while jumping away from my spot. The place where the weapons landed blew up, as it had a paper bomb seal attached to them.
“You really think that will do anything to me?” I heard his voice right behind my ear, sending chills down my spine.
“No. But this might… RASENGAN!” I exclaimed as I conjured up the blue ball in my palm and thrust it at him.
My eyes widened in shock as I noticed how my hand passed through his body easily. Next thing I know, he was gone. He disappeared?! I scanned my eyes for hidden chakra, but couldn’t find any. None!
I carefully jumped down from the tree I was standing on and landed in a crouched position. “You’re slow.” I heard his voice. I quickly turned just in time to be kicked back into a tree.
The force hit me full on as my vision wavered a bit from the dizziness, but came back. He suddenly flashed in front of me and put his arms around me, pulling me into a hug. I suddenly froze as I felt his embrace tighten.
I squirmed with annoyance. “What are you doing?!” I screamed “Let go of me!”
“Hm? I cannot do that.” He blankly said.
I wiggled even more as I felt myself getting weaker. “Wh-what?” I could feel my vision blurry again. “Y-you’re absorbing my chakra! L-Let go.” I weakly said. His embrace wasn’t a normal one; he was taking my chakra away from me. I have to do something, quick! I quickly pulled my head back and head butted him straight in the forehead.
We both fell to the ground, as I hissed in pain. I could feel my forehead stinging in pain. “You jerk.” I muttered. We both stood up, as I dusted the dirt away from my knees. I was about to flash towards him… but I made a fatal mistake of directly looking into his eye.
My eyes widened as I was sucked away into a genjutsu. Everything was a grayish dark color. This place was filled with innumerable amount of randomly arranged and different sized rectangular prisms amongst a dark and seemingly endless void. Naruto Wiki.
My eyes roamed around, but even that didn’t help. They kept going back and forth trying to figure this place out, but nothing.. Is this a genjutsu? I floated a little bit more to do something, but then searing pain ran down my arm.
I shrieked in agony as I noticed my skin literally ripping apart and disappearing in flames. A huge gash covered my arms: blood dripping down and creating a puddle on the floor of one the prisms I was standing on. Suddenly a swirl appeared in front of me, where Tobi stepped out of.
“Welcome to my dimensional world.” He spoke as he spread his arms out to show it. I cradled my pained arm and bit my lip to stop myself from screaming. “It’s neat, huh? It’s my most used space-time jutsu.”
“W-who exactly are you?” I whispered “For you to create a place in another space of time requires a lot of power. Only a handful…” I trailed off as I noticed him staring at me. “What?” I questioned.
He turned his head and flashed right in front of me. I gasped and tumbled back a bit, surprised of the sudden closeness. “Tell me, Naomi. What do you see?”
Huh? What is he talking about.. What do I see…? My eyes widened as I noticed some light going into his eye hole. A gleam of red flashed.
“S-Sharingan? Why do you possess this eye?!” I exclaimed as I stared at him with shock. He smirked a bit before answering.
“Shouldn’t I be? I mean after all, it belongs to me. I’m the owner of my own eyes…” he trailed off.
“But that would mean that you’re an Uchiha! I thought none survived besides me, Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha! If you are one, then who are you?! You’re obviously not Tobi.”
“Hm, I suppose I could tell you,” he started “Let me tell you my story. After all, I do need you in the future. When I was younger, I had three other siblings. However, two of them died from the hands of our rival clan. Only my brother and I were remaining. We were considered prodigies within the Uchiha Clan. Often, I would go near a waterfall to sort out my thoughts, that’s when I first met my first friend. He eventually became my rival, but then I found out that he was from the enemy clan. Ever since then our two clans have fought against each other; our peace had created the village, and our statues built in honor of our name.” he told me his mini life story.
His life was similar to the ones that I have learned before. A sudden light bulb blinked in my head, and my thoughts gathered in realization. I stepped back in fear, as the shock was seen in my eyes.
“I-impossbile. You can’t possibly be him! He’s been dead for over 100 years!” I protested.
“It is true… I am Madara Uchiha.” He stated. I scoffed and chuckled a bit. That chuckling turned into a full on laugh.
“Hahaha! Yeah, right! Like I would believe that; no one would! There is no evidence that you are him.” I replied.
He shrugged nonchalantly. “It doesn’t concern me very much at this moment whether you believe me or not; but sooner or later when you find out the truth, you’ll have no other choice.” He snapped his fingers and we were back in the forest and out of the dimensional world. I looked at my arm to see that there was no gash or skin ripping at all. Merely an illusion. I thought.
Before I could say anything, a huge burst of light shot into the sky, a couple of miles away. A vast gust of wind made the trees shake from the immensity of the chakra that was radiating in the air. Shivers tickled down my spine as the sinister aura hung around.
“What the hell was that?” I questioned as I looked around.
“Ahh… so it has started.” Madara spoke before nodding to himself.
“What are you talking about?” I asked with a tilt of my head. He sighed with annoyance before replying.
“You know that Orochimaru has marked that Uchiha boy. And you also know very well that he is power hungry. It seems that this chakra is from the curse mark, it’s being completed. That concludes that this boy is heading towards Orochimaru.”
“What?!” I shrieked. “How do you know that?”
“Let’s just say that Orochimaru used to be a member of an organization that I am part of. I know very well how his mind works, and it’s quite easy to tell that the boy would have gone to him anytime.” He shrugged it off.
“Oh and by the way… your friends are in danger, you might want to hury!~~” he mocked with a laugh and disappeared with a swirl.
I stood frozen for a couple of seconds pondering what he spoke a minute ago. Oh no! The Sound Four! I thought and gathered myself together, then left immediately.
**Time Skip**
Location: Forest around the border of the Land of Fire and the Land of Sound
THIRD POV
Naruto growled in anger as his newly blood colored eyes stared into Kimimaro’s bright mint ones.
“At last… what I was waiting for. The first step into achieving Lord Orochimaru’s design,” Kimimaro spoke as the circular box behind him, encoded with seals, let smoke release from the inside. The lid of the box sudden opened as the seal holding it, broke off.
A burst of white light enfolded the area of the forest where Naruto was standing. He gasped covering his eyes, as the smoke disappeared revealing a certain Uchiha boy with long gray hair.
The hair suddenly shrunk as the curse mark receded back to its seal. Naruto grinned as he saw his best friend standing there.
“Hey Sasuke,” Naruto laughed “What the hell are you doing with these freaks?! Come on buddy, let’s go home!” A chuckle escaped from Sasuke; soon enough turning into a sinister sneer.
Sasuke didn’t utter a word as Naruto tried to talk to him. Rather, he crouched down and ninja jumped away from the scene. Kimimaro quickly intercepted Naruto as he tried to go after the Uchiha.
“It’s no use,” Kimimaro raised his katana, “Now die!” Before he could slash, a swift figure came in between and kicked his body away. “Hm? Who’s this?” he narrowed his eyes.
“It is I… the rejuvenated Leaf village’s handsome devil, Rock Lee!” Lee exclaimed as he got in a stance with one of his arms out in front of him.
“B-bushy brows? But what about your injuries?” Naruto asked.
“Do not worry about me, Naruto. Go get Sasuke. I can take care of things here.” Lee explained.
“B-but…” Naruto tried to talk.
“Now now, Naruto… who said that he will be the only one to fight this guy?” a voice said from behind them. Naruto and Lee snapped their heads to the voice.
“Naomi-chan!” they both exclaimed as they saw her standing in the distance with her hands on her hips and a smirk adorning her face.
“What the hell happened to you?!” Naruto exclaimed as he noticed her hair a bit messy, scratches on her body, and patches of dried blood on her clothes.
“Nothing, don’t worry about it. Now, you go and get him. I’ll stay with Lee. Okay? GO!” she ordered and flashed to where Lee was standing.
Naruto nodded with fierce eyes. “Okay. But just watch out, he uses his bones as weapons.”
“His bones,” Lee muttered “how interesting.” Naomi wrinkled her nose.
“How disgusting is more like it…” she scoffed under her breath. “Who the hell uses their own god damn bones?” she wondered.
Lee gave a thumbs up to Naruto. “Well? What are you waiting for? This thumbs up… you gave it to Sakura promising that you’ll bring Sasuke back.”
“Woah woah woah… hold up--” Naomi turned her head to Naruto, “You made a fucking promise to that pink headed bitch saying that you’ll bring Sasuke back for her??” she exclaimed.
Naruto rubbed his head sheepishly. Naomi glared at her blonde best friend. “Who does she think she is, saying that Sasuke is hers!? I swear when I get back…” she cracked her knuckles.
“Now now, Naomi…” Naruto raised his hands in a surrender position.
“Naruto… I’m all fired up! Go after him! I’m going to release my anger on this guy.” Naomi clenched her fists. Hehe total Natsu moment! <3
“Indeed, Naruto!” Lee said, “Do not waste your time. Get going.” Naruto nodded and quickly ninja jumped away.
“I don’t think so…” Kimimaro taunted as he ran after Naruto. Before he could attack him with his bone sword, Lee quickly flashed in front and caught the sword in his bare hands.
“Hurry, Naruto!” Naomi yelled as she flashed behind Kimimaro and roundhouse kicked his shoulders. He fell to the ground with a grunt, but quickly recollected himself by stepping back.
Naomi’s POV
“Your fight is with us,” Lee said, “We don’t like being ignored.” We continued to attack him with Taijutsu as I from the back casted a fire ball.
“Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!” I brought two fingers to my mouth and blew out a huge gust of my chakra nature. Kimimaro aimed his bone sword to the fire and swiftly cut through it.
My eyes widened as the flames disappeared in smoke. “What?! He cut through my fire as if it was butter!” I noticed that even Lee couldn’t land a hit on him.
“He is too fast.” Lee muttered as he fell to the ground with Kimimaro towering over him. “You’re done.” He said as he brought his sword down on him.
I quickly took my katanas out and intercepted his attack, my blade clashing with his. He narrowed his eyes at me as I brought my face closer to glare at him. “I don’t think so.” I whispered harshly.
“Ahh wait wait!” Lee screamed from behind us. We turned to look at him with his palm in the air. “I’m SO sorry for interrupting. But I have to take my medicine at a certain time. Which is now… excuse me, it will take just a minute.”
Kimimaro stared at him with an amused expression while I on the other hand stared at him in disbelief. “He’s joking right?” I exclaimed.
“I don’t think he is…” Kimimaro shrugged his shoulders. I turned towards him with a hand on my hip. “Seriously?” I asked.
Lee took out a white bottle with a cork on it from his weapons pouch. He unscrewed the cork and drank all of the liquid. He didn’t say anything as he wrinkled his nose in disgust. “Whatever this is, it is the worst tasting medicine.” He commented as he shakily stood up.
Lee suddenly giggled as his body swayed back and forth, his coordination out of hand. “Strange… what sort of medicine is this?” Kimimaro muttered as he cautiously stared at him.
I strapped my katana to my back and took a couple of steps, before swiftly dodging an incoming kick from Lee. “What the hell!? Watch who you’re kicking!” I screamed. I noticed that his eyes were glazed over and his speech was now slurry.
“W-what are you staring at, you stupid bitch?!” Lee slurred. My jaw dropped from the comment. Before I knew, a tick mark appeared on my forehead.
“What did you just say?” I lowly growled before pulling my arm back and punching him in the face. “You say that again, and even the doctors won’t be able fix your face anymore!” I screamed.
I huffed in anger as Lee stood up, before collapsing onto the ground in a fit of giggles. I stomped over to the medicine bottle that was on the ground and picked it up. Uncorking the bottle, I sniffed the substance.
I took a drop of it in my mouth and gagged at the taste. “You, stupid idiot, ROCK LEE!!” I yelled. “This isn’t your medicine! This is a fucking elixir! Wait a sec…” I tasted it again as it left a burning sensation down my throat. I scoffed. “This is sake! Tsunade-baachan must have left it in his room. How troublesome…”
“I see… so this elixir has made him loopy.” Kimimaro commented before turning back to the green beast in a stance.
“What is wrong with you,” Lee slurred “Do you know impolite it is to stare?!?!” he yelled before going in a total beast mode attack Kimimaro from every angle. What was I doing? Well… I was merely standing on the sidelines smirking.
Oh man, I wish I had a plate of Dango. This fight is so entertaining! I thought before quietly cheering Lee on.
“Boy all of this jumping around here is totally messing with my head.” Lee spoke as he fell back on the grass snoring like a baby. I sweat dropped with a deadpanned expression.
“Did he just fall asleep during a fight?” I questioned. Shrugging it off, I moved from my spot and stood in front of Kimimaro. “Since this idiot fell asleep,” I said pointing to Lee, “I guess it’s now my turn to fight.”
Kimimaro took his stance with his sword before running towards me to attack. I also jumped from my spot creating a swift hand signs. Before I could yell out my jutsu, I was kicked to the side by… who else? LEE!
“Ahaha! You fell for it! It looked like I was sleeping, but I was actually wide awake!” he exclaimed before kicking back Kimimaro.
I grunted as I felt the bruise forming on my stomach. “Oh that’s it!” I exclaimed before flashing behind Lee and smashing my fist against his head, knocking him unconscious. “You stupid, Guy-junior!” I yelled at him as I noticed him finally snoring some more.
I breathed in and out before sweetly smiling towards Kimimaro. “Let’s get back to where we were… shall we?”
Are all Konoha ninja like this? Kimimaro thought with a confused expression, before turning serious. “Very well.”
I turned on my Sharingan behind my genjutsu and took out my katana, once again. If he won’t attack first, then I guess I will.
Then, our battle had begun.
***
Location: Valley of the End
“Sasuke, are you just going to run away like this?!” Naruto yelled as he stood on top of the statue of Hashirama statue, the mist from the waterfall lightly grazing his skin.
“My playtime with you kids of the Leaf Village is over.” Sasuke spoke without a care in his voice.
“Why? They all fought to protect you!”
Sasuke shrugged. “Well, wasn’t that nice of them.” Naruto gritted his teeth in anger, and jumped after Sasuke.
“Not so fast! You’re just going to walk away when your comrades risked their lives for nothing?!” Naruto referred to Shikamaru, Neji, Chouji, and Kiba. He tackled Sasuke to the ground, pinning his arms and legs in place.
Sasuke scoffed as he spit out a bit of blood. “Comrades, huh? If I stayed with comrades like you, then I won’t get strong. Now I’m going to go where Orochimaru is.”
“Are you out of your fucking mind,” Naruto grabbed Sasuke’s collar tightly “Orochimaru killed the Third Hokage, and did everything to destroy the Leaf Village. Whatever it is that you’re expecting from him, you think he’s going to give to you without a price?? All he wants to do is use your body like a new suit of gloves. You’ll never get out of there alive. You think I’m going to let you do that?” Naruto yelled.
Sasuke stayed silent as the sound of the waterfall echoed in the background. He finally spoke, “None of that matters to me now. If you’re going to be getting in my way, well, it can’t be helped.”
“If you aren’t going to do this by reason, then I’ll just have to use force.” Naruto stated.
***
Chapter isn’t finished yet! A/N: Okay so we know this specific battle already, so I’m not going to go too much into it. I mean who wants this chapter and book to end, so I can start the amazing Shippuden book? *Raises Hand* I do! There’s SO MUCH left for this series and I don’t want to spend it on this specific part of the plot so much. Thank you!~ On with the story…
Location: Konoha
“What did you say?! You send mere Genin after Sasuke?” Kakashi exclaimed, slamming his hands down on Tsunade’s desk. She sighed as she crossed her arms.
“Well… what else could I do? You know the state this village is in right now. Anyway, I have a contingency plan in place. Backup should be coming to help this Genin right away.” She explained.
Kakashi merely sighed. “Wait, where’s Naomi? Has she gone with Naruto and the others?”
Tsunade pursed her lips. “If I knew Sasuke was going to defect the village, I wouldn’t have sent her on a mission to Kirigakure. I don’t know where she is right now… Today was the day she should have left.”
“If Naomi was there, we might have had a chance on bringing Sasuke back!” Kakashi grunted. Pushing back his anger, he exited the Hokage building hearing Sakura’s voice call out to him.
“Kakashi-sensei! Naruto and the others have gone to get Sasuke… I’m worried, Sensei. If something happens to them--”
“Sakura, don’t worry about a thing. Just leave it to me.” Kakashi cut her off, reassuring her. He calmly walked away, and when she wasn’t looking, quickly disappeared in a swirl.
Location: Forest
Naomi’s POV
Both Kimimaro and I panted as we stood ten feet apart. The katana that I was holding was bloody and the hilt bandages were becoming loose. The situation was similar with Kimimaro, except that it was his bone weapons that were bloody that were sticking out of his body.
“That’s some impressive kekkei genkai,” I muttered loudly “You weapon hit me right in the bones… Hehe get it? Bones?” I started cracking up since his weapon was a bone.
He stared at me with a dead panned expression. “I see no amusement in that joke.”
I crossed my arms and stuck my tongue out at him. “Tch. No one appreciates my jokes…” I muttered under my breath. I noticed more bones poking out from his chest, some sort of liquid dropping on the grass as they did.
“Oh that’s just nasty…” I grimaced. “I don’t know how anyone can get used to that.”
“I don’t know whether to take you seriously or not,” he spoke “Either you really are foolish or you’re stalling our battle. Hmm, I vote for the second one since I can see your façade clearly.”
He’s right… My body is in exhaustion. From fighting that masked guy, him taking my chakra, and now fighting this guy… I don’t know how much more I can last. How much more can I stall… I thought as I felt a trail of blood leaving my mouth and dropping down my chin.
Alright… I probably have enough chakra for at least one more attack. I took a deep breath to calm myself down. From the corner of my eyes, I noticed Lee stirring his eyes open.
“Naomi-chan!” he yelled as he snapped his head. I faintly smiled at him, looking over my shoulders. “It’s good to have you back, Lee.”
She’s bruised all over! Lee thought as he looked at her standing a couple feet away from him.
“Alright, this is it,” I created quick hand signs and held out my right palm, concentrating chakra. “Fire Style: Great Flame Rasengan!!” I yelled as a dense blue spiral appeared on my palm. But what was different about this Rasengan was that I added my fire release into it. This caused my Rasengan to turn black with rings of fire surrounding it. Naruto Wiki.
I ran full speed towards Kimimaro and blasted the giant ball to his chest. A divine light erupted from the attack causing me to become blind for the moment. Next thing I knew was that I was kicked back with full force towards the other side of the field.
I grunted in pain as my ribs ached. My eyes widened at the height at which I was falling at; I closed my eyes to avoid looking at it. Huh? Why doesn’t it hurt? I opened to see soft yellow sand hovering my body above the ground.
“What the…” My head snapped up to see a familiar red head standing a couple feet away with his arms crossed across his chest. No one could miss those teal colored eyes that were surrounded by black rings. “Gaara!”
He glanced towards me with a slight nod before letting me down on the ground. “Go.” His hoarse voice commanded.
“Excuse me?” I questioned.
“I’ll take care of things here. Go get him.” He emphasized. That one sentence was all that took for me to quickly gather myself up. I grinned at him in thanks.
“I’ll get going then. As you wish,” I mockingly bowed “But do me a favor will you?”
He raised his eyebrow in questioning. “Kick his bony ass for me, will you? Like REALLY hard. Actually… just kill him.” I bluntly stated with a shrug. I could literally feel his deadpanned expression all the way from where I was standing.
Giggling like some creep, I quickly tied my hair in a high pony-tail and fled to the direction of where the mass chakra was coming from.
***
Location: Valley of the End
Lightning flashed across the grey sky as the rain poured down across the large green field. Sasuke panted on his knees as he stared into the closed eyes of Naruto. Scratches adorned his body from the fierce battle that just took place.
His fists clenched the wet grass as a sudden jolt of pain zapped through internally. With shaky hands, he took off the Konoha headband that Naruto had scratched earlier, and dropped it next to his head.
Sasuke stood up and evidently walked towards the direction of Orochimaru’s hideout. But a set of footsteps stopped him. “So you finally came huh?” he asked without turning around.
Naomi smirked as she leaned against the tree. Her eyes raked the area until they landed on Naruto; her fists unconsciously clenched. “I didn’t want to miss the show. I see you’re leaving… not even saying goodbye?” she mockingly asked with a cold voice.
“Hn, there was no need.”
Naomi chuckled darkly as she looked at her nails. “Really? I thought couples were supposed to trust each other, I mean that’s what boyfriends do, right?”
Sasuke paused and slightly glanced back at her with emotionless eyes. “You really think that we’re a couple? Don’t be foolish and let imprudent thoughts block your mind. It was nothing more than an associate relationship.”
“Of course,” Naomi sadly smiled as she gritted her teeth “How could I be so naïve?” she whispered the final part, mostly talking to herself. “Let me ask you one thing, Sasuke… why Orochimaru?”
“He… is the one that can grant me power, enough strength to beat Itachi. Living in this useless village has just wasted my time: never being taught powerful jutsu’s.” he spoke.
Naomi couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “Sasuke, we’re mere genin! We aren’t supposed to be learning this stuff yet! We still have a lot of training left!”
Sasuke whipped his head around with a glare. “That’s the thing, Naomi! I DON’T have time to be a fucking genin! I’m sitting there every day doing nothing, while he is out there getting stronger by the second!” he exclaimed. “I have to become strong to avenge the Uchiha clan. No one of you will know how it feels to lose everything!”
But that’s the thing Sasuke… I do. I understand more than anyone. Naomi thought. “Answer this question for me… did you ever truly love me? Were any of the memories we created special to you? Do you have some sort of place for me in your heart?” her questions spilled out revealing her emotions.
There was a long pause before Sasuke even answered. “…No. Everything that I felt for you, or so you thought I felt, was all fake. I don’t feel anything for you, and I never have. Do me a favor? Stay out of my way and stay out of my revenge. I don’t need you or anyone else getting in my way. Team 7… is simply a nuisance.”
Naomi chuckled as she quickly wiped the incoming tears away with the back of her hand. Look at me… I’m a mess. A disgrace. She shook her head and swallowed the lump in her throat. She reached into her kunai pouch as discretely as possible and clenched the sharp knife in her hand. Before Naomi could even properly take it out, a swoosh came behind her.
Both of her hands were grabbed behind her and held tightly, while another sharp kunai was held to her throat, the point right above the jugular vein. “Don’t you even dare.” Sasuke hissed in Naomi’s ear from behind. “One move and I’ll kill you. One puncture is all it takes.”
She closed her eyes biting her lip with exhaustion. Naomi knew she was being stupid. She didn’t have enough strength that could rival Sasuke’s curse mark at the moment. “No… you’re just saying that. Your words are simply a mask. You do care!” she implored, yet it sounded like she was trying to convince herself.
“If I did care, would I do this?” he muttered, before taking the kunai and gently slicing a small part of her throat. Naomi hissed in pain as she felt the warm blood ooze out of the wound and trail down her collar bone. “No I wouldn’t do this, but I have. So no, I don’t care.” He said until he kicked her in the back making Naomi fall on all four.
“Look at you,” he spat with venom “Reduced to this state. You’re weak.” He darkly chuckled.
“I-I have to tell you something…” Naomi tried to use her last option.
Sasuke snorted. “Shut up! I don’t want to hear your petty words.”
Naomi raised her head to look at him, while violently coughing blood up. She didn’t notice Sasuke flinch a bit at the sight.
“What does your future hold, huh Sasuke? Is revenge going to be your ultimate goal forever?! What will you do once it’s done? Nothing! Because all you’ll have left is grief, and more grief! Revenge is never the answer!” Naomi yelled.
Sasuke opened his eyes and gave her a death stare. His face was distant for a split-second and then he frowned, his lips pursed together and his dark, onyx eyes unblinking, at that moment, if his eyes were a weapon, the piercing look then could have caused serious destruction. It was as if he was an animal, and I was his prey.
“You don’t know anything about me,” he spat with raw anger “You don’t know what it feels like to lose all of your family and see them murdered from the person that you cared about the most!!” he screamed.
Naomi stared wide eyed at him, her heart beating wildly in her chest. She had never seen him look so furious. In a way… he’s right… I’ve never met my parents; I wouldn’t know what it feels like… I’m just like Naruto.
“STAY OUT OF MY BUSINESS!” he bawled. “It’s none of your concern!” his anger was blinding him, and before Naomi knew it, he had contorted a Chidori and jabbed her in the gut with it.
She gasped as the electrical sensation numbed her senses completely and then the sudden hit of pain made her cringe on the ground. She weakly noticed the blazing Sharingan staring right back at her. Those beautiful ruby eyes. Yet… so haunting.
….
“Well that escalated quite quickly….” They both heard a voice. Sasuke turned to see Kabuto standing there with a smirk adorning his lips. He pushed up his glasses as he spoke again.
“It was pretty entertaining though.” He amusingly spoke. “However, Sasuke, we must go. Lord Orochimaru is expecting us.” He commanded. Sasuke walked away from Naomi and past Kabuto.
“What about her?” Kabuto asked. Sasuke paused and glanced back at Naomi.
“Hn. Leave her there. She’s not worth it.” He monotonously spoke.
Kabuto and Sasuke started heading towards the dense forest. And all Naomi could do was watch them leave as she lay on the ground in pain. She didn’t realize that a sense of hate was beginning to form in her heart.
Naomi faced the sky and let her eyes close. Her tears gently cascaded down her face blending in with the rain drops and blood. She bit her lip as hard as she could to not let a sob escape her throat. The ache she was feeling in her body was immense, but it was nothing compared to what her heart was feeling.
She had thought that they had shared something special, because of their similar past. And yet… her past is so different. She had never been truly alone like Sasuke had. She had Jii-san and Tsunade-baa chan. But Sasuke… no one.
At this moment she hated him, yet she couldn’t let herself completely loathe him by blackening her heart.
…
…
However… no one noticed that when Sasuke had reached inside the middle of the forest, he paused in his tracks. His dark eyes turned to look at the small opening of the trees to the field where Naomi was laying.
His eyes softened and a small yet unnoticeable tear glided down his pale, flawless cheek.
“Gomen ne, Naomi.”
END OF CHAPTER 21~ I truly cried guys! When I was writing this I was balling my eyes out! * sniff sniff * BUT GUESS WHAT?!?! THE NEXT CHAPTER IS THE CHAPTER THAT EVERYONE HAS BEEN WAITING FOR!! You will finally find out the truth along with Naomi! Some of you will be like HOLY EFFING SHIT… some will be like “eh I knew it already…” some will be like “huh, I had no idea…” OR some might just be soooooo shocked by what Naomi does at the very end of the next chapter.
Love you all~~ Comment and Heart it!~~