Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen:
Naruto's chakra is warm, a soothing heat that settles into the vulnerable side of Sakura's throat, branding her with its protection and possessiveness. She feels it like a steady hand that slowly wraps around the back of her neck, its presence heavy and almost frighteningly suffocating.
Sakura swallows thickly, feeling the warmth of Naruto's chakra flow throughout her body, igniting her pathways, lighting them up like a match to candles. It feels strange, the presence of such a huge flow of chakra, moving so easily throughout her body, but her system doesn't fight against it, merely accepts it, welcoming the surge of power that makes her struggle to breathe.
The world around her blurs momentarily before it swiftly shifts to focus. The trees and foliage around Sakura become sharper, more clearer, Zabuza's mist no longer a problem to her eyes. She takes a deep breath and releases it, hearing sounds she shouldn't be, like the furious beat of Sasuke's heart and the panicked breathing that comes from Kakashi, loud and clear, even from within Zabuza's water prison.
Sakura shifts her gaze to Sasuke, wondering if he's seeing and hearing the same exact things as she is. She watches as sweat drips down the side of Sasuke's face, trailing down his chin and throat, before it's hidden by the high collar of his blue shirt.
“Now let's see if they're any good in battle!” Zabuza's water clone roars, unleashing his broadsword into the air with one, fatal swoop.
Something feral crawls up the back of Sakura's back. The proverbial hand of Naruto's chakra tightens possessively on the back of her neck and whatever animal instincts have laid dormant until now, they come to life, sizzling and bubbling in the pit of her stomach, making her hungry for blood.
Naruto and his clones jump into the air along with Sasuke, to avoid the blow of Zabuza's sword, but Sakura ducks forward. Everything is clear and bright, time seems to slow down as she forms a fist, pulls it back and aims it towards the ground. The earth shifts beneath her fist, cracking and breaking, exploding into large pieces.
Zabuza's clone gets sucked into the earth with a startled sound and Sakura jumps away, wide eyed and breathing heavily, as she avoids the chaos of her breakage.
Sasuke lands beside Sakura, just as Naruto's clones rain down on Zabuza, kunai stabbing him from all directions. He dispels from existence, water splashing against the ground and Sakura lets out a relieved breath. Her fist throbs with pain and when she looks down, she finds her knuckles bruised and bloody, the scarlet liquid dripping onto the ground below her.
“Nice distraction,” Sasuke murmurs. He licks his dry lips. “You feel it too, don't you? Naruto's chakra?”
“Yeah,” Sakura nods. “Yeah, it's…" She swallows thickly. "It's suffocating me.”
Sasuke smirks. He lets out a scoff, and together they watch as Naruto and his clones perch along the broken pieces of earth, looking like a pack of starving wolves, ready to devour everything and anything in their sights.
Naruto pulls out a scroll from within his pouch and releases a windmill shuriken into the air, sending it towards Sasuke. The Uchiha catches it easily, twisting the large metal piece between his fingers to get a better grip.
No words are exchanged, and yet Sakura knows the two are thinking of the same plan.
The real Zabuza cackles from atop the lake, where he's still keeping Kakashi in the water prison. “Colour me surprised,” he says, his tone rich with amusement, “they actually took out my clone…”
Sakura holds her wounded hand to her chest and moves, stepping aside to give Sasuke more room to work with. She watches as he unlocks the windmill shuriken, its four points slicing out into the air. With a burst of chakra, the boy flips into the air and sends the shuriken flying towards Zabuza at neck breaking speed, landing softly back onto the ground a moment later.
Zabuza clicks his tongue. “That won't work on me,” he says, simply catching the shuriken with his free hand. His eyes narrow once he spots another windmill shuriken flying towards him, a shadow of the original. “You're still too naive,” he jumps to avoid it, and the metal whirls through the air, moving somewhere behind him.
Sakura grits her teeth in frustration, but beside her, Sasuke's smirk turns cocky. “Who's the naive one here?’’ he mutters beneath his breath.
The shuriken behind Zabuza puffs, clouding in smoke as the real Naruto appears. He grabs a kunai from his thigh holster and sends it whistling sharply through the air, the shiny, sharpened edge aiming straight towards Zabuza’s eye.
At the cost of not losing said eye, Zabuza visibly hesitates before he releases the water prison jutsu, pulling his hand away from the top of the sphere. The sharp edge of Naruto's kunai slices just beneath his eye, drawing blood.
At the same time, the water forming Zabuza's prison jutsu drops, splashing back into the lake as Kakashi is released.
Naruto lands atop the lake, far away from the two men, as he channels chakra into his hands and knees, holding himself above the water. He catches his breath, scowling in annoyance when Zabuza is quick to shift on his feet, twisting and turning to send the original windmill shuriken back at him.
Before he can, a drenched, pissed off Kakashi stops him, using the back of his hand to counter the movement of the windmill shuriken. Blood drips out from the back of his hand and it lands in the water, staining it momentarily red.
Sakura almost, very nearly, cheers, having to bite her tongue to keep herself quiet, lest her Sensei get a bigger head from how thankful she feels right now.
“Naruto,” Kakashi says, warm and low, his words rumbling out of his chest, “your strategy was astounding. You've grown… all three of you.”
His praise is as gentle and as kind as ever. Sakura doesn't necessarily think it's the right time for it now, but well, she's not the one holding Zabuza back, so she'll stay quiet about the matter until later.
“Heh,” Zabuza scoffs, “I got distracted and broke my water prison jutsu━”
“No,” Kakashi cuts in, his voice returning to that icy coldness, no longer a warm rumble, but more of a threatening growl. “You didn't break the jutsu. My kids forced you to break it.”
Zabuza glares at him with his dark eyes, but Kakashi tilts his head, returning the glare tenfold. “I'll tell you now,” he warns, “the same jutsu won't work on me twice.” He steps forward, closer to Zabuza and adds more pressure into the windmill shuriken with the back of his hand, sending it flying into the air.
It soars over Naruto’s head and lands behind him with a loud splash, droplets of cold water landing all over the blonde's tense back.
“So…” Kakashi questions. “What will you do?’’
Instead of answering, Zabuza runs, landing safely away, creating a large space between him and Kakashi. He starts performing hand signs that are too quick for Sakura to follow and she gulps when her Sensei merely copies them with ease.
“It's the sharingan…” Sasuke says, impressed. “He said he didn't have perfect control of it yet, but he's using it so well…”
Naruto's clones, the ones that are still in the area, move to protect them, forming a semi circle around the two. “Stay alert,” one of them orders.
“Oh, Naruto you idiot,” Sakura worries, knowing her real teammate is about to get caught in the middle of a dangerous fight. “Get out of there!” She yells, hoping Naruto can hear her.
“Water style: water dragon jutsu!” Kakashi and Zabuza chorus, performing the last sign. The water around them comes to life, moving upwards towards the sky to form two large, water dragons. They clash against each other, sending waves of water all over the place.
“Naruto!” Sakura yells once more, as numerous waves come crashing against the land, forcing Naruto's clones to puff out of existence. The water forces Sakura to stumble backwards, but Sasuke catches her, and together they trudge forward, fighting against the onslaught of chakra saturated water.
Slowly, the waves trickle back into the lake and Sakura gasps, spotting Naruto washed up on the edge of the land. “Are you alright?’’ She asks, running up to him. She grabs Naruto by the back of his orange jacket with her good hand and drags him away from the lake and further into the uneven path.
“I'm fine,” Naruto says, struggling to catch his breath. Water drips from his hair and clothes. He takes several deep breaths and exhales them softly, muttering a low, “this decides it, I have a newfound hatred for large bodies of water.”
“We better move,” Sasuke says, joining them. “I've got a feeling there's more water incoming.”
True to his words, the lake stirs, circling over and over to create one humongous vortex. Water rains from up above and Naruto's expression sours.
He's about to move, when he notices Sakura's injured hand, the skin mangled and bleeding, bruised to the bone. In a split second decision, he reaches out, easily lifting her into his arms in a bridal carry.
“H-huh?” Sakura’s face fills with heat and confusion. She grabs onto Naruto's jacket with her uninjured hand, tucking her bleeding one closer to her chest for protection.
“Sasuke,” Naruto says, ignoring Sakura's confused, and quite frankly, scandalised look, “let's take cover in the trees.”
“Right,” Sasuke nods, the corner of his mouth lifting into half a smile, like he's struggling to hold back a laugh.
More confusion filters in through Sakura's head. The air whirs past her ears as Naruto jumps onto the closet branch and then goes higher, Sasuke following diligently behind him, until they're on a thick, sturdy branch, high away from the disastrous lake and their Sensei's battle.
“Sit,” Naruto orders, very gently placing Sakura down onto the branch, “and stay still.”
“Okay,” Sakura says, dumbfounded. She blinks owlishly as Naruto uses his knee to steady her back.
Closer to the side of the tree, Sasuke turns his head away to unsuccessfully hide a snicker. Sakura sends him a scandalised look too. She feels like she's been dropped into an alternative timeline, where Naruto is gentle and Sasuke knows how to laugh.
Everything is weird and it's confusing her.
The sound of water crashing loudly catches her attention. She peers below her to see the lake trashing and sloshing, completely covering the land in dangerous waves. Slowly, the water calms down, showing a defeated Zabuza pinned to a nearby tree by four kunai, two in his biceps and two in his thighs.
“That's gotta hurt,” Sakura says, wrinkling her nose. “And I can't believe I'm about to say this… but Kakashi-sensei is ridiculously strong.”
“I know,” Sasuke reluctantly agrees, turning to look down below as well.
Naruto joins them, his gaze zeroing in on Kakashi who's standing on a branch just above Zabuza's pinned body. “This is the end,” he growls, raising his kunai.
Naruto suddenly tenses behind Sakura, his posture turning rigid. He shifts his gaze, moving it around the treeline, evidently searching for someone or something. “The eighth heartbeat…” he trails off. “I can hear it, but…”
Sasuke’s face does something complicated. “What heartbeat━”
Something sharp and silver, glinting in the sunlight, slinks through the air at deadly speed, and at the same time, rightful possessiveness seeps out from within the seal on Sakura’s neck, making her shiver.
Immediately, Kakashi is teleported away from Zabuza and placed just beside Naruto, the jounin looking startled as he lands safely onto the tree branch.
Below them, two senbon needless strike Zabuza in the side of his throat, effectively killing him. He falls limply towards the ground, crashing with a dull thud.
Sakura doesn't dare breathe.
She watches with wide, pale green eyes as a ninja appears at Zabuza's side in a swirl of leaves. Sakura curls in on herself, feeling unease settle into the pit of her stomach as the ninja glances up at them from behind a white, red marked porcelain mask.
“Hunter nin,” Kakashi states, tucking his kunai away. He drops back down onto land and moves to check Zabuza’s pulse point with his pointer and index finger.
“He's definitely dead,” the jounin mutters, standing back to full height. Sasuke lands beside him, and a moment later, Naruto joins them, holding a flustered Sakura in his arms once more.
“It's my hand that's injured, Naruto. Not my leg,” the girl complains.
Naruto flat out ignores her, merely holding Sakura closer to his chest. He raises a brow when the hunter nin bows, lowering his head to Kakashi. When he speaks, his voice is soft and young. “I thank you. I have been waiting for a chance to kill Zabuza.”
“I see.” Kakashi murmurs, eyeing the hidden mist symbol on the stranger's porcelain mask.
Sakura makes a face. She childishly tucks her head underneath Naruto's chin and pouts, wondering if the mist ninja is somewhere around their age. If he is, he's definitely a lot stronger than Sakura and her teammates.
“Your battle is over for now,” the mist hunter says, crouching low to pick up Zabuza's deceased body over his shoulder. “I must get rid of this corpse, because it contains many secrets.” With a swirl of leaves and a polite, “excuse me,” the hunter nin and Zabuza disappear.
A heavy silence settles over team seven. Sakura wonders if they're all sharing the same thought she is ━ that they're severely unprepared for future missions and the chuunin exams.
“We're pathetic,” Naruto eventually says, his voice flat and quiet.
Sakura closes her eyes. A lack of reaction flows through the seal on her neck. There's a simple hollowness, no warmth, no rush of possessiveness, just… nothing, not even disappointment.
She idly wonders if the seal and Naruto are connected and whether or not the blonde even knows, because this feeling of emptiness is vast, like she's being sucked into a whirlpool of coldness, unable to feel anything.
Sakura shivers and Naruto shifts his grip slightly, a gentle trickle of warmth slowly moving through the seal and into Sakura's body. She opens her eyes and looks at Kakashi, who's lowering his hitai-ate back over his sharingan eye.
“In this world, there are children younger than you and stronger than me,” he tells them gravelly, reaching out to ruffle Sasuke's dark hair. “It's the unfortunate reality.”
With a sigh, Kakashi pockets his hands, slouching forward. “Either way, we still have a mission to complete. We have to escort Tazuna back━”
The jounin jolts, like he's being electrocuted, and then falls forward, his one eye rolling back.
“Sensei!” Sakura gasps, just as Sasuke catches the man, cautiously lowering him to the ground. He grits his teeth and peers up at Naruto. “What now?” Sasuke asks.
Naruto hums playfully. “My hands are already full with Sakura. I'd summon my clones to help you out,” he huffs out a soft laugh, apparently not at all worried about Kakashi's state of well being, “but where would the fun in that be?’’