Chapter 4; in which Team Taka returns

Sasuke digs the point of the knife in just far enough to draw blood. “You bastard,” Naruto says tightly. He’s trembling.

“I’ll say it again,” Sasuke murmurs, very close to his ear. “Our bonds make us weak. The only thing that’s important in this world is your own ability. Give up on this friendship, Naruto, or it will end up killing you.”

Naruto’s eyes are downcast. He wraps his fingers tightly around Sasuke’s wrist, as though he can hold Sasuke there with just that alone. “I – ” he starts.

Sasuke knocks him out with one blow.

His heart is hammering inside his chest. He stares down at Naruto’s sprawled body, feeling the nausea spread through him.

It’s the drug, he tells himself. It has nothing to do with guilt.

Finding the exit is surprisingly simple. His sword is standing in the corner, and he picks it up as he creeps through the door. The narrow hallways are deserted and silent, and Sasuke has to sneer at their teamwork. This was what trusting people got you – endangered lives and an escaped prisoner.

Staying upright is the task that takes real effort. Days of immobility combined with his overuse of the Mangekyo are turning his muscles to water. He staggers toward the closest thicket of trees and slams directly into Juugo’s broad chest.

“Sasuke-kun!” Juugo catches him before he sags. Karin’s there a second later, slinging his arm over her shoulder.

“Thank god,” he hears her breathe.

“About time,” Sasuke mumbles, willing his double vision to clear.

Suigetsu smirks at him, sword over one shoulder. “We were about to storm the castle,” he says. “Karin was sure they’d killed you and buried your body.”

“Shut up,” Karin says viciously.

“Their directive wasn’t to kill me,” Sasuke says wearily. “Just...” save me “…bring me back to Konoha.”

“That jounin they’re with is a pain in the ass,” Suigetsu continues. “It took us three days to track you and two more to figure out how to break the genjutsu around this place.”

“If you hadn’t felt the need to rest every three miles,” Karin starts hotly.

“Enough, you two,” Juugo says. The impatience in his voice tells Sasuke he’s had to say it a lot in the last few days. He glances over his shoulder. “We need to get Sasuke someplace where we can rest a little.”

“You go,” Suigetsu says. He bares jagged teeth in a grin of anticipation. “Now that Sasuke’s out, I’ll take care of the rest of them.”

“No!” Sasuke’s voice startles even himself. They all turn and look.

“No,” he says again in a more controlled tone. “They’re not our concern anymore. Leave them.”

“But – ”

“No,” he repeats, in a voice that brooks no argument. “We can’t waste time now. We need to move.”

Suigetsu scowls, but he relaxes his sword grip.

“Sasuke!”

The cry comes from the middle of the clearing, anguished and enraged. Sasuke can see Naruto from between the trees, looking wildly around for him. The idiot chased after him all by himself, without even taking Sai or Sakura.

“Damn it,” Naruto howls. “Where the hell are you? Come back and fight me, you coward, you asshole, you stupid bastard, you – ” He continues to hurl insults, and Sasuke can hear the tears in his voice.

Suigetsu glances at him hopefully, but Sasuke quells it with a shake of his head. He takes one last glance at Naruto, standing defeated under the night sky. There’s an odd pain in the vicinity of his chest, like someone squeezing. He turns away.

“Let’s go,” he says.

They’ve only managed to hobble a few steps when Sasuke feels cold foreboding starts to trickle across the back of his neck. Juugo is moving slowly, in jerking, uneven steps.

“Sasuke,” Karin says in warning, drawing back.

“Now?” Suigetsu asks in exasperation.

It must be the violence in the air, Sasuke thinks wearily. It would set anyone off, let alone someone as unstable as Juugo.

“Sasuke-kun,” Juugo says in a strained voice, as the black swirls start to crawl across his face. “Run.” He shoves Sasuke away from him, and Sasuke hits his head against the nearest tree, slumping down.

Karin makes a move to help him, and Juugo swipes her away like a bear with a mouse. She lands on her feet, but Juugo stands between her and Sasuke, preventing her from offering any more assistance. Suigetsu’s eyes are darting nervously between Sasuke and Juugo, and Sasuke isn’t sure if he’s deciding how to attack without killing Juugo, or whether to just let Juugo do away with Sasuke altogether. It wouldn’t surprise him.

“Karin,” Sasuke says, hearing how weak and reedy his voice sounds through his ringing ears. “Get Karin.” Suigetsu obeys.

Juugo’s almost all the way gone, now; half his face has darkened, and his left arm has doubled in size. Sasuke activates the Sharingan, and nearly doubles over from the impact on his body. He’s too weak, he realizes. He barely has enough energy to pick himself up off the ground, let alone stop Juugo. Juugo looms over him, his normally-peaceful face stretched into a skeletal grin. “Die,” he says.

His gigantic hand wraps around Sasuke’s throat, sliding him roughly up the tree and pinning him there. This is it, Sasuke thinks dimly. After all this, after everything, to be killed by his own teammate. Juugo squeezes, and the flow of blood to Sasuke’s brain constricts with dizzying immediacy.

“Rasengan.” The voice comes from his left. From the corner of his darkening vision, Sasuke sees a wall of orange hurtling toward them. The first Naruto hits Sasuke, flattening him to the ground as the deadly wind technique goes spinning into Juugo. Three more clones follow, dragging Juugo down in a vicious struggle. Juugo roars, lost in bloodlust.

“Sasuke! Open your eyes, damnit.” The first Naruto, the original, is still lying on top of Sasuke, shaking his shoulders with vigor.

“Get…off me…dobe,” Sasuke manages through raw vocal cords.

He looks up into Naruto’s relieved face, just as two of the clones pop out of existence behind him. Juugo rises up, his stomach a bloody mess from the Rasengan, his face a mask of rage.

Naruto springs to his feet, putting himself between Sasuke and Juugo. “What is he?” he asks grimly.

Sasuke drags himself into a sitting position against the nearest tree. It’s the most he can manage.

“The curse mark,” he says faintly. “He’s the source.” Sasuke has a passing thought that he should warn Naruto not to kill Juugo, but it flits through his tired brain and then disappears.

“Oh, great,” Naruto mutters. “Is he going to sprout wings, too?”

Sasuke looks up at his strong back, the level shoulders, the ready battle stance. Why? His brain is screaming. Why the hell did Naruto always do this? Why hasn’t he learned that Sasuke isn’t worth this stubborn loyalty, this endless struggle?

Sasuke doesn’t have a chance to ask him. Naruto half turns his head, and Sasuke sees a gleaming blue eye and a shock of yellow bangs. “Don’t move,” Naruto says. “When I’m done with him, you’re next.” He rushes into battle.

And Naruto in battle is…well, not what Sasuke expected. His personality may not have changed much, but his fighting style has certainly grown. There’s no real strategy, no dance-like beauty to the battle. It’s inelegant and spur-of-the-moment. That’s all the same. But his strength…

He’s a whirlwind of movement, substituting sophistication for pure, raw power. He shoves Karin out of the way a second before Juugo’s fist comes down on her, and even manages to evade the aimless hacking of Suigetsu’s sword. He’s quick, and he’s inventive, and when it comes down to it, Juugo never stood a chance.

Sasuke doesn’t know if it’s Naruto’s rage or the fact that his personal chakra supplies are dwindling, but after Juugo knocks him down a third time, his eyes start to flash red. The form of the fox encases him like it did so many years ago at the Valley of the End, and his teeth sharpen into fangs. Sasuke’s not sure whether to be glad or alarmed. Having faced Naruto’s demon side himself, he’s half afraid of what will happen if it gets out of control.

But Naruto seems to have himself decently in hand, despite the angry glow of power around him. Suigetsu stops fighting altogether and stares in amazement, and Sasuke hears Karin’s stammered, “Th-that chakra…” Sasuke did it with a snake, and Naruto does it with his bloody knuckles, but the end result is the same. The black marks pull back swiftly from Juugo’s skin, and the giant is left dazed and shaking as he tries to get his bearings.

Sasuke starts to relax, until he sees the blue-tinged spiral gathering momentum in Naruto’s palm, spinning faster and faster. It takes his tired brain a few moments to realize what he’s doing, and then it hits him. His two teams are about to destroy each other.

The black whiskers on Naruto’s face have thickened, and the expression in his eyes is dangerously feral. The glow of the fox is spreading around him, burning brighter by the second. Juugo is nothing but an enemy to him, and Sasuke realizes he has every intention of killing the giant. Sasuke lays his palm against the tree, painfully propelling himself to his knees.

“Naruto, don’t!” he yells. It’s too late. Naruto’s hand is already drawn back, ready to blast Juugo out of existence.

At the last possible second, Suigetsu rears up between Juugo and Naruto in liquid form, and the spiraling wind cuts harmlessly through him, dampened into nothing by the water. Juugo cowers behind Suigetsu, safe, and Sasuke breathes a sigh of relief.

And then freezes in shock as Suigetsu’s solid form materializes, draws back Zabuza’s sword and, with a mighty swing, slices Naruto directly across the center of his stomach.

Naruto screams and drops to his knees. Sasuke can see the blood smeared across the blade, thickly red. Sasuke struggles furiously to his feet, trying to reach them.

“Suigestsu, stop!” he commands.

Suigetsu’s sword halts inches away from striking the killing blow, and he and Karin both jerk their faces toward Sasuke, confused. The Kyuubi’s chakra abruptly ceases its rapid expansion. It recedes until it’s just a dull, pulsing glow around Naruto’s prone body, and Sasuke can see the fox withdrawing sulkily into its cage again, simply observing now that Naruto’s intent to kill is gone.

Sasuke knows he doesn’t have enough chakra left to suppress the Kyuubi this time. He can barely maintain the Sharingan at all. He approaches anyway, not flinching as the great yellow eyes focus on him. Naruto’s form is curled in the corner, unmoving.

“Kyuubi,” he calls up.

“You again,” the Kyuubi says contemptuously. “What do you want?”

“If he dies,” Sasuke reminds the demon desperately, “you die.”

“I know how it works, brat.”

“Then heal him.”

The expression in the gigantic eyes is sly. “Took my words to heart, did you?” Sasuke starts as a memory creeps into his brain. Do not kill Naruto, the fox had said. You will regret it.

Damnit.

Sasuke clenches his teeth. “I’m not finished with him.”

“No,” says the fox, “but I’m finished with you.”

One lifesize tail slams against the ground, and Sasuke’s thrown back in the ensuing earthquake, ejected from the Kyuubi’s prison and Naruto’s mind.

“Sasuke!” Karin is entirely supporting his weight, and Sasuke shakes his head to clear it. “Are you okay?” she asks. Her anxious eyes search his from behind her glasses.

He nods, putting a hand on her shoulder to reassure her. Suigetsu is still standing over Naruto, sword poised.

“What the hell,” he complains. “You almost made me cut off my own foot.”

“Leave him,” Sasuke says, holding his head. “He’s no threat now.” After a few swaying seconds, he manages to stand on his own two feet. Suigetsu scowls, but lowers his weapon.

“Is he dead?” Karin asks apprehensively, and Sasuke holds his breath.

“Not yet.” Suigetsu nudges Naruto’s face with his toe, and Naruto’s head rolls limply to the side.

“What was that?” she breathes.

“Are you dense?” Suigetsu says dismissively. “Didn’t you see that chakra? He’s the last jinchuuriki.” He sniffs. “Not much compared to that ox.”

He hefts Naruto’s fallen body over his shoulder like a sack of rice, and Sasuke’s fingers slowly curl into fists.

“Come on,” Suigetsu says, turning away. “We’ve got to deliver this before we keep going, or we’ll have Akatsuki on our tail all the way to Konoha.”

“No,” Sasuke’s voice stops Suigetsu in his tracks. His entire team turns to stare silently at him. “No,” he says again, adopting his most imperious tone. “He’s a leaf-nin. He may have information for us.”

“Are you nuts?” Karin asks. Juugo’s arm is slung over her shoulder now, still bleeding from the first Rasengan and all the other minor injuries Naruto inflicted on him. Sasuke can see her pushing up the sleeve of her robe, preparing herself to heal another one of her teammates. “If Akatsuki finds out we took him for ourselves, they’ll kill us.”

“I told you before,” Sasuke says, glancing briefly at her. “We are the ones using Akatsuki, not the other way around. If they want to come, let them come.”

Suigetsu’s mouth lifts in a sharp grin. “Hell, yes. I’m so ready to – ”

“You three will head out now,” Sasuke interrupts. “I’ll deal with the nine-tails and catch up on the outskirts of the city.”

More silence. They think he’s out of his mind, Sasuke realizes, and he’s not so sure they’re wrong. What is he doing? Naruto needs a medic, and the only medic around is Sakura. He’s not about to let himself get captured again when Naruto will most likely die anyway. He should just let Suigestsu hand him over to Akatsuki and be done with it. One less roadblock between him and Konoha.

“Sasuke-kun,” Karin starts cautiously. “I don’t think – ”

“Then don’t,” Sasuke says rudely, and she flinches. “That’s not what you’re here for, anyway.”

Even Juugo lifts his head at that. Suigestsu’s eyes are narrowed and sulky, and Karin just looks troubled.

“Go,” he tells them, “or I have no use for you. Any of you.”

It’s a lie. Strong as he is, he can’t take Konoha on his own. He needs all of them. But something in him isn’t ready for Naruto to die yet. Not yet.

Soon, he promises himself. But not yet.

There’s trepidation in his nerves as he watches his three teammates limp off. He breathes and forces himself to think. The area is unfamiliar, Kakashi’s team will be looking for him, he’s still incredibly weak, and to top it all off, he’s just consigned himself to dragging Naruto around with him.

He looks down. Naruto is still unconscious on the ground, and Sasuke wonders how much longer he’ll last. His face is very pale.

Exhaustion washes through him, and he closes his eyes.

Now what?

END PART I

PART II