Penultimate, baby!
Title: When the house falls down (13/14)
Author: sowell
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Language, violence, character death, general lack of hearts and rainbows, um....melodrama? Also, spoilers up through manga issue 418, both in fic and author's notes. Cheerfully ignores everything post-418, which is rapidly rendering this fic AU. Possible spoilers for later issues in the comments.
Genre: Action, adventure, friendship, romance, aaaaaaaaaaaangst
Wordcount: 1,773
Summary: When the house falls down, all that's left is to rebuild. Naruto/Sasuke friendship with subtext-y goodness. Um, that ventures into text-y goodness in several places.
Disclaimer: They belong to Kishimoto-san. I apologize for my extreme western-izing of them.
Author's Note:1) General story notes. 2) Unbeta'd. 3) Feedback is awesome amazing orgasmic ninja-cool. :)
X-posted to sasuxnaru and chuunin
Previous Chapters:
Chapter 1 // Chapter 2 // Chapter 3 // Chapter 4 // Chapter 5 // Chapter 6 // Chapter 7 // Chapter 8 // Chapter 9 // Chapter 10 // Chapter 11 // Chapter 12
Chapter 13; in which Team 7 reunites for an EPIC BATTLE OF DOOM
Naruto looks awful. Half the skin is flayed from his face, his clothes are torn and hanging, and there’s blood matted in his hair. But he’s alive, and the fox’s chakra has disappeared. Naruto’s back in control. The aura of power is still thick in the air, though, and Sasuke realizes that it’s Naruto himself, his own formidable chakra making an appearance.
He’s never seen someone shake off the Mangekyo’s illusion like that. Naruto’s blue eyes are chilly, and for a moment, Sasuke wonders if he’ll be killed along with Madara. It’s about what he deserves, he figures. But then Naruto reaches down and pulls him to his feet.
Madara recovers quickly, vaulting upright and backing away from the two of them. There’s a definite wariness there, now. The rest of the room is watching with wide, fearful eyes. Even Tsunade looks shell-shocked, and Sasuke wonders just what went on while he was trying to rouse Naruto.
“His eyes,” Sasuke tries to say, wheezing. Every part of him feels loose and crushed. “Avoid his eyes.”
“No,” Naruto says, deadly. “We go for the eyes. His eyes are his weakness.”
He’s right. It’s so simple, Sasuke realizes, feeling like a complete moron. If Madara’s power is in his eyes, then it’s the eyes they need to target. Madara gained his strength by ripping out his brother’s eyes; he’d lose it by having his own eyes destroyed.
But first, they have to avoid the Mangekyo. Sasuke’s own eyes are burning with strain, and he can feel the blood crusting on his cheeks.
Naruto’s healing so quickly that Sasuke can barely keep track of it - split skin sealing together, bruises fading, blood clotting and drying with unnatural speed. The fox’s chakra is gone, but there’s a faint glow around Naruto’s body that Sasuke’s never seen before.
Weirder still, Naruto’s own eyes are changing. They’re darkening, red mixing in with the blue. Not fiery fox red; bloody Sharingan red. His pupils are still locked on Madara’s spinning ones, and…it’s not having any effect. The Mangekyo isn’t working on him anymore.
Naruto’s previous words drift through Sasuke’s mind. Itachi…he said…he said he gave me power…
“Naruto,” Sasuke says shakily. “You’re - ”
“I know,” he says. “Let’s finish this.”
Either Naruto managed to communicate something to Tsunade when Sasuke wasn’t looking, or the Sannin is simply still in shock. Either way, the rest of the Konoha shinobi stay back as Naruto and Sasuke attack.
Sasuke’s barely has the energy to keep moving, but Naruto is a ricocheting presence, faster than Sasuke’s ever seen him. Between his own power and the hint of Itachi’s chakra that Sasuke can feel leaking from him, he’s nothing but a blur of motion.
Madara can dodge, but that’s about it. He doesn’t have enough time to formulate his own attacks before Naruto is on him again, striking with lethal accuracy. Sasuke tries to help by staying out of the way and watching Naruto’s back as best he can. He’s almost ready to give up paying attention entirely and just go sit in a corner somewhere when he sees Naruto stumble.
The clumsy movement is so at odds with Naruto’s current fighting style that at first Sasuke thinks he’s imagining things. The mistake gives Madara the opportunity he’s been waiting for, and he hurls a kunai straight for Naruto’s heart, face savage.
Sasuke deflects it at the last second, and Madara turns on a dime, going for him instead. Sasuke tries to move out of the way, but he’s very, very tired. The only thing that saves him is Sakura, throwing her whole weight at him to shove him to the ground.
“Pay attention,” she snaps, and Sasuke’s not sure if she’s talking to him or Naruto. Either way, she’s right. That was too close.
Naruto’s struggling to rise, a grimace on his face.
“What the hell was that?” Sasuke asks him, pulling him the rest of the way to his feet.
“My body,” Naruto says with effort. “After the fox takes over, it…takes a while.”
His eyes are hovering halfway between sky-blue and Sharingan-red, and Sasuke watches as he clenches his jaw, visibly steadying himself.
“Next one,” Naruto says. “Next one for sure.”
He tries to push Sakura behind him, but she holds her ground. “Don’t even think about it,” she says. She charges Madara, face pulled into fierce lines, and Naruto and Sasuke have no choice but to follow.
The years melt away as the three of them surround their opponent. He’s never fought with Naruto and Sakura to kill before - only to defend. It doesn’t matter though. Sakura and Naruto fight like they share one brain, and Sasuke has always been able to read Naruto with ease.
They form a triangle around Madara, closing in, and it doesn’t matter how fast his ancestor moves; there’s nowhere he can go that the three of them can’t reach.
Madara’s either very stupid, very confident, or both. He flickers out of sight, then reappears between Naruto and Sasuke, a weapon in each hand. But Naruto has Itachi’s Sharingan, after all. He beats Madara there by a second, knife aimed.
Sasuke can see the triumph on Naruto’s face, the anticipation, the gleam of victory. He waits. He holds his breath, strung on pins and needles…
Naruto falls again.
Fuck.
His body just gives out, and Sasuke sees him splat face-first into the floor, in a movement that would be funny if they weren’t mid-battle. His face twisted in pain. Whatever power Itachi gave him, it’s not enough to balance out the strain that the Kyuubi put on his body. He’s too slow pushing to his feet, and Madara’s not one to waste a single opportunity.
Naruto’s in too much pain to defend himself and Sakura is too far away. Madara is closing in, just feet away…
If there’s one thing Sasuke’s always been, it’s fast. He slides between Madara and Naruto just in time for the knife to plunge into his own gut.
At first it’s just a hot pressure. Then the burning pain hits, and Sasuke tastes blood on his own lips.
“Very noble,” Madara murmurs approvingly. “You might be an Uchiha after all.” He puts a hand on Sasuke’s shoulder and twists the knife viciously upward, ripping through organs and tissue.
Everything in Sasuke’s field of vision goes black for a moment, and then he’s sinking down, spots swimming in front of his eyes. He can sense Naruto rising behind him, getting back to his feet, as always.
“It’s too bad,” Madara says, voice soothing. “You actually almost beat me.” Sasuke can’t move his legs and the pain is overriding the rest of his senses, and he knows Naruto can finish it without him but he came so close and…
And then he realizes: for the first time in the entire fight, he has a solid grip on his opponent.
Using the last of his strength, he shoves Madara forward, switching their positions. He registers the knife embedding itself even more firmly in his stomach as he wraps one arm around Madara’s throat and the other across his shoulders, holding him in place.
“Naruto, now!” he yells.
Without hesitation and without mercy, Naruto digs his fingers in and rips the eyes from Madara’s face.
Naruto scampers out of reach as Madara screams and clutches at the bleeding sockets. The patriarch of the Uchiha clan falls to his knees, convulsing. His face is covered in blood, and Sasuke watches in amazement as his ancestor’s body seems to age before his eyes, withering into the old man he would have been without his brother’s sacrifice.
Just to be sure, Sasuke pins his chest to the floor with his sword.
Naruto’s limping as he approaches the prone body. The newly-aged Uchiha is still, lying face up in his own blood. Naruto leans down and feels for his pulse. By the time he rises, his eyes have faded back to their normal blue.
“We did it,” Naruto says. “He’s dead.” He drops his head for a second, and when he raises it, his face is like the sun.
“Yeah,” Sasuke manages.
Naruto looks at him. “I knew you weren’t hopeless,” he breathes. “I told everyone - ” His expression changes abruptly. “Sasuke?”
There’s a great rushing noise in Sasuke’s ears. His back slams up against something with painful force, and then he’s staring at the ceiling, gasping for breath.
“Shit,” Naruto’s face looms over him, fear and anguish all twisted up in his eyes. “Shit shit shit. Look at me,” he yells. He’s gripping Sasuke’s collar, violently shaking him, and Sasuke knows he’s worried, but the idiot is making the pain even worse.
Sasuke tries to open his mouth and speak, but he’s beyond words. There’s red-tinged black creeping in from the corners of his vision, and everything sounds very far away. Sakura appears over him, too, and her expressive eyes keep tipping between practiced professionalism and bone-deep fear. Sasuke’s pretty sure that means he’s in bad shape.
“Try not to move,” she says, and her voice is muffled with tears. Move?
“You don’t get to die like this,” Naruto’s blurry face threatens. “You don’t deserve it, do you hear me? After all the shit you pulled...you…you have to live. You owe it to me. You don’t get to take the easy way out.” His tears hit Sasuke’s face, washing away the blood from the Mangekyo.
Sasuke wishes he could strangle him for calling this easy. The pain is so bad that Sasuke wonders if Madara actually ripped the organs from his body. As it is, he has to simply gape up at Naruto like a fish.
Sakura elbows Naruto aside, putting lightly trembling fingers against Sasuke’s chest. He’s not sure what it does, but it makes the agony fade slightly.
“And I’m not done with you,” Naruto continues through clenched teeth. “I haven’t beaten you yet. I haven’t shown you what Jiraiya taught me. If you die - ” he chokes off, and Sakura bites her lip.
For once, Sasuke actually wants to say something reassuring. The room is fading, he knows he’s probably dying, but everything feels oddly peaceful. It takes him a moment to figure out why, and when he does, it’s like light washes through him. For the first time in his life he’s…finished. There’s nothing else for him to do.
“If you die,” Naruto says again, face crumpling, “I’ll jump into hell and drag you back.”
Sasuke feels his lips curve. If anyone can do it, he thinks, Naruto can. And that’s his last thought as he lets the darkness rise up and swallow him.
Chapter 14 (aka THE END)
Author: sowell
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Language, violence, character death, general lack of hearts and rainbows, um....melodrama? Also, spoilers up through manga issue 418, both in fic and author's notes. Cheerfully ignores everything post-418, which is rapidly rendering this fic AU. Possible spoilers for later issues in the comments.
Genre: Action, adventure, friendship, romance, aaaaaaaaaaaangst
Wordcount: 1,773
Summary: When the house falls down, all that's left is to rebuild. Naruto/Sasuke friendship with subtext-y goodness. Um, that ventures into text-y goodness in several places.
Disclaimer: They belong to Kishimoto-san. I apologize for my extreme western-izing of them.
Author's Note:1) General story notes. 2) Unbeta'd. 3) Feedback is awesome amazing orgasmic ninja-cool. :)
X-posted to sasuxnaru and chuunin
Previous Chapters:
Chapter 1 // Chapter 2 // Chapter 3 // Chapter 4 // Chapter 5 // Chapter 6 // Chapter 7 // Chapter 8 // Chapter 9 // Chapter 10 // Chapter 11 // Chapter 12
Chapter 13; in which Team 7 reunites for an EPIC BATTLE OF DOOM
Naruto looks awful. Half the skin is flayed from his face, his clothes are torn and hanging, and there’s blood matted in his hair. But he’s alive, and the fox’s chakra has disappeared. Naruto’s back in control. The aura of power is still thick in the air, though, and Sasuke realizes that it’s Naruto himself, his own formidable chakra making an appearance.
He’s never seen someone shake off the Mangekyo’s illusion like that. Naruto’s blue eyes are chilly, and for a moment, Sasuke wonders if he’ll be killed along with Madara. It’s about what he deserves, he figures. But then Naruto reaches down and pulls him to his feet.
Madara recovers quickly, vaulting upright and backing away from the two of them. There’s a definite wariness there, now. The rest of the room is watching with wide, fearful eyes. Even Tsunade looks shell-shocked, and Sasuke wonders just what went on while he was trying to rouse Naruto.
“His eyes,” Sasuke tries to say, wheezing. Every part of him feels loose and crushed. “Avoid his eyes.”
“No,” Naruto says, deadly. “We go for the eyes. His eyes are his weakness.”
He’s right. It’s so simple, Sasuke realizes, feeling like a complete moron. If Madara’s power is in his eyes, then it’s the eyes they need to target. Madara gained his strength by ripping out his brother’s eyes; he’d lose it by having his own eyes destroyed.
But first, they have to avoid the Mangekyo. Sasuke’s own eyes are burning with strain, and he can feel the blood crusting on his cheeks.
Naruto’s healing so quickly that Sasuke can barely keep track of it - split skin sealing together, bruises fading, blood clotting and drying with unnatural speed. The fox’s chakra is gone, but there’s a faint glow around Naruto’s body that Sasuke’s never seen before.
Weirder still, Naruto’s own eyes are changing. They’re darkening, red mixing in with the blue. Not fiery fox red; bloody Sharingan red. His pupils are still locked on Madara’s spinning ones, and…it’s not having any effect. The Mangekyo isn’t working on him anymore.
Naruto’s previous words drift through Sasuke’s mind. Itachi…he said…he said he gave me power…
“Naruto,” Sasuke says shakily. “You’re - ”
“I know,” he says. “Let’s finish this.”
Either Naruto managed to communicate something to Tsunade when Sasuke wasn’t looking, or the Sannin is simply still in shock. Either way, the rest of the Konoha shinobi stay back as Naruto and Sasuke attack.
Sasuke’s barely has the energy to keep moving, but Naruto is a ricocheting presence, faster than Sasuke’s ever seen him. Between his own power and the hint of Itachi’s chakra that Sasuke can feel leaking from him, he’s nothing but a blur of motion.
Madara can dodge, but that’s about it. He doesn’t have enough time to formulate his own attacks before Naruto is on him again, striking with lethal accuracy. Sasuke tries to help by staying out of the way and watching Naruto’s back as best he can. He’s almost ready to give up paying attention entirely and just go sit in a corner somewhere when he sees Naruto stumble.
The clumsy movement is so at odds with Naruto’s current fighting style that at first Sasuke thinks he’s imagining things. The mistake gives Madara the opportunity he’s been waiting for, and he hurls a kunai straight for Naruto’s heart, face savage.
Sasuke deflects it at the last second, and Madara turns on a dime, going for him instead. Sasuke tries to move out of the way, but he’s very, very tired. The only thing that saves him is Sakura, throwing her whole weight at him to shove him to the ground.
“Pay attention,” she snaps, and Sasuke’s not sure if she’s talking to him or Naruto. Either way, she’s right. That was too close.
Naruto’s struggling to rise, a grimace on his face.
“What the hell was that?” Sasuke asks him, pulling him the rest of the way to his feet.
“My body,” Naruto says with effort. “After the fox takes over, it…takes a while.”
His eyes are hovering halfway between sky-blue and Sharingan-red, and Sasuke watches as he clenches his jaw, visibly steadying himself.
“Next one,” Naruto says. “Next one for sure.”
He tries to push Sakura behind him, but she holds her ground. “Don’t even think about it,” she says. She charges Madara, face pulled into fierce lines, and Naruto and Sasuke have no choice but to follow.
The years melt away as the three of them surround their opponent. He’s never fought with Naruto and Sakura to kill before - only to defend. It doesn’t matter though. Sakura and Naruto fight like they share one brain, and Sasuke has always been able to read Naruto with ease.
They form a triangle around Madara, closing in, and it doesn’t matter how fast his ancestor moves; there’s nowhere he can go that the three of them can’t reach.
Madara’s either very stupid, very confident, or both. He flickers out of sight, then reappears between Naruto and Sasuke, a weapon in each hand. But Naruto has Itachi’s Sharingan, after all. He beats Madara there by a second, knife aimed.
Sasuke can see the triumph on Naruto’s face, the anticipation, the gleam of victory. He waits. He holds his breath, strung on pins and needles…
Naruto falls again.
Fuck.
His body just gives out, and Sasuke sees him splat face-first into the floor, in a movement that would be funny if they weren’t mid-battle. His face twisted in pain. Whatever power Itachi gave him, it’s not enough to balance out the strain that the Kyuubi put on his body. He’s too slow pushing to his feet, and Madara’s not one to waste a single opportunity.
Naruto’s in too much pain to defend himself and Sakura is too far away. Madara is closing in, just feet away…
If there’s one thing Sasuke’s always been, it’s fast. He slides between Madara and Naruto just in time for the knife to plunge into his own gut.
At first it’s just a hot pressure. Then the burning pain hits, and Sasuke tastes blood on his own lips.
“Very noble,” Madara murmurs approvingly. “You might be an Uchiha after all.” He puts a hand on Sasuke’s shoulder and twists the knife viciously upward, ripping through organs and tissue.
Everything in Sasuke’s field of vision goes black for a moment, and then he’s sinking down, spots swimming in front of his eyes. He can sense Naruto rising behind him, getting back to his feet, as always.
“It’s too bad,” Madara says, voice soothing. “You actually almost beat me.” Sasuke can’t move his legs and the pain is overriding the rest of his senses, and he knows Naruto can finish it without him but he came so close and…
And then he realizes: for the first time in the entire fight, he has a solid grip on his opponent.
Using the last of his strength, he shoves Madara forward, switching their positions. He registers the knife embedding itself even more firmly in his stomach as he wraps one arm around Madara’s throat and the other across his shoulders, holding him in place.
“Naruto, now!” he yells.
Without hesitation and without mercy, Naruto digs his fingers in and rips the eyes from Madara’s face.
Naruto scampers out of reach as Madara screams and clutches at the bleeding sockets. The patriarch of the Uchiha clan falls to his knees, convulsing. His face is covered in blood, and Sasuke watches in amazement as his ancestor’s body seems to age before his eyes, withering into the old man he would have been without his brother’s sacrifice.
Just to be sure, Sasuke pins his chest to the floor with his sword.
Naruto’s limping as he approaches the prone body. The newly-aged Uchiha is still, lying face up in his own blood. Naruto leans down and feels for his pulse. By the time he rises, his eyes have faded back to their normal blue.
“We did it,” Naruto says. “He’s dead.” He drops his head for a second, and when he raises it, his face is like the sun.
“Yeah,” Sasuke manages.
Naruto looks at him. “I knew you weren’t hopeless,” he breathes. “I told everyone - ” His expression changes abruptly. “Sasuke?”
There’s a great rushing noise in Sasuke’s ears. His back slams up against something with painful force, and then he’s staring at the ceiling, gasping for breath.
“Shit,” Naruto’s face looms over him, fear and anguish all twisted up in his eyes. “Shit shit shit. Look at me,” he yells. He’s gripping Sasuke’s collar, violently shaking him, and Sasuke knows he’s worried, but the idiot is making the pain even worse.
Sasuke tries to open his mouth and speak, but he’s beyond words. There’s red-tinged black creeping in from the corners of his vision, and everything sounds very far away. Sakura appears over him, too, and her expressive eyes keep tipping between practiced professionalism and bone-deep fear. Sasuke’s pretty sure that means he’s in bad shape.
“Try not to move,” she says, and her voice is muffled with tears. Move?
“You don’t get to die like this,” Naruto’s blurry face threatens. “You don’t deserve it, do you hear me? After all the shit you pulled...you…you have to live. You owe it to me. You don’t get to take the easy way out.” His tears hit Sasuke’s face, washing away the blood from the Mangekyo.
Sasuke wishes he could strangle him for calling this easy. The pain is so bad that Sasuke wonders if Madara actually ripped the organs from his body. As it is, he has to simply gape up at Naruto like a fish.
Sakura elbows Naruto aside, putting lightly trembling fingers against Sasuke’s chest. He’s not sure what it does, but it makes the agony fade slightly.
“And I’m not done with you,” Naruto continues through clenched teeth. “I haven’t beaten you yet. I haven’t shown you what Jiraiya taught me. If you die - ” he chokes off, and Sakura bites her lip.
For once, Sasuke actually wants to say something reassuring. The room is fading, he knows he’s probably dying, but everything feels oddly peaceful. It takes him a moment to figure out why, and when he does, it’s like light washes through him. For the first time in his life he’s…finished. There’s nothing else for him to do.
“If you die,” Naruto says again, face crumpling, “I’ll jump into hell and drag you back.”
Sasuke feels his lips curve. If anyone can do it, he thinks, Naruto can. And that’s his last thought as he lets the darkness rise up and swallow him.
Chapter 14 (aka THE END)