Chapter 172: Struggle - 7
To his relief Haku had not moved an inch, but had his back turned to the blonde boy.
"Haku-kun!" Naruto shouted, his voice cracking slightly, "Haku-kun it's me!"
The dark haired boy stared ahead at the forest Sasuke had fled to, and Naruto wondered if he had heard his call.
"Come on, Haku-kun! You've got to come back with us now!" Naruto persisted, wondering why his friend was not acknowledging him, "Please, you can't go through with this!"
Haku said nothing and Hinata felt her heart drop into her stomach, 'Is he really…?'
Naruto refused to believe that Haku was leaving the village of his own volition. It simply wasn't something that he'd do; but now, after having chased him to the far reaches of the Fire Country and beyond, he was beginning to consider that maybe Haku had been tempted by whatever Orochimaru had offered him.
"Haku-kun!" His voice was panicked and he made a start to run to his friend, but Kimimaro took a step forward, raising his bone sword again. Naruto halted, frustrated and anxious.
The dark haired boy turned partially to look at the blonde ninja. He was silent and when his gaze met Naruto's, sadness was clear in his stormy eyes. Something was wrong and it appeared, much to Naruto's horror, he wouldn't be able to do anything about it.
Haku turned away from him and ran into the forest beyond after Sasuke.
A terrified scream left Naruto, "Don't go! Haku-kun!"
His dear friend had disappeared from his sight and behind him, Hinata was silently crying to herself, miserable that they had been abandoned to the fate Kimimaro had in store for them.
By their own friends.
They had failed to bring the fugitives back to Konoha, and Naruto briefly wondered if Haku had felt even the slightest bit sorry that he had ignored him and run away, 'You were my friend! I thought you'd stay with me because we were family…and you went away just like that!'
Naruto rubbed at his eyes, mortified, 'I don't care! I'll kill this bastard here and take you down! Even if I have to drag you and Sasuke by your heels and let Gaara beat the shit out of you when we get back! It'll be worth it!'
"This ends now." Kimimaro's voice was dark, and as he pointed his weapon at the distraught blonde and his partner an attack from behind caught him by surprise.
"Dynamic Entry!"
Lee had hit Kimimaro with a side-on kick to the face, but the Sound ninja quickly countered, holding his ground, and prepared to attack the newcomer…that was until Sato slide-tackled Kimimaro's feet out from under him, and Lee landed another successful attack, "Leaf Whirlwind!"
Kimimaro was knocked back across the clearing from the tag-team ambush, and Naruto and Hinata were immediately snapped out of their despairing trances.
There was still hope.
"Naruto-kun, Hinata-san, are you alright?" Lee stood in front of them, wondering why they were both collapsed on the ground. They hastily stood as Sato joined Gai's protégé.
"We're fine, but Sasuke and Haku went ahead, and this guy…" Naruto looked across the meadow to where Kimimaro was gaining his feet again, "He's really strong. He uses his bones to fight..."
"Ew…did you say bones?" Sato inquired, very grossed out, "That's nasty!"
"You go ahead and catch up to them then, Naruto-kun," Lee advised, facing the Sound ninja, "I will be this person's opponent!"
"You too, Sunshine." Sato smiled at the Hyuga girl's wide eyes, "Go help Naruto track them and bring them home, okay? I'll stay and fight with Lee."
"Then please…be careful, Sato-kun. He is unlike any enemy we have ever faced." She warned, her voice shaking. He nodded in response and watched as she hurried after Naruto who was crossing the clearing.
Kimimaro was not keen on letting them get away and Lee and Sato intercepted him, preventing him from attacking the fleeing Leaf shinobi.
"Please do not forget about us!" Lee cried, "We will now be your opponents!"
The Sound shinobi glared at them, not pleased with the development.
*
Kiba groped along the shallows of the river at the bottom of the gorge. Akamaru was on top of his head, badly injured and out of energy. Fighting Sakon had been a disaster.
At first he'd believed that his combined attacks with his ninken would easily defeat the Oto nin. That was until Sakon's older brother, Ukon, left the body they'd been sharing and teamed up against him and his dog.
He had used his most powerful techniques and had no chakra remaining.
'Akamaru saved me, but…' Kiba's eyes were troubled, 'He's in such bad shape…what kind of master am I to let him get hurt like this?'
He himself wasn't much better off than Akamaru at the moment as well.
After the dog had peed acid in his eyes, Sakon had gone to the river's edge to wash his eyes. Ukon had used a bizarre jutsu against Kiba in his brother's absence, entering his body with the belief Kiba would be too cowardly to attack himself.
Kiba had stabbed himself a few times without hesitation, much to Ukon's terror.
Though it was a self-inflicted injury Ukon had shared his pain and was quick to abandon the crazed Inuzuka's failing body. Now the bleeding wasn't as severe as it had been, and he'd taken advantage of Ukon's desperation to locate his brother to abandon the pebbled bank they'd been fighting on.
"Hang in there, Akamaru…we're almost there." Kiba crooned. A forested area was visible ahead. He'd take shelter there and rest while he could, hoping his enemies wouldn't discover him so severely weakened.
His mind wandered to his teammates and he felt sick to his stomach, 'Sakura-chan would be furious to see us this banged up. I just can't believe Sasuke ran off with her like that, though. I'd thought it was harmless, but…should I have done something about it sooner? Now that she's in danger?'
A growl rose in Kiba's throat shortly after, 'And Sasuke…I'd thought he was alright. We got along pretty well for the most part, but he always hid what he was feeling. He never talked much, but…he was my friend, wasn't he? Does he really think so little of us?'
Kiba clambered up onto the muddy bank and back onto dry land. He knew that by dripping water it'd help his foes locate him should they come to look, so he created a false trail while he was still wet. After drying himself off, he chose a completely different place to hide, and then rested at the base of a tree.
He sat with Akamaru in his lap, stroking the dog's ruffled fur, "I'm sorry, Akamaru. There's really nothing more I can do except protect you now. I'm no good. If I can't keep you from getting hurt, what could I be able to do for Sakura and Sasuke?"
Kiba laid back and sighed, knowing he didn't have time to be remorseful. He tuned his senses in to the surrounding forest, wary of the Sound ninja's scent.
It was sickening how Ukon's laughter pierced the air that very moment, "Now don't you look so terribly pathetic?"
Kiba's eyes widened in shock. He stared to his left to see that his opponent had reappeared and was no longer suffering from his wounds, 'How did he get here without me noticing?'
Ukon gestured to the coat he was wearing, which was in fact Kiba's, "See this? You discarded this a ways back. I knew that you'd be keeping track of me and my Aniki's scent…but certainly not your own. Why would you worry if you were smelling yourself, I thought?" He laughed again, "Oh, it was all too easy…"
The Inuzuka scowled at the blunder he had made. Now that he was no longer able to fight, he'd be easy prey.
Ahead, Sakon had arrived, and unlike his older brother he was still in his cursed seal level two form. He grinned a fanged smile at Kiba from his place across the clearing, "Ready to die now, dog-breath?"
Ukon crouched down on the ground leisurely to watch his brother's finishing move. He was just as delighted, if not more so. Sakon charged with a kunai in hand and Kiba sat very still, helpless, and held his puppy close to his chest, 'I'm sorry…'
Quite suddenly, Sakon had halted. Kiba stared up at the confused Oto nin's face and watched in bewilderment as he turned and rushed at his brother instead.
Ukon blocked the kunai strikes and was howling in indignation, "What the hell do you think you're doing? It's me you idiot!"
Sakon knocked his brother across the clearing with a super-powered kick, "I'm not doing this!"
Kiba felt something in his head click and he felt many times safer than he had.
Frustrated by the confusing issue, Ukon entered his brother's body again, and Sakon froze, fiercely fighting against the power controlling him. After a long minute, the control over Sakon had been released and he turned around to see who was responsible, "I thought Tayuya would've crushed a piece of shit like you in no time!"
Shikamaru shrugged, his hands buried in his pockets, "Most people get that impression about me…but when I work alongside my team I destroy people."
Kiba observed as a preposterously large boulder was hurled at Sakon, who was too distracted to dodge it. It broke apart on the powered up ninja and had stunned him, barreling him over into the mud.
"Chouji's here too," Shikamaru added to Kiba calmly, moving to stand beside him, "You should've seen how he thrashed that dumb bitch back there. While she was busy attacking me, he popped the yellow pill and crushed her…funny how these things work, eh?"
Chouji, still displaying the effects of the yellow pill, squared off with Sakon who had recovered thanks to the power of his level two form. It was a fascinating struggle to behold as the two clashed for a long while, neither backing off.
"Uh oh," Kiba looked up to Shikamaru with a questioning look, "That's the red pill, there. The red pill's bad, hey Chouji! Don't even think about it!"
His friend had hastily decided to use his last pill, and it was even more impressive to see all the body fat on the Akimichi's body convert into pure chakra, all of it condensed and visible on his back, reminiscent of butterfly wings.
Sakon's blow was rendered ineffective after that, and Shikamaru watched in terror and awe as his friend delivered a punch of incredible force to his foe's head, killing him instantly.
After that, Chouji backed off; glad he had dealt with the last of the Sound shinobi.
Ukon crept out of his brother's body, infuriated, and pulled himself up with the last of his strength, "You bastard!"
He rushed in a blind rage for Chouji, tripping over his own feet, and maybe even truly grief-stricken over his loss. Before he had even come close to his intended target, he stopped abruptly, and then fell to the ground with a kunai lodged in the back of his head.
Kiba hobbled to his feet and watched as Shikamaru bent over Sakon's fallen brother, "Yeah…I got him: sever the brainstem and it's over quick. That's the first time I've ever done something like that…"
"What about Chouji?" The Inuzuka asked and Shikamaru glanced over to his best friend whose chakra was beginning to fade.
"Shit! That'd be a problem…" The Nara moved to Chouji, who was looking pale as the harmful effects of the red pill were closing in, "Okay Chouji, though you may dislike this and it really is troublesome, you'll thank me later."
His father had told him a story from his youth when Chouza had resorted to the red pill during a mission. Rather than letting his teammate face the full effects of the capsule, he simply made his friend vomit before the last of it was absorbed into his blood stream.
Needless to say, it wasn't the most appealing of rescue methods.
After succeeding in gagging his friend, Shikamaru backed off and waited for Chouji to finish heaving up the contents of his stomach, 'Jeez…the things I do for these people!'
He then turned to Kiba, "Well, that…"
"Was troublesome." Kiba agreed with him.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone