True Confessions – Chapter 5 – An Intense Turn

Kakashi and Kurenai dashed towards Zenshin, ready to stab him, but he pulled Sakura up from the ground and used her as a shield.  The sensei halted in their tracks.  They couldn’t hurt him without risking Sakura’s safety.  Zenshin held his kunai up to Sakura’s neck, and emptied out the rest of her gear.  She was paralyzed with fear, scared that her life could end right now.  Zenshin looked at her face.

“God damn, you are so fucking cute.  I’m sure your sensei wouldn’t mind if I just dashed off with you.”  He licked her neck again.  The feeling sent an eerie chill up Sakura’s back.  She wanted to break free of this sick man.  Suddenly, Zenshin was stabbed from behind.

Sasuke held a kunai in the man’s back.  He was badly beaten, and he looked like he could just fall over anytime, but he was alive.  “Let go of Sakura, or I’ll fucking taze a hole through you.”  His left hand was crackling with electricity.  Sasuke’s eyes were blazing red with his Sharingan

“Bring it on, Uchiha.  Just know that I’ll finish off your tragic clan after I kill you and your brother.”

“What do you know about Itachi?”

“Oh, I know a few things.  Meanwhile, I thought you were gonna taze me and get your little girlfriend back.  Just try it and see what happens.”

Sasuke charged with his Chidori.

Squelch.

“Sasuke, NO!!”  Kakashi tried to stop him before dire consequences ensued.

But it was too late.

Meanwhile, behind Zenshin and his opponents, Naruto was still stuck under Kotomi’s foot.

“Argh!  Dammit, let me go, you little bitc—”

“I wouldn’t finish that sentence if I were you, brat.”

“Heh.  You can’t scare me.”

“Try it, punk.”

Suddenly, two shadows loomed overhead and came down on Kotomi with crashing force.  Naruto also took the brute of this impact. (Ouch.) Kotomi and Naruto both lay on the ground, with two Kibas looking down on them.

“Hey, Kiba, that’s not too cool.”  Naruto coughed up blood.  “Is that what I get for the last few days?”

“Psh.  I just saved your ass.  You should be thankful, ya blondie bastard.”  Kiba had a grin on his face.  He reached down to help up Naruto.  Team 8 and Naruto formed a circle around Kotomi, who had her guard up.  She was ready for any attack from any direction.  Kiba motioned to Shino.  Shino nodded.

“Naruto, you protect Hinata.  Shino, Akamaru, and I will take care of this girl.”  Naruto looked at Kiba.  It seems that Kiba finally accepted the fact that Naruto and Hinata cared for each other.  But there was still a glint of jealousy in Kiba’s eyes.  Naruto moved over to Hinata’s side.  They both put up an offensive stance, ready to attack.

“Earth Style: Imploding Crater Jutsu!!”

Suddenly, the ground caved in, and formed a shallow crater.  Naruto, Hinata, Kiba, and Shino were stuck in the dirt, with Kotomi on her own little mesa of earth.  She jumped into the air and swiftly formed a set of hand seals.  

“Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!!”

Kotomi breathed her massive fireball down below in the crater, burning the genin and melting the earth.  A giant cloud of steam appeared as the fire made contact with the ground.  As the smoke wafted away, Kotomi saw four burning logs in the lava crater, and she saw two figures barreling through the air towards her.

“GATSUUGA!!”

Kiba and Akamaru slammed into Kotomi with excessive force.  She heard a cracking sound in her arm and in her chest.  As Kotomi was falling to the ground, she saw the Hyuuga girl on the little, flat mesa, charging up chakra in her palms.

“Shugohakke Rokujuyon Sho!!”

A dome of chakra surrounded Hinata, and again, Kotomi went airborne as soon as she made contact with Hinata’s defense.  She fell back down again, only to see the Kyuubi brat and a Shadow Clone forming a blue sphere of chakra.  The clone dissipated, and Naruto charged at Kotomi, his Rasengan hitting the girl square in the stomach.  Once, more, she spiraled into the air, and collapsed onto the ground in a beaten heap.

“Now, I wouldn’t move from there if I were you…” said a mysterious voice.  Shino and his Kikaichu beetles surrounded Kotomi.  “If you move, my destruction beetles will devour you and your chakra…”  Kotomi lay still, with the bugs crawling all over her body.  She hated the feeling.

Just then, a gruesome sound of pierced guts came from behind them.

Blood dripped down an arm.  The same vile, red liquid was splattered around a group of staggered figures.  Two sets of glowing red eyes made contact.  Sasuke smirked.  He had hit his target dead on.  His hand was stuck, though.  But he noticed Zenshin was smiling too.  Something was wrong.  Sasuke looked at where his arm had pierced through her body… Wait, her…?  FUCK!!  He stared at the person he had just struck.  An impulse of pain and regret shot throughout Sasuke’s body.

“No…  No…  Why did you…”

Sakura coughed up blood.  Sasuke’s hand had gone straight inside her left shoulder, as the rest of her body lay limp.  She had a blank stare on her face, as if she was staring right through Sasuke.  The light in her green eyes seemed to fade in and out.  Sasuke couldn’t believe what just happened.  

Naruto also saw Sakura’s body pierced through by Sasuke’s Chidori, and realized that Zenshin used her as a shield to defend himself from the attack.  Hinata stared in shock at what happened to Sakura, and slumped to the ground in horror, paralyzed.  The rest of the group, even Kotomi, was appalled.  Naruto couldn’t take any of this.  He had a sudden desire for blood, and he stared right at Zenshin.  He felt a great wave of chakra swell from within him, and the chakra began to envelop him.  The clouds suddenly gathered overhead and began to darken.

[Set me free, brat, and you can have his innards…  DO IT!!]

Naruto agreed wholeheartedly with the Kyuubi.  The fox’s red chakra formed a layer around his body, and a chakra tail began to sprout.  His eyes turned a beastly red; his whisker-marks began to thicken.  Naruto had lost it.

As Naruto was making his transformation into his one-tailed form, Sasuke grabbed Sakura from Zenshin and leapt away from him.  Sasuke laid Sakura on the ground.  He checked her pulse and her breathing.  Her pulse was faint, and her breathing was very shallow, but she was still alive.  Barely.  Zenshin still had his eyes set on Sasuke.

“Aw, that’s too bad.  Ya couldn’t get me.  Still, your bitch had to pay the price for your arrogance.  Well, like they say, karma comes back around.  Now be prepared to die with her.”

“Shut up.  You’re not gonna kill anyone anymore.  YOU’RE GONNA FUCKING PAY, YOU BASTARD!!!”  Sasuke felt a burst of power from within him.

“No, Sasuke, don’t use the curse-mark!!”  But Kakashi could do nothing to prevent him from doing so.

Fiery marks grew on Sasuke’s skin.  They all sprouted from the curse-mark in his neck.  The curse spread all over his body and cooled down to form a wide array of black, tattoo-like markings.  A dark, ominous purple haze of chakra surrounded the Uchiha.  Sasuke’s Sharingan was in full effect.

Amidst the transformations, Hinata stared at the two boys who were angered by the man who injured their teammate.  Sasuke and his curse-mark looked frightening, indeed, and Hinata had always been a bit scared of Sasuke, but she was especially scared of Naruto.  The one that she cared about, the one she loved, seemed like a totally different person.  In fact, Naruto was just like how he was in her nightmares, and she was terribly scared.  No, this isn’t Naruto.  This is the Kyuubi.  Naruto would never be like this.  Ever.  Still, she couldn’t help but shiver in fear as she saw the Demon Naruto and his anger.

Zenshin caught sight of Naruto as he harnessed the Kyuubi’s chakra.  “So, the true face of the Kyuubi emerges, eh?  And I have to face some pissed-off Uchiha kid?  THIS IS GONNA BE ONE HELL OF A TIME!!!”  He laughed maniacally as the two genin of Squad 7 charged towards him.  Everyone else, even Kakashi and Kurenai, watched in shock and awe.

For the first time in a long time, Kotomi was scared.  She had never been this scared ever since she first met Zenshin-sama.  She watched the two boys dash towards her sensei and was scared of them.  The power that they had… Was this really what Zenshin-sama was after?  All he really wanted was to control the Kyuubi?  What about trying to help Ishimaru?  He’s been deceiving me this whole time!

The two boys did a tag team against Zenshin.  Both of them rushed at him from opposite sides, and they struck him in a flurry of kicks and punches.  It seemed as if their rage against the man was so great that it synchronized their attacks.  Naruto wove a few hand seals and four Shadow Clones appeared next to him.  The Shadow Clones formed a perimeter around Zenshin and they all slid on the ground towards him.  The clones kicked him up into the air before he realized what was happening.

Suddenly, Sasuke appeared under Zenshin, with the Konoha Kagebuyou.  He raised his right leg over Zenshin, and Sasuke brought it down on his chest.  However, Zenshin blocked it.  Sasuke had a devilish grin.  He then flipped over and Sasuke planted his left fist into Zenshin’s chest; this one made contact.  Sasuke kept pounding away at Zenshin’s body, until they reached the ground.  Sasuke pulled away at the last second, only to have Naruto fill in for him.  Before Zenshin had made contact with the ground, Naruto flipped into the air.  He dropped his leg onto the man, right when they touched the ground.

“UZUMAKI SHISHI RENDAN!!”

The two boys panted as they stared at the hole in the ground.  Zenshin weakly emerged from the crater.  “Wow.  That was a shitload of combos.  Is that all you brats’ got for me?”

A nerve snapped in both of the boys’ heads.  Sasuke wove hand seals while Naruto formed another Shadow Clone.  Sasuke’s hand was sparking with lightning.  One of the Narutos molded chakra in the other’s hand until a spiraling blue sphere formed.  The clone disappeared, and the two boys charged at Zenshin with their justu.  The gap quickly closed, and Naruto and Sasuke sandwiched Zenshin with full force.

“RASENGAN!!!”
“CHIDORI!!!”

A blinding flash filled the area, and a massive crater was formed.  Smoke billowed from the center.

In the middle of the crater, Teams 7 and 8 lay sprawled on the ground.  Everyone was in shock from the raw power of the jutsus.  However, in the center of the crater, were Sasuke and Naruto.  They had exhausted their chakra and reverted to their normal states.  Sasuke tried to see through the smoke, wondering if they beat Zenshin.

Shockingly enough, the Demon of Illusion was still standing; his vest and his coat were torn off due to the intensity of the attacks.  His upper body was exposed, revealing his muscled chest.  Sasuke gazed from his chest to his face.  Zenshin wore a mad expression, as if he had gone insane.  The young Uchiha was paralyzed with fear.  Blood began to ooze from Zenshin’s eyes.  Sasuke looked into them.

Shit, not again!!  But it was too late.  Sasuke was ensnared in Zenshin’s genjutsu.

“OH DAMN, UCHIHA, YOU’RE SO FUCKING SCREWED!!  I CAUGHT YOU AGAIN!!”

In a split second, Sasuke was transported from the forest crater to a mysterious dreamscape.  

He looked around.  It seemed oddly familiar; it was like Itachi’s Tsukiyomi, but not quite.  He was standing on an expanse of dark land that seemed to stretch on forever.  The sky was red, and the clouds were black.  Sasuke took a few steps.  The ground rippled as if it were made of water.  Yet as he bent down to touch it, the ground was solid.  But it still rippled when he took his finger off of it.  Sasuke was confused.

What is this place?

[You’re in my world now.]

The voice sounded familiar.  It was Zenshin’s.  [Welcome to my imagination.  This is the world as I conceive it.  This is my dream world.  An abstract world of fear.  And you, Sasuke, are about to experience torture in a way you have never imagined.]

“What are you talking about?  You’ve tortured me before, but this isn’t what I saw the last time!”

[Heh.  You’re so stupid, Sasuke.  The last realm I tortured you in was more realistic.  I could have tortured you the same way in real life.  I was only stabbing you a lot of times last time.  And you still lived.  I have to break your soul.  I hope you enjoy.]

Sasuke was scared.  The last experience was extremely painful, and it had only occurred in less than a second in real life.  But it felt like eternity to him.  Now he had to face something worse.

Suddenly, the ground liquefied and started crawling up his legs, trapping him in place.  The liquid turned red.  It became blood.  The red clouds gathered overhead, and suddenly it rained.  Raining blood.  The downpour didn’t soak Sasuke, not the way that rain normally did.  In fact, the blood-rain was so sharp and solid, that it pierced Sasuke’s skin and soaked him in his own blood.  He was starting to go crazy.

The rain ceased, and Sasuke stood wearily, about to faint.  He was bloody all over.  He began to feel a burning feeling all over his body, as if acid was burning his skin.  His left arm began to suffer excruciating pain, and he saw that his own blood was boiling his arm.  Sasuke tried to wipe the acidic blood off of his body, but it only burned his hands.  Eventually, Sasuke’s skin was melting off, and he screamed as loud as he could.  No sound came out, and his lungs began to burn.  Starting to feel lightheaded, he fell onto the ground, with his body boiling, and closed his eyes.  He managed to keep them shut as he endured the insane pain.

When he opened his eyes again, Sasuke found he was still standing up, his body unscathed.  The environment didn’t change from when he first came to the torture realm.

[Well wasn’t that fun, Sasuke?  Let’s do it again.]

“No… I can’t stand this…  Please stop, I beg you…”

[Aww, bitching out on me, huh?  WELL YOU CAN’T!!]

The ground grabbed Sasuke again, and he let out an extremely loud scream of anguish and pain.

* * *

Sasuke’s scream could be heard in the real world, as he fell to the ground of the crater.  Zenshin stood over him, with a vicious smile.  His eyes were bleeding.  “Well that should take care of Sasuke.  Now for the Kyuubi brat.”  He turned to Naruto, who was reeling on the ground, trying to scamper away in fear.  But he noticed as Zenshin was approaching him, a drop of blood trickled down the corner of the madman’s mouth.  Zenshin stopped in his tracks and looked over at Sasuke.  The beaten Uchiha struggled as he tried to stand, but he made it.  He started walking towards Zenshin.

“Uchiha, you really want me to kill you?”  But Sasuke kept walking to Zenshin.  After he was a few feet from him, he stopped, and looked at his face, eyes closed.  He opened them.  The red color of the Sharingan illuminated Sasuke’s eyes.  Zenshin made eye contact with Sasuke, hoping to ensnare him in his genjutsu again, but the Sharingan managed to mirror the technique and it was Zenshin who was caught in it.  The crazy demon collapsed to the ground.

Naruto just watched in shock as Sasuke walked over to Zenshin.  Naruto got a closer look at Sasuke’s face, and it appeared that he was unconscious, but still moving.  A flame emerged from Sasuke’s hand, and it appeared blue.  A flame of chakra.  In a last-ditch effort, Sasuke grabbed Zenshin’s face with his burning hand, and severely burned the man’s face.  An effort of revenge.  Naruto saw Sasuke collapse to the ground, and it wasn’t too long before he also fell unconscious.

“There they are!  Oh my god…”

“What the hell happened?”

“Naruto-kun!”

“Shino, call… Medical Corps… your bugs, quickly!  Kiba and Hinata… to Naruto!  Kurenai… sure Sakura’s in good enough…”

Naruto could hear the voices fade in and out.  Before long, he came to.  He opened his eyes, and saw Kiba and Hinata looking down at him.  Hinata was teary-eyed.  She noticed him waking up, and hugged him tightly.  Naruto tried to hug her back, but he was too weak.  He fell unconscious again.

* * *

Team 7 was a mess.  Naruto was beaten and bruised, and he had a few broken ribs, a fractured femur, and a cracked ulna.  Sasuke was also in bad condition.  Physically, he had a cracked collarbone, a broken humerus, and cracked phalanges.  But there was a lot of psychological damage done to him.  

Sakura was in the worst condition physically, because of Sasuke’s Chidori.  Her left shoulder was gouged out, and the bones in that shoulder were almost shattered.  Somehow, as if through a miracle, she was still alive, and she made it to the Konoha Hospital.  Tsunade and the Medical Corps tried their hardest to heal Sakura’s severe injury, and they barely made it.  She would be bedridden in the hospital, as with Sasuke and Naruto.  Sasuke was still unconscious, even after all of his treatment.  However, Naruto was doing better than the other two (especially because of the Kyuubi), and was able to walk, but he was forced to remain in the hospital with his teammates.  A few days passed after the mission was completed, and today, Hinata came to the hospital to visit Naruto.

“So how’re you doing, Naruto-kun?”

He sighed.  Naruto wanted to get out, but he didn’t want to leave his teammates behind.  “I’m okay Hinata-chan, I feel fine.  It’s just Granny Tsunade won’t let me leave…”

She looked at him, and smiled.  “Well, I’ll just stay with you until you get better.”  She sat down on the bed next to Naruto, who was lying in his bed.

“Wouldn’t your dad be pissed off that you’re gone all the time?  And have you even told him about us?”

“No.  I don’t think he cares about what I do.  I haven’t told him either…”

“Oh, okay.  Wait… I never asked, but what happened with the mission?”

When the Medical Corps arrived at the scene of the battle, Zenshin appeared to be dead.  They just left him in the crater, hoping that he would rot.  Meanwhile, the Interrogation Squad questioned Kotomi back at Konoha.  They asked her about Zenshin’s motives, why she joined him, and other questions.  The Black Ops came to the conclusion that Kotomi had no idea about why Zenshin would do this.  They agreed to let Kotomi return to Sunagakure, and clear her of her charges.  She was also permitted to travel back and forth between Konoha and Suna in the case she needed counseling.

Hinata finished her explanation.  “I wouldn’t call the mission a success, but we did meet the requirements.”  She seemed to be alright, but there was a feeling that something wasn’t right inside of her.

Naruto sighed and stared out the window.  There were other things on his mind… particularly one that would stay in his head until he died.  He thought about what he was going to say and sighed again.  “Hinata, are scared of me right now?”

She was confused at this random question.  “What do you mean?  I’m not scared.  Unless…  Oh…”  Hinata understood what he meant.  “You think I’m scared because of the Kyuubi…  Isn’t that right?”

“Hinata, I promise, I will never let you see me like that ever again.  That isn’t the real me.  That Naruto isn’t the one that you love.  The Naruto you love is right here in front of you.  And he promises never, ever to hurt you if it happens again.”

“Naruto-kun…  You didn’t hurt me back there.  I was scared of you…  No… I was scared of the Kyuubi, not you.  Because I at that moment I was thinking that you’d never do that.  The Kyuubi took control of you, and he’s the one of scared of.  Not you.  Because…  I love you, Naruto-kun…”  She moved over to hug Naruto, who tried to hug her back.  He looked into her eyes, and their faces moved in closer together.  Their lips were only an inch apart when a very loud crash, like glass being smashed, came from the room next door.  It was from Sasuke and Sakura’s room.  Naruto and Hinata moved away from each other and ran out to find out the cause of the crash.  They entered the ward to find Sakura sobbing into her bed sheets, with Sasuke’s bed empty.  A nurse was looking out the window, with a worried expression.  The window was shattered.