Reise zu Reinkarnation

X.

Sasuke pulled the mask denoting him as an ANBU down over his face. He did it simply so he wouldn’t have to look at the other ANBU surrounding him. He knew he had allies in that group, but he didn’t know whom. He wasn’t supposed to know whom. He was supposed to survive through the next few hours without any help from them, treating everyone like an enemy until they revealed themselves to be an ally. Really, his allies were only there to make sure he didn’t get killed.

Enacting his privileges as an ANBU simply meant he was able to postpone his death sentence. It was cruel, really. If he died here, then he was simply erased. If he survived, then he was pardoned. It seemed silly to go through such loops just to survive, but in a society where insanity was technically frowned upon (but allowed, ironically enough), it was a rigorous test to prove that you still had it in you to follow orders and survive being hunted down like an animal.

It never really got old.

There was no signal, but Sasuke knew when to launch into the dark anyway. Uchiha and Orochimaru giggled with mad glee as the chase went on in full, each hoping that Sasuke met his end at the hands of someone with a desire for revenge. Sasuke landed lightly on a branch and took a moment to collect himself. He needed to survive if only to be able to keep Uchiha and Orochimaru from getting what they wanted. He needed to survive so he could protect Naruto. He knew that before he’d existed, Uchiha had ignored the power of caring for others and had failed. Now, Sasuke wanted to correct his mistakes. He needed to correct Uchiha’s mistakes if only to feel more comfortable with himself.

A kunai barely missed his ear, and he knew if the one who’d thrown it had really been trying, the weapon would’ve found a new home in the back of his skull. Whether it had been thrown by an ally or enemy, Sasuke caught the blade with barely a glance at the weapon before he flung it right back. There was a choke, meaning the weapon had hit its mark. Sasuke launched himself into the darkness of the forest and just kept moving. He was being hunted and hunting at the same time, just trying to stay alive until sunrise.

A body tackled him from the side, the two crashing down against branches and tree trunks, hitting hard on the loamy floor below. Sasuke jackknifed his elbow into his assailant’s chest, shoving the other off him. Sasuke was caught in an iron grip as the other rolled, forcing Sasuke into a position of vulnerability. Sasuke struggled, hissing against the weight of his attacker, struggling to get a little bit of leverage. He managed, somehow, to at least free his right hand from his attacker’s hold, crooking his index and middle finger for a strike.

“Sasuke!” Naruto hissed. “Knock it off!”

“N-Naruto?”

The Hokage pulled off his ANBU mask and sat back on Sasuke’s thighs, rubbing his cheek as Sasuke pulled off his own mask, leaning up on his elbows to stare at the blonde. Naruto sighed and rolled off of Sasuke, sitting beside him as the brunette righted himself, pulling his knees up to his chest.

“What are you doing, Naruto?” Sasuke asked. “You’re not supposed to be helping me.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it.” Naruto snapped. “I’m the Hokage. I can do whatever I damn well want.”

Sasuke sighed. Stubborn little… “And if they catch you helping me?”

“They’re pretty much expecting it. Look, what you did was stupid, but that technically is your house. You’re allowed to go in there as much as you like. You told me, more or less, where you were going, and told me to come find you.”

“And the psych evaluation?”

Naruto’s jaw worked for a moment. “That’s been on the books ever since you were released from prison. Tsunade came back form her honeymoon just for it, at my request, but beyond multiple personality disorder and slight schizophrenia, there were no grounds for the Council to bring this about.”

“They just want to kill me?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“That’s pretty… short-sighted of them, isn’t it?”

Naruto shrugged. “We have reason to believe the order didn’t come from the Council itself.”

Sasuke’s slashing glare toward Naruto was littered with accusations. “You’re an idiot for using yourself as bait.”

“I’m not the bait,” Naruto said softly. “We’re the bait.”

Sasuke blinked, staring at Naruto for a long while, silent. Finally, he sighed and shook his head. So the Hokage was using himself and his bodyguard as bait for the hired killers of the Council, except the Council hadn’t issued the kill order. This mysterious anti-Council had issued the order.

This is so juvenile. Orochimaru muttered.

Says the pedophile whose entire army consists of little boys. Uchiha snarled.

“You couldn’t have told me?” Sasuke asked, rising to his feet, helping Naruto up a moment later. The taller blonde just shook his head a negative and folded his arms over his chest.

“I couldn’t. See, we’re trying to lure out the last remnants of Orochimaru’s minions. And since you had the most contact with him, we were thinking you’d be able to lure them out.”

“And you’re here as added incentive.”

“Pretty much.”

“You’re an idiot, Naruto.” Sasuke said without much inflection. The blonde just sighed, shaking his head.

“I know. Sakura gave me the same speech. But it was the only way, and I’m sorry for it.”

Sasuke snorted. “Just so we’re clear, Naruto, once we finish this, I’m going to kick your ass.”

Naruto laughed. “All right, all right.”

Sasuke couldn’t help the slight smile that appeared, shaking his head slightly. Naruto shifted closer, reaching out to stroke Sasuke’s face. It was sweet, sensual, certainly entirely inappropriate for such a situation. It provided the perfect distraction, the perfect opportunity, and the ANBU watching the pair fell for it. Sasuke launched back from Naruto, kunai in hand, the weapon tearing open the throat of one of the ANBU. Naruto wasn’t far behind, his own weapon cutting through the chest of his own attacker, kicking off the body to slam his kunai into the skull of an ANBU coming up behind him. Naruto and Sasuke collided, back to back, and Sasuke tried hard not to falter when Uchiha began to laugh hysterically. Orochimaru remained silent, but the grin upon his face told Sasuke that he shared Uchiha’s malicious enthusiasm. Which meant what? What did it mean?

Sasuke blinked once, twice, and his world shifted, colour draining away to black and white with bright pulsing lights for heartbeats. He listened, hearing something he had missed in the heat of battle. His eyes dropped to his feet.

Naruto felt himself bodily flung away from Sasuke. He landed hard, rolling, managing to kill one of his attackers before he turned back to Sasuke to call the brunette’s name, to order him to get away. Only the sound was stuck in his throat, watching as if in slow motion the red spray of blood erupt from Sasuke’s abdomen, the Sound nin hiding beneath the earth moving higher into the air and pulling his bloodied sword from Sasuke’s supple flesh and armour. Sasuke’s right hand whipped out, his index and middle finger puncturing the Sound nin’s pulse. Hot red spurted out over Sasuke’s hand, the Sound ninja stumbling back, clutching the wound.

Anger, hot and heavy, boiled up in Naruto’s soul, his eyes focusing on the dying Sound shinobi. Instead of heading for the first target, Naruto focused the rage upon the remaining living Sound ninja. They didn’t have a chance. Naruto ripped into them with his bare hands, snapping necks and tearing out throats, snarling in rage and hatred. Only one managed to escape but Naruto couldn’t bring himself to care. He whipped around and rushed to Sasuke’s side, skidding to his knees beside the dying brunette, trying to put the elder’s guts back into his stomach.

“Stay with me, Sasuke!” Naruto screamed. “Stay with me!”