The earth shook around him, fissures rupturing in the ice at his feet, at his sides and above his head, as he stumbled through the tunnel, avoiding the falling chunks of ice and ruined debris that lined the floor.
Disoriented with the shakes, his foot fell squarely on a large block of ice, its slick surface slipping right out from under him. He fell, hands grasping at the freezing, wet, walls without purchase.
He hits the ground, cursing as he slips and slides down the tunnel, clawing, crawling and pushing himself forward as quickly as possible, using chakra to get traction along his feet as he struggled to get upright, succeeding after several attempts before placing his back firmly against the wall, green eyes swiveling this way and that way.
'What the hell is going on out there!'
Finally, the shaking ceased; leaving only the cold, dreariness of the interior of the ice that surrounds him.
He pushed himself upright, looking forward and back down the tunnel before continuing in his previous direction.
The crunch of snow and ice beneath his feet was the only sound around him as the tunnel stretched onwards in a disorienting zig zag of turns and curves, rising and falling in slippery slopes as the cold air burned through his lungs.
'Is everyone already dead?'
He stopped then, one hand on his chest, the other against the wall. The inside of his lungs felt as though he was breathing in turpentine. Wheezing breaths flowing air in and out as he began to feel light headed. The muscles of his windpipe tightening in his bodies natural survival instincts kicked in.
The Kazekage grunted, his hand rising to his head as pain lanced from one temple to the other.
'Damnit! Pull it together Gaara!'
He pushed himself off the wall, coughing once, one hand still on his chest before he continued walking.
The coldness of this frozen wasteland could not match the icy hatred that shone through the eyes of Deva path as he looked down on the dying Kage. His body broken as it lay over the white snow and clear ice, staining it red with blood.
"Pein-sama" came Zetsu's raspy voice as the hybrid ninja emerged from the ice behind him. "My lord I-"
"Where were you." He interrupted; he did not wish to hear anything else...other than some justification as to why he still breathed whereas Konan did not.
Silence came between the two with the density of a brick wall. And Deva path could almost hear the Kusa ninja's heart speeding up where he stood. Frightened...and he well should be.
The Kusa ninja tensed beneath his cloak, Pein did not need eyes or ears to sense that...
When he spoke again, his voice was an octave lower, hesitant, guarded. "I was here..."
"Fighting?" The mortal god asked, slowly turning to face his subordinate.
It was warning enough, and in the next instant the ground beneath Zetsu opened up, ready to swallow the Kusa nin whole before arguably the most powerful creature on this earth could attack.
Too slow...far too slow.
With a thought, and a simple motion. Zetsu's trajectory was changed as Pein pulled him closer, a blade appearing in his hands so quickly not even Zetsu's keen eyes could catch sight of the movement.
The strike came just as fast, with the blade almost leaping from the God's grip and sinking itself into Zetsu's hide.
Zetsu gasped, hands moving in reflex to grasp at the cloak of his attacker, griping him with strength brought on by the surge of adrenaline in the throes of death that was sapped away just as quickly as Deva realm twisted the blade with a savage jerk.
Zetsu, choking on the blood that rose in his throat, looked at the man that fancied himself a god and stared into the legendary bloodline of the most powerful man in history; there he would find only contempt and rage...seething and burning like a slowly spreading fire.
And without speaking a word. The man reached up, grasped Zetsu by his throat, and snapped his neck with a twitch of his wrist and let the body fall to the floor with cold dismissal.
It was a fell wind that brushed across Deva path's face as he looked down once again on the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki.
He focused for a moment on the man that had done this, then to the broken and shattered fortress that even now lay crumbling beneath him, great, deafening cracks echoing up and around him, then, he looked beyond that, to the bodies that even now, bloodied the snow around this place. Their inconsequential lives, snuffed out before he had even arrived, he turned his gaze on the one person who did matter.
Konan.
Blood leaked from between slightly parted lips, her blue, wet hair clinging to her pale skin. Her eyes were still half open, and for a moment he could almost imagine them turning onto him. But no...her chest remained still...her heart, unmoving.
She was dead...
He had been...too late...
He did not need to turn, to see that the demon had regained consciousness. Neither did he need to turn to watch him choking on the blood that had gathered at the back of his throat.
He saw his eyes open, glassy and unfocused.
Pein didn't give him time to regain his bearings.
The Akatsuki leader turned, marched forward, barely halting at the man's side before kicking him across the face with enough force to roll him over completely.
Naruto spat the fresh blood from his mouth, now laying on his stomach, his hands moved without much thought, in an effort to fulfill the, nearly instinctive need to stand and face his enemy.
He didn't get very far in that effort.
The kick that connected with his ribs was nearly enough to make him lose consciousness again, sending him skipping across the snow covered plateau, his ribs breaking with, disturbing ease under the force of the strike before he came to a halt near the edge.
His chest felt as though it were on fire when he finally drew a strangled breath which gave in to a fit of coughs.
Pein advanced, his fellow paths flanking him, expressions all but blank as they looked down on the demon king.
When they drew closer however the God found himself surprised at the sound that reached his ears.
He laughed, it was slow, pained, weak, yet utterly mocking.
"She died...with your name on her lips."
With a snarl twisting his expression Pein closed the distance between them, his hand closing around Naruto's throat with the force of a vice, cutting off the ninja's mocking taunts.
"You...die by inches." He hissed.
Again, Naruto's response, was a simple, cruel smirk.
The Akatsuki's leader almost saw the attack coming too late.
He leapt back, a blade of wind slicing deeply into his still outstretched arm, an instant before a hand rose from over the edge grasping onto Naruto's clothing and pulling him over before any of them could react.
He marched closer to the edge, peering down. There he found the Suna princess, wildly attempting to control their slide as the, so-called Demon king neither had the strength nor the bearings to fend for himself.
His others marched closer needing no verbal orders before he bade them to leap over the edge in pursuit While he remained behind.
"Foolish...only I can hear your prayers here...and I shall not answer them."
Power surged through his body as his hands rose from his sides.
An urgency hurried his steps.
Gaara didn't know what was causing it, but thin, cold air and burning lungs be damned as he continued to rush through the tunnels. The rumbling from the explosion outside having ceased long ago, it allowed his gait to be more sure footed, and his progress faster, though snapping cracks still echoed through the chasms as whole sections of walls crumbled and gave way around him.
Something was urging him forward however, a feeling he couldn't explain, almost a pulling from deep within. It not only made resting impossible it seemed to guide his steps as tunnel split off into tunnel in a dizzying maze that would disorient even the most well prepared tracker.
As he rounded the next corner however, the Kazekage came face to face with one of his own Anbu, the Suna insignia engraved onto the forehead of his mask.
"Kazekage-sama!" The man cried, rushing forward, his hand flying to the earpiece radio. "I've found him!"
The Godaime sighed in obvious relief, until of course, his better judgment came forward. Taking a cautionary step back, the leader of Suna spoke with a warding hand held in front of him. "The sun rises to the east." He said.
"And its shadow falls there when it sets." The Anbu replied.
Gaara nodded, allowing the tension to ease from his shoulders however briefly.
"Kazekage-sama." The Anbu said, interrupting his thoughts as he grasped him firmly by the shoulder. "Come my lord there is something you must see this way."
All at once, the sense of urgency returned, and Gaara nodded without a second thought, marching forward behind the man, through more of the winding tunnels and twisting caverns.
Finally, the two emerged into a large, hollowed chamber. The howling winds billowed over its sides in wispy gusts that were visible to the naked eye as they lifted snow and ice in their grip.
But the Kazekage paid little attention to that, finding his eyes landing squarely on the body that lay in the center of it.
He stepped forward cautiously, hearing the crunching of the Anbu's footsteps as he followed him.
With a tentative caution he knelt at the body's side, female, her blood soaked hair showed that she had either defeated a great many before she fell or had lost copious amounts of blood herself. Half of her body, the half that faced away from him was covered in blackened burn marks and peeling flesh.
He reached over, rolling her towards him, until he could finally see her face, her upper torso half leaning on his bent knee.
And at the sight of her face Gaara sucked in a sharp breath.
Akina!
His shock lasted for only a moment before he turned to bark his orders at the Anbu; only to find the man gone.
Sea green eyes swiveled to and fro, searching for the opponent that must be hidden, for the trap that was about to be sprung.
Nothing happened.
Confused and concerned, Gaara did not ignore the injured woman now leaning against him however and warily, his eyes returned to her, hands ghosting over her injuries with uncertain hesitation.
Outside, standing near the edge of the storm, the blood red Sharingan eyes opened with languid ease as a breath escaped his nostrils as though eased of a burden.
"Sempai." Came the lilting, almost juvenile voice behind him. "What are we doing?"
Itachi did not answer his fellow Akatsuki member, choosing instead to begin the process of removing his cloak from where it was wrapped around him.
"Deidara sempai is dead now...I think Zetsu-sama too...ohhh and Sasori-sempai too! What do you think happened to Kisame-sama, sempai? You think he's dead too? Or did he-"
"Tobi." The Uchiha finally spoke cutting him off. "Be silent."
There was a childish sniffle behind him, as though the spiral masked ninja were crying beneath his mask. "Itachi-sempai is so mean to Tobi...but not mean to the little angel though...he was nice to her...let her live..."
There was a silence between them for a moment before Tobi broke it again, this time, his voice lost some of its childish, jovial undertones.
"Why let her live sempai?"
Itachi didn't answer for a long time and for a while Tobi thought he was gonna be ignored.
Then the Uchiha spoke. "Insurance."
Tilting his head like a curious animal he waited for further explanation.
Folding his cloak neatly, the Uchiha laid the black cloth at his feet and then began to methodically remove his weapon pouches. "I have no intention of remaining under the boot-heel of Pein for the rest of my life. There is only one person that has a chance to kill Pein."
"Uzumaki-san." Tobi answered. "Itachi sempai is smart. God fights Devil. Only one wins."
"And that girl." The Uchiha continued, finishing the removal of his weapon pouches as he reached into a single jacket pocket. Pulling out a kunai and fingering the weapon between his thumb and index finger. "Is the means by which Naruto himself can be stopped."
"... … … I don't get it..."
"He has allowed her to live on multiple occasions." The uchiha clarified. "Either he's sentimental, which I doubt. Or he has left her alive for some other reason. Either her dying will weaken him considerably...or it will actually kill him. Both of which will serve me well should he survive this, and choose to come after me.
"And if Pein-sama survives?"
There was a pause... "I will deal with that if it happens."
"Where will sempai go?"
The Uchiha didn't answer, simply fingering the kunai in his hands for a moment as though nostalgic. Then, with a simple nonchalance he dropped it into the snow, next to his discarded clothing and weapons.
Then his body dissolved, leaving nothing but wisps of black smoke to be caught in the wind.
Tobi looked up to the sky sighing as he placed his hands behind his head. "Oh well...it was all fun while it lasted." Turning around he began to march away whistling a tune as he walked further and further away from the ice fortress and into the storm that eternally surrounded the place.
Gaara grunted, shifting the comatose woman to lay flat on her back. He placed his fingers at her neck, searching for a pulse. He found one, and sighed in relief as he did.
He turned his attention to her injuries looking them over as though trying to find where to begin as he removed his cloak, getting ready to tear it apart to use as makeshift bandages when he looked closer, much closer, there he found the wispy tendrils of steam rising from where her burns met clear skin.
He leaned in closer, his face and eyes scrunching in amazed puzzlement.
"What in the-"
A scuffling to his right tore his gaze away, his hand grasping firmly at a kunai as he pulled the weapon free of its satchel.
Then, scurrying out of one of the many tunnels that led into this chamber came yet another Anbu, his cloak wet with snow, his porcelain mask turning this way and that way as his head swiveled around, scanning the room until his gaze found him.
"Ka-Kazekage-sama!" The excited soldier made a move to step forward when said Kage raised the kunai in his hand in warning.
"I have reason to believe our password may be compromised Anbu. You'd best prove who you are quickly."
To emphasize his point the Kage made a show of sand, gathering at the Anbu ninja's feet. He was bluffing, of course, the amount of sand he currently had on him would have difficulty crushing a small child.
The Anbu thought for a moment, almost as though his means of proving his identity were in the room itself, when he apparently thought of something.
Slowly, with no swift movements he reached into his cloak, pulling a scroll from within, he unrolled it over the ground, biting his thumb he began to run it across the ink covered surface, its runes and lines glowing for a moment before -poof- a grey cloud obscured the Godaime's vision for a moment. And Gaara feared that, if it indeed was another enemy the man had just summoned reinforcements.
Still what was done, was done. He waited for the smoke to dissipate, when it did, more Anbu stood in the room, eight or so each looking around the chamber, confused until their sights landed on him.
"Kazekage." The lead Anbu declared, beginning to march towards him when the younger one that had found him first, who wore a bird mask, placed a hand on his shoulder "Sir. Kazekage-sama has reason to believe the code word is compromised."
The captain nodded before reaching up and unclasping his wolf mask, revealing his face. One Gaara recognized. Kisuke, one of the senior captains.
He looked to the others, his gaze giving his orders clearly enough without words.
One by one they each removed their masks and the majority, he managed to recognize easily enough. Either the entire team was compromised or these were the real deal.
He gave their identities no second thought. "Come. She needs medical attention."
Not hesitating, they came forward, hands retrieving bandages, blood pills and salves. Gaara stepped back, a sliver of apprehension coiling around his heart, unaware of the thoughts that wound their way across the comatose woman's mind as she slept.
The inside of his head felt as though it was subject to the beating of a great drum. His nostrils burned with the cold and his limbs felt as though they were lead lined.
He coughed, white snow flakes flaring up in front of him by the puff of air.
Everything ached, and his arms shook with the effort to move them, snow gathered over his prone body until finally, his aching muscles obeyed his command, pushing himself up onto his hands and knees.
Where am I?
The thought was a detached one. He looked around, finding nothing but white capped snow spread out as far as the eye could see before being swallowed up by the swirling vortex that was the storm that encircled this place.
'How did I get here?'
Before he could get his bearings an arm grabbed onto the back of his shirt, the impact jarring him with a sick sense of vertigo before his instincts kicked in, his breathing becoming rapid, his fists clenching as adrenaline spiked. His hand slipped into his weapon holster, drawing one of the many kunai blades housed within it.
"Calm down copy cat!"
He recognized that voice, and he definitely recognized the crushing grip that fell over his wrist before he was shoved forward, stumbling before his legs found their strength, keeping him upright as he turned around finding Yoshihiro standing infront of him.
Battered and bruised, pieces of his armor were missing, the normally gleaming metal of his hammer scratched with deep gouges all along the hilt, a corner of the hammers head chipped as the old Iwa nin nursed a brutal gash over his left eye. The right side of his face was smarting a nasty, yellow hued bruise.
At the sight of this, Kakashi could only come to one conclusion.
"You look like shit."
'Yea, and you look like a rose bud."
Kakashi wasn't delirious enough for the sarcasm to go over his head. Looking down at the tears that didn't cover the, still bleeding, injuries he would probably agree with Yoshihiro's assessment when he next looked into a mirror.
Glancing around again, Sharingan now spinning in one eye to take a second, much more thorough assessment of his surroundings the Copy nin took careful scrutiny of the immediate area before looking up the shattered mountain of ice. Jagged spikes reaching varying heights from where the massive spire had crumbled around it, its top leaning precariously on one side, debris still littering the base of the structure.
"What happened to Kisame?" He asked, rubbing his head before covering his eye. "Last I remember was the fortress falling around us as we made a run for it." Looking around some more he added "We're not dead are we?"
The elder male rolled his eyes. "No you moron, we're not dead."
"Good." He said with a mock sigh. "You being the first sight of my afterlife would mean I was in hell."
The joke fell rather flat considering the elder Iwa ninja's sneer, but at the moment Kakashi really didn't care. He was alive right now, and Kisame was nowhere to be found. That entitled him to a few bad jokes.
Still. "Where's Suna?"
There was a rumbling crunch of shifting snow, and the high pitched groan of metal straining under pressure as a mound of tightly packed white flakes began to rise off to their right.
Both men drew their weapons, intent on pouncing Kisame should he be the one under there.
But to their relief, it was a half destroyed hand of reinforced wood that emerged first. Its pinky finger gone and servo motors whirring with a very ugly sound.
When Kankuro finally emerged from where he'd been buried, his face, or at least half of it was in clear view, half his upper body armor was shattered, the other half not looking much better, cracks, and clumps of frozen water cracking over the joints that struggled to move.
The Suna nin was panting, the warmth of his breath visible with every exhale. A cut over his eye allowed copious amounts of blood to fall down his face. Something that must have stung his eye horribly, but the brunette ninja paid little attention to his injuries, wincing as he swiveled his head to and fro, searching for their enemy with a worried, almost frantic expression.
Finally, looking back to Kakashi and Yoshihiro he breathed out the obvious question. "Kisame?"
Kakashi shrugged in response.
Kankuro sighed, eyes closing in almost tear-jerking relief. The monster of the mist had certainly earned his name in the suna nin's eyes.
His relief was soon overshadowed however as a thought came into him with the force of a stampeding horse. Looking to Kakashi and Yoshihiro he knew their minds were wandering in the same direction.
Subtly, though it was most likely an exercise in futility, he tried to shift his still trapped legs to loosen the snow's hold on him in case he needed to move quickly.
With a leisurely pace, Kakashi drew his hand back, into his weapon holster, clearly ready to cross this line now that Kisame seemed to be out of the picture.
A hand on the copy ninja's shoulder made him pause, turning his head slowly to the side to face the older male from his peripheral.
"We aren't sure if Kisame's dead yet. Not to mention we have other enemies here."
"Kisame had a good chance of killing all of us. He was enjoying that fight. I doubt this is some trick." Kakashi argued back. "Besides." He jerked his head towards Kankuro. "Recognize him? Sabaku no Kankuro. Gaara's older brother. A very valuable hostage."
Yoshihiro opened his mouth to speak, when his gaze traveled upwards widening as his mouth clicked shut before opening again.
"No time for that shit!"
Pushing Kakashi out of the way the Elder Iwa nin pushed forward, hammer over his shoulder as Kakashi stumbled, turning once he caught his feet to see what had startled the Tsuchikage only to feel his own multicolored eyes widen before he looked back to Kankuro, who had abandoned subtlety and was now pulling himself fully to his feet, one leg already free.
"You might want to hurry up with that." He warned, watching as Kankuro chuckled up at him.
"Way I see it tree huger, this is my chance to leave you both to die and go find my brother."
The copy nin shrugged his shoulders. "Sure. If you wanna leave your sister to die with us."
Snapping his gaze up, Kankuro turned as best he could, ignoring Kakashi as he looked back up to the shattered remnants of the ice fortress, finding several tiny dark blotches rapidly leaping from one point to another, pursuing one other person, the stark shade of light blond hair allowing him to recognize his sister anywhere.
Looking closer however, he found her to be carrying someone. Blood soaked Naruto's normally sun-kissed hair and its new reddish ting confused Suna's puppet master as to the identity of the person his sister was trying to save.
'Gaara!'
With a surge of effort, the puppeteer forced his suit to respond, pulling his last leg free of snow and ice before he rushed after the other two ninja.
He paused though, a rumbling reaching his ears before he turned back, looking over his shoulder at the massive storm that forever circled this place, watching it enclosing itself, closer and closer around the ice formation.
Not giving the phenomenon a second thought he moved forward. His sister came first, the freak storm, later.
The Suna princess cursed as she continued to slide down the slick ice, Naruto slid at her side, an almost solid trail of blood left in his wake as he struggled to control his fall.
She looked to him, watching as his entire body shook with the strain to remain upright, and as his head dropped and his eyes visibly struggled to remain open.
Her eyes darted left and right, scanning the jagged surface of the ice before she stopped, chakra lining the places where her body met the cold surface, bringing her to a halt as she turned sharply, intercepting his tumbling body with her own.
The wind was knocked out of her, leaving her lungs burning with lack of air; but she ignored it, wrapping her hands around his blood-soaked body, staining her skin and clothes crimson before she looked above, towards the small black dots that were her pursuers.
Far enough, she determined.
Her feet found purchase, and with another neck breaking turn, she reversed her momentum, using it to nearly launch herself headfirst into a small crevice in the broken wall of the fortress.
She fell, in with a winded curse, her wrist twisting awkwardly as she tried to catch her fall. The bulk of the Jinchuuriki falling next to her; his body limp and unmoving.
She cradled her hand, hissing with pain as her wrist throbbed, her hair fell over her face and cold slammed into her side like an unyielding wall that sank its fangs into her flesh.
She bit out a curse, her eyes closing tight in pain before opening again and staring at the deathly pale visage of the Jinchuurikki beside her.
She crawled closer, kneeling at his side as he struggled for breath, looking to her as her cold hand came to rest on his sweat soaked skin.
He did not even have the strength to speak, but he recognized her all the same, and the questions that raced through his mind he could never give voice too as he lost consciousness again.
"Hey! Hey!" Temari yelled shaking the man as his eyes rolled into the back of his head.
She didn't have time to think on his lack of consciousness when the rustle of a cloak brought her gaze to the entrance of their little niche, finding a freak with spikes on his head blocking the opening.
She flattened her hand, its shape vaguely resembling a blade as chakra passed over it before she slashed the appendage across the air between them.
The invisible blade of wind struck true, slicing the spiked ninja from shoulder to hip and knocking him clear of the entrance, his grinning face disappearing as he fell over the edge.
Without wasting another moment she grabbed Naruto, pushing chakra through her body before she lifted him with considerable effort and ran out the same entrance.
The cold wind slapped her in the face, the snow stung her eyes, and five of the purple eyed freaks were already converging on her as began to fall with the pull of gravity.
One lunged, arms wide as though to grab onto her in mid air.
The wind came to her, accelerating her fall, too low for him to catch, he went over her head as her feet fell onto the sloping wall.
There was no victory in this however. Another was gaining on her already, this one thin, with long hair held in a high ponytail. His eyes were just as unnervingly dead as all the others though.
She drew a shuriken from her pouch, more wind chakra lining its surface before she threw it.
The bladed star cut through the air, curving in its path as it rushed towards the ninja, ripping straight through its chest, making it stumble and fall before it easily and swiftly regained its feet and sought to cut down the distance that had formed between them with even more determination.
'They're not human!' She thought despairingly before something smashed into her right side, where Naruto's body had been blocking her vision.
The wind was knocked from her lungs with a sputtering cough, and Naruto fell from her grasp, tumbling in the air before he struck the solid, unyielding ice and continued to roll down its sloping surface.
She grit her teeth in pain as the man's arms locked around her in a vice grip, literally crushing her to him before she vanished in a cloud of smoke leaving one of the rinnegan wielders grasping a tightly wrapped bundle of shuriken tied together by razor wire close to his chest before the trap went off, exploding in a lethal display that sent the stars of metal into his throat throat, head, chest, stomach legs and arms.
Temari appeared beneath Naruto's falling body, arms poised to catch the demon king and continue her rush to escape when a bright purple glow caught her sight, and a source of heat, growing closer and closer forced her instincts to kick in.
She reacted, pushing Naruto to the side with her foot she quickly, jumped off the surface of the ice fortress, a blast of heat and icy debris pelting her body as she looked down, finding the perpetrator to be none other than the freak with the spikes on his head that she thought to have killed earlier.
She looked quickly to her other attackers, frantic as panic threatened to rise in her chest as she realized that she had no chance of dodging any attack here in mid air.
With a neck breaking jerk, her body found itself pulled upwards, arms and legs giving little more resistance than that of a rag doll.
There as a weightless moment of vertigo, where sky and earth meant nothing, she found herself feeling utterly relaxed for a moment...
Then she found the fury filled gaze of Deva path glaring down on her.
She didn't hear his words, nor did it really matter, for in the next instant Temari found her body hurled through the air at dangerous speeds. A sudden, immense pressure on her ribs giving her no chance to breathe before she reached the unyielding surface below.
There was a crash, snow and ice rising into the air in a billowing cloud that obscured her vision as her chest felt as though it was being crushed, the jagged, stone like ice digging into her back as her vision was splotched with blackened spots.
She rasped out a cough, exhausting what little breath she had, wet and gurgling, her mind distantly acknowledged it as blood given the taste.
She shut her eyes tight against the pain, struggling to recall her training to block out the sensation and move again; finding only limited success as her fingers and legs did little more than twitch before she coughed again, her breath stolen from her lungs a second time.
The dust began to settle, and from the very corner of her eyes Temari saw him approach. His black cloak hugging his shoulders, his reddish mane of hair shifting in color to give him a very ghoulish silhouette in the snow filled air, the ringed eyes of the Rinnegan unnerving in their odd appearance and unnatural focus on her form.
The blade emerged from the inside of his sleeve as if by magic, as black as obsidian stone, and probably just as sharp, its very image made her feel a chill down her spine as she struggled to pull herself away, eying the weapon with no small amount of fear as she pushed herself further and further away with weak, shaking hands that slipped on the ice.
Soon enough he was standing over her, the tip of the sword held over her face, barely an inch from her nose.
She glanced around, searching for some weapon or escape, but she only found Naruto's still form, laying face down in the snow covered ice, two others at his side.
"You will not forestall god's judgment." The one above her said, bringing her attention back to it.
She looked into his gaze, finding a strikingly familiar coldness to those purple tinged eyes but...worse somehow...darker...more alien.
She tried to move again, succeeding only in sending pain shooting across her upper torso, wincing with a hiss. Pein merely looked on, his face and features betraying nothing.
He raised the blade high, ready to bring it down over the Suna princess for the final blow before he turned his head to the side, his free hand rising, outstretched.
She felt a momentary surge of chakra from him, followed by a startled "Oomph" before snow was kicked up nearby, the genjutsu dissipating to reveal Kakashi, hair matted down to his head as he gave a grimacing chuckle. "Why do I even bother?"
The ground shifted beneath the Suna kunoichi, ice and snow splitting apart before opening entirely, allowing her to fall in, startled, she screamed Pein's blade descending to strike as the ground closed above her.
Darkness surrounded her, leaving her only able to feel her own heart pumping in her chest as her adrenaline spiked and her temples pounded with the blood flow
She felt things moving around her, and her lungs began to burn from the sudden lack of oxygen.
In a panic, she began to struggle trashing around as she searched for some exit from her earthly prison.
Then, with the same suddenness she'd fallen in, fell right back out. Greeted to the sensation of air rushing past her before she felt an impact at her back, her eyes closed with the jarring force.
"Sis?"
She gasped, her eyes snapping open to fall on the half concealed face of her brother, brown eyes staring down on her in wondering disbelief as the edges of the one eye she could see beneath his suit glimmered with un-shed tears.
"Kankuro!"
She didn't say anything else before she pushed herself forward from where she sat, awkwardly circling her arms around the massive suit of armor.
She felt a swell of emotions rise up in her chest, tears threatening to spill over her eyes as a lump formed in her throat.
He was alive...her baby brother was alive and he was here!
"Come on breathe!"
The muttered demand brought her back to the present. She raised her head, looking past her brother as she slid out his suits massive arms; finding Yoshihiro kneeling over Naruto, hands regularly pressing down on his chest before he pressed his ear close. His face dismayed before he straightened and pressed down again. "Come on! Come on!"
"No." The suna princess breathed aloud, drawing her brother's worried eye to the back of her head before she rushed forward, sliding to a halt at his side.
"What's wrong?" She yelled, up at the armored male.
"What does it look like?" The Tsuchikage cursed. "His heart's stopped."
Kankuro stepped forward, and, looking over Temari's shoulder, found the face of the man on the ground to not be his brother's. And then he leveled his gaze on the back of Temari's head.
There was a poof of smoke beside them, which, when dissipated, revealed Kakashi, hands pressing down on his knees as he hunched forward, gasping for breath. "He wasn't too happy." He said still struggling to catch his breath. "And it wont be very long before he finds us, we need to move."
Upon being ignored, the copy nin raised his head from where it hung, finding Yoshihiro still repeatedly pressing down on Naruto's chest, with the blond, still unresponsive.
The copy nin wasted no more time, despite his exhaustion, the aches and pains that still battered his body further into the realms of unconsciousness, he stepped forward. "Move!" He barked, almost shoving Yoshihiro aside before he pressed his hands over Naruto's chest.
The eddies of chakra flowed through his palms, taking shape and form according to his will before Temari and the other's saw Naruto arch upwards, a shock going through his system as Kakashi attempted to restart his heart.
He placed two fingers on the Godaime's pulse point. Staying for a moment before he cursed, placing his hands over the blonds chest again.
Standing behind Temari, Kankuro looked on. Worry in his eyes as he looked down on his sister as she knelt there, biting her lip with worry. He knew that under stressful situations captives often grew attached to their captors. But his sister had always been level headed. She'd always been the smart one. Always been the one to pass her mental resistance and genjutsu tests far better than he or even Gaara.
She was human just like everybody else sure but...he couldn't help but feel a stab of betrayal at her worry for this man of all things. This was the same man that had severed his spine from the waist down, forever stealing him of the use of his legs. The man that had flooded Suna with so many refugees that their grain stores were barely able to maintain a steady supply of food for the entire population.
The man that single-handedly threatened absolutely everything they held dear and stood for.
Immediately he cast aside those feelings as best he could. Temari was just like anybody else. Who's to say that, had it been him that had been captured the shoe would be on the other foot? The important thing was that she was alive and they could take both her, and Gaara back to Suna. The rest of the bullshit they could deal with later.
"Come on dammit!" Kakashi cursed, sweat lining his brow as he sent another pulse through Naruto's body, his shoulders shaking as his face visibly tightened behind the mask. "No...no not now...not when we're so close! When everything is so close!"
But the blond remained there, lying still his features calm,mouth slightly open, his eyes closed.
Then, there was a pulse...a ripple of red that swept out from under him as though he'd landed in a great, shallow pool of water.
Kakashi and the other two stood, startled, as they took a step back.
"Kazekage-sama!" One of the Anbu cried near the rear of the line.
Gaara turned, finding the Anbu that had been carrying Akina had let the girl fall, his sword drawn as the young woman's chakra glowed around her body.
The water sloshed against her ankles, pushing and pulling like the coming and goings of the tide.
She didn't move from her place, staring down into the crystal clear, blue surface that lay just infront of her, rippling and shifting.
"Where are we?" She asked.
When he didn't answer, and the silence only seemed to stretch on, she elaborated. "Your mind? Mine?"
Again the silence stretched on for a moment. Then he finally spoke. "Neither."
She stared down at the pool at her feet...saltwater...she didn't know how...but she knew it was saltwater.
She didn't understand his answer...she didn't really care where they were really. So she didn't know why she'd even asked.
What's happening?" She asked, her eyes still lowered. "To you..."
There was silence, and she felt his eyes on her...assessing her.
Then he answered. "You know."
It was not dismissive. It was a fact.
She looked up to him then, her crystal blue eyes carved with sorrow...sorrow for him perhaps...or perhaps self pity... it mattered little.
He sat upon a stone throne that rested atop a mound of skulls; each of which leaked blood from their hollow eyes and forever grinning mouths that dripped and cascaded down into the water around him, tainting it in a swirling red but traveled little farther. Keeping itself away from the crystal clear saltwater that surrounded her.
He was clad in his trademark red shroud and metal mask, his head resting lazily atop his fist. Eyes unseen behind the veil of blackened shadow under his hood.
When he stood, the bones beneath his feet shifted with cracks and snaps as they tumbled down towards the bloody water below.
She watched as he approached, each step bringing him closer and closer until he finally stood ankle deep in the bloody water and continued to close the distance until he stood just at the edge of the divide that separated the blood stained water from the clear.
Slowly...cautiously...she stepped forward, coming closer until she stood face to face with him, looking up at his taller frame, still failing to pierce the veil that fell over his eyes.
Suddenly, his form became transparent, and he reeled back, as though pained as his legs seemed ready to give out right from under him as he staggered, his hand rising to clutch at his chest.
She gasped taking a step forward as though to grab him, keep him standing, when she hesitated, stopping with her hand still outstretched, grasping at air as she closed her hand into a loose fist.
He looked at her then, still clutching at his chest with one hand, he spoke, his tone harsh, and wheezy as though he'd run a great distance.
"So...what do you think will happen now? Do you think it will end?" He paused, seeming to catch his breath for a moment before he spoke again.
"It wont...The turmoil, the chaos, the sorrow it will continue...you've saved no one...you've accomplished..."
His voice failed him again, his body becoming more transparent, thinner as he fell to his knees with a pained yell, a wet cough rattled his frame and in the next second, blood dripped from the side of his mask, falling into the tainted water below them him. "Even if you have...you will not live to see it."
There was silence for a moment, and in the next, he stood, grunting with pain as he straightened again to his full height, the blood still trailing down from the edge of his metal mask, his body becoming so transparent it seemed almost invisible for a moment before it regained some of its consistency.
He looked up staring into the black void that hung above them.
"The demon king." He laughed, self mocking and bitter as he turned away from her. "Enjoy your 'new world' dear sister."
Her chest tightened up, her heart, lurched beneath her ribs as her stomach dropped and her throat tightened.
Every instinct...told her to stop, every fiber of her being screamed at her to let him walk away, to let him die now, but before she knew it she stepped forward, her white clothes stained red as she passed into the bloody water and grasped onto his arm with strength born of desperation.
"No." She cried...tears falling from her eyes and trailing down her face falling into the murky water below as it swirled and melded together, finally mixing as the dividing line was broken.
He looked down, staring at the hand that held onto his arm in a vice, his body becoming stronger, more corporeal as she held on.
"This changes nothing." He said after a long, heavy silence that had seemed to go on for eons. "You will still be my enemy when my eyes open again...Suna will still burn..."
A choked sob rose up from her chest, her eyes shutting themselves tight as she let her head fall forward her hair shielding her face from view as more tears fell from her eyes.
"I know."
"Kazekage-sama!" The cry echoed up from one of the tunnels, and as one the four turned to look towards it, only now noticing the sounds of movement coming closer to them.
After a second or so they saw the sources, Anbu, eight or so, they exited the tunnel with their blades at the ready.
"Kankuro-sama!" One of the Anbu yelled and the Suna puppeteer marched forward with a nod, pausing only for a moment as Gaara emerged from the tunnel.
"Gaara!" He yelled in relief, smiling as he came closer.
The Kazekage looked to his armored brother, laughing once with equal relief before he wrapped the man in a hug.
Then he saw Temari.
It was as if someone had struck him in the stomach, and all the air left his lungs as he pulled himself away from Kankuro, looking to Temari who looked back with some emotion he couldn't describe.
Temari...
He pulled back, suspicion in his eyes. "I saw you die." He looked past her, past the other two, to the body behind them.
Temari opened her mouth to speak when a deafening boom shook the chamber around them, chunks of ice falling from the ceiling, forcing the group to scatter as one of the walls was blown in with a blanketing sweep of snow blinding their sight as it knocked them off their feet.
Pein stepped through the threshold, his Rinnegan eyes instantly taking in every detail of the massive chamber and those within it as they reached their feet.
"Throw away thy rod." He said as his others spread out in a semi circle in front of the group, who made themselves ready. "Cast aside thy hope."
The dark blade emerged again and fell into his firm grip with ease, and familiarity. "For god shall not take the gentle path."
She returned to the land of the consciousness with growls in her ear, cold water at her back and the putrid stench of rotting, bloody meat blowing across her nose. Opening her sky blues she looked to the side, finding the fox pacing, the chains around his neck and legs giving sharp pings as the links shifted their position with his pacing.
"You worthless meatsack!" He roared the moment he became aware of her cognition, snarling as he inched closer. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"
Her expression was sad, she knew that, and as began to rise the tears that fell from her cheeks did so with her knowing they were there as she stumbled to her feet.
"I saved him." She answered simply.
The fury in the roar that escaped the fox's gaping maw was nearly a palpable thing, the mere force of his killing intent alone fell onto her shoulders like a physical weight.
"How dare you!" He hissed, drool that burned like acid seeping through his grit teeth. "You're-"
"Not your puppet." She interrupted, looking up to him as he snarled and growled. "Nor will I be Zhuge Liang's anymore! I'm no one's puppet!"
He looked down on her with unabashed hatred in those bloody eyes. His lips curling back into a disgusted, amused little smile. "No...You're far more pathetic than that. You're his puppet instead."
This time, she woke to the feel of cold air kissing her face, and the sound of battle in her ear.
Every muscle in her body ached, and the side that had been struck by Amaterasu's legendary black fire still felt almost cripplingly painful to every movement.
She hissed as she began to turn herself over, walls of glimmering ice surrounding her on all sides.
She crawled on her stomach; with nail and foot, pushing herself to where the sounds were coming from.
She lurched to her feet for the final stretch of distance before her strength abandoned her and she fell, just at the edge of the tunnel, with the battle now visible to her eyes.
Suna Anbu clashed with five of the black robed ninja's in a desperate melee, jutsu and shuriken flying across the room as they were launched, deflected, blocked and dodged
Deva path marched through the center like a juggernaut however; ruthless, and utterly unstoppable, Kankuro, his armor now thoroughly shattered had been thrown across the room to land at a heap at the far wall, and Gaara lay on the floor, almost sickly pale as he bled from a horrendous slash that ran across his stomach making the stone run red as his blood pooled around him.
The only ones in his way now were the man she recognized as Hatake Kakashi, Gaara's sister, and an old man in thick plate armor.
Naruto lay behind them, unmoving, defenseless...
Her eyes closed tightly in concentration, feeling for the power within her and attempting to bring it out.
She felt firm resistance however, and thesnarls that echoed through the back of her mind to the forefron told her exactly who the guilty party was.
"You..." She breathed, struggling to form her sentences. "Will listen...to me now."
Still the resistance remained, obstinate as the Kyuubi's limited influence from within his seal battled against her will.
With a snarl that was almost animal like in nature the young woman grit her teeth and clenched her fists. 'Listen to me now.'
He could hear him coming closer, heavy footfalls that could not be drowned out by the cacophony of the fights that raged around them as he continued to examine the seal and what they'd done to it.
The seal that bound the ninetails had always been complex. Far beyond his knowledge to be sure, but what these people had done to it now made the normal seal look like a simple padlock.
He only recognized three of the symbols, and there were at least seven of them. If he undid those three perhaps the construct would break down itself, like a dam that was over capacity.
"Any day now copycat!" He heard Yoshihiro yell behind him, the footfalls coming ever closer
"If I do this wrong it could rupture the seal completely! It'd kill Naruto and probably us too." He barked back, harsh and angry as he hesitated on the handseals for the dispel technique.
"Either you risk it or we all die now!" The Tsuchikage snapped just before Kakashi heard him bellow out his battle cry.
He looked back, just in time to see the Rinnegan wielder catch the head of the massive warhammer in one hand, his other hand rising with the dark blade in its grip.
The Tsuchikage raised his forearm guard to block the strike, only for the black metal to slice through plate, flesh and bone with ease, piercing his forearm and lancing into the left edge of his chest, its edge scraping against the elder male's ribs.
Yoshihiro bit down a scream of pain before Pein ripped the hammer free of his grip and sent the Tsuchikage flying into the wall with enough force to kill the man had he not been wearing armor.
He didn't even glance at Temari before he ducked, avoiding the wind blade with ease before he swept her feet out from under her.
She rolled with the fall, attempting to reach her feet quickly, only to have her efforts cut off by a viscous kick that struck her ribs.
Then his eyes landed on Kakashi, with the copy cat's back turned to him, still hoping to finish the final seals.
The blade rose, ready to sever head from shoulders when every sense in his body froze with surprise. Not fear, never fear.
He knew the attack was coming before she'd even closed half the distance.
He sought his power, raising his arm to ward her off but he'd been too late and she'd been to fast.
She tackled him with the force of a two ton boulder, red chakra shrouding her body with three tails whipping out from the base of her spine, burning to the touch wherever her body made contact with his.
He called forth his power, bending it to his will with focus and purpose and pushed her back, with more force than he'd ever needed to use on any one person. Even so, he barely managed to repel her halfway across the room.
Then his attention returned to Kakashi, just as the man's hand fell onto the seal, glowing with bright blue flames.
There was a flash of blinding white light.
When his vision returned it was to a haze of red that blanketed the room like a deep fog. His eyes peered deep into its veil, finding both his targets as they faced him, his others coming to his side.
He couldn't see his face, only his eyes as they glowed a deep, bloody red, pupil, iris and all.
"Delay in vengeance, gives only a heavier blow." He canted.
The answer seemed to come from within his own mind, in a whisper of malice that was carried neither by wind or sound.
"Those who seek fear...shall have it, in abundance..."