I ignore him. "Pakkun, how much longer?"
"Five minutes to Sasuke. Two minutes to an Aburame." He tells me.
"Shikamaru. Who is Shino fighting?"
"Kankuro." wheeze "I'll help" wheeze "Shino. You go" wheeze "to Sasuke."
"Agreed. I'll do a hit and run attack on Kankuro when I run past. The rest is up to you and Shino."
...
We run the next moments with no sound but Shikamaru's labored breathing.
"Thirty seconds out." Pakkun warns us.
"I'll destroy his puppet. His poisons won't work on me. It will lower his threat level significantly."
We burst into another clearing to see Shino wildly dodging Kasaru and Kankuro doing everything he can to avoid Shino's swarm.
I flow through hand signs while running, "Earth release: Devouring Earth!"
Jaws of earth rise from beneath Kasaru and crush it to dust. I watch Kankuro go pale.
"Thank you, I was having difficulty." Shino says as I sprint past.
"You get Shikamaru! I'm going ahead to help Sasuke!"
Pakkun and I never slowed down. The entire exchange took less than five seconds.
"Pakkun, how long?"
"Three minutes. Max. Probably less."
"How are you holding up? Can you go faster?"
"Kid, I can keep up with Kakashi. This is nothing."
"Good. The ground levels out here for a while. Let's up the speed."
We run along in silence at breakneck speeds. I've never moved this fast before. At this point I'm not running, I'm leaping. I'm using the Jiongu to its fullest potential in my legs, using the added strength to push me forward.
"Thirty seconds. I smell four scents. Sasuke, foxes, sand, and a female I don't know."
"Sasuke, Naruto, Gaara, and Temari." Good. Naruto is there.
"Five seconds." Pakkun warns.
We burst into the clearing to see Gaara slam Sasuke through a tree.
"SASUKE!" I yell.
"Slicing Whirlwind!" Wind cuts into me, shearing off some skin and exposing my threads. "You will not hurt my brother!" Temari shouts at me.
"You won't hurt mine!" I release my earth heart. "Deal with her! Non-lethal take-downs only. I've killed enough today."
With Temari busy running for her life I turn back to Gaara to see him and Naruto fighting.
"Naruto! Can you survive for two minutes? I want to check on Sasuke."
"You are late." I have never been more glad to hear that damn arrogant tone. "Taking after Kakashi?"
Naruto disengages from Gaara. Gaara is half transformed into Shukaku, his right arm is covered in sand with blue accents. His eyes are bloodshot and he has a feral grin. All higher thought processes are gone, he's running on barely more than pure instinct at this point.
"Never mind Naruto, Sasuke's fine. I think. How's the chakra levels?" I ask.
"Low. I have one more Chidori left. Then we don't have any lightning jutsu strong enough to hurt him."
"Yes we do. I'm here now."
"Cool! You have a lightning affinity too!" Naruto exclaims.
"I have them all."
Naruto's jaw drops. Sasuke looks surprised. "Orochimaru?" He asks.
"Yeah, one of the side effects. Another is the thing fighting Temari." They both glance over to that fight. I say fight, it is more like an extreme version of 'run away from the earth spitting monster.'
"Dude. I don't know if that is cool, or the most creepy thing ever." Naruto says. "You made that?"
"Yeah. Each one has it's own element and can use jutsu of said element. That one is earth. I have fire, wind, water and lightning left."
"You can make more!? Forget teaching me how to fly teach me how to do that!" Naruto exclaims. "That's so COOL!"
"It also gave me all of my scars and is the reason I have masks stitched onto my back."
"He-he.. Less cool?" Naruto rubs his head sheepishly.
"Shut up Naruto." Sasuke demands. "We need a plan. How good is that lightning jutsu of yours?"
"B-rank. Any range. I can fire as many as we need. My chakra recovers extremely fast." I quickly provide the information. "I used it to electrocute nine Sound shinobi who were in a pond on the way over here."
"Here's the plan." Sasuke starts explaining, "Alvarcus, pelt him from long range until he goes down. Naruto and I will work from mid range to keep him away from you. Keep us between the two of you."
"Works for me!"
"Naruto, you are way to chipper for this situation. I'll have my water monster attack from close range. Once earth is done with Temari it'll join."
"STOP IGNORING ME! COME! LET ME FEEL ALIVE!" Gaara throws himself at us.
I jump backwards while Naruto and Sasuke engage him, positioning him to give me a clear shot. I start going through the hand signs for False Darkness.
"Sand Shuriken!" Gaara roars out as he hurls his attack towards me.
A whirling blade of death tears through the air. I attach a string to it and pull. A small section breaks away from the giant shuriken.
"Oh shit!" I hit the floor. The shuriken barely misses me. "Okay, can't redirect those, I just rip off a chunk of sand. Let's try something new."
I push the lightning heart out of my back, but I don't let it separate from me to form a monster. Instead I leave it connected. I create a fifth limb extending from my back to over my head, one that can spit lightning without having to make hand signs.
"Cool. Didn't know I could do that."
False Darkness rips from my new appendage, streaks across the battlefield and blasts a huge chunk of sand off Gaara's sand arm.
"Wicked."
The battle progresses in our favor. Between my water monster, Sasuke and Naruto we have Gaara on the defensive. He is always in a good spot for me to hit him with my lightning jutsu. I blast off more and more sand with every shot. We might actually win this!
"ENOUGH!" Gaara roars. "Genjutsu: Forced Slumber."
"Oh fuck me." I know whats coming.
POOF!
The world becomes covered in smoke.
"What's this? I'm free? I'M FREE!"
Shukaku. He released Shukaku. I am so glad he is outside of the village.
"Guys!" I call out. "We need a new plan!"
Sasuke and Naruto run to my side. I pull in my water monster and retract the lightning mask to my back.
"Okay. I have some combination attacks that might be able to hurt it. Do either of you two have anything to fight a giant sand monster?" I ask my allies.
"OH OH! I do!" Oh thank Kami. "I can summon Gamabunta! He's HUGE! He can fight that thing for us! Here I'll do it right now!"
"Uh I don' think that's a good-"
"Summoning Jutsu!"
POOF!
"-idea. Am I standing on a giant toad?"
"OI! Brat! Why did you summon me?" Gamabunta, the toad boss, asks.
"We need you to fight the big sand monster over there Chief!" Naruto happily chirps.
"Sasuke. Your eyes can see through genjutsu. That's what this is, right? Please tell me we are on the ground. Please?" I'm in the air. I don't want to be in the air.
"We are on a giant toad." Sasuke bluntly informs me.
"See that's what I thought. Is now a bad time to tell you I have a crippling fear of heights? Cuz I do. Big time."
"Hang on kiddos! It's about to get rough!" Gamabunta says while drawing his sword.
"No! I want off!" I'm ignored. Gamabunta bounds all over the place. "I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I can't do this again. I can't be this high again. I'm dead. Dead dead dead. Splat. Again."
"Alvarcus shut up!" Sasuke demands. "I'm not going to let you fall off!"
"Oi. Brats on my head." Gamabunta rumbles. "Which one of you knows the biggest fire jutsu?"
Ignore the height. Do your job. The ground is red and feels like toad. It's always been that way. You are on the ground.
"I do." Sasuke says.
"Me." I say.
"Please. My Grand Fireball is bigger than your fire whip. You can't even make them that long!" Sasuke defends his pride.
"Dude, did you not see me melt that guy in the booth? Oh wait, you were chasing Gaara. You didn't. Doesn't matter. I'm not talking about my fire whips, I have a fire equivalent to the lightning jutsu I was using earlier. B-rank. All ranges."
"What the hell did you do to train this last month?" Sasuke demands. "Was that weird Yamato guy really that good?"
"Nah, I learned most of this from a scroll and trial and error." I never thought I would say this, but thank you Orochimaru.
"Brats! Quit arguing and ready the damn jutsu! You'll know when to launch it!" Gamabunta's cheeks swell.
We're doing the oil and fire move. I push out my water heart. I have it ready a huge water wave. I fly through the hand signs for Intelligent Hard Work and my own cheeks swell. Gamabunta spits out a crazy amount of oil. Hundreds of thousands of liters. I release my own fire. It ignites the oil. The water monster shoots out a wave of water. Ever tried to pour water on an oil fire? It makes the fire go crazy.
FWUMP!
A titanic firestorm rages towards Shukaku. It is beautiful.
"HAHA! Which one of you squirts did that!" Gamabunta asks, "Who would have thought adding water to a fire would make it bigger!"
"I did. Water and oil don't mix well. Some science could explain that, but all I know is never pour water on an oil fire. Or that happens. Kami I love fire so much! Burn sand creature! Burn! Ahahaha!"
"Ow ow ow ow ow! Hot! Hot!" Shukaku is... hopping from foot to foot to avoid stepping in the fire. How ridiculous. This is supposed to be one of the most powerful beings in the world?
"That didn't work." Thanks Naruto, like we didn't notice that already.
"We can't overwhelm it." Sasuke adds. "What else is there?"
"I have an idea." I offer. "It's pretty crazy though. And there is no way in hell I am doing it!"
"Let's hear it kid. I don't have much time left here. Naruto's chakra is almost depleted."Gamabunta adds.
"Gaara released the sand thing by forcing himself to sleep. All we have to do is wake him up, and maybe it will go away?"
"Worth a shot. How do we do it?" Sasuke asks.
"Uh... hit him in the face? He's on that thing's forehead. All one of you two have to do is get over there. I'm climbing down before Gamabunta goes poof and we are all in the air. See ya both later!"
Using my chakra I walk down Gamabunta's back to the ground, Sasuke and Naruto can handle this now.
"Sweet dirt, how I have missed you!" Pain! Squelch. "Oh, that was my earth heart. Glad it survived. Where's Temari? I'd hate for her to get stepped on."
~To the north thirty of your paces.~
"Thanks."
~You are welcome, host.~
The Jiongu shivers in delight. I remember that being much creepier the first time. I find it rather soothing now. I make my way north, stumbling a few times as the giants battle and shake the ground. I come up on Temari. Her fan is ruined, just a mangled heap of metal and canvas. She's pinned to a boulder. Earth has encased each limb, keeping her from moving. See looks up at my approach.
"You here to finish the job yourself? That... thing could have killed me multiple times. I didn't take you as the kind of person who wants to get their own hands dirty. Although, you are covered in blood. I've been wrong before."
"I'm not here to kill you." She looks surprised. "If I let you down will you attack me or run away? I don't know if you noticed, but there is a giant toad fighting a giant sand... thing. Raccoon maybe? Anyways, we should probably move away from here. I'll even take you to Kankuro once the fight is over."
"But... why? My village invaded yours! You're supposed to hate me!" Temari shouts.
"Temari. Today I lost almost everyone important to me. I watched a Suna shinobi cut my-" my voice cracks "-cut my parents heads off. I watched them die. I'll never get to meet my sibling, because he or she wasn't born yet. I watched one of your ANBU throw me a body scroll that contained my teammate's desecrated corpse.
Believe me, I'm full of hate. I'm brimming in utter fury. I want to lash out at you, I want you to suffer and know my pain. I want you to experience my loss, to feel the full depth of my suffering. But I'm not going to. No one should have to feel this."
Temari pales. "You lost so many people today?"
"The only people I have left are Sasuke and Kakashi. Now tell me, did you help those events happen? Do I have a reason to hate you?"
"No. Kankuro and I were only told to protect Gaara until he released Shukaku. We didn't know about the invasion until yesterday morning." She answers honestly.
"Then I have no reason to hate you. I will not condemn you for something you had no part in."
"You really don't hate me? If our roles were reversed, I would hate you."
"I've killed eleven people today, some from your village. I've already destroyed eleven families. I won't ruin another, not for misplaced vengeance."
Temari looks relieved. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet." She stills at my words. "I said I won't ruin another family. I never said anything about the others." She pales drastically at my words. "And after today, I doubt I'll be able to trust a Suna nin ever again."
"Temari!" Kankuro's voice cuts through the air. "You're alive! He didn't kill you?"
Startled, Temari asks, "Kill me? Alvarcus? He was never going to kill me. I think. Were you?"
"I didn't plan on it, but if you stopped me from getting to Sasuke any better than you did, I might have." I reply honestly. I won't sugar coat anything. "What made you think I was going to kill her?"
"Do you have any idea how scary you looked? You fly into the middle of my fight covered head to toe in blood, obliterate my best weapon, drop off reinforcements and say you're going on ahead? What was I supposed to think!"
"You are very intimidating." Shikamaru adds. Oh good, he's breathing normally again. "I thought I was dead until you saved me. You tear through the center of nine enemies, drop off three black abominations, tackle me, and somehow make a contained pond to electrocute them to death? You did all of that in ten seconds. Probably less. If you don't get a damn promotion out of this, I sure as hell am not!"
"You should have seen what he and Gamabunta did! There was fire everywhere! It was so cool!" Naruto cuts in. He's carrying Gaara, behind him is Sasuke.
"Oh good, you all lived. I was hoping you would survive." I say.
"Please. It'll take more than that to kill me." Sasuke smirks.
"What are you going to do with us now?" Temari asks.
Everyone quiets down. "You could let us go?" Temari suggests hopefully. "We will go strait to Suna. No detours. We just want to go home."
No one says anything. I break the silence. "It would benefit Konoha."
"Explain. I've heard you say some dumb things, but this takes the cake." Sasuke demands of me.
"Think about it. They're the Kazekage's kids. Not only that, rookie gennin demolished them. Had them all but dead. Then we let them go? It shows we are strong. It shows we are compassionate. It shows we have mercy. It shows that we are human."
I don't want to cause more death today. There's already enough blood on my hands. If I can convince the others maybe I can redeem myself a little. Prove to myself that I'm not a monster.
Shikamaru pins the Sand Siblings in a stare. "Straight to Suna? No detours?"
"Yes." Kankuro replies this time.
"I'm okay with it. It'd be too troublesome to keep an eye on you three until some else comes to take you off our hands."
"Acceptable." Shino says, he's a man of few words.
"Sure! We can totally spar sometime if we go to Suna!" Naruto adds.
Is he that clueless, or just doesn't understand that we were invaded? Maybe he and Gaara bonded like in cannon? Or is he actually desperate for friends? I have no idea.
We turn to Sasuke. He's the last one.
"Fine. I'm tired of looking at that red hair anyways."
I let the earth jutsu holding Temari crumble. "Sorry about your fan. I didn't know my earth monster was that strong."
Temari nods, "I'm sorry about your family and teammate." The Sand Siblings leave.
Sasuke stiffens. "Teammate? But I'm... Something happened to Sakura? Alvarcus, is she okay?"
"Ask Kakashi. Please." An image of her corpse flashes through my mind.
"Alvarcus. Is she dead?" Sasuke sounds broken, almost as bad as me.
"Don't make me remember it. Please." I sound pathetic.
The events of today have finally started to catch up to me. I could ignore it during the heat of battle, but now? When everything is over? It's all I can think about.
Sasuke's face drains of all color. "She said I'm sorry about your family and teammate. If Sakura is..." He trails off.
"Y-yeah." I feel my eyes water. "Them too. I'm an orphan now."
"Orphan? Both of your parents... what about... no. Your sibling."
"Sasuke. Please. Just stop talking." I try to collect myself. I fail miserably. "I need to do something. I can't stop doing something. If I stop I remember. I don't want to remember. Someone give me something to do."
"We can go back to the village and see if there is still fighting going on. Maybe assist in evacuating civilians, or protecting the bunkers." Shikamaru suggests.
I have a goal. Something to distract me.
"Yeah. That. I'm going to go do that." Anything to push the pain away.
"I'm coming with." I open my mouth to tell Sasuke no. "No arguing. We lost Sakura. We don't get to die, we are stronger as a team. I'll protect you, and you protect me."
"Alright." I cave. "You set the pace. You're the one low on chakra."