The Red Flash Chapter 61 (Yami) (Patreon)

Yugito

She watched as the Snake Sannin disappeared into the tree, sinking inside it, his body disappeared, Yugito left out a sigh of relief; she couldn't comprehend why a Sannin like Orochimaru was here.

But that didn't matter right now, he was gone, and that was what was important.

Escaping her thoughts, she rushed towards Naruto; she saw him slowly closing his eyes, drifting off to sleep; she could see the slash across his torso; it was deep, his blood had leaked all over the ground.

She put her hands on his shoulders and started shaking him to wake up, but he wasn't opening his eyes.

"Naruto, Naruto, Wake Up" She shouted almost desperately, but Naruto wasn't even giving the smallest sign of waking up. Looking at him, one would think he was dead, but his chest rising up and down indicated that he was still breathing.

She put her ring finger just below his jawline; she smiled, feeling the pulse, and it didn't look like his heartbeat was something to be concerned with.

"I Wouldn't worry about him, kitten, he has Kurama inside, won't be easy to take out the bastard," Nibi suddenly spoke in her head, knowing that Kurama was the strongest Bijuu for a reason.

Yugito mentally nodded; she knew Kyuubi was the strongest, Nibi always warned her to keep away from him, but now it seemed that Kyuubi wasn't how Nibi had described him.

Escaping her thoughts, she saw Karui and Omoi walking towards her; Omoi had a neutral face, but Karui was looking at her with disapproval, Yugito had felt the large explosion, the heat coming from it strong enough that even from where she stood, she had seen the grass burning.

Omoi immediately had suggested ignoring it since, according to him, this could somehow lead to facing a solid opponent, her having no other option but to release Nibi, which would result in the destruction of Konoha.

While the first part was actually correct, but thankfully Orochimaru went away like a dog with his tail between his legs.

"Yugito, I told you we shouldn't have come here," Karui shouted and pointed an accusing finger.

"What did you expect me to do? In case you don't know, Naruto-kun is like me; I would never leave him in the mercy of a disgusting Snake like Orochimaru," Yugito spoke with venom through her clutched teeth.

Despite being from Konoha, Orochimaru was very well known in every single other Shinobi Village especially to Kumo, since he had abducted several children from the village, sadly his hideout had been found, a long time after the Snake had abandoned it, inside it Bee had described finding the bodies of children and several women, but Yugito knew he had left out the disgusting parts.

When they had made their way towards the explosion, Nibi had immediately told her that she could feel Kyuubi nearby.

Yugito had rushed towards the location only to see Naruto lying on scorched land, and the trees had been burned to ash; she had wondered what kind of Jutsu had Naruto used to cause such a hot temperature.

When Orochimaru had shown himself walking towards Naruto, Karui told her that Orochimaru was out of their liege; if they fought, they would die with him. Therefore they needed to leave before the Snake noticed them.

Karui took a step back at the tone used by her friend; she knew Yugito always said that she would want to meet every Jinchuuriki at least once; they could be excellent friends.

She turned to Omoi to see if he had anything to say, but instead, he was quiet, which was strange for someone like him.

"Yugito had the right in this if we see someone needing help and we just turn a blind eye and act as if nothing ever happened, Then We are No Different Than the Likes of Orochimaru," Omoi spoke with anger, his lollipop on his mouth broke and falling to the ground.

Karui sighed, knowing Omoi's reason for despising anyone who walks away from a person needing help; to him, it wouldn't matter if it were friend or foe.

Karui sighed, knowing she couldn't win this argument.

"Very well, what should we do with him? We can't just carry him around," Karui asked, looking at her friends but seeing their faces; that's exactly what both of them were thinking.

Karui was about to protest when Omoi walked over to Naruto; he kneeled and checked his chest.

"His wounds are healing, but we should be careful with how we carry him; one little misstep and his wounds might reopen, and we don't have Samui here to heal him," Omoi spoke, looking from Naruto to Yugito who had an uncertain look on her face.

She pondered for a minute; at first, she thought to carry him on her back and find Samui, but Omoi had a point.

After a minute of Silence, Yugito seemed to break from her thoughts and looked at Omoi.

"What do you suggest we do?" Yugito asked with a concerned tone.

"I suggest we wait for at least a few hours before deciding to move anywhere; once his wound is closed up, we can move," Omoi suggested when he looked up to see... Ash!

Yugito and Karui looked up as well; at first sight, it looked like ordinary snow but looking at it again, Yugito opened her hand, falling on her hand, the smell of fire fresh all around them.

"Let's leave this place; it is not healthy to breathe in Ash," Omoi spoke, looking up before turning to the lying figure of Naruto.

He grabbed his right arm and put it around his neck, supporting his body on his, jumping away; they made their way out from the area, Omoi being slow since it could cause the wound to open if he was faster.

They soon reached an area, in the middle of a tree was an opening almost like a giant small house for birds; Yugito peeked inside, seeing straw everywhere inside but no source of anything still living inside; a few broken egg parts were lying around, larger than her arm, just one piece.

Omoi walked inside and let him lay inside, his head leaning against the tree.

Walking outside, both saw Karui giving them a disapproving look before crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"What should we do with him? Should we just wait until we find his teammates?" Karui asked with a slightly higher tone.

Yugito was really getting annoyed by her constant disapproval of helping Naruto-kun.

"First, we don't know where his teammates are and if they are even alive, to begin with; what I suggest is wait two days at best; if they don't show up, then we must just make our way towards the Tower," Yugito stated, thankfully they already had the two scrolls they needed to pass the exam, all that's left was reaching the Tower.

Omoi nodded in agreement, while Karui closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose; she left a sight before opening her eyes again.

"Fine, let's just hope this doesn't come back to bite us in the ass later," Karui spoke before walking away, looking down to see if anyone was walking around near them.

Yugito smiled before she turned her eyes at Naruto, who was peacefully sleeping, his eyes closed, he looked so peaceful to her, she wondered if Naruto had the same type of childhood she and Bee-sensei had.

Later

It had been a few hours now. Yugito had checked Naruto several times to see if his condition would worsen, thankfully Kyuubi was apparently helping Naruto; Nibi suspected that it should not take that long before Naruto was awake.

"Yugito, why are you so insistent on helping him?" Karui suddenly asked from outside the opening in the tree, crouching. She walked inside, looking at her.

"Is it because he's like you?" Karui added, knowing her desire to meet every Jinchuuriki out there.

"In the first exam, when the Guy- Ibiki Morino stated that everyone that chooses to take the question would be permanently denied ever to take another Chunin Exam if they got it wrong," Yugito spoke with a slight shudder of her body, her tone almost whispering at the end.

"I was conflicted; a part of me was sure I would get it right, but when I looked at you two, just the thought that you two would be punished the same as me if I took the question and got it wrong, al-" she stopped, her head lowered slightly.

"I almost wanted to surrender," Yugito finished; Karui almost gasped at her while Omoi looked less shocked by what she said.

"But then, Naruto spoke, and he lifted everyone's spirit, and Mine," Yugito added with a smile on her face.

Karui spoke nothing but glanced at Naruto, who was still sleeping.

She was about to say something when...

"Oy, over Here," they heard Omoi shout from outside and waving his hands at someone down below.

Karui was about to yell at him for giving away their position when she saw Gitago, Samui, and Ko on the tree near them.

"Took a while to find you," Samui said smiling, which was something that rarely happened; she mainly was stoic and spoke only when someone spoke to her.

Yugito walked outside to greet her friends; Gitago showed that they two had both scrolls.

"Let's leave, and perhaps we can be the first to arrive," Ko stated, preparing to leave when Gitago walked past Yugito and narrowed his eyes at the sleeping form of Naruto.

"What's He doing here?" Gitago demanded with a tone void of emotions.

Yugito walked back and stood in front of Gitago, between him and Naruto. "We found him injured; we took him and decided to take care of him," Yugito stated with a slightly challenging tone, showing dominance.

Gitago didn't look impressed by her patty try to intimidate him.

"Why take him? He's not our problem, and where is his team? Are they dead?" Samui asked with a tone slightly cold, her arms behind her neck.

"We don't know, and we found him fighting Orochimaru, The Sannin. Therefore we helped," Omoi stated, earning gasps from almost everyone except Gitago, who further narrowed his eyes at the Redhead lying there.

"You're telling me," Gitago spoke and pointed the finger at Naruto, "he fought a fucking Sannin, and he's Still Breathing?" He asked, wanting confirmation of what he just heard.

At this, Karui nodded her head.

He's our age and already strong enough to hold his own against a Sannin like Orochimaru, No he Can become Dangerous to my Village, Gitago thought before his hand moved to his pouch tightened around his hips.

"We Should Kill Him," he stated before he tried to walk past Yugito with his Kunai on his right hand when he felt a strong grip on his forearm, his eyes turned slightly to his right, to meet with the eyes of Yugito, who looked with narrowed eyes.

Her eyes are like that of Nibi Bijuu.

"Just What do you think you're doing?" Yugito asked, her grip tightening around his arm; one could swear there was steam coming out of her nose.

"He's an enemy of our Village; he's this Young and already able to stand against a Sannin, a Threat like him should be eliminated," He stated with a stern tone, trying to move away his right arm.

Gitago looked at her eyes directly, telling her to let him go before she regretted it.

"Hey guys, don't be like this, and you Gitago, just because he's strong, that doesn't mean he will eventually be an Enemy to our village," Omoi spoke, trying to ease the tension between them.

Karui nodded in agreement with Omoi, in a way they owned to him, and she didn't want to repay him by killing him in his sleep.

"He's right; if you want to kill him, at least you should do it when he's awake and not behind his back like a coward; that's not honorable," Ko stated with a disapproving tone.

Samui kept quiet during all this, as Gitago sneered at Ko.

"Honourable! We are Shinobi; this is what we do; honor is not part of our job; our job is to eliminate every danger or possible danger to our village," Gitago stated with a finger towards Naruto.

Yugito left out a growl at him. "He Is No Danger to Us, and neither to You, Gitago and don't forget that Our Kage ordered us to Not Kill Uzumaki Naruto but only to test his abilities," Yugito stated with a smirk on her face. Still, Gitago didn't look fazed by what she said.

"Yes, but we are in a Forest here, anyone could have Killed him, From Iwa Shinobi to Suna Shinobi to Shinobi of his own village who wants Revenge against The Demon Fox," He said with a cold tone before he took a step forward towards Naruto.

"Is better to kill a child on his crib than let him grow up to be an actual danger," He spoke with a hushed tone before rushing towards Naruto when Yugito showed to his right, kicking him.

Gitago landed on his feet, and he looked up to see Yugito with long nails glaring daggers at him.

"You want to fight me for him," He spoke with a mocking tone towards Yugito, who didn't look impressed.

She was about to attack again when she heard Matatabi on her head.

"Kitten, we got a Problem,"

"Yeh, I know I can see him right in front of me,"

"No. Another Problem!"

"What? My teammates?"

"No Another Another Problem," she screamed in her head.

"What I don't, ohhhh..." She looked up along with everyone else; almost all of them shuddered at the sight standing in a tree near them.

The Jinchuuriki of Nanabi glared at them with a chakra cloak and three tails behind her back.

Sasuke

The Uchiha survivor looked at the Iwa Shinobi in confusion; his voice, in the end, sounded strange and almost frightening; he felt a chill to his bone.

Shikamaru and the rest of Team 10 couldn't help but feel that something was not right with him; even The Sound Shinobi felt sweat rolling down his cheek; he couldn't help but feel the pressure around the air.

"Who Wants to go First?" Inaki asked with a strange tone, his voice sounded like two people speaking simultaneously, but the second voice sounded strange.

Sasuke instinctively glanced at Sakura; Ino had taken care of some of her wound, he wondered if he could fight, his hearing and head, in general, was pretty messed up by being hit by a sound wave and the other guy sending sound on his ears.

He felt a constant headache, and his limbs felt light.

Before Shikamaru could ask what he meant, he and everyone else gasped and shuddered when they saw his right eyes turning pitch black, no white area, just a black eye, staring at it felt like staring in an endless abyss.

Sasuke felt the air suddenly feel heavy, he felt like elephants were stepping on top of him, he could hardly stand on his feet, his bones around his body felt like cracking, he heard the sound like a glass shattering, his right hand snapped...

Sasuke screamed in agony as he fell on his knees, looking at his hands in both confusion and fear.

His hand looked as normal as could be, but the pain felt so real, his hand shaking, his heart beating on his throat like a hammer, his skin felt like something crawling around, he felt cold, his skin freezing, tiny blades piercing his skin, bleeding.

He felt his cheek, his ears, and most of his face burning like he was in a freezing hell; his eyes desperately looked around but could see no one around him...

His eyes looking around for anyone, nothing but the forest, no one around, he turned to look where Sakura should be but didn't see her there.

"Sakura," He shouted, looking around, his eyes Sharingan as he kept trying to see where she was...

"SAKURA,"

"She's Dead,"

Sasuke grabbed his head, stopping the voice on his head, no, No, She's Not Dead. SHUT UP.

He shouted, as everything changed, suddenly he stood in the ice cage back at the Naruto Bridge.

The mirrors made of ice looked back at him; each Sasuke looked at the one in the center with various emotions, anger, happiness, shame, pride...

A Genjutsu, Sasuke thought as he did the hand sign to stop it, but nothing happened...

"Come on," Sasuke spoke, doing the hand sign over and over again, but nothing was changing around him.

"Why Isn't This Working?" Sasuke shouted, his voice breaking at the end, his nails around his fingers felt like they were shattering from the cold, his breath freezing when it came out from his mouth.

Suddenly he remembered how to break this if stopping the chakra flow didn't work.

Without thinking, he grabbed the kunai from his pouch and plunged it deep into his leg; the blood flow hit his face, freezing on his face, the pain spread through him like a violent river, from his leg to his arms and head.

Sasuke closed his eyes, expecting to return...

"Sa-Sasuke,"

Opening his eyes, he saw Haku standing with her mask on, and she looked at him, her mask half-frozen.

"Haku," Sasuke whispered, not sure why he saw this.

"You couldn't protect me, Sasuke; you lET mE DIE."

Sasuke gasped when Haku's hand went to her mask, and the mask broke before she could touch it, cracking into pieces and falling to the ground.

He saw the long pink hair, her pink Ninja Emblem around her head.

"Sakura," Sasuke whispered, not certain what he was looking at.

Sakura stood in front of him with Haku's clothes. Her pink lips were a dark purple, dark bags under her eyes, her cheeks were shallow, almost sinking inside her face.

"You left me To Die Sasuke-kun, just how You Let Your Family," she spoke with his mother's voice, Sasuke had almost forgotten.

No, no, no, This Isn't Real" Sasuke shouted at Sakura; this was not real, This is not Reality.

"Why Didn't you Save me from Itachi?" His mother asked with Sakura's face; Sasuke grabbed his head in desperation, trying to stop all these voices; this was not Real.

Why am I so powerless? Why Couldn't I save Them? Sasuke kept repeating the questions on his head, his head ringing like a bell, his leg bleeding, yet he couldn't feel it; he couldn't feel the pain, only the wetness of his blood leaking from his leg to the frozen ground below.

Everything changed again, and he dreamt that he was back in his house, in the Uchiha Compound, still standing and looking down on the rotten corpses of his parents, his mother's eye looking back at Sasuke, almost as if she was alive, their smell of sickness, their flesh slowly falling from their bodies as worms eat their flesh and bones.

Until a woman emerged from the shadows and walked slowly in front of him. "Who are you? He asked. She was all in grey. A hood and veil concealed her features, but he could see the candles burning in the dark pools of his eyes. "Who are you? Itachi?"

"I am not your brother, Sasuke." She raised a pale soft hand and pushed her hood back.

"Have you forgotten me?" Can I forget someone I never knew? The words caught in his throat. He did know her, but it had been so long... "Will you forget your own father too? I wonder if you ever knew him, truly." Her eyes were dark, her hair spun dark. He could not tell how old she was.

Fifteen, he thought, or fifty. She walked silently around the corpses. "He could never abide being cast away. That was the thing he hated most." "Who are you?" He had to hear her say it. "The question is, who are you?" "This is a dream." "Is it?" She smiled sadly. "Look at the mirror, child." He looked at the mirror in the room, he couldn't remember there ever being a mirror, he saw himself standing alone with A Sharingan, a Different one, He thought.

His Sharingan was like a Six Blade Shuriken, and behind him stood his family, his father smiling proudly at him, he had accepted him, saw his worth, his mother touching his shoulder with a sweet smile on her face, he felt a hand, but when he looked he saw nothing, looking at the mirror again, he saw Itachi smiling. "I'm proud of you, little brother."

"We all dream of things we cannot have. Fugaku dreamed that his son would be a great Hokage, that his younger son would one day become the most fearsome Shinobi. He dreamed they would be so strong and brave and beautiful that no one would ever put them down or cast them away." "I am a shinobi," he told her, "and Itachi is Hokage." A tear rolled down her cheek. The woman raised her hood again and turned her back on him.

Sasuke called after her, but already she was moving away, her skirt whispering lullabies as it brushed across the floor. Please don't leave me, he wanted to call, but of course, she'd left them long ago.

Everything changed again; he found himself standing in a bright room, the music hitting his ears, tears welling in his eyes; his family was here, they Were Alive.

The warmth felt real, their smile felt real, Itachi was smiling at him.

It was all a Dream, Sasuke thought.

The feast was booming around the dining room; His father had thrown it, celebrating for Itachi becoming the Hokage. The room rang with music and laughter, though the cold winds were rising outside. At first, it was all wine and roast meat, and Sasuke was making japes and saw that his team was here, there were a part of his family, Naruto laughing with Itachi, Kakashi, and Sakura, Sasuke wanted to join them . . . until he noticed that the room was growing darker. The music did not seem so jolly then; he heard discords and strange silences and notes that hung in the air bleeding. Suddenly the wine turned bitter in his mouth, and when he looked up from his cup, he saw that he was dining with the dead.

His father sat with his guts spilling out on the table from the great gash in his belly, and His mother was slashed across the chest beside him. Corpses lined the benches below, grey-brown flesh sloughing off their bones as they raised their cups to toast, worms crawling in and out of the holes that were their eyes. He knew everyone, Ashara and Sakura, Shikamaru and Choji and Kiba, and all the others who had taken the Chunin Exams. Shino and Hinata sat together, one dripping blood and the other guts. Kakashi had his Sharingan eye ripped out, worms eating inside his eyehole. Zabuza was there as well, and Haku, even the Demon Brothers, Naruto had killed that day.

But there were others with faces he had never known in life, faces he had seen only in stone.

The pale, serious face, red lines around his face, the Second Hokage. His Brother Hashirama stood beside him, and a man behind them just behind. Along the walls, figures half-seen moved through the shadows, pale shades with long, grim faces. The sight of them sent fear shivering through Sasuke sharp as a knife. And then the tall doors opened with a crash, and a freezing gale blew down the hall, and Itachi came with his Katana, the same clothes he had that night...

"Did you think I forgot about you? Our mother and father are calling for you," his voice cracking, his eyes like a Shuriken, dark like night, as a sword swung down, blood flow across the walls...