A Light In The Dark

Untitled Part 9

I don't own Naruto.

Never in his life, would he have ever let her do that for him. He would never have willingly let her do it, the pain he felt was worse than any betrayal he had ever felt before. It hurt more than when he had to watch them bury Kawarama... he hadn't seen Kawarama die, nor had his younger brother died for him by protecting him. It always hurt to lose someone you loved, but... they couldn't have been more at odds. They were always fighting and arguing over everything. But...with one single word, she threw him out of the way and took the hit herself. It was ingrained in his mind...he doubted he would ever forget her last words to him...

The reality of it hurt. "I.. .I a-also...c-couldn't l-let you die... for me... b-because... I... I k-kinda like you...T-Tobirama." Her words hurt, they stung worse than an infected wound with salt poured over it. Her words made all the regret he had been hiding away, resurface and taunt him with her death. He blamed himself, if he hadn't been so distracted with the ghosts of her family, he could have moved out of the way himself, but she took the hit all her own, because he called her a genius... and that was all.

It was raining hard now as Tobirama tried to keep his eyes on Izuna. His gaze flickered to the woman clad in his armor against the tree, her body cold, lifeless; her hair clinging to her skin as droplets trailed over her blood stained skin, turning the droplets red. He tightened his grip on the sword and his chest clenched painfully, the regret he felt was overwhelming. He was in pain as well, he had been fighting Izuna for a few hours now and he was beginning to feel the drain.

"Are you ready to give up?" he asked tauntingly and Tobirama looked up at him with a glare. "I refuse!" he snapped and he lunged forwards with his remaining strength. He still had a massive amount of chakra left, but his body was exhausted. Izuna's chakra didn't drain, nor did he get hurt, and nor did he get tired. Tobirama couldn't release this reanimation jutsu, it had been created just for that purpose, so it couldn't be released. He didn't suspect Orochimaru had that sort of knowledge, so he figured Izuna had been smarter than he had originally thought and had tweaked the jutsu in his favor.

Tobirama flared his chakra, as did Izuna. This battle wasn't going to be over soon. Their chakras flared wildly as their swords clashed. The sparks that fell from the colliding blades continued to fall each time they rushed at each other.

:-:-:-:-:

Naruto felt the massive chakra signatures flaring and he felt chills cover his body as goose bumps rose. He shoved everything off his desk, surprising the occupants of his office. Everything hit the floor as he climbed upon his desk and sat cross legged. They watched as he began gathering chakra for sage mode. His shoulders tensed as the massive chakra signatures breached his senses, his eyes becoming froglike and orange lining over his eyes.

His eyes landed on the floor and his shoulder went limp first, then his arms, and finally his wrists hit the desk top and his face contorted in pain as his tears fell on the desk. Ino walked over to her husband and gripped his hand tightly and waited for him to tell them what happened. His silent sobs shook his shoulders as his other hand fisted against the desk. Ino reached up and placed her hand on his cheek as Sakura's hands gripped her upper arms and her eyes hit the floor as well.

"Hinata... she's dead... isn't she?" Sasuke asked, breaking the silence that seemingly no one wanted to break. "I can't feel her chakra at all anymore...I think so..." he whispered brokenly and Sasuke nodded. "Don't give up on her just yet... she may have just done some reckless jutsu... we can't just say she's dead! We all know how she is! She won't die so easily!" Sakura said and they all looked at her. "I feel nothing of her chak-" Naruto started but he shivered and his hands trembled.

"What the... What the hell... this... what is this?" he asked as he looked at his trembling hands with wide eyes. The group looked at him oddly and he looked at them. "There's so much chakra... everywhere... I can't sense anything out there anymore..." he said and they furrowed their brows. "Naruto... do you think Tobirama could be the one doing this?" Ino asked and Naruto shook his head. "No! it isn't him, his wasn't fully blocked out by it and neither was Izuna's... it... it feels like everybody's chakra mixed... what is that supposed to mean..." he said and gripped his head.