Dusk Till Dawn

51

The first thing that Naruto could remember after the nightmare world was falling on his side, limbs twitching as the electricity he knew wasn't real coursed through him. His eyes rolled backwards, showing him darkness for one calm moment, before his body burned in pain. He felt the Kogitsune-maru at his side, but made no effort to reach his sword.

Madara took long strides towards him, faster than Bee or Itachi, and Naruto was hauled up to his feet by a clenched fist. He was panting now, sweat beads rolling down his temples, as he tried not to think of the disgusting world and how much it had hurt.

Madara's face was his mask once again and Naruto saw the lack of the Wadjat's eye. It was just Madara now, but what had the technique done?

The first factor was pain. Every nerve cell in Naruto's body seemed to tingle. His eyelids were half-shut, eyeballs rolling upwards now and then as he fought off unconsciousness.

The second was exhaustion. All Naruto's body wanted to do was shut down, recover, but he couldn't let himself. Naruto had been able to handle the pain in Madara's imaginary world and he couldn't subject anyone else - least of all Itachi - to that amount of torture.

The final factor was fear. Naruto would never claim to be fearless; he had been a coward on his first mission out of the village and even now there was still a spike of fear whenever a combat took place. The trick was to simple disguise the fear, camouflage it with confidence and strength. This time was different, though, and Naruto no longer had the energy to hide his fear.

Except he didn't care if Madara knew. It would satisfy the man, yes, but Naruto would be honest to himself and to the people watching. If that meant he had to be scared, then he would. The only people watching were Itachi, Sasuke, Bee and maybe Sasuke's team.

Naruto loved Itachi and Itachi loved him back. Itachi wouldn't judge him for being scared - he'd admitted as much before. Everyone became scared and it was foolish to think otherwise.

Sasuke was a brother to him and if Sasuke thought it was weak to be scared, fuck him. Sasuke's choices had led him to destruction and it had been Naruto who had offered a hand out from the dismal pit he had dug himself into.

As for Bee, Naruto wasn't concerned about his fear. Bee understood what it meant to be a Jinchuuriki and that they were entitled to at least one moment of true fear.

And Sasuke's team? If they even dared to judge him, he could always remind them who had followed like dogs and who had been unafraid to carve their own path. There were so many examples Naruto could use, so, so many.

It was easy to assume that the technique played upon Naruto's fears, but assumptions could be wrong.

But this time, Itachi was watching from the sidelines, eyes tracking Madara's progression on the offence. Sasuke was lagging back, watching uncertainly. His eyes would flicker from Naruto to Itachi every now and then, no doubt trying to work out the dynamics between the two. It was also as if he was seeking permission, constantly judging whether he should be there.

"It's not over yet."

Madara pushed Naruto back, swinging his scythe out of the ground as he spun round. Naruto found his footing easily, sliding back on the ground and he held a hand out to stop anyone else.

"Don't. I want you to take care of the rest of the Akatsuki," who only seemed to be Zetsu, but Naruto needed to be sure. He watched as Bee nodded and looked around, intent on finishing the fight with Zetsu.

It was Itachi who pulled Sasuke back. Naruto almost smiled as he saw the anger on his friend's face and it was almost as if he was watching a programme, something that was quite obviously unreal. Naruto couldn't hear what they were saying, but he knew Sasuke was angry.