Let It Burn: Death [Sasuke Uchiha]

Chapter 66

Chapter Inspiration: The Sound of Silence by Disturbed

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There was nothing they could do, staring at the corpse between them in shock and silence for a few seconds. Unable to believe what had just happened. They thought for a moment that it was all a sick joke, waiting for the body to turn into cloud of smoke being a shadow clone. That the Chakra Strings would somehow save her by pulling the Phantom Ninja together. Just like all the other times. This was Mai Be Fong. She was invincible. But when none of that happened, they lost it.

Naruto was the first to break, slamming his fist into the ground and cried out in heartbreak. Kakashi's head hung in despair shoulders shaking. Sakura fell back onto her butt and tried to stop the flow of tears, hands bloody from trying to save Jugo and Mai. Sai could only stare in shock. All of their hearts were heavy.

Sasuke was gasping from the amount of chakra he had used. Dazed and confused for a few seconds, he struggled to sit up. The young man tried to push away the pain that coursed through his body. He was also experiencing double vision. The whole world was pitching left and right as if on a boat, glancing around to make sense as to what just happened. Why did all the energy disappear? Another attack could come in at any moment to finish him off and Sasuke could barely move. His defenses were completely down.

He finally spotted Team 7 no longer watching at a distance. They were huddled over something on the ground feet away. It was Naruto's cry of agony that brought everything into focus catching sight of a limp and bloodied hand. Mai. It had to be her. And like them, he believed that his opponent would get up again to finish off the fight. Judging by all of their reactions though that wasn't the case. The blast of lightning–

Sasuke realized what he had done. Hands shaking, the young man noticed the blood on him when touching his face and pulling back to find the fingertips covered in red. The clothing was sprayed with it as well. It wasn't his. No, it was Mai's.

Naruto clenched his teeth turning towards the cratered ground. He strode forward without hesitation, an unforgiving look in his eyes as he reached towards the unsuspecting Uchiha. The Jounin dragged Sasuke by the collar to level ground. But it wasn't a helpful gesture as a fist slammed so hard into the young man's cheek it threw him to the ground spitting up blood.

"Naruto! St–!"

"Shut up!" he barked back at the Medical Ninja. "I have something to say to this bastard!"

Gripping Sasuke's shirt once more he pulled him up so they were face-to-face. The glare on his face was murderous.

"What were you thinking? Hoping to gain from all of this? Was it you all along? You were the serial killer that was hunting down rogues with your old team?"

So he had pieced it together as well, Sakura realized. Sasuke couldn't answer.

"You were our ally! We trusted you! And all this time, you've been–"

The knucklehead could barely speak, trying to collect himself with difficulty. After everything they had gone through, in the end Sasuke went back to a life of crime.

"Why couldn't you just stay?"

Again, the ninja received no answer. It made his blood boil, shaking the Uchiha roughly.

"I was the first one to make her smile when you deserted! I was the first one... and then slowly, everyone else began to see that she wasn't an emotionless person. Even if on the inside she was still hurting we supported her the best we could. Tried to make things as normal as could be. But every time you showed up, Mai would slip farther and farther away. She trained so hard to become stronger so you could see that she didn't need you to protect her! To stop you from continuing on this path for revenge! That you could come back to start over in Konoha! Why the hell would you give up something like that?"