R E S I S T A N C E

T O B I

As I forced my legs to keep running, I gritted my teeth and tried my best to clear my mind. Both Itachi and Sasuke's chakra signatures were no where to be found now, having dropped off my radar about five minutes prior. With no energy source to go off of, I was basing my trajectory solely off of the path of destruction that I had stumbled upon. Rubble and debri littered the ground for as far as my eyes could see. To my right, a forest was engulfed in black flames that I knew better than to touch. To my left, many buildings were left in ruins with giant craters dotting the landscape in between. Everything was such an utter disaster, all I could do was hope that Sasuke wasn't also in the same condition.

After roughly two more minutes of sprinting, my path was obstructed by large boulders surrounding a vast building that was barely left standing. The bottom half was precarious and crumbling in some spots, and the top half was completely gone, leaving only pieces of wall visible on what had now become the roof. I scaled the structure as carefully as I could, knowing in my gut that this was where the final showdown had taken place.

As I pulled myself up and over the side slowly, I felt a prick of fear at the back of my mind. What if Sasuke wasn't okay? What if I was too late? And god, why did I care so much?

Before I could think any longer, my eyes found the Uchiha lying unconscious on the far side of the structure by one of the remaining walls on this floor. Beside him laid another man who resembled him remarkably; his brother no doubt. I cautiously approached the duo, preparing for the latter to jump up at any moment. I knew well enough not to let my guard down during instances like this, especially since the Uchiha were so skilled in the art of deception. This whole place could be a genjutsu, and I had to be prepared for it.

Release!

I thought loudly in my mind as I made the hand sign to dissolve any falsehood of the scene before me, but nothing happened.

Taking that as a sign, I quickly ran and knelt down next to Sasuke. My hand made its way to his neck before I could so much as blink, feeling for any sign of life. I closed my eyes in concentration, and after a few worrisome moments, I felt it. His pulse was weak and skipping beats in a sporadic fashion, but he was alive.

Thank god.

Sighing, I opened my eyes and focused on the eldest Uchiha. Slowly, I reached over to Itachi repeating the same movement. This time, my fingertips were only greeted by stillness.

Sasuke's brother, the murderer of the great Uchiha Clan, was dead.

I silently rejoiced at the thought, but my joy was very short lived. I turned my attention back on Sasuke, studying him closer. His body didn't seem to be broken or mangled, which was a good sign, and the blood staining his face didn't appear to be his own. His expression was one of bliss, completely calm and void of any hatred or anger. A fleeting memory of Sasuke's sleeping face flashed through my mind, causing me to shake my head vigorously.

Not now.

He may be alive, but he was almost out of chakra. If he remained in this state, it was almost certain that he would meet his end as well and I couldn't let that happen.

Taking a deep breath, I steadied my shaking hands and summoned all of the nature energy from my surroundings that I could. I placed both of my palms down on his bare chest and slowly began releasing my chakra into him. I was educated enough to at least know where his network was located, and tried to stream an even amount of my own energy into him as best as I could. In the past, absorbing nature energy always helped my body to recover faster from injuries, so maybe the same method would work for him as well. I was no medical ninja by any means, and I had absolutely no training, but I had to try something.