Penthesilea

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Beta: None besides my own eyes. I'll go through the spellchecker tomorrow or something, but I kind of wanted to update early. I'm busy recording my writing tutorials for a certain website that runs on patrons but which will remain nameless here due to pesky rules and which I would never dare openly advertise to you guys *cough cough*, so I kind of need as much time as possible to do that before work starts up again...

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戦国時代

Sasuke hears screaming and he doesn't realise right away that it's his own.

As Itachi pitches forward, Sasuke throws himself across the distance, skidding into place to catch him before he hits the ground. In the background, he is dimly aware of Sakura stumbling forward to him and his brother, and of Danzō's Susanoo regaining its footing. His brain screams at him to move, get them out of the attack range, but his body too concerned with providing cushioning for Itachi.

Sasuke's fingers slip with blood as he turns him over, cradling him close and protectively.

"Sasuke! Watch out!" Sakura cries.

A dark shadow looms over them, and out of the corner of his eye he sees that Danzō is moving forward to crush them beneath the heel of the Susanoo. Sakura is trying to stand straight, to bring her uninjured fist up over her head to meet the oncoming blow, but she can barely keep upright anymore.

He thinks he might be able to push her out of the way – maybe Itachi as well, but to what end...?

There is a sudden pulling sensation behind his navel, the world around them twisting and distorting like a heat warping the air. At the same time, Danzō steps downward on the three of them, and yet Sasuke feels nothing.

Is he really so numb?

But then the world shifts, and he finds himself, Sakura and Itachi huddling several feet away from where Danzo attempted to crush them.

"What...?" Sakura begins, but her eyes widen then as she stares at something behind Sasuke.

"Obito..." Itachi rasps. "Thank...you..."

And it's true – their cousin stands behind them, shoulders heaving with effort to breathe. His mouth is pulled into a vicious snarl, made even worse by the bloody mess of mottled skin and crushed bone that is the right side of his head.

But his Mangekyō Sharingan gleam undamaged in both eyes.

He and Itachi appear to share a silent conversation, because then Obito abruptly moves, flexing his left hand; small tongues of fiery chakra manifest on each finger, and he drops down, slamming the palm to the ground in front of him.

Giant walls of flame roar up in front of him, spreading around them in a cylindrical barrier that towers into the sky, dwarfing even Danzo's Susanoo.

"Get your shit together, kid," he tells him coolly, eyes flitting briefly to his younger cousin; his mouth is set in a grim line that Sasuke has seen too many times to not know the meaning of. "However this turns out, it's going to be bad."

And then he lurches forward, right leg dragging slightly, and passes through the protective barrier unharmed.

"He's going to face Danzō like that?" Sakura cries. "He can't, he'll be killed!"

"Buying...time..." Itachi whispers. "Sasuke...you must...leave—"

"Leave you?" Sasuke cuts him off, glaring fiercely down at his brother. "I won't."