Ascending (Sequel to Rock Bottom)

Chapter 31 - The Mole

Gaara remained motionless as Kisame charged at him with Samehada. And just before the sword struck his body a wall of sand appeared, keeping the weapon at bay. Seeing as he couldn't penetrate the barrier, Kisame jumped back with a small but noticeable grin.

"So this is the famed ultimate sand defence. No matter, it makes this a whole lot more interesting,"

Gaara narrowed his eyes and lifted his hand, making tendrils of sand charge at the swordsman. He didn't say anything; he didn't need to. The look in his eyes communicated more than anything that could have come from his mouth. But summed up to 20 words or less, the main message was basically "Pack your shit and run if you want to live,"

Then Kisame jumped out the same window Itachi went through, Gaara narrowed his eyes but pursued him outside nonetheless. As soon as the redhead poked his head outside and before he could react, his sand sprung into action once again, protecting the nape of his neck from what would have been a fatal blow.

A split second later Gaara jumped to the nearest roof, putting some distance between him and Kisame so he could re-orient himself, but before he had a chance to do so his sand shield went up again, preventing Samehada from decapitating him. That would've been bad.

Gaara's sand then slithered up the shark-man's arm and to engulf his entire body, squeezing it painfully until Kisame suddenly melted into a puddle of water; a water clone. Gaara's face betrayed none of the rage burning inside him as he retracted his sand and turned around to face the original Kisame.

"Stop messing around," The jinchuuriki growled, willing his sand to lash out at the Akatsuki member once again.

Kisame's lips stretched into an eerie grin as he dodged the swirling tendrils that promised a slow and painful death. "As you wish Kazekage-sama,"

He thrust Samehada into the side of a building and stood on top of the handle as his fingers nimbly worked to create hand signs. "Water prison," The shark-man said quietly. His eyes glimmering cruelly as a huge dome of water appeared, engulfing both him and Gaara inside.

"I'll finish this up really quick,"

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Sasuke had an interesting time in Itachi's fabricated dreamland. And at this point he wasn't sure whether Itachi had a terrible sense of humor, found it fun to mentally torture him or both.

Itachi had given him a view of...well let's just say it involved tomatoes and Naruto in his birthday suit and is forever engraved in Sasuke's head, and not in a good way.

...well kind of in a good way but that's not the point.

"Not funny Nii-san," The younger Uchiha grumbled, and not a second later Itachi's reply rang through his mind

"Oh no, it's very funny,"

Damn you Itachi.

Sasuke's head then began to spin and the scenery around him changed. The ravenette felt Itachi's tight grip on his arm, steadying him until he could support his own weight.

"Huh?" Naruto said, letting his eyes adjust to the light as he looked around, "Is that my crater dattebayo? Are we at the Hokage monument?"

Sasuke took the time to observe their surroundings as well. Of course, the grand view of Konohagakure was a dead giveaway. But then he saw something strange.

"What's that?" Sasuke asked, pointing to a huge blue dome that was easily bigger and taller than any of the buildings surrounding it.

"Kisame, I haven't seen him use that technique in a while, Gaara must have been giving him a run for his money." Itachi replied, not an ounce of surprise visible on his face as he briefly glanced at the blue dome.

Then he turned to the Hokage building, "This is where I leave you two. Sakura is either in the top floor with Pein, or in the jail at the bottom floor if she pissed him off."

Sasuke nodded in understanding, but then his brows furrowed ever so slightly "What will you be doing?"

"Don't worry about it, just focus on helping Sakura out of there." The elder Uchiha then brushed past Sasuke, whispering something that sounded like "Don't die." before shunshinning (lol what kind of word is that?) out.

Sasuke blinked and mumbled a "thanks," even though his brother was already gone.

"Oi, Sasuke," Naruto called, "Let's get Sakura back 'ttebayo,"

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Getting into the old Hokage building was suspiciously easy, and Sasuke did nothing to suppress the uneasiness spreading across his body as they calmly and quietly ascended (Haha) up the staircase to the top floor.

Naruto opened the door leading out of the stairwell and that's when the ravenette felt his body tense. Naruto eyed him with amused eyes and let out a short chuckle, "Chill out Teme, it's just a door 'ttebayo."

The blonde then proceeded to walk through said door, "I honestly don't see what you're so scared of- HOLY SHIT!" Sasuke's mangekyo immediately activated as Naruto leaped back and nearly fell backwards down the staircase.

The Uchiha looked back to the doorway. Several shards of metal were embedded in the wooden floorboards where the blonde was just a second ago. Sasuke's eyes narrowed and he carefully poked his head out the door, bending his knees so that he could jump back the same way Naruto did if need be.

There was only one person he knew who could do that, and he prayed to whoever was out there that he wouldn't see a familiar head of pink hair standing in the hallway.

Unfortunately, it seems like luck just loves to bite him in the ass. Sure enough, Sakura was standing in the middle of the hallway. Behind her were two people he hoped he'd never have to see again, Kizashi and Mebuki, who had discarded their masks and wore indifferent expressions in their stead.

Alongside them was a man with orange hair, piercings, and the unmistakable rinnegan rings spinning in his eyes. It didn't take a genius to figure out that this was the guy who fucked all of their lives up.

"Sakura," Pein said, his unspoken command hanging heavy in the air. Sakura gave him a small nod, her gaze blank as she stared off into space behind Sasuke.

Something was off, though.

He could see the hidden reluctance in her eyes as she regarded him, a shaky hand raised in front of her, commanding the glittering metal in the air to remain suspended. He could see her swallow thickly as she brought that hand down, willing the shards to advance towards him. And he could hear the quiver in her voice as she said two words,

"I'm sorry,"

Once again, all hell broke loose.

I'm back! If you read what I posted on my profile then you know why I've been having some trouble posting regularly lately but I hope that I'll get back into the swing of things soon ;D

Sorry if the small battle between Gaara and Kisame sucked, I really struggle with fight scenes and that's why there are so few of them in my works.

Thanks so much for all your support once again! It really means a lot to me. <3