Ascending (Sequel to Rock Bottom)

Chapter 32 - And She's Back

[A/N is at the end]

Maybe it was from the shock of seeing Sakura actually try to hurt him, or his reluctance to fight back, but Sasuke's split second of hesitation was one he instantly regretted as the shards of metal pierced his body.

The impact made his legs wobble, but he managed to stay upright. Thankfully, he was facing sideways, so it was only his left side that took the blow.

Despite the situation, Sasuke was thankful that Sakura didn't completely impale him with metal, knowing that she could have caused a lot more damage if she wanted to.

It caused a feeling of hope to surge inside him. They would find a way to turn Pein's strategy against himself. All they needed to do was wait for the right time.

"BIJUU B- Holy Shit! Sakura??" Naruto stopped in his tracks when he saw his teammate about to be on the receiving end of his jutsu. However, he wasn't able to completely cancel it and only managed to divert its course, having it narrowly miss Sakura.

It was probably just by sheer dumb luck that he hit her parents dead on.

Sasuke would have laughed if it wasn't for the excruciating pain in his side. Instead he bit back a scream as he pulled one of the shards out of his arm. He needed to be careful as he ran the risk of bleeding out if he pulled out too many, but at the same time he knew he wouldn't be able to move if he left them all in.

After rolling his shoulder and eliciting minimal pain given the situation, Sasuke backed away from his pink-haired teammate to stand next to Naruto. The blonde gave the Uchiha a once-over, biting back a question about his well-being as he knew this was neither the time nor place for coddling. Sasuke's pride and stubbornness wouldn't help either.

So, instead, Naruto swallowed his own panic and directed his attention back to their opponents. "Who're we going for first 'ttebayo?" He asked, managing to keep his voice low and steady despite his erratic heart beat.

Sasuke lifted his gaze back up at the two unharmed individuals; Kizashi and Mebuki. They still hadn't returned from the hole in the wall, so they could either go after Sakura and have to fend off Pein if need be; which would be risky since they had little to no information about the guy. Or they could just attack Pein and maybe get Sakura to gang up on him, but that was also a gamble. And since he didn't want to hurt Sakura, either way they were at a disadvantage...

"You pick," The ravenette replied after a moment of thought, making Naruto shrug.

"You know I'm bad at making decisions like these 'ttebayo." The Jinchuuriki then began to glow orange, before the light separated from his body to create a manifestation of Kurama that was about as large as a horse.

"We'll just take whoever comes at us," The Kyuubi added, "Thinking was never my Jinchuuriki's forte."

Just like that, all hell broke loose inside the Hokage tower.

After a split second of contemplation, both Naruto and Kurama lunged for Pein. But before they could land a hit on him, the Rinnegan user jumped through the hole Naruto created with his Bijuu Bomb and landed on the roof across from them. His face betrayed no emotion.

It goes without saying that Naruto and Kurama followed him to outside.

After a moment of hesitation, Sakura was about to jump through as well; whether to defend or attack Pein, Sasuke wasn't sure, but what the Uchiha did know was that he couldn't take any more risks here. Before the pinkette was able to exit the building, Sasuke did the first thing that came to mind in order to keep her away from Naruto and Pein; he ran directly at her and used all the force he could muster to slam her into the nearest wall.

And this is exactly why Team 7 left Sakura to make up plans on the spot.

Sasuke hissed in pain as he collided with his teammate. Yeah, he didn't think this through properly; the impact had pushed the majority of the shards farther into his limbs, painfully so. (Oh god this sounds so weird)

Sakura groaned as she stood up again. "Damn you're heavy, Sasuke," She said, "Also, that was probably one of the stupidest things I've seen you do."

"You were the one who made me a walking pincushion, so excuse me as my options were limited." Sasuke replied, irritation clear in his tone despite the evident pain he was in. "Why did you do that anyway? Why did you leave without telling us?! Do you not trust us?" The Uchiha's voice grew louder as he went on, causing Sakura to flinch.

"No! It's not like that!" She said back, her voice raising to match her teammate's. She met his red swirling eyes with as fierce of a look as she could muster. Sasuke was the first to look away.

"Just stop. I don't want to hear it right now. Just tell me whether you're on our side or theirs."

"I'm with you. I always have been,"

"Tell that to my left side," Sasuke then took a deep breath. "Nevermind, now's not the time to argue. Anyway, here's the plan," He said, turning to look at where Naruto and Kurama as they were surrounded by a mess of smoke and rubble. "We get in there, kill that madman, and haul ass."

"Fair enough," Sakura replied. "One more thing," she then raised a hand and took out the shards sticking out of Sasuke's body before turning it into a makeshift armor of sorts on his left side. "That should be more comfortable and keeps your left side from bleeding out. Sorry about that by the way."

"...It's fine. Thanks," Sasuke replied before jumping out of the building to join Naruto, with Sakura not far behind him.

Lmao double meaning in the chapter title.

Anyway, I apologize for taking a long and unplanned hiatus. Originally I didn't update just because I was completely stumped as to how to continue this story, and on top of that I was really busy with exams and projects. And me being the competitive little shit I am means that I absolutely HAVE to get good grades.

I had to take a break from writing to devote my free time to studying, but it wasn't all for nothing cuz I ended up having the highest GPA out of my year, (and I'm super proud of that 😊)

I'm not gonna lie, I find the plot of this whole sequel very messy and random (since basically after the first few chapters this entire story went to shit) but I finally have an idea as to how to end it.

So yeah, sorry for the wait, and sorry that nothing really happened in this chapter. I'm planning on having one final long chapter with all the action after this one and then an epilogue with a lot of long-awaited fluff.