Rewind Rewind [Permanent Hiatus]

Ch08

"She WHAT?!"

"I already told you, she KNOWS," there was a pause, "What do I do? She's staring at me"

"Just," Naruto frowned, "You know what? I'm going there myself. Stay put"

"But boss--"

Naruto immediately cut off the link as a shuriken grazed his head and dug itself deep into the snow flooded pavement of the main street.

"Damn you teme! That could've killed me!" Naruto hissed in a hush. He could feel blood oozing from his forehead and drip down his chin, "shit"

"Congratulations 'Rokudaime-sama'"

"The 'great' Uchiha? Congratulating me? What an 'honor'"

The Uchiha started gaining on him. He was getting closer, getting faster, despite being on pursuit for almost 10 hours now. While Naruto, despite all his efforts, couldn't stop his own body from tiring. He could outrun the Uchiha, yes, but he won't. There are far too many prying civilians, increasing his speed would be a risk he will not take; not when it will paint a target at his own being and absolutely not when it will ruin his plans.

Along with the risk of his predicament being exposed, he also had his teammates to deal with. It would have been easy if he did this alone, not because he doubted he could but because he actually can. He wanted his friends to live a happy childhood, spared from the demons of his time; wanted nothing but to fix what they shouldn't have lost and possibly, quite possibly, relieve them of the war he will make sure will never come.

"Naruto, have you seen Sasuke?"

"Oh hey, Hina-chan. He's out on a mission right now"

Naruto could feel his eyes fighting back the incoming attack of weariness, legs weighed like bricks just as his conscience lashed at him for running away when he could just deal with it right then and there. But he can't. He didn't know how.

"Hokage-sama!"

"What is it Neji?"

"It's Hinata, she's in labor! Where the heck is that Uchiha!"

"Sasuke's out on a mission- wait, how's Hin-"

Naruto gritted his teeth as the pounding in his head slowly intensifies with every step he took, memories of that particular day biting of off him; slowly scorching his mind with suffocating torture.

The hatch creaked with dark animosity and he froze. He couldn't breathe. It was too much. He could only hear the beating of his heart against his ears as he stood there paralyzed.

Sakura fell on her knees, covered her gasping mouth to hide her heaving but it was painfully obvious that she broke as he already was.

He gulped down his shock as a horrid stench invaded his smell, sending his insides in a tumble. He felt sick.

The rotting mangled corpse before them stared at them with bloody empty sockets, burnt and rotting from the neck down with its limbs bent in painful and unnatural ways. It's bones were broken, piercing the skin from the inside; stomach pried open with its insides sprawled all over the bloody floor as crows feasted upon the rotting remains like the maggots that fell from the infested exposed jaw with half the tongue dangling from the cavity.