Chapter 39 - Dirt Nap

“Why did you betray out pact, Orochimaru? Why are you trying to kill Master Jiraiya?!” Ekyt called from atop Shuurai.

“He knows too much, and he was just about to tell you! You’re a smart kid, you might be able to figure it out. So I have to kill you, too!”

Ekyt felt his chakra level decreasing. He had one last desperate idea. But it meant a huge risk on his part.

“Shuurai, take Master Jiraiya and go!” Ekyt called, leaping down.

“Yes, Master!” Shuurai picked up Jiraiya and burrowed away.

As Ekyt was falling, Orochimaru’s tongue snared him, and accelerated what gravity had already began: Ekyt hit the ground hard. The tongue still in place, Orochimaru hoisted Ekyt up to his face level.

“Very wise. You knew you couldn’t outclass me, so you sent my target away. It a shame you have to die now!” Orochimaru laughed. Ekyt appeared to be unconscious at this point. Orochimaru reached into Ekyt’ kunai holster, taking one out. Then he stabbed straight for Ekyt’s heart.

Ekyt suddenly pushed away, a kunai blocking Orochimaru’s. But Orochimaru’s tongue pulled him back in. This time, Ekyt could only stop the kunai from penetrating his skin too deeply. The tip buried itself into Ekyt’s upper chest, but Ekyt’s downward thrust with his own kunai halted Orochimaru’s progress. Not that he wasn’t in pain. And that pain was going to get worse. His chakra low, Ekyt was having a hard time fighting. Orochimaru, who could lay claim ti mastering exploiting weaknesses, made things worse. Ekyt saw the telltale swirl of leaves. The leaves were soon replaced with snakes.

Genjutsu. Ekyt’s weary mind said. His arms were trapped, so he couldn’t form the ‘release’ handsign.



GENJUTSU:

Ekyt KNEW it was a genjutsu. He was wearing a chunin vest, for starters. That, in and of itself, was unbelievable enough. But what he saw next just defied logic.

“Ekyt-kun! Come on, already!” Sakura was towing him away. “You’re late for our date! That’s not like you!” Sakura mockingly admonished him.

“I’m sorry, I was a little…distracted,” Ekyt said, disbelieving.


END GENJUTSU



This was the most painful type of genjutsu. It prayed on what the target WANTED, but couldn’t have. Ekyt, with a small surge of chakra, saw Orochimaru coming in for the kill. He did the only thing he could.

“Remote Detonation Jutsu!” The jutsu detonated exploding tags, and didn’t require any handsigns. With his arms bound to his sides, and little chakra, this was Ekyt’s last, desperate attempt to get free.

Orochimaru looked panicked, and was blown backward, his tongue releasing Ekyt, who also hit the ground hard.

When Ekyt had first been snared by Orochimaru’s tongue, and had been ‘unconscious’, he had planted an exploding tag on the bottom of Orochimaru’s tongue. He had planned to detonate when he was safely out of range. But here, Ekyt had taken almost as much damage as Orochimaru. But that didn’t matter. It had given him the opening he needed. He reached into his tool pouch and extracted a red food pill. Popping it quickly, Ekyt felt his chakra come back. Good thing, too, Orochimaru was back. And he was angry about the exploding tag. He and Ekyt squared off, both singed from the explosion.

“Seems you’ve managed to damage me! Oh, and here come your friends! I’ll just kill them, THEN get back to you!”




Ekyt saw Naruto, Lee, and Kakashi coming, with Master Jiraiya bringing up the rear on Gamabunta. Orochimaru’s head was right near Naruto’s before anyone could move!

“NO WAY!” Ekyt cut with his kunai, slicing Orochimaru’s throat. Naruto turned around just in time to leap away from the head. Ekyt, meanwhile, saw blood gushing from Orochimaru’s neck. Ekyt froze, eyes wide, mouth open. Blood was POURING from Orochimaru’s neck. Ekyt saw his kunai just inches away. Orochimaru’s head titled backward, exposing the damage Ekyt’s knife had done.

Immediately, Kakashi grabbed Ekyt and pulled him away. But he couldn’t block out what Ekyt saw: Orochimaru sank to the ground, his neck hanging on by a thread. It was an image that would haunt Ekyt.

Ekyt opened his mouth, but couldn’t speak.

“You had to…” Kakashi said quietly.

“I…” Ekyt began, then shook his head, sinking to one knee, not able to look away.

“You had no choice. You had to save lives,” Kakashi told him. It was clear he wasn’t getting through to Ekyt. He used his field mic quickly. “Yamato, at the memorial obelisk…” Kakashi looked down at Ekyt, who was still staring.



Ekyt looked at the kunai in his hand, stained with blood. I…killed him. Orochimaru. I didn’t even think of it…I never expected to kill him…I was desperate…and Naruto…I hope Orochimaru didn’t get him…I never thought I would win, killing never crossed my mind…I took a life…I actually…took a life…I don’t feel like myself… Ekyt suddenly let go of the kunai, letting it sink into the ground, tip-first. The blood was still on it.

“We all saw it…you had no choice, Ekyt. You had no choice, no other move.” Jiraiya put a hand on Ekyt’s quivering shoulder.

“I killed him. I actually…killed him. All I meant to do was protect…and now I’ve killed instead,” Ekyt said, in disbelief.

“You killed because you HAD to. Anyone would have done the same. You’ve saved three lives today, and who knows how many in the future. Orochimaru would never stop being a threat until he was dead. If you hadn’t done that, Naruto would have died. Jiraiya would have been dead. YOU would have been dead. It’s not easy to take a life, Ekyt. It’s even harder to save one.” Tsunade had arrived, as had Sakura. It was Tsunade who had been speaking.

Ekyt nodded, vaguely understanding. He got up, still shaky, and walked over to Orochimaru’s body. He looked down at the lifeless eyes, shock written all over the dead face. And blood…everywhere, blood. Ekyt reached for Orochimaru’s robe, the part that hung down. He pulled it up over Orochimaru’s face. Then he knelt near Orochimaru’s side to say a quick prayer for his soul.

Sakura made her way over to Ekyt. Gently, she knelt next to him.
“I got your summon…thank you. I don’t know how you did it in the middle of a battle, but I’m glad you did. Sasuke will be here soon, I’m sure of it. And I don’t know how he’ll react. But, thank you- for saving Naruto and Master Jiraiya. Please, don’t tear yourself up. You had no choice…”


I had no choice…I still killed him. I had to, for Naruto, or he would have been dead! I never once thought I would win the fight…I was only stalling for time, so Jiraiya could get to Tsunade…I never thought of what would happen…I just…did it. Should I feel so guilty? Even if I had no choice…Somehow, guilt feels…right.




Sasuke chose this moment to appear. His was emotionless, as always. Quicker than anyone could see, he was standing next to Ekyt, a hand on his shoulder.

“So you killed Orochimaru? I had plenty to learn from him. Now that I’m in Konoha, I guess that doesn’t matter. But still, he DID teach me…maybe I DID have a bond with Orochimaru…” Sasuke muttered. “My headband says Konoha, and I’m not leaving it. That doesn’t mean that you get off easy.”

Sasuke slowly drew his own Kusanagi, and had it to Ekyt’s throat before anyone could move.

Everyone tensed up, weapons at the ready.

“No, Sasuke-kun!” Sakura shouted.

“Don’t do it, Sasuke!” Naruto demanded.

“Your dream was to be trusted, wasn’t it? And to be talented? If you could defeat Orochimaru, I guess you’re both to Konoha. To me, you’re a threat. And after I kill you, someone who was powerful enough to kill a legend…I’ll have the Mangekyo Sharingan.” Sasuke’s sword arched towards Ekyt…

Ekyt was still there, physically, and he rolled away. Sasuke followed him. Ekyt tried to push Orochimaru out of his mind.

“STAY BACK! ALL OF YOU! AND WATCH THAT BODY!” Ekyt suddenly realized that Orochimaru’s body might still hold some hidden jutsu that could kill them all. And if Sasuke was going to hold Ekyt personally responsible, Ekyt needed to deal with it. But it was all he could do to dodge. Ekyt knew about the Kusanagi- the sword couldn’t be blocked with another sword. At least, not Sasuke’s. Somehow, his chakra in it made it nearly impossible to stop. Ekyt finally saw an opening, after dodging and dodging and dodging, and stepped in, holding Sasuke’s arm away, then grabbing his head. They both jockeyed for position. Ekyt, his head still elsewhere, managed to realize that he had to get that sword away from Sasuke somehow. As he was processing how to do just that, Sasuke used a new jutsu:

“Chidori: Thousand Birds Current!” This sent a Chidori attack pulsing from all of Sasuke’s body, and, in effect, anything touch it. That included Ekyt. He was thrown backward, violently, through several trees and into a rock.




Sakura couldn’t believe this. Boyfriend or not, she couldn’t let Sasuke do this. Murdering someone guilty only of doing the right thing was horribly wrong. Sakura could see past her love for Sasuke enough for that. No matter how much she loved him, letting him go on a psycotic rage was wrong.

“Stop, Sasuke!” Sakura pleaded, stepping in front of him. “He hasn’t done anything wrong! Killing him won’t help! It won’t bring Orochimaru back!” Sakura wasn’t crying. She was speaking forcefully.

“Get out of my way.”

Sasuke backhanded Sakura, sending the surprised kunoichi to the ground. Sakura yanked on Sasuke’s ankle, which deterred him long enough for her to see a glimmer of hope: Ekyt stirred. Then his eyes met hers.

“You pest. If you’re in my way, I’ll kill you.” Sasuke switched his sword to a reverse-grip and prepared to stab down.




Ekyt opened the first gate of chakra. He rushed in front of Sakura and batted Sasuke’s arm aside. Sakura took the opportunity to roll away and grab the kunai Ekyt had dropped. Meanwhile, Ekyt used the Sharingan’s natural enemy: taijutsu. The first gate of chakra blurred moves, even for the powerful Sharingan. At the same time, it took a toll on your body. Ekyt knew he was near his limits, but he had to finish with Sasuke.

“Don’t you know never to hit a girl, you prick?!” Ekyt asked, narrowly missing with a Konoha Hurricane.

“I don’t care what you are. If you get in my way, you die. It’s that simple.” Sasuke’s response irked Ekyt all the more. Finally taking the upper hand, emotions running rampant in his chest, Ekyt passed on some wisdom he had learned.

“I’ve just taken the life of a living person, Sasuke. Life and death, black and white. There’s more to it than that. Life is white, death is black. In between, you have gray, at first. What color that gray becomes is up to you. Your heart is black, Sasuke. Your master is dead. Instead of mourning his loss, you try to earn something selfishly. We’re not so different, but our thinking is opposite. I hate a certain enemy very much. Even then, I wouldn’t wish him death. But now…now I KNOW, that if they attacked the people I’ve grown to consider family, I would die to protect them…But at the same time, I would KILL to protect them. Death, killing, it was all so pointless to me before. But now I see: I’ve known HOW to kill, but I never knew WHEN. Now I understand, and I understand WHY. Now, let’s end this senseless fight!” Ekyt emotions grew in his chest, and finally surged into his hand.

“Dragon’s Eternal Blue Flame!” Ekyt called around the mixture of emotions that he was feeling. His whole body glowed with flame. With every attack, that flame grew, until Ekyt’s fire had doubled in size. Sasuke had other ideas.

“You’re right, we SHOULD end this. I’m fighting my brother soon. What would happen if you managed to seal my curse mark again? Or my Sharingan? So let’s just stop right here- HYA!”

“OH MY GOD!”

“HOLY S***!”

Kakashi and Yamato cringed. Ekyt’s blue flame died down.




Sasuke had stabbed Ekyt right through the stomach, pinning him to a tree. He was suspended in the air, blood coming out of his mouth.

“Fool…TRUE Shinobi don’t have emotions. And now yours are going to be the death of you.”

Ekyt couldn’t get free. He looked at the others, the ones he was now literally dying for. He smiled.

“YOU are the fool, Sasuke. TRUE Shinobi USE their emotions to make them stronger…not showing them…doesn’t mean you don’t…feel them…” Ekyt speech became slurred. Sasuke held the sword in place.

“Say what you want. You’re dead.”




“You’re dead.”

At those words, Naruto fell to the ground. All the times he had been shunned. Now, he was a hero. No future Hokage…and no hero…would let this happen…I can’t let this happen…GIMME YOUR CHAKRA, FOX!

“ODAMA RASENGAN!” Naruto charged at Sasuke, hitting him with a swirling ball of energy. It was ten times the size of the Rasengan, and that much more powerful. It his Sasuke right in the stomach, knocking him away from the sword. Ekyt was still stuck, but by now he was barely conscious enough to know.

“Sasuke…I thought you had changed. My last promise was to bring you back to the village, and I kept it! NOW I promise- I’m not letting you get away with this! We never had our rematch…(Naruto grew two tails)…but now you’ve pushed me too far. You’ve hurt my teammate, you’ve hurt my friends…I’ve seen enough! And I’m going to change you! BELIEVE IT!”

You are not authorized to comment here. Your must be registered and logged in to comment