15 Chapter 15: The Bonds that shape us

Naruto and Mikasa were cautiously walking in the forest, well to be precise Mikasa was supporting Naruto as he was quite badly injured, and it seemed as Naruto didn't like that.

Mikasa saw he was frustrated, even if he had put on his facemask she could she that something was clearly troubling him.

"Something wrong?" asked Mikasa curiously, she was still on alert and was ready to face any enemy as best as she could.

Naruto looked at his friend for a moment, but averted his eyes from her and was now looking forward. He just didn't get what was happening to them all of a sudden, a few of their comrades were already dead and he was sure many were dying at this very moment.

"Naruto..."

Mikasa's voice snapped him out of his thoughts, even she had shocked him a lot today. She killed without any hesitation, he knew they were trying to defend themselves but...

"Why?" asked Naruto silently, this was bugging him a lot and he decided to ask his friend about it. He didn't even want to think about the kiss right now.

"Huh?"

"How can you kill them so easily? They were humans...not just some fucking animals," said Naruto angrily and Mikasa sighed tiredly.

"There was no choice...didn't you see they had lost their minds? They couldn't even differentiate between animals and humans...much less comrades," explained Mikasa straight forwardly.

"But there could have been another way..." said Naruto in protest, he didn't feel any regret for defending himself and Mikasa...rather he didn't know why he did it.

"Do you feel guilty about killing them?" asked Mikasa flatly and for a moment Naruto was quite surprised as she just read his thoughts.

"No...we defended ourselves, I don't feel any regret for killing them...it's just strange," said Naruto angrily,

Mikasa stopped walking and was now looking at Naruto, even if he didn't want to admit it he had lived a sheltered life and was unaware of how cruel the world was, she had seen it...she had lived it and right now looking at the questioning look in his eyes made her realize that he was having the same questions which she had a few years ago.

"What could have been done doesn't matter...who lives, or who dies isn't up to you, this is war. You did the right thing today...if you hadn't killed them, then I would have been dead. The only thing that matters is survival..." said Mikasa truthfully and Naruto gave a slow nod indicating he accepted it.

"But still don't you think it was strange? They looked like humans but..." said Naruto in confusion,

Mikasa looked at the forest, she had an idea as to what had happened to those blacklight troopers...she had seen such a thing a few years back, and it still terrified her.

"They had been poisoned," said Mikasa carefully,

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto curiously, things had just started to get more dangerous.

"A few years ago...there had been an outbreak in fire country, or rather the outbreak was created," said Mikasa flatly,

"Created?" asked Naruto in shock, who could do such a thing?

"I don't know the entire truth...but during the third great ninja war, Orochimaru had experimented on a certain poison that destroys a person's brain turning them into mindless drones...ready to kill anything that comes in their way," said Mikasa darkly, and this time she clearly saw how horrified Naruto was on hearing that.

"This is madness...it's inhuman," said Naruto furiously, and he clenched his fists tightly to control his anger,

"When he defected from Konoha, he used this poison on a small village...in order to cause chaos within fire country, and in a few years the poison started affecting the people of that village...no cure could be found and soon people started killing each other without hesitation...before the Damiyo could intervene the problem had already become worse...and ultimately the entire village was burned to death to stop the disease from spreading," explained Mikasa briefly,

Naruto was horrified on hearing this, he couldn't believe that someone could do such a thing to innocent people...but his eyes widened when he looked at Mikasa.

There were tears coming out of her eyes, and he put a hand on her cheeks and wiped away her tears.

"Mikasa...how do you know all of this?" asked Naruto gently, and one look in her eyes was enough to give him an answer.

"It was my village that was destroyed...my entire family was wiped out, and now when I looked at those blacklight troopers I realized they were also poisoned like the people of my village,!" said Mikasa tearfully, and Naruto's heart broke on hearing that.

Naruto didn't know why but his vision started darkening, he felt really weak and his legs were getting shaky with each passing second,

"Not yet...Not yet," thought Naruto stubbornly, he had to be there for her no matter what.

He gently lifted Mikasa's face and wiped away the tears, he really felt very weak right now...but he just wanted to be awake a little more.

"I'm all alone in this world...I can never go back home, why was I the only one who survived?" asked Mikasa sadly, but she was quite surprised when Naruto hugged her gently.

"Moron...as long as we are together, you won't be alone. You have friends now, friends who would do anything for you...I am your family from now on" promised Naruto faithfully

A small smile came on her face, and she gently embraced him back...she felt relieved, he was a good friend...even though he tried to be cold and emotionless, she knew this was the real Naruto.

"Mikasa..." said Naruto quickly, and she instantly took out her kunai stealthily,

"I know..." said Mikasa curtly, and in a flash she threw her kunai straight into the bushes a few meters away.

A loud "eep" was heard followed by a commotion which lead to three people falling right out of the bushes, and Mikasa smacked her forehead when she saw who it was.

"We could have killed you...idiots," said Mikasa irritatingly,

Naruto looked back and sighed tiredly when he saw it was none other than Kotetsu, Izumo and Shizune, and seeing the teasing expressions on their faces made him a little embarrassed.

"Well, well...it would have been atleast worth a show," joked Kotetsu playfully, but was stopped when Shizune bopped him lightly on the head,

"Kotetsu...don't say things like that, don't make fun of their pain," scolded Shizune seriously, and Izumo chuckled a little when he heard Kotetsu give a "hmph" earning another bop on the head.

"I think you would want this back...and next time don't try to shoot my balls," said Izumo with a low chuckle, and handed the kunai back to an embarrassed Mikasa.

Everyone was suddenly interrupted from their thoughts when they heard a thud, and they were quite shocked when they saw it was Naruto who had fallen on the ground.

"It seems I finally found my friends...Kaa-chan,"

In a small training field, two figures were standing on opposite sides. Both of them were looking at each other intently and one thing that both of these figures had in common were red eyes.

Mikoto was looking at her younger son firmly, both of them nodded and in the next second Mikoto quickly performed a set of hand seals.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu(Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu)"

A large fireball was released straight from her mouth and it was heading towards Itachi at tremendous speed, but he just stood there.

In the next second, the fireball engulfed Itachi within it completely, and Mikoto was a little worried when she saw that...

"It isn't going to be that easy, Kaa-chan..." whispered a voice behind her, and a small smile came on her face.

She had to admit her son was quite skilled with the sharingan, she was quite surprised when she discovered he had activated the sharingan...and he had already achieved the two tomoe stage.

"Quite good...but not enough," said Mikoto proudly, and Itachi was quite surprised when she disappeared and he felt a gentle hand on his back.

"How?" asked a shocked Itachi, he was sure his genjutsu would have worked on his mother.

"Experience...I have fought in a world war, so I can easily see through your tricks, but you are improving everyday and I'm very proud of you," said Mikoto honestly and gently ruffled his spiky hair earning a pout from the little boy.

"Hai...I'll do better next time," said Itachi truthfully, and Mikoto smiled on hearing that.

"I'm sure you will...now training's over. I need to get back to the hospital...the final preparations for the war are almost over," said Mikoto seriously and Itachi nodded.

Mikoto was just about to leave when Itachi grabbed her hand gently, she turned around and looked at her son curiously.

"Kaa-chan...will big brother be okay?" asked Itachi worriedly, there had been no news of Naruto in weeks. It was as if he had just disappeared from the world, and this worried him a lot.

Mikoto bit her lip, her son had hit on the right spot. It had been so long since she had any news of her son...and it worried her a lot.

"Forgive me"

Those words still rang in her ears, and the pain that came with it. She knew their last meeting was a disaster...and it was her damn fault.

"He'll be fine...he is strong enough to protect himself," said Mikoto flatly, and started walking away.

"Is that why you always look at his picture at nights, is it?" asked Itachi seriously and this stopped his mother from walking further away.

Mikoto's hands clenched tightly, and she felt a lump in her throat...the loneliness in her heart was hurting her. She was so worried about her son, where the hell was he? Was he even alive? Did he even get proper food and water? Was he all alone?

So many questions with no answer in sight...even Minato had refused to tell him about Naruto's location when he found out about their last meeting, to say he was disappointed would be an understatement.

''Naruto if you step out of that gate...then don't you ever came back"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

Itachi was quite shocked when Mikoto gathered a large amount of chakra in her hands and smashed them hard on the ground...and she continuously punched her hands again and again.

"Kaa-chan..." said Itachi worriedly and ran after her.

He saw blood leaking from her hands, and he regretted asking her about Naruto. It had been like this since his brother left, his mother had tried to be a good mother for him...and was even training him along with fulfilling her responsibility as the second in command of the medical division.

"I am sorry...I am so sorry," said a tearful Mikoto, and she felt Itachi grab her hand gently and for a moment she saw a reflection of Naruto in him.

He had always been there for her, she was very lucky to have such wonderful boys...and in her anger she had made a big mistake.

A mistake which she deeply regretted right now...she was frustrated, angry and this led to a big blunder. She had literally destroyed her relationship with her elder son...and she hated herself for that.

"I'm not a good mother...I just couldn't understand him, nor could I understand he went to war to protect our family. HOW COULD I MAKE SUCH A MISTAKE!" yelled Mikoto angrily,

She was quite surprised when Itachi grabbed her hand firmly and was now looking at her with a serious look in his eyes.

"All I ever wanted was both of my sons to be safe and live a peaceful life...Was it wrong to think like that?" asked Mikoto pleadingly, and Itachi gently wiped away the tears from her eyes.

"No, it was completely right...but you have to think about the feelings of other people, if we just look at our pain we are selfish. Right now this war is being fought as people are unable to understand the feelings of each other...but Naruto-nii-chan understands your pain, and no matter what happens he'll love you forever," said Itachi seriously

Mikoto's eyes widened on hearing that, she remembered Naruto's last words to her...and she realized he understood her pain and had aplogized, but he still went ahead and did what was right. He had the guts to fight for what he believed in, and she was proud of that.

"Hai...I'll apologize to him when he gets back," said Mikoto gently, and Itachi smiled on hearing that.

Itachi looked up in the sky, and the light blue color of the sky reminded him of his kind and gentle brother, he would believe in him no matter what.

"I really hope you come back soon...Naruto-Nii-chan,"

It was night time and the small group of soldiers were currently encircled around a small fire, it was really cold in the forest and the terrifying voices coming from the forest every now and then was preventing them from sleeping.

Mikasa was currently resting beside an unconscious Naruto, she was still worried as he had not woken up yet. Even seeing Shizune healing him was not easing her tension.

"How is he?" asked Mikasa quickly as Shizune stopped her medical ninjutsu,

"He is barely alive...so many injuries, I'm still astonished that he's still alive," said Shizune flatly, and Mikasa got angry on hearing that.

"Will he make it?" asked Izumo quickly, as he didn't want any more fighting in their situation.

Kotetsu looked at Naruto for a moment, they had become good friends during their training in the camp...and if he knew one thing about Naruto, was that he was a tough bastard.

"He'll make it...he maybe a pain in the ass, but he's tough," said Kotetsu seriously and Izumo nodded along with Shizune.

"I have healed all of his external injuries...even his broken hand is now fine," said Shizune slowly, and she was quite surprised when she noticed the shock on Mikasa's face.

"His hand was broken?" asked a shocked Mikasa,

"He didn't tell you that...Naruto-baka," said Shizune irritatingly, and put a comforting hand on Mikasa's shoulder.

"I'll break every bone in his body when he wakes up...you moron!" said Mikasa angrily, how could he just hide his injuries like that?

"You know...that really made you look like dummies," said Kotetsu nonchalantly and in the next instant he was sent flying right into a nearby tree by a combined punch from Mikasa and Shizune.

Izumo smacked his forehead on seeing that, even if they were fine shinobi they were acting like kids.

"WTF...we are kids, have I gone insane?" wondered Izumo out loud and both the girls sweat dropped on seeing him act like this,

All of the young shinobi sat silently around the fire, they were really in a mess right now...and they didn't know what to do.

"Mikasa...his external wounds are healed but I can't say that for his internal injuries," said Shizune seriously, and the worried look on the raven haired girl's face showed her that she did care a lot about Naruto.

"What do you mean?" asked Kotetsu curiously, while still maintaining his eyes on the perimeter.

"You said you were attacked by a few freaks...and one of them bit Naruto, and it seems this has led to poison being passed in Naruto's chakra network," clarified Shizune,

"Can you heal him?" asked Mikasa quickly, as memories of that night started flashing in her mind. She just didn't want to lose Naruto...not for anything.

"There is no need for healing him...and even if I wanted to I couldn't, this poison's incurable," said Shizune mysteriously,

"Simple language doc," said Izumo flatly, making Shizune leave a tired sigh.

"Instead of harming his body...the poison is changing him, I have never seen something like this before...it's as if it is absorbing the poison and changing something in him. I'm not a trained combat medic, and I know only basic medical ninjutsu...so it's beyond my abilities to say anything for certain," said Shizune flatly, and the other members were a little relived after hearing it was not harming Naruto.

"Why do you guys think we were thrown in such a place?" asked Kotetsu curiously, this question had been bugging him all day and maybe the others had an answer for it.

Everyone thought about the question, but no one had an answer.

"Survival Test..." said Mikasa slowly, and everyone's eyes widened on hearing that.

"Are you kidding me? You call this survival test? We nearly got killed today, all of us woke up and found ourselves in a death like situation," said Kotetsu frustratingly,

"You just proved my point was right.." said Mikasa seriously, and now everyone realized what was happening.

Being throw in life and death situations...no weapons, no food or water. Everywhere around them was death, they were in the wild west with no support and Mikasa understood this was what Han meant when he said they wouldn't be so overconfident when the real training begins.

If you lose, you die. Make a mistake, you are dead...and this was no genjutsu.

This was reality...and they were really fighting for their survival every second, and many of them had already lost the fight.

"Do they want to kill us?" asked Shizune in fear, it had just been a day and this forest had terrified her to the core.

"She's right...that is the only logical answer for all the shit that has happened today, we need to stay alert or we'll die for real like some of the other cadets," said Izumo seriously, and everyone nodded.

The group just sat there silently wondering the things that they had discovered, and what they had to endure. They were not even sure how long this test was going to continue...or was there even a test at all.

A person silently observed these young shinobi from the shadows, he wouldn't have stood there if Naruto was awake, as a sensor could have found him no matter how well he hid himself.

"Mikasa Ackerman...so, you were the child that survived the outbreak, your parents must have drove you away from the village before blacklight destroyed it. Your skills so far have been very impressive. Shizune is a good medic, and I'll have to test the other two boys as well as the injured Namikaze too," thought Han seriously,

If these kids survived then they would deserve to be blacklight, if not they would die in this forest. This was how the best cadets were chose for the final training.

"Still there is quite a lot of time left...and that final test will determine whether you will escape from this forest. If you fail that...you will face something worse than death...I promise you that," said Han murderously, he would make them true shinobi.

Victory at any costs...no matter what happened.

Naruto slowly opened his eyes and the first thing he discovered was finding himself under the shade of a tree, the warm rays of the sun gently fell on his face.

"You okay there, buddy?" asked Izumo quickly, Naruto looked at his right and saw the brown haired boy looking at him worriedly,

He still felt a little dizzy...but he was better than before. He could feel his chakra was back to normal, and when he looked carefully he saw all of his wounds had been healed.

Looking at the form of a sleepy Shizune cleared all the questions he had...she had healed him.

"I'm fine...how long was I out?" asked Naruto hazily, and wiped some dust that was in front of his eyes.

"The entire night...Mikasa was so worried about you, don't try to hide your injuries. We fight together...remember that," said Izumo firmly,

"We?" asked Naruto curiously,

Izumo got up and walked towards Naruto...he then took out a small bottle of water and offered it, and the young Namikaze quickly drinked it.

"Thank you...I really needed that," said Naruto gratefully and Izumo gave him a small smile in return,

"Look around you Naruto...we're all we've got. We left our families and loved ones far behind...there would be no bands, or flags or even a funeral if we die in the line of duty. We have went to war because our country ordered us to...I don't know about you, but in the end I don't fight for Konoha...I fight to defend my friends, will you fight by my side?" asked Izumo firmly and offered his hand to Naruto.

He was quite surprised when a lone tear slipped from Naruto's eyes...and in a second he shaked Izumo's hand firmly.

"Till the end...brother," said Naruto with a true smile, and Izumo smiled on hearing that.

Both of them were quite surprised when a cheerful Shizune grabbed both of them in a headlock...and seeing the large smile on her face made them smile too.

"That's my friends...I'll watch your backs too," said Shizune happily, and the trio chuckled a little.

Mikasa and Kotetsu had just came back after collecting some food for the group when they saw the trio having a little moment...and they were quite surprised on seeing that.

"They look like idiots..." said Kotetsu jokingly, and Mikasa shot him a harsh glare.

All of them were quite stunned when a kunai landed a few meters away from them...however Kotetsu's eyes widened in horror when he saw what was on that kunai.

"BOOM!"

A violent explosion rocked the entire area, and hundreds of debris flew wildly in the air...and then everything went silent.

His ears were ringing badly, and he just couldn't bear the sound in his head, he was in pain...what the fuck just what happened?

The firm sound of footsteps started becoming clear with each passing second, and after a few seconds someone slowly grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up in the air.

Naruto groggily looked at the person who had attacked him...and in a few seconds he realized who it was.

"You..."

"Damn you...you don't deserve to be blacklight. You let your guard down...and now your friends are dead!" said Han murdeorusly,

Naruto looked around and his worst nightmare came true...when he saw his friends lying flat on the ground.

They were not moving.

They were not breathing.

"Kotetsu..."

"Izumo..."

"Shizune..."

"Mikasa..."

All of his friend were covered in blood...and his eyes widened in horror, and he looked at Han in shock.

"That's right...I killed all of them, and now I'm going to kill you...Feel pain!" yelled Han and took out his kunai to stab Naruto.

Before he could attack, a strong force sent him crashing 50 feet away at tremendous speed...and he crashed straight among several trees before coming to a halt.

Never in his entire life he had seen such an attack...blood was leaking from his body, and this time he was truly shocked. He was an Anbu commander...what in the hell was that force?

But when he looked ahead...for the first time in his life he was terrified to the core.

"What is this!" said Han nervously, this...this wasn't supposed to happen,

Rain started falling from the sky...and when Han saw what was causing the rain he really was on alert.

"I'm gonna tear you apart...I'll rip your entire body...I"M GONNA KILL YOU!" yelled Naruto murderously,

"His chakra is so powerful...it is causing the rain...what is this boy!" thought Han nervously, and he immediately took out his sword.

Naruto slowly lifted his head...and Han's doubts were really proved right as he now saw what had happened.

"Impossible..." said Han in horror,

His eyes were red, but the thing that shocked Han's very soul were the hundreds of WOODEN spikes rising from the ground!