Struggle - 10

The attack had left him relatively unharmed, but he intended to finish the fight after having grown weary of his opponent's futile assaults, and also when his disease was numbering his every breath, 'There is no way they can defeat me. I no longer fight with my body…so I am now immortal!'

Sato could clearly see that he had not succeeded with his attack, 'Not even a scratch…He's too good! I better get out of here!'

"Sawarabi no Mai…"

The silver haired nin leapt before the ground surrounding him was pierced with a forest of super-sharp bones. They obscured the entire ground and Sato landed on Kutaiku again, who had already fetched Lee for him.

"I've got nothing left…" Sato said quietly, trying not to despair, "What do you say we do now, Lee?"

"I am not sure there is much more we can do at this point," Lee replied, his voice optimistic, "But we still have Kutaiku, so we should not fret just yet!"

The owl grunted in annoyance, wheeling around in the air. He didn't feel like fighting anymore but with two helpless humans and a rampaging Sound shinobi about, he didn't have much of a choice.

Kutaiku hovered in the air, observing the field that was overrun with bones, some growing as tall as the surrounding trees, "I do not see him anywhere, Sato-kun. He may have fled."

"Not without killing us first," Sato pointed out gloomily, "Once he's through with us he'll probably want to go after Sunshine and-"

From a spike beside the summoned owl Kimimaro emerged, aiming a massive bone drill attached to his arm for his foes. The hana-drill was raised up and the Oto nin snarled, "You will not steal Orochimaru-sama's dream!"

The bone drill hovered above Sato's terrified face, squarely between his eyes. For a long, silent moment it hung there, unmoving. After seeing that the boys occupying his back had not been harmed Kutaiku hurriedly glided a safe distance away to observe what had happened.

"He's dead." Lee confirmed as they moved away, "He died right there and we had nothing to do with it…"

The owl perched on the branch of an immense tree nearby for rest, glad the fighting was over.

"Stay with us a bit longer, okay?" Sato asked Kutaiku, "Sorry to put you through all this trouble…but I think we're going to need your help."

"Very well. You've been fortunate so far, so I have no reason to flee yet." Kutaiku ruffled his feathers before resettling them to be more comfortable, "If that ninja had not been ill you would both be dead now and I would be far away, not mourning either of you for being so foolish."

"We had no choice but to fight him!" Lee protested, "What if he had gone ahead after Naruto-kun and Hinata-san? Could they handle such a burden if we chose to dismiss it?"

"Enough already," Sato cut in, not wanting to speculate any further, "It's over. Kutaiku just hates fighting because he can't stand getting banged up or dirty," The bird made a shrill noise of disagreement, "Anyway…we should keep going now and see if we can still find the others."

The owl abandoned the tree after that and took to the sky again, not looking forward to rescuing any other Leaf genin if there would be fighting involved.

*

Naruto and Hinata's pursuit had led them into a cave where Hinata had been tracking Haku's retreating form as he followed Sasuke. In the darkness her vision was extremely helpful, but she could no longer bear it.

Overcome with pain, Hinata had stopped running and deactivated her Byakugan, her head still throbbing even without straining herself with her bloodline limit.

This time Naruto was aware that something was very wrong, "Hinata-chan what's going on? You keep stopping. Are you hurt?"

"No, but I…" She sighed, seeing there was no use in avoiding the truth, "For a long while now, my eyes have been causing me a great deal of pain. No one knows except for Neji-niisan…and he promised not to tell."

Naruto's brow furrowed in worry, "And he…he still let you come along when he knew? Hinata-chan if something's wrong then maybe you shouldn't be-!"

"Please! Don't worry about me!" She smiled for him, "There's no point in turning back now, Naruto-kun. We must keep going. I promise, I will endure."

Before he could protest Hinata continued on in the damp dark of the cave. Naruto followed apprehensively, wondering how things had gotten so out of control, 'First Haku-kun running off and now Hinata-chan…she could be in trouble. What am I supposed to do if it gets worse? How can I help her?'

The awful truth was that there was nothing he could do. It was something that was tearing at his insides. From then on he could only stand by and watch as she struggled to use her Kekkei Genkai and help him find Sasuke and Haku.

After passing through the rock tunnel they came out on the opposite side, and from the ledge they had stepped out onto, a wide river was visible, framed between two massive statues of battling shinobi before crashing down into a roaring waterfall.

Hinata used her Byakugan again, briefly, and scanned the area, "There are tracks in the mud on the riverbank. I don't think they've gotten far…"

"We've got to hurry then!" Naruto leapt down from ledge to ledge with the Hyuga girl in tow, trying not to slip on the wet stones near the water's edge.

They moved quickly down the river, nearing the cacophony of the falls, and jumped hurriedly up the side of the immense statute that stood frozen beside the cliff. After scaling it, Naruto and Hinata found their footing and steadied themselves at the top, braced against the howling wind.

Across the way, at the top of the opposite statue Haku and Sasuke came into view, and Naruto felt panicked at the sight of them beginning to move on, "Don't even think about it!"

The two fugitives stopped and looked back at him. It appeared that they had not expected to be followed.

Naruto's furious voice called out across the gap again, "No more of this! Both of you are coming back to Konoha now!"

"That isn't going to happen, Naruto." Sasuke was smirking, feeling confident enough about his new power to believe that there was no one who could deter him.

"I'll drag the both of you back myself if I have to!" Naruto cried, deeply frustrated that he could not get through to them.

"That is not going to happen either." Haku answered, his eyes growing misty.

The blonde boy could only stare powerlessly at his best friend, still unable to accept that he was so willing to abandon his village and the friendship he had forged with him and Gaara. He wished that there was something he could say that would make him change his mind or help him remember how much he adored the Leaf village.

But something in his gut told him that he had misinterpreted something.

"No one is going to be dragged anywhere when it is not necessary. I think we all understand what is and isn't proper between fellow shinobi by now…" Haku glanced to Sasuke next to him, "Going back is something we can do on our own."

Sasuke did not return his gaze as Haku spoke again, "Sasuke, going to Orochimaru is a grave mistake. He only knows how to make others suffer and he certainly won't give you the power you're seeking. I'm going back to Leaf and you will come with me."

"So the only reason you followed me this far was just so you could bring me back yourself?" The Uchiha inquired and smirked, "You think you can actually take me on if you have to?"

Haku's expression grew solemn and he didn't respond.

Naruto watched and felt a horrible guilt settle in his chest. He should've known better. All his life he had lived with Haku and when it came time for him to trust his friend he had faltered.

"Haku-kun I'm…I'm sorry that I doubted you!" Naruto's apology was heartfelt, "I really thought that you were going to…"

The dark haired boy smiled back at him, "Don't worry, Naruto-kun! I understand. This is all my fault actually."

'I'm sorry that I made you upset, Naruto-kun, but if you didn't believe that I was truly going to Orochimaru then Sasuke wouldn't have either.' Haku thought inwardly, 'Now that I've come this far I can fix things, I must!'

"Go back if you want, I don't care." Sasuke grunted, turning his back to the water-nin, "But I won't be going back so don't bother."

Haku frowned in worry, 'If his attitude stays this way it will be difficult to bring him back without force!'

"Now isn't it so very appropriate that everything is going to be resolved at the Valley of the End?" Kabuto chimed in from a rock ledge beneath the statue Hinata and Naruto were perched on, "It took a while for me to track you all, but it wasn't very hard!"

'Kabuto's here?' Naruto was not at all pleased to see him. Another Sound ninja had appeared, and Naruto knew very well how strong the treacherous ninja could be.

The bespectacled shinobi looked up at Naruto, "I wouldn't listen to your friend when he's so deeply mistaken, Naruto-kun. He doesn't realize yet that he's going to be joining Sasuke-kun on his journey to the Sound Village."

"Keep dreaming you bastard!" The blonde boy snapped in response, not wanting to take his eyes off of Haku and Sasuke who were too far off to hear what Kabuto was rambling about.

Kabuto then looked to Hinata and chuckled, "Hm…I wonder if you knew that I ran into the other Hyuga out here?"

"Neji-niisan…" Hinata whispered and both she and Naruto became uneasy. They hadn't considered that Kabuto had encountered their friends on the way.

"It was interesting to put the egotism of the Hyuga on the line," Kabuto went on, seeing he had struck a nerve, "That boy was too proud to beg for his death, so I spared him the embarrassment and finished him quickly…"

Hinata's hands flew up to her mouth as she tried to silence her horrified cry, "Neji-niisan!"

He found it amusing how easily distraught the girl was, "Think of it this way, Hinata-hime; you don't have any more competition in your clan when it comes time to pick the next head of the Hyuga clan." He paused, "Hm…and the others that came after you are probably all dead by now as well."

"You're a sick bastard! Just shut the hell up!" Naruto bellowed, not wanting to hear another word and yet feared that it could be true.

"The pretty girl who came to help your beloved cousin at least died with a bit more dignity!" Kabuto added, watching in satisfaction as something in the young girl's face snapped at the mentioning of Tenten.

Infuriated, Hinata leapt down the statue without a word, chasing Kabuto as he retreated up the river. Naruto suddenly found himself torn down the middle and he promptly called out to her, "Hinata-chan, come back!" She did not heed his call.

Haku could see the two ninja racing in the opposite direction of the falls, and recognized that Hinata would not last long on her own while acting so rashly. He called out to his friend, "Naruto-kun, please go get her! We'll be fine over here."

Grateful that Haku was granting him the opportunity, Naruto nodded, and then hurried after the hysterical kunoichi.