Chapter 90 : Three, Four, Five ( 4)

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The god of Ame stood on one of the metal heads that adorned the skyscraper he used as his personal base, his fabled eyes containing wary.

Yesterday, when… he knew it was chakra, but admitting it made it terrifying…

When the chakra, the overwhelming, omnipotent presence was pushed onto him, onto everyone, with all the delicacy of a sledge hammer, he had actually felt fear.

Fear was something he was not used to, not anymore at least, and the fact that mere chakra alone made his heart pound faster than what was healthy in terror was disconcerting. There was no doubt, the presence; the terrifying feeling that clouded the entirety of the elemental continent was Uzumaki Naruto, Konohagakure's "Bringer of Hope".

Never before had he thought that the plan could be stopped, that he could be opposed by someone with greater power than he, would appear. But Uzumaki Naruto was absolutely his biggest threat. There was no doubt that a battle between them would raze an entire country to the ground.

And he was not as arrogant as he seemed, the self-proclaimed "god" knew that the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi was his equal, maybe even his greater, and his odds of survival were smaller than the boy's.

He needed something more, an extra edge. It gave him a nasty feeling in his stomach, but he knew it was the truth. He needed that man's assistance.

He needed Orochimaru.

...

He was silent, his breath the only noise in the small room he was shown to. He waited, waited for the person that truly understood him, the person who truly knew what he felt. He was taught that he was a demon, but that's not what he wanted to be. He wanted to be something more, something more… terrifying.

He wanted to be a monster, and Uzumaki Naruto had promised him this.

Gaara waited patiently for the shinobi he now called shishou in the room of said shinobi's lover.

...

××× Flashback ×××

A small smile found itself on the Uchiha's face, but right before he could thank his shishou, grunts of pain were heard.

The three shinobi turned, looking at the exhausted form before them.

His sand armor was gone, now only helpless grains scattered across the forest. His eyes already had deep, black bags around them, but with the way he looked at the sky, wishing he could just fly away, made him look thoroughly exhausted.

Naruto slowly walked to the downed Jinchuuriki, their eyes meeting. Gaara's eyes widened. He knew what he was looking in the eye at this moment. He was looking at his death.

Why did the blond smile at him?

"Gaara," Naruto began. "As a fellow Jinchuuriki, I can say with the upmost certainty that I know how you feel." He chuckled. "And even if I wasn't a Jinchuuriki, I have the gift of empathy, so I could still feel it." Gaara swallowed. "I can feel the pain, the pain of being hated."

Gaara was silent, so Naruto continued.

"You feel like you don't even exist, like if you don't try everything in your power to just be, you'd disappear." He shook his head.

"I too felt that way, like if I went to sleep, someone else would take my place…" He gave a small sigh. "It's a nightmare, one that you just can't wake up from."

Anko looked to the ground in shame. She may never have done anything to him as a child, but she was still a part of the village that had.

Sasuke stayed silent, letting his shishou say what he'd already heard.

"You feel that, if you kill, if you bathe in your prey's blood, that it somehow proves your existence…" Gaara looked away, already knowing what the blond would say. He'd heard this before. People who didn't understand him, didn't understand his pain, would talk down to him, telling him his way was wrong. Naruto smirked. "And you're right. It does." Not only did Gaara's eyes widen, but so did Anko's.

"Wha…" Gaara rasped out.

"The only thing I see wrong with your method is that you have no one pointing you in the right direction." Naruto looked in the general direction of his village.

"I've killed more people than I can remember, but what I do remember is that I liked it." He admitted.

"And for that, I'm a monster." He smiled.

"But my Sensei's are good men; they keep me on the right path. They don't let me hurt the innocent, and let me have my fun with the actual sinister people out there." He smiled, looking back at Gaara.

"I'm awake now, Gaara. I escaped that nightmare, and it feels so good. It feels better than anything you've ever experienced before. To truly open your eyes, to truly see the world through the eyes of a monster…" he hardened his features. "Gaara, I can do one of two things for you."

Gaara stayed silent, still shocked that someone understood, that someone didn't look at him like a demon…

"I can end it all here. I can end your life, end the nightmare." He then smiled. "Or I can teach you how to really be a monster."

Sasuke smirked.

Gaara was silent for a few moments, thinking it all over.

He could just give up. He could let everything go. He could be done with this world, this ugly, hatful world that wished he would just give up and die.

Or, he could carry on, carry on and be something more. He could accept, and learn how to see the world, the beautiful, hope-filled world through new eyes. He could accept, and truly embrace the monster he knew he was.

"What about my siblings? Will you let them live?" He asked, somewhat surprising Naruto. He didn't think Gaara cared for them.

"Whatever you chose, Gaara, I give you my word, as a fellow sacrifice, that I will spare your siblings, so long as they go quietly." Naruto had no intention of hurting someone he was tied to by the bond of pain any more.

Again, he was silent, really thinking his options over.

And then…

The black, jagged glass that touched the sky that littered the forest like a death trap from the Uchiha's attack on his Bijuu's form was truly a breathtaking sight.

Gaara smirked.

He was ready to be a monster.

××× End Flashback ×××

...

Orochimaru was in pain, horrible, excruciating pain. His old, asinine sensei was at the top of his shit list. He hoped that the Sandaime burned in that nasty gut for eternity! How dare he take his use of jutsu away! That was a fate almost worse than death.

He barely had the strength to get out of that god forsaken country, and now, with the pain he was going through, he was thoroughly pissed. And what the hell was that feeling? He had never fallen to his knees and obeyed like that before.

He was… he was forced to obey the chakra that was brought down on the world, and he had never been so scared in his life before. The very thought of obeying, of being afraid, made him mad enough to bite his own tongue off.

"Kabuto!" he screamed, calling for his loyal assistant.

Silence.

"Kabuto!" he shouted again, and again he was met with silence.

"Orochimaru…" a voice he wished he would never hear again called his name from within his very room. "We need to talk…"

The snake's yellow, vertically slit eyes met the shark-like eyes of Mizu no Kuni's greatest swordsman. If he was here, then that meant that…

"Leader-sama sent us." The second voice made him even more wary. His eyes turned, and the Sharingan greeted him.

Orochimaru gulped.

...

Sasuke let his sensei go to the council chambers, already knowing everything ahead of time. Naruto was like that, he told Sasuke everything, no matter what it was. They were brothers, teacher and student, family, monsters.

He wasn't required for the council, so he was free to do what he wanted until Naruto called for him again. That was perfectly fine with him, because there was something he had to do. He couldn't deny it anymore; he couldn't look at it as something trivial any longer. The black he saw… the hate he felt when he thought he lost her was too much to ignore.

He was just going to be honest with himself now. It was about time he accepted the feelings he knew he had. It was time he accepted his desires. He was strong enough to protect them now, he could… he could love again. He admitted it now.

He loved Haruno Sakura.

His eyes and loyalty may belong to Naruto, but his heart was Sakura's now, as long as she would have it. He wasn't like Naruto, he couldn't feel love so clearly. He couldn't share his heart. There was only room for one, just barely, and that one was without a doubt his pink-haired, annoying teammate.

He laughed to himself as he walked to where the majority of the genin were assembling to speak amongst themselves. Sakura would always be Sakura, but that actually was the way he wanted it, wanted her. He wanted to make her his. He wanted to be hers.

They were shinobi, they weren't guaranteed to live for very long, and he wanted to be with her in every possible way before they took their last breaths. If possible, he'd like to take his last breath with her, to pass into the afterlife with her, holding her.

He just wanted to hold her.

The black was terrifying. It was so cold, so dark that he couldn't breathe. The colors just… vanished. It was the most absurd, messed up thing in the world, but when the colors were gone, he just wanted to see pink.

Pink, the color of her hair, it was now his favorite color. He shook his head. He was an Uchiha, the Kamikage's apprentice, and now his favorite color was pink.

It didn't matter though, he would say this proudly, with the elegance and power of a true Uchiha, because no matter what, he would protect, love, and treat Sakura the way she deserved to be treated, like his princess, his hope, his salvation.

Sasuke came into the small clearing he was told to meet everyone in, and when he saw the pink he was so in love with, he smiled.

Sakura, who was sitting next to Ino and Hinata, smiled when she saw the raven-haired boy enter the clearing. He was walking straight at her, a smile on his face, and she opened her mouth to greet him. "Sasu-" she was cut off when the boy's whose name she was going to speak pressed his lips into hers, gaining the wide-eyes stares from his fellow ninja.

Sakura's eyes were wide for all but three seconds before they closed in bliss and she melted into her crush. Ino opened her mouth to shout indignantly, and Sasuke did not want interruptions.

The two genin vanished in a swirl of leaves.

...

After disappearing, Sasuke and Sakura reappeared in the Uchiha's empty, plain apartment. His walls were white, bare, and just generally bland. This, however, was not noticed, since the two genin cared for nothing but each other at the moment.

The young Haruno's petite hands roamed the Uchiha's front side, his chest and abdomen feeling pleasingly toned for someone his age. His nimble hands roamed the girls back, occasionally brushing her rear. The little moans she sent into his mouth drove him crazy.

They were on the bed, his shirt already off and his hands reaching to rid her of the in-the-way clothing, only to be stopped by a red-faced Sakura.

"W-wait, Sasuke-kun…" She whispered, unsure. "W-what's going on? Why…" she let the sentence hang, but it was obvious what she meant.

The raven-haired boy was silent for a moment before he smiled, something the pink-haired girl was not used to from him, a genuinely happy smile. "When I lost my family," Sakura flinched, "I made sure to rid myself of love. I never wanted to feel that again.

I never wanted to love someone so that I'd never have to feel the pain of losing them again." He didn't care how weak he sounded right now.

He needed her to know. "But I was shown a different way." Again, Sasuke smiled at the girl underneath him. "Naruto helped me gain the power to protect the ones I love."

"But why me?" she asked weakly. She had been ignored and made fun of by him until recently. Their little dinner date was dreamy, but they hadn't even kissed. At the end of it she felt as if it was something he was forced to do. It was somewhat humiliating.

"By the time I gained this power, this drive to love, I had already pushed everyone away. All that was left was desperate fan-girls." Sakura's blush intensified, knowing that she had been one of his biggest fan-girls before Naruto talked some sense into her.

"That meant that either you, or Ino, were my only choice." Sakura looked a little hurt. Had he chose her randomly? "I chose neither, because love is something I believe is important." Sakura narrowed her eyes in confusion. Sasuke continued.

"But then I was shown that, unlike Ino who likes me for my looks and whatever else she likes me for, you, Sakura…" he leaned down, his breath tickling her ear. "You actually love me," he whispered into said ear, "And, by unknown means, I have fallen in love with you, too."

Sakura was silent, so he continued.

"During the invasion, I thought you died." This shocked the kunoichi. "I broke inside." He admitted.

"I felt so cold, so dark, and I just wanted to hold you, for you to be alive." He brought his left hand up and placed it on her head.

"And now that I have that chance, I'm never going to let go of you…" he finished.

Sakura didn't say anything. She just lifted her arms, and allowed Sasuke to pull her blouse up and over her head.

Sakura had small, almost non-existent breasts that she was very self-conscious about. Sasuke's onyx eyes roamed her milky skin, not the bit disappointed at what he saw. A woman's body, no matter what shape or size, was beautiful, and Sakura was no exception.

A wet tongue rubbed one of the cherry blossoms pink nipples, eliciting a pleasured moan.

Sasuke and Sakura lost themselves in each other's flesh.

...

Now, Naruto had never thought that this particular situation would ever pop up in his life, and he was sure that he'd rather it be that way. However, it was happening, and there was nothing the seven shinobi – including him – could do about it.

It was indeed an awkwardness that he had never thought possible, since key factors for said awkwardness were missing for thirteen years. He only had himself to blame, though. His own knack for the impossible was what created this situation.

It wasn't like he didn't want what was currently happening to happen; he just didn't quite know what to do with it.

Yugao's death glare wasn't helping any, neither was ero-sennin's perverted, smug grin that was mirrored by Kakashi-nii in the form of his signature eye-smile. Hayate-san wasn't any help either, his fear of his fiancé's retribution causing him to hold his tongue.

Kurama, his first and greatest friend, was roaring in hysterical laughter at his predicament, and that was perhaps the least annoying thing. His father had been introduced, and after the good two hours of shock and explanations, they had finally been able to get to the reason behind why the seven of them were gathered, or reasons, that is.

The Kamikage had completed, flawlessly, over a hundred S-rank missions, and he had done so without fear. He was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands, a battle-hardened warrior by the time he was old enough to officially join the shinobi academy.

All of his feats, his accomplishments were nothing compared to this, nothing. It was a little nerve-wreaking, and it made him think if this was what everyone felt like when in a possible life-or-death situation.

His father, to his credit, just sat on the sofa in Yugao's apartment, giving the gathered men and women a polite smile. On the inside, however, he was trying his best to hide the shock and extreme blush that threatened to make its way onto his face.

Naruto finally stood from his sitting position next to his father, deciding to just get it over with and see what came of it. There was truly no other way.

"Dad," Naruto began, waving his arm towards the two women who were sitting on another sofa. "I'd like to introduce you to Mitarashi Anko and Terumi Mei."

He gave his father a sheepish smile, obviously a little uncomfortable with what he was about to say next. "They're my lovers."

Minato blushed harder than a schoolgirl.

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