Chapter Text
‘What we love the most becomes what we fear the most, Sasuke.’
Naruto played around with the lamp and stepped from one leg to the other, casting nervous glances at Sasuke and smiling in agony. The Uchiha stared into the house with his Sharingan – Sakura was on the upper floor and kept quiet.
‘The advantage is that she can‘t avoid us so well in there,’ Sasuke concluded, trying to encourage himself and his friend.
Naruto muttered, ‘She‘s got such power – wouldn‘t put it past her to punch us through the walls.’
Sasuke tightened his shoulders. ‘I‘ll get her into a fight, you pick the right moment to throw the teeth at her. Got it?’
‘Got it!’
Without wasting any more time, the two of them crossed the threshold with bated breath; Naruto held the torch in front of him like a talisman, but there was nothing to see in the corridor. When they approached the doors leading off the hallway, they peered cautiously around the corners, but apart from darkness, antique furniture, dusty carpets and faded pictures on the walls, there was nothing to see.
They reached the fateful staircase in silence, looking at each other and nodded. This time Sasuke went first, Sakura was not far away. She was in one of the last rooms in the corridor on the upper floor – but where was the incarnated nightmare that must still be in this house? Although Sasuke was busy cheering himself on, his steps became slower and slower the closer he got to the end of the stairs. He pricked up his ears, concentrating so hard he could have heard a pin drop.
When he reached the last step, Naruto ran unchecked into his comrade. What would normally have angered Sasuke left him cold this time – his eyes were fixed on Sakura, who was still in the same spot.
‘Okay. You know what you have to do,’ the Uchiha whispered barely audibly.
‘Don‘t pee myself …’
‘I’d highly appreciate that.’
Although Sasuke looked at every corner of the house with his Sharingan, scanned the entire surroundings, even looked into the distance, he could only perceive the chakra of the Oni and Naruto. This thing – this monster – is it really dangerous in the end? Or just a terrible illusion? Sasuke suddenly wished his big brother was here. Nii-san, you always know what to do, you would‘ve got us out of here long ago! Help us!
But the boy‘s plea went unheard, the seconds passed silently, only Naruto‘s excited breathing could be heard.
‘Where to now, Sasuke?’ the blond whispered in a trembling voice after a while of silence. His teammate nodded wordlessly towards the last room in the corridor and set off.
When they reached the last door, Sasuke began in a brittle voice: ‘Sakura, come out, come out, we know where you –’
The Uchiha barely managed to dodge the door, which the Oni ripped off its hinges with a laugh and hurled straight at the two ninja. Naruto cursed profusely, partly because he had dropped the torch in fright.
The Yokai thundered smugly: ‘You won‘t get me, you won‘t get me!’
In the corridor, Sasuke came to the conclusion that it‘s extremely difficult to fight in there. They all barely had enough room, and instead of throwing his shark teeth at the Oni, Naruto chased after the lamp that was rolling down the floor. Somehow, this operation – like so many others with Sasuke‘s blonde chaos partner – had got out of hand faster than expected.
‘Naruto!’
‘My light!’
‘The teeth!’
‘Oh, I think the torch is broken now …’
‘The teeth! Forget the stupid lamp!’ Sasuke shouted as he dodged the violent blows of the Oni, who laughed maliciously. The powerful fists smashed doors, the plaster was knocked off corridor walls and the window at the end of the hallway was smashed. Yes, even the floor had a hole in it from a powerful kick that Sasuke barely managed to avoid.
Suddenly, Naruto stood next to his friend and threw one of the teeth, but the Oni dodged it easily. ‘What‘re you doing, blondie? You have to run away from Red-Eye, don‘t you know the rules?’
‘As if you‘d stick to it, Sakura!’ Naruto roared with flashing eyes, furious at the failed throw.
The Yokai froze for a moment before his eyes flashed red and he bared his sharp teeth, and faster than Sasuke could blink, the demon had grabbed Naruto. The Oni‘s hand clawed into Naruto‘s collar, then the beast and the screaming boy tumbled out of the smashed window with a mighty leap. It tore half the wall with it and disappeared into the darkness as if it had never existed. Only Naruto‘s shrill screams bore witness to the monster‘s escape; Sasuke stood shocked in the hole in the wall and watched the two with his Sharingan. Plaster, mortar and wood trickled to the ground around him – a terrible symbol of how everything around the boy was beginning to crumble.
‘Naruto!’ Sasuke shouted desperately at the tip of his lungs after his friend.
The Uchiha then immediately turned on his heel and tumbled down the corridor, nearly falling through the hole in the floor, picked himself up again, stumbled over the torch and hastily picked it up. As he knocked on it, almost out of habit, the lamp flickered and came back to life.
With my Kekkei Genkai and the torch’s light, it should be no problem for me to follow them! Naruto! I‘m coming!
Down the corridor, down the stairs and out of the house. By this time, Sasuke knew the paths so well that he could have run blindly. With long strides, he followed the two chakra dots whose movement patterns told the genin that they were in a fight.
Any time soon! On my way!
The Oni and Naruto were back in the barn, the back half of which was now ablaze. Normally, Sasuke wouldn‘t have even considered entering a burning building, but he didn‘t hesitate for a second here. Smoke was barely visible in the darkness, but the boy could smell it clearly. His throat scratching unpleasantly, Sasuke reached the gate, which the Yokai had also pushed wide open, and rushed into the barn, coughing. He found the Oni in the centre of the room. The demon had grabbed Naruto by the neck and pulled him up – laughing – with an insane expression on its face that made Sasuke‘s blood run cold.
‘Hello, Red-Eye!’ the demon rumbled boisterously, as if they‘d met by chance in a café. ‘Wanna catch us? Go ahead and try!’ It shook Naruto back and forth like a rag doll, the blond‘s hands clutching the Oni‘s claw. He desperately tried to free himself; his choking echoed in Sasuke‘s ears and made the Uchiha shudder. He’ll never forgot that sound.
‘Let him go, Sakura! Let him go!’ Sasuke yelled, reaching into his pocket, pulling out his kunai and hurling them at the beast without giving it a second thought. The moment the two kunai left his hand and flew towards his comrade, he realised what he had just done. He let out a desperate cry without words. The hand still outstretched from the throw – the fingers gripped the air, but the kunai were already gone.
The Oni didn‘t let go of Naruto as it dodged the projectiles and snickered maliciously. Sasuke slowly lowered his arm in relief. He was glad that his attack had missed. What would‘ve happened if I had hit Sakura? I don’t even want to know! You‘re such an idiot, Sasuke! He scolded himself. Shortly afterwards, he realised that his comrade was pressing his shark teeth against the demon‘s paw with the last of his strength.
And you‘re a bloody idiot too, Naruto! You provoked her on purpose, that‘s what you wanted! You wanted her to attack you so you could use the teeth because you‘re too stupid to aim!
However, Sasuke immediately seized the opportunity – now that the teeth were in position. This was probably the last chance to reach Sakura at all.
‘Sakura! Come on, you must recognise us! It‘s me, Sasuke! Let go of Naruto, please! Come back to us! Wake up!’ the Uchiha pleaded, shouting as loud as he could. All his hope was in his words; he had never wished so much to see Sakura again.
Naruto let out another choke and gurgle that made the Yokai look at him. Sasuke thought that something changed in the Oni‘s face – was that confusion that the Uchiha could see? It actually looked as if the demon was frowning. Suddenly, it let go of Naruto. The genin fell powerlessly to the ground and lay motionless. Fear and worry tightened Sasuke‘s throat as he rushed clumsily over to Naruto with trembling legs and fell to his knees beside him, grabbing the blond by the shoulders and shaking him violently.
‘Naruto! Wake up, damn it! No sleeping now!’ Sasuke shouted in mock annoyance, but actually he sounded much more like he was about to cry at any moment.
‘Sasuke?’
‘Naruto! Come on, open your eyes!’
‘Sasuke …’
Naruto actually stirred, his eyelids twitched briefly, and his chest rose and fell again. His friend slumped down in relief. Sasuke still felt like crying – with joy this time, now that Naruto was showing signs of life.
‘Sasuke – where are we?’
The Uchiha looked up, startled. Instead of sitting opposite a pink-coloured Oni, there stood Sakura, completely herself again – albeit utterly confused and frightened. The fire continued to rage behind her back, and the dangerous crackling of the wood made her flinch. Startled, the kunoichi took a few steps back when she discovered the inferno.
Her green eyes lingered on Naruto after she turned around again. It took a few seconds for Sakura to fully comprehend the scene. ‘Naruto! What happened?!’ She ran to her comrades and fell to her knees next to the blond.
Naruto had opened his eyes in the meantime and was breathing regularly again. When he recognised Sakura above him, on the verge of tears, he smiled beatifically. ‘You‘re awake … Finally … Sakura … I‘m … so happy to see you …’ he murmured softly, his eyelids fluttering.
And suddenly Sasuke‘s hand, which had just been resting on Naruto‘s shoulder, fell through the boy. With a startled cry, the Uchiha backed away and realised in horror that Naruto was becoming transparent, beginning to dissolve more and more.
Sakura was raging with fear, confusion and panic. She shouted her comrade‘s name and didn‘t know what to do with herself. Sasuke overcame his fright as best he could and concluded: Naruto‘s just freeing himself from the jutsu, that must be it! The person he was looking for was Sakura, he‘s done it. That means he‘s finally free!
In a few seconds, Naruto was gone, as if he had never been there. Only one thing remained of him – the shark teeth.
Sasuke straightened up and grabbed the raging Sakura by the shoulders. He talked soothingly to her as she began to thrash in fear. Holding her hands tightly, the Uchiha almost forced his comrade to her knees.
‘It‘s okay! Everything will be all right! I promise you that nothing bad has happened to Naruto. Look at me! Look at me, Sakura!’
Sasuke repeated these words over and over again until Sakura finally looked him in the face. She was shaking like crazy, tears streaming down her cheeks, but she was finally able to follow Sasuke‘s explanation, even if he had to repeat it a few times before his teammate finally understood.
‘And – and you‘re sure that Naruto only released himself from the jutsu?’ she asked doubtfully, her voice choked.
Sasuke nodded gently. ‘Yes, I’m certain of that, you‘ll see.’
She shook her head with tightly narrowed eyes ‘I can‘t explain what I was thinking, I felt so strange – you – you looked so terrible, I was afraid of you!’
‘I know the jutsu is a nightmare. But I‘m sure it‘ll be over soon,’ Sasuke said quietly. He was so weak and at the end of his tether that he could barely stand on his feet, but he couldn‘t go down now in front of his comrade, who was already dying of fear.
‘Sasuke, you can‘t imagine how happy I am to see you again! I‘ve been looking for you the whole time!’ cried Sakura, her teammate barely understanding her over the sobs and crying, but he nodded and put his arm around her shoulder in a friendly and comforting manner.
‘Oh, I think I can,’ he murmured, albeit more to himself.
Sakura stood leaning against him for a while, her crying becoming less and less.
‘Thank you …’
This time, Sasuke wasn‘t startled when his arm slipped through Sakura and the kunoichi disintegrated in the same way Naruto had. Her shark teeth were also left behind. Within seconds, Sasuke was all alone.
The fire raged on in the back, crackling and hissing, the barn would soon collapse – at least that‘s what it sounded like. But the Uchiha stayed where he was. Although he would have liked to fall to the ground and sink into an all-forgetting sleep, he remained awake and alert. He deactivated the Sharingan and breathed in and out – relaxed.
I understood now.
A shuffling could be clearly heard from outside despite the fire and the burning wood.
I know what it means now.
It was coming inexorably closer, was not far from the barn, and would come through the gate at any moment.
I am no longer afraid.
The creature came in and moved purposefully towards Sasuke with dragging steps, who stood there with his eyes closed, waiting for what was coming. Without turning or looking up, Sasuke said:
‘I know who you are.’
The creature came to a halt directly behind the boy, he felt the moist, rattling breath on the back of his neck and heard the soft words of a distant, familiar and yet different sounding voice. ‘Sasuke. I‘ve been looking for you for a while.’
‘I‘m sorry … I didn‘t understand,’ the boy said in a trembling voice, but didn‘t dare turn round.
‘You don‘t have to. You were so brave, you know what we have to do now.’
Yes, Sasuke knew that very well. And although he knew the solution, it was so simple, it cost him an infinite amount of effort to look the horror and terror in the face – again. But it would be the last time.
After Sasuke had slowly turned round, he opened his eyes. He still gasped in horror, wanted to retreat, throw up his hands and run away - but he wasn‘t allowed to. Not any more.
The thing, the monster standing in front of the boy, said softly, ‘What we love the most becomes what we fear the most, Sasuke.’
‘Nii-san,’ Sasuke whispered tonelessly.
‘My little brother.’
