Н‘¾Ð‘¯Ð‘¬Ð‘Μ Ð‘»Ð‘¯Ð‘¬ Н‘¾Ð‘°Ð‘Μ𝑫 Н‘©Ð‘³Ð‘¶Ð‘¾Ð‘º €¢Ð’Ƒ𝒙Н’Ƒ• It was real

The world went into a standstill.

The ground shifted and cracked under his feet. The air around him became too dense to breathe in.

Kakashi and the others froze in their tracks as they sensed the sudden change. The man glanced to the side and his eyes widened at the sight that greeted him.

A bubbling, orange layer covered every inch of the redhead’s body, some parts of him were peeling off, revealing crimson skin underneath.

Then, at the bottom of his spine, four tails burst out at the same time.

Nobody moved a muscle. There was a moment of silence, before everything changed. It was like he, in that moment, became conscious.

A scorching howl escaped his lips and his body started shifting around. The tails harshly whipped around, barely missing everyone by an inch. He dropped to the ground and his claws dug into the grass underneath. His spine arched and another tail whipped out.

Kakashi could only watch in horror as the rest of his skin fell off and Akashi was replaced by something more…

Sinister…

The creature howled and howled and howled and the ground cracked under its four-legged form. It slowly raised its head, pale, yellow eyes staring right at Itachi.

The others dared not move their feet, afraid it was going to turn on them.

Instead, it lowered itself closer to the ground, before it disappeared from their sight, leaving behind nothing but broken ground.

Itachi had little time to move away as a clawed hand whipped past his face. The creature skidded to a stop, claws ripping into the ground to stop its momentum. It immediately resumed its assault, breaking everything in its path to get to the raven-haired man. Its tails whipped forward, extending from its body, and thrust towards Itachi. The man jumped back from their range, causing them to go back.

Itachi landed on a branch and watched as the creature slowly stalked forward. So this is the Nine-Tails’s power? He wondered. It didn’t seem like it was that powerful. That was what he concluded, but he was so, so wrong.

It suddenly stopped and raised the tails over its head. Itachi’s eyes widened when he saw the chakra that was amassing at the tips. Little blue and red balls appeared out of thin air and connected into one another, forming a giant purple ball. It expanded and expanded, until it was the size of the creature which was creating it.

The man had no time to move away as the ball flashed a bright light and a beam of energy slammed into him, tearing him whole. The beam didn’t stop. It raged through the forest behind Itachi, flattening tree after tree after tree.

Only once a howl rang from behind the beast, did the beam flicker and disappear. It slowly turned its head around and faced the group it had left behind.

Another tail burst out of its lower back and a bone like structure began forming on his body.

“Akashi!” Chrono called out, running towards him. “Stop!” But the beast did not. It lowered itself to the ground and dashed at the approaching wolf.

“Chrono! Get away from him!” Kakashi yelled after him, but he couldn’t catch up. “Chrono!” He could only watch as their forms grew closer and closer to one another.

Naruto stood frozen in place, not believing his eyes.

Just as Akashi was about to slam into the wolf, multiple howls rang out from the forest around him. He stopped in his tracks and froze in place. “Akashi”. Chrono was in front of him now.

The boy-turned-beast glanced at him with wide eyes. His ears lowered until they were flat on his head. He leaned back and sat down, his tails limply falling onto the ground. “Akashi?” Chrono said once more and that was all it took. The beast in front of the wolf lowered its head and the wolf heard quiet sizzling sounds.

The wolf stepped even closer and looked at its face. Its eyes were closed but Chrono could see what was happening.

It was crying.

“I’m here, little one”. Its skin started peeling off once again at his words, but this time, it was replaced by normal, human skin. Akashi’s form became revealed more and more with each passing second. Multiple wolves burst out from the trees which surrounded them and ran towards the boy on the ground. They were about to come even closer, but they stopped once Chrono glanced at them.

Don’t come closer. That was what they got from him, so they listened.

They all sat in a circle around him and waited.

Ten minutes passed and Akashi was finally fully himself. His shoulders were slumped and he looked lifeless. Blank eyes started at the ground in front of him. “Little one?” Chrono leaned forward. “Are you with me?” He asked and nuzzled the boy’s cheek with his snout.

His pale violet eyes slid to the wolf and without even blinking, he replied.

“I wish I wasn’t…”. He whispered, voice heavy with sorrow. He closed his eyes and clenched the grass which was under his palms. “I wish I wasn’t…”. He repeated a little louder this time and his shoulders trembled. “This isn’t fair…”. His teeth grit together as a tear slipped down his cheek.

The wolves which still sat around him stood up and walked up to him. Each one of them leaned on him, providing the much needed comfort. Chrono nuzzled closer and placed his head on the boy’s shoulder. Soon after that, shaky arms wrapped around his thick, black fur. “Why…?” He asked. “Why him?” His voice trembled and his grip tightened around the wolf. “Why did it have to be him?” The wolves could do nothing, but be the support he so desperately needed.

The others could only watch, as the, clearly distraught, boy was comforted by his pack members.

Naruto took a step forward, he himself not knowing why he did that, but he didn’t make a second step. One of the wolves had raised its head and its glaring amber eyes stopped him in his tracks.

It hurt… Watching his brother be like that… Watching him hurt like that…

His thoughts were broken when sobs resounded in front of him. The wolf, which had glared at him, immediately turned back to Akashi and leaned on him. Naruto couldn’t help but notice something.

The wolves looked equally as sad as Akashi was… He wondered why… All of them had their eyes closed, and some of them even trembled alongside the boy between them.

Their shared the same pain… The pain of losing someone precious to them.

“I don’t know…”. Chrono finally replied and Akashi choked up at his words. “He had a heart that was too big for his body…”. Akashi agreed with that, but it didn’t make him feel any better… It didn’t make the pain go away… It only hurt more… “He tried… He really, really tried… But it wasn’t meant to be…”. It hurt… It hurt, so, so much… He couldn’t handle the pain.

With one last sob leaving his lips, he harshly stood up and the wolves around him shifted back. “Fuck! Fuck all of that bullshit! Wasn’t meant to be?!” He yelled, voice breaking at each word. “He made a mistake! He did it to himself! Why am I the one who’s left to suffer?!” He pointed at himself. “Why was I the one left alone?!” He asked and the wolf had no answer.

“Why did he have to die and leave me here?! Alone! In pain!” He screamed out not even being able to see clearly from all the tears blocking his vision. “If this is love, I don’t want it!” The wolves had all lowered their heads, not being able to look at the crying boy. “Take it away, please!” Kakashi and the others watched the weeping boy, their hearts throbbing in pain at the sight.

“Why does it hurt so much?!” He demanded and he looked up at the sky. As if it held the answer to all of his questions.

“Because it was real”. Was the answer he received. “Because all of it was real”. Chrono slowly approached him with his head hung low. Akashi clenched his hands, nails digging into the rough skin of his palms. “Because he loved you and you still love him”. The wolf leaned his head on the boy’s hip. That’s right… He still does… Nothing can make him stop… No one can erase his feelings…

Closing his eyes, the boy took a deep breath to calm himself. Even though the only thing he wanted to do was scream at the world. Scream at how unfair it was. Scream and say that he didn’t deserve this… He didn’t deserve this. No one deserved something like this. But here he was… In a situation from which he cannot run away.

“Akashi?” He opened his eyes and looked at the person who called him. He wasn’t surprised to find out it was Kakashi. The man took a few steps towards him, before multiple growls rang out and he was forced to stop.

Akashi glanced at the wolves around him and noticed they all had barred their fangs. He could sense that they were worried about him. They were protective of him. “It’s okay… He can come closer”. At his words, the wolves calmed down, but didn’t look away from the man.

Kakashi breathed in a breath of relief and walked over to the redhead. The boy’s eyes were still red and puffy from crying. His cheeks were still damp from the tears that he had shed. And judging by how his voice sounded, he had damaged a vocal cord or two. He wondered who he and the wolves were talking about. He had noticed they had mentioned a ‘he’ and how they talked as if he was dead, which he probably was, judging by the expression on the boy’s face.

But, what intrigued him the most was the fact that Akashi loves the ‘he’ they were talking about.

Who was that ‘he’? He was obviously someone very important to Akashi, and to see him in so much pain actually pained Kakashi. He silently glanced back at the frowning Naruto. It seemed it also pained him, too. “Are you okay?” Akashi almost scoffed at his question.

“I’m fine”. He bit back and faced away from him. Kakashi didn’t believe a word he said.

“Listen… if you need to talk-“. He heard the boy’s growl and before he knew it, he had walked past him, not even letting him finish his sentence.

“Stop trying so much, it’s annoying”. The wolves followed after the redhead, throwing small glares and a few barred fangs at the man. Chrono walked by last, but he was looking at the ground as he did so. Akashi stalked his way to his mask which was left on the ground next to Sakura. She didn’t say anything as he bent down to take it.

After he secured it on his face, he turned to look at the place Itachi stood before.

The ground was cracked at multiple places and the forest ahead was flattened for hundreds of feet.

Akashi grit his teeth at the sight. This can’t happen again. He was about to attack Chrono… His little Chrono… His little Chrono.

“So… You’re the Nine-Tail’s Jinchuriki…”. He heard from behind himself and turned around to face the old woman.

“I am”. He replied. It’s no use trying to say anything else except that, she’d already seen his powers.

“It seems you can’t control its power”. He narrowed his eyes at her words.

“This was a one time thing… It won’t happen again”. He assured her, but she didn’t look all that convinced.

“You look so sure of yourself”. He looked away from her, not wanting to continue the conversation they were having, but she seemed intent on pulling out every bit of information out of him. “Hasn’t this happened before?” His head throbbed at the thought.

It has…

“That’s none of your concern, and if you don’t mind, we’ve got more pressing matters at hand”. He gestured at the body which should have been Itachi’s, but isn’t. “Do you know him?” He asked and she nodded her head.

“Yes, he was a Jounin at Suna”. The others joined them a moment later. Sakura asked if it was possible that he was a spy, but Chiyo immediately shot her down, saying that that was unlikely. “As I thought, this was obviously to buy them time…”. She added.

“They’ve got some good jutsu, those bastards”. Kakashi spoke up.

“That they would use a jutsu of this level to slow us down… There’s no mistake… They’ve already started tearing out the Tailed Beast!” She exclaimed. Kakashi nodded in agreement.

“We have no time. We need to rescue Gaara quickly”. He said.

Sakura asked what tearing out a Tailed Beast means. Chiyo revealed that Akatsuki will most likely want to make a new Jinchuriki by sealing the One-Tails into another person. When Sakura asked what a Jinchurki was, Chiyo said that it was a person who had a Tailed-Beast sealed inside them, she then gestured at Akashi. Sakura asked how a Tailed-Beast is torn out of a person, to which Chiyo replied and said that they need a jutsu strong enough to balance the power for a moment, but it would take a long time.

She also said that once that is done, the Jinchuriki will die.

Akashi raised his hand and activated a seal, making his blade appear in it. He reached behind himself and put it back in its sheath.

“Well… That only means we have to hurry up… Let’s not waste any more time”. With that, he turned around and walked away, the wolves quietly following after him.