Н‘¾Ð‘¯Ð‘¬Ð‘Μ Ð‘»Ð‘¯Ð‘¬ Н‘¾Ð‘°Ð‘Μ𝑫 Н‘©Ð‘³Ð‘¶Ð‘¾Ð‘º €¢Ð’Ƒ𝒙Н’Ƒ• Ones own destructiveness

Everything burned.

His body. His mind. His feelings.

His heart.

Everything burned…

… In rage…

Where was he? He didn’t know.

Everything was red.

His body. His mind. His feelings.

His heart.

All he saw was red. That one pulsating throb inside his chest. It urged him forward. It urged him to move.

So move he did.

_

Clone Yamato grit his teeth as he dashed through the forest. He needed to get to Naruto and fast. Akashi was nowhere in sight and that worried him even more. He had to use his Wood Release to stop himself from flying away by the force of a blast ways in front of him. This was really bad.

He ran and ran and the sight before him stopped him in his tracks. Naruto was in the middle of a flattened field, four tails activated and he no longer looked like the boy he is. In his place stood a monstrous being.

It began its battle with Orochimaru and Clone Yamato could only watch and wait for the perfect opportunity to interfere.

But… Things never go the way they’re expected to go.

Clone Yamato had to brace himself as a bloodcurdling howl echoed moments before something lunged past him, a flash of red which tore everything down in its path.

He watched as the thing skidded to a stop near Naruto and Orochimaru. Its form was almost identical to Naruto’s except for the fact that it was darker than his. Identical four tails were at its lower back and Clone Yamato realized that that was Akashi.

Akashi glanced between Naruto and Orochimaru, before he dashed forward to the latter.

Orochimaru had little time to think, before something slammed into him. He whipped away, catching glance of glowing eyes and barred teeth. He got to his feet and moved to the side as Naruto’s extended arm went past him. He opened up his mouth and another Orochimaru exited, leaving the previous body to turn into ash.

He dashed towards Naruto and thrust his first forward, landing a clean hit. But, out of Naruto’s body, an identical looking torso got out and slashed its claws at his stomach. He ripped in half, but his torso and lower body were connected back by snakes coming out of both ends.

He stood still and observed the two twins. There, standing near one another… Identical power divided between brothers. His lips curled up into a smirk… How interesting…

Then, Naruto shifted and let out a roar. Multiple red and blue chakra orbs started appearing in the air around him. His tails arched and the orbs came closer to him, slowly melting together and forming a big, dark purple orb. It started shifting and then it turned into a smaller ball. Naruto opened his mouth and swallowed it. The force of the chakra orb brought him onto the ground, but after a moment, he stood up and a pure chakra blast burst out of his mouth.

Clone Yamato stood still as he watched Orochimaru raise three giant gates in an attempt to stop it. Kakashi had once told him about this. Not too long ago, Itachi had placed Akashi under a Genjutsu so severe, it triggered his four-tails mode almost immediately. Itachi didn’t last five minutes against him in that form. At the end, FakeItachi was blasted away by that same pure chakra blast.

He once again braced himself as the blast collided with Orochimaru’s defensive gates. Everything around him started shaking from the force of the hit. The wind dangerously whipped everything around. The explosion was too bright for him and he had to shield his eyes.

Once everything calmed down, he glanced back.

Orochimaru’s whole torso was buried in the ground, only his legs were visible. A moment later, a long blade burst out of the ground, followed by Orochimaru’s head, where Naruto was standing and stabbed him, taking him up in the air. Orochimaru’s neck elongated and Naruto was pushed all the way back to where Sakura and the real Yamato were.

Clone Yamato looked back to where Akashi was and saw him bend towards the ground. He didn’t even blink and Akashi was gone, leaving nothing in his wake.

_

Yamato watched as Naruto slammed into the ground near them… and then… A howl resounded from above them. He looked up just in time to see an identical looking being descend from the sky. It brought its fist forward and it slammed into the blade. The blade gave no resistance and shattered into pieces.

Akashi grabbed the side of the cliff and pulled himself up to where Naruto was. The latter glanced at him and then back to the receding Orochimaru, before he let out a loud roar. It shook everything around them and nobody dared to move a muscle. The roars soon turned almost… sorrowful? He just roared and roared and roared. He almost looked sad.

Akashi peered at Naruto and took a step towards him, before he stopped. He looked to the side and saw that Sakura was running towards them. Letting out a roar of his own, he stepped in front of Naruto and dig his claws into the ground. Sakura still didn’t stop and Yamato had no way to prevent what was about to happen.

Naruto jumped over Akashi and whipped his tail forward, hitting Sakura below the shoulder, making her fall backwards. His tails started whipping around and Akashi growled at him. Naruto crouched down and growled back. They stared each other down, tails harshly swishing around their bodies.

A moment later, the ground beneath their feet rumbled and Yamato’s Wood Release started wrapping around their bodies. It wrapped around each of their tails and bound them in place. Akashi and Naruto let out a ground-shaking roar and it did nothing, but crack the wood in a couple of places. A few more tries, and the wood shattered, freeing them from their binds.

Yamato had dashed forward just in time to slam his palm onto Naruto’s chest, which successfully strengthened the seal and he reverted to his original form.

Akashi, on the other hand… He raised his head up into the sky and the all familiar blue and red orbs appeared around him. Yamato’s eyes widened and he quickly grabbed Naruto and used his Wood Release on Sakura. He ran in the opposite direction of Akashi, and turned just in time to see all of the orbs form into one giant purple one. Akashi glanced at them and the orb exploded in a giant blast around him.

Yamato jumped down onto one of the bridge’s parts which was embedded into the cliff and used the Wood Release to form a protective shield over the three of them. The whole area around him shook with the force of the blast and the top of the shield started cracking.

Just as things were about to get messy, everything became still and silent.

Yamato removed the shield and brought Naruto and Sakura back up.

The sight that greeted him was nothing less than a nightmarish scene.

A barely audible howl rang out, sound similar to that of a wounded animal. Crimson blood covered everything in a fifteen foot radius.

Akashi was in the middle of the explosion when it happened… So it was no wonder his body took the most damage. His tails were practically falling apart and blood dripped down the ripped parts. He had multiple holes in his body and his chakra was doing its best to stitch him up, but the process was slow and he was losing too much blood.

“Akashi?” Yamato called out and the boy’s ears perked up at his voice. His body moved at a painfully slow speed as he dragged his limbs forward, leaving blood trails in his wake. Yamato stood on guard as the boy came closer and closer. His skin slowly turned back to its original form, but the more it turned back, the more could Yamato see how much the boy’s body was broken.

As his face was revealed, Yamato saw the deep scratches on his skin and the dark drops which slid out of the wounds. “Akashi?” He said once more and the boy’s lips slowly moved.

“Yamato…”. The boy whispered and wobbled. Yamato barely had any time to crouch and prevent the boy from hitting the ground, but he managed somehow. Surprisingly, Akashi’s skin wasn’t warm, instead, freezing coldness enveloped his whole being.

“Captain?” Sakura asked from behind him, while crouching next to an unconscious Naruto.

“Heal him”. Yamato gestured at Naruto and glanced back to Akashi. The boy’s skin was healing at a faster rate than Naruto’s was, so he wasn’t in as much danger as the other twin. But… Yamato thought as he peered over the rest of the boy’s body. The damage on him was more severe, since he had suffered the full blast of his own chakra.

Which reminded him… What was he doing? Why did he do that? Was it an accident? Or was he so lost and without mind that he didn’t think and just released the blast so he could wipe them all out?

He didn’t know…

_

Akashi snapped awake with a scream leaving his lips. Immediate hands held him down as he started thrashing. “Let me go!” He growled out, but the person did no such thing.

“Akashi! Calm down!” He heard Sakura’s voice and he grew still. He glanced in front of himself and noticed that it was Yamato who was holding him down. He looked around and saw that they were near The Heaven and Earth Bridge. His head throbbed and he grabbed it in pain.

“What happened?” He asked as he went to stand up. His arm shifted to the side and a searing flash of pain went through his shoulder. He bit back a groan and stood up.

“A lot, can you walk?” He nodded and raised his hand up. Activating the seal, his blade appeared in it. Twirling it around, he detected no damage on it, so he sheathed it on his back. “You all need to follow me”. Without another word, Yamato turned around and they went after him.

_

They arrived at the clearing where Naruto destroyed Orochimaru’s defensive gates and Akashi stopped. Glancing around, he concluded. Something had happened here. The ground was still soft and some of the side walls were still crumbling. Something had definitely happened here.

“What the heck… happened?” Naruto asked and looked at Yamato.

“I could ask the same”. He remembered nothing after he had jumped across the destroyed bridge… Absolutely nothing.

“Don’t you remember?” Yamato asked them and Naruto scratched his cheek in thought. Akashi furrowed his brows at the man.

“Spit it out”. Akashi demanded, his patience running thin.

“Come to think of it… Why was I unconscious?” Naruto asked and Akashi glanced at him. He was also unconscious? Just what the hell had happened here?

“You were unconscious because Orochimaru beat you”. Sakura had said, but Akashi didn’t believe her one bit.

“Are you serious?! Damn!” Naruto whined out, easily believing the lie she had told. But Akashi wasn’t that easy… They were hiding something…

The wind blew and Sakura glanced at the ground. There was a big ink stain and Sai’s things were scattered across the ground. “Why are Sai’s things here?” Akashi asked as he crouched down next to the ink.

“What happened to Sai?” Sakura asked and the two of them turned to Yamato, waiting for an answer.

“After Sai’s… conversation with Orochimaru, he went away with Orochimaru and Kabuto”. He answered them and Akashi immediately stood up.

“Huh?! That little shit betrayed us?!” He demanded, his teeth gritting together. One of the things he hated most, were people who betrayed one another… His blood boiled at the thought… Traitors…

“I don’t know what his intentions are, I couldn’t hear his conversation with Orochimaru, I was too far away”. He answered in a calm voice.

“He might have been kidnapped and taken away”. Sakura said, but it didn’t make sense to Akashi.

“No, it seems he approached Orochimaru of his own volition… and handed him something”. He shut down her speculation. “It was like he was trying to cozy up to Orochimaru…”. He added.

“Wait a minute, even a disgusting guy like him wouldn’t betray us, would he?” Naruto asked.

“No, there is a possibility”. Sakura suddenly spoke up and everyone turned to her. She went silent for a few moments, before she glanced at Yamato. “Captain Yamato, do you know a person named Danzo…?” That name was all it took…

… For Akashi’s world to stop spinning…

Just the mention of that name…

Just that name…

“Yes, I know him”. Yamato replied, but it was all like static to Akashi’s ears.

“Who’s that guy?” Naruto asked.

“A man who opposed the Third Hokage in the past”. Yamato said.

“He’s Sai’s boss… And an old gramps who doesn’t think well of the Third Hokage’s will”. Sakura added.

“Danzo may be using Sai to make some kind of move”. Yamato glanced down in thought. “It’s possible that Sai may have been given a mission… by Danzo that is separate from ours… There is a possibility that he was charged… with some kind of top-secret mission…”. He added.

“So he’s just using our mission… in order to make contact with Orochimaru?!” Naruto exclaimed.

Yamato told them to listen carefully, but Akashi was too caught up in his own thoughts to listen to anything else. Danzo… That fucking old man… How dare he try to do something again… How dare he try after what happened?! After what he did! His nails unconsciously dug into the palm of his hand and he clenched his eyes shut. After what he made him do!

“Akashi?” A hand settled on his shoulder and he slowly opened his eyes. He was met with Yamato’s dark ones. “Are you alright?” The man asked, but no, he wasn’t alright. He was far from alright.

The name brought back bad memories. Memories of that night.

“I’m fine”. He removed the hand from his shoulder and it limply fell to the man’s side. “What were you saying? I wasn’t listening”. Yamato sighed at his behavior. This was something Kakashi had also told him. He said that the redhead had a habit of hiding how he was feeling and constantly refused help from others.

That was the kind of boy he was. A boy who didn’t want to let the world in.

“I said that there was a possibility that Danzo wanted to destroy Konoha”. That was no news to Akashi. He had already figured out the man’s personality from the moment he had first seen him those three years ago.

“Then we need to stop Orochimaru at all costs”. Sakura and Naruto turned to him in surprise. “That is our only chance of completely stopping Konoha’s destruction, is it not?” He asked and Yamato nodded. “So, let us depart”. He turned around and took a step, but a thud made him turn back around. Naruto was on the ground.

“Naruto?!” Sakura exclaimed in alarm. She bent down to his level.

“We need to go now”. Akashi heard Yamato say and he glanced at him.

“We can’t leave him here”. He crouched next to Naruto, making the blond look at him in confusion. Why was he so caring all of a sudden? He didn’t pay any attention to him up till now, so why?

“He can get to Konoha by himself, we can’t risk to lose track of Orochimaru”. Akashi practically glowered at him.

“I said… We can’t leave him here”. He repeated the words with more force this time around.

“He’ll slow us down”. Akashi stood up and stalked up to the man.

“Say another word and you’ll have to drag yourself back to Konoha”. Seeing the conflict that he was unintentionally causing, Naruto stood up on wobbly feet.

“I’m going with you”. He said, determination shining in his eyes. He took a step forward and almost fell, but he managed to stay on his feet.

“Naruto!” Sakura exclaimed, seeing how he was struggling to stay on his feet.

“I’m fine… What was the point in coming all this way, just to go back to Konoha?” He straightened up and glanced at Yamato. They stared at one another for a few seconds, before Yamato nodded.

“Fine with me, but if there’s even a hint of you slowing us down, I will leave you behind”. The man said. “Understood?” He added immediately after. Naruto grinned at him.

“Let’s go, then”. With that, the four of them went after Orochimaru.

_

After a while of running, Akashi noticed Sakura was struggling. She kept trying not to use her left arm for anything, but she was forced to in one moment. That one moment caused her to slip and pummel towards the ground. Fortunately, Yamato had managed to catch her and safely place her to lean onto a tree.

When Naruto asked her what was wrong, she said it was Orochimaru who did that to her arm. Akashi crouched down next to her and gently took her arm. He hovered his hand over the wound in an attempt to heal it, but it barely did anything. “What kind of jutsu did he use to do this?” He asked her, but she just shook her head in return.

Surprisingly, Yamato suggested a small break, and explained that medical ninja are crucial to the team’s success. Akashi raised a brow at that, since he was also a medical ninja, but Yamato told him they can’t count on him to heal them, since he was also badly hurt before. Akashi accepted that as his reason.

“Naruto, I need to speak with you”. Yamato told him and Naruto followed after him. Akashi was left to sit next to Sakura.

“I know Orochimaru isn’t the one who did that to you”. She turned to him in surprise.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about”. Akashi almost laughed at her words.

“Oh, come on! You may be able to fool Naruto with your weak lies, but you can’t fool me. Now, tell me, what really happened?” She let out a sigh in defeat and leaned her head back onto the tree.

“Both you and Naruto had ended up under the Nine-Tail’s influence and I didn’t think when I ran towards you two… You jumped in front of Naruto in, what seemed like, a defensive position, but he went past you and injured me”. Akashi didn’t remember any of that… But it’s not the first time something like that happened, so he wasn’t that surprised.

Damned fox.

They sat there in silence, before Yamato came back after a few minutes with Naruto trailing behind him. “Akashi, come here”. The said boy stood up and followed after him. “I assume you forced Sakura to tell you what happened”. The redhead’s lips curled up in a humorless grin.

“Well, you know… That’s kind of my specialty”. Yamato’s face hardened.

“This is no joking matter”. The grin immediately fell from the boy’s lips.

“Does it look like I’m joking?” He asked the man, but received nothing as a reply.

“You need to fight back the Nine-Tail’s influence”. Was what he said after a moment. Akashi raised his brows at his words.

“What makes you think that I’m not?” He asked, because, really, he was trying. He was trying for three years, but somehow, it fails every single time. “Has Kakashi not told you this yet? Nine-Tails can’t do anything to me if I don’t wish so, I’m not so weak-minded like Naruto is”. He said.

“He had told me”. Yamato replied.

“My half answers to Naruto’s, so when Naruto fails to control it, mine also gets out of control”. He took a step towards the man. “You know, when that happens, I kinda wish I could just… die? Disappear? Cease to exist?” Yamato was taken aback at those words. At that confession. “The fox starts whispering to me and my body stops listening to me”. He took another step. “Do you know what it’s like to have your body burn inside out? To hear someone else’s voice in your head? To have foreign emotions enter your system and influence your actions?” Yamato took a step back.

“No”. He answered and a chill went down his spine when he saw Akashi smile at his words.

“No? Of course you don’t”. The smile dropped from his face in a moments time.

“You almost died”. Akashi blinked at his words. “You almost killed yourself along with us back at the bridge”. Akashi was hearing what he was saying, but he couldn’t understand what he meant.

“What?” He asked, not remembering a thing that happened not so long ago.

“I managed to restrain Naruto and he reverted back, but you had broken out of your binds”. Akashi’s head was still blank. “You started focusing your chakra into a single orb and I had successfully gotten the others out of the way, but you did something unexpected… You detonated the orb in place”. Akashi looked at the ground in confusion. “Why would you do something like that?” Yamato asked, but Akashi had no answer.

Indeed… That was a question worth asking. Why did he do that? Isn’t he supposed to be feral in that state? Trying to destroy everything in his sight?

So why did he try to destroy himself?

Something clicked in his mind in that moment. A chuckle escaped his lips and Yamato looked at him in question. “What’s so funny?” He asked and Akashi shook his head.

“Nothing, nothing, I just remembered something”. He took a deep breath to calm himself. “If that was all you wanted to tell me, may I go now? I need to think about some things”. Yamato looked like he wanted to ask more question, but decided against doing that. He nodded his head and Akashi promptly turned around and walked away.

As he walked away he wondered.

Who would have thought his own self-destructiveness would reach that point?