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The Canalized River	By : susanna Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 944 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 12
- 13
- 14
A/N
at the end of the chapter

Chapter
Thirteen: Not a Hero

“We've
slowed down”, Suigetsu said. “And this is our forth break
today.”

“That's
true.”

“So
may I ask why we are no longer in a hurry?”

Sasuke
did not answer.

“Is
it possible that out of your disappointment that your former
teammates have ceased to follow us you have decided to slow down in
order to allow them to catch up?”

Sasuke
still did not answer.

“You
know, we can always change direction and search for them and ask them
why they have abandoned the pursuit.”

Sasuke
got up. “Break is over”, he declared. “Let's go
on!”

They
had not been on the move for more than thirty minutes when again they
slowed down and stopped. This time the stop was not induced by
Sasuke, but by Karin.

“The
kyuubi's chakra”, she said. “Clearer and stronger than
ever before, obscuring all other chakras, even that of the
jinchuuriki himself, strong as it is.”

“Where
is it?” Suigetsu asked.

Karin
pointed west.

“So
let's get away”, Suigetsu suggested.

“How
far is it?” Sasuke asked.

“It
would take us half an hour to get there”, Karin answered.

“We'll
go and have a look.”

Suigetsu
gasped. “Are you serious? Don't you think that it might be
wiser to look for your friend when he is not overpowered by the
kyuubi?”

“We
are not looking for my friend. I just want to know what's going on!
Be careful and see that no one notices you!”

“You
can count on that – though I still think that staying away
would be the best way not to be noticed.”

Sasuke
barely heard the last sentence; he was already on the move. He was
not sure himself why he was interrupting their journey to the Uchiha
hideout where he would meet Itachi – it was only for an hour,
he told himself. Itachi would wait for him. I just want to see what's
happening.

They
could hear and smell the fight from far away, even without using
Karin's chakra-sensing techniques, and soon they could also see the
kyuubi. It did not yet have nine tails, but only six, and it still
bore some vague resemblance to Naruto, yet it – or he –
did no longer act as a human being but fought as animals fight, wild
and furious and sometimes cunning, but never thoughtful, using its
pure unshaped chakra as its weapon. When it swung its tails, trees
and bushes got uprooted, when it struck with its paw, it flattened
small hills.

Sasuke
saw the fear in his teammates' faces – he was a bit afraid
himself, but only a bit: it was an automatic reaction of his body,
while his mind knew well that he could subdue the fox-demon's chakra.

What
made him really shudder was the thought that the monster that was
ruining the landscape actually was Naruto.

He
searched for a safe place that was still close enough to watch the
fight. One hill had not been much damaged so far, and also a little
grove on its top had managed to survive. He found them a tree that
was not right on the edge, so that it would not be struck in the
first attack, but still near enough to give them a good view. They
should be safe there, he thought, but he could tell that Suigetsu
would have felt really safe only if he had been some kilometres away.
Karin's and Juugo's faces did not show any emotion.

Sasuke
turned his attention to the fight. Two Akatsuki members, a man and a
woman, were fighting Naruto or the kyuubi, as one chose to see it. He
could sense their fear, but they did not panic, nor did they retreat.
They acted as if they had a plan, one that included them risking
their lives, yet they trusted it to work, if they just kept to it. He
looked a bit further and saw the trap they had set up for the kyuubi:
a rather small area, surrounded by chakra-containing devices. Humans
might get through by masking their chakra, but the kyuubi who only
consisted of chakra could not do that. It might get in, but then one
of the team – the woman probably – would step in at the
back side of the trap and close it.

Naruto
should learn to fight intelligently, Sasuke thought, instead of just
relying on his and the kyuubi's plain chakra. And most of all, he
should not take the form of the kyuubi, because the demon would not
think at all, just act.

Already
he was approaching the trap.

“Where's
his team?” Juugo asked. “He has a team, hasn't he?”

Sasuke
could see the concern on his face. Naruto's respectively the kyuubi's
fate did not leave him unmoved.

“Probably
scared”, Karin answered.

“Can't
blame them”, Suigetsu added.

Sasuke
considered intervening: Stop the kyuubi before it got caught in the
trap. Contrary to his team he was not afraid; he knew that he had the
power to subdue the kyuubi, make Naruto return to his human form and
protect him against the Akatsukis.

Still
he hesitated. He had come to look, not to get involved, and least of
all he wanted to face Naruto and explain to him that he would not
return to Konoha, at least not before he had completed his revenge.

He
felt Juugo next to him transform into his Cursed Seal form. Already
his face was covered by the black and white pattern of the seal, and
he was on the point of changing into stage two. Automatically Sasuke
activated his Sharingan, making Juugo's chakra fall to its normal
level, changing him into a human being.

When
he returned his attention to the fight, the kyuubi had vanished.
Instead there was Naruto, lying unconscious on the ground, fettered
by some weird, unnaturally grown branches that wound themselves
around him as if they were snakes.

I
could have done better, Sasuke thought. Most importantly, I could
have done it without making him pass out.

The
Akatsuki were approaching. Where was Naruto's team?

Sasuke
began to move: From his tree to the next one, then to the outermost
one, and to its farest-reaching branches.

Suigetsu
had followed him.

“What
are you going to do?” he asked.

“Draw
them off Naruto”, Sasuke answered.

“Good
luck”, Suigetsu said. “Take care!”

Sasuke
let go, and with his lightning-speed jutsu he transported himself to
the back of the Akatsukis.

“Where's
Itachi?” he asked to get their attention. Only too late he
realized that this line was not up to date any more. Still it served
its purpose to make them turn around.

“Ah,
Sasuke”, the male Akatsuki member said. “Nice to meet
you. Though I thought that you already knew where to meet Itachi.”

Sasuke
had to improvise now, but it did not matter. His intention was to
draw them off Naruto, preferably by talking, but if this did not work
by fighting. As long as they got away from Naruto he did not care
what he was talking about.

“I
met him, if that's what you mean”, he said. “And he told
me where to go. But that does not mean that this is where he will
be.”

“He
will”, the man replied. “He wants to talk to you. He has
some important things to tell you.”

“You
might tell me”, Sasuke said.

“Oh,
Itachi will be much better at it. He's the one who knows all the
stuff about your clan's history.”

“He
has already told me what there is to tell about that”, Sasuke
answered, thinking of what he had found in the basement of Konoha's
main temple. “There is nothing left for me to talk about to
him.”

“Don't
be so sure”, the man continued. “Have you never wondered
whether your clan, strong as it is, might have been meant to rule,
not to serve?”

“I
have rather wondered why they should have been meant to die”,
Sasuke replied.

He
had to remind himself that he was talking for the sake of talking –
he had to take care that he did not let them make him angry. He cast
a glance at the woman: She was listening to his conversation with the
man, not, as he had feared, going after Naruto. But it was not
enough: He could not go on talking forever, he had to lure them away,
so that Naruto could escape. And in the end he would have to escape
himself, or kill the two of them.

“Acting
the selfless and noble hero”, the man said. “Not
interested in power at all.”

“I
am not a hero”, Sasuke replied. “My goal is to take
revenge and restore the honor of my clan, that's all.”

“Itachi
will tell you about the true honor of your clan”, the man said.

“So
stop talking”, the woman intervened. “That's Itachi's
job. Ours is to get the nine-tail.”

“You
won't touch him”, Sasuke said, finally drawing his sword. With
its extended chidori blade he tickled the woman.

“What
a beautiful toy”, she said and attacked him with a fleet of
paper planes. He dodged the first, retreated a few steps and caught
the rest in his katon.

Only
in the last moment he saw the man's attack. It hit his shoulder, and
Sasuke retreated again.

The
two Akatsuki members followed him.

So
this is finally working, he realized. Attacking, getting attacked,
withdrawing, being followed. Step by step the distance to Naruto
grew.

He
almost overlooked the woman's next attack. Even for him, fighting two
enemies at once was not easy, and he was lucky that they had not got
serious yet. They want me alive, he realized, for whatever purpose...
And still he had to do something about the woman: Weaker than her
opponent, she was more dangerous for exactly this reason: She would
sooner panic and resort to more deadly techniques. He activated his
Sharingan, attacked with his sword and tried to catch her in a
genjutsu – he preferred to fight women with techniques that
worked on the mind, rather than to use his more physical attacks on
them. She avoided his eyes however, and still managed to parry his
blow, even if it was from his invisible chidori blade.

Suddenly
the man attacked for real, and Sasuke was busy defending himself
without creating an opening for the woman. Fortunately this gave him
the opportunity to withdraw further, and then the man did not pay
attention and did look into his eyes.

Concentrating
on maintaining the genjutsu and keeping the woman from approaching
the man. He was lucky that he had got her angry by now so that she no
longer thought of Naruto but was rather attacking him seriously now.

I'll
either have to escape or kill her, Sasuke thought. He would have
preferred the latter, but he could not, should not do it, because he
was not fighting for himself. He summoned two medium-sized snakes
that got the woman off her feet, at least for a few seconds, and
retreated a some more steps. By now he was approaching the wooded
hill where he had watched the beginning of the fight together with
his team. And already the man was beginning to cast off the genjutsu.

Suddenly
Sasuke felt himself being taken by the shoulders and lifted into the
air...

A/N:
I know that there is a geographical plothole – somehow I did
not manage to mend it. Also I just watched the recent anime episode
and realized that getting the kyuubi under control took a bit more
than Yamato's mokuton jutsu. I forgot completely about his chakra
beam to the Hokage's necklace. (My scans of this part of the story
are of a rather poor quality.)

Karoolaa:
Thanks for your compliments!

Spoon:
I got your comment only this morning. I will answer it tonight!

Lexjamandme:
Thanks for your thoughts! For me as well it is nice to find someone
who thinks on similar lines about the friendship between Sasuke and
Naruto.

Concerning
the offer Naruto is faced with: I cannot see Naruto accept it, even
if he were to die. You are of course right that it is a bit
unimaginative that they “offer” him death as the
alternative, on the other hand, their objective is to obtain the
kyuubi, and if they “have” to extract it, Naruto will
die.

Of
course – Itachi will be a “Raven” too. And Neji as
well, I guess. I just don't read any fanfiction but Sasunaru (or
Narusasu.)
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The Canalized River