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The Orange Flash: Lost Chapters	By : Breath_of_the_Wiz Category: Naruto > Het - Male/Female Views: 120666 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 16
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, if I did, it wouldn't suck so hard. Also, I am not the owner of the fandom, nor am I doing this for any monetary gain or profit. Enjoy.

Chapter List
- 27
- 28
- 29
Shikamaru sighed and tightened the bandages around Mitsuki's head; he'd managed to stop the bleeding and was preparing to pick her up and move her. They were hiding in a den beneath a dead tree, the cave-like system of roots made for a great hiding place, however, Shikamaru knew such a thing didn't matter for foes such as Zabuza. Ever since he'd taken Mitsuki with him, a sizeable cloud of fog had been following them through the forest. If Shikamaru were a betting man, he'd put money on Zabuza stalking him.
He stared up at the clouds, wondering when he'd catch another break. Never in his life had he taken back to back missions of such high profile. From time to time, Shikamaru would daydream about the simple days of the academy, when life made sense. Now, he was trying to stop an S Rank criminal origanization from getting their way, talk about zero to one hundred. Over the next half Hour, he constantly checked Mitsuki's condition, while she wasn't exactly worsening, she was in no condition to be moving on her own, right now, Shikamaru had to focus on keeping her awake, since sleep and concussions don't mix well.
The Nara heir had also taken the time to concoct 3 more powdered Suluryl Chloride bombs for Zabuza. From what Shikamaru had gathered in the team's brief battle with him, he'd deduced that the Demon of the Mist had some sort of regeneration ability. However, his physical attributes would nosedive while his body was repairing itself, so if he could trap him in an explosion of mustard gas, he'd have time to outrun Zabuza.
Shikamaru took his signature thinking-pose and went over his options. After about 30 seconds, he took an explosive tag off of a kunai and wrapped it around one of his three vials. He used his chakra to set the fuse for 5 minutes, by taking into account the speed at which the fog was moving, he deduced that the sulfuric bomb would have the greatest effect at that point in time, also, he'd be able to escape the spread of the mustard gas in the allotted time as well.
The teenager slung a dazed, but awake, Mitsuki over his shoulder and made a mad dash for the edge of the mist. In this situation, running was really all he could do, especially with Mitsuki in this condition. There wasn't a single scenario Shikamaru could think of that allowed both himself and Mitsuki to live if he fought Zabuza head-on.
"Ah… mendokuse."
Sasuke was jolted awake for the fourth time by Kabuto's elbow... which was was starting to look like a prime object for a test-cut with his recently sharpened sword. The silver-haired ninja frowned at Sasuke and signed a simple 'pay attention!' to him.
Sasuke turned his head to observe the two Akatsuki members, all things considered, it wasn't like he could take a nap with Kabuto around, so Sasuke chose to cut his losses. This stakeout had proven extremely dull lately, Deidara and Sasori sat there in silence for the most part, every once in a while engaging in small talk. Interestingly, this small talk had not a single interesting Akatsuki secret, nor even witty banter between them. For all Sasuke knew, the two men could actually be sleeping between, conversations... something he wasn't allowed to do apparently.
Sasuke flipped his sharingan on and off once more to check for any sort of genjutsu, but once again, there was nothing. Both Deidara and Sasori had failed to move from their seats on the rocks, it had to have been hours since they'd arrived in the caves, as the extraction disruption team's backup had already arrived, and was silently waiting with them in their little hidey-hole in the ceiling.
Sasuke stared at his Zombie-teammate and raised an eyebrow in mild surprise, he finally recognized who the old snake had sent to assist them.
The Uchiha boy whispered to the dead man. "...You were the last Kazekage."
His black eyes focused on Sasuke's red ones and he nodded. "Yes, I was once the 4th Kazekage, young Uchiha."
Sasuke looked down at Gaara, who was still passed out from exhaustion, and then, he looked back to the former Kazekage and scoffed. "I read about you once when I was still in the ninja academy... Rasa... you were a fool in life, and now in death, you remain Orochimaru's puppet."
The corpse stared blankly at Sasuke for a moment and then looked down at Gaara's seemingly lifeless body with indifference only a corpse could muster. "… I suppose so young Uchiha... I suppose so."
Kabuto jabbed Sasuke with his elbow. "Sasuke, don't antagonize our zombies."
Naruto had finally cleared up Sakura's case of frostbite, and was busy warming his hands in his armpits. Sakura gave Naruto a worried look as she was getting ready to start moving again.
"Naruto… Are you okay?"
"Well, everything still hurts if that's what you're asking."
Sakura shook her head and helped Naruto to his feet. "Naruto, I mean emotionally, I know you're tough enough to power through any sort of physical discomfort... but this is different. I know how much she meant to you, you have that same look on your face as you did on the bridge that day."
Naruto frowned and stared at a spot on the ground. "I'd rather not talk about it Sakura-chan… Let's go get Shikamaru and Mitsuki-chan so we can get back to the mission." Naruto grunted in pain as he jumped off into the treeline.
Sakura silently followed behind him, worried even more than she was a few hours ago. The sun would be setting in a few hours at this point, and it was likely that if they arrived too late, Akatsuki would just cut their losses and kill the Kazekage. Naruto darted through the branches at a speed that belied someone with a damaged nervous system.
Naruto now knew that Orochimaru had some sort of stake in this shitstorm, and that he didn't want Naruto reaching Sunagakure, this meant that Orochimaru would've sent someone stronger if he wanted Naruto would have to mean that Orochimaru had most likely ordered his puppets to kill the entire team save for Naruto. The thought of losing both Shikamaru and Mitsuki along with Gaara caused Naruto to subconsciously increase his speed.
Sakura, who wasn't nearly as light on her feet as her teammate, yelled ahead to him as he began to pull away. "Naruto! Your body will give out on you if you push yourself too hard!"
'The pink female is right, kit. It'll take me until sunset at the earliest to repair your nervous system, take it easy or you'll kill us both.'
'Shut the hell up! You have no idea how it feels to be in this situation!'
'You don't know the first damn thing about me you pathetic human. I'm trying to help you, now listen to your medic female. I WILL shut you down if you don't.'
'What's wrong with you today?'
'Oh? Perhaps you think me a bit more abrasive than usual? ...' Naruto could hear the fox's booming laughter echo throughout his skull, he started to growl in annoyance.
'Hahahaha! Do you think we're friends, brat?! We are NOT friends, I'd sooner crush you beneath my feet than make nice with you. We may be on the same side, but you would do well to remember that you're nothing without me, you only have control because I allow it. Now slow down before I put you down.'
Naruto's eyes shifted red at his tenant's unbridled arrogance. He seethed to himself and slowed his pace to something less stressful on his nervous system. Sakura caught up and grabbed his hand, she smiled at him and gave his hand a tender squeeze.
"Naruto-kun, please, use your head. We all have orders to take you down if you act too erratically."
Naruto nodded, but his features remained grim. "Zabuza will probably kill them if we don't catch up in time. I know Shikamaru can handle himself, but this is the same guy that nearly put Kakashi-sensei down back the-"
Naruto was cut off when the wind was knocked out of him.
Sakura's eyes widened in Horror when she saw a very angry looking Zabuza planting his shoulder into Naruto's stomach, her teammate was sent flying into a tree off to her right. Sakura watched Naruto rag-doll to the ground for a split second, but she nearly screamed when she got a closer look at Zabuza. He was once again without any sort of skin, all of his deeper skin tissue was exposed due to what appeared to be chemical burns, Shikamaru must have used more mustard gas on him.
Zabuza tried to bring the sword down and bisect Sakura down the middle, but her hysterical strength kicked in just in time. She reflexively caught the blade between her palms before it carved through the top of her skull.
Zabuza's eyes narrowed and he roared at Sakura, releasing a crippling amount of killing intent. The wave of malice and wrath had induced Sakura to experience a flashback to her traumatic first encounter with the Demon of the Mist, her fight or flight mechanism kicked in and she screamed, instinctively flinging Zabuza's sword, along with Zabuza into a nearby tree. There was a loud crack as he impacted the tree and he tumbled to the ground in a heap.
Sakura's legs buckled and she fell out of the trees, paralyzed. Sakura slammed into the ground and immediately rose to all fours; she was still stunned from the killing intent along with the memory of Zabuza materializing from the mist, eye to eye with her, a hand on her throat. Sakura dry heaved a few times, and vomited pure bile on the ground. Her body fought her every step of the way as she tried to move, but failed. Each attempt to stand was met with the sudden feeling of noodle legs the ringing in her ears was deafening, and her vision would blur in and out of focus. She heaved again, and up came even more bile, though this time, it was mixed in with stomach acid. Sakura finally understood how Sasuke felt during their encounter with Orochimaru in the forest of death, he couldn't move properly for hours afterward.
Sakura struggled, but managed to turn her head to Zabuza, she could see his skin growing back over the exposed muscle; she could also hear the spine she thought she'd broken, reconnecting and straightening itself out. Zabuza eventually stood back up, no worse for wear, he looked at her in mild annoyance and walked over to execute her.
Sakura could hear Naruto struggling to get up, so she knew he wouldn't be saving her this time around. Remembering how Sasuke escaped, Sakura fought through the paralyzing nature of Zabuza's technique and slammed her fist into her side. The adrenaline from the pain was enough to allow her turn around and throw some dirt in Zabuza's eyes. After stunning the demon, her body went limp again and she fell back to the ground. The ringing in her ears picked up again and she was tortured by the old image of Zabuza's murderous yet dismissive glare.
When Sakura looked up, Zabuza was in front of her, blocking her path. Despite all the signals from her brain, Sakura's body refused to obey her commands. Before Zabuza could even lift his blade up for a strike, Naruto rocketed out of the ground between them with a rasengan in hand, he jammed the ball into Zabuza's stomach and his guts were ripped from his body, breaking down into black sand shortly afterward.
Zabuza was sent spinning backward and slammed into a large boulder, pulverizing it. Naruto fell to a knee and looked at Sakura.
"Sakura-chan, we don't have much time before he's up and after us again… You look like you've seen a ghost."
Sakura didn't reply, she just stared up at Naruto with a blank expression.
Naruto quickly made the comparison to Sasuke's condition after their run-in with Orochimaru in the forest of death.
"Oh shit." Naruto picked up Sakura, who went limp in his arms. He squeezed her face and talked precisely and sternly.
"Sakura-chan. I need you to look at me and calm down… You're having a panic attack. This is the first time someone has used the Sakki Technique on you, and I know how you feel."
Naruto could feel Sakura relax in his grip, after a few seconds, the glazed over look disappeared from her eyes, however, her expression was still one of blank astonishment. She simply hugged Naruto and didn't say a word.
Naruto made a shadow clone and had it take her somewhere she could regain control.
The real Naruto turned to Zabuza, who dug himself out of the pulverized rock.
He yelled at the deceased mist ninja. "Oi! Zabuza! No words of wisdom for an up and coming ninja?"
The man blankly stared at him and approached, sword at the ready.
Naruto raised his eyebrow, Ero-sannin told him all about Edo-tensei, and Haku seemed more in control than his teacher's description had originally implied. Zabuza seemed more in line with what Ero-sannin had told him that day; the ninja's failure to even acknowledge Naruto was proof in and of itself.
Naruto cocked his head to the side and readied his sword, the Demon of the mist took his famous pose and mist creeped into the air around them. Naruto frantically formed another rasengan, the air whirled around him and the mist was pushed away, revealing… nothing. Zabuza was nowhere in sight.
Naruto heard the sound of sand falling to the ground behind him. When Naruto whirled around to counter attack, he was greeted by Zabuza's visage once more. He was poised to pommel strike Naruto in the back of the head, but he appeared frozen in place. Naruto suddenly noticed a familiar chirping, and suddenly, electricity came crackling from Zabuza abdomen. The mist ninja's eyes widened and he began twitch as energy jolted up and down his severed spine. Zabuza was promptly ripped in half, right down the middle in a shower of sparks and blue electricity. Kakashi stood there and watched the mist ninja breakdown into raw materials, the man's spirit rose from he black sand and zoomed off into the sky. The glow of the Raikiri faded from both of Kakashi's hands.
Kakashi raised eye-smiled at Naruto and crossed his arms. "Thanks for keeping his attention for me, pulling that off was a lot harder the first time around. I get the feeling we'll be seeing more of him soon… Where's everyone else?"
Naruto whistled and his shadow clone came out of the tree line, carrying Sakura on his back.
"Zabuza used the Sakki Technique on her a few minutes ago, she can't move on her own yet... We should be good to move again as soon as we find Shikamaru and Mitsuki-chan 'ttebayo."
Kakashi nodded and pressed the talk button on his earpiece. "I've dealt with Zabuza, and I'm here with Naruto and Sakura, we need to get moving again. What's your location?"
There was a long pause and Mitsuki of all people answered. "We're fine Kakashi-taicho… though I probably have a concussion... Meet us at Anju Oasis on the way, we need to restock on water before we cross the desert."
"Got it, don't push yourself too hard Mitsuki."
Kakashi motioned for Naruto's clone to hand Sakura to him, it did so and dispelled. Kakashi slung Sakura over his shoulder like a burlap sack and jumped into the trees with Naruto close behind.
Naruto worriedly looked at Kakashi as the three of them darted through the trees. "Where's the rest of the team?"
Kakashi answered without looking back. "The person who attacked us back there was Itachi Uchiha, he used Tsukuyomi on them, so they won't be helping us out this mission. I made shadow clones to take them back to Konoha."
Naruto groaned. "Dammit if this goes any further south, we'll have traveled around the world!"
Kakashi shrugged. "It could be worse you know."
Naruto frowned at his teacher. "You're gonna jinx us!"
(AN: Tsukuyomi is hax, so I'm nerfing it a bit. The way it should work is, those with a fully evolved Sharingan are resistant to falling under its control, and those posessing a mangekyo are completely immune as long as their mangekyo is activated.)
Kankuro paced back and forth while he stood at the field HQ of Suna's ninja forces. He stared at the caves off in the distance and hastily turned to the commanding officer of the rescue mission.
"Oi, Baki-sensei. How do you even know if she's still alive huh?"
The man handed a pair of binoculars to Kankuro and spoke in an even and collected tone. "Kankuro, I know you feel anxious, but we're ready to blast the catacombs into rubble if they kill her. We have sensor types monitoring her chakra signature, if it disappears, she's dead, and we'll cave the catacombs in on their heads. We're in a stalemate, and unfortunately, our only way out is for Naruto Uzumaki to arrive. His team should be here before sundown if they're moving quickly enough."
Kankuro sighed. "I just hope you understand, that's my baby-sister in there."
The man received a clipboard from one of his subordinates and put his hand on Kankuro's shoulder in assurance. "…Of course. If it makes you feel better, you've been granted access to Post Sigma, the assault team is on standby there, feel free to join them in their operation as you see fit. However, I'd specifically advise against engaging Sasori. He's capable of turning enemy puppets against their users."
Kankuro bowed and left the general to his work, he muttered beneath his breath as he walked through the command post. "He could've just told me I had to leave... Dammit, so I'd be completely useless in a fight against these guys!"
Kankuro removed one of the scrolls from his back and unsealed Karasu. He did an ammo count of his poison darts, bombs, and smoke pellets. He'd used about half of his stock in the battle with Gaara-chan's Akatsuki kidnappers. His scroll with his spare ammunition was damaged by that blonde prick with the bombs, so reloading before going in was out of the question, and scavenging through the tower for anything would be difficult with all the damage inflicted in the battle that night. Kankuro grunted and re-sealed Karasu, he started into a jog so he could get to Post Sigma ASAP.
"Naruto, you'd better get here fast!"
Finally, something was happening. Sasuke and Kabuto repositioned along the ceiling to get a better vantage point. Sasori had summoned a couple of puppets, they appeared to draw a seal on the ground around Gaara, Kabuto readied his tracking seal so that he could apply it when the ritual started.
"Deidara. When is the Konoha Jinchuuriki supposed to be getting here?"
Deidara fiddled with his eyepiece. "Bossman has it planned out to about an hour and a half from now… Coded message says Kisame hit the timetable perfectly, hm?"
"90 minutes… Why must we always lie in wait? Akatsuki needs more initiative, if only things could move in a more timely manner."
Deidara started to juggle some bombs. "Oh come on Sasori! Why're you in such a damn hurry, hm?"
"Perhaps it's because I'm a reflection of my art, I have a purpose, therefore, I prefer to get things done in a timely fashion."
Deidara rolled his visible eye. "Fuuuuck… Sasori… this again? We'll never see eye to eye on this, hm?"
"True." The Intimidating scorpion man carefully lifted Gaara with his tail and gingerly placed her more toward the center of the seal. He looked at the young girl mumble the words 'naruto save me' to herself. "Such a shame that young potential such as hers must be sacrificed for the greater good."
Deidara looked at Sasori grinned. "What's that proverb? You can't make an omelet without breakin' eggs right? ... I'd never pictured you gettin' all sentimental over anything except your puppets, hm?"
Sasori clicked and clacked. "I grow tired of seeing people lose loved ones in conflict and war, that's why I joined Akatsuki, to eliminate it... When is Pein going to initiate the ritual?"
Deidara chirped in reply. "He said he'd contact us whenever hm? … Except for that arrogant prick Itachi. He's exempt from this bullshit! Kisame still has to do it even though he had to distract Uzumaki for a while hm? This shit's such a bore!"
Sasuke twitched at the mention of his brother's name, and was slightly disappointed that he apparently wasn't anywhere nearby.
Sasori clicked and looked at the ceiling. "… Not anymore… it seems we have some visitors Deidara…"
Deidara looked up and his exposed eye met with Kabuto's, he reached into his satchel and purred. "Cooooool…"
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The Orange Flash: Lost Chapters