A Tree or A Root?

Chapter 8: But Words Will Never Hurt Me

(Arc II: A Monument To All Of My Sins)

Opening: Gekidou, by Uverworld. Album: Awakeve

"The language of friendship is not words, but meanings."-Henry David Thoreau

Emiko sits on her bed, curled with her arms hugging her knees. She couldn't sleep all night, after her brother basically telling her to leave him alone forever outside the ramen stand could you blame her. She missed her brother dearly, she would ask her parents daily about him, and for some reason they were always vague with their answers:

"He'll be ok."

"He's busy."

It never made sense to her, but she had no choice but to eventually drop it. That was a mistake. She should have kept trying, maybe she could have stopped things becoming the way they are now. This feeling, this regret hurts worse than anything she'd ever experienced before. In a burst, she jumps out of bed and changes to more athletic clothes. She needed to get her mind off of this, so she did the only thing that made sense; train until there are no other thoughts.

Maybe then her heart will just let her be.

ToR -

The two teams stand across from one another, one adorning the Leaf headband, the other, Sound. Hayate stands in the middle of them,

"Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, are you ready?"

Three nods in response.

"Kimmimaro Kaguya, Guren of the Sound, Kagerō Fuma, are you ready?"

Three more nods.

"Good, Hajime."

Wasting no time, Kimmimaro rushes toward Team Kakashi, leaving his teammates behind. Team 7 splits up, somewhat surprised at the Kaguya's speed; upon Sasuke's landing he's forced to roll as his Sharingan can see an influx of chakra under his feet. Expecting a spear of earth, it surprises him to see a beautiful pink crystal roar from the cement. From that crystal, another crystal extends out, racing towards the young Uchiha. Sasuke quickly steps out of the way into the waiting ambush of the Fuma clan member, or so was planned. Instead, Kagerō's body is hefted in the air by a Haruno uppercut, where, if not for a timely crystal shield, he would've been skewered by arrows. However, that does not stop him from hitting the ceiling with a resounding crack. Kimimaro descends on Sasuke with white...things poking out of his body.

Sasuke, having none of that, puts major distance between himself and the Kaguya. Next to him, his teammates land.

"Do we assume the Fuma guy is out?" Asks Sakura, which Naruto responds with, "No, no way it'll be that easy."

Sasuke grunts and responds, "Tch, D & C?"

"No, can't you feel their chakra. Easy Jonin level reserves, and that Kaguya douche is easily the quickest."

Sakura stares at them, as the Fuma pries himself from the ceiling.

"What should we do? Taking them on one on one won't really do anything…"

Naruto clicks his tongue, his mind racing. He gestures to the crystal girl, "She's our biggest problem. She's the mainline support."

"How do we take her out? The Kaguya's speed is hard to dodge."

Naruto looks at both of his teammates out of the corner of his eyes, and his body language verbalized his upcoming question for him.

"Naruto, we're good, we can do this."

"Yeah, you can trust us."

No, I really can't.

Smirking, Naruto nods.

"I'll take on the Kaguya and Fuma, I can make an opening for you two to take out miss crystal."

A part of Sasuke wanted to tell him that's crazy. However, he had to admit, that's the best chance they've got. Naruto's true power was still a question, and even Kakashi seemed staggered whenever they whispered about it. He was gonna amp up his training to an 11 after this, he was tired of playing backup.

Sakura moves to protest, but Sasuke responds affirmatively too quickly to allow her.

Naruto stands up and walks towards the three sound shinobi. As he's walking, he slides the ring off his right hand's index finger, and crushes it.

And in the next moment, he disappears.

And in the next moment, he reappears, in front of the Kaguya. He hammers his fist in his jaw, rocketing the boy into the ceiling. Next, he grabs Guren by her face and slams her into the ground, then throws her hard across the room. She skids on the ground before colliding with the wall. Sasuke, trying hard not to gape, grabs Sakura's hand and races to Guren. The Fuma, just witnessing both of his JONIN level teammates get manhandled, throws his hands in front of him summoning spikes of earth.

"You're too slow."

His eyes widen, as the genin -bullshit- spears his hand into the Sound shinobi's back. Kagerō roars as Naruto rips his hand out. The Uzumaki falls back, annoyed.

I couldn't make my hand go deeper. This damn shaking!

Kimimaro appears in front of him, slashing forward with his wrist blades. Naruto sidesteps, and the two of them engage in a brilliant showcase of speed and reaction time. Whilst those two dance, Sasuke and Sakura are forced to constantly dodge sprouting crystals. The defense they provide annoys Sasuke endlessly. And, while not known to him, Sakura is also clearly annoyed. She was tired of having to rely on others to make up for her, she was trained by a sannin damnit! She rushes Guren with pure rage in her eyes, and Guren erects another huge crystal tower, confident they'll keep her safe, like they always have. Then, she can only watch helplessly as the pink haired girl lets out a roar and slams a fist into the pillar, and the whole pillar groans, and then cracks. She rolls out of the way as the tower breaks down, and hundreds of crystals rain down. Sakura grins at her handiwork, only to feel an odd sensation in her gut. She puts her hand there, and brings it to her face.

Why were her fingers red? Why was the world spinning?

Sasuke wasn't quick enough. He was too busy being proud of Sakura to even think that maybe Guren could control the crystals even in that small of a state. From the destroyed pillar, she had controlled a shard to pierce his teammate. He should have known! Another shard explodes towards Sakura, aiming for her head. He growls.

"Like HELL!" He appears in front of Sakura and catches the crystal with his hand, it cuts him minimally. His Sharingan seems to change as he gazes upon Guren.

Sakura stares at the back of his head, her body not wanting to do what she wants it to.

"Sakura, fall back. Heal yourself."

"Sasuke…"

"Go, I'll take it from here."

"But…"

He glances back at her, his Sharingan spinning wildly.

"Go. Now."

Sakura limps away, a glowing green hand to her stomach.

Sasuke, after making sure she's safe, crushes the crystal in his hand. Guren growls, and rushes through hand seals,

"Shoton: Endless Playground!"

Crystals sprout all around him, all sharp and ready to skewer him. He tries to dodge, but is too slow, and gets pierced through the stomach. However, his body splits into a myriad of small hawks, and they all rush towards Guren, beak first. She summons a crystal in front of her, but is forced to summon another behind her as the hawks split apart. She creates two more, one on the left and one on the right, trying her best to stop the progression of the hawks. It works, the pillars surrounding her stop the hawks advance. She creates another crystal to connect between the front and back one to stop any possible overhead attack. She's happy to have some space to breathe, whatever the Uchiha's eyes had evolved to seemed to also have increased his reaction time. Wait, Sharingan evolution? Those hawks….

Her eyes widen, as she looks around her structure, is this even real? She moves to cut her finger on one of the crystals that surround her, except they keep getting farther and farther. In the next moment, the crystals stop getting farther, and instead rush back towards her. Unable to react, she is squished into a red mess by her own crystals.

Sasuke watches silently as the girl drops unconscious, her eyes rolling to the back of her head as her body hits the ground.

"Sharingan: Death Game."

Sasuke turns around to go help his teammate, however instead he is forced to dodge as a purple crystal roars from the earth.

"Tch, I should've known it wouldn't be that easy." The Uchiha states, looking at the perfectly fine Guren across from him. Said girl chuckles, "C'mon now, I figured it was a genjutsu long before my supposed death."

Sasuke just smirks, "Perhaps, but still you weren't quick enough."

"Wha-"

From the earth underneath her feet, Sakura rockets up with a chakra enforced fist. 'SHANNARO!"

Her fist meets Guren's chin and the Sound shinobi gets propelled upwards, but Sakura wasn't done yet, she grabs the other girl's foot and with another roar throws her to the waiting Sasuke. He unleashes a torrent of flames, which hit the girl directly and drastically burn her. Ignoring her screams, Sasuke and Sakura give each other knuckle taps. Medics come out and quickly scoop her up, while Sasuke and Sakura rush to go help their teammate, but both stop are forced to watch at the sheer one-sidedness of the fight. For every attack the Kaguya does, Naruto easily avoids it and punishes him for it. It was like watching an adult systematically dismantle their child's attempt to do something. It was obvious that Naruto was going to win this fight, yet the Kaguya kept fighting on.

Kimimaro roars another one of his dances and spins wildly at the Uzumaki, trying his damndest to hit the bastard at least once. It was all for naught however, as Naruto seemed to grow tired of the fight. Mid-spin Naruto catches one of his arms, and brings him closer. He digs his fist into the Kaguya's stomach, and continously rains fist after first onto the Kaguya. Each fist forces the Kaguya higher and higher into the air, and when he's high enough, Naruto sends another fist into the pale boy's stomach; this one having much more force than the others. The bone fighter gets sent high up in the air, where Naruto, showing his superb speed, appears on top of him. He roars as he brings down an axe kick with authority, reminiscent of a certain slug princess. The poor Kaguya can only cough up blood and spit as he is sent flying back down to the ground, the impact creating a sizable crater in the arena floor.

Tch, even my leg started shaking.

Naruto lands back down on the ground gracefully and is met with both of his teammates' look of shock, amazement, and, oddly, disappointment.

"You're still hiding things from us, huh?"

Oddly enough, he actually wanted to apologise to them, but was stopped by the referee announcing them the winners.

Naruto wanted to deny vigorously that those looks had an effect on him, however he just couldn't. Why can't his heart just leave him be already?

Ending: Passing Afternoon by Iron and Wine. Album: Our Endless Numbered Days

And, scene! Tell me what ya think? There will be more fights next chapter, and exposition on Naruto's abilities. A big concern of mine is how contrived this all feels, so please tell me how it feels reading it.