Naruto : Venom

We make our way back to Konoha at a much more reasonable pace then the one Pakkun and I took while coming out here. It takes almost twice as long to get back. The fighting is over by the time we are there. There is no need for any form of combat at all, which is something I dread. I don’t want to face my losses now.

Sasuke and I are in training ground seven when Kakashi finds us. We didn’t know where else to go.

”Sasuke. Alvarcus.”

”Kakashi-sensei.” Sasuke greets coolly. I say nothing.

”Sasuke, I have bad news.” Kakashi takes a deep breath.

”Sakura is dead. Alvarcus told me. How did she die?”

”Quickly. Painlessly.”

Liar. I saw her body. A slit throat is not a quick and painless death.

Kakashi glances at me. ”Did he also tell you about his...”

”Family? I figured it out. They’re gone too. Don’t tell me how. He doesn’t need to see it again.”

”I have more bad news.” Kakashi says. ”The Hokage is dead. The service is tomorrow. The gennin who stopped Gaara are getting a seat of honor at the service.” He turns to just me now. ”The other gennin said that you saved their lives. That they would be dead if you didn’t intervene.”

”I didn’t do that much.” I rasp out. Since when is my throat dry?

”That’s not the story going around. A gennin wielding black threads tears a Suna nin to pieces, runs after his teammate, destroys three Sound teams at once, single handedly crushes the Kazekage’s kid’s puppet and then goes on to battle a released bijuu and wins? You made quite a name for yourself today. The shinobi are talking about you the most. They’re using your accomplishments to offset the losses we’ve had. Instead of talking about the bad things, they’re talking about you. You’ve impressed a lot of people.”

”Great.” I reply. All of my anger is gone now, all that’s left in me is a emotionless void. I simply can’t process what happened.

”I’ve got to go now. The jonin are meeting to figure out the damages and pick a temporary Hokage until the next one is sworn in. We lost a lot of people today. The next few months are going to be hectic, between rebuilding, missions, and getting a new Hokage. I hear I’m in the running. How cool would that be? You got trained by a Hokage!”

Sasuke snorts. ”Nothing would ever get done. You’d call important meetings and then show up late for them.”

Kakashi laughs. ”True! I’ll be around. Take care of Alvarcus, Sasuke.” He leaves with a swirl of leafs.

”Get up Alvarcus. You’ve sat on the ground long enough. We’re going to my house.” Sasuke hauls me to my feet.

”Alright.”

I don’t even have a home anymore. Home was where my parents were, and they are gone now. We make it there with little fanfare. The civilians are in designated areas until the aftermath can be cleaned up. The shinobi know better than to try and approach someone out of it like me. When a shinobi isn’t paying attention, they stab fist and hide the body later.

We enter Sasuke’s house. I head to the couch. I just want to sleep.

”No you don’t! You will not ruin a perfectly good couch by getting filth all over it! There’s a bathroom down the hall to the right. Clean up. You can take the spare bedroom this time.” How generous.

”I don’t have any clean clothes.”Is that my voice? I’ve never sounded so beaten.

”I’ll find some your size. There are a lot of clothes around here of all sizes. Fair warning, most have the Uchiha crest on them.”

”That’s fine.” I smirk. ”I can always burn it off.”

”Funny. No jutsu in the house. Go wash up. I’ll leave the clothes outside the door.” His eyes flash crimson.

”Sasuke. Did you just-”

”Not. A. Word.” He shudders. ”Imagine if my fan-girls found out about that. They would switch targets from trying to get me, to trying to get us together. Gross.”

”I’m repressing that. Repressing it very deeply. Never to be heard of again.” I make my way to the bathroom.

Sasuke was right, I’m filthy. I’m covered in blood splatters, dirt, and who knows what else. It takes a solid ten minutes of scrubbing to get clean. Then I notice something. I’m missing strips of skin on my right arm and shoulder from Temari’s wind attack. My threads are showing. I can see them, mimicking what my muscles would do. It is horrifically fascinating. I need to learn how to regrow skin using medical chakra.

”Clothes are outside.” Sasuke calls to me.

”Thanks.”

I wrap up my shower, and dry myself off. I look in the mirror. I’ve changed so much over the past month and a half. The only part of me that isn’t marked by a scar is my head and neck. Everything else has at least one scar. It looks like some stabbed and sliced me repeatedly with a kunai.

”Aw shit. I lost my sunglasses. Everyone saw my eyes today.”

That is concerning, yet also relieving. No one made a big deal about them, even the people who have never seen them before. It’s nice to know I’m still accepted. I put on the pants Sasuke got for me. I leave the shirt off for now. I want to wrap up my arm to hide the threads. Plus it will provide me with a distraction. I don’t want to think about everything I’ve lost today. Not yet. Not ever.

I exit the bathroom.

”Hey Sasuke? Do you have any bandages I can use?”

”You’re hurt? Do we need to go to the hospital?” He comes out of his bedroom, rolls of bandages in hand and stops. ”Holy shit man. What happened to you?”

Oh. I suppose the dirt and blood did cover up most of the scars. Now they are on display.

”The Jiongu, what Orochimaru infected me with, is parasitic. It lives in my body, eating my chakra to sustain itself and grow. In exchange I can use it in battle, the downside is that I have to let it through my skin. Every time.”

”Those are self inflicted?” Sasuke asks concerningly.

”Yeah, most of them. You should see my back. It’s way worse.”

”Show me.” I turn around. ”I didn’t believe you when you said those masks were stitched on.”

”They are.”

”Isn’t it uncomfortable when you lay down on them?”

I burst out laughing.

”What? What did I say?”

”I show you my masks, and your reaction is ’I bet that’s uncomfortable.’ Hahahaha! Oh man I did not expect that! Ah I needed a good laugh.”

”Just take the damn bandages.” He throws them at me. ”What do you need them for anyways? You’re not bleeding anywhere.”

”Uh Sasuke? See the giant black mark on my right arm? That’s not a tattoo. I don’t have any skin there.”

”Alvarcus. Hospital. Now!”

”Oh calm down I’ll go tomorrow. It’s not that big of a deal to me. The Jiongu replaced my muscles. That’s why it’s black. Actually, the Jiongu replaced everything but my heart and skin.” I say while wrapping bandages around the exposed Jiongu.

”Fine. No hospital this time. Any other surprises you want to tell me about?”

”Hmm...” I think about that, ”Oh! I can make my chakra strings change into each element I have! And I can have one made per finger!”

”You and your damn chakra strings, they aren’t that impressive.”

I lash out with four earth natured strings and bind them around Sasuke.

”I said no jutsu in the house!”

”Admit it’s a cool idea, or I change one of the elements.”

”I won’t!”

I make a water change and douse Sasuke with them.

”Oh come on I just put this shirt on.”

”Admit it.”

”No.” ZAP. ”Ow. Was that lightning nature? Okay, I can see how that would be effective. I give.”

”Damn it. I was going to use fire next.”

”Go to sleep! I’ve had enough of you for one day.”

I take his advice and go to the spare bedroom. The bed is much better than the couch. I don’t sleep well that night. Visions of my family dying keep replaying over and over. Removing Sakura from the scroll. The sickening thuds the body made. I don’t sleep at all.