Beyond The Stars (Naruto Fanfiction)

Chapter 87~ Faith

We pushed forward, moving quickly in hopes to catch up with Sasuke. I noticed the hesitant look on Shikamaru's face as he tossed the food pills to Naruto. "A parting gift from Choji! Eat up!"

"On his own and the advantages, we left him with he has a 42% chance of success," I told the group, a smirk on my face. Naruto passed the bag to Kiba then looked at me. "That doesn't exactly make us feel better."

"Have faith, there is no real way to calculate will." I nodded gaining an approval nod from Shikamaru. We weaved through the trees, going at a fast pace. "Don't worry Choji has a plan, he brought along the Akimichi's clan secret triple threat. Pills that grant a person explosive power, there are three of them, green, yellow, and red. The amount of energy that each of those pills contain is absolutely massive."

"Oh, I got ya, that's why he was acting so confident." Naruto smiled, looking back slightly as we continued running at a relatively steady pace. I looked over at Shikamaru, an unsettled look on my face. I tapped his shoulder, and let the others get slightly ahead of us. "Those pills have a side effect, don't they?"

"Yes, I just hope he can beat him using only the green pill." He muttered letting out a deep breath, I grabbed his arm as we continued running. I saw him visible wince as my hand touched the white fabric. "How troublesome."

"Relax and keep your arm steady." Slipping off the white cloth, I saw a large graze, probably an inch or two deep into the skin. I placed my other hand on his arm, watching as it turned a slightly green hue. Once I removed my hand, the cut was significantly smaller than before but wasn't healed completely. "My apologies, that's the best my skills can provide."

"This is fine, it didn't need healing." He looked away from me, a slight pinkish color forming on his cheeks. Did I make it worse? Was he running a fever? My attention was diverted to Kiba and Naruto's conversation as Shikamaru and I caught up with the rest of the group. "You know how Akamaru can tell an enemy's strength by his scent right? He's pretty worried Choji won't be able to take him on alone, even with those pills."

"He's right to be if we're looking at it objectively, that giant's ability is unknown. The chances of Choji beating him is close to zero. However, that is the case most often in battle." Hyuga explained, his eyes trained on the forest in front of us. "Chances are never zero, calculating battle success rates is undeterminable. Yes, it's true Akimichi might not have the favored one in this battle. But there are far too many variables for this battle to determine a winner from the start."

"Choji knew that going on this mission is life or death." Shikamaru finished, only for Naruto to interject. "Yeah, but Shikamaru."

"I've already anticipated the worst-case scenario, where one of us fights on our own. If we're not ready to lay down our lives for this we may not be able to reach Sasuke in time. Choji is good enough to hold his own, he doesn't have a lot of confidence, he thinks that out of all of us he is the weakest link." I took in the words the chunin was saying, nodding along momentarily.

"That's because the guy kinda is, anyone can see that. That's pretty much the reason he stayed behind, he wanted to be some kind of use to us." Kiba spoke lightly, having an uncaring tone laced in his voice.

"Just as I thought. Everyone always thought that way about Choji, but I always knew the real Choji. More than me, or Neji, or more than everybody here. Choji has strength, he always has." Shikamaru trusted Akimichi greatly, it was kind of relieving seeing a bond like theirs which was built on pure trust. It kind of reminded me of Karliah and me. "I gave Akimichi some inside information on Jirobo, some tactics that just might give him the upper hand in some situations."

We kept running as our conversations lacked, our only goal now was catching up to Sasuke. Mine is to keep everyone alive, I do hope I made the right judgment about Akimichi. However, I have a good feeling about that battle. I had a hunch he would pull through this one.

I came to a complete halt, my curse mark was showing it's self again, this time at a much more alarming rate. Stopping at a branch, and keeping my back up against it for support. I clutched my neck feeling it quite warm and chakra swarming.

"Woah guys, Kritanta are you okay?" I made out the voice of Kiba as the others also stopped moving. "Jirobo must have started his second stage."

"Kri-Chan you don't sound okay." Naruto got closer, looking at my neck curiously. The mark was spreading, I peeled my hand off my neck to see the black, wave-like pattern had gone all the way to my wrist. "Kri-Chan I really don't think you're okay. It's okay to go back, the four of us can handle this!"

"No, I'm fine." I nodded taking a step forward, only to wobble as I did. An arm grabbed me by the waist to hold me up, I gave a slight smile to Shikamaru as I took in another deep breath. "Alright, Hyuga come here."

"Yes?" He questioned, looking at me skeptically. I motioned for Naruto to come over here as well. "You can see chakra points in the body, correct?"

"I can, what of it?"

"I'm going to need you to cut off the supply to the left side of my neck," I responded quickly than looking to the other two who were near me. "Shikamaru and Naruto, you guys will keep me steady to reduce the window for error."

"This is extremely dangerous to do so close to the brain and heart." Hyuga reasoned, and I could see the skeptical look on Naruto's face. Kiba then interjected as he came closer. "This isn't going to kill her right?"

"It shouldn't, I said I was in charge of making sure everyone stayed alive. That includes myself." I answered Kiba quickly, hopefully reassuring him enough to convince them all. "And Hyuga, from what I've read there are five points in the neck, all that needs to be done is stop the supply from the two most left in my neck. Make it temporary so I can get close enough to the sound four without pain from this."

"I can try, but you two are going to have to keep her completely still." He looked at the two others, Shikamaru nodded, but Naruto was more hesitant. "Kri-Chan, is this what they want to do to Sasuke?"

"I'm not going to hide it anymore, trust me when I saw I wasn't keeping this from you." I muttered watching him focus on me. "He already has one, right now they are expanding it, giving him options to more power that will coax him down the wrong path."

"Are you sure?"

"It was my fault, I couldn't stop Orochimaru during the Chunin exams. I was too slow and lost control after you were knocked out." I looked down, feeling guilt rise up in me as I told the blonde-haired ninja the truth. "I had a feeling something happened, you and Sakura were weird afterward. This just gives me more reason to help Sasuke."

"Right, now let's get this over with, we're losing time." I nodded, convincing myself that this would help. I leaned into Shikamaru, who had control of my waist. Naruto grabbed my arms, holding them in front of me. "Whatever happens don't let go, do you understand?"

"Yes."

"You got it Kri-Chan!"

"On your mark Astara." Hyuga activated his eyes and stared at my neck. "Call me Kritanta, and whenever you're ready."

I swear those few moments of anticipation were the worst. I knew the amount of pain was coming, but how could someone possibly be ready for that. I bit my lip, struggling to keep as quiet as possible as his hands struck my neck, then again. I went limp in Shikamaru's grasp, my legs buckling as that line of chakra was completely cut off. "It's done."

I nodded unable to respond as I adjusted to the pain that was slowly subsiding. I was shifted onto Shikamaru's back, Naruto helping gently.

"We keep moving then, how long do you think you'll need?" Shikamaru asked, looking over his shoulder. "Just a few minutes to adjust, I can fill you guys in on all I know about the sound four."

"Alright, then we keep moving as she talks."

"Right!"