Naruto: The Chosen Undead-Chapter no.178 Naruto

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Chapter 178 Konoha’s Cursed Team 7

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A few minutes earlier, on the nearly completed bridge, Naruto was seconds from dying of boredom.

For the others, it had only been a couple of weeks since they arrived in the Wave. And with only fifteen days to prepare for Gato's next move, tensions were high. But for Naruto, thanks to Lordran's warped sense of time, it felt like he'd been stuck here for two months.

The waiting was unbearable.

And since Gato was still hiding like a cockroach under a floorboard, there was nothing to do but stand around and wait for someone to try to kill them.

So Naruto did what any reasonable shinobi would do under the crushing weight of tedium.

He started messing with pebbles.

He focused his chakra. A few small stones rose from the planks beneath his feet, floating like lazy sparks before zipping toward his favorite target.

"Hey, Sasuke," Naruto said with a grin. "Check this out."

A pebble arched past Sasuke's head and froze mid-air.

"...Naruto," Sasuke muttered, tone dangerously flat. "Stop."

"Stop what?" Naruto asked innocently, moving another pebble between his fingers.

"Don't."

"Don't what?" Naruto flicked the pebble toward Sasuke's forehead, stopping it just before impact.

"I swear, if you hit me with that, I will punch you."

"I'm not doing anything," Naruto said, arms stretched in an exaggerated pose. "Just standing here. Like this."

"Do it," Sasuke growled.

Aoi Rokusho stood unfazed. His eyes sharpened as he raised the Sword of the Thunder God, the air around it buzzing with ozone. He wasn't impressed. He was bored.

"Great," Aoi muttered, his grip loosening. "I get to fight the two weak genin."

"I'll attack. You defend," Sasuke said quietly, stepping forward with his claymore resting against his shoulder. Sakura gave a short nod, fingers already slipping a kunai into her grip.

Aoi grinned. Lightning danced along the edge of his weapon. "Let's see what Konoha's little genin can do."

He moved first.

A sharp step forward. A clean, diagonal cut from shoulder to hip. Sasuke met it with a powerful block, the broad claymore bracing against the slash. The moment of impact sent a jolt down his arms. The Sword of the Thunder God hummed with built-in voltage, trying to crawl down the metal like a snake. But Sasuke had prepared for that. Blue sparks arced off his hands as he forced lightning chakra through his own weapon, creating a barrier of matched polarity. The charge canceled out barely, and Sasuke shoved Aoi back.

"You've trained?"

Sasuke didn't reply. He took a low stance, grounding his feet. With a short breath, fire chakra followed the lightning through his blade. The edge shimmered faintly, a layer of superheated air enveloping the claymore. Sparks jumped. Heat rippled.

Their next exchange was brutal.

Steel met plasma in a thunderclap of force. Sasuke struck high, then low, the weight of the claymore turned into controlled swings powered by short bursts of chakra. Aoi sidestepped one blow and ducked another, answering with rapid jabs from his lightning blade that hissed through the air.

Each time they clashed, the energy crackled across the bridge.

Aoi's movements were elegant, meant to outmaneuver. He slipped inside Sasuke's reach with a sudden spin, slashing at the midsection. But Sasuke dropped his stance, dragged the claymore up from below, and caught the strike on the flat of the blade. Their feet scraped across the stone as the pressure mounted.

Then Sasuke stepped in, shoulder-checking Aoi. The older man slid back, smirking as he twisted into a low cut aimed at Sasuke's ankle.

Sasuke jumped, flipping once in the air, then came down with a two-handed strike. Fire flared from the claymore just before impact. Aoi raised his sword to meet it, but the heat forced him to retreat, boots skidding across the bridge's damp surface.

Sakura made her move.

She tossed a kunai, not at Aoi, but in front of him. A smoke bomb detonated midair, obscuring vision.

Aoi didn't panic. He stepped out of the cloud and turned straight into a shoulder slam from Sasuke. The boy had circled through the mist. His next strike was clean and vicious, fire-laced, aimed for Aoi's weapon arm.

Aoi caught it. Barely.

The two swords clashed again. Sparks exploded between them. This time, the lightning from Aoi's blade surged harder. Sasuke's blade vibrated, metal groaning from the sheer voltage. But Sasuke gritted his teeth and channeled his chakra natures through his arms and into the claymore.

The blade ignited.

For a second, both weapons locked, howling against each other in a collision of raw power.

Sakura, from behind, hurled another kunai with an explosive tag. Aoi saw it too late. He deflected it, but the blast threw off his balance. Sasuke capitalized. One step. A twist of the hips. A final overhead cleave, chakra bursting from his core into his blade.

Aoi raised the Sword of the Thunder God again.

The two weapons met, and the explosion of elemental force rocked the bridge.

When the light cleared, Sasuke was crouched low, breathing hard. His claymore was intact, smoke curling off the blade. Aoi stood opposite him, the edge of his own sword flickering, unstable for the first time.

"You're better than I expected," Aoi said, his grin gone.

"And you talk too much," Sasuke replied coldly.

His Sharingan spun faster.

Aoi shifted his stance, one foot sliding back as he prepared for another heavy exchange. His eyes stayed locked on Sasuke's hands, reading the tension in the boy's posture. He was expecting an attack.

He wasn't expecting Sakura.

The kunai flew, not at Aoi, but at Sasuke.

Aoi's eyes flicked toward it in confusion for only half a second. But Sasuke didn't hesitate. He caught the blade and plunged it into the ground at his feet.

A pulse rippled out.

Sakura's hands flashed through a final sequence of signs, the chakra network in her body lighting up as her sealing technique activated. A cube of energy erupted around Aoi in shimmering walls. A trap, anchored by every kunai she had thrown earlier. Each one a calculated placement.

A plan only the two of them had known.

Aoi's expression tightened, amused but wary now. He ran his hand along the inner wall of the barrier. The surface sizzled against his skin. "What's the point of trapping me in a barrier if it will last you only a few seconds?"

"That's all I need."

Outside the cube, Sasuke weaved signs quickly. His chakra surged, brighter and wilder than before, lightning flickering like a storm condensed into a single point.

Chidori.

He launched forward. The bridge cracked beneath his feet, energy screaming from his arm like a comet in full burn. He closed the distance with terrifying speed.

Sakura deactivated the barrier at the precise instant he struck.

Aoi met him with a step into the opening and a raised blade.

Chidori met plasma.

The sound was deafening.

Sparks screamed across the bridge. Sasuke strained against Aoi's strength, but the older shinobi absorbed the blow, sliding back only a few inches. His sword hissed with controlled lightning. The ground beneath his feet glowed faintly.

"You've got power," Aoi said. "But power without mastery is nothing. Your form is off. Your focus is split."

Sasuke's teeth clenched. His Sharingan spun, trying to read the next move. Too late.

Aoi twisted his sword, sending a pulse of lightning directly through the clash point.

Sasuke cried out as the surge tore through his arm and shoulder, smoke rising from his skin. His Chidori sputtered out, and he dropped to one knee.

Sakura's hands blurred again. The barrier flared back to life, this time thinner and faster, sealing Aoi before he could finish Sasuke off. He stepped back into the shimmering cube with a calm expression.

"Interesting," he muttered, tapping the edge of the barrier with a knuckle. "You made it thinner for speed. But that makes it fragile, doesn't it?"

He smirked.

"And I planned for this."

Sakura's eyes widened as she realized, too late.

Before the barrier could seal shut, Aoi had already made his move. His umbrella twirled through the air like a glinting coin. With a click, it opened mid-flight, catching the wind and the trap had been sprung.

A moment later, the hissing began.

Dozens, no, hundreds of senbon needles rained from the sky in a spiraling storm of death.

Sasuke knelt at the center of it all, body still twitching from the voltage Aoi had pumped through him. His limbs refused to move. His eyes could only watch as death fell.

And Sakura stood frozen, hands still locked in the seal keeping Aoi trapped within her barrier. If she dropped it to protect Sasuke, they would both be exposed. If she held it, he would be torn apart.

Her jaw clenched, and then she moved.

Sakura threw herself between Sasuke and the storm.

The senbon struck her almost immediately. Thin metal needles slammed into her shoulders, her back, her arms. Several embedded deep in her thighs. One drove straight through her bicep, punching out the other side. Another sliced her cheek open. Blood sprayed from the gashes in tight arcs, glistening in the cold light.

The worst wasn't the blood.

It was the poison.

Within seconds, her limbs burned with numbness. The agony was a dull roar behind her eyes. A thousand needles tearing and freezing her all at once.

But she didn't fall.

Sakura stood her ground, trembling, knees buckling but unyielding. Sasuke looked up at her, his voice barely a breath. "Why...?"

She gave him a strained smile, blood streaking her chin. "My body moved before I could think."

"A noble act," Aoi murmured. "Tell me, was it because you realized the Uchiha's the stronger one? Because you wanted to keep me caged? Or was it some pitiful crush you mistake for love?"

Sakura didn't answer.

Aoi stepped forward inside the cube, his movements slow and deliberate. He raised the Sword of the Thunder God and pressed the glowing edge to the inner barrier wall.

Sakura's eyes widened in horror. "No—"

The blade slid through the barrier like smoke through a crack. The plasma didn't clash with the chakra. It bypassed it.

The illusion of safety shattered in an instant.

Aoi didn't hesitate.

He drove the blade straight into her stomach.

Sakura jerked violently. Her body went rigid, every nerve lighting up in white-hot agony. Her lips parted but no scream came. Only a gasp. Air. Blood.

The Sword of the Thunder God didn't slice.

It invaded.

Aoi leaned close, his voice low and cruel. "This isn't a blade that cuts," he whispered. "It burns. It sears everything it touches. Your nerves, your stomach lining, your lungs are boiling from the inside. This is no bleeding. Just pain."

Then he twisted the handle.

The scream tore from Sakura's throat at last. Sasuke lunged but he was too slow. The barrier shattered into fragments of light as Aoi stepped back, the damage already done.

Sakura collapsed into Sasuke's arms, her breath shallow, her hands limp. Blood gurgled in her mouth, spilling past her lips as her eyes began to glass over.

Aoi stared down at her, eyes blank, tone devoid of care. "That's one name I'll never remember," he said. "Not worth it."

Sasuke didn't speak.

He simply knelt beside Sakura, his eyes fixated on the cauterized hole in her stomach. Her skin was pale. Her breathing, faint. Her expression... empty.

With trembling fingers, he reached into his palm. A storage seal etched there by Sakura herself unfurled with a flicker of chakra. From it, he drew a single Estus Flask, Naruto's gift for emergencies.

He wasted no time.

He pressed the flask to her lips and tilted it gently. Golden light spilled from the mouth of the bottle, cascading over her like sunlight through mist. The glow seeped into her wounds, knitting torn organs, softening the burns. Her breathing stabilized, faint but steady.

Sasuke exhaled. Just once. Then he leaned in, gently closed her eyes, and whispered, "I'll handle the rest."

Across the bridge, Aoi made no move because he couldn't. The moment Sakura collapsed and Sasuke's gaze met his, the genjutsu had snapped into place. A simple illusion, but timed perfectly.

Aoi thought he was standing over their lifeless bodies. He didn't notice the shift. The genjutsu veiled reality just long enough for Sasuke to act.

But the Sword of the Thunder God didn't tolerate weakness. It shocked Aoi with a snap of voltage, jolting him back into reality just in time to see Sasuke rushing toward him. The Sharingan spun faster than ever. Red veins pulsed across Sasuke's face.

The first blow came like a hammer.

Sasuke's claymore crashed down, exploding in sparks as it struck Aoi's blade. Lightning met steel, and the bridge trembled.

Aoi gritted his teeth, parrying, but Sasuke didn't give him time to breathe.

A savage follow-up, then another. Each strike came with fire. Literally.

Sasuke's chakra flared, and his next swing was wrapped in flame. The blade screamed through the air, the heat distorting the space around it.

Clang.

Aoi blocked again, but the fire licked his arm, scorching his sleeves.

Sasuke spun, drove his foot into Aoi's ribs, sending him stumbling. Before Aoi could recover, Sasuke launched back, hands forming signs with violent speed.

Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!

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Meanwhile…

Sakura heard only fragments.

Voices that were warbled and distant, like echoes underwater. Her body lay still, motionless, the agony long since replaced by a cold storm coursing through her veins. She should have been unconscious. Dying, even.

Instead, she was standing.

The world around her stretched into a vast, endless void.

Beneath her feet: rippling water, impossibly black. Above her: her reflection was staring back with piercing eyes.

Only it wasn't just a reflection.

"Shannaro! Looks like we finally meet."

Sakura blinked. "You... I know you."

"Of course you do," the reflection replied, leaning closer. "I'm the voice in your head. The one you've been ignoring for years."

"Wh-what's going on?"

"Oh, you're dying," Inner Sakura said bluntly. "Your organs? Liquid soup. Mind? Hanging by a thread. Heart? Slowing like it's stuck in molasses. And that green-haired, glowstick-swinging bastard?" Her grin vanished. "Officially my least favorite color now."

Sakura let out a weak chuckle. "Sasuke-kun will save us... Naruto gave us those Estus things..."

Inner Sakura rolled her eyes. "Why don't you save us, bitch?"

"Hey!" Sakura flinched, but the bite in her voice faltered.

Inner Sakura's expression didn't change. If anything, the anger beneath it sharpened. "I'm tired," she said. "Tired of waiting. Tired of you standing on the sidelines, praying someone else will win your battles. You want to survive?"

A pause.

"You want strength?"

Sakura hesitated.

Inner Sakura's smirk returned... wider, wilder, unstoppable. "Then switch."

A hand shot up from the dark waters and grabbed her by the collar, yanking her down with a splashless pull.

As the void swallowed her, a voice echoed through her mind: Let me show you what we can do.

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Sasuke panted heavily, lungs burning as he lowered his guard just a fraction.

Then Aoi stepped through the flames.

The fireball had struck him head-on, and the damage showed. His jumpsuit was charred and smoldering, melted into his skin at the shoulder and chest. Blistered flesh cracked as he moved, the burns angry and raw, oozing beneath blackened, warped fabric. Steam hissed from his body as chakra tried to cauterize and heal the wounds mid-battle. And yet... he smiled.

"You think this is pain?" Aoi growled, voice warped with agony and hatred. "I'm going to boil you from the inside out, Uchiha. You'll pay in screams."

He raised the Sword of the Thunder God and swung.

A bolt of searing lightning exploded forth, streaking toward Sasuke like a divine judgment.

BOOM.

A chakra barrier surged up, crackling with radiant light, blocking the bolt midair. Sparks flew across the bridge.

Sasuke blinked, turning sharply.

Sakura was standing. Her skin glistened with steam as chakra pulsed visibly beneath it. She held an Estus Flask in one hand. Her other gripped a war axe freshly unsealed from her storage seal.

"I said don't stand there looking pretty," she called, her voice hoarse but alive. "Charge up the Chidori. I'll give you the opening."

Then she tossed him the flask. "Let's fuck this bastard up. Shannaro."

Sasuke stared, stunned, as he saw her sclera had turned ink-black. Her pupils burned a brilliant white, and her chakra rose around her in waves of angry violet. It shook the air and made Sasuke's hair stand up.

"You okay?"

Sakura tilted her head, smirking. "I mean... you could kiss me to make me feel better."

Inner Sakura had properly taken over as she stepped forward. "But I'll ask for that after we finish this."

Sakura vanished in a flicker of chakra.

The war axe came screaming down like a falling guillotine. Aoi raised his plasma blade just in time to block, sparks and light shrieking into the air. But she didn't pause. Didn't reset.

She cackled. And swung again. Harder. Uglier. More chaotic.

Her arms blurred in erratic, unnatural arcs like a marionette with severed strings. No form. No stance. Just speed and hatred. Each strike came from an angle no normal fighter would use. From behind her back, under her armpit, and even while mid-air twisting sideways.

She was dancing, if the dance was performed by a lunatic with bones made of glass and rage.

Then her fingers twitched.

Chakra threads, almost invisible, snapped out like spidersilk. Kunai ripped from the ground—four of them. They spun midair in unnatural formations and hurtled toward Aoi from behind as she pressed the axe forward. He ducked one. Blocked another. The third grazed his thigh. The fourth embedded into his shoulder.

He stumbled.

And she laughed again.

From behind her, the kunai flipped back on their own. Sakura yanked them with her chakra threads and whipped them forward again. They were her claws. Her fangs. Then came the boom.

A kunai tagged with a paper bomb, hurled between her own legs mid-spin, detonated.

Krakoom.

The fire swallowed both of them. But only one emerged.

Sakura burst from the smoke and fire like a demon torn from myth. Her skin glowed behind a net of violet chakra threads, like cracked glass fused to muscle. Her lattice barrier hissed with the strain, thin lines of red oozing where needles and heat had scorched her.

She was bleeding.

She didn't care.

Her right leg swung up mid-run. Her heel slammed down like a sledgehammer into Aoi's kneecap.

Crack.

He screamed.

And she was already moving.

Her chakra threads reeled in her half-melted axe from the ground, slamming it into his ribs mid-return.

Whump. frёeωebɳovel.com

He staggered, blood spraying from his mouth, the wind ripped from his lungs. He swung wildly.

She jumped on him, war axe floating beside her like a loyal beast, chakra strings coiled around its haft.

"You wanted a sword fight, asshole?!" she roared in his face, hair wild, sclera black, pupils glowing white. "Try surviving me!"

Aoi activated a chakra pulse. The Sword of the Thunder God spun in his grip, and lightning erupted in all directions.

Sakura didn't flinch. She tore herself backward with her chakra threads attached to the bridge mid-swing, leaving a paper tag on his chest. Then whispered, "Kai."

Boom.

Aoi roared, smoke enveloping him. He ripped off the half-burnt tag and tossed it, only to look up and see Sasuke. Chidori shrieked, causing the man to raise his sword to block. But his wrists froze.

Chakra threads wrapped from behind.

Sakura stood back up, panting hard. Pulling on Aoi like a puppeteer yanking strings from a broken doll.

"Go," she hissed.

Sasuke's hand punched through Aoi's chest with a crack of bone and lightning.

The light died.

Aoi spasmed. His sword clattered to the ground. Blood leaked from his lips in slow drips. "Wha... the hell... are they feeding you freaks in Konoha...?"

Sasuke didn't respond.

Aoi chuckled weakly. "This is... so unfair."

And then, he collapsed.

"Now that's done," Sakura panted, wobbling slightly on her feet, "kiss me."

Sasuke blinked. "What?"

"Come on, read the room, Sasuke," she huffed, her black sclera fading back to normal. Her breath was heavy, but her smirk stayed wild. "I saved your ass. Don't be stingy."

"We're... outdoors," Sasuke muttered, "and we just killed a man."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Shy boy trying to play cool. Look, I'm the reason you even won this fight. Shannaro. Do something nice for Sakura."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed slightly, noting the way she said Sakura like she was referring to someone else. Like there were two people in there. A split.

He nodded.

"Good boy," Inner Sakura said with a grin, then reached out, slapped Sasuke's butt, and immediately passed out in his arms.

Sasuke caught her with a sigh.

"Team7..." he muttered, "at this point is just different shades of insanity."

But as he looked down at the half-laughing, half-broken girl in his arms, a tired smile found its way onto his lips.

He wouldn't have it any other way.

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Author's Note

Well, wasn't that an exciting chapter? Next up, we have Naruto vs. Haku and Kakashi vs. Zabuza.

But I'm sure you all have one burning question regarding this chapter.

How the hell did Inner Sakura take over Sakura's body?

The answer is simple: humanity.

Remember the whole "Naruto used a piece of humanity to help Sakura survive"? And when she was unconscious, she had a dream of Inner Sakura? Well, during that dream, Sakura received a humanity buff, and when Naruto looked at Sakura's soul, he saw a second face—like Tomie Kawakami's second face from Junji Ito.

Long story short, those were the hints that Sakura now has another entity inside her body. Inner Sakura. Her darkness. Her humanity.

Haku vs. Naruto – Can Haku use all the knowledge he gained from his brief stint in the fantasy world to win? Or will he fall to the dragon in knight's clothing?

Zabuza vs. Kakashi – A much stronger Kakashi, who has already beaten Zabuza once. Will these fights end like canon, or will something change?

Find out next time on Naruto: The Chosen Undead.

That's it for now!

As always, I appreciate you all taking the time to read, comment, and just come along for the ride.

—Adam

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[ Personal Note: First off, thanks a ton to all of you for sticking with this story. Seriously, you guys are awesome. Now, if you're interested in supporting me on P@treon, let me just say that over there, I post these massive 5k-word chapters. But heads up, if you're jumping to P@treon, you'll need to start from Chapter 85, since that's where this chapter lines up with the content there.

To everyone here just reading along, please don't forget to leave a comment! Honestly, your comments make my day, and they let me know you're as invested in this story as I am. So yeah, thanks again, and I hope you have an amazing rest of your day!

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