Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Living Behind a Mask ❯ Demon Lords, Akatsuki & Nukenins ( Chapter 6 )

 

Living Behind a Mask:

 

Chapter 5:

 

Demon Lords, Akatsuki and Nukenins:

 

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After a Day of Pursuit:

 

Naruto and Sasuke had almost caught up to the Suna group. They were slowing down from obvious exahstion, which showed when they jumped onto a tree brach and set off an exploding tag. Each tree they jumped to set off another one. After about five trees, the tags stopped. Setting traps while running from an opponent meant one of two things. 1: You were getting desperate or 2: You were getting tired. Usually it was both. Sasuke and Naruto jumped and swung through the braches before eventually catching up to the Suna group. Temari motioned for Kankuro to go.

 

“Temari, there's no way you can-”

 

“Even if it's just a little, it's better than leaving Gaara here for them to finish. Go!”

 

Kankuro picked Gaara up and left. Both Sasuke and Naruto knew they would be in a better position to fight Gaara if they took each of them out two on one. Temari jumped forward, throwing six kunai at them, three at each. They both moved their heads slightly, dodging the kunai by inches. Temari lopped around a tree branch, crouching on top of it. All three after analysing the situation body flickered into the air. Sasuke and Naruto threw a hail of kunai and shuriken at Teamri, who swept them away with an air blast. Temari let loose a blast.

 

“Ninpou, Kamaitachi!”

 

Both Naruto and Sasuke dodged in different directions as the tree's trunk was neatly cut in half. Each brach they landed on was snapped by another wind blast. Sasuke threw a hail of kunai at her.

 

“Don't understimate me! Ninpou, Fuusaijin!”

 

The kunai were deflected back as was Sasuke who hit a tree's trunk but quickly recovered to get behind the tree to avoid the brunt of the damage. Naruto took advantage of Temari's concerntraition on Sasuke to create a Kage Bunshin and made it Body Flicker behind Teamri, grabbing her in a full nelson.

 

“Sasuke! Now!”

 

Sasuke quickly came out and took stock of the situation. He formed a small set of hand seals and announced his jutsu.

 

“Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!”

 

The fire ball raced towards Temari, who managed to use Kawirmi to replace herself with a log, which was promptly incinerated along with the clone. Sasuke noticed Temari on a nearby brach. He used his next jutsu, which Naruto mirrored.

 

“KATON: HOUSENKA!”

 

The sets of fireballs raced towards Temari, who backflipped out of the way, following the balls of fire to the ground. The fire surrounded Temari in a circle of fire. Temari looked up to see Sasuke preparing for another jutsu.

 

“Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!”

 

Naruto looked at Sasuke's handiwork, shaking his head.

 

“She's persistant, I'll give her that.”

 

“Kamaitachi!”

 

The fire was fanned out and Sasuke jumped back to avoid the incoming wind attack. However, he either hadn't noticed, or forgot that the tree's branches were covered in sand, making them slipery. Sasuke slipped and fell, making Temari move in for the kill. She threw three kunai at Sasuke imbedding themselves in his chest. Temari looked rather confident as she inspected his corpse. Naruto laughed, catching her attention.

 

“If you thought that would beat him, think again.”

 

Temari looked back to see Sasuke had replaced himself with a log that had a complimentry exploding note attached to it. Her eyes widened as the tage went off, sending her flying back. Once she came to a stop, she looked up to see Naruto and Sasuke looking at her with rather bored looks on their faces.

 

“We don't have time to waste with you.”

 

They both left her there and went off to catch up to Gaara. They quickly caught up to them again. Sasuke threw a series of shurikens at them to make them stop, however, they kept going. Naruto got ahead of them and stopped on the next branch while Sasuke was on the branch behind them.

 

“Don't run.”

 

“Bring it on.”

 

Temari dropped out of the bushes next to Kankuro.

“What? Temari? I thought they beat you. You were ok?”

 

“Yeah, somehow. But I couldn't slow them at all.”

 

“Gaara still hasn't had enough time to recover.”

 

“Go, Kankuro. I'll fight him again-”

 

She was intterupted as Kankuro pulled his puppet off his back and slammed it onto the branch.

 

“Temari, take Gaara and go. You can't fight anymore. We don't need anyone to burden us.”

 

Temari tried to explain how futile it was, but Kankuro cut her off.

 

“Go!”

 

Temari picked up Gaara's limp body and left. Kankuro turned back to the two boys.

 

“Looks like I'll have to fight you.”

 

“No, I'll be your opponent.”

 

The owner of the voic appeared on the next branch from Sasuke.

 

“Shino.”

 

“How'd you find us?”

 

Shino pointed to Naruto.

 

“I placed a female bug on both of you before you left the stadium. The female is almost odorless. The only thing that can smell the female is a male of the same species. Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto. Both of you go after Gaara. I'll take care of him.”

 

Naruto smiled.

 

“I suggest once you finish him that you don't follow us. It'll get really nasty.”

 

Shino looked at Naruto with a slightly raised eyebrow.

 

“Nasty?”

 

“The fight'll be way out of your league Shino.”

 

Shino nodded and turned back to Kankuro. Both Naruto and Sasuke jumped up to higher branches and continued the pursuit.

 

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Just up Ahead:

 

Gaara was finally coming back to his senses.

 

“Temari... Put me down.”

 

Temari stopped on the nearest branch and put Gaara down.

 

“Can you move again, Gaara?”

 

Apparently, he wasn't because he clutched his head and suppressed a cry of mental anguish. Temari removed a medicine bottle from her clothes. Gaara turned around to look behind them.

 

“Temari... Go away.”

 

Temari didn't understand why Gaara suddenly wanted her to leave, but started getting up.

 

“What do you mean, Gaara?”

 

Gaata got up and slammed her into the trunk of the tree.

 

“Just go over there! You're in the way.”

 

Gaara was panting heavily as he stared at his opponents. Naruto and Sasuke stared back at him. Gaara's armour of sand started cracking, alerting both Naruto and Sasuke something was wrong. Nartuo could already sense Shukaku's chakra seeping out of his vessel. Naruto turned to Sasuke.

 

“Sasuke. I hate to say it, but this guy's out of your league. The only one who can fight him evenly is another one of his kind.”

 

Sasuke scowled at Gaara.

 

“I had a suspicion it would be something like that. I'll support.”

 

Naruto nodded and watched as Gaara mumbled incoherent words to himself before he started shaking his head from side to side. The last part of his conversing was very audiable.

 

“You are my. Prey!”

 

Gaara's arm was suddnely covered with a lot of sand, as was the right side of his face that came directly from the gourd, and not it's contents. Gaara opened his right eye to reveal the same eye Sasuke had seen during the proper match when Gaara was inside the sphere. Gaara jumped and threw his transformed arm forward, completely decimating the tree they were both standing on. Naruto held up a single finger, which was their universal sign for 'cover for me for a moment'. Sasuke charged at Gaara, replacing himself with a log as Gaara was about to cut a huge section out of his side, appearing above Gaara and launching two handfuls of kunai, which Gaara absorbed into his sand arm. Naruto was thinking with his tenant.

 

'Shit. This is really bad. Even if I used the same amount of chakra as with Neji, I'd only force him to go to the next stage, which would outclass me again... Shit... Kyubi, any ideas?'

 

'Kit, it's about time I gave you the next stage. It'll hurt, but the effects will be well worth it.'

 

'I'm willing to try just about anything at the moment.'

 

Naruto felt the Kyubi's chakra rush into his system and exploded out of him in a massive shockwave. The tree's trunk was obliterated as Naruto's features started to turn more feral. 'I am not explaining Kyubified Naruto AGAIN.' Temari stared at the boy in horror. This really was a battle of the monsters. However, Kyubi wasn't done yet.

 

'This is the part I was talking about.'

 

Nartuo's stomach started feeling pulsing with jabs of pain as blood red goo like chakra started seeping out of it. The chakra quickly surrounded Naruto, burning him in the process. Naruto screamed as the chakra past his head and completely engulfed him. Naruto turned around to face Gaara and he dropped to all fours.

 

“Two can play your game Shukaku.”

 

Gaara was gleeful that he finally had an oppenent worth fighting.

 

“This is fun, Uzumaki Naruto. This is fun!”

 

Gaara flew at him, but Naruto just raised an arm and brought it down in a vertical slash. What no one expected was the chakra surrounding his hand extended and grappled with Gaara's arm. Naruto used his extindable arm to hurl Gaara through seveal trees before he came to a stop on a branch. Gaara laughed as he got up.

 

“I know why this battle is so fun. It's because of this pain. If I kill the only two people to have hurt me, I'll get an even stronger sensation of life!”

 

Gaara's gourd turned into more sand, which covered his left arm, body and legs. Sasuke looked horrified at Gaara. Naruto turned to Sasuke, who looked at him. Naruto nodded, holding out his right hand, forming a Rasengan. Sasuke activated the Sharingan and formed the three hand seals for the Chidori, powering it up. Gaara/Shukaku flew at them, and they jumped at him. Naruto's Rasengan pierced Gaara's left arm and shoulder, while Sasuke's Chidori did the same to his right. Garra lie still for a moment as he fell onto a nearby tree branch, before getting up, only to find a giant version of Naruto's chakra claw hovering over him. Gaara had no where to run, and so took the full impact as it slammed him through the tree branch into the ground. The chakra hand dissapated leaving a very damanged Gaara. Nartuo charged at Gaara, readying for the final blow. But Gaara got up and grappled Naruto's chakra hand with his own. Gaara had the advantage of being able to swing Naruto this time, taking full advantage of that, he threw him through several trees. Gaara noticed the presence of a new person, and turned to his left to see Sakura. Sasuke growled at her.

 

“Sakura! Get out of here now! I'm not even strong enough to take part in this!”

 

Sakura looked at the absolute fear in her crushes eyes, and didn't notice Gaara flying at her, slamming her up against the trunk and separated the sand hand from his arm, leaving Sakura pinned against the trunk. Gaara smiled at Naruto and Sasuke.

 

“If you want to save this woman, then you have to beat me. If you don't, the sand will constrict tighter and eventually kill her!”

 

Sasuke looked at Sakura in distaste.

 

“We need to save you again. You're annoying.”

 

Sakura couldn't hear this, as she was already unconcious. Naruto got pissed off. Not only at Gaara for taking hostages, but at Sakura for being so devoted to her love life that she hadn't even noticed Gaara flying at her until he'd smashed her into the trunk. Naruto growled and charged at Gaara, sending both hands forward and began pummeling him into the ground. He still didn't stop, and continued his combo, smashing everything around him before powering up his fist whith chakra and giving Gaara a punch he would definitely remember. The sand around Gaara flew off him, revealing that the right side of his sand body had been completely destroyed. Naruto jumped back up and dove in again, ready to finish him off, however, Gaara decided to step the battle up a notch.

 

“There's no way I can lose to this guy!”

 

Gaara's body grew exponentially, covering the area in smoke. When it finally cleared, Naruto saw Shukaku's true form. Kyubi knew Naruto was screwed if this kept up.

 

'Oi, Kit! Get down here now!'

 

For the Kyubi to call him to the cage in the middle of a battle, it had to be serious. Naruto entered his mind scape, and this time was right in front of the cage.

 

“Kit, even if I gave you another tail, not only would your body be unable to take the power, but it still wouldn't be enough for you to win. I really didn't want to do this, but I have no choice. Without this, both of us are going to die.”

 

Kyubi's chakra seeped out of it's cage and condensed into a scroll made out of chakra.

 

“It's the contract of the foxes. You haven't signed a summon contract, and without something like an high ranking summon, you have will die the second you get out of here. Sign it quickly!”

 

Naruto opened the scroll and signed the first available space with his blood, finishing with his blood finger prints. The scroll wrapped itself up and dissapated, before the waves of chakra seeped back into the cage.

 

“I wouldn't have given you the contract to sign for a couple of years yet, but I had no choice. The seals are Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, Ram. Get out of here.”

 

Naruto nodded and noticed he was back in the real world, and currently being surrounded by sand. He managed to turn his head to Sasuke.

 

“Sasuke! Get over here!”

 

Sasuke lept to the branch Naruto was on just as Naruto bit his thumb and was covered in sand. Sasuke tried to get the sand off him, but it held tight.

 

“Naruto!”

 

“Sabaku Sos-”

 

“Kuchiyose no Jutsu!”

 

The sand splattered of Naruto, showering Sasuke. However, the more noticable change apart from the intense amount of smoke was that they were rising at a rapid rate. Once the smoke cleared, they saw they were on top of a giant red nine tailed fox. Said fox looked up at them.

 

“You're always full of suprises, kit. I don't know how you pulled this one off, but you did. As for you, Uchiha. The only reason I'm not killing you right now is because my host thinks of you as his kin. If you were anyone else, you would have been dead along time ago.”

 

Sasuke silently thanked Naruto and they stared at their oppenent. Kyubi's tails slapped the ground, splitting a mountain in half before he grinned in a way that put Naruto's foxy grin to shame.

 

“It's been several hundred years since I last saw that form. However, that is Shukaku's form only, it is not Shukaku himself. Oi, kit, why don't you bring Shukaku out? I wouldn't mind talking to him again.”

 

The sand on Shukaku's head began softening before the top half of Gaara's form came out. Gaara opened his eys to reveal bloodshot pupiless whites.

 

“This is my reward for entertaining me, Uzumaki Naruto. I will show you Shukaku's true power.”

 

Gaara formed a ram seal and promptly fell asleep. Shukaku was completely still for a moment before it's eyes became an intense yellow colour and it screamed.

 

“YAHAHAHAHAHA! I'm finally free!”

 

Shukaku looked at the Kyubi in interest.

 

“It's been a while... Kyubi-Hime.”

 

Naruto and Sasuke looked at Shukaku like he was half mad. How could the Kyubi be any less feminine? It was the embodiment of destruction. Naruto voiced his opinion.

 

“Kyubi-Hime? What the hell?”

 

“It's been a long standing joke amongst us demon lords. It would take too long to explain, so I'll do it later. As for YOU, Shukaku. How about we end that last sparring match we never got to finish?”

 

“Sounds good to me, Kyubi.”

 

Kyubi charged forward, attempting to jab Shukaku with it's tails as it flew through the air. Kyubi landed on Shukaku's shoulder and pulled on it's arm, ripping it right off. Kyubi landed behind Shukaku and grinned at him.

 

“You've gotten weaker since we last met.”

 

Naruto called out to his tenant.

 

“Oi, Kyubi! Sakura's over here!”

 

“Oh? Want me to kill that pink haired bitch?”

 

Naruto sighed. Was all Kyubi thought about destruction?

 

“No, she's more useful alive than dead for now. Just finish off Shukaku.”

 

 

“Fine.”

 

Kyubi charged again and dodged as Shukaku used a jutsu.

 

“Fuuton: Renkyuudan!”

 

Shukaku had taken a deep breath in and slammed his fist into his stomach, forcing a giant ball of air heavily infused with chakra out which ripped throught the forest Kyubi had been in only moments ago. Kyubi began charing one of it's own jutsus while it was midair.

 

“Katon: Gouka!” 'Fire Type: Hell Fire.'

 

Shukaku released another Renkyuudan to counter. The resulting explodion was tremendous. It covered an area approximately seveal square kilometres. Kyubi landed and jumped again straight away. Shukaku released a barrage of compressed air balls, to which Kyubi countered everyone of them. Kyubi directed itself towards Shukaku throught the clouds of smoke and bit Shukaku's other arm off, much to Shukaku's chargrin.

 

“Shukaku, what in the nine layers of hell have you been doing? This isn't even fun! I'm dissapointed in you.”

 

Kyubi charged and bit into Shukaku's chest while grabbing it's shoulders with both it's claws. It raised an eye to it's two riders.

 

“Oi you two, go and smack that brat awake. I'm bored.”

 

Sasuke and Naruto jumped off Kyubi and both of them smacked Gaara awake. Shukaku let back it's head in a howl of fustraition.

 

“God damn it! I just came out you know! I'll get you yet, Kyubi!”

 

Shukaku's eyes dulled and Gaara opened his eyes. Naruto and Sasuke charged him again, but Gaara tried to absorb them into the sand. Naruto struggled to get free and Sasuke wasn't fairing much better. Kyubi realised Naruto's problem. Without being in his body, he couldn't access it's chakra.

 

“Oi, kit, I'm going back. Later.”

 

The Kyubi poofed out of existance and Nartuo felt it's chakra once again flood his system. The sand around Naruto blasted off, as did Naruto's forehead protector. His jacket also ripped open. He charged Gaara, hoping to stop him before he killed Sasuke. Naruto broke through the tendrils of sand that tried to stop him and slugged Gaara in the face, dispelling Shukaku' form. All three boys fell to earth. Gaara landed on the ground, face first, while Naruto landed in a crouch, breathing heavily. Sasuke landed next to Naruto's forehead protector, noticing that it had a scratch mark through the symbol. Sasuke smiled and picked it up, walking shakily back to Naruto. He was just in time to see Naruto stand over Gaara, giving him a lecture.

 

“It was painful, wasn't it? The hatred from the villagers. That pain... Isn't normal. No maortal should have to experience it. The threats... The assasination attempts... The isolation...”

 

“Why? Why do you fight? What makes you so strong?”

 

“I don't fight just for myself. I found a single person in my life who saved me from the dark hell that was my childhood. He acknowledged me, and even accepted the fact that I had a demon in me, not thinking less of me for it. Gaara, the only way you can become trully strong is to find the people who will accept you for what you are and fight with them and for them. Everyone else is trash. Gaara, I'm willing to put up with you attacking Konoha, but attacking my only friend and brother is something that I will not accept. If you ever do it again, I'll kill you.”

 

Sasuke smiled widely at the praise Naruto was lavishing on him. It was a very rare occurance, even in private. It made him realise that they were simmilar beyond a doubt. They had been each other's support growing up. Without the other, the one remaining would have given up long ago. Sasuke stood next to Naruto. Just then, Kankuro and Teamri appeared in front of Gaara, deciding whether to fight or run. Gaara made the decision for them.

 

“Don't fight them. Let's stop.”

 

“Gaara...”

 

Kankuro lent down and picked Gaara up.

 

“Sure thing.”

 

They took one last look at the pair before disappearing into the trees, back toward Suna. Gaara, with the last of his power, decided to try Naruto's advice.

 

“Kankuro... Temari... I'm sorry...”

 

They both looked at him, then at each other. Kankuro answered for him.

 

“No problem, Gaara.”

 

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Several Days Later:

 

Once they got back to the village, they found out that the Sandaime had been killed by his own student. Naruto was patched up and then discharged from hospital, reguardless of the fact that he needed a day's rest before he should be discharged. From the looks of the villagers, they hated him even more now. But the looks also contained a small bit of something else. After a while, Naruto recognised it. Fear. They'd seen Naruto's manifestation of the Kyubi's chakra, and heard him saying it was practically a negligable amount compared to what he could manage. Naruto laughed inwardly.

 

'Serves the bastard's right.'

 

Kyubi sent Nartuo a mental image of the town in flames. Naruto actually laughed out loud at that one, causing people to look at him in even more anger. One man actually spoke out.

 

“What the hell's so funny, demon?”

 

“Nothing you could understand.”

 

The man decided to try and punch Naruto, who took the man's wrist and held it.

 

“If you ever try that again, I'll break it. Understand?”

 

The man attempted to jerk his hand away, which Naruto let him do and watched as he ran down the street in fear.

 

'Jeez, what a weakling. I didn't even hit him....'

 

Naruto went back home and sat on his bed. Naruto had been told to attend the funeral, but he decided that wouldn't be the smartest idea. Evidently, Sasuke thought the same thing, and knocked on Naruto's door in their signature door knock that only they knew. Naruto opened the door to see Sasuke standing there in his black Uchiha clothing.

 

“Not going either?”

 

“Nah. They'll just mob me. Come in.”

 

Naruto let Sasuke in and closed the door behind him. Naruto kept a supply of Sasuke's favorite tea in the pantry for when he came over. Sasuke knew Naruto could barely afford it, but it was a nice gesture. Sasuke kept a stack of instant ramen in his kitchen pantry for when Naruto came to visit as well. A lot of each other's personalities had rubbed off on the other. Sasuke, although he could never love ramen as much as Naruto, eventually came to like it. Naruto also learnt to like the tea Sasuke loved. They both sat at Naruto's small two seater table with their freshly prepared ramen and tea. Nothing was said. Nothing need to be said. They were just getting to the point in their companionship when they could convey emotions through slight movements of certain parts of their bodies, which the other most of the time would understand what they meant. There were quite a few times when they mistook an action's meaning for something else, but a choice word or two would clear it up. They had a game of sorts to see if they could have an entire conversation through body langauge with no stuff ups. The time past, and the day wore on. Eventaully, Sasuke got up to leave.

 

“Thanks for that Naruto.”

 

Naruto knew Sasuke was thanking him for something else besides the hospitality due to the extreme amount of pride in his posture and eyes. Naruto knew he was talking about his speech to Gaara.

 

“No problem. I know you'd do the same for me.”

 

Sasuke smiled and left to go. He opened the door to see that there were a lot of people gathering in the general area. He shut the door quickly but quietly and turned to Naruto. Naruto could tell by his body posture that the villages had decided to take their anger out on him yet again for the death of their kage. This death though had even less to do with him than the Yondaime's death. Naruto quickly grabbed a few things like kunai, exploding tags, his wallet and a few other tidbits, shoved them into his bag and headed for the bathroom. Naruto had long ago prepared an escape route for this situation. Sasuke follwed him as Naruto slipped his finger under part of the tiled floor to reveal a home made trap door. Naruto lifted it and revealed a chute of sorts. Naruto motioned for Sasuke to get in. Sasuke jumped in and Naruto did after him. The tiled floor slipped back into place seemlessly. Once they hit the ground, Naruto led the way forward in the inky blackness. Sasuke stumbled as his foot caught something, but Naruto grabbed his hand to steady him. Sasuke held onto Naruto's hand as they ran through the twisting maze of pitch black corridors. Finally Naruto slowed down and stopped at what Sasuke thought was some random spot. Naruto felt along the wall until he found the raised metal bar that indicated the first rung and started climbing. Sasuke felt along the wall and found it too and followed Naruto up. Naruto stopped and put his ear to the surface above him. After several seconds, Naruto slowly pushed the grate up and blinked at the relatively bright light. Even if it was a cloudy day, It was still far brighter than it was down there. Naruto looked out and saw that there was no one in the general area, so he shoved the grate off and got out, followed by Sasuke. Naruto replaced the grate and looked around. He could vaguely hear shouts in the distance, but decided they weren't a threat at the moment. Naruto turned to Sasuke.

 

“It's best if you went home. If they saw you with me, they'd accuse me of using my demonic powers to brainwash you or some shit like that.”

 

Sasuke nodded and began walking home. Naruto decided that he needed to find Ero-Sennin and get out of here for a while. Naruto found Jiraiya walking down the street. When Jiraiya noticed him, he came up to him and looked sternly at him.

 

“The villagers are in uproar now. I've been asked to go and get the Godaime Hokage so they'll be able to try and maintain some sort of piece in this village. They didn't say I couldn't, but I suggest you come with me.”

 

Naruto nodded and started walking with Jiraiya towards the south gate, which they were thankfully close to. They walked out the gate and away from Konoha.

 

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Later That Day:

 

Sasuke had gotten fed up with waiting for Kakashi to come to training. He'd even well and trully past his own record for tardiness, so he decided to go pay his house a visit, When he got there, he noticed that the door was open, so he walked through the house and found the Jounin instructors for the Rookie 9 as well as Gai there. Sasuke noticed that Kakashi was laying in bed sleeping.

 

“Why the hell is Kakashi asleep? And why are all of you here? What happened?”

 

“Nothing much.”

 

At that point, a Jounin burst in, having a completely different story.

 

“Is it true that THE Uchiha Itachi came back and is after the demon?”

 

Sasuke turned around and stared at the man. He slammed him into the door and charged outside. He knew Naruto was as good as dead if Itachi got him. Even with Sasuke there to help him, they would likely stand no chance of winning. Sasuke charged towards Ichiraku ramen and overheard someone talking to a friend.

 

“Did you hear? Jiraiya-Sama's gone to get the Godaime Hokage!”

 

That was all he needed to hear, as it was likely that Jiraiya had taken Naruto with him. Judging by the fact that the earliest they could have left was several hours ago, there was a ¼ chance of going in the right direction and finding them soon. He didn't like those odds, so he went to Ichiraku and asked the old man.

 

“Hey, old man! Did Naruto come past here?”

 

“Hmm, I think he did. He said something about going to pick up the Godaime Hokage. He had Jiraiya-Sama with him.”

 

“Do you know anything about which way they went?”

 

“They left from the south gate, I think. They said something about a lodging town not far from here.”

 

Sasuke had one last question.

 

“What does Jiraiya look like?”

 

“He's a big white haired old man.”

 

“Thanks!”

 

With that, Sasuke's destination was set. He had everything he needed to find them, so he flew out of the village and towards the nearest lodging town to the south.

 

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At the Lodging Town:

 

Jiraiya had taken Naruto to this town to start searching for information. They had just checked into an inn for the night when Jiraiya spotted a particulalrly good looking woman in a very skimpy dress. As Naruto had predicted, Jiraiya handed Naruto the keys and told him to go train in their room. Naruto sighed, muttering about 'damn Ero-Sennins' and 'easy to manipulate' before complying. By this stage, Sasuke had arrived in the town and began systematically searching every inn. He reached a particular inn and asked the usual question to the receptionist.

 

“Are a white haired old man and a blonde kid staying here?”

 

The receptionist looked thoughtful for a moment, before replying.

 

“I think I saw a pair matching that description come just as I started my shift...”

 

“Which room?”

 

“Let's see.... Second floor, end of the hall. Room 1.”

 

The receptionist looked up to see the boy had gone. Sasuke charged up the stairs and ran to the room mentioned. He knocked on it. Naruto dispelled his clones as he heard a knock on his door. He went over to the door and opened it to find something he never expected. Sasuke had gotten the wrong room. It was indeed the room of a white haired old man and a blonde kid, but they weren't Naruto and Jiraiya. Sasuke appologised and ran to where he felt a sudden chakra spike several rooms away. Naruto had opened the door to see a figure in a black cloak with red clouds on it.

 

'Oh. Shit. Akatsuki.'

 

Naruto looked up into the Akatsuki member's face to reveal a face very simmilar to Sasuke. Black hair, gaunt features and most importantly, Sharingan. Nartuo took a step back.

 

“Uchiha... Itachi...”

 

“Let's go outside, Naruto-Kun.”

 

What choice did Nartuo have? He was no match for him. He didn't stand a chance, and knowing Akatsuki, they always travelled in pairs. Behind Itachi was a very fish like man who towered over Itachi. He had a rather large sword strapped to his back.

 

“Hoshigaki... Kisame...”

 

“Oh? You know me? I'm honoured. Itachi-San, it would be annoying if he moved around. Perhaps we should chop a leg off or two?”

 

Itachi said nothing, making no move to stop his partner from doing it. So Kisame grabbed his sword's handle and stepped forward.

 

“It's settled then.”

 

Just as Kisame was about to pull his sword off his back, he stopped and looked at Itachi. Itachi made no movement to turn around to address their visitor.

 

“It's been a while, Sasuke.”

 

Kisame was slightly amused.

 

“Oh? The Sharingan, and he's very simmilar to you. Who is he?”

 

“My Otouto.”

 

“Uchiha Itachi. We're going to kill you. Nartuo, be careful. This guy's a freak.”

 

They both closed their eyes before opening them simultaniously.

 

“Like you said, I've hated you, detested you, and I've-”

 

Sasuke's hair had already began flying and a Chidori formed. He grabbed his collar, a psychotic look in his eyes.

 

“I've.... Survived!”

 

Sasuke slammed the Chidori into the wall. Naruto knew they stood a better chance if they attacked from both sides and began forming a Rasengan. Sasuke dragged the Chidori down the wall and Naruto lunged towards Itachi. When their attacks hit home, there was a massive explosion. When the smoke cleared, Naruto and Sasuke saw that Itachi had very calmly shoved their wrists into the wall, blowing an entire room to pieces. Itachi clamly threw them to the far wall, before stepping up to them.

 

“Both of you are being annoying.”

 

Itachi proceeded to beat the crap out of them with no hint of mercy. Finally, he shoved Sasuke up against the wall and stared at him.

 

“Omae wa yowai. Naze yowai ka? Tarinai kara...nikushimi ga.” 'If you don't know what this means, it's possibly the most famous speech in the entire series. IE the hate talk.'

 

“Tsukuyomi.”

 

Sasuke began screaming from the memories. Nartuo tried to get up and attack Itachi, but Itachi just slammed him back up against the wall.

 

“Tsukuyomi.”

 

Naruto's vision was distorted and he ended up in a world of red, black and white. Itachi appeared before him. He looked around to see that he was on the Wave Bridge.

 

“Oh shit...”

 

“For the next 24 hours, you will watch yourself commit the Wave Massacre.”

 

Naruto howled in angish before Itachi dropped him to the floor uncerimoniously. Itachi became awear of another presence just behind him. A very powerful one. He turned to see Jiraiya already performing a jutsu.

 

“Ninpou, Gamaguchi Shibari.”

 

The walls, floor and ceiling began growing what looked to be the inside of a stomach. Itachi looked to Kisame.

 

“Kisame. Come.”

 

Kisame freed himself and his sword before disapearing down the corridor after Itachi.

 

“It's no use. No noe has ever escaped from this jutsu before.”

 

Jraiya pumped more chakra into the jutsu and a wall of meat went after Itachi and Kisame. Kisame gave Itachi some time to make an escape route by cutting off the apendages of stomach muscle that were trying to devour them. Jiraiya was smiling smugly as he felt them fall into the trap. He was shocked when he heard an explosion, and raced to check what had happened. When he rounded the corner, he saw that the end of the corridor had been completely blown away and was surrounded by a ring of black flames. Jiraiya pulled out a blank scroll and wrote a seal onto it before using the seal.

 

“Fuuinjutsu: Fuukahouin!”

 

A stream of chakra came out of the seal and engulfed the fire, before drawing itself and the black flames back into the seal. Once that had been done, Jiraiya rolled the scroll up and tied it up, putting it in his pack. He stomped on the ground to dismiss his frog's stomach lining. At that point, Gai ran into the hole in the wall and announced his appearance.

 

“Dynamic Entry!”

 

He kicked Jiraiya in the face, quite pleased with himself until he realised who he had just kicked. He sweatdropped and helped Jiraiya up, who was rather surprised that Gai could be such an idiot. After some quick explaining, Gai turned to see the very still forms of Naruto and Sasuke next to each other, which Jiraiya noticed.

 

“Itachi mentally tortured them. I can't take either of them with me in that condition. Could you take them back to the Leaf?”

 

Gai nodded and picked them up, giving a few words to Jiraiya before heading back to the village.

 

&&&&&&&&&&&&&a mp;&&&&&&&&&&&&

 

2 Days Later:

 

Both boys had been put in the same hospital room and had not said a word since they came in. Sakura fussed over Sasuke, completely oblivious to the fact that he was on the verge of killing her. Finally, Naruto turned to Sakura and whispered. It may have been a whisper, but since both of them had said nothing since they came in, so it caught Sakura's attention immedeately.

 

“Sakura. Do you really love Sasuke?”

 

Sakura looked at Naruto like he'd grown another head.

 

“Of course I do!”

 

“Then look at him. What do his actions tell you?”

 

Sakura inspected Sasuke like a doctor would a patient.

 

“He's lonely.”

 

Naruto sneered at her.

 

“You don't love him at all. If you really loved him, then you would have known to leave him alone. Right now, he's only just restraining himself from killing you.”

 

Sakura looked at Narurto horrifed. Her precious Sasuke-Kun would never do that! Despite Naruto's warnings, Sakura started peeling an apple and cutting it, intent to hand feed Sasuke. When she put the first piece forward, he smashed it away, startling Sakura to no end. Sasuke spoke to her, his voice totally devoid of emotions.

 

“You don't listen do you? All you damn fan girls want is the bragging rights for getting me into their bed. It's disgusting. Do you think I need to be hand fed by you? I'm leaving. Naruto, let's go.”

 

Both of them got out of bed and left a startled Sakura trying to piece together what had just happened.

 

&&&&&&&&&&&&&a mp;&&&&&&&&&&

 

Not Far Away, in a Tree:

 

Both Naruto and Sasuke were sitting in the tree next to each other, having a minor body language conversation. What they didn't expect was to see four Oto nins surround them. Naruto and Sasuke stood up.

 

“So, these are the two Orochimaru has an interest in... Look kind of weak to me...”

 

That did it. Naruto charged the double headed freak and punched him in the gut. However, the guy just took it like a non chakra powered flick, and slammed the boy up against the wall. Sasuke didn't miss a beat and went to attack the guy's unprotected back, but the guys second head came alove, and a pair of hands shot out of it's body, throwing Sasuke next to Naruto. Naruto looked at Sasuke who was scowling at them. Naruto released a small burst of chakra, catching Sasuke's attention. Sasuke looked at Naruto who was half smiling. Sasuke got the message. 'Time to set our plans in motion.' Sasuke nodded and stood up slowly.

 

“So, Orochimaru want us to go to him? Whatever. This village has nothing left for us. We were waiting for an opportunity like this to get out of this hell hole.”

 

Jibroubou smiled. This was easier than expected.

 

“Get your stuff and meet us at the hill just outside the West Gate.”

 

They dissapeared. Naruto smiled at Sasuke.

 

“Finally.”

 

“Yeah. Let's go.”

 

Naruto and Sasuke walked to the Uchiha manor. Naruto already had his bag from his trip with Jiraiya. Naruto walked into Sasuke's room and watched as he gathered a few things into his bag. Sasuke stopped at the picture fram of Team Seven. He slammed it face down onto the window sill, showing they were through with these kiddy games. Sasuke pulled something out of his pocket. It was Nartuo's old forehead protector. Nartuo smiled when he saw the scratch through it. Sasuke chucked it to Naruto, who took his old one off, dropping it to the floor. Naruto saw Sasuke take out a kunai and slash his forehead protector. Naruto smiled. There was no going back now. They left the Uchiha Manor under the cover of darkness. As they neared the West Gate, they saw the last person they wanted to see. Sakura. She turned to them, smiling sadly. Sasuke scowled at her.

 

“Why are you prowling around here in the middle of the night?”

 

“I knew you'd come through here if I waited...”

 

“Sakura, go back home and get some sleep.”

 

They both walked past her, but Sakura wouldn't learn when to shut it.

 

“Why won't you say anything to me? Why do you always stay so quiet, never saying a single word to me?”

 

“Because...”

 

“You're annoying.”

 

Sakura looked at them sadly. There was only one option left.

 

“If you leave, I'll scream!”

 

“No you won't.”

 

Sasuke had appeared behind her and hit some nerves in the back of her neck that knocked her unconcious. They left her there as they exited the west gate and found the Sound Four waiting for them exactly where they had said they would. Sakon spoke first.

 

“Good of you to join us, Sasuke-Sama, Naruto-Sama. When we left our villiage, it waas decided you would be our leaders. Please forgive our rude welcome.”

 

“Whatever. Let's just get the hell out of here.”

 

&&&&&&&&&&&&&a mp;&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&a mp;&&&&&&&&&&

 

A/N: OMG, Sasuke & Naruto defect! Oh the angst, the drama, the-

 

Readers: 'Groan'

 

Meh, well, I hope you enjoyed it. Next chapter sees the Sasuke/Naruto retreival arc in full swing! As a final note, once this 'arc' is over, the time skip will occur. However, instead of the time skip completely missing 3 years, I will have small tidbits of what Sasuke and Naruto did during that time. Until next time, my avid readers!

 

Ja ne,

 

Specula.