Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Power Of Three ❯ For Our Freedom ( Chapter 13 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

A/N: Yes all my fans. The next chapter of Power of Three is finally here. There isn't much to say, so I'll let you enjoy this chapter and once your done check out the rebuilt version of Chapter Three.

Once again, credit to battousai222 for allowing me to use his created jutsu.

I Do Not Own Naruto.

---------------------------------------------
"Kiba, are you sure that he's in that barrel?" Shikamaru asked as the group had spotted the Sound Four resting. He did not like the situation at all. Sakura was taking care of the injured jounin they had run into and these guys had to be the ones that took the two out. While he knew that the five of them were quite good and the four were worn out, beating the four would be difficult as they did take out two Konoha jounin. Knowing Sakura wouldn't take too long fixing up the jounin and would find them quickly; their odds were a little better but still low with ambushing the four.

"Yeah, I'm sure it is him in there. No one else had that unique scent of his." Kiba answered as he looked towards their target as he was getting eager. Sniffing the air once more, his eyes narrowed dangerously and growled. "I can also smell Yugito's scent, but she is long gone. I believe she's already crossed the border as her scent is so faded. But it smells like Kabuto was with her… What in the hell is going on? This was well too orchestrated for my tastes.”

Sasuke narrowed his eyes hearing this as he scanned the area with his Sharingan. Having been trained by a trap master, he quickly identified all the traps that had been set around them and cursed lightly. "Oh, that is just great. Now we have more trouble then ever as now we have five people to take out. If she has crossed the border, Naruto will not stop until he has found her. Just great… CHOUJI DON'T!"

It was too late as the large boy had tried to make a move forward and would have stepped on a trip wire if Kiba and Shikamaru didn't grab him. But due to Sasuke's yell, four sets of kunai were thrown their direction forcing the five to dodge before quickly surrounding the four. Sasuke having taken charge stepped forward and glared at the four, but more particularly Jiroubou as he was carrying Naruto. "Drop my brother and we'll let you leave peacefully. If not, I have no problem killing all of you where you stand."

Tayuya snarled at the raven before smirking at him. She smirked more seeing him frown even more as his hand reached into his pouch. "Oh I don't think we will chicken shit. You see if we return without him we won't have our heads so we have a little problem here, fucktard. Now move before we make you move little man."

The Uchiha snarled at her and had pulled out a kunai before throwing it into her direction. To his surprise she disappeared as if she was never there. Blinking a few times and seeing the chakra around the area, he cursed to himself for not seeing it sooner. "SHIT! We're under a genjutsu!" All five quickly released themselves of the illusion only to see themselves entrapped in a dome of ground. He cursed once more for not noticing the genjutsu sooner as he noticed what was going on. "Fuck! This thing is draining our chakra and quickly!"

Shikamaru nodded in agreement as he was trying to solve how to escape their predicament. "Neji, Sasuke use the Byukugan and Sharingan to tell me what you can see and try to find a weak point in the dome. Chouji, Kiba. If he finds one try to create a hole so we can get out of here."

Each nodded at their part of the plan. Having already been examining the dome, Neji gave Shikamaru what he needed to know. "I can't see outside of this dome but I can tell you that our chakra that is being drained is fueling and strengthening it. The chakra seems to be evenly distributed throughout the entire dome but there are several weak points that can be exploited." Sasuke nodded in agreement as he quickly pointed them out to Chouji and Kiba.

"TSUGA!"

"NIKUDAN SENSHA!"

Kiba turned into a miniature spinning cyclone while increased his sized and sucked in all his extremities and slammed into the wall. Both tore and shredded the wall shearing rocks off at the others at dangerous speeds but all three held firm as the two created craters from where they were tearing into the wall before their eyes narrowed. Being the first to recognize what was going on; Shikamaru put a halt to the two. "STOP! It isn't doing any good!"

As both stopped and looked at him oddly, Shikamaru sighed as Sasuke stepped up and shook his head. "Take a look at where you were hitting and that will explain everything." Doing as they were told, Chouji and Kiba looked over at their impact craters before they both cursed loudly as Neji continued on. "The walls are using our own chakra to repair themselves from any damage we cause. The only way we could get out of here was if…"

A loud smack was heard as the dome began cracking underneath the pressure of whatever hit it. Knowing exactly what hit it; Sasuke pulled out his scythe and got ready for battle as the dome crumbled around them into tiny pieces of dirt. As the sun light hit them, they looked over to see a surprised Jiroubou before hearing a familiar female voice. "Thought you guys said you could handle of this without me."

All five of the boys grumbled lightly under their breath meanwhile Sakura smirked as she cracked her knuckles dangerously at the large sound ninja. "So anyone want this guy or shall I leave you boys alone again?"

Jiroubou narrowed his eyes at the pink hair girl in front of him. While she did remind him a lot of Tayuya and a lot of times he wanted to punch the red head in the face, he would not strike a woman. It was just against his code to do something like that and if he were to fight this girl, his chances of winning were worse then him losing an eating contest to Kidomaru. To his luck, the large Konoha boy stepped in front of Sakura and shook his head. "No, I'll take him. He uses Doton jutsu and relies on power over speed like I do. If anyone knows how to beat him it is me. The rest of you guys catch up and get Naruto back before he gets out of that barrel otherwise we'll have even more trouble on our hands."

Seeing the look on his friends face and knowing what he was going to do, Shikamaru nodded. "Alright, but once you are done here catch back up. We’ll need you Chouji. Just whatever you do, don't use the last pill. You know what will happen if you do."

Chouji smirked as he looked down his opponent before nodding at his first friend that ever accepted him. "Don't worry. I won't have to go that far to beat this guy. Now get out of here otherwise you won't catch them and get Naruto back!"

Shikamaru nodded and reforming into their line, they took off leaving Chouji alone with Jiroubou. As they were running, Sakura spoke with worry as she looked back were they left the Akimichi. "Is it right to do this? How do we know Chouji is going to be alright? These guys were able to beat two of our jounins pretty handily from what they said."

"Don't worry about him Sakura. He can handle himself." Shikamaru answered as he looked dead ahead. Even with what he said, he was worried for his friend’s safety. Remembering the look of determination on his face steeled his resolve he continued on. "He is far stronger then any of you truly know and he is about to show why the Akimichi are feared in all shinobi nations. I can guarantee you he will win this fight."

Hearing his words and showing his steadfast resolve in his friend, the rest of the team nodded as they knew their friend would win this fight. Stopping them for a second, Shikamaru took out a kunai and carved in a sign to mark which direction they went. Knowing why he did it, the rest of the team waited till he finished before chasing after Naruto. After all, once Chouji was finished they would need his help.

---------------------------------------------
Jiroubou felt good about his chances about winning this fight rather then the girl. He had noticed the curse seal on the girl's shoulder and that added with the punch she used to destroy the dome; he knew his odds were low of beating her. But against this boy however, he stood a far better chance especially seeing that he was still worn out from fighting the two Konoha jounin. The only problem however was that if he had to use his cursed form he would be limited to a few minutes so he would have to use those minutes wisely. Standing up straight, he smirked as he looked over at Naruto. "The name is Jiroubou. You should know it so you can everyone in the other world who killed you."

Before he knew it, the large Oto shinobi was on him. Chouji did not like the fight already and had only started. He had horribly miscalculated how fast he would be and was paying for it as Jiroubou landed a punch to his gut before catching him on the chin before he took a shoulder into his chest sending him flying back. Shaking the cobwebs out of his head, Chouji shakily stood up from the powerful blows the Oto nin delivered as he looked over towards his opponent only to see him in the air above him. Cursing, he rolled out of the way only to see the ground Jiroubou hit crack before a debris cloud was form from the impact.

Chouji cursed once more knowing this fight was quickly getting out of hand. The sound shinobi was far stronger then he thought he would be and he would have to take it up a notch if he was to win this fight. Jumping back to get some distance, he reached into his pouch and pulled out a small case with three different colored pills. One was blue, the next was white and the final one was red. Knowing what his father had told him about the pills, he opened the first door and pulled out the blue pill. 'I have to finish this quickly otherwise I can't help Naruto. I will not let my good friend make the biggest mistake of his life!'

Without a second thought, he downed the pill as Jiroubou looked at him strangely before smirking as he believed the pill to be nothing. "Nothing is going to help you here kid. You bit off more then you can chew…" He frowned as he almost finished his sentence when he felt Chouji's chakra rise and quickly.

A small smirk crossed Chouji's lips as the power from the pill coursed through his body. It was far beyond what he had thought it to be before but know he knew why his father told him to use them sparingly. Quickly taking the advantage of the power boost, he rushed towards Jiroubou with speed beyond his and slammed his fist into his face. Seeing the stunned look on his face, he followed it up with an elbow to his gut and followed with a back hand to his chin. Still not finished, he grabbed his shirt collar and threw him into the ground and began to pound the sound ninja into the ground when his fist was suddenly caught.

He frowned as he noticed strange marks crossing Jiroubou's face coming from the seal on his neck. While he had seen the seal on each of the members of team seven, he did not know what they did and now he had a good idea feeling the amount of chakra his opponent was increase once more till it was above his. In an instant he was thrown off as Jiroubou stood up with rage in his eyes. "Boy, I had some sympathy for you and was going to let you live, but now you die!!"

The tide of the fight turned once more as Jiroubou was on him in an instant and rocked the young Akimichi's world with one punch to the face. That one punch had broke his cheek bone, he was sure of that. But the next one delivered to his solar plexus damn near knocked him out as he hit the ground and began hacking like crazy. He swore he felt his lung in his throat from that blow, but he stood up once more as he looked at his opponent only to begin sweating as he saw him rip a huge chunk out of the ground. Knowing that was going to need another power boost to stop this attack, he pulled his case out once more and swallowed the blue pill just as the chunk of earth was thrown at him.

Power surpassing the amount he had before surged through his body and with a swing of his fist he knocked the large chunk away which in turn flattened the trees it was sent towards. Not going the waste the chakra he had this time, he used his family jutsu and expanded his arm and punched Jiroubou in the face from twenty feet away before grabbing him with his other arm and throwing him up into the air. Increasing the size of his entire body, he tucked himself in and turned himself into a human bowling ball as he rammed the falling Oto shinobi knocking him for a loop as he hit the ground.

Groggily getting up, Jiroubou looked up before paling as the boulder known as Chouji rolled towards him with unbelievable speeds. He barely was able to dodge but was caught off guard by such a quick turn form the Akimichi that he could not dodge it the second time and was flattened in the process. Knowing he was going to need some medical attention when he got back to the sound. Still, he would not lose to this gennin. It was insulting that he would have to go this far to win, but the boy had proved he was strong enough to deserve as much. And with that his body morphed into its final stage just as Chouji stopped rolling.

Looking at his opponent now, Chouji cursed as this fight would take everything he had to win. The power increase from the second transformation had caught him completely off guard and now knew why Sakura had said Naruto might be under the influence of the seal. With such great power, it was hard to refuse especially with one that was treated horribly throughout his life. Keeping his ground, he looked at the smirking Jiroubou as he spoke with a demonic like voice. "This is the power the curse seal grants the user. Your friend is undergoing this transformation now. The power this form grants is almost fifty times your original strength. I did not want to use this form against a weak gennin like you, but it seems I have no choice."

Seeing Chouji narrow his eyes, the large sound ninja laughed at him as he continued with his taunting. "Why do you think they left you behind in the first place? You were the weakest of all of them and they were lightening the load so they could try to save the strongest of all of you. Losing a nobody like you would be worth it to regain someone of the blonde's caliber. That's why Orochimaru is so intent on having the blonde join us instead of a loser like you and your friends!"

Chouji was getting madder by the second. He was use to others making fun of him due to his days in the academy. They had always made fun of his size and kept him from playing with the others. That was until Shikamaru came and shortly afterwards Naruto. They both gave him the confidence to continue on and now they both needed him and he would not let them down. He already knew he stood no chance against this guy with the amount of power he was generating, but he knew what would happen if he used the red pill. He could already see the affects of the other pills as his body was much thinner then before as he burned through calories like crazy using the pills, but the red one would…

Before he could find an answer, Jiroubou had started attacking. He could hardly see his blows much less stop them. Each one hurt far worse then the before and the last one had knocked him into the air and into and through a few trees. Coughing heavily as each of the blows were taking their toll, he saw the sound ninja pull another great chunk of earth from the ground ready to end this match. He had no choice if he wanted to help Shikamaru rescue Naruto from himself. He would have to use the red pill.

Throwing the chunk of earth towards the Akimichi and seeing a giant debris cloud from the impact, Jiroubou began to laugh in relief. The fight had been far more difficult then he had expected. Sure he was still exhausted from his fight before but the boy had given him a run for his money. He just couldn't keep up at the end. Releasing his curse seal as there was no time left for it anyways, he was about to leave when he felt a massive spike of chakra and wheeled around. His eyes widened seeing Chouji standing in front of him but the boy was no longer big-boned.

Chouji's weight had dropped drastically as the red pill burned through as many calories from his fat as it could and converting it into chakra. But that wasn't the top of it. Two wings formed from his back. Two butterfly wings made from his very own chakra. Before Jiroubou could react, Chouji slammed him down with one punch that crushed his chest. As he stood up and panted from his attack, Chouji looked down at his opponent. "You never stood a chance. The pills I have been taking increase my strength by a hundred fold."

As the surprise and life dimmed from Jiroubou's eyes, Chouji looked into the direction the retrieval squad had gone before he began coughing heavily. His wings deteriorated as he walked forward; trying to catch the group even though he knew it was all over for him. Every fiber in his being wanted to continue on to help his friends, but falling to all fours as his coughing became worse he noticed a carving on the tree and smiled knowing it was Shikamaru that had left it for him. Hacking even worse then before, he didn't notice a chunk of red substance fly out of his mouth as he laid back against the tree as his eyes slowly closed. 'Shikamaru, it is all up to you to save Naruto…'

---------------------------------------------
As they were running to catch the remnants of the sound four, Shikamaru's eyes widened as he saw a butterfly made of light fly in front of him. His fist clinched tightly as a varied emotions flood through him knowing what his best friend had done. Knowing that Chouji would go so far to save Naruto only confirmed in his mind that Naruto was worth saving. "Neji, how far away are they?"

Activating his Byukugan, Neji focused his vision in front of them until he locked in on the group. "We're a hundred meters and gaining quickly. I expect they believed the sound shinobi they left behind to be catching up and not us." Shikamaru nod hearing this as he formulated a plan. Just as he came up with one, Neji's eyes widened. "IT'S A TRAP!"

Before any of them could react, they were lifted up into the air held firmly by what seemed to be spider webbing. As they struggled to get free of the webbing, they only found themselves caught even further in the webbing. As they struggled, Kidomaru appeared with Sakon and Tayuya "Well you were right. Fat ass couldn't stop them but now instead of their fat ass they have a pink haired slut. What an improvement?"

Seeing Tayuya roll her eyes pissed Sakura off. She already wasn't having a great day but now this girl was calling her a slut. Oh, she was going to pay for that. Focusing her chakra throughout her body, she released right when she struggle snapping the webbing from around her and flew towards the red haired girl intending on turning her into a bloody pancake. Before she could react however, she was knocked back as Sakon intervened and kicked her in the chest sending her skidding but taking the blow in the chest in the process sending him into a large tree causing a massive crater. Pulling himself out of it, he shook his head. "Damn, I'm not taking that girl on again. You can take her next punch Kidomaru. We need to deliver the boy to Orochimaru on the double."

Kidomaru nodded as he knew this already as he turned to the rest as Sakon and Tayuya took off towards the Rice and Fire border. He knew he would have to worry about the pink haired girl as she jumped back up, ready to fight. And he was getting annoyed by those birds chirping louder and louder by the second. Moving at the last second, he avoided a fatal strike from Sasuke's Chidori but had lost an arm in the process as Sasuke cut through his top right arm like butter. Hissing loudly, already not liking his situation, he knew he would have to single them out. Altogether they would defeat him seeing two of their abilities already.

Sakura and Sasuke were getting angry and fast. Every second that was wasted was a second Naruto was closer to Orochimaru's clutches and they could not let that happen. Sasuke was ready to fight him. However, before anyone could react Neji had stepped forward. "Go! I'll handle this guy! Only you and Sakura could rescue Naruto now! I'll catch up after I get through here!” Seeing the hesitance in their eyes, Neji narrowed his eyes as his Byukugan flared into life. "GO NOW!"

No one argued as they left the branch house prodigy alone with the spider like man mourning the lose of one of his arms. Once they were no longer in sight, Neji narrowed his eyes at the spider man and quickly went on the attack but Kidomaru was ready and spat what seemed to be the same webs that had ensnared them before. Doing exactly what he did before, Neji used a slightly modified version of the jyuken and easily cut himself down. But the webbing had done what Kidomaru had need and bought him some time to get out of Neji's range.

"I know all about your family's skills, Hyuuga. If you cannot get up close you cannot defeat your opponent. Now prepare to die as you will never get close to me to use your taijutsu!" Kidomaru bragged as he hung far above the Hyuuga prodigy before spitting out what seemed to be gold. Neji was somewhat grossed out by this at first but being around Naruto and having him swallow and spit out weaponry or scrolls in a similar manner, he quickly overcame it as they gold took shape into what seemed to be hand held weaponry.

Knowing what he was going to do with them, Neji slid into his stance as his Byukugan focused on the weapons as they came down upon. He fluidly dodged the weapons as they rained down upon but to the surprise of his opponent, he began using the said weapons to jump higher into the air before landing on the tree he was on and rushing straight for him. The Hyuuga smirked as he noticed the look on the spider man's face as he had quickly turned the battle into a close range match.

Even with his arms, he was not able to touch the Hyuuga prodigy as palm strike after palm strike struck home knocking Kidomaru back into the tree trunk before pushing him through it with incredible force. Seeing his chance to end the fight, Neji slid further down before unleashing the Hakke Rokujuyon Sho onto his opponent. Two strikes hit, then four and eight quickly followed by fifty-six other strikes. But there was a problem. None of his tenketsu had been shut off. His eyes widened as he noticed a silky like armor covering his opponent’s body before peeling off. "Impressive. If I had been caught by that attack this fight would be all over."

Before he could react, Kidomaru had knocked him off the tree before he pulled himself higher into the tree tops by means of a chakra thread. His curse seal flare as the marks crossed his face as he was no longer going to hold back against this boy. Spitting out more golden substance, he formed more weapons before he hid himself from view. Believing the Hyuuga not to see him, he threw the rest of his weapons towards the Hyuuga so he could not dodge all of them.

Seeing that he could not dodge all of them as they came from above, Neji spread his chakra throughout his body before he slowly began to expel it through each tenketsu as he spun himself around. As the weapon neared, a vortex of chakra formed around him reflecting all the weapons aimed towards him as. "Kaiton!"

Kidomaru narrowed his eyes as he saw this but instantly saw a weakness to the technique and planned to exploit it. While it was a great defense for thrown weaponry, once he stopped moving he was vulnerable and therefore could be hit. Creating more hand held weapons along with a bow and arrow; he threw each of the weapons towards him. Once he was out, he pulled up his bow and took careful aim as the Hyuuga used the Kaiten once more. As the throwing weapons bounced off the chakra shield harmlessly, he found the most vulnerable extremity as the spin began to slow and fired his arrow straight for the Hyuuga's head.

To his surprise, Neji caught it was unreal ease. Kidomaru narrowed his eyes as he saw this. It was as if he saw the arrow the entire time. Returning to view as this happened; Kidomaru placed two of his hands on his hips as he glared down at the Hyuuga prodigy. "What is your name?"

Looking up at his opponent, he took the time to swallow a soldier pill knowing he would need it before answering. "Hyuuga Neji."

Nodding to himself as he memorized the name, Kidomaru continued to look down on his opponent. "Interesting. I'll remember your name as the first and only person to ever catch my arrow. But make no mistake, it will not happen again." With that said, he disappeared into the foliage of the trees believing himself to be hidden from the Hyuuga prodigy. Taking a firm look at him from his spot, he spat up far more weapons then before as he went through a few hand seals and wiped and bit one of his free hands. "Kuchiyose no jutsu!"

Neji did not like to hear that jutsus name. He knew the jutsu was powerful and he knew if it was a boss summon things were about to get difficult as he had no summon of his own to help him out. But nonetheless, he knew the jyuken was a powerful weapon against summons and could take them out far quicker then anything he could think of. Looking up, Neji was officially crept out as dozens of spiders slung down towards him. While he didn't mind spiders so much as they had a purpose in ecosystems, these abomination had to die. As soon as they surrounded him, he used the Kaiten once more to repel and dispel them instantly.

The spider like man smirked seeing this as he saw the opportunity and threw all his throwing weaponry towards the prodigy who noticed the webbing lying around keeping him from using the Kaiten again. To his surprise the Hyuuga was still dodging them as if he knew where they were going to be before they arrived. But to add to his distress, the gennin could see where he was as a kunai passed by him with an exploding tag attached to it. Cursing as he escaped from it, he looked back at his target. 'Damn, he must have three hundred and sixty degree vision…'

Seeing him distracted as another batch of spiders headed down towards him, he took the opportunity to throw a batch of his golden kunai towards him once he was directly behind him. The Hyuuga dodged once more but this time he saw results. He had barely had dodge the kunai and a small cut was left on his shoulder. 'Ah, I see. It must not be a total three-sixty vision. He must have a small blind spot located around his back somewhere. But where is the question. Hm, yes. Right above his shoulder blades and below the joint of his neck and torso. But to pull this off I'm going to need my full power.'

As he began to call upon his curse seal once more, his visage began to change much to the surprise of Neji. He had seemed to transform into a demon and now with that third eye that appeared on his head, he was quite sure that was what he actually turned into. Once he was finished with the spider, he was about to rush him to end this fight now when he noticed a large shadow over his head before seeing a giant spider fall onto top of him. With one thrust, the spider was dispelled. He looked around in an attempt to find his target, but he was no longer in sight. That's when he saw it. A giant arrow heading straight for his head.

He was only barely able to move his head out of the way but the arrow had cleaning took of his hitai-ate along with a small chunk of his hair. He cursed at this he was lucky that it had only taken his head band and his hair. His opponent had figured out there was a blind spot to the Byukugan and was using it to his full advantage. To try and take that away, he continuously look every direction and began moving here and there to keep him from finding the blind spot again while hoping to spot him to end this battle.

Kidomaru smirked as he saw this. He was making the Hyuuga paranoid as he didn't know where the next arrow was going to come from. However his head constantly being on a swivel while moving around would make it harder to get the arrow by with him noticing. This boy was indeed a good opponent as he was the first in years to challenge him to such an extent. Too bad he was only a gennin. Creating one more arrow, he connected it with webbing so he could control the direction it went. Taking careful aim as he found the blind spot once more, he increased the power of his release. "Power one-twenty, accuracy one-twenty."

"Time to die boy."

The arrow fired and flew towards Neji faster then the eye could see. Neji knew it was coming for him as he could hear it, but he couldn't see it. He cursed as it was in his blind spot before coming up with a suicidal strategy. Focusing all his sight to his blind spot, he saw the arrow and moved just enough to keep the strike from being fatal. He bit his lip to keep from yelling out in pain before gripping the web and pulled himself off the arrow before sending a burst of chakra through it before following the webbing.

Kidomaru was not expecting the chakra feedback and was knocked out of his hiding spot. To his horror he saw Neji coming straight for him even with blood pouring out the hole in his right chest. Not being able to move himself in mid air, he could only wait for his demise as Neji jumped at him and delivered a jyuken strike to his heart.

The two fell limply to the ear. Kidomaru was dead, however Neji was fading quickly. The arrow had pierced his lung and was too close to his heart for comfort. He tried to move, but he found himself too weak to do so. With his vision fading, a small smile crossed his face. His eyes slowly closed as it his eyelids were getting to heavy to keep open. He would finally get to see his father and mother again.

---------------------------------------------
They were gaining on them once more. Sasuke was leading the way with Kiba and Shikamaru flanking his side while Sakura was behind him. Knowing the terrain they were crossing, Shikamaru narrowed his eyes. "They're taking us across the gorge! One wrong move and it can be your last!"

Everyone nodded in understanding as their targets became visible. Sasuke quickened his pace leaving everyone behind and got in front of both the two Oto shinobi as the others quickly surrounded them. "Now, give us my brother. You have no chance against all four of us as weak and tired as you are now."

Tayuya gritted her teeth and was about to screech at him with Sakon placed his hand over her mouth, only infuriating her more. He knew their odds were low now. He knew the raven and the pink haired Konoha nin had cursed seals and that only added to their problem. They were indeed worn out and the four surrounding them were in good shape with full reserves. Their odds were low and with the gorge nearby they had problems as one misstep and it was over. He knew he would be punished for giving the boy up, but it was to ensure that they lived. Besides, with the second stage of the seal and the girl, he would come on his own free will. "Fine. You can have the…"

He was cut short as the barrel Tayuya was carrying was shaking like mad forcing her to drop it as it was too hard to hold onto any longer. A deep and dark green and purple mist began to ooze from the barrel's lid as the chakra within began to spike. Everyone backed away as the chakra was far more potent then anything they felt before. The lid ripped off with no trouble as a figure slowly stood up from within the barrel.

With long and spiky dusty blonde hair, almost brown, Naruto looked around as if he was searching for something. Sakura gasped as she saw his face as the rest of the Konoha gennin were caught off guard as half his face was covered in dark green scales with a crimson eye gleaming brightly. Sniffing the air lightly, he jumped out of the barrel and on all fours before catching the scent he was looking for and taking off leaving both a stun core of Konoha gennin and the remnants of the sound four.

Reality catching back up with Sasuke, he didn't waste a second as he chased after the blonde and Sakura was quick to follow. Seeing the two other Konoha shinobi distracted, Sakon and Tayuya attempted to escape before realizing they couldn't move. Looking back at the two gennin, they cursed as they noticed the pineapple haired one had his hand in the rat symbol. "You aren't going anywhere. While Sakura and Sasuke bring Naruto back, you two will not interfere.”

Both gritted their teeth at this and tried to struggle free of the grip the shadow held on them before Sakon smirked as he his second head was gone. Shikamaru had noticed this before remembering that he had two heads and was caught off guard when he felt something that was not natural creeping into his skin. Looking down, his eyes widened to see Ukon smirking at him. In response, Kiba attacked the head but it simply moved through Shikamaru's body leaving the two stunned as he appeared on the genius' back side. "Try as you like, but this is Sakon's and my bloodline. We can integrate ourselves with other people's body and deconstruct your body from the inside out as we are one now."

Catching onto his drift, Shikamaru cursed as he was forced to let go of his seal as both Sakon and Tayuya were freed of his jutsu. Taking control of his hand once more, he grabbed a kunai before driving it into his own thigh. He smirked even though it hurt like hell as he heard Ukon yell in surprise. "I see, whatever pain I feel, you feel. Just like my Kagemane it seems. So if I do enough damage, you will be forced to let go…"

Flipping his kunai, he was about to shove it into his stomach to force the body snatched out when Ukon pulled himself out willing and reconnected with his brother. The only problem was Tayuya was nowhere in sight and a music that seemed to be coming from a flute flooded the area. To both their surprise and horror, three mummy like creatures appeared out of the foliage. Shikamaru looked at Kiba and Kiba looked at Shikamaru before they both looked at the creature. Looking at each other one more time, they did the only thing they could do seeing three monstrosities.

Shikamaru trapped them with his Kagemane while Kiba feed Akamaru a soldier pill before transforming into a feral Kiba before Kiba smirked at his opponents. "Let's go wild! GATSUGA!"

Two human cyclones ripped the ground towards the struggling dokis as Shikamaru held them firmly even if it was draining his chakra and quickly. Just as Kiba and Akamaru neared their target, Shikamaru released his jutsu to avoid being caught by the technique as well. Kiba and Akamaru ripped through the first one with ease as its blood splattered around the forest but the second and third doki used the time the first one was being shredded to dodge the Inu's attack. Stopping their attack and turning around, the two were forced to evade the dokis' unrelenting attacks as they were focused onto him for killing they other.

Cursing to himself as he watch Kiba get attacked by the monstrosities, Shikamaru was having problems of his own. His Kagemane while effective against one of he brothers could not contain both when one was caught causing him far too much trouble. He had attempted a few times to try and catch both but once the other had been released the other overpowered his shadow as his attention was solely focused on his trapped target. It was becoming annoying and the self inflicted wound was slowing him down and making it easier for the two to get a good blow on him.

Cursing for both Sakura and Sasuke for leaving, he quickly went over all his options before noticing something strange about the dokis. It seemed as it they moved to the melody of the flute. In fact he was sure of it as the doki made certain movements when a certain note was played. The only problem was he knew nothing of music and how to interfere with it. Limping his way over to the panting Kiba, he barely avoided the doki's strike aimed for his legs. "Kiba! Can you track her down?!”

The Inuzuka heir looked at the genius in confusion before catching the look on his face and knowing he had a plan. Taking a sniff of the air, he nodded as he emitted a light growl. "Yeah, she's up in the trees over about thirty meters away. So what's your plan?"

Not having the time to sit down and think about what he was going to do as the doki continued their assault as Sakon and Ukon watched with amusement, Shikamaru closed his eyes before ducking underneath the first doki and rolling out of the next making the other doki hit the first. "Yeah! Flush her out and I'll capture her and take these things out!"

That was all that needed to be said as Kiba and Akamaru bypassed the doki and headed straight for Tayuya. Having heard this, Sakon went to head him off and being faster then the Inuzuka, he succeeded. But to both his and his brother's surprise, the two Inus only smirked. "GATSUGA!"

The spiraled through the two brothers knocking them aside before slamming into the tree branch were Tayuya was playing her flute, forcing her to jump into the clear. Trying to run back to cover, she found herself unable to do so as Shikamaru had his hand in the rat seal once more as Kiba and Akamaru jumped down from the tree and were about to attack. "No! I've got her! Take care of the brothers and keep them from interfering!"

Kiba didn't need to be told twice as he noticed Sakon heading straight for the lazy Nara. Catching him was Gatsuga once more, he smirked as Sakon glared at him before frowning at him when strange markings began to cross his face and spread across his body. He could tell that his power had increased just from smell alone knew that he was going to have his hands full as Shikamaru struggled to keep the red hair and her dokis out of the battle. Not letting that deter him, Kiba rushed head on and clawed Sakon in the face just as Ukon separated himself, only to be caught by Akamaru tackling him.

Seeing that Kiba was doing well, Shikamaru could take his attention off him as he walked them nearby the gorge. It was a risk as if the twins reentered the battle it would be all over for him, but he had faith that Kiba would either hold them off long enough or defeat them altogether. He could tell that the red head was getting pissed that he was controlling her movements, but with his attention solely focused on her he could keep her under control as she struggled to free herself. Knowing the doki to be the problem, Shikamaru brought his right hand up and she mimicked. "I know all about your controlling the summons with your flute.”

Tayuya scoffed at him as she rolled her eyes before responding ever so sarcastically. "Big fucking whoop. Do you want a medal for figuring that out shit head? Oh, wait. You're a fucking guy. You probably want me to get down on my knees and suck you off for figuring out how I control my dokis."

A bead of sweat fell from Shikamaru's head as he heard what he said before shaking his head. 'Why do I always get stuck with troublesome women? Is it just a curse of mine or is god really just that cruel. And it doesn't help that if she and my mom were around each other it would be the third great shinobi war.'

Shaking his head of that thought, he looked over at her and put aside her fowl language and sarcastic tone. "Whatever troublesome woman. I'm just going to end this fight right here and now." Matching his hands with her, he made sure she had a grip of her flute and with a simple flick of his wrist; he had her snap her flute.

Tayuya's face fell as she saw the two pieces of her flute in her hand. Untold anger flooded through her as her curse seal activated and the markings fanned across her body. Her eyes looked with Shikamaru's as her appearance began to change as horns began to sprout from her forehead as her skin turned a dark brown color. "That flute… Was the last thing… I had of my mothers! YOU ARE DEAD!"

Sakon and Ukon stopped their attack on the worn down Inuzuka as they heard Tayuya scream. They looked at each other before looking back at her before Shikamaru and spoke at the same time. "Oh fuck. That kid is going to die a thousand painful deaths… OUF!"

Not paying attention to his opponent, Kiba and Akamaru had caught the two in another Gatsuga and had sent the two flying. But they weren't finished as they raced on all fours towards them to put an end to this battle when they suddenly united and their appearance changed drastically. Horns slowly grew from their heads as large fangs grew from their incisors along with the skin change gave them a truly demonic appearance. As soon as they neared them, they were knocked back with ease. "Kid, its time for you and your dog to die. We aren't the strongest of the four for nothing."

Kiba growled at this but know he knew he was in trouble. The amount of power coming off them was far stronger then before and he knew that with his arsenal that he had only one attack that could put them down and out so he could help Shikamaru out as the girl was beginning to over power his shadow. "Shit. Looks like we have no choice but to use that jutsu boy. You ready for?" Akamaru barked as he transformed back into his regular form before jumping onto Kiba's head. "Alright then! Time for our ultimate technique! Jinju Konbi Henge: Sotoro!"

In a large poof of smoke, Kiba and Akamaru had changed in a large wolf with two heads. Saliva oozed from their mouths as the frenzied eyes found the transformed Sakon and Ukon before the wolf grinned in an almost evil like manner. Without hesitation, the wolf charged the two and slashed with so much power that all its feet left the ground. The two brothers were ready and avoided it and expected the wolf to fall on its face only to see them begin to spin and use the same technique they had been using on them all day except far more powerful then before. The problem was, he didn't turn back towards them. "Garoga!"

Shikamaru did not like his situation right now. First, he had to break the flute which held tremendous value to the red head, then she released her full power and began to over power his shadow and even his shadow hand couldn't stop her and finally, she had another flute and had almost brought it to her mouth. He was pouring all his chakra into his jutsu right now just to keep her from doing so as if she did, it was all over. He was glad that the doki had been summoned back to their world, but he knew she still had something up her sleeve. Feeling his control slip, he swallowed as her lips reached her flute and began to play.

He suddenly found himself strung up by dozens of ninja wire. He knew it was a genjutsu instantly as there was no way she could have caught like this so quickly, but releasing it the normal way or flaring his chakra to release it would not work. He froze as pain began to erupt from his body and he noticed that his skin was slowly beginning to melt. Knowing what he had to do, he bit down on his lip as hard as he could but it was not enough as the pain was still coursing through his body before he heard it. "Garoga!"

Tayuya had no time to turn as the human cyclone ran into her shredding the front of her clothes before throwing her off the gorge. The transformed wolf of Kiba and Akamaru barely stopped their spinning long enough to keep themselves from falling off the gorge as well. Seeing Shikamaru be released from the genjutsu and quickly rush to the side to check if she recovered, he turned to wolf and nodded. "Thanks you two. Now lets finish this!"

Sakon and Ukon cursed as they knew they had no choice as the wolf began spinning and heading for them. As it neared them, he separated once more and wiping off some of their blood, they went through five familiar hand seals. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

A large gate that seemed to be made of metal erupted from the ground just as the wolf reached them. To their surprise the wolf actually made a dent in the Rashimon, but the gate held firm as the wolf bounced off and transformed back to a dazed Kiba and a knocked out Akamaru. Seeing their chance to strike, they were about to rush in and finish the boy and his dog when they found they couldn't move as the lazy genius panted lightly as he held them with his shadow coming from the gate. "This battle ends here and now… Kage Nui!"

Blood splattered on Shikamaru's face as his two shadow tendrils pierced both of the brothers chest. Seeing them revert back to their original forms, Shikamaru released his hold on them and fell to his knees as fatigue hit him. He had used every ounce of his chakra to take them out and having just learned the technique he had used, it had drained far more chakra then he expected it to. He tried to see if Kiba was alright, but his vision was far too blurry to see anything further then a few feet away. Falling to the earth, Shikamaru passed out, no longer able to keep himself up.

From below in the gorge, Tayuya gasped for breath as she emerged from the river below. Her entire body was in pain from the fall. She knew she had broken her left fibula, her right ulna, a few ribs and she was pretty sure her skull was cracked seeing blood flowing from her head freely. She cursed knowing as it was two gennin that put her in this condition, but there was no time to think about it. Even in the amount of pain she was in, she knew if she stayed put that Konoha shinobi would find her and interrogate her to learn anything they could about Orochimaru. Taking a look of her surroundings, she began to swim up stream with one arm knowing it was the direction she needed to go.

---------------------------------------------
Sasuke cursed. He was losing Naruto and quickly. The blonde was just too fast for him to catch. He knew Sakura was not too far behind him and she probably could throw him the distance to catch him, but the odds of landing safely from her throw would be very low. Not only that, but he could see another chakra signature approaching him. He narrowed his eyes knowing who it was instantly and was ready to meet him head on. Having Sakura catch him, he jumped through the trees and landed in front of a surprised Hiboruto. "Stop your foolish chase Yami. This is one you will not be able to win."

Hiboruto narrowed his eyes at the Uchiha in front of him. Once more he was stopped by one of the demon's friends. It annoyed him to know end that they would protect the abomination even after he had betrayed their village. Could they not see he what he truly was. "No, I will not stop until either the demon is dead or I am. He has taken my mother away from me and now the girl I want more then anything."

Sakura had burst through the foliage to see why Sasuke had stopped before narrowing her eyes seeing Hiboruto. As she was about to react, Sasuke stopped her with his voice. "Sakura, don't! I know you have issues with him but so do I. I've already failed once to stop him, its now your turn." Seeing her face, he shook his head. "Don't worry, I'll be there soon. This should not take long."

Seeing the look in his eyes, Sakura knew he was telling the truth. But she wanted to rip Hiboruto a new hide far more then he did and was about to argue so when Sasuke turned to her with his Sharingan spinning madly, moving closer and closer to the center. She shivered for an unknown reason as she looked in his eyes. Something told her that she needed to leave as Sasuke did not want her to see what he was going to do and even though she wanted to see the asshole get his just deserts, she knew that Naruto was more important at the moment. Her curse seal pulsed as her eyes clouded before nodding at her teammate and spoke in the same tone when she first activated the curse seal. "Alright, but make sure he suffers."

Nodding at her as he felt the curse seal pulse as well, he watched Sakura leave before his sight turned to Hiboruto and took one quick step before vanishing. In a second he was in front of Yami and delivered a vicious cross to his face before following it with a round house kick to his chest. As he stumbled back, Sasuke gripped the collar of his shirt before he slammed his left fist into his gut as many times as he could before Hiboruto pushed him off and stumbled back, panting heavily.

He knew he would have trouble as he hadn't fought in almost a month, but this was something else. Sasuke's skill had increased seemed to have increased two fold since the chunin exams. Hiboruto's eyes narrowed further at this development as gaining that kind of strength in that time frame was nearly unheard of without some sort of outside intervention. Collecting himself, he hardened his resolve to continue forth with his goal and what he had to do to gain it. "Uchiha, this is a no win situation for either of us. If either one of us kills the other heavy and swift punishment will be delivered to the survivor. But if you were to let me go…"

"Can it. I don't want to hear a word from your mouth unless you are begging for mercy." Sasuke interrupted with unending commit to his own words. Going through a few seals, he caught Hiboruto off guard as lighting began to crackle from his palm as his Sharingan spun madly. "Ever since you arrived on the scene nothing but bad things had happened to my family and friends. You pissed Yugito off every day, then you start stalking her like a fan boy, then you take one of my best friend's eyes for being a friend to my brother and then you tried to kill my brother and had people cheering believe you had done it. So shut the fuck up and fight or get the hell out of here!"

Sasuke charged without second warning straight at Hiboruto with his Chidori ripping the ground to shreds along the way. Yami cursed lightly as he went through the seals for Kazuki. Just as the fire ignited in his hand, Sasuke was on him and thrusted his Chidori to his heart. He barely had the time to block with Kazuki as he placed it in front. The lighting easily overpowered the fire as it had no time to gather strength but it had done what Hiboruto wanted it to. It gave him enough time to use a replacement with a log and avoid being skewered by Sasuke.

Not wasting a second, Sasuke pulled his hand out the log and raced straight to a recovering Hiboruto, not giving him the time to counter. Or so he thought. He was met by a right hook to his cheek before a palm strike to his chest knocking him back.

This time Hiboruto went on the attack. He was glad his father had gotten a jounin to place weight seals on him when he was blind so he could continue to get stronger even if it wasn't by much. With all of them released he felt much lighter and was able to deliver blow after blow to the stunned Uchiha until the said Uchiha began to smirk. He frowned at this and stopped his attack only to see why he was smirking. He had weight seals of his own and he had released them as well. He frowned at this knowing the fight would go in Sasuke's favor once more and hated to admit it, but the Uchiha was the better in this fight. But there was one thing he had learned while he was blind.

Seeing the chakra around his opponent increase, Sasuke frowned as he knew what Hiboruto was doing. 'When did he learn how to open the gates? Dammit, this is going to take longer then I thought! How in the fuck did he receive training when he couldn't see?!'

Shaking the thought off, Sasuke knowing the danger of fighting someone with the gates opened knew that the best course of action was to let the one that opened the gate wear them self down. Having no trouble catching his movements as Hiboruto charged him; Sasuke used the foresight of his Sharingan to give him an advantage as he evaded his attacks. It was difficult as each strike was faster then the last, but being used to fighting fast opponents he was able to manage even if he had to block a few strikes here and there and landed a few of his own.

Hiboruto was getting annoyed and tired quickly. He hadn't pushed himself this hard in a while and his body was trying to shake off the rust but it had its toll. Even with the gate opened, Sasuke had been in clear control even if he hadn't thrown but one punch for every ten he did. Each of his punches connected and he would be lucky if he got a block out of ten as Sasuke was dodging almost every single one. Knowing he would need to open the second gate to stand a chance, he jumped back as he prepared to open the gate. The only problem was Sasuke wasn't going to allow it.

Sasuke cursed as he noticed exactly what Yami was doing when he jumped back. He could not let him open another gate otherwise he was in trouble. He could use the seal, but he rather not use that against this opponent. He needed to save it if Naruto was hostile and to help Sakura if that was the case. He knew he did not have enough chakra to use Chidori as he was just under thirty percent of his chakra and he could only use it three times and knew the forth would not come. But however, he did have another powerful move in his arsenal that took less chakra and was just as powerful if not more so. Flowing his chakra to the palm of his hand, he focused as a sphere of chakra formed before taking off towards Hiboruto. "RASENGAN!"

Yami cursed seeing this and knew how powerful that jutsu was from his last encounter with Naruto. However this time he had plenty of time to counter as he went through the seals and a controlled fire ignited in his palm before rushing to meet his opponent. "KAZUKI!"

Once more the two techniques collided and fire wisped around them as they tried to over power the other. It was quickly clear who was the winner this time however as the Rasengan drilled through it and caught Hiboruto's hand forcing him to alter the aim and struck at Sasuke chest. The Uchiha barely was able to move out of the way as he fire scraped his chest. But his movement has caused his Rasengan to alter its aim and Hiboruto wasn't as fast to react as it slammed into his chest and drilled in before knocking him back and on the ground.

Looking down at his opponent, Sasuke panted lightly before standing above him with his Sharingan spinning madly as his cursed seal pulsed. It wanted him to suffer to. It wanted to make Hiboruto pay for all the wrongs he had committed against not only him, but Naruto, Sakura and Yugito. While he knew not to give into it as it would make him do something he would regret, he wanted to this time. The markings scattered across his body as they moved from the curse seal and he felt far more powerful then before as his eyes clouded over and he placed his foot on Hiboruto's throat. Forming another Rasengan in his hand, a demonic smirk crossed Sasuke lips. "This is your just desserts. See you in hell!"

Faster then anyone could see, Sasuke slammed his technique into Hiboruto's skull and drove it in. Blood splattered around him but he didn't care. This was his first kill for his family. This one would be a stepping stone for Itachi. As the technique gave out, so did Sasuke curse seal allowing him to see what he done. He flinched lightly at the sight of a headless child of Yami Ryo and knew there would be trouble if he stayed in Konoha. It did not bother him that Hiboruto was dead or that he killed him in a brutal fashion. No, none of this was important right now. Getting to Naruto was the most important thing as everyone that was hurt or possibly dead because of him needed to see closure.

Standing up with his Sharingan blazing, he reached into his pouch and swallowed a soldier pill. He was going to need as much chakra as he could get seeing chakra being used in the distance. He just hoped Sakura could hold on until he got there.

---------------------------------------------
Sakura was not sure why, but Naruto had stopped. He had an unfathomable lead yet he had stopped. Was he waiting for her? Why would he do that if Yugito had already crossed the border and was in the Sound? While she knew that this was a good thing for retrieving him, it was bad because he would more the likely leave the village once more to be with her. She felt a small pang in her heart as she thought but quickly shook her head. Naruto was only a friend and nothing more.

As she caught up, she instantly recognized the area he was standing and he happened to be standing on one his ancestors head. Landing on the Shodaime's head, she looked over at Naruto only to see his back as he faced the other way. "The Valley of the End… I see why you have stopped her Naruto but this is not the end. You can still come back and we can bring Yugito back together."

Naruto shook his head at her and continued to look in the opposite direction before turning to let her see his half transformed face. "No Sakura it is. I'm stopping here to tell you that this is the end of Konoha's hatred. Yugito agreed to come with me and she does not want to return either. I'm sorry to all my friends as my betrayal will hurt them, especially those who came after me today, but I made this decision on my own, under no influence other then the village's hatred. Go back Sakura and tell them this and tell them… The next time you see me, I will be the new Snake Sannin."

Sakura's face dropped as she heard this. While she was mildly shocked that the ride side of his face was covered in green snake like scales, it was not what was bothering her the most. She could tell that Naruto was fully in control of himself and knew exactly what he was saying. Closing her eyes, her head tilted down so where her hair covered her eyes. "I see…"

She balled her fist as her eyes snapped open as all her bottle up emotions broke free of their containment. Jumping towards him before he could react, he forced him into the statue of Madara creating a small crater on the head before delivering a powerful punch to his face causing he crater to deepen. "YOU FOOL! You are letting them get to you! What is different now then years past?! Is your life worse now then it has been?! NO! Things are beginning to look up for you! You have Yugito! You have both Sasuke and I on your team! You have all your friends willing to risk their lives to keep you from making the mistake of your life! Forget about the villagers and ignorant bastards like Hiboruto and his father! They will always be there, but don't let the all that is bad outweigh everything that is good!"

He winced each word as she drove him into the crater deeper and deeper. She did have a point and a very good point at that. He still had the Hyuuga clan as they were family. He still had Sasuke. He had Sakura and the rest of his friends. He had a Hokage that supported him and even half the council. It wouldn't be long when the ones that hated him were no longer on there and with the Hokage the only one that could appoint council members, it was more then likely that they would support him. And with Yugito… His face turned into a scowl as all the bad that the village had done came back in full force as the snake like portion of his face receded into the seal and countered Sakura in a apathetic tone. "Is that all?"

Sakura's face fell once more before with one push she was sent back to the Shodaime's head and was barely able to keep her balance as Naruto stood up from inside the crater. "You don't get it Sakura. Even with all I have now, there will be people there that will try to take it from me. People like Hiboruto who want me dead and will do anything to make sure I cannot find happiness for what was sealed within me. In the Sound I at least will be treated like I'm human. There I won't have to worry as much at night if someone will come to kill me and those I care about. And finally I would be allowed to be myself and someone who I'm not!"

At the end, Sakura was looking at Naruto with a deep look of disbelief on her face. Seeing the look, Naruto quickly continued as he hit a nerve and was going to exploit it. "Yes Sakura, I have not been myself in years. Who you see in front of you is the true me! The me you have gotten to know the last couple of months is only a part of the equation. I never been able to let myself go and be who I truly am because of what could happen! I just stayed in my mold and followed the rules even if I bent them at times. But that was never me, Sakura. Sasuke knows this as I have shown him who I truly am on occasions. Yugito knew this when we got together and asked that I tried to be more like myself when I was around her. I was getting ready to show you as you had earned my trust, but this happened."

Taking all of what Naruto said in, Sakura took a deep breath as she looked over at her teammate. She knew he was telling her the truth and it hurt. The Naruto she knew was only a piece of the real Naruto. While she could accept that, it still hurt to know. Closing her eyes and steeling her resolve, she clinched her fist before opening her eyes and locking them with his. "I believe you... But I still will not let you make this mistake! Even if I have to break every bone in your body, you are coming back home!"

Leaping towards him before he could react, she struck him on the chest sending him skidding on his side against the stony ground. He tried to push himself up and react, but she was on him faster then he could believe and the air was driven out of his lungs as her foot connected with his chest and knocked him off the statue and off the statue. As he was in mid air, he attempted to right himself and run up the statue when he saw Sakura coming straight for him. Before he could even touch a solid surface so he could avoid her, she delivered a fierce right cross to his face. Just from the force of the blow alone he rocketed to the ground and created a crater ten foot deep before she quickly landed on top of him, ready to end this fight quickly.

Naruto was in a state of shock. Sakura was beating him with ease. While he knew the girl was strong, he did not think she could beat him on her own. Now he knew otherwise as he closed his eyes as he hit the ground and absorbed the pain. She was going to take all his attention if he wanted to win this battle. As soon as she landed, his eyes snapped open as his arm thrusted forward. "Sen'eitajashu!"

A dozen snakes shot from his sleeve and pushed Sakura off him. A few attempt to bite down on her extremities, but she quickly knocked those back until finally one succeed and injected its poison. Not wasting a second, she used her medical knowledge as soon as she landed and began extracting the poison. It didn't take long for her to do so as it was just injected, however that was all the time Naruto needed to recover and use one of his favorite jutsus. Twenty clones surrounded her before rushing in. Sakura however countered by slamming her fist into the ground causing a tremor that caught all the clones of balance before kunai and shuriken tore threw them leaving only a few left along with the original. But to her horror, the ones that she didn't destroy began to glow as they neared her before they erupted leaving small craters of their own.

She had only barely managed to avoid the explosion and had jumped onto the surface of the water, only to see Naruto waiting for her. She cursed as he was quickly on her forcing her on the defensive. She knew in close range she had the advantage, but Naruto was not an easy opponent to hit once he started attack from the sheer ferocity of his attacks and his ability to flex himself around his opponents. Not only that but he was using his wind based jyuken against her causing cuts to pile up on her quickly. She quickly healed them and was delivering a few good blows that knocked him back. Even with his hits, she knew she was doing more damaged to him. So why keep coming back for more...

Her eyes widened as she realized exactly what Naruto was up to. He was trying to make her burn through her chakra. As soon as she did, she would be in trouble as Naruto had barely begun to use his reserves and add in he had the curse seal and Hachibi… She cursed under her breath before pushing a lot of chakra into her fist and catching Naruto on the chin and sent him into the wall of the gorge. This fight had to end here and now as every second that went, the advantage would turn in Naruto's favor. She didn't want to seriously hurt Naruto, but she had no choice if she was going to bring him back.

Opening his eyes once more as he pulled himself from the crater, Naruto saw Sakura running towards him with everything she had. He cursed know the pink hair girl could do a lot of damage and quickly with the amount of chakra she had left, not counting the curse seal. Going through the proper hand seals, he thrusted his hands in front of him of him. "Futon: Daitoppia!"

The blast of air caught Sakura off guard be she held firm with her chakra. Soon as it finished, she unlatched her boomerangs and with a might heave, threw the first towards him. Cursing as he saw this, Naruto jumped from his crater as the boomerang impacted leaving a small hole where it hit. Turning back to Sakura, his eyes widened as he heard the sound of rocks being ripped to shred and turned back around to see the boomerang coming back, right for his head. Not even knowing how Sakura pulled that off, he dove under water to avoid as he went through a series of hand seals. He had to end this now or Sakura was going to win.

Narrowing her eyes as she caught her boomerang, she could not see how deep Naruto went as after a few feet, nothing was visible. That would be a great advantage for him coming up if he was to attack. Taking a few steps back as she search for him, she noticed bubbles beginning to appear beneath. Jumping back, she looked on in astonishment as a dragon of nothing but wind erupted from where she stood. 'When did Naruto learn this?!'

Hearing the dragon roar as it came back down for her, she stood petrified as she looked at the dragon, unsure to believe it was real or not. As it was about to hit, she felt herself be whisked away and on dry land. She watched as the dragon tore through the water and rock underneath where she was standing as if it was butter and knew if she was hit by that she would be out. Looking towards who saved her, she sighed in relief as it was Sasuke. Now they could corral Naruto as he emerged from the water with a frown on his face. "Thank you Sasuke. I froze there..."

"Its alright, Sakura. You did what was needed." Sasuke shook his head as he was surprised at the damage around. From the look of the area and how Sakura was fairing, it seemed like Sakura was winning until the moment he arrived. It was kind of alarming the girl had gotten so strong; it was also ironic as she was Naruto’s weakness in battle. Jumping onto the water, he looked over at Naruto and shook his head. "Go back home Naruto. There is no need to carry this out any further as we both know the result. The more you fight, the more you are hurting yourself, your friends and your family."

Naruto hissed dangerously at Sasuke. Part of him wanted to know how he was up so soon, but attributed it to Sakura as she was able to remove the poison his snake injected into easily. The rest didn't care as he was in the way of his goal once more, but this time he would have a harder time getting by him as this Sasuke was ready to fight. Still, he was not going to back down even if he was regretting stopping in the first place. "You know why I can't do that, Sasuke! The law is the law and knowing how many people hate me I would get the worst sentence for trying to flee your village! Not only that but I've already have Yugito taken to the Sound... I have to go now!"

Sighing as he knew Naruto had truth to his statement, Sasuke looked over at his brother with his Sharingan unmoving. "I know that brother, but you brought that upon yourself for ever doubting us. The villagers will change with the trend as the younger generation's image of you is bright and your life will get better in time. As for Yugito... I'll convince the snake to send her back. I'm going to the Sound as I cannot return home now. Not after what I've done."

Both Naruto and Sakura were thrown for a loop by this. While the former had no clue at what he was talking about, Sakura looked alarmed as she quickly pieced two and two together. "No... You didn't... You killed him, didn't you?"

As Naruto looked at both of them, trying to figure out what he was being left out on as Sasuke having to go to the Sound was very, very startling, Sasuke nodded his head as he looked over at her. "Yes I did. I killed Hiboruto when he tried to interfere with our mission. While I will be forgiven for it over time, people might think I'm covering up for Naruto if he did not return. While I did it... I used the Rasengan to kill him which can be linked to both Naruto and myself and if it was to be carried in a court..."

"I would be the one that would get screwed over. However if you left all the blame would be put on you as the one that killed him." Naruto finished for Sasuke with a frown on his face. He did not like were any of this was going. Both he and his brother had no other choice but to go to the sound. "So basically, if either of us returns without the other, the other will be blame and if we both return I'll more then likely get the brunt of the blame. The best option is for both..."

"No. You still have a future in Konoha, Naruto." Sasuke cut Naruto off with his eyes solely focused on him. "My future, however, is out here seeking Itachi out for he has done. Once that is done, who knows, but I have made up my mind. I am heading to the sound and you are staying here."

Sakura couldn't believe what she was hearing. Now both her teammates were trying to abandon the village. The only plus side was that Sasuke was still trying to get Naruto to come back. Clinching her fist tightly enough to draw blood, Sakura gritted her teeth before swallowing the only soldier pill she had knowing she was going to need it. "No, no... NO! I'm not letting you either of you abandon me! We are a team and we are going to stay one if I have to bash your skulls into the ground to keep you here!"

Naruto could only smirk as she said this before sliding into his battle stance. "So it is. Our three wills pitted against each other. Now, lets see who comes out on top! Sen'eitajashu!"

Two dozen snakes flew out of his sleeves and towards both Sakura and Sasuke forcing them to jump out of harms way only to see the snakes chase after them with a single motion of Naruto's arms. Not allowing himself to be caught so easily, Sasuke counted with a few hand seals and a stream of fire as Sakura simply replaced herself with a large rock from the gorge's wall. Calling back his surviving snakes, Naruto jumped after the airborne Sasuke seeing he was most vulnerable only to see a boomerang aim straight for his head. Cursing to himself, he formed a Rasengan in his hand and reflected the boomerang just as it was about to hit but from the contact alone he was forced on a different flight patterns as he hit the wall.

Landing safely, he duck beneath Sakura's other boomerang and sped towards her trying to knock her out of this fight. Ducking and sliding underneath her punch to his chest, he kicked her feet out from under her before back handing her into the water. Before he chased after her to continue his attack, he was blown back from an exploding clone of Naruto that he had luckily picked off just before it reached him. Seeing more clones around him, he growled as he pulled out his scythe and began hacking through the ones not overloaded with chakra and picking the said clones off with kunai and shuriken from a distance.

Sakura did not have the same luxury with her clones as she did not know which were bombs and which were regulars. It was frustrating her to no end as she had to pick them all off with her boomerangs. It didn't help that the one Naruto reflected with his Rasengan had damaged it making its flight path erratic and almost impossible to catch. And with her chakra running low even after that soldier pill, she was left with no options as her cursed seal flared to life.

Seeing this, Naruto knew Sakura was ready to drop. He had worn her down before and seeing that she wasn't used to soldier pills, she had burned through the chakra it gave her in only a matter of minutes. Sasuke on the other hand was already finished with his clones and coming for him. He smirked at this as he slid into the jyuken stance and beckoned for him to come.

Sasuke growled as he knew his reserves were dangerously low as well. He had enough for one more jutsu and then he had to rely on the curse seal which was not helping as Naruto had plenty of chakra to go, but did he have the strength to compete with them however was a big key. Having seen Sakura use her curse seal and seeing her plow through the clones with ease, he nodded to himself to save the little bit of chakra he had left as the markings covered his body before charging Naruto.

Naruto cursed as Sasuke was on him much faster then he predicted and forced him to activate his Taiingan to try keep up. Getting a punch to the jaw and a knee to his stomach, he growled before he slammed his palm against Sasuke chest only to receive a back hand for his trouble. To make things worse, as he was stumbling back Sakura had reached them and with one punch put him into the ground. He rolled out of the way of her stomp for his chest, his curse seal pulsed before it began to snake its way around his body. It was still painful to use, but he had gotten use to it after a few test with it during the month between the second and third chunin exam.

Sakura cursed seeing that Naruto had activated his seal as well and knew that her chances of getting both back were slowly dying. But now she was at a war with herself. There was a voice in her head, asking her why she wanted them both back. She kept ignoring it but know it was stronger then ever. Falling to one knee as she gripped her head and the seal, she tried to repel the voice. 'Get out of my head. Get out of my head... GET OUT OF MY HEAD!'

"Why do you want them to return so badly? Do you believe they will be better for it?"

She gripped her head further in pain as the seal pulsed. 'Yes... They will be. Our village is not that bad of a place...'

"What about your life? What about your mother being willing to leave you for her new boyfriend?'

Sakura's face darkened at that but she continued to grip her head tightly as she fought the voice. 'She wouldn't abandon me... Not for a man that would treat me the way he does...'

"Oh, but she already has. Think about it. She asked you why aren’t you packing, why are you being so stubborn, why not to give into his request… Do you see? She has already given you up and you did the same when you went to their house. Why not give up one more thing and join them? Maybe it will be for the best."

Sakura's face was full of conflicting emotions as she began listening to it. Loosening the grip on her head, she noticed both the boys coming towards her to take her out of this fight. She snarled at both of them before cocking both her fist back and catching them both in the solar plexus and sending them both into the walls and coughing sprees. She no longer care about bringing them back, she just wanted to prove she was the better.

Coughing a little more, Naruto noticed Sakura heading straight for them with the determination in her eyes moments before gone. Something else had replaced them and he was not sure what. All he knew was that the girl was going to flatten his skull if he didn't react. Due to where she hit them and the amount of power she put in it, it was extremely difficult to even move with it hurting more but he fought through it as he caught her fist with both his. The crater they were increased by two fold from the impact, but Sakura was not going to stop. Pulling back her other fist, Naruto knew it would it would be over if it hit.

As her fist was about to collide, it was stopped by a tail covered in green scale came from behind Naruto. Naruto's appearance began to morph as green scales began to replace his skin. His eyes bled crimson as his hair lengthened and turned more jagged while it darkened to a dusty, almost brown, blonde. His fangs elongated and now both his upper and bottom pair were visible. His nose sucked in until two slit nostrils could be seen. But the final addition to his changes was another green tail that joined with the one that had caught Sakura's fist.

Sakura gasped as she saw his full transformation. She had to admit if she wasn't so frightened that it suited him well after the years of being called a snake demon. Before she could say anything, he threw her aside like a rag doll and into another crater. The impact alone had forced her curse seal to recede as the pain was too much to bare as they strike felt like she took a full force punch from Tsunade. She was able to keep conscious, but just barely.

Sasuke knew he was in trouble with Sakura out. The chakra surrounding Naruto was immense and not only that, but he knew this Naruto could beat the living hell out of him with no trouble. Even with that, he prepared to take him on as he was not going to back down now. Not after what he said and had done. Gong through the proper seals, lighting exploded from his hand as Chidori came to life. He frowned seeing Naruto not even try anything to counter his attack, he rushed forward and aimed for his stomach to put him out without killing him. Before he could even reach him, Naruto was on him and had slammed his fist into his gut. All the air left his lungs as he flew into the air with a dazed look in his eye. The punch alone had more force in it then Sakura's and as he came back down to earth, the kick to his mid section put him out.

Falling into the water, he was about to sink when Naruto pulled him out, looking like he did before the transformation. Looking over to the broken rocks that were caused during the fight, he noticed a tough of red hair and knew who it belonged to. "Come out, Tayuya. I know you are there and I heading to the sound. I need some directions and I know you can give them to me."

Tayuya limped out from behind the rocks. She was glad she had brought a spare shirt otherwise the brat would have seen her goods and no man saw them and got away with it. "Well that's great and all chicken shit, but I can hardly move here! I had to wade my ass over here and then watch your pathetic battle…”

Before she could continue further, Naruto had created a clone to carry her as another clone picked up Sasuke. Walking to the crater he threw Sakura in, he knelt down before the nearly passed out girl. "Sakura, I know you don't want our team to separate and neither do I. So I'll ask this once, do you want to come with us? Nod your head for yes and shake for no."

Looking up at him, Sakura was glad he didn't ask her to verbally respond as she doubted she could speak at the moment. She truly did not want to lose her teammates and best friends, but what would she lose if she left. Remembering the conversation with the voice, her eyes darkened as the seal pulsed one more time. Slowly nodding her head, Naruto smiled at her and lifted her up bridal style. "Thank you Sakura, rest now. Tayuya, lead us in the right direction!"

---------------------------------------------
A /N2: This chapter… Was fun and a nightmare to write at the same time. I know a lot of you will be glad that I killed Hiboruto, finally, but to state this wasn't really how I meant him to be. He just morphed into a pompous, sexist asshole while I was writing and I stuck with it. I know some of you wanted him to be killed by Naruto or Yugito, but I had planned him to die at Sasuke's hands since I turned him into what he is. Plus that and to give him a reason for knowing Kazuki (Seriously, thank battousai222 for letting me use his jutsu and if you are reading his batt, thanks for letting me us it). As for Sakon and Ukon, it makes more sense that their integration with another person is a bloodline the something they get from the curse seal as they are connected to each other the majority of the time. And as for the mission to the snow, it hasn't occurred yet despite what I said in last chapters author note. I have some use for it and planning to make the best of it. As for anything else, if you have questions just leave them in a form of a review.

On a lighter note, I will be updating the Naruto Chronicles soon. However it will not be Nibi or Kushina as I originally planned. While I can easily do their lemons, I'm having a hard time building a story line for their chapters. As for who I am doing… I'm just going to keep it a secret just to make you wonder who it is going to be. So it should be out in a few days so keep your eye open for it.

And finally, once again my little brother is going off how I get reviews weeks after I've updated a story and he doesn't get one period for updating. So please, please, some of you read and review his story, Super Akatsuki World, even if you don't like it. It would make his day and give me some extra time to write without him pestering me as often. So anyways, Peace Out.

Converting /tmp/phpFUF6JD to /dev/stdout