Those Things You Do
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Naruto › General
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Category:
Naruto › General
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
4
Views:
1,134
Reviews:
18
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
When the Time is Right
A/N: Ah, the next chapter. Now we get to see what Naruto has been…er…up to? Right. Ok, so my goal is to have more of the SasuNaru moment revealed from 2 years ago…let’s see how this turns out:
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the characters, names, etc. of Naruto. Naruto is sooo not mine.
Warning: Eh, not too much…next chapter though will definitely have some “hints” ~cough~
Chapter 4: When the Time is Right
Naruto rubbed his shoulder as he was roughly pushed out into the streets of Konoha. He looked around and frowned. He definitely did not like Konoha when it was this quiet and deserted. There should be people milling about and children laughing in the background. He glared over his shoulder at one of his ‘captors’.
Kyuubi stirred again and Naruto could feel the other chakra; he was suddenly reminded of the time during his training with the Ero-sennin when he had been pushed to his limits and had had to call upon the same chakra to save his life. He wondered idly if Kyuubi enjoyed sharing his chakra with his human prison. ‘Not like he has much choice,’ Naruto thought wryly.
“Oi. Are we just going to stand here all day? Or were we going to get down to business?” Naruto snorted as he crossed his arms and tapped his foot. He hoped he could get a little entertainment out of these guys; they were awfully…boring. In fact, they didn’t look like anything special. There were six of them; each one was dressed in the same outfit: a gray tunic, tan pants, and a giant rope tied in a mock-obi fashion around their waists. They all had stony expressions and Naruto was struck by how similar their expressions were to Sasuke’s when he was in a really bad mood (perhaps Sasuke had influenced a few of the men in Sound Village while he had been there?). Well, Naruto figured that was the expression he had on his face when he was really mad…or maybe it was when he was bored…or both. Naruto’s eyebrows furrowed in puzzlement, he’d have to ask Sasuke when all of this was over with.
With that last thought running through his mind, he looked up and noticed Orochimaru and two of the Akatsuki members walking from the cave toward him. The men near him immediately fell back into some type of circular formation, completely surrounding Naruto. With a nod from Orochimaru the group started walking along and Naruto was shoved forward. He sighed and followed the group, “Let’s see what we can do Kyuubi,” he muttered.
As they walked along the streets of Konoha, Naruto noticed various ninja from the Sound Village rummaging through houses and stores. He growled low in his throat in anger as he saw two men tearing apart Ino’s family’s flower shop. They had broken the front windows and door and torn down the shelves inside the store. Flowers were being burned and torn to shreds under the assault. He noticed homes that had been burned to ashes; bookstores that had been torn apart, pages fluttering in the wind; he saw restaurants devoid of people with food and garbage everywhere; the ninja who had taken over Konoha were ransacking it like common thieves. Naruto narrowed his eyes at the thought; the invading army was comprised of thieves and cutthroats. If Orochimaru’s men had been the only ones to attack Konoha, they would have been defeated long before they had reached the center of the village. But since Akatsuki had assisted these men, the fiercest of Konoha’s shinobi and all of the ANBU had been mercilessly killed…all except for the few who had been causing Orochimaru the most trouble. Naruto would make sure these men got what they deserved in the end.
Naruto looked over his shoulder and judged that he was about fifteen minutes from the caves. He needed to be a bit farther, just a little farther. He didn’t want his friends to be used against him during the battle.
He looked back again and noticed that Orochimaru and the Akatsuki were not talking to each other. In fact, it looked as though the Akatsuki were trying to keep their distance from Orochimaru; but it was not from fear…more from loathing. Orochimaru was ignoring this detail however, and was more focused on giving signals and directions out to his surrounding followers. Naruto found this bit of information to be rather interesting; it seems that the only reason Akatsuki aided Orochimaru was in order to obtain the Kyuubi.
Naruto turned and faced straight ahead, he needed to ‘talk’ to the Kyuubi. The last time he had used Kyuubi’s power, things had gotten out of control. He hated to admit it, but it had scared him. He had never had problems before with the demon. It was always just there, waiting in a corner of his mind. He almost shuddered as he remembered the horrible feeling of a lack-of-control that overcame him the last time he had tapped into the Kyuubi’s power.
__Flashback (2 years ago)__
(Time: 6 AM)
“Shit,” Naruto yelped as he landed on his back, the impact knocking his teeth together. He winced as he stood and then again as he felt blood drip onto his left leg. He couldn’t feel his arm at all, but he knew it was broken and was bleeding quite a bit. He needed to distance himself…if only to give Kyuubi the chance to heal him properly.
His eyes widened as he heard a loud crack. It sounded as though trees were snapping in half. A sound from above made him look up and his eyes widened again as he saw a tree falling towards him. ‘Shit again…I can barely stand…let alone jump…’
A growl from the back of his mind was all Naruto registered before the Kyuubi’s chakra burst throughout his body. He gasped as the chakra flared to such a strong intensity that it actually burned him. It felt as though his blood was on fire. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. The tree…he needed to move now if he was going to get out of the way of the tree…but the pain of the chakra was too much…he couldn’t move.
Naruto gasped in surprise as a figure appeared and grabbed him. He felt his body being pulled away from harm and when he finally focused his sights his mouth dropped open in surprise, “Sasuke?” He gasped again and squeezed his eyes shut as pain flared through his body and the Kyuubi’s chakra overran his chakra system. It wasn’t like the times before. Something was wrong.
********
(Time: 5 AM –one hour earlier--)
Naruto waited impatiently in the treetops, bouncing back and forth, so that he wouldn’t fall asleep. He knew he was in dangerous territory: The Sound Village was not a place for a Konoha ninja. Hell, out of all of the ninja in Konoha, he was on the top ten list of ninja who should never go anywhere near Sound. He frowned; it wasn’t like he really had a choice.
He had made a promise to Sakura-chan a long time ago and even though she said she wanted to help him, he cared for her too much to put her into such a dangerous situation. Sakura-chan was very busy these days anyway. She was apparently being trained by Tsunade-baba and was going to be participating in some sort of advanced medic-nin training course for the next three months under the Godaime and Shizune’s supervision. Therefore, Naruto had decided that he would take matters into his own hands. He was going to bring Sasuke back whether the Uchiha liked it or not. Naruto had a lot of things he wanted to tell the Uchiha, but what he really wanted to do was beat the shit out of him for everything he’s put everyone through.
When Sasuke had first fled, a search and recovery party had been sent out. It had consisted of all of his former classmates who were capable of saving Sasuke from the clutches of Orochimaru’s men. They had fought with everything they had. They had almost died. And they had all been willing to die for Sasuke. And the bastard hadn’t even cared. Naruto was still pretty pissed off at the ‘prodigy’ for that.
The strangest thing though, was that Naruto wasn’t angry with the Uchiha for almost killing him. In fact, he could care less about that. He had actually enjoyed the fierce battle with his rival. It had meant a lot to Naruto to know that Sasuke saw him as powerful and actually recognized him for who he was. Even though the circumstances were not what he had imagined.
His thoughts were quickly interrupted as he sensed the presence of another body entering the forest area. He looked down and smirked, the teme had arrived. Now things would start to get a little more interesting.
“I know you are up there dobe. Come down,” Uchiha Sasuke said as he crossed his arms over his chest and put on his best “bored” face (which really didn’t look any different from most of his other faces). Naruto huffed; damn it, he had wanted to get a jump on the boy and instead he had been too busy daydreaming. Stupid Sasuke.
Naruto jumped down from the tree he was perched on and landed lightly in front of Sasuke. He had the urge to pout and yell at the bastard for ruining his dramatic entrance, but decided that wouldn’t do anything but get his own adrenaline pumping. He needed to save as much energy as possible in case the battle got too out of hand. He almost snorted at that thought, ‘Too out of hand? I am right outside of the main gate to the Sound Village…it couldn’t get any more out-of-hand.’
He looked at Sasuke. The teme didn’t look much different from three years ago. He was taller than Naruto by about an inch or two. He was still pale and his face was still as expressionless as ever. His outfit was different, but that wasn’t anything special. Naruto wondered how much stronger Sasuke had become here…if he had become stronger at all.
“So what did you want dobe?”
Naruto frowned, “Stop calling me that Sasuke-teme.”
“Hn. If all you did was come here to annoy me, go back now. I don’t have time to waste on you or Konoha.”
That was the last straw. Screw saving your energy. The bastard needed to hear a few things and he needed to get them beaten into him. Maybe then they would STAY in his head for more than an hour.
In a flash Naruto had grabbed Sasuke’s collar and slammed him into a nearby tree. Sasuke’s facial expression never changed, but Naruto noticed how his body had tensed up quickly under Naruto’s grip. ‘So he wasn’t expecting me to do that. Good. I’ll just keep him guessing.’
“Listen to me Sasuke. I didn’t come here to chat or to just fight. I came to bring you back to Konoha. You can’t stay here. I don’t care what you seem to think; Orochimaru is going to use you…and soon. He doesn’t care about your goals. He could care less about your brother. All he wants is your damn bloodline limit,” Naruto barked out as he held Sasuke up against the tree. He emphasized each word with a push into the bark. Sasuke’s facial expression still didn’t change. He looked bored...like he didn’t care.
“Are you done?” Sasuke asked as he raised an eyebrow.
Naruto’s mouth dropped open against his will and he couldn’t help but stare at the Uchiha in surprise, “W-what you mean am I done? Did you even hear me? Don’t you even care? Who the hell are you? The Uchiha Sasuke I know wouldn’t let someone else run his life for him. He wouldn’t search for the easy way out. He’d fight with everything he had in order to get what he wanted. Who the hell are you?”
This got a reaction. Sasuke’s face changed from bored to angry to thoughtful and then to furious in a flash. Before Naruto even knew what had happened the Uchiha had reversed their positions. Sasuke pushed up against Naruto’s neck and glared at him, “I am Uchiha Sasuke. I am an avenger. I was…Damn it, dobe.”
Sasuke paused and looked at Naruto. The dobe had grown up quite a bit in the past three years. He could see that in his eyes alone; there was maturity and a look that said he had seen things that most people his age would never see and should never see. Those blue eyes…they had haunted his dreams every night since he had last fought Naruto. He didn’t think he was that attached to the boy; he was just Naruto right? A nuisance. An annoyance. But for some damn reason, Sasuke couldn’t detach himself from Naruto. He needed to be around the idiot. He actually enjoyed being around him.
Sasuke let go of a very surprised Naruto and backed up. He crouched down in a fighting stance and looked at Naruto, his eyes flashing in anticipation, “Let’s go dobe. I’m sure you didn’t come all the way out here just to talk. I want to see how strong you’ve gotten these past three years.”
Naruto smirked and took his position, “Fine. If that’s what you want. I want to show you just how weak Orochimaru really is. You don’t need him to reach your goals. And you don’t need him to kill Itachi. Just watch, teme.”
Sasuke’s eye twitched at the sound of his brother’s name and his blood boiled. He would show Naruto what he was capable of. His mind wandered back to the decision he had made before he left Orochimaru’s headquarters, “Naruto. I propose a deal.”
Naruto was about to attack, but paused, “A deal? Like what, teme?”
“If you win, I’ll go back to Konoha with you…willingly. I’ll submit to any punishment thrown my direction and will never desert Konoha again. But…if you lose, I stay here and you and Konoha never contact me again.”
Sasuke watched as Naruto thought about the deal, it took the boy a matter of seconds before he called out: “Deal!” Sasuke resumed his attack position and in a blur of movement the battle had begun.
___End Flashback___
---OOO---
Tsunade followed behind Iruka as he dashed through the crowd of Konoha citizens. She vaguely registered the looks of curiosity and exhaustion as she passed by her people. ‘There aren’t as many survivors as I had thought.’
Iruka came to a halt in front of a kneeling Kakashi who looked to be absorbed in something near the base of the cavern wall. He looked over to Tsunade and stood up, “It’s a hole.”
Tsunade looked at him, eyebrow raised as she looked to the area he had been studying. She didn’t see anything and certainly couldn’t sense any holes. “Sharingan tell you that?” Kakashi nodded and stepped out of the way. He held out his hand and summoned a small amount of chakra to it. He then slammed his fist into the ground near the wall. Instead of the chakra bouncing back from the ground, it broke through it and left a large dent.
Kakashi stood up and brushed the dirt from his hand. Tsunade frowned, if that damn mask wasn’t in the way she’d know for certain, but she was pretty damn sure he had a rather smug look on his face right now. She looked to Jiraiya who was leaning over the large dent and examining it, “See anything interesting?”
“Hn. Nothing I’d chase after. He’s right though. This is the cave’s weak spot. How the hell did you find it here?”
Kakashi leaned against the wall, “I didn’t.”
“I did,” Iruka said as he rubbed the bridge of his nose and a blush rose to his cheeks. Tsunade noted how Kakashi looked at the ceiling at that exact moment and almost smirked in amusement.
“Hn…how?” Tsunade asked quickly.
“I heard something from over here and when I came over to check it out, I found this…finger sitting in the spot where the hole is. Kakashi-san came over and checked it out and we er…had a disagreement. I hit the wall and it cracked near the bottom of the wall, but not where I had hit it.”
“It was difficult, but Sharingan managed to locate the hole. Though, I am not sure how large the hole is. It may not be big enough to get more than one person through at a time or it may close off deeper into the wall. I can’t be sure,” Kakashi trailed off as he noticed Neji standing behind the others, “But he could.”
Tsunade looked to Neji, “Do you have enough chakra left to call on Byakugan?”
Neji nodded, “I do Tsunade-hime.”
Tsunade nodded and stepped out of the way so the boy could approach the dent in the cavern wall/ground.
“Byakugan!”
Neji’s veins bulged around his eyes and pulsed with chakra. He looked at the ground and saw nothing but the barrier and a faint ripple in it. It was a genjutsu…and a damn good one. A genjutsu used to cover up a hole in the barrier jutsu that was being used on the cavern. He informed the Hokage of his discovery and of how large it was, “It can fit about one person in a crouching position…and looks as though it will lead to a main corridor in the caves.” He stopped the flow of chakra to his eyes and blinked to focus them again, then stood back with his teammates.
Tsunade nodded, “That’s all I needed to know. Shizune, Jiraiya have everyone stand back.”
“Your not going to break it, are you? We don’t know what is on the other side yet Tsunade-hime…it could be a trap,” Shizune said quietly as she leaned towards Tsunade.
“We are already trapped as it is. I am sick of sitting here waiting for something to happen. We are Konoha ninja. This is our home. We are taking it back now,” Tsunade growled as she lifted her chakra-filled fists and slammed them into the area. The ground shook and began to crumble as rocks started to disintegrate under the force of her attack. Clouds of dirt filled the air. When the clouds finally began to clear, there was a large hole from about 4 feet from the ground down to the ground itself. It was a narrow, dark and long tunnel.
Tsunade turned back to Shizune, “I want you, Iruka, Ino, Hinata, and Sakura to stay here and help with the wounded. Also, gather a group of men and women to guard this entrance. The rest of you are coming with me. We are taking back Konoha. Sasuke, Sakura, I have a job for both of you.”
Sasuke and Sakura stepped in front of the Godaime, “Yes.”
“I want you both to get Naruto…use any means necessary. Kakashi will be joining you. This is a mission. I know you won’t fail.”
Sasuke’s eyes glinted and Sakura nodded. Kakashi came up behind the two and placed a hand on each of their shoulders, “It’s been a while since we had a mission together, na?”
Sakura looked to Sasuke, “We won’t fail. Right Sasuke?”
“Hn.”
--OOOO—
Naruto was brought back from his memories as he noticed two figures approaching his escorts. He squinted and then stopped abruptly. Orochimaru stopped behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing until Naruto was certain something was going to give, “Hn…pathetic.”
Naruto growled, his lip curled in a snarl, “Don’t touch me bastard.”
Orochimaru laughed that cruel, uncaring laugh, “You call my pet that don’t you?”
Naruto stiffened in anger as Orochimaru shoved past him, laughing the whole time. He watched as Orochimaru approached the two figures. The men began to speak to each other and then Orochimaru nodded and made a hand signal. The men surrounding Naruto left him standing in the street by himself. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion, ‘What the hell are they up to?’
He watched as Orochimaru leapt to the rooftop of a building and then headed towards the Hokage’s home; Naruto was left in the street standing across from the two figures. They were still too far away to see who they were under the straw hats. All Naruto knew was that they were Akatsuki members. ‘This could be…troublesome,’ Naruto felt Shikamaru’s coin phrase would be most appropriate for his current situation.
The figures began to walk toward Naruto and he readied himself for an attack.
--He concentrated on his inner thoughts and in his mind he traveled that path that led to the Kyuubi’s cage.--
The figures neared even closer and Naruto could make out pale skin under the hats. And black hair underneath one hat…blond underneath the other.
--He reached the cage door to Kyuubi’s cell and yelled into it, “Oi. I need your power now. I don’t have enough…we’d both die. Get it? It won’t be like last time though. I get to say how much and at what time. Got it?”--
--A deep gravelly voice echoed from behind the bars, “Hn…if you think you can. Things are not like they were before. Nothing stays the same forever…nothing.”—
--Naruto tilted his head in confusion, but pushed the strange words to the side. “Whatever fox…just remember I am the one in control here.”—
The figures stopped before Naruto, both said nothing and made no move to do anything to Naruto. He watched as the one with long blond hair nodded quickly and jumped to the nearest roof and stood there. Naruto figured he must be the back up or something. He turned his attention to the figure before him. He wasn’t that tall and from what Naruto could tell, he wasn’t very imposing. The figure raised his hand to his hat and began to push it off.
Naruto winced as he watched the man pull the straw hat from his head and approach him. He knew that face and he knew those red eyes. He knew another who had similar yet different eyes: warmer eyes. Eyes he knew he could trust. Eyes that belonged to a person that he would gladly die for.
The person before him however was not someone he cared to see again. In fact, he could have lived the rest of his days without ever being in the presence of this man.
“Itachi Uchiha,” Naruto growled as his own eyes flashed a vibrant red and Naruto tapped into the Kyuubi’s power. He stiffened a little, waiting for that burning pain to hit him like it had the last time he had relied heavily on Kyuubi’s power, but it never came. It was just like those times he had needed Kyuubi to stay alive. He shrugged off the unnecessary worry and focused on the man before him. He knew this was going to be an intense battle. The strongest of Konoha’s ninjas were no match for Itachi; hell, Jiraiya had had a hard time with him in the past. Naruto just hoped all of his training would be enough. He had to win…for Konoha’s sake.
-----
A/N: Yay! Another finished chapter. *shrugs* It was longer...but I cut it up so that I could add the last parts to the beginning of Ch. 5. I enjoy cliffhangers...but only when -I- write them LOL. Gomen nasai!!! *bows* So...plans for the next chapter:
Relationship development. *joy*
Closure to two topics:
Cavern Jutsu
and
SasuNaru moment from 2 years ago
Reviews are loved and welcomed <3 Thanks!!!
Inch
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the characters, names, etc. of Naruto. Naruto is sooo not mine.
Warning: Eh, not too much…next chapter though will definitely have some “hints” ~cough~
Chapter 4: When the Time is Right
Naruto rubbed his shoulder as he was roughly pushed out into the streets of Konoha. He looked around and frowned. He definitely did not like Konoha when it was this quiet and deserted. There should be people milling about and children laughing in the background. He glared over his shoulder at one of his ‘captors’.
Kyuubi stirred again and Naruto could feel the other chakra; he was suddenly reminded of the time during his training with the Ero-sennin when he had been pushed to his limits and had had to call upon the same chakra to save his life. He wondered idly if Kyuubi enjoyed sharing his chakra with his human prison. ‘Not like he has much choice,’ Naruto thought wryly.
“Oi. Are we just going to stand here all day? Or were we going to get down to business?” Naruto snorted as he crossed his arms and tapped his foot. He hoped he could get a little entertainment out of these guys; they were awfully…boring. In fact, they didn’t look like anything special. There were six of them; each one was dressed in the same outfit: a gray tunic, tan pants, and a giant rope tied in a mock-obi fashion around their waists. They all had stony expressions and Naruto was struck by how similar their expressions were to Sasuke’s when he was in a really bad mood (perhaps Sasuke had influenced a few of the men in Sound Village while he had been there?). Well, Naruto figured that was the expression he had on his face when he was really mad…or maybe it was when he was bored…or both. Naruto’s eyebrows furrowed in puzzlement, he’d have to ask Sasuke when all of this was over with.
With that last thought running through his mind, he looked up and noticed Orochimaru and two of the Akatsuki members walking from the cave toward him. The men near him immediately fell back into some type of circular formation, completely surrounding Naruto. With a nod from Orochimaru the group started walking along and Naruto was shoved forward. He sighed and followed the group, “Let’s see what we can do Kyuubi,” he muttered.
As they walked along the streets of Konoha, Naruto noticed various ninja from the Sound Village rummaging through houses and stores. He growled low in his throat in anger as he saw two men tearing apart Ino’s family’s flower shop. They had broken the front windows and door and torn down the shelves inside the store. Flowers were being burned and torn to shreds under the assault. He noticed homes that had been burned to ashes; bookstores that had been torn apart, pages fluttering in the wind; he saw restaurants devoid of people with food and garbage everywhere; the ninja who had taken over Konoha were ransacking it like common thieves. Naruto narrowed his eyes at the thought; the invading army was comprised of thieves and cutthroats. If Orochimaru’s men had been the only ones to attack Konoha, they would have been defeated long before they had reached the center of the village. But since Akatsuki had assisted these men, the fiercest of Konoha’s shinobi and all of the ANBU had been mercilessly killed…all except for the few who had been causing Orochimaru the most trouble. Naruto would make sure these men got what they deserved in the end.
Naruto looked over his shoulder and judged that he was about fifteen minutes from the caves. He needed to be a bit farther, just a little farther. He didn’t want his friends to be used against him during the battle.
He looked back again and noticed that Orochimaru and the Akatsuki were not talking to each other. In fact, it looked as though the Akatsuki were trying to keep their distance from Orochimaru; but it was not from fear…more from loathing. Orochimaru was ignoring this detail however, and was more focused on giving signals and directions out to his surrounding followers. Naruto found this bit of information to be rather interesting; it seems that the only reason Akatsuki aided Orochimaru was in order to obtain the Kyuubi.
Naruto turned and faced straight ahead, he needed to ‘talk’ to the Kyuubi. The last time he had used Kyuubi’s power, things had gotten out of control. He hated to admit it, but it had scared him. He had never had problems before with the demon. It was always just there, waiting in a corner of his mind. He almost shuddered as he remembered the horrible feeling of a lack-of-control that overcame him the last time he had tapped into the Kyuubi’s power.
__Flashback (2 years ago)__
(Time: 6 AM)
“Shit,” Naruto yelped as he landed on his back, the impact knocking his teeth together. He winced as he stood and then again as he felt blood drip onto his left leg. He couldn’t feel his arm at all, but he knew it was broken and was bleeding quite a bit. He needed to distance himself…if only to give Kyuubi the chance to heal him properly.
His eyes widened as he heard a loud crack. It sounded as though trees were snapping in half. A sound from above made him look up and his eyes widened again as he saw a tree falling towards him. ‘Shit again…I can barely stand…let alone jump…’
A growl from the back of his mind was all Naruto registered before the Kyuubi’s chakra burst throughout his body. He gasped as the chakra flared to such a strong intensity that it actually burned him. It felt as though his blood was on fire. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. The tree…he needed to move now if he was going to get out of the way of the tree…but the pain of the chakra was too much…he couldn’t move.
Naruto gasped in surprise as a figure appeared and grabbed him. He felt his body being pulled away from harm and when he finally focused his sights his mouth dropped open in surprise, “Sasuke?” He gasped again and squeezed his eyes shut as pain flared through his body and the Kyuubi’s chakra overran his chakra system. It wasn’t like the times before. Something was wrong.
********
(Time: 5 AM –one hour earlier--)
Naruto waited impatiently in the treetops, bouncing back and forth, so that he wouldn’t fall asleep. He knew he was in dangerous territory: The Sound Village was not a place for a Konoha ninja. Hell, out of all of the ninja in Konoha, he was on the top ten list of ninja who should never go anywhere near Sound. He frowned; it wasn’t like he really had a choice.
He had made a promise to Sakura-chan a long time ago and even though she said she wanted to help him, he cared for her too much to put her into such a dangerous situation. Sakura-chan was very busy these days anyway. She was apparently being trained by Tsunade-baba and was going to be participating in some sort of advanced medic-nin training course for the next three months under the Godaime and Shizune’s supervision. Therefore, Naruto had decided that he would take matters into his own hands. He was going to bring Sasuke back whether the Uchiha liked it or not. Naruto had a lot of things he wanted to tell the Uchiha, but what he really wanted to do was beat the shit out of him for everything he’s put everyone through.
When Sasuke had first fled, a search and recovery party had been sent out. It had consisted of all of his former classmates who were capable of saving Sasuke from the clutches of Orochimaru’s men. They had fought with everything they had. They had almost died. And they had all been willing to die for Sasuke. And the bastard hadn’t even cared. Naruto was still pretty pissed off at the ‘prodigy’ for that.
The strangest thing though, was that Naruto wasn’t angry with the Uchiha for almost killing him. In fact, he could care less about that. He had actually enjoyed the fierce battle with his rival. It had meant a lot to Naruto to know that Sasuke saw him as powerful and actually recognized him for who he was. Even though the circumstances were not what he had imagined.
His thoughts were quickly interrupted as he sensed the presence of another body entering the forest area. He looked down and smirked, the teme had arrived. Now things would start to get a little more interesting.
“I know you are up there dobe. Come down,” Uchiha Sasuke said as he crossed his arms over his chest and put on his best “bored” face (which really didn’t look any different from most of his other faces). Naruto huffed; damn it, he had wanted to get a jump on the boy and instead he had been too busy daydreaming. Stupid Sasuke.
Naruto jumped down from the tree he was perched on and landed lightly in front of Sasuke. He had the urge to pout and yell at the bastard for ruining his dramatic entrance, but decided that wouldn’t do anything but get his own adrenaline pumping. He needed to save as much energy as possible in case the battle got too out of hand. He almost snorted at that thought, ‘Too out of hand? I am right outside of the main gate to the Sound Village…it couldn’t get any more out-of-hand.’
He looked at Sasuke. The teme didn’t look much different from three years ago. He was taller than Naruto by about an inch or two. He was still pale and his face was still as expressionless as ever. His outfit was different, but that wasn’t anything special. Naruto wondered how much stronger Sasuke had become here…if he had become stronger at all.
“So what did you want dobe?”
Naruto frowned, “Stop calling me that Sasuke-teme.”
“Hn. If all you did was come here to annoy me, go back now. I don’t have time to waste on you or Konoha.”
That was the last straw. Screw saving your energy. The bastard needed to hear a few things and he needed to get them beaten into him. Maybe then they would STAY in his head for more than an hour.
In a flash Naruto had grabbed Sasuke’s collar and slammed him into a nearby tree. Sasuke’s facial expression never changed, but Naruto noticed how his body had tensed up quickly under Naruto’s grip. ‘So he wasn’t expecting me to do that. Good. I’ll just keep him guessing.’
“Listen to me Sasuke. I didn’t come here to chat or to just fight. I came to bring you back to Konoha. You can’t stay here. I don’t care what you seem to think; Orochimaru is going to use you…and soon. He doesn’t care about your goals. He could care less about your brother. All he wants is your damn bloodline limit,” Naruto barked out as he held Sasuke up against the tree. He emphasized each word with a push into the bark. Sasuke’s facial expression still didn’t change. He looked bored...like he didn’t care.
“Are you done?” Sasuke asked as he raised an eyebrow.
Naruto’s mouth dropped open against his will and he couldn’t help but stare at the Uchiha in surprise, “W-what you mean am I done? Did you even hear me? Don’t you even care? Who the hell are you? The Uchiha Sasuke I know wouldn’t let someone else run his life for him. He wouldn’t search for the easy way out. He’d fight with everything he had in order to get what he wanted. Who the hell are you?”
This got a reaction. Sasuke’s face changed from bored to angry to thoughtful and then to furious in a flash. Before Naruto even knew what had happened the Uchiha had reversed their positions. Sasuke pushed up against Naruto’s neck and glared at him, “I am Uchiha Sasuke. I am an avenger. I was…Damn it, dobe.”
Sasuke paused and looked at Naruto. The dobe had grown up quite a bit in the past three years. He could see that in his eyes alone; there was maturity and a look that said he had seen things that most people his age would never see and should never see. Those blue eyes…they had haunted his dreams every night since he had last fought Naruto. He didn’t think he was that attached to the boy; he was just Naruto right? A nuisance. An annoyance. But for some damn reason, Sasuke couldn’t detach himself from Naruto. He needed to be around the idiot. He actually enjoyed being around him.
Sasuke let go of a very surprised Naruto and backed up. He crouched down in a fighting stance and looked at Naruto, his eyes flashing in anticipation, “Let’s go dobe. I’m sure you didn’t come all the way out here just to talk. I want to see how strong you’ve gotten these past three years.”
Naruto smirked and took his position, “Fine. If that’s what you want. I want to show you just how weak Orochimaru really is. You don’t need him to reach your goals. And you don’t need him to kill Itachi. Just watch, teme.”
Sasuke’s eye twitched at the sound of his brother’s name and his blood boiled. He would show Naruto what he was capable of. His mind wandered back to the decision he had made before he left Orochimaru’s headquarters, “Naruto. I propose a deal.”
Naruto was about to attack, but paused, “A deal? Like what, teme?”
“If you win, I’ll go back to Konoha with you…willingly. I’ll submit to any punishment thrown my direction and will never desert Konoha again. But…if you lose, I stay here and you and Konoha never contact me again.”
Sasuke watched as Naruto thought about the deal, it took the boy a matter of seconds before he called out: “Deal!” Sasuke resumed his attack position and in a blur of movement the battle had begun.
___End Flashback___
---OOO---
Tsunade followed behind Iruka as he dashed through the crowd of Konoha citizens. She vaguely registered the looks of curiosity and exhaustion as she passed by her people. ‘There aren’t as many survivors as I had thought.’
Iruka came to a halt in front of a kneeling Kakashi who looked to be absorbed in something near the base of the cavern wall. He looked over to Tsunade and stood up, “It’s a hole.”
Tsunade looked at him, eyebrow raised as she looked to the area he had been studying. She didn’t see anything and certainly couldn’t sense any holes. “Sharingan tell you that?” Kakashi nodded and stepped out of the way. He held out his hand and summoned a small amount of chakra to it. He then slammed his fist into the ground near the wall. Instead of the chakra bouncing back from the ground, it broke through it and left a large dent.
Kakashi stood up and brushed the dirt from his hand. Tsunade frowned, if that damn mask wasn’t in the way she’d know for certain, but she was pretty damn sure he had a rather smug look on his face right now. She looked to Jiraiya who was leaning over the large dent and examining it, “See anything interesting?”
“Hn. Nothing I’d chase after. He’s right though. This is the cave’s weak spot. How the hell did you find it here?”
Kakashi leaned against the wall, “I didn’t.”
“I did,” Iruka said as he rubbed the bridge of his nose and a blush rose to his cheeks. Tsunade noted how Kakashi looked at the ceiling at that exact moment and almost smirked in amusement.
“Hn…how?” Tsunade asked quickly.
“I heard something from over here and when I came over to check it out, I found this…finger sitting in the spot where the hole is. Kakashi-san came over and checked it out and we er…had a disagreement. I hit the wall and it cracked near the bottom of the wall, but not where I had hit it.”
“It was difficult, but Sharingan managed to locate the hole. Though, I am not sure how large the hole is. It may not be big enough to get more than one person through at a time or it may close off deeper into the wall. I can’t be sure,” Kakashi trailed off as he noticed Neji standing behind the others, “But he could.”
Tsunade looked to Neji, “Do you have enough chakra left to call on Byakugan?”
Neji nodded, “I do Tsunade-hime.”
Tsunade nodded and stepped out of the way so the boy could approach the dent in the cavern wall/ground.
“Byakugan!”
Neji’s veins bulged around his eyes and pulsed with chakra. He looked at the ground and saw nothing but the barrier and a faint ripple in it. It was a genjutsu…and a damn good one. A genjutsu used to cover up a hole in the barrier jutsu that was being used on the cavern. He informed the Hokage of his discovery and of how large it was, “It can fit about one person in a crouching position…and looks as though it will lead to a main corridor in the caves.” He stopped the flow of chakra to his eyes and blinked to focus them again, then stood back with his teammates.
Tsunade nodded, “That’s all I needed to know. Shizune, Jiraiya have everyone stand back.”
“Your not going to break it, are you? We don’t know what is on the other side yet Tsunade-hime…it could be a trap,” Shizune said quietly as she leaned towards Tsunade.
“We are already trapped as it is. I am sick of sitting here waiting for something to happen. We are Konoha ninja. This is our home. We are taking it back now,” Tsunade growled as she lifted her chakra-filled fists and slammed them into the area. The ground shook and began to crumble as rocks started to disintegrate under the force of her attack. Clouds of dirt filled the air. When the clouds finally began to clear, there was a large hole from about 4 feet from the ground down to the ground itself. It was a narrow, dark and long tunnel.
Tsunade turned back to Shizune, “I want you, Iruka, Ino, Hinata, and Sakura to stay here and help with the wounded. Also, gather a group of men and women to guard this entrance. The rest of you are coming with me. We are taking back Konoha. Sasuke, Sakura, I have a job for both of you.”
Sasuke and Sakura stepped in front of the Godaime, “Yes.”
“I want you both to get Naruto…use any means necessary. Kakashi will be joining you. This is a mission. I know you won’t fail.”
Sasuke’s eyes glinted and Sakura nodded. Kakashi came up behind the two and placed a hand on each of their shoulders, “It’s been a while since we had a mission together, na?”
Sakura looked to Sasuke, “We won’t fail. Right Sasuke?”
“Hn.”
--OOOO—
Naruto was brought back from his memories as he noticed two figures approaching his escorts. He squinted and then stopped abruptly. Orochimaru stopped behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing until Naruto was certain something was going to give, “Hn…pathetic.”
Naruto growled, his lip curled in a snarl, “Don’t touch me bastard.”
Orochimaru laughed that cruel, uncaring laugh, “You call my pet that don’t you?”
Naruto stiffened in anger as Orochimaru shoved past him, laughing the whole time. He watched as Orochimaru approached the two figures. The men began to speak to each other and then Orochimaru nodded and made a hand signal. The men surrounding Naruto left him standing in the street by himself. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion, ‘What the hell are they up to?’
He watched as Orochimaru leapt to the rooftop of a building and then headed towards the Hokage’s home; Naruto was left in the street standing across from the two figures. They were still too far away to see who they were under the straw hats. All Naruto knew was that they were Akatsuki members. ‘This could be…troublesome,’ Naruto felt Shikamaru’s coin phrase would be most appropriate for his current situation.
The figures began to walk toward Naruto and he readied himself for an attack.
--He concentrated on his inner thoughts and in his mind he traveled that path that led to the Kyuubi’s cage.--
The figures neared even closer and Naruto could make out pale skin under the hats. And black hair underneath one hat…blond underneath the other.
--He reached the cage door to Kyuubi’s cell and yelled into it, “Oi. I need your power now. I don’t have enough…we’d both die. Get it? It won’t be like last time though. I get to say how much and at what time. Got it?”--
--A deep gravelly voice echoed from behind the bars, “Hn…if you think you can. Things are not like they were before. Nothing stays the same forever…nothing.”—
--Naruto tilted his head in confusion, but pushed the strange words to the side. “Whatever fox…just remember I am the one in control here.”—
The figures stopped before Naruto, both said nothing and made no move to do anything to Naruto. He watched as the one with long blond hair nodded quickly and jumped to the nearest roof and stood there. Naruto figured he must be the back up or something. He turned his attention to the figure before him. He wasn’t that tall and from what Naruto could tell, he wasn’t very imposing. The figure raised his hand to his hat and began to push it off.
Naruto winced as he watched the man pull the straw hat from his head and approach him. He knew that face and he knew those red eyes. He knew another who had similar yet different eyes: warmer eyes. Eyes he knew he could trust. Eyes that belonged to a person that he would gladly die for.
The person before him however was not someone he cared to see again. In fact, he could have lived the rest of his days without ever being in the presence of this man.
“Itachi Uchiha,” Naruto growled as his own eyes flashed a vibrant red and Naruto tapped into the Kyuubi’s power. He stiffened a little, waiting for that burning pain to hit him like it had the last time he had relied heavily on Kyuubi’s power, but it never came. It was just like those times he had needed Kyuubi to stay alive. He shrugged off the unnecessary worry and focused on the man before him. He knew this was going to be an intense battle. The strongest of Konoha’s ninjas were no match for Itachi; hell, Jiraiya had had a hard time with him in the past. Naruto just hoped all of his training would be enough. He had to win…for Konoha’s sake.
-----
A/N: Yay! Another finished chapter. *shrugs* It was longer...but I cut it up so that I could add the last parts to the beginning of Ch. 5. I enjoy cliffhangers...but only when -I- write them LOL. Gomen nasai!!! *bows* So...plans for the next chapter:
Relationship development. *joy*
Closure to two topics:
Cavern Jutsu
and
SasuNaru moment from 2 years ago
Reviews are loved and welcomed <3 Thanks!!!
Inch