Lightning

A/N: You’re gonna have to wait a little more for the secrets Naruto’s bloodline trait…or at least his history. There will be more development with Sasuke and Naruto next chapter. Have fun. I don’t own Naruto

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Chapter 4: Bonds to Forge


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Sasuke moved silently toward the village. It had taken him longer than expected to reach his destination, for some odd reason, his chakra was inaccessible. Grunting in annoyance, he hung his head in a desperate attempt to enter the village he once despised as weak without notice. He really had no idea when the feeling had changed, but ever since Orochimaru died he felt as if he was slowly waking up…as if the cobwebs hindering his mind were being brushed away.

As Sasuke passed the two shinobi guarding the gates, he was surprised that they did not intercept him. Really, either he was not considered a threat or they were just stupid. Deciding that they were idiots (come on, of course Sasuke is deadly!), he headed into his former village.

Becoming increasingly flustered, though his great Uchiha pride prevented him from showing it, Sasuke headed toward the Hokage tower. “What the heck is drawing me here,” Sasuke thought-the now familiar tug incessantly gnawing at him. “Why do I have this feeling?”

Slowly entering the Hokage tower, he headed up the stairs. It dawned on him that he was heading for the Hokage’s office. Once there, the guards did not stop him, though he knew that they recognized him. Puzzled at why they did not stop him, he opened the doors and stepped in, feeling that pull grow in intensity with each passing second.


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Naruto sat against the wall, exhausted from his training. He smirked, thinking back on how he gained his new jutsu.

Flashback:

“Ok, Naruto, this teleportation jutsu should be good for you. No hand signs, it only requires concentration,” Jiraiya said smoothly. “However, considering your concentration, that probably just makes things more difficult for you.”

“You stupid perv!” Naruto shouted, “I bet you that I can learn this thing in an HOUR, or I’ll take a vow of silence for a week!”

“Done!” Jiraiya cackled with glee, “I’ll be generous though, and give you the full five Tsunade set you. Now let me explain it. This jutsu has to do with senses. I cannot do it, but I can tell you how. Reach out with your senses as if you were searching for an enemy ninja, feel the chakra of the objects around you, once you can sense, grab it. You should then appear right next to it. With practice, you will be able to see chakra every where when attempting this jutsu, allowing access to any area in a single flash, without utilizing any of your own chakra.”

Naruto got down to business, determined to make that pervy hermit eat his words. The first hour, second, and third all went by without any progress. Jiraiya was happily declaring the next week “Silent Naruto Week”, and was giggling with anticipation. Frustrated with himself, he started over again.

Following the steps that Jiraiya set, Naruto reached out with his senses. There was something different, though. Instead of just knowing it was there, it felt solid, and the chakra ‘looked’ solid too-but everyone knows that chakra can’t be seen, let alone actually touched. Reaching out further, he attempted to ‘touch’ the chakra. It felt like that dream he had, when he had to ‘touch’ his memories.

Once he brushed against it with his mind, Naruto felt the chakra pulsate, like it was trying to get away. Instinctively, Naruto grasped it. There was a jarring feeling like he was being yanked out of his skin, and then it stopped. Opening his eyes, which had closed once he felt movement, and Naruto found himself a good 50 meters away from where he had started.

Naruto blinked a few times, then jumped with a shout, “I DID IT!!!” Needless to say, the rest of the hour was spent showing off and rubbing Jiraiya’s face in his victory.

End Flashback
Suddenly the door opened, breaking Naruto out of his memories. As the door revealed a similar silhouette, his eyes widened with disbelief. “SASUKE!” Even being told that he was coming, Naruto had doubts of ever seeing him. The proof, however, was-literally-staring him in the face.


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Sasuke walked into the office, his gaze immediately going to the blond man sitting on the floor, hair obscuring his face from view. His eyes widened slightly, the fact that he actually showed emotion portraying the depth of his surprise. As he glanced at the bronzed man before him, that annoyingly persistent pull stopped. Overcoming his surprise, he found himself staring into sapphire eyes, swirling with depth and emotion. He nearly flinched at the force of the shout that followed, “SASUKE!”

Never one to deal with emotions well, Sasuke fell back on his safety net-anger. “What the hell did you do to me, dobe!? I was fine in Oto, and I get pummeled by lightning and get front row seats to the most horrifying death I have ever seen. Then I get dragged all the way back here by some annoying…pull, only to find that it stops as soon as I see YOU! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO!”

Each word the came out of the raven-haired shinobi sent a spark of anger traveling up and down Naruto’s spine, gaining force with each pass. “I didn’t do one fucking thing, teme!” Naruto exploded, “It’s not my fault you got hurt by a little light show!”

Sasuke felt the attack on his pride as much as a punch in the gut, and he gathered himself to retaliate. However, the blond man-who he dimly noticed now stood an inch or two taller than him-refused to stop his rant. “You’re the one that fucking left, you bastard. If you didn’t want to come back, you shouldn’t have. No matter what little ‘pull’ you had. Do you know how goddamn weak you sounded right now?”

Desperate to get a word in, Sasuke opened his mouth. “Listen, do-” Still, Naruto refused to stop. “No, you listen, teme!” Naruto growled as he felt his anger and frustration culminate behind his retinas, coating his world in a red haze.

He stopped though, as he saw Sasuke’s openly bewildered gaze, bordering on fright.

Sasuke felt as though struck. He gazed into those once blue eyes, feeling lost in the now crimson depths. He had seen Naruto’s eyes this color before, however, there was a new dimension that stood his world on its head. He was staring into the sharingan. “W-what the hell did you do, dobe? How did you get those eyes?”

Confused, Naruto was taken aback by the stammering tone Sasuke had taken. “What do you mean, teme? I have always had these eyes, it’s not like I got new ones, you know.”

Summoning his anger once again, Sasuke responded heatedly. “Yeah right! So you’re really Naruto UCHIHA! How the hell did you get the sharingan?” Confusion laced itself through Sasuke’s thoughts, and it irritated him greatly. Ever since that battle at the Valley of the End, Sasuke was sure that the dobe had no more secrets to hide from him. Now this is thrown at him, what, did the dobe have some scare-the-shit-out-of-people jutsu!?

Naruto was enraged at the assumption that he had taken some sharingan user’s eyes. “Where the hell would I have gotten the sharingan, asshole? Why the heck would you even joke about that?”

Sasuke was stunned. The dobe really didn’t know that he had the sharingan. He took a much-needed deep breath. As he came down from his rage induced high, he noticed that Tsunade and Jiraiya were nearly dead from lack of oxygen. From laughing. At him. He felt his anger boil up again, and he had no desire to keep it in him. “What the hell are you two fucking laughing at? Do you even have any fucking idea what just happened, Naruto must have been possessed by Itachi or something. The Kyuubi could have merged his chakra with Itachi’s or, or…” Sasuke’s words trailed off as he thought of scenario after scenario of Itachi and the Kyuubi joining forces and becoming Super Itachi, or Itachi the Nine-tailed fox. It was horrifying.

Wiping tears from her eyes, Tsunade decided she better explain something to the Uchiha brat. “Listen, brat, the Kyuubi is dead. Furthermore, we were laughing because you actually showed emotion! It was priceless-you looked so funny! And we have pictures!”

Deciding to be the serious one, for once, Jiraiya asked Sasuke a few innocent questions. “How many lightning bolts hit you? Have you figured out how to access you chakra yet?”

Sasuke was put off by the Sannin’s knowledge of his current handicap. “Ten. How did you know I couldn’t use chakra?”

Deciding she wanted to have the honor of sending the Uchiha into a coma, Tsunade decided to answer that question. “Because, Sasuke, Naruto has bonded you and you must have gained some powers from him, and he from you.”

Sasuke promptly fainted at the words “Naruto, bonded, and you”.

Naruto looked around in confusion. “So I really have the sharingan? Where the hell is a mirror?” Finding one, he saw the infamous doujutsu within his eyes. “That’s amazing! Ha, that Sasuke-bastard’s got nothing on me now!” Something stuck out to him though, the pupil and the three other marks in his eye were outlined with white. It was strange, because every sharingan he had see was red and black, no white anywhere except the actual eyeball.

Having recovered from her mirthful rampage, Tsunade took Sasuke to hospital room-closely followed by a concerned (but trying exceedingly hard to look nonchalant) Naruto- and performed the necessary medical processes. The Uchiha had put himself under a lot of physical stress, and now that he was unconscious, his body wouldn’t wake up until it was rested. About a day or two at least. After appointing Naruto Sasuke’s bodyguard, Tsunade headed back to her office.


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Gathering the scrolls containing information on the elusive life energy, or whatever its called, Tsunade sat down to study the encrypted documents, straining for some sign of legibility. The Uchiha getting some form of the kekkei genkai was a surprise. Also, Naruto obtaining the sharingan was a shock in itself. There were too many unknowns with this ability, and it made Tsunade uneasy. Jerking herself out of her inner thoughts, she turned back to pouring over the next to useless scrolls of gibberish, desperately searching for a clue. Her vision blurred as she started to fall asleep, vaguely noting that there something familiar about the scroll she was looking at, and then passed out.


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Shizune burst into the room. “Tsunade-sama! I have important news!”

Her head whipping up painfully, Tsunade demanded to know the meaning of the abrupt intrusion. “What the hell is going on, Shizune? Why did you wake me?”

“There are reports of shinobi in black coats with red clouds kidnapping people by the thousands. All of our strategist ninja have determined that they will be used as foot soldiers. The Akatsuki have been known to be deviants when it comes to chakra and jutsus. They expect the kidnapped people to be genetically enhanced, and practically without a will of their own! Also, the fact that Sasori is part of their organization only makes the claim more plausible. For a puppet master of his caliber, they say it would be relatively simple to animate the experimentations.”

Fully awake, Tsunade started formulating a plan of action. “We know for a fact that the must be after Naruto, they don’t know about Kyuubi’s purification. Evacuate all civilians and get the shinobi assembled to defend Konoha. We don’t stand a chance on unfamiliar territory. We know for sure that if they are being seen now, they must have finished their preparations. Akatsuki will bring their army to Konoha, and we must defend it.” Shizune rushed to the door. “And Shizune, get the Uchiha outfitted when he returns to consciousness.”


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Sasuke wearily opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was a shock of blonde hair. Sitting up abruptly, he wondered where he was. “What the hell happened, dobe? Why did I faint?”

Naruto felt a familiar anger course through him. “Teme, don’t call me that! Whatever…so, anyway, when Tsunade-baachan told you that…I bonded you, you fainted. We put you here till you recovered from whatever the hell you did on your way over here.”

Sasuke sat in silence. “So all that crap, about us being stuck together, was not just some sickness induced nightmare? Shit!” This was unbelievable! Not only was he unable to kill the blond and get the Mangekyou Sharingan, now he was irrevocably linked to the dobe! “Oi, Naruto. What does this bonding mean anyway? How did it happen?”

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, “I honestly don’t know. I know that I bonded you and killed Orochimaru. That perverted hermit and the old hag say that I have a rare bloodline trait called life energy, or something. There are ten gifts or what not, and no one really knows what they do. Oh! And for some reason, it seals your chakra until you manage to master the Yondaime’s Yellow Flash technique.”

Dumbfounded, Sasuke tried to process some of the information that he had just received. “There is basically no knowledge about what is going on, or why. I have no control over my chakra. I guess that it has something to do with lightning. This is all the information that we have?”

Naruto nodded solemnly, “Yeah, basically. Oh! You’re gonna have to learn the Yondaime’s jutsu if you want to use your chakra. I can show it to you when you feel better, okay?”

Sasuke nodded by instinct, “Hey, dobe, how long was I out?”

Naruto scratched his head in contemplation, “Not very long, you slept through the night. Baa-chan said that you’d be out for a few days.” Naruto grabbed some fruit out of a basket near his feet. “Eat. It’s about breakfast time.”

Sasuke sat on his bed chewing his fruit, until something suddenly stood out in his mind. “Wait, the Yondaime’s jutsu, does that me he had the same bloodline trait? Are you related to him?”

Naruto practically bounced his way off of the chair he was sitting on. “It’s about time you caught on Sasuke! Yeah, he was my dad! That’s so cool, hm! Isn’t that awesome!”

Grunting, Sasuke swung his legs over the side of the bed. “Whatever dobe, lets go train. I need to learn that jutsu.”


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Nostalgia struck both teammates as they headed to the training grounds that where they first trained together. It was hard to keep the memories of all the sparring and verbal jousting at bay. Neither wanted to show the other weakness, and so the memories went unspoken. As Naruto explained the jutsu, and demonstrated it, the two shinobi trained together. The sharingan certainly made learning jutsus easier


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After demonstrating the Yellow Flash to Sasuke a couple times, the sharingan user was able to use the jutsu to its fullest. Deciding to train muscles that were too long in disuse, they both settled into an easy sparring set. Able to keep the gentle, stretching movement of this beginner-level regiment for hours, they soon lost themselves in the footwork of the routine.

Around lunchtime, they both stopped to get something to eat. Ever since they left the hospital, an uneasy silence had settled over the once-best friends. An unspoken agreement fell between the two as they headed over to Naruto’s apartment.


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Naruto put the required amount of hot water into two cups of instant ramen. Definetly not as good as Ichiraku’s, but it was still ramen. There was an awkward silence during the three minutes it takes for the ramen to cook. Naruto sat uncomfortably. He hated silence, at least when he was sparring with the teme he was doing something, it didn’t matter that there was no conversation. Sighing, he cradled his head in his hands, trying to figure out what to do with his current situation.

Sasuke sat stoically throughout the uneasy silence. Despite whatever façade he maintained, the gnawing stillness was slowly grating at his resolve. He knew what question was going to be asked, and he didn’t know what the answer was anymore. It was maddening, just waiting for the other to ask the inevitable.

The timer for the ramen went off, both boys nearly jumping as the sound was magnified by the unearthly quiet. Naruto quickly grabbed a pair of chopsticks for the both of them, and whispered out a traditional thanks. “Itadakimasu.”

For once, Naruto was silent while eating. It was insane! Why couldn’t Naruto just ask Sasuke that one stupid question! Sasuke knew what he wanted to ask; you could almost taste the unspoken desire filling the room!

“Umm, Sasuke…why did you leave? I know that you wanted power, but, why Orochimaru? Why him?” Naruto finally got his brain and his vocal cords to work together. He steadfastly kept his focus on his now-empty ramen cup, bracing himself for the slew of angry curses that were sure to come from the easily enraged Uchiha.

“I don’t know.” Sasuke quietly answered. “When I look back, every since the Chuunin exams, everything has been weird. I remember myself making all sorts of stupid decisions, and I can’t justify them. Its like my vengeance took over my body and I was pushed into some dark corner of my mind. It’s confusing. It’s like I was just doing what Orochimaru wanted without deciding what I wanted for myself. I mean, how would I revive my clan if I gave my body to Orochimaru? I have no idea what happened to me. I have no idea how I changed so much.” Sasuke looked down at his own ramen cup, silence retaking the two shinobi. He felt more vulnerable than ever before, it really was like he had just woken up and found that the world had gone on without him. He was so confused.

Naruto didn’t move, still in the same position as before. He was stunned. Instead of the anger-filled onslaught that he was expecting, he got a heart-wrenching confession from his usually emotionless ex-best friend. Maybe there was more to the fact that Sasuke defected, maybe he was being forced by some malevolence. Most likely Orochimaru, the very name still creating feeling of anger within the blond. He was glad that he was dead, more so if he was able to take over Sasuke’s mind like his new theory promoted.

Suddenly, the door burst open, revealing a panting Shizune. “Shizune-neechan? What are you doing here?”

Her eyes narrowing dangerously, Shizune barely restrained herself from launching some of her poison senbon at the blond shinobi. “What am I doing here, Naruto? What are YOU doing here?!? Sasuke was not supposed to leave the hospital without consent from Tsunade-sama herself! You didn’t even tell anyone that you brought the Uchiha out! I have been running all around Konoha looking for you two!”

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, a goofy grin adorning his face. “Sorry neechan, guess it slipped my mind.”

Snorting, Shizune gathered herself. “Both you and the Uchiha are to report to Tsunade-sama immediately.

Snorting indignantly, Sasuke decided to grace the world with his ever-inspiring motivating dialogue. “Hn.” If they wanted him to respond differently, they could speak to him-not through Naruto, calling him the Uchiha. Seriously.

Stuttering a bit nervously, Naruto decided to take the initiative. “H-hai.” Grabbing Sasuke’s arm, he made full use of their new jutsu and was in Tsunade’s office in less than a second.


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Tsunade looked sternly at the youngest Uchiha. Without a word, she stood up and moved to his side. “I need to check both your physical and psychological health. Do not move.” She performed the necessary hand signs and a minty green glow enveloped her hands. Placing them on the Uchiha’s head, she delved his mind and body for any imperfections. To her surprise, she felt no trace of dark chakra. She was sure it was still there when she had healed him earlier, so, where did it go?

She quickly checked the Uchiha’s neck, finding it unmarked. The curse seal had dissipated. “Good news, Uchiha-brat. The curse seal is gone.” Realization struck her, and her eyes showed her displeasure-turning to Naruto with a glare. “Naruto, did you teach Sasuke the yellow flash?”

Naruto laughed nervously. “Baachan, why would you think that?” His laughter was cut off as a pair of amber eyes attempted to fire kunai at him with the force of their glare.

“Because, brat, the curse seal remained after Orochimaru’s death because it was locked with Sasuke’s chakra. Its influence was waning, but it was still there. The only way for the mark to disappear would be to unlock his chakra. Which can only be done with the Yondaime’s jutsu.” Tsunade’s hung her head wearily. “At least this makes things easier for me. Next time, Naruto, you do not help missing nin you are guarding. No matter your history with them! GOT IT!?”

“Yeah, yeah, you old hag.” The last thing Naruto saw before hitting the wall was a furiously driven fist.

Sasuke stood impassively in the same spot he had been in when he arrived. Now that Naruto was currently unconscious, he had the Hokage’s full attention. Joy.

Tsunade sat at her desk, carefully choosing what she needed to say. “I have closely examined your body, and have determined that you were underneath the control of Orochimaru’s jutsu. I am reinstating you as a Leaf Jounin, under the care of Naruto. You will be given full pardon, but cannot go anywhere without Naruto. This is because many will fear that you will be more susceptible to leave.” She paused, hesitant to share all of the information. “Wake Naruto up and get your forehead protector from Shizune. We have reason to believe that there will be an attack by Akatsuki.”


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