A/N: Before we can begin with this chapter, I just wanted to let you guys know how much I appreciate your responses to this story, despite a few of them being of the unsavoury kind. There are people that think that what I did in the last chapter with introducing Sasuke, in the way that I did, took away the story's uniqueness.

I say that it actually added to it, but that's my belief.

How unique is an OP Naruto that has no one to challenge him? Huh?

For those of you who agree with those that say that my story is no longer unique, I say to you, "Wait 'til they get a load of me." or in other words, sit down, shut the fuck up and enjoy the ride.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention. This version of Indra and Ashura are not based on the anime fillers. I will borrow a few things here and there, but just a few. The fillers made Indra out to be this awesome and extremely powerful guy while Ashura just barely beat him with the power gifted to him by his old man. I won't tell you how my version differs from the show, you'll just have to see for yourself.

Anyway, here's you next chapter …

CHAPTER FIVE: Naruto v Sasuke

Outskirts of Konoha – One month Ago

Hatake Kakashi had seen a lot of things over his tenure as a shinobi. He'd seen great monsters that came in the form of normal everyday animals, he had seen a man wipe out a thousand-strong army by himself, that man being his sensei, and heck, he himself had cut fucking lighting with his hand. Even with him experiencing all of those things, nothing could have prepared him for the sudden burst of power he felt from his prized student.

That's right, prized student.

Every sensei had a prized student. The Sandaime Hokage had Orochimaru, the Yondaime Hokage had him, Hatake Kakashi, as his prized student, and if he were to be honest with himself, then Sasuke was his prized student.

The boy was a natural to the shinobi arts, just like he was from a young age. He took in everything that he was taught like a sponge. Nothing was truly out of his grasp when it came to what he could and could not be taught.

Still though, even with all of those things going for him, there was no way in hell he should be able to do the things that he was doing right now.

As Kakashi stood on top of a boulder, Sasuke was currently supercharging both of his hands in electrical energy. Sparks could be seen dancing all over Sasuke's arms from his shoulder's, down to his finger tips. He was in a meditative stance while he did this, with his sandals having been forsaken to the side.

"What's wrong, Kakashi?" Sasuke asked with his eyes closed.

"Nothing, Sasuke." Kakashi lied. Everything about the scene before him was wrong. A few days ago, Sasuke could barely get a burst of electricity to flow into his hand in order to perform the jutsu he had been trying to teach him, and now the boy was performing nature manipulation that was of a scale similar to the Sandaime and Yondaime Raikage. This should not be happening.

"For such a well respected shinobi, you can be a pathetic liar at times." Sasuke spoke, catching onto Kakashi's lie with ease.

"Oh, when exactly have I lied?" Kakashi feigned ignorance in order to gauge Sasuke's complete 180 degree change in attitude. The boy had been a bit more sociable ever since they came back from the land of waves. Everyday, the armour he had built around himself had slowly been chipped away, by Naruto and Sakura, but more especially Naruto.

Now though, it seemed as if that was just a reconstruction job. The armour was being chipped away in order to reinforce it. Sasuke had gone back to being a cold person.

Kakashi saw that his response got Sasuke riled up for a split second, with the boy's lips twitching slightly in annoyance, before they were schooled back into their usual impassive stance.

The dance of lighting that was taking place on Sasuke's forearms continued for another minute, with the air becoming hotter the longer the boy held the technique. Eventually though, he cut the technique off completely, his arms returning to normal, but the same could not be said for his clothes.

Sasuke's now sleeveless shirt and roughly burned shorts were on full display for Kakashi to see, and it was seeing this that worried him greatly.

"Those clothes of yours, Sasuke …" Kakashi began, "they were made by the Uchiha correct?"

"What of it?" the boy answered with his own question, his obsidian eyes looking directly at Kakashi for the first time today.

"Nothing of it." Kakashi lied again as he descended from his position on top of the boulder and landed on the ground with one foot, with both of his hands stuffed into his pockets, "We just need to get you new ones before the tournament begins."

'To be able to burn near-fireproof clothes with nothing but pure electrical energy is something that only a Jonin should be able to do.' Kakashi thought to himself as he walked past Sasuke, heading back to their tents that were a few hundred metres away, 'Sasuke just did it without breaking much of a sweat.

'This... this is not Sasuke.' the seasoned veteran concluded in his head as he pretended to have his guard lowered while he walked with his back facing Sasuke.

Sasuke watched Kakashi leave their designated training field with cold, uncaring eyes. He could tell that the man was thinking up a storm in his head, but he honestly did not care.

There wasn't a lot that he cared about right now. He did not care about Kakashi, Konoha or even his life's supposed mission. No, he did not care about any of those things. Right now, all he cared about was one thing and one thing only.

"I'm coming for you... Ashura."

Konoha – Now

They say that there are some things in life that are forever bound together, where one cannot exist without the other. Cases that are used to back up this claim are things such as light and darkness, where you need the other one in order for the other to exist. How are you going to appreciate light if it is all you know? How do you appreciate darkness if it's all you know? Other things that are used to further this claim are things such as yin and yang, love and hatred and beauty and ugliness.

If anyone had told this to Uzumaki Naruto before, he would have said that they were right. He believed that some things needed to happen in order for other things to exist. What he simply forgot was that if he, or rather his past self, could transmigrate all the way into his current body, then that meant that his opposite should be able to do the same.

That was a huge mistake on his part. A very huge mistake. Now he was about to regret it.

Naruto's eyes trained on the form of Sasuke, looking at him with a coldness that would freeze lesser beings. Fortunately for him, Naruto was not a lesser being, and as such he was not frozen. Looking at Sasuke, and then hearing the words he had spoken to him had pretty much confirmed a fear he never even knew he had in him.

Sasuke was gone, and in his place was Indra.

Naruto could feel the intensity between him and Sasuke. If it could have been measured in actual size, then one would classify it as a mountain. Unfortunately for him, such a large amount of animosity in the air also resulted in everyone being able to feel it. Everyone from a civilian all the way up to the Kage. Everyone could feel it.

"Sas-" Naruto began, but he was immediately cut off by a dash that was so quick, he barely had time to dodge it. What saved him was a slight tilt of the head, causing the blur to pass him, but not harmlessly, as indicated by the small red line on his cheek.

Looking back to where his team mate should have been, Naruto found the spot to be bare.

"I'm not Sasuke." Naruto heard behind him while also feeling Sasuke's sword being rested on his shoulder.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked without turning around. Shikamaru, who was next to Naruto reeled in from the shocking display of speed that Sasuke had just unleashed.

'What the heck?!' the young Nara thought as he gazed at Sasuke in shock. Looking around the competitors booth, he was not the only one feeling this shock. Everybody, even that annoying Suna girl, were experiencing it.

Well, almost everyone. One look at Naruto and Shikamaru could tell that he was calm as fuck.

'What the fuck are they feeding team seven? I can tell that Naruto is already at Gaara's level. How did he and Sasuke improve so much in just one month?'

"I thought you had figured it out already, Ashura." Sasuke said without skipping a beat.

"Elaborate for me, nii-san." Naruto said, his face impassive, still not turning around.

"You see, that's it right there." Sasuke said, with the smugness dripping from his voice, "You called me nii-san."

" … So you're Indra." Naruto confirmed.

"Bingo … and they say you're stupid? They clearly don't know you, otouto. But don't worry, you can continue to call me Sasuke." Sasuke said.

He had been right, without a shadow of a doubt. Unlike what had happened between him and Ashura, where they bonded to become one being with shared experiences, Indra did not offer the same deal to Sasuke. Instead, it was more of a case of complete subjugation of the last scion of the once proud Uchiha clan.

"Shikamaru." Naruto said calmly, still refusing to look anywhere but the arena where Gaara was located. Said boy, like everyone else across the stadium, had a look of pure shock on their faces. I mean, since when did Sasuke become so fast?

"Yeah." the Nara answered a bit too unevenly for his own liking. Then again, who could blame him, with the temperature suddenly dropping so much around the stadium on such a sunny day.

"Leave." Naruto spoke, his chakra slowly getting released from his body. If one were to look at it, r at least imagine it, it would had the motions of a slow belly dancer.

Honestly, the Nara did not need to be told twice, and judging by the others that were in the contestants booth, they did not even need to be told once. They quickly evacuated the booth, leaving only the reincarnated siblings there to square of.

As soon as the others had exited the booth, shit hit the ceiling. Or rather, Sasuke's head did because Naruto used his advanced nature manipulation to shoot the piece of earth Sasuke- or rather Indra- stood on straight to the ceiling, and through it.

The Uchiha born body of Sasuke shot out through the underside of the tiled roof and shot straight into the air. Naruto was not far behind with a spear he had created in an instant made from pure wind manipulation, his natural affinity. He threw the spear with such speed that it pierced the rock Sasuke was on and cut him in half without even trying.

At least, that's what seemingly happened. The Sasuke that had been split into two simply exploded into a cloud of smoke, revealing that he had been a Kage Bunshin.

"That's a good technique." Sasuke said as he watched Naruto land on the roof. He stood above his blonde team mate, "I see why it's you're favourite."

Naruto calmly spoke to the black haired boy, "I didn't know that you could perform it."

"Hello," Sasuke said with a cocky smirk, while pointing to his eyes "Sharingan dumb-ass. Plus, it also helps that this body has so much chakra."

Naruto said nothing at first, simply letting his hair cascade over his eyes, thus creating a shadow over them. When he spoke to his team mate, it was with barely restrained anger, "Why?"

"Why what?" Sasuke said while he laid his sword on his left shoulder.

Naruto could feel the scream he was about to unleash and he could barely stop himself, "Why did you murder Sas-"

His scream was impeded by the arrival of multiple ANBU onto the roof top. Each one was dressed in either a yellow hooded cloak or a black variant.

"Uzumaki Naruto. Uchiha Sasuke." an ANBU operative with a baritone said, "By order of the Sandaime Hokage, you are to stand down now. No contestants are allowed to fight outside the arena. Such actions are grounds for immediate exclusion from the tournament."

Naruto and Sasuke looked at all of the ANBU around them and said nothing. Naruto could count twenty in total. Judging by their stances, they were ready to pounce on either of them in a split second should they try anything … unsavoury.

Sasuke looked at the odds against him and smiled a little.

"Really?" he said with a cocky smirk.

"Are you challenging our authority, boy." the same ANBU that had spoken before in a deep voice spoke once again.

"Be wise to know that challenging our authority is actually challenging your Hokage's authority." a female operative said. The one that had spoken first was clad in a bear mask, while this one was clad in a cat mask.

Sasuke's smile dropped from his face as he spoke again, "I have no Hokage … or any other Kage for that matter."

"Why you insolent little-" the bear masked ANBU began, but was cut off by a mad dash Sasuke made toward him, sword poised to strike. The surprise movement shutting him up.

The sword slashed well and truly where the ANBU was, but instead of catching the ANBU himself, Sasuke cut a pillar that had risen underneath the man in order to move him out of the way. The pillar had come courtesy of Naruto.

Before he even had time to register that he had cut solid rock, the sole of a sandal met the Uchiha on his cheek and temple, sending him flying off the roof with such ferocity that he actually flew outside the stadium. Just like with the pillar before, the kick that launched Sasuke away also came courtesy of Naruto, who landed on the roof with a crouch. Now all he had to do was jump after his rival, who also happened to be his brother once upon a time, and try to stop him from going on a murder spree, like he had done once upon a time.

As soon as he landed, however, he was met by intersecting blades that criss-crossed around his neck.

"What the-" Naruto let slip in shock over the action.

"Uzumaki Naruto. Stand down, now." the cat masked ANBU, who was one of the people holding a ninjatō to his neck, said, "Your actions have led to your immediate disqualification from this tournament."

Naruto couldn't stop himself from admonishing them for the fuck up that they just made, "What?! You fucking idiots! Do you realise that you-"

For the umpteenth time in the last few minutes, Naruto was cut-off from completing his sentence. This time however, it was the sight of a purple haired head jumping off the neck it rested on and flying into the air, along with the other three ANBU that were holding their swords at Naruto's neck.

Their heads floating in the air seemed to be something that happened in slow motion, with blood washing all over the shocked Uzumaki that had been kneeling on the ground. His eyes travelled to the wickedly smiling form of his airborne brother, whose left hand held the sword responsible for killing four fellow Konoha shinobi.

Naruto could slowly hear his once calm heart slowly starting to beat erratically in his ears. He could feel the rush of blood that came with being in an angered state. Unlike before, where he would have simply chosen to beat his once-brother up, before talking to him in order to try and bring him back to his senses, his senses being the old Uchiha Sasuke, Naruto quickly realised that that was out of the question.

His anger over the fact that Indra had practically murdered Sasuke's soul by taking over his body entirely, and now the fact that he killed fellow Konoha shinobi caused something to snap within Naruto.

Before the blonde even knew what he was doing, he had tackled Indra and they were flying through the air, sword having slipped out of the black haired boy's hand, with him holding a shocked and out of breath former-Sasuke-now-Indra by his stomach. They broke the sound barrier with ease as they took to the skies. He held on tightly to the Uchiha's body, too tightly. He wanted to crush the boy he currently held with everything he had in him. He wanted to break his bones, feel them crumbling away in his hands like they were nothing more than paper. He wanted to make him pay, and make him pay he was.

Unfortunately, not all plans go according to plan, as Naruto experienced a second later when Sasuke's hard knee was felt on his chest. The blow was so powerful that Naruto felt blood dribbling out of his mouth and his grip on his team mate's body slipped as well. Sasuke used this to his advantage to try and worm his way out of Naruto's grip. The operative word here? Tried.

Naruto suddenly pulled a 180 degree turn and used all of the raw strength he had in him to fling Indra away like a missile. Sasuke's body broke the sound barrier with ease from Naruto's throw. Naruto, using skill he had picked up when he merged with Ashura, manipulated a vacuum of pure wind chakra into his hands and used that as a means of stabilising himself and righting the flight pattern he was on, which would have seen him make love to a tall building that looked like church.

All he could do with the wind in his hands was change whatever direction he was headed in by using short bursts of it. He couldn't use it like Ashura could, who could actually fly with this technique, but this was the next best thing. Using the short bursts allowed him to, as previously mentioned, right his flight pattern by slowing him down enough so that he can slam his feet onto the church wall without destroying it.

Using the the church's wall as a means of propulsion, Naruto shot back in the direction he had come from, the stadium. He was not headed back to the stadium, however. He was headed straight for Sasuke.

Meanwhile in the Stadium

Shock, confusion and panic. These were the three words that best summarised the atmosphere of the stadium. As soon as the four ANBU had been beheaded in front of everyone that could see what was happening on the contestants booth, the stadium went into panic mode. Shinobi were on their feet in an instant as they rushed to see exactly what could be done to salvage such a fucked up situation, and to also get a better understanding of whatever was going on.

The ANBU that were on the roof that had been sent to dispel the fight that Naruto and Sasuke had initiated had been too slow and shocked to act quickly, and as such Naruto and Sasuke had left their line of sight in less than two seconds. After that though, they went into overdrive. The sixteen ANBU all scattered to try and search for the boys in order to apprehend them.

Uzumaki Naruto, while innocent of any grievous crimes, was now disqualified from the exams. Uchiha Sasuke... well he was a dead man walking. You do not go around killing Konoha ANBU for whatever reason you had. Never.

With the Kage, they, unlike the rest of the stadium, just calmly sat and watched Konoha shinobi blur into and out of existence with practised ease. Their eyes quickly following the motions everyone within the stadium made.

"This … " the Kazekage said quietly, " … is a disaster."

The Sandaime Hokage did not need to be reminded of that fact. He could see everything happening in front of his own very eyes. Four of his ANBU, including a squad captain, were beheaded in one slash by a mere genin. Shinobi killing those of their own village was one thing that happened a lot. Kinkaku and Ginkaku did it ages ago. As did an upstart that tried to kill Ryōtenbin no Ōnoki a few years ago.

The fact that it was a Konoha genin that killed four ANBU was an atrocity. This was surely to have ramifications on Konoha's mission requests. ANBU were supposed to be elite. More so than most Jonin. So for four to be cleanly beheaded in front of so many visiting dignitaries was a disaster of epic proportions.

Beyond that, however, there was also the fact that these were people that he had sworn to look after as Hokage. Even though their first duty was to him, everyone within the ranks knew that their Hokage cared for them, even though he never showed it.

Hiruzen slowly stood up, the raging inferno that burned within him from Sasuke's actions led to his next course of action.

"Kazekage-dono." Hiruzen spoke to the disguised Orochimaru without looking at him, "I'm afraid I must leave. I have an ill-disciplined genin I must teach some manners."

"Say no more." was all the Kazekage said. This, in all honesty, was the best opportunity to take out the old Hokage. Unfortunately though, there were too man eyes resting on the Hokage now. Orochimaru did not have to see them to know. Every ANBU within the stadium that was not doing crowd control or looking for Naruto and Sasuke was watching over their leader from the shadows.

Besides, every dark cloud has a silver lining. He just needed to find his.

Just as the old man had taken off his robes and had dispatched his hat, he heard a small booming sound. It came from just behind the contestants booth in the stadium. The boom was soon followed by some rumbling, before something that looked to be blue shot out from the contestants booth and shot straight to the arena floor. The impact caused a huge dust cloud to be kicked up.

The Hokage had to strain his eyes in order to get a look at the object that had crashed into the stadium. When the dust settled down, he was surprised to see Sasuke standing there, his attire slightly torn, with lightning dancing all around his body in minute flashes.

'Naruto must have sent him through the wall, but he limited the damage by cutting through the wall with Raiton. He basically turned himself into his teacher's signature technique.' Hiruzen surmised. T

Hiruzen looked at the boy and saw that the boy he once knew, the boy he had been once tasked with watching over, was no more. He seemed to be gone, lost in a pit of eternal darkness that had no chance of return.

"Mikoto, Fugaku, Itachi... please forgive me for what I am about to do." Hiruzen spoke quietly to himself before he launched himself at the last, once loyal, Uchiha.

With Naruto

Naruto's feet met the ground as he skidded to a halt just outside the stadium. Looking up, he saw that there was a hole that led into the stadium through the contestants booth.

"Shit. I overthrew that dick wad." Naruto swore, before he added, "I guess I gotta go in there again."

Just as he was about to jump back into the stadium, over a dozen feet clad in sandals landed next to Naruto.

"Oh c'mon!" Naruto exclaimed in irritation at seeing ANBU surround him once again, "Not you guys again."

"Uzumaki Naruto-" one began, before it was interrupted.

"Do you guys have to say my full name name every time?" Naruto said in irritation.

" … regardless, you are to stand down." the very same ANBU said.

"Or what?" Naruto decided to play chicken. Not really the greatest of ideas when ANBU are involved.

The answer to his question was answered by actions, rather than words. Those actions being the simultaneous drawl of a ninjatō from a sheath slapped across the ANBU's backs and a simultaneous dash toward Naruto.

One made a mad dash for his feet, trying to trip him by sliding at his feet, while another tried to intercept him in mid-air if he jumped.

"Fuck!" was all Naruto could say.

Kage Booth

Orochimaru, in his disguise as the Sandaime Kazekage, stood up from his seat and took finite steps forward, heading toward the exit of the Kage Booth, with the two guards that watched over him following along. One of those guards looked at him from behind, seemingly measuring the man he called Kazekage.

Once Orochimaru and the two guards following him left the Kage section of the stadium and entered a long passageway that barely had any lighting. The trio moved at a relatively slow pace, ignoring the sounds of chaos that were coming from outside. While they were walking, there was a slight shift in the wind, one barely noticeable by those that were not experienced, but anyone worth a grain of salt would have noticed it easily.

"Kabuto…" Orochimaru said when a man decked in ANBU apparel appeared in place of the guard that was measuring him.

"My lord. Why have you not given the signal?" the kneeling ANBU, Kabuto, said.

"There's no need to do so. Plus, I think I have a new way to defeat Konoha, one much more subtle and a whole lot more fitting to our grand ambitions." Orochimaru replied, without missing a beat as he continued to stride forward without looking back.

" … I see." was all Kabuto said. Kabuto knew and understood the risks that his master would be taking by not attacking the leaf at this particular moment. He had promised the Suna council, and its shinobi the blood of Konoha. While many agreed that Konoha's time had finally come, they were hesitant to do what was necessary to eliminate them.

Now his master was going to look like that as well in front of Suna's council. Whether he as wearing a disguise or not does not matter.

"So, I should tell our forces to fall back?" Kabuto asked, following his master.

"Yes … but we'll keep the moles we already have in place hear in Konoha for the time being." the master commanded, before adding, "They'll prove useful at a later date … I hope."

"As you command, Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto said, before he left as silently as he had entered, with the guard being returned to his position as if he had never left in the first place. Good thing too, because they had just come out of the dark-ish passage, and they were met by a platoon of Konoha shinobi.

"Kazekage-sama." a Konoha Jonin said, "We have been dispatched by the Jonin Commander to help keep you safe."

"Is that so … well then, lead the way." the snake hiding in plain sight said.

With Gaara

Being Sabaku no Gaara was not very easy. You only did a few things, sure, but they were not easy things. Killing random people for no reason beyond being that they annoyed the heck out of you is one thing that comes easy to Sabaku no Gaara. Being the focal point of an attack plan was slightly harder, but not by much. It was like killing random people, except now it had to be within certain confines.

The thing that made being Sabaku no Gaara truly challenging was fighting for control of your body from an evil entity. Evil was a word Gaara associated himself with with relative ease. Everything he did was denounced as evil. What Gaara did, in his own twisted sense of logic, was not evil. It was just being human. To a lot of people, Gaara seemed like a monster because he had no way to curb his killing inhibitions. To Gaara, he was simply being human.

Is survival by any means necessary not a base human instinct? Gaara employed this to its fullest capacity.

To Gaara, any means that ensured his survival, even killing people because of Shukaku's cries for blood, were more than satisfactory. Right now was one such time where Shukaku cried for blood, and that blood was standing right in front of him, with a back that had the Uchiha clan's symbol exposed to him. The blood was currently looking at the Sandaime Hokage, who was in a black battle armour.

Gaara had been quietly waiting for the Uchiha to make his appearance ever since the time delay. He had been quiet, but his mother had been a whole lot more vocal. At first, she wanted the Uchiha to be murdered seven different ways, but after he showed up, it escalated to ten. For some reason she seemed to have a natural repulsion to him. It had been that way since the day he first laid eyes on the Uchiha.

Now, his day of reckoning had arrived. He had to die. Gaara's eyes watched the blood talk to the Sandaime, not really sure, nor did he care, what they were talking about. While talking, Sasuke flexed his arm, as if testing out his strength. His body language was that of a man who knew that he could taken on a Kage. Gaara knew he had the raw power to do so, but not the skill. The gap between father and son did more than enough of that to convince Gaara that he wasn't ready for a Kage.

The same could, or rather should, be said for Sasuke. And yet, here he was challenging the Hokage.

The boy had an air of cockiness to him, cockiness that was there before, since day one, but was now magnified a thousand fold.

Regardless though, mother wanted blood. Uchiha Sasuke was exactly that.

Before Gaara could do anything beyond pour chakra into his sand in order to wake it up, he watched on in shock as Sasuke rushed head-first at Sarutobi Hiruzen.

"Katon …"

To be Continued

Like a phoenix I have returned with more clichéd lazy cliff hangers that I deliberately wrote because I am just fucking tired. This chapter is late becaus i had problems with my laptop, which I have now fixed. Albeit temporarily.

Anyway, there's a lot of things that occurred in this chapter. One of them being the death of Uzuki Yugao and three other ANBU! I honestly don't get fandom's obsession with her. Yeah, she had cook purple hair. SO?

Orochimaru (looking to get away from Yugao fans) chose not to attack Konoha. What does that mean for the future. Is he going to be Kazekage some more? Exactly what are his plans?

I'm currently putting on my fire proof suit, getting ready for the flames I'm going to receive for the next chapter, it's going to have the biggest cliffy in all of fanfiction history. Can't wait for it, especially in order to find out what Sasuke and Hiruzen said to each other before they duked it out.

'til next time...

I'm out!