Chapter 26: The Uzumaki's Return

It didn't take long for Naruto and Kakashi to get back on to Sasuke's trail. To Naruto he was basically a walking beacon of both negative emotion and chakra. Or rather, flying beacon due to the newly developed circumstances.

"When we catch up to Sasuke, I want you to let me handle the fighting Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said not looking back at the man.

"You sure about that?" Kakashi asked.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but you don't exactly look too hot." Naruto said looking back and grinning at him. "I mean I'm sure you wouldn't slow me down or anything, but I'd rather you not get anymore hurt than you're already are."

"You don't have to sugarcoat things for me. Orochimaru's poison is still wrecking havoc on my system. The antidote Ino gave me is helping but not much for something this strong." Kakashi replied. "Still, you shouldn't take Sasuke lightly. He's changed a lot since the last time you've fought him."

"That's a two way street Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said with a smile. It dropped however once he noticed that Sasuke's chakra signature had stopped moving. Coming to an abrupt stop, he motioned for Kakashi to do the same as the two came upon an open field. It opened into a lake, where Sasuke was standing motionless staring out over the water. Naruto and Kakashi shared a glance before Naruto nodded and started to walk forward. Kakashi stayed back out of sight, ready to provide any back up that would be needed.

Naruto stopped walking a few feet away from Sasuke's backside, waiting for his presence to be acknowledged. Eventually Sasuke turned to face him, his sharingan narrowing as he zero'd in on Naruto's face. "Fight me."

"Jeez, it's the first time we see each other in over two years and the first thing you say to me is 'fight me'. I think it's time for a little character development Sasuke." Naruto replied. Sasuke darted forward, swiping at Naruto with his claws and giving chase while Naruto evaded him. "Ok, fight it is then!"

Ducking under a punch, Naruto swiped Sasuke's feet from under him before jumping away to gain some distance. He brought two clones to life, each one running to Sasuke's sides while Naruto came from the front. Sasuke saw the oncoming threat and performed a set of seals, holding his arm down the same way he would for a chidori.

"Chidori Stream!" Sasuke yelled, the gray lightning shooting out from his hand and covering the entire area. The clones were disposed of while Naruto managed to retreat in time to avoid any damage.

"Shit, that's better than my move…" Naruto mumbled watching as the technique died down. "I gotta' get Kakashi-sensei to teach me that Chidori crap…"

He ducked to the left as Sasuke came flying towards him, turning around and gripping him by one of his wings. "Let's lay down for a minute buddy," he grunted out, spinning Sasuke and slamming him down onto the ground. He flipped away from where the boy laid, landing a few feet away and watching as Sasuke recovered.

The Uchiha got back up to his knees, shaking his head before glaring over at Naruto. He charged forward again, swiping wildly in Naruto's direction with no success. Naruto saw an opening and ducked under a particularly wild punch, giving Sasuke a quick jab in the stomach to stop his movements. Sasuke hissed at the strike but recovered quickly, flipping into a kick that struck Naruto in the face. Rolling over from the attack, Naruto quickly brought forth a Rasengan to life, thrusting it forward just as Sasuke tried to attack again. It stopped, or rather gave out, right next to Sasuke's abdomen, exploding out in a powerful burst of wind that blew the Uchiha far up into the air. Releasing a sigh, Naruto created a clone that immediately ran off towards Kakashi. Turing back to Sasuke, he sighed realizing that he was already recovering from the attack.

Kakashi's attention was taken away from the fight when he caught sight of the clone coming up next to him. "What's the matter?" He asked as the clone kneeled next to him, looking out over the fight as well.

"It's about Sasuke," Naruto said looking over at him. "The more I'm fighting him, the more I'm certain that I'm not really fighting Sasuke."

"What do you mean by that?" Kakashi said looking back out at the fight. Naruto expertly dodged under a series of kicks from Sasuke before gripping one of his legs and tossing him up into the air. He jumped away as Sasuke shot out a fireball from his mouth, closing the distance between the two as they continued their Taijutsu battle.

"His moving is off, it's almost like his body is fighting against its own movements. I fought with Sasuke alot when were little, and while I expected his style to have changed at least a little bit, I didn't expect it to be completely different." Naruto said. "Not only that, but his chakra signature is totally different. Sasuke was never the brightest person, but his chakra now doesn't have a speck of positive feeling to it. It's one hundred percent corrupted."

"Now that you mention it, the potency of the techniques he's using aren't up to his normal standard either. You might be onto something, but I still don't understand how that could be the case." Kakashi said. "Does Orochimaru's curse mark actually allow him to take that much control?"

"Orochimaru probably amplified it. Now it's not only feeding on Sasuke's negative emotions, but fueling them. It's giving Orochimaru even greater control over him, but there's still something that's keeping him here."

"You," Kakashi finished as Naruto looked up at him. "Sasuke's been fixated on you ever since you two fought the Shukaku two years ago. He felt guilty over your death, but on another level I believed he felt inferior because of his role in the battle. He felt that you were better than him."

"I'm not so sure how comfortable I am with Sasuke being obsessed with me. I see how that worked out for his brother." Naruto grumbled with a sigh. "Still, at least I have a concrete plan now. You got any sealing supplies on you?"

"Only ink, why?" Kakashi asked. The clone made a single sign before slamming it's hand on the ground, a giant scroll appearing next to them in a burst of smoke.

"You've got a seal that you use to suppress the effects of the curse mark right? I want you to recreate it in the middle of this scroll." Naruto said performing another summoning jutsu, this time bringing forth a brush and some ink. "I'm gonna' be making own seal on the outskirts while you work."

"And the plan here is exactly?" Kakashi asked raising an eyebrow. Even with his skepticism, he had already went about preparing to start on his end of this plan.

"It's a seal amplifier that Ero-sennin taught me. Basically, I'm going to supe up the effects of your suppressing seal, making it even stronger. Hopefully it'll be enough to counteract whatever the hell Orochimaru did to Sasuke, at the very least until we get him back to Konoha and I can have Ero-sennin himself look at it."

"Fair enough," Kakashi said focusing back down on his work. "I don't know how much this means to you now, but you've really impressed me with how you're handling all of this. You're going to make a great leader one day."

Naruto smiled at his words. "Honestly it means a lot more than you probably think." Forming a sign, the clone brought forth another one before dispelling itself, the second clone picking right back up where the other left off. Noticing the look from Kakashi, he stared back for a moment before realizing where his confusion was coming from. "Oh, that was just so that the real me knows what the plan is."

'Jiraiya-sama and Minato-sensei's creativity is definitely there.' Kakashi thought to himself before focusing back on his seal.

Drip.

A pair of dark, brown eyes shot up at the sound, darting around to find the source.

Drip.

Another droplet of water struck the surface of the small puddle a few feet away from her. Her iris, slitted in nature, dilated as the small speckle of light from above reflected off of it. The rest of the underground sewer was relatively dark outside of the various holes above allowing similar spots of light to flow through.

Drip.

Her ear twitched. Something from the right. She turned her face as her eyes peered now into darkness behind her. Unlike the path in front of her, it looked as though the tunnel behind her was completely void of light. Almost unnatural so.

Drip.

Back to the left. This time she was sure. Those were steps. Footsteps coming from both sides of her. She stayed completely still, waiting until the two figures came into vision. Listening. Waiting.

Drip.

Her eyes widened. Quickly she bent over backwards, narrowly dodging the large projectile that flew over head. She turned behind to look after it, watching as it was deftly caught by an arm that appeared out of the darkness.

"I really wish you would watch where you threw this thing," The man said, his body fully becoming exposed in the light. Her eyes narrowed.

'Kakuzu.'

"Ahhh, you're good for it old man! Relax a little!" A vibrant voice called out from the deeper darkness to her right. She could feel him even before she saw him. A presence of both dread and death washed over the area. His gray hair shinned hauntingly in the sun light above as it revealed his smirking face.

'Hidan.'

"It doesn't matter if I'm 'good for it', it's annoying. Stop it." Kakuzu replied back irritably. Hidan laughed at his words, stopping his pace forward while he placed his hand on his hip.

"You're way to uptight," Hidan replied icely, the vibrance from his voice now gone. The sunlight reflected coldly off of his purple eyes, which were focused square on the women in between them. "Especially when we have the kitty kat exactly where we want her."

"Yugito Nii I presume?" Kakuzu asked, allowing the giant scythe to drop to the ground beside him. "You're a little younger than the reports said you were. Of course everyone begins to appear younger when you've lived as long as I have."

"Oi, watch how you're dropping that thing! That's an antic asshole!" Hidan yelled from the other side. Kakuzu ignored him, keeping his attention on Yugito.

"Judging from the look on your face I can see that there's no need for an introduction. I take it that also means you're aware of why we've come then," Kakuzu, his eyes relaxing as he contemplated his next words. "This could all go a lot easier if you just surrender yourself over. Really, there's no point in drawing this out any longer than it needs to be."

"Quite frankly I'd enjoy it if you didn't, nothing beats ending your night with a good ol' fashion killing session." Hidan said hauntingly from her side.

"You imbecile, we need to capture her alive. How many times do I have to say that before it gets through that dense skull of yours?" Kakuzu muttered shaking his head.

"You know, you've been extra bitchy lately old man. I'm starting to get the feeling that you don't like me." Hidan said squinting his eyes.

"Oh really? And whatever have I done to give you that assumption?"

"That! That shit right there! I can sense sarcasm asshole!"

Yugito stayed quiet while the two continued their bickering, weighing her options. She was too far out from the village to expect any from of backup to be coming anytime soon, and even if she wasn't the issue would then become how she would alert anyone before those two managed to get too her. Hidan she was a little unfamiliar with seeing as he was a recent addition to Missing Nin list but Kakuzu was somebody whose skill set she knew very well. She wasn't exactly thrilled to be fighting against a man with as much experience as him, let alone the whole immortality thing.

"That it! Once I'm finished with this slut I'm taking you out next!" Hidan yelled charging forward. Yugito's eyes narrowed at his words.

"Slut?" Yugito mumbled turning towards him. Hidan swung at her, his fist sailing over face while she ducked underneath it. She dropped to the ground, wrapping her legs around his arm and twisting them while flipping back upwards. Hidan hollered out in pain as his left arm twisted unnaturally, completely dislocated from its socket.

"You bitch, that was my fucking arm!" Hidan yelled out grabbing at it. Yugito brushed some hair out of her face, looking over at Kakuzu who was smiling down at Hidan.

"That looked like it hurt," Kakuzu remarked, closing his eyes as Hidan began to spew his wrath at him now. He eyed Yugito, kicking the scythe away while cracking his neck on both sides. "Don't say I didn't offer you the chance to leave this unscathed. You chose this path, not me."

"I'd rather put up a fighting chance with even the smallest hope of surviving than turn over and accept death," Yugito said crouching low into a stance. "If you want what's inside of me, you're going to have to come and take it."

"I can respect that." Kakuzu taking of the Akatsuki robe. "It's a foolish choice, but one I can respect nonetheless."

Kakuzu dropped to the ground, slamming both of his palms onto it as the area around them began to shake. The ceiling above began to collapse, closing off the the tunnel from both sides and trapping the three inside of it. "Now you have nowhere to run too."

"Who said anything about running?" Yugito yelled out. She darted forward, swiping out with her leg at Kakuzu's head. She continued to attack him with a ferocious nature, keeping him constantly on the defensive as he tried to keep up with her attacks.

"You're better than I expected," Kakuzu grunted out, dodging under one attack then rebounding to block another one. "I can see you've been trained well."

"Well is an understatement!" Yugito yelled out, kicking off of his arm and flipping backwards. "Lightning Release: Lightning Pulse!"

Pushing her arms out on either side of her, lightning shout out from her body in pulses as it filled up the entire sewer. Kakuzu reacted quickly, bringing forth an earth wall to block out the attack. Yugito growled to herself, ear twitching before she jumped out of the way as Hidan's scythe came crashing down on to where she once was. Sliding to a stop, she looked up while Hidan swung the weapon back over his shoulder with a grin.

"Slippery little rat aren't you?" Hidan said before charging forward again. He continued to swing after her wildly, never even coming close to hitting her. Kakuzu watched from the sideline, shaking his head in mild disbelief.

"Honestly, is he just allowing anyone to join our forces now?"

Yugito continued to dodge all of his attacks, waiting for a moment to strike. After one swipe, she finally saw an area that was open and decided to make her move. She closed the distance between them, kunai out as she prepared to thrust it up into his ribs when she felt something grab the back of her neck.

"Can't have you doing that now can you?" She heard Kakuzu's voice call out before she was lifted up off the ground. She was slammed into the roof of the sewer, her eyes bugging out in pain before she was promptly slammed back down onto the ground. Kakuzu's hand retracted while he walked forward, rubbing his wrist as he stared at her curled up form on the ground.

"How quickly they fall," Kakuzu mumbled standing over her body. He saw her arm tense, which was enough of a warning for him to distance himself while a blue aura erupted from her body. Slowly she pulled herself back up, her eyes glowing a golden color as she stared down Kakuzu. "This must be your Biju form I take it."

"Not quite," Yugito whispered, disappearing in a burst of speed. Kakuzu himself was surprised at the showing, though he wasn't the target of her attack.

"Where the he-" Hidan started before a knee struck him in the side of his face. He crashed into the side of the sewer, Yugito following up the attack with another.

"Fire Release: Flame Bullet!" She yelled, spewing out the attack. It collided in the area Hidan was occupying, bursting it into flames that lingered because of the added oil. Kakuzu whistled at the sight, noting that Yugito was panting on the side after the showing.

It was silent for a moment, but then a howl broke throughout the clearing. Hidan stumbled out from the flames, half of his robe burned off and the other half still on fire. There were signe and burn marks all over his skin, but other than that he looked completely fine. Yugito's face faltered, lowering her head before slowly rising back up to her feet. "That should have killed you. I know that should have killed you."

"Sorry chick, but you're going to have to try a lot harder than that if you plan on taking me down." Hidan said grinning as he patted out the last of the flames. Kakuzu began to walk towards her with Hidan following suit. Yugito backed up until she was against the wall of the sewer, her eyes darting back between Hidan and Kakuzu.

'Well I'm out of ideas...it's not looking good here you know?'

"...What do we do when we're cornered?"

Sighing, Yugito closed her eyes briefly before open them again, one side amber colored while the other was a deep blue.

"We let the cat out to play…"

'Left. Right. Left again. Right kick. Left hook. Shuriken. Left kick. Right hook. Left hook again. Duck under. Shift to the back. Recovered. Left kick again.'

Naruto wasn't sure what was going through Sasuke's mind seeing as he had the sharingan and all, but he wondered if it was something similar to his thoughts. He flipped a kunai into his hand and swiped in Sasuke's direction, forcing him to jump back while Naruto did the same to put some distance between the two.

"You've been dodging this entire time, are you scared to throw another punch?" Sasuke growled out.

"No, not really. Just waiting for you to actually land a punch first before I retaliate. You know, proving your worth and all." Naruto said shrugging his shoulders. He briefly glanced over to where Kakashi and his clone were, wondering how the seal was going. He was trying to buy time while not hurting Sasuke at the same time, but the after effects of his fight with Kimimaro and everything else that had been taking place was starting to get to him. It was only now that he realized he hadn't been to sleep in over 3 days. It was a miracle that he was even still standing, but then again he was pretty much a walking miracle at any given moment. That thought was filled with humility of course.

He was broken out of his stupor once he noticed Sasuke was gearing backup to attack again. 'Sorry buddy, but you're working with a lot more exuberance than I am right now, and that's saying something. I'm going to have to knock some of that energy out of you.' Flipping the kunai into a reverse grip, Naruto beat Sasuke to the punch by charging forward himself this time. He stopped just in front of him, feigning a front attack before leaping over him as Sasuke struck out to stop him. He was in the process of flipping over his back when one of the winged hands swiped in his direction, the wind gush knocking Naruto off course and pushing him up in the air.

Growling, he launched the kunai down in Sasuke's direction, using it as a distraction while he ran through a couple seals. "Fire Release: Devil's Floor Technique!" Naruto yelled out, cupping his hand around his mouth and spewing out flames on the ground below him. They hit the surface and began to spread out in all directions, closing in on Sasuke who used his wings to propel him off of the ground. Naruto grinned while he grabbed his tanto on his back.

"Bad move Uchiha…" He whispered, gripping the handle tighter. Sparks of lightning shot around his body while he crouched up in the air, his eyes focused squarely on Sasuke's form. He took a deep breath. '3...2...1…' In a flash of light he disappeared. Sasuke didn't even have time to comprehend what had transpired before he felt a searing pain in his shoulder. He looked to the side of him, Staring Naruto in his eyes as the glow of electricity surrounding his body began to fade away. Tightening his grip on the blade, Naruto grabbed Sasuke by his throat before spinning around in the air. He threw him back down to the ground, ripping his blade from the boy's shoulder at the sametime.

Kakashi from his point above had taken a brief break from working his seal to check on the fight. His sharingan eye spun wildly while his mouth was agape a little, trying to understand what he just saw. The speed Naruto had just moved at was even faster than his sharingan could keep up with, something he hadn't seen for a very long time. It almost reminded him of…

"Kakashi-sensei, no time for sightseeing. We need to get this done." The Naruto clone siad getting his attention. He hadn't stopped his stride even once since he started, working with such focus and precision that Kakashi was once again reminded of someone else.

"That attack that you-or rather, the real you just did...was that-"

"No, it's not the Fourth Hokage's technique. I hate to downplay my own techniques, but it's more of bastardized version of it." The clone said still finishing the seal. A grin couldn't help but form on his face though. "Still, it's pretty sweet though right?" Kakashi stayed silent, instead getting back to working on his part of the seal. "What, not gonna' ask how I do it? Kill sport."

"Ok, I'll bite. Explain it to me." Kakashi said finishing up his part.

"Well honestly I can't take complete credit for it. I got the idea for it from talking to Jiraiya about the Third and Fourth Raikage's techniques." Naruto replied with a grin.

"I see, so that was lightning I was sensing earlier. Still, it sounds like you're implying yours is a little different than theirs?" Kakashi asked.

"Well, honestly i'm not too sure about that. Jiraiya told me the basics of what the technique was, or at least what he was able to observe it as being, and I messed around with it until I was able to get my own version of it." Naruto answered. "The whole cloaking defense idea was cool in concept, but it burned through way too much chakra. I know that sounds crazy coming from me, but I figured there's no point in wasting that much energy when you don't have to."

"So you found a way to use it in bursts?" Kakashi mused to himself. "Basically you made a bastardized version of an already bastardized technique?"

"Yes, and it's not a bastardized version. It's a perfected version actually, at least for me. It's actually a lot harder to maintain the technique without using the cloak. Keeping the energy contained inside of you requires a crazy amount of control, but the results from it are almost double the effectiveness of the original technique." Naruto said with a small smile.

"Is that so," Kakashi replied. He could tell that Naruto was really happy with his creation. "From the sound of things though it isn't a finished product."

"As of now I can only use it in bursts. Like I said, it takes a lot of control to keep the lightning chakra contained in your body like that. Jiraiya and old man Sarutobi were pretty knowledgeable in controlling lightning techniques but even they didn't have a solution to that one. There's one girl I have in mind who might be able to help me, just a matter of getting in touch with her now." Naruto answered.

"I see. Well, if that doesn't work out I could always try to help you out with it. I'm pretty knowledgeable in lightning techniques myself." Kakashi said.

"Thanks Kakashi-sensei," Naruto replied with a grin. Finishing off the ends of his half, the clone released a sigh as he leaned back on his palms. "There, it's done. How's it coming on your end?"

"Just about finished." Kakashi said adding the finishing touches. "So how exactly are we planning on using this on Sasuke? I doubt he's going to sit still and let us perform the seal on him."

"He won't have a choice. Once I dispel and word gets back to the boss that we're done, he's going to put an end to this fight." The clone said smiling over at Kakashi. "Once he's down, you'll just have to come over with the scroll and you two will finish this off."

"You seem pretty confident in your ability to take down Sasuke." Kakashi said narrowing his eyes. "He's gotten stronger over these last two years as well you know, not to mention the power up from Orochimaru aiding him."

"True, but you've just exposed the one flaw in that equation. Sasuke's gotten stronger sure, I can tell that. But this isn't my first time dealing with him under Orochimaru's influence. While the power he gets is incredible, you should know better than anyone that Sasuke doesn't typically out power someone in a fight. He out skills them." The clone said standing up to his feet. "Outpowering? Well now you're stepping into my earliest domain. One that I've only gotten better at with time."

With that, the clone dispersed itself. Kakashi watched the cloud of smoke evaporate into the air before turning back towards the battle in front of him. Sasuke was still recovering from the attack before, clutching at his shoulder while his arm hung loosely below. Naruto stood across from him, blinking his eyes as if he was refocusing them before releasing a sigh. "Last chance Sasuke. Stand down and let me help you without having to hurt you."

"Will you shut the hell up already and fight me!" Sasuke roared, a chidori blaring to life in his right hand. He charged forward, thrusting the attack towards Naruto's face. Side stepping it, Naruto gave him a quick jab in the side meant to stun him while he put some distance between them. Sasuke however blocked it with one of the webbed hands on his back, using them to soar up into the sky. Running through hand signs, he brought his hand up to his mouth in signature fashion, narrowing his eyes down at Naruto who was watching him patiently.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!" Sasuke yelled, the jutsu eruption from his mouth. It continued to build upon itself, growing larger and larger as its form lingered over Naruto. To his credit, the blonde didn't seem worried at all, staring up as the ball grew to about three times its normal size. Taking a deep breath, Naruto crouched low while pulling his fist all the way back. Aiming it up with the center of the giant flaming ball, he released the breath he was holding while thrusting his fist forward, channeling wind chakra into the end of the attack.

A small concentrated stream of wind erupted from his fist, shooting right through the middle of Sasuke's technique. The giant ball of fire imploded within itself, exploding outward in a fiery display. Naruto turned away to shield his front half away from the flames, waiting until it died down to see the aftermath. The entire area around them was now covered in flames, though he didn't see Sasuke anywhere on the ground.

"Naruto, look out!"

The pain was instantaneous. A howl erupted from Naruto's mouth as his face scrunched up towards the sky. Regaining a little of his composure, he slowly looked down to see what had happened. Sasuke's hand was punctured through his shoulder, the gray lightning just starting to show signs of dying down. He bit back a growl. It was almost as if seeing how gruesome the hit was had increased it's pain.

A smile began to spread across Sasuke's face. He lifted himself up in the air, pulling on the wound and causing Naruto to yell out again as blood spurted from his body. Sasuke continued to rise higher until they well above the ground. His smile grew bigger as he planted his foot on Naruto's back. "Well? Does this prove my worth?"

In a swift motion, he kicked Naruto from off of his arm, ripping his hand from the boy's shoulder. Naruto clutched at the wound, grimacing as he continued to plummet downwards. He collided with the lake below them, kicking up a large pool of water in his aftermath. Sasuke slowly hovered down to the spot where he collided, scanning the water with a blank stare.

"Damn it, I should have went out to help in the beginning!" Kakashi growled out standing up from his position in the trees. He was about to leap out to help when his body froze mid stride. His heart skipped a beat, rendering the man momentarily senseless as he tried to regain his bearings. It felt as though the entire area had grew incredibly still and silent, the only sound being the rustling of trees in the wind. Then, the temperature dropped. An ominous feeling washed over the area, scaring every living thing that was capable of doing so into fleeing from it.

Kakashi swallowed the newly formed knot in his throat. It had taken a moment, but he had regained composure. He edged further out, looking over at the scene in front of him. Sasuke was still floating above the lake below, but Kakashi could tell that he had felt whatever it was that had overcome himself as well.

Sasuke's eyes were rapidly searching the water below, looking for any sign of Naruto. He had felt this power before. Only now he knew what the source of it was. Movement to the right of him caught his attention, but before he could react to it, the source had already made its way towards him. Naruto's fist collided with Sasuke's jaw, launching him back to the shore and colliding into series of trees.

Kakashi vision shot over to Naruto. He was trying to remain his typical blank exterior, but the sight he was witnessing caused even him to visibly react. The wound on his shoulder was slowly, and grotesquely he might add, reattaching itself together. Naruto's left eye was bloodshot red while the other remained blue, and glowing aura of red was emitting from his body. It was clear that he was drawing from the Kyubi's power, but what wasn't clear was whether or not he was in control. "Naruto?" Kakashi asked lowly. "Are you good?"

Naruto's eyes flashed over to him. Initially they were hostile, but they quickly relaxed into a more softer gaze before Naruto grinned back at him. "I'm not gonna' lie Kakashi-sensei, I might end up killing this student of yours. That last stunt was pretty disrespectful. But, out of respect for you, I'll try one more time to settle this by only knocking some sense into him." Turning back towards where Sasuke landed, he tried twisting the shoulder that had got punctured. Wincing the entire time, he duly noted that he would need to get it checked out by a professional later but it was still usable. 'Thank the heavens for forced accelerated healing. First field test was a success. Instant favorite.'

He scanned the area quickly, finding his blade laying a few feet away from him. Walking over, he gave it a quick look over before flipping it into a reverse grip. He looked up unflinchingly as one of Sasuke's wings erupted from out the rubble, the rest of the boy following soon after. His glare was piercing, both of his sharingan eyes spinning wildly and seemingly glowing in the afternoon light. Naruto's stare was equally intimidating however, the warmth usually held within the eyes replaced with a cold and calculating feeling. The standoff continued for awhile longer before Naruto finally broke the eye contact, closing both his eyes while a small smile spread across his face.

"No, that's enough. We've already field tested this power. There's no reason to use it recklessly." Naruto mumbled to himself. It was scary to him just how much like the old man he was starting to sound. Still, the effects of the Kyuubi's power almost instantly disappeared. He faltered for a moment, eyes lowering before forcefully keeping themselves up. He hadn't had proper rest in awhile and it was finally starting to take its toll. Using the Kyuubi's chakra hadn't helped that.

"Giving up are we?" Sasuke asked, almost disappointedly. Naruto scoffed, laughing the boy off while standing up straighter.

"Come on Sasuke. You know better than that."

He played around with the grip on his weapon for a moment before sighing. Leaping from his spot, he landed right in front of Sasuke before swinging the blade towards his chest. The Uchiha dodged his attack, looking to counter but being forced to continue evading strikes as Naruto continued to combo hits together. Sasuke tried to perform a hand seal but Naruto clapped his hand on top of his, holding the grip while in one swift motion, plunging his blade through Sasuke's stomach.

Sasuke immediately stopped moving, looking down at the blade and back up at Naruto. The cold look the blonde had earlier had disappeared, and instead he looked rather regretful about the situation. "Sorry buddy, but this is going to hurt. A lot."

Gripping the handle tighter, blue sparks circled around his hand before being transferred to weapon. Sasuke howled out in pain as the lightning began to course through his body. His sharingan spun wildly as he tried in vain to strike out, but his body was completely unresponsive. It was getting hard to focus. The pain was becoming more and more numb. For the first time, Sasuke himself was truly looking at Naruto.

"N-Naru…" He started before losing consciousness. Naruto stopped channeling his chakra into the tanto, keeping it inside Sasuke as he gently lowered him to the ground. The effects of Orochimaru's curse mark was beginning to subside, and Sasuke was slowly turning back to normal. Kakashi landed next to them, placing down the sealing equipment while giving him a quick look over.

"You got bandages still? I didn't want to take the blade out until we had something to patch him up with." Naruto said from his sitting spot. His breathing was shallow, though he was doing a great job at covering it up. Kakashi pulled out his extra set while Naruto took the blade from out of Sasuke. The patched him up before sitting him down on top of the scroll, stripping his clothes off of him.

"I'll get started on my seal, anything else you need to do to prep yours?" Kakashi asked as he began drawing on Sasuke's body. Naruto shook his head to show he was good, watching silently while Kakashi worked. Some time passed and Kakashi finally put down the brush, looking over his work one more time before standing up. "We're all set. You ready?"

"Yup. Let's get this over with already…" Naruto said rising up to his feet. He walked over to the corner of the scroll, kneeling down while biting the tip of his dumb. He let a single drop of blood fall down onto the scroll and on top of the black markings, which began to grow red all around the scroll. He motioned for Kakashi to step back while he made the tiger hand sign, holding it as the seal began to glow even brighter. The markings from Kakashi's seal began to glow as well while the markings on the scroll slowly began to leave the paper and attach to Sasuke himself. It merged with the seals on Sasuke's body, the markings growing so large that it appeared as though Sasuke's entire being was glowing. Then, in one swift motion, it all was swallowed up into Orochimaru's curse mark. The lights died down and just as quickly as everything began, it ended.

Naruto released a sigh as he dropped down to the ground. He gave Kakashi a thumbs up to show that the sealing was done, collapsing backwards while Kakashi walked over to examine Sasuke. He gently turned his head to the side, observing the new seal on Sasuke's neck. It looked just as it did before, though now a smaller version of the seals Naruto drew were wrapping around it in a circular shape.

"So he'll be ok now right?" Kakashi asked looking over at Naruto.

"Well like I said, what I put on there was only an amplifier seal. It makes the effects of your seal stronger. So theoretically speaking, Sasuke himself could break it if he tried hard enough. However, the seal and Orochimaru won't be able to influence him. Hopefully. And I doubt he'd willingly go off to be Orochimaru's pet thing. Again, hopefully." Naruto said sitting up. "It's probably possible to take the seal off completely, but that's above my pay grade. You'd need a real seal master to do something like that."

Nodding at his words, Kakashi went about covering Sasuke's body up again before lifting him up over his shoulder. Wearily, he looked over to Naruto, who had returned to laying on his back and looking up at the sky with half lidded eyes. "Ready to go?"

"I was ready to go three days ago." Naruto sighed. Standing back up, he grabbed his tanto and reseathed back on his back. Nodding to show he was ready, he and Kakashi began the semi long trek back home. "Don't tell me we have to rush back. We can take it easy now right."

"Now now Naruto, we can't get lazy now. The sooner we get back to Konoha the better. And who knows what could happen if Sasuke wakes up while we're still out here." Kakashi said looking back with an eye smile. "Basically, it's full speed ahead." With that, he jumped into the trees and began his way back to Konoha. Naruto sighed again before following after him.

Honestly, Uchiha's were way more trouble than they were worth. He could almost sympathize with the second Hokage's actions against them.

Almost.

Slowly, the ground in an abandoned field began to collapse on top of itself. Out of the resulting hole came the hand of a man, grunting as he pulled himself up onto the ground. Dusting himself off, he turned and peered back down into the hole he had just emerged from. "Alright, you can toss her up now."

Promptly the limp body of Yugito was thrown up onto the ground next to him, battered and bruised. Hidan came soon after, his clothing burned to a crisp and only the lower half of his Akatsuki garb still remaining.

"Man, that was one tough dame! I almost thought she had you there for a minute Kakuzu. You keep losing hearts like this and you won't be immortal for much longer." Hidan said before bursting into a manic laugh. Hidan ignored him, instead reaching down to grab Yugito and heft her over his shoulder.

"Let's return to base already…" He mumbled turning to walk away. He stopped however once he noticed something was emerging from the ground in front of him.

"Actually there's been a change of plans," Zetsu croaked out coming to stand in front of them. Kakuzu narrowed his eyes while Hidan came to stand beside him.

"Change of plans? This short notice?" Hidan asked looking between the two. "What the hell does he want now?"

"For you two to make your way directly to Iwagakure. We need to gather as much intel on the five tailed jinchuuriki as possible.

"I thought the Five tail's was under Itachi and Kisame's jurisdiction." Kakuzu questioned shifting Yugito into a more comfortable position for him.

"It is, but the Jinchuuriki left from Iwagakure years ago. We want you to use your intel to find out about his whereabouts." Zetsu said, Kakuzu scowling further at the idea of having to do more work than he was required. "The quicker you find him, the quicker he can be captured. It's a matter of time and efficiency."

"It's a matter of incompetence." Kakuzu retorted, tossing Yugito over to Zetsu while turning away. "After this I don't want to hear any more complaints about me taking time for my own exploits, seeing as I now have to use my resources to make up for others."

"As long as it gets done." Zetsu replied. His slowly began to disappear back into the ground along with Yugito's body, Kakuzu and Hidan waiting until he was completely gone before addressing one another.

"I hate that thing." Kakuzu spat, Hidan nodding his head in agreement.

"Yeah, he's a pretty ugly looking guy. I hate looking at him too." Hidan said, oblivious to the irritated stare Kakuzu was sending his way. Opting to avoid another argument, the older simply walked away with Hidan following shortly after.

"Wait seriously, what the hell is he?"

"Please shut up."

It was pushing into the early hours of dawn when Naruto and Kakashi finally returned to Konoha. Sasuke was currently being carried by Naruto on his back, Kakashi feeling the effects of Orochimaru's poison a little more because of the energy exertion from coming back to Konoha full speed. The two were walking up to the gates when they took notice of who was there waiting on them.

"Baa-chan?" Naruto questioned, flinching at the glare the women sent his way.

"What happened to Tsunade-sama brat." Tsunade hissed out, Naruto shrugging her words off as they came to stand in front of her.

"I'm not under direct Anbu duty right now so I can be a little more relaxed ya' know?" Naruto replied giving her a grin. Tsunade rolled her eyes at him before focusing on who was on his back.

"Well, how is he?" She asked getting both Naruto and Kakashi to glance at each other.

"We've handled the situation for now, but it appears as though Orochimaru has done something else to Sasuke's curse mark seal to make it even stronger. Naruto managed to subdue it with the use of my original suppressing seal, but it would probably be best if Jiraiya-sama took a look at it as well." Kakashi answered, getting a snort from Tsunade.

"Good luck with that, the old pervert left Konoha over five hours ago." She replied.

"What? That asshole said he wasn't leaving until I got back!" Naruto yelled out angrily. "Where did he go?"

"He wouldn't say, just that he was going to do 'research' and it wasn't the kind that I was thinking about, though I find that hard to believe…" Tsunade said, her eyes watching the Jonin with a sense of concern. "You don't look too good Kakashi, we should get you checked out. Both of you actually, accompany me to the hospital." Tsunade said turning to walk away. Naruto and Kakashi followed after her quietly, facing little in terms of crowds because of how early the hour was. They arrived at one of the smaller medical stations that was close to the gate they entered through, Tsunade holding the door open for Naruto and Kakashi to enter. She immediately motioned for some of the medic nin to take Sasuke off to a private room.

"I'll take a private look at Sasuke later myself, you didn't injure him so bad that I should be concerned did you?" She asked looking over at Naruto and Kakashi.

"I impaled him with my tanto blade and shot some lightning chakra through him, but other than that I don't think I did anything to bad." Naruto replied tapping his chin. Tsunade spared him an irritated glance before motioning for him to follow after her.

"Kakashi, I take it you can hang tight a little while longer right? I think the kid here should see the medic nin first." Tsunade said looking back at him. Kakashi, who had been silent ever since they came into the medical station, stared at her with a blank expression before standing up a little straighter.

"Sure, I'm already starting to feel a little better. Knock yourself out Naruto." Kakashi said giving him an eye smile. Naruto looked back at him nervously before he was pushed forward by Tsunade.

"You heard him brat, go get checked out. I'll be out here waiting when you're done." Tsunade said standing over him. Naruto was about to protest, but changed his mind once he realized it didn't look like this was going to be something Tsunade backed down on easily.

"Fine, alright already! Even though I'm clearly perfectly fine I'll go and get checked out. Nevermind Kakashi-sensei is nearly dying of poison over there…" Naruto said heading into the nursing hall. Kakashi came to stand beside Tsunade as Naruto slowly made his way forward, waiting until he was out of earshot to address her.

"Just to be clear, you're doing this on purpose right? You haven't forgotten who exactly is working here at this station tonight have you?" Kakashi asked still watching Naruto turn down the hall.

"Word of Naruto's return has not spread yet, and Sarutobi-sensei has decided the best course of action for integrating Naruto back into society is to just push him out there. He and Jiraiya insist that he's strong enough to handle whatever may come to him." Tsunade said seriously. "And while it's not that I don't believe them, I also don't think they know how much of a mental toll this kid has been under over the last few years. I believe that he needs to be at least prepped for what he will be experiencing here in the village for a while and what better person than her? From what I hear it sounds like he's sweet on her."

Kakashi looked at her before sighing and moving to head into one of the other medic rooms. Naruto meanwhile had finally made it to the main medic's room. Grabbing the door handle he turned it and pushed into the room with his head down.

"Excuse me," He called out tiredly closing the door behind him. Turning around, he froze immediately once he noticed the pink hair decorating the back of the medic nins head.

"Take a seat right on the bed and I'll be right with you, I just have to finish one thing…" The lady called out scribbling a note. "Done! Now, how can I help yo-"

Sakura jumped at the sight of who was in front of her. She almost thought she was mistaken until she noticed the three whisker marks on both of his cheeks. She stumbled over her words, completely at a loss for what to say. Naruto wasn't fairing much better, looking back at her with an equally dumbfounded stare as he slid his hand off the door handle.

"N-Naruto-kun?" Sakura basically whispered. Naruto tried to speak but found he still hadn't found his voice, instead nodding lamely to confirm her words. Her eyes widened as she stood up from the desk, stepping forward but hesitating in reaching forward out to him.

"B-b-but how I," Sakura said shaking her head and taking a step back. "They told us-we were told that you had died back during the invasion. How could you-?" she mumbled as Naruto released a sigh.

"I'm gonna' kill Baa-chan…" Naruto mumbled rubbing the back of his head and giving her a miniature version of his grin. "This wasn't exactly how I planned our first meeting being, but hey Sakura-chan. It's good to see you." Naruto instantly regretted throwing chan on the end of her name there after remembering his encounter with Ino, but was relieved to see that Saskura didn't seem that bothered by it.

"I-it's good to see you too Naruto-kun, but I don't understand…" Sakura trailed off looking him over again. He had clearly gotten older, but it was definitely Naruto. The more she looked at him the more familiar he became. "You're supposed to be dead, how can you be…"

"The short version of it is that it was for a mission. The longer version is a little more detailed than that." Naruto said dropping his hand to the side. Sakura blinked before turning around and grabbing her clipboard.

"Well I still have to give you your physical don't I?" Sakura said looking at him sternly. "We've got time, so get to talking mister."

Sighing, Naruto took a seat on the bed and began to tell Sakura the entire or deal, or at least what he was able to from the Third Hokage's permission. He told her what really took place during the fight with Gaara and how they won. He revealed to her his Jinchuuriki status, which almost sent Sakura into an entirely different concern before Naruto managed to bring her attention back to the main story. She honestly took it a lot better than he was expecting her too, which took a lot of worry off of his head.

He held off on speaking about his private training with Jiraiya and the Third Hokage, instead focusing on his joining the Anbu and training there. By the time he had finished the tale the physical had long been over, with Sakura having moved the chair from her desk to sit next to Naruto's bed and listen. She let out a whistle when he finally announced that he was finished.

"That was...a lot." Sakura said unfolding her knees from her chest and sitting right in the chair. "I can't believe you've been going through so much over the past two years. Actually even before that."

"Yeah well, if I've been great at anything all my life it's been taking things in stride." Naruto said, his smile fading a little. "Still, I hope that explains everything."

"I can't say that I exactly understand the reasoning behind everything, but I can understand Lord Third seeing it as a necessary action to take. Especially with how weakened Konoha was." Sakura said frowning. It disappeared quickly however as a smile found a way on to her face while she looked back up at Naruto. "Still, having you back makes up for everything. You don't know how different things felt without you around here."

"Really? How bad was it?" Naruto asked hoping he wouldn't regret the question.

"Well everyone took it really hard. It felt as if the entire vibe of the village had changed." Sakura said looking down at the floor. "Ino was hurt especially." She was going to say the same about Sasuke, but stop seeing as bringing his name up only reminded her that he was currently missing.

"Yeah I can already see that that's not going to be an easy fix…" Naruto said sighing. Sakura nodded her head in agreement before pausing at his words.

"Wait, you've already ran into Ino? How when she's been out on the retrieval mission for Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked.

"Oh, I just returned from that mission. Sasuke's in a room further down the hall." Naruto said pointing over to the door. Sakura looked between him and the door with her mouth open before getting up and heading over towards it.

"Why didn't you tell me that at first? I could've been checking on Sasuke-kun, you're fine!" She yelled running out the door. She stopped halfway through the doorway, hesitating before turning back around to look at the blonde. "I'm still trying to process everything you told me, I can't say that everything makes sense to me yet. But I did mean it when I said it's great to have you back Naruto. Things really haven't been the same without you. Even if you do look kind of different."

"I was thinking the same about you Sakura-chan. When I walked in I thought you were a grown woman at first. You've really matured."

"You mean that?" Sakura asked back quickly, her voice going high and eyes opening wide with excitement. Then she remembered her original reason for leaving, turning to run out of the room before he could respond. Naruto stared at the empty doorway for a moment, a small smile coming across his face. Soon, it turned into a full blown laugh as he threw his hands behind his head and fell back on the bed.

He could do this. That's what he had concluded. All he had to do was come clean. Things would be hard and he knew that every situation wasn't going to go over as smooth as it did with Sakura, but he could manage this. Just like he had managed everything else.

Sighing to himself, he got up and prepared to meet with Tsunade out in the hallway. There was a lot to be done and even more things that needed to be addressed. But before any of that, Naruto needed three things.

A shower, some rest, and a bowl of Ichiraku's ramen.

Be back soon.