Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Kishimoto-sama does. But he destroyed the Manga!

Chapter Fourteen: Letting Go

Uzumaki Naruto looked at the proud gates of Konohagakure no Sato, recently repaired and operating as they had been before the invasion of the Sand army as well as Akuma's forces from sound. He was clad in his usual black jacket and blue navy blue ninja trousers, with a utility belt strapped around his waist, with two Fuuma Shuriken attached to them, as well as two punches which held several of Kakashi's more ingenious contraptions that he had created along with Naruto. He was not one to brag, but Naruto had quite a lot of grand ideas in modifying weapons to his liking, like wires that were put into powdered glass for a more devastating affect; they could cut smoother and much more deadlier than other wires. He currently has around thirty metres of the wire in his back pouch, just in case he needed to use it. On his back was a brown rucksack, with several pieces spare clothing and most notably, clean and fresh underwear. The other articles that he had in the bag was a last minute and a one-use only emergency pack of his favourite instant miso ramen.

Under his facemask, Naruto sighed as he recalled the events of the past day. His mind began to blush as much as his face did as he remembered how Kurenai tasted like when she had kissed him. It was rather odd to have her kiss him like that, but then again, Naruto had decided that it was justified; after all, did he not save her life from the clutches of the evil nukenin Uchiha Itachi. Naruto inwardly frowned when he thought about Uchiha Itachi. When he fought him, the man had only used enough power from his arsenal just enough to capture him; not to kill him. Naruto realized that the moment that he fought against the renegade Uchiha, and the moment he blocked the kunai from finishing off Kurenai, that man was only using no more than half of his potential power. If it was to kill, it would be an entirely different story. When fighting against Itachi, he had circulated the flow of the Kyuubi's power into his speed; cheating it would be called, but to Naruto it was just another kunai in his arsenal and his Jutsu library. He was also lucky that he could escape Uchiha Itachi's deadly Uchiha Genjutsu; the Tsukiyomi, with Kyuubi's demonic fiery chakra once more.

He sighed once more, realizing that he had to become stronger if he wanted to stand any chance of beating the ninja at his own game, as well as the others that were after his curse. Naruto kicked a pebble across the ground as he looked to the bustling entrance to Konoha, where he was currently waiting for the Sannin Jiraiya. The moment that Naruto had recovered, the young man was hit on the head by the white-haired man, being scolded by him for taking on a man who was clearly above the Sannin level, or the levels of most the previous Hokage's, for that matter. Naruto remained indifferent from the blow, but what he was most shocked at was the way that Kakashi had hugged him, sobbing from his single eye and kicking himself up for not being a good brother. To make matters worse, Gai had joined the S-ranked Jounin in his sobs and his incessant wailing. Naruto shuddered at the thought of them making such a scene.

Seeing Lee and Gai hug each other wailing was one thing, but Kakashi and Gai was another; it was more unpleasant.

'Yo; Naruto!' Naruto looked to the bustling street to see Kiba and Akamaru walking up to him, abandoning the hood and exposing his messy and somewhat attractive dark brown hair. Akamaru was on his head, lazily looking ahead.

'Heya, Kiba.' Naruto gave his lazy wave to the brunette, who now had his hand at his sides and a grin on his face.

'So you're gonna be leaving for some time, eh?' Kiba questioned, shoving his hands in his pockets, as Akamaru barked from the top of Kiba's brown head, Naruto gave a lazy shrug to his friend, 'Who are you going with, anyway?'

'That stupid pervert that writes the Icha Icha series.' Narut replied lazily, imitating his friend's previous actions.

'The ones that my mother reads?' Kiba had a blush coming on; and Naruto could have sworn Akamaru had one too.

Naruto bit down a chuckle; he remembered when they had caught Kiba's mother sneaking some of the erotic novels into the house when they were but eight years old; it was one of Kiba's most traumatizing experiences to catch his mother like that, and Naruto could not help but puke at the contents of the book, which they had borrowed without permission from her. It was lucky for them that Shikamaru was not with them, or any other friends for that matter.

'Ah, well, my mom send you here regards anyway, and so does Shikamaru.' Kiba said, sniggering as he punched Naruto in the shoulder, as Naruto did the same, 'Ah, thanks for those scrolls you gave me; I'll work hard on them.'

'I thought that you would like them. After all, what guy doesn't enjoy B-rank Jutsus?' Naruto smirked widely.

'Yeah, I wanna learn the Doryuudan no Jutsu as soon as I can. And then I can impress the chicks with my skills!'

'I'm sure that you'd do well, Kiba.' Naruto said, and saw behind Kiba that the ones that he was waiting for were here.

'Oh, so you're already here, Naruto; good; good.' It was Jiraiya, clad in his usual wear and the recognizable scroll.

He looked next to Jiraiya and saw the other Sannin, Orochimaru, clad in a purple yutaka and a rather large hat on top of his head, shielding his eyes from the sun. And, surprising;t, at the side of Orochimaru was the Uchiha; Sasuke.

'Ah, so you're coming with us, are you, Sasuke?' Sasuke said nothing to Naruto's question; he merely frowned.

'Sasuke is going to be joining us on this journey, Naruto. Kakashi sent him to Orochimaru and me for some training, and some disciplinary work too.' Sasuke scowled at the mentioning by Jiraiya, but otherwise, remained very quiet.

'Meh; it's not like I care that much. This is, after all, an S-class mission. The more the merrier, or whatever that crap says.' Naruto said, his lazy eyes catching up with him again, the habit he had picked up from his brother, 'We going?'

'Yeah, we leave now.' Jiraiya said, taking a step forward, leading the group off; Naruto was the only one who had not started walking, turning to Kiba as the rest of the group realized that the blonde shinobi had not yet begun to move.

'Naruto.' Kiba said, holding out a hand for Naruto to shake, ' Good luck.' He took the hand, 'And stay safe, pal.'

Akamaru barked, jumping off Kiba's head and into Naruto's face, licking the blonde boy's cheek as he grinned. After a while, Naruto put down Akamaru, scruffing the fur on the top of his head as the dog gave a grin to the blonde.

'I will, Kiba.' Naruto began to walk ahead as Kiba ran the other way with Akamaru, 'Thanks, you stay safe too.'

Naruto walked ahead of the group outside the gates of Konoha, where there was a long and wide dirt road.

This was going to be the beginning of a new adventure for him; to find the potential Godaime Hokage and restore order to the village. Naruto walked forward, Sasuke was right behind him and the two famous Sannin were trailing them from the back. Behind them was Konoha, and they were going to find the next one to lead her into glory.

Jiraiya then came up to Naruto, and he saw what he knew was the face that Kakashi loved to wear in public.

'So, Naruto, did you score a home run or did you stay at First Base?' Naruto sighed; it was going to be a long trip.

It was almost in the evening, and the four of them were moving at a considerable speed. They had estimated that they would be able to reach the next town in a few days, and the odds of finding Tsunade were slightly off in their favour. Jiraiya had the gull to pester Naruto along their short trip, and it took all of Naruto's willpower to push the images of himself in a rather compromising position with his rather attractive instructor. It also took all of Naruto's willpower to refrain himself from using the Chidori on Jiraiya to stop the annoying man from talking; he couldn't stop for a moment.

Naruto was currently ahead of the group with Sasuke right behind him in a serious mood, or in a mood that Naruto called "Stick-up-ass" mood. Naruto took a few strides forward, looking at the sky and seeing that it was already a rather late time and that they had to somehow find a place to take some rest. There was not going to be a town for the next day, and Naruto was not exactly in the mood to continue walking for another twenty-four hours. He was a lazy ninja, as his brother had called him when he had started to develop the lazy streak from him; Naruto pointed him out and compared the success that he had being lazy and Kakashi just shrugged, leaving it at that; they never spoke of it again.

'We camp out here for the night.' Jiraiya said, suddenly stopping in his tracks at the back of the group with Orochimaru, looking at a small road which they had passed, leading up a rather tall hillside and up onto a large cherry blossom tree. Naruto turned on his heel and looked up to it; it was beautiful against the rays of the red setting sun.

'You mean we have to walk all the way up there?' Naruto raised an eyebrow, apparently miffed at the idea.

'Hey, elevated positions mean that we can have a greater view of our surroundings and leave us with an advantage when we're under fire. It also has a ninety percent probability of destroying the possibility of an ambush.'

'Ero-sennin, do we really have to walk all the way up there, I'm really not quite in the mood for that.' Naruto said.

'Ah, it's just a few seconds of uphill walking, and why the Hell are you complaining about this? It's practically-'

Naruto put a finger to his facemask quickly, signaling a session of silence as his eyes turned serious, looking around. He looked to Sasuke, who merely nodded in his direction and disappeared in a flash. He then looked to Jiraiya, who understood what Naruto had told him with his eyes; the fact remained that this was an S-class mission; and in S-class missions the danger was always at maximum, no matter what they did to make it less of a threat to their lives.

A few moments later, Naruto and Sasuke reappeared from the bushes empty-handed, much to Jiraiya's frustration.

'I think that whatever it was that was trailing us, it's gone now.' Naruto said, both of his hands in his pockets.

'I think that we were just on a miniature goose chase. There would be no way that they could have run away without using any chakra to disappear at that kind of speed. Unless of course, he had Lee's speed.' Sasuke elaborated grumpily.

'Which is probably more than likely, looking at the mission that we have on our hands.' Naruto countered, walking up the path that led to the rather large singular cherry blossom tree at the top of the hill, 'We can't let our guards down.' Jiraiya knew that this had come particularly from the cool tone that Jiraiya had heard from a rather young Hatake Kakashi, just after the wars had begun, 'We're on a high-risk mission to find the future Godaime Hokage. Many of the enemies that hold grudges against Konoha would come for us the moment the news of the search for a new Hokage has begun. We're most likely the bullseye on a dartboard since there are so many that hold grudges against us.'

'Like Amegakure.' Jiraiya said, remembering the past incident, and not liking the prospect of another war one bit.

'But the main worry is what he has in store for us; what Akuma has up his sleeve to hinder our progress.' Orochimaru said, and in the moment, every single one of the men perked their ears to listen to whatever it was that he was going to say, 'He would most likely send assassins to kill us off. The main worry, though, is if he himself shows up to fight.'

'Wait a minute; who is this Akuma guy?' Sasuke questioned, and it seemed that Naruto was as clueless as him.

'You met him before, in the forest, attacking you in my form. He is the one that killed Sarutobi-sensei, while I was powerless, not even being able to watch. His strength is incomprehensible; out of the Sannin that are composed of Jiraiya, myself and Tsunade, I don't think that anybody could outrightly defeat him in a battle if he became serious.' Jiraiya's expression visibly hardened as he Orochimaru finished his sentence, continuing, 'We have to be cautious.'

'Yeah, that's right.' Naruto agreed, walking towards the large sakura tree on the top of the hill, Sasuke following.

Jiraiya trailed behind Sasuke and Naruto, and behind him was Orochimaru, who obviously had many things on his mind. It was quite hard for Jiraiya to accept Orochimaru's apology when he came back,saying that it wasn't him who had done all those things. Jiraiya was overjoyed at the return of such a precious friend, considering that all of them were from the same team. Orochimaru was like a brother to him. In all aspects, they were polar opposites, with Jiraiya being the loud, brash, obnoxious and at times, the dumbest of the Sannin, while Orochimaru was the quite, placid and calculating member of the Sannin. But as they say, opposites attract, and the two became, somewhat, family.

'Something on your mind, Jiraiya?' Orochimaru inquired, noticing the way that Jiraiya was looking at him.

'Heh; nothing at all.' He said, looking back to the front; Naruto and Sasuke had already been ahead of them.

They continued up the hill and Jiraiya immediately took the scroll out and set it upon the ground, performing a sequence of handseals, which Sasuke and Naruto watched in curiousity. The moment Jiraiya finished, there was a single puff of smoke, and there were four sleeping bags on the ground, as well as a kettle and two pans.

'The Super Shrink no Jutsu; designed for carrying everything in a small scroll! One of my greatest inventions ever.' Jiraiya said proudly, his hands on his hips. Naruto looked rather bored, as though it was just an everyday thing, while Sasuke remained stoic. The Sannin's eyebrow twitched very slightly at the "grand reaction" of the two boys; 'That technique not good enough for you kids! I'll have you know it's a one-of-a-kind Jutsu meant for packing everything!'

'Jiraiya;' Orochimaru coughed, catching the white-haired Sannin's attention, 'that Jutsu, as you call it, is most definitely not one-of-a-kind. You just simply modified the Henge no Jutsu and that stupid shrinking Jutsu that Sarutobi-sensei showed as when we were Genin.' Orochimaru stopped, and then followed it with a smirk, 'You know, that was-'

'Orochi! If you don't shut up right now I will throw you personally off this hill and cripple you!' the Sannin shouted.

Orochimaru showed an evil laugh for all of them, and beads of sweat could be seen flowing down Jiraiya's face.

'What's wrong, Jiraiya-kun? That little incident still got to your head? Didn't I warn you not to touch the sake, hm?'

'If you keep talking about "The Incident"I will personally show you what Hell looks like!' Jiraiya shouted at him.

'Jiraiya, Jiraiya, Jiraiya; that careful little accident still gives you nightmares?' Orochimaru said, smirking at Jiraiya.

'IT WASN'T MY FAULT; IT WAS YOURS AND YOU KNOW IT!' Jiraiya said, losing his temper with him.

'Whoever would have thought that you swung that way, Jiraiya-kun?' Orochimaru let out a scary laugh in response.

'You're… gay, Ero-Sennin?' Naruto's droopy blue eyes widened in the words, and Uchiha Sasuke visibly stiffened.

'NO! A MILLION TIMES NO! NEVER! AS STRAIGHT AS A ROD! AS STRAIGHT AS A STEEL CROWBAR!'

'Crowbars bend at their ends, Jiraiya.' Orochimaru said, laughing at the white-haired Sannin; who was angered.

Sasuke, on the other hand, was rather worried about the current situation; he had decided to follow Orochimaru due to the orders of Kakashi, saying that his trip with the three of them would let him gain enough experience to get stronger than he currently was. What he was scared about, though, was not that the fact remained that this was an S-Class mission, but the question that Orochimaru brought up unwittingly; was he stuck with two homosexual pedophile men?

After all, Orochimaru had long black feminine hair, and Jiraiya was a single man; could they be desperate enough?

Oh God please, please just spare my sanity; take the demons away from me, Sasuke thought, for once, praying.

'Oi Uchiha, lets go get some firewood; don't want to get hungry in the middle of the night now, do we?' Naruto said, walking down the hill, leaving the two bickering men at the campsite; Sasuke followed Naruto, deciding not to risk finding out if the two men were as he thought hands-on, 'Watch out for that mud clot at the foot of the hill, eh?'

Yakushi Kabuto was in a rather dark too, lit only by candle light that was slowly melting away into nothing. Scattered around the place were many scrolls that he had reads through, as well as his Master. Kabuto picked up one scroll from the ground, and examined it; a useless simple medical Jutsu; around Chuunin level in difficulty, the simplest of Medic-nin levels. He picked a rather torn and ancient scroll up from the ground and examined it; another one of the many Kinjutsu that his Master had fashioned; but in this situation, it was a rather useless thing to have, after all, it was another offensive Jutsu. He picked them up and placed them on a desk, which stood almost invisible in the shadows.

Yakushi Kabuto was a traitor to Konoha. He had turned his back on them long ago. And now, he would wish to never set foot in the village that he had cursed so much in his entire life. He absolutely despised Konohagakure no Sato.

Kabuto grimaced as he felt the hitai-ate that he had worn to deceive the ninjas of Konoha, which he had, memorably, gained from the ninja academy through deceit, and then meeting his Master in secret. The ideals that his Master had were revealed to him; and the power of his Master fueled his hate for Konoha, powered by his Master's own hate.

Hate was his driving force. Behind the calm façade of his, was hate of massive proportions for Konohagakure.

'It looks like whatever we have at the moment is useless, Akuma-sama.' Kabuto said, it seemed, to the darkness.

'I should have not underestimated him,' a growling voice came, rather sickly, but held both masculine and feminine qualities within them. Out of the shadows, stepped a man in the uniform of Otogakure no Sato. He looked very much like Orochimaru, except within his eyes there were snake-like slits, 'That bastard Sarutobi used that stupid Jutsu on me when I was almost victorious; do you know how close I was?' Akuma said, looking down at his bandaged arms, 'He was bleeding from head to toe, and smiling. I never understood why until that moment; he was luring me into a trap!'

'The Great Sandaime Hokage was the second most powerful Hokage of all time, rivaled only by his successor Yondaime Hokage-sama.' Kabuto said, and Akuma spared a glare his way, but Kabuto did not falter, 'You were probably lucky to escape with your life, Akuma-sama, even with the two Hokage's before him at your side.'

'Do not mock me, Kabuto!' Akuma hissed at his supposed servant, who merely gave a small smile back his way.

'You misunderstand me, Akuma-sama. I am merely saying that despite all the power that you claim to have in the palm of your hand, you are merely another ninja.' Kabuto saw that Akuma was motioning to to do something to him, but continued, 'Fighting against the most powerful Kage of all three and managing to kill him s quite a feat, but not at its costs. Victory comes at a high price, Akuma-sama. You have paid a mere sum of that, so a congratulations is in store for you, don't you think?' Kabuto met Akuma's glare with mocking eyes, and Akuma looked away from him.

'I am not a child, Kabuto. Your words mean nothing to me; I have lived three times longer than you have.' He said.

'My apologies then, Akuma-sama.' Kabuto said, picking up another scroll on the ground, followed by another.

Akuma looked once more to his arms, and feeling nothing; they were the arms of a corpse, lifeless and rotten.

'So, you were saying, Kabuto; that you have no such cure for this wound?' Akuma said; Kabuto turned to him.

'The wounds are possible to heal, but with my inexperience and current chakra level, I cannot restore the life to them.' Kabuto said, tilting his glasses to see better, not that it mattered in the dark room, 'The most that I can do is prevent them from rotting any further for around several weeks. The level of skill required to heal this Jutsu is around the Sannin level, or the Kage level. The only other choice is to find Orochimaru and combine you two back into one-'

'Never.' It was a low growl, more like a hiss to Kabuto, and for that fleeting moment, the young man was scared for his life, 'I refuse to be bound to that inconceivable fool! His power was such but he chose to never use them for the great things that he could have done.' Akuma said, and then looking at Kabuto, 'I, of course, fulfilled them for him.'

'You must understand that that is the only possible option that I have left on the table, unless you want me to revive the dead Nidaime Mizukage.' Kabuto said, smirking in Akuma's direction, using the previous Mizukage as a reference.

'That would be almost impossible, even for myself; his grave is too far beyond to perform the necessary preparations for that Jutsu. The damned Kirigakure burns their very own Kage upon his or her death, and a complicated Jutsu is used by one of their elders to never be disturbed by outside forces. Such is the pride and secrecy of Kirigakure no Sato.'

'Then the only other choice that we have is to find one such person that can heal your arms, Akuma-sama.' He said.

Akuma suddenly remembered a rather interesting memory; there had been another person on the Sannin team, one that could help him; a woman. He remembered the skills that Orochimaru saw; the power to bring a man from the brink fo death into the warm embrace of life. He remembered the hazel eyes that this particular person, a woman, had along with her slightly pale blonde hair. He then smirked, remembering another one of Orochimaru's stored memories.

He remembered the past wounds of his body being fixed by that woman, and her identity became clear to him.

'Tsunade,' Were the words uttered by Akuma, and Kabuto's eyes widened in knowledge, 'the Legendary Medic.'

'Tsunade? The other Sannin?' Kabuto started to grow rather interested in Akuma's words, 'She has been missing for some time, Akuma-sama; I doubt that even our spies can find her; she's practically invisible to Konoha and us.'

'Then we will search for her ourselves, Kabuto. Prepare to leave in an hour or so.' He said simply, melting into the shadows, and it appeared as though he was never there in the first place. After his vanishing act, a voice then rang throughout the room, 'And remember Kabuto, even though you are tempted to bury that kunai into my neck, at your level, you cannot do so. Only under me you can twist your dream in your favour.' A mirthless laugh followed after.

A moment of silence came by them, and let a grimace come upon his features as he sat down, taking out the concealed kunai and playing with it. His eyes grew cloudy as he continued to play with it, and smirking, he threw it as hard as he could towards the wall in front of him, burying it least two inches deep into the cement structure,

He let out a lazy sigh and looked into the palm of his hand, and in a fleeting moment, gripped it, as if tightly clenching an invisible object. Two seconds later, he got up and withdrew the kunai from the wall and proceeded to play with it, remembering the words that Akuma had uttered to him so recently. A grimace followed his features.

Che; he's right, even in his most weakened form he's practically still above my level, but I don't mind waiting so patiently, Akuma-sama. The moment I become strong enough I will kill you, he thought, drawing a photo from the pocket of his pants, and tears began to form at the corners of his eyes, not falling. He continued, for you, sensei…

It had been around one week and three days since the departure of Naruto from Konoha, alongside Jiraiya and Orochimaru, as well as Sasuke. The towns that they had visited showed no such luck for them, not bearing any news of the Legendary Sannin they were searching for. Over the past few days, Sasuke had received some training from Jiraiya, who was, at first, rather frustrated at the boys' stubborn attitude and self-reliance. It seemed that the boy did not want to have anyone to trust, nor anyone to hold close. Naruto had been slightly puzzled over this attitude of Sasuke's, until on the third day of the training that Sasuke received from Jiraiya, where Naruto had personally stepped in to spar with Sasuke. The result had been unanimous and very expected; Naruto had won hands down; leaving no chance to Sasuke.

It had been a contest restricted to the use of Katon Jutsus, since Sasuke had shown proficiency in Jutsu execution as well as Katon usage. In everything else but Taijutsu and some Genjutsu, Sasuke showed an average performance. Naruto guessed that it was probably because of the blood of the Uchiha inside of him, as the Uchiha had invented many Katon Jutsus for the usage of all of Konoha, such as the Goukakyuu no Jutsu and the Ryuuka no Jutsu. Naruto won because of his Jutsu's larger potential of damage, due to the fact that Kyuubi's chakra was starting to be accepted into his chakra coils. Sasuke, at the end of the battle, had shown himself to be one quick to envy and quick to anger.

That was when Naruto had decided that Uchiha Sasuke only wanted to learn what he could for the sake of gaining something. In short, Uzumaki Naruto understood that Uchiha Sasuke was walking down a dark path that he doubted even his closest friends, if he had any, would follow him. Naruto guessed that was why Kakashi wanted Sasuke to accompany them on their journey; to prevent him from taking anymore steps forward into the dark abyss and beyond.

So here they were now, in a hotel within a small town that went by the name of Iwakaiki. The town itself was a rather bustling area, with a lot of people here and there, and for once, Naruto did not see any ninjas in the vicinity. It was rather strange to see a place that was not accustomed to a life of killing and keeping their sanity intact over time.

The hotel was a cheap one, and they had rented two rooms to stay in for the moment, on for the boys and the other oe for the Sannin to stay in, while Jiraiya and Orochimaru went around town asking for information about the Sannin they were looking for. So far, luck had not been kind to them, the search proving rather fruitless after ten days on the road. At the moment, Naruto was in a room with Sasuke, who was reading a scroll that Jiraiya had given him to memorize.

Naruto recognized it as the predecessor to the Jutsu Karyuu Endan; the Karyuudan, a short stream of flames meant to ignite the target rather than burn it into ashes; it was more powerful than the Goukakyuu, employing the fire and chakra mix of dragons rather than the mixed one of normal hydrogen, oxygen, fuel and chakra. Sasuke was busy practicing the handseals sequence, followed by the right speed to execute them at as not to mix up any one of the sequences. Naruto had done the Jutsu before; it being one of the first Jutsus for him to learn as a child from his brother Kakashi.

It was actually a rather big surprise for Naruto to find out that, where he could not perform the regular Bunshin no Jutsu, a D-class Jutsu that employed very little chakra, he could easily do Suiryuudan no Jutsu after a few days of practice. Kakashi had explained to him then that it was because his chakra coils were at least twice the size of normal people. That meant, to Naruto that it was just another one of the obstacles that he had to overcome if he wanted to get better. Naruto was told by Lee that he was facing a similar condition, except that his chakra coils were smaller than the average person. This was around the time he was training with Jiraiya, encountering Lee running up and down the forest several times. Naruto and Lee, ever since then, had been rather close friends, able to relate to each other.

'So, get the sequence formation right yet, Sasuke?' Naruto asked, turning to Sasuke from his position on his bed.

'If I could get a certain blonde to stop talking to me every now and then, I could probably have mastered this by now.' Sasuke said, snorting arrogantly as he went back to the Karyuudan scroll. Naruto jumped off the bed in a skilful move, and spinning, landed right behind Sasuke, spying the scroll that Sasuke had in his hands; Sasuke turned his head slightly to face the blonde, 'What the hell do you want, Uzumaki? Can't you see that I'm trying to memorize this?'

'Yes; I can see that.' Naruto said, his lazy clear blue eyes meeting Sasuke's coal ones, 'But I want to help you.'

If Sasuke had anything in his mouth he would have choked. His eyes widened in surprise as he got up to his feet.

'What? You want to help me, Uzumaki?' Sasuke said, basically repeating the words that the blonde had uttered.

'Well, it's kinda hard for me to see anyone in a fix and leave them, so…' Naruto scratched the back of his head, his eyes closed and under his facemask, a sheepish grin, 'what do you say, Sasuke? I help you with your Jutsus?'

'No.' Sasuke said, in a tone of finality, 'I don't need your help; all I need is me and myself, thank you very much.'

'I see.' Naruto said; until an idea came to his head, 'By the way, how many shots can you fire with the Chidori?'

'Chidori?' Sasuke's ears perked up, and he looked into Naruto's eyes, that hold nothing but interest, 'Three shots.'

'Three shots; wow.' Naruto said, nothing to indicate that he was impressed; he sounded bored, 'Five shots for me.'

'Five?' Sasuke's eyes widened; there was no way he was going to believe a Genin had five shots with Chidori.

'Yes, five. As in, the big fat number five. Kakashi said I could manage a sixth if I conserved enough energy, though.'

A possible sixth? You've got to be kidding me, Uzumaki! Even Kakashi could only manage a total of four shots!'

'I have larger chakra capacity than him. It's not really that uncommon among Genin; look at Akimichi Chouji; his chakra level is, to be put into a sentence, Kakashi's level. The only reason he cannot learn many Jutsus beyond the Taijutsu Combo Jutsus that his family supplies him with is the fact that the chakra foils are enclosed with a lot of fat and muscle that do not allow correct control for most Ninjutsu Jutsus that are there to learn.' Naruto explained.

This guy is way beyond Genin level, if I could take a guess he could be around Jounin, Sasuke thought.

Naruto turned on his heel and moved to exit the room, his hands in his pockets, his expression showing boredom.

'Wait, where are you going?' Sasuke called out, not knowing why, but he seemed to have grown a bond here.

'The way I see it, you have two choices right now; one, you can mope around here all day and read that Jutsu scroll and take forever to finish it, or two, you can follow me and we both gain something from this. It's all yours, Sasuke.'

Naruto exited the room, and Sasuke looked from the scroll to the door, and ten seconds later, ran out of the door.

Naruto was waiting for him, resting on the wall across the room, next to the room of the two Sannins. He grinned under his mask, his arms crossed across his chest and his eyes slitted in glee. Sasuke glared at him with his dark orbs.

'So, willing to go ahead with lesson one, Uchiha Sasuke?' Naruto said, and without hesitation, a nod came.

Naruto gave him one in return, and they exited the hotel, Naruto's hands secure in his pockets and walked through the bustling crowd and into a small patch of forest just outside the small town, where there was a small meadow.

'Alright, show me the sequence for the Karyuudan.' Naruto instructed, and although reluctant at first, he did.

Naruto observed the many handseals performed, and saw the one problem that Sasuke had when executing the Jutsu; the speed of the Jutsu sequence being performed was not up to the speed that reaction times that Sasuke were used to.

Sasuke seemed to prefer executing his Jutsus at a higher speed, rather than a long sequence that needed concentration.

'Okay, let me ask you a question before we go on, Sasuke; did Kakashi concentrate on your speed during training?'

'He concentrated in increasing my speed for the Chidori execution; why?' Sasuke said, crossing his arms.

'I just noticed that, your brain is, at the moment, not yet used to the speed that you used for the Chidori activation for handseals.' Naruto explained, performing a sequence of handseals on his own, demonstrating his technique to , 'Now Sasuke, tell me what you noticed about my Jutsu execution?' Naruto said, and Sasuke pndred for an answer, watching.

'That your thoughts of which seal you want to perform are in time with the execution of your hands.' He answered.

'Very good; now, instead of pefforming handseals as fast as you can, I want you to time yourself with your brain.'

Sasuke did so, and his hands moved at a much slower pace, which was slightly shaky, since he had long been used to forming the seals as fast as he could. He remembered the shaky feelings of his hands when he fought Naruto, performing the Karyuu Endan in one shot; unlike then, it was now less shaky, and in time with his head.

'Katon: Karyuudan!' Sasuke breathed out flames of dragon fire, and Naruto looked on, his left eyebrow raised.

After several seconds, the fire stopped, and Naruto watched the scorches of the grass on the ground.

'See, you can do it.' Naruto said, his hands in his pockets; Sasuke turned to him and gave a nod of acknowledgement.

'How?' Sasuke questioned, his eyes boring deep into Naruto's now. Naruto raised an eyebrow at the question, 'Tell me, how did you get this strong?' Naruto did not answer, so he continued, 'How did you gain such knowledge and strength? How did you manage to best Kakashi in a duel where I couldn't? How did you manage to defeat Gaara?'

Naruto stood silent for a while, and the wind around them blew, as if calling for something to happen.

'Because unlike most shinobi, Uchiha Sasuke, I keep my heart close to me.' Naruto said, thinking of his friends back at Konoha. He had a brother in Hatake Kakashi; he had an extended family with Kiba and Shikamaru, and he had Kurenai; all of whom were his precious people, 'I'm probably one of the few that have learned to keep their heart.'

'A ninja is a tool meant for killing; nothing more and nothing less.' Sasuke said his own belief, but Naruto kept quiet, wishing to learn the full story of Uchiha Sasuke, 'I have chosen to destroy most of my emotion… to kill a certain man.'

'Is this man… Uchiha Itachi, by any chance?' Naruto's expression turned serious, and Sasuke's eyes widened.

'Him…' Sasuke grit his teeth in ager and tightened his fists, 'Don't mention his name in front of me, Uzumaki!'

'So my guess was correct. You've been alone for some time, haven't you, Sasuke?' Naruto went on, his voice emotionless, although his eyes held a deep understanding, 'How long has it been since your family died; five years?'

'I said drop it, Uzumaki!' Sasuke's Sharingan was flaring, its crimson red color symbolizing the Uchiha's rage.

'Was it painful; watching them being robbed of their lives one by one?' Naruto went on, showing no fear.

'SHUT UP!' Sasuke shouted, performing a sequence of handseals, roaring, 'Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!'

Naruto vanished from his spot, leaping up into the air and performed several handseals of his own, creating a Bunshin of sorts, that he grabbed and used as a counterbalance to leap back to the ground at a higher speed. Sasuke came charging at him, and they engaged in a battle of Taijutsu, a battle of speed and power. Sasuke was coming in rage.

'NEVER MENTION HIS NAME BEFORE ME AGAIN!' Sasuke shouted, to have his fist parried by Naruto's.

'And what would you do? Continue living in a broken past?' Naruto questioned, pushing Sasuke away. The blonde then used the next moment to analyze his opponent, whose rage was now at its peak, and was eating him away, 'Revenge is never the answer, Uchiha. Payback is sweet, but avenging your family by killing off the one who killed them is low! That would only show that you've satisfied their desire; this is what they want, Uchiha Sasuke!'

'I said, Uzumaki, SHUT UP!' Sasuke charged at Naruto, taking out a kunai, in which Naruto returned in kind.

Sasuke's kunai met Naruto's, and Sasuke, out of his blind rage, swung his in frustration rather than concentration and strength. Naruto parried the frist blow, and followed it with a sweeping kick, making the brunette fall onto his back. Sasuke was not going to take that, though; he used his Kawarimi no Jutsu, leaping away into safety above Naruto, and followed this up by taking out three shuriken, all poised to strike at the blonde; Naruto looked upwards, his eyes showing concentration of the utmost level. He had to do this; he had to beat some sense into the Uchiha now.

'Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!' Sasuke multiplied his shuriken into, Naruto estimated, around fifty of them.

'Doton: Doryuu Heki!' Naruto called out a wall of earth, blocking the onslaught of Sasuke's sharp weapons.

Naruto then felt Sasuke appear behind him, and used the collapsed form of his Fuuma Shuriken to block Sasuke's own attack. Sasuke, feeling Naruto's superiority in the moment, leapt backwards, throwing the Fuuma Shuriken, which was now opened into its real form. Naruto's eyes narrowed as he performed several more handseals as he threw his own Fuuma Shuriken to parry Sasuke's. Sasuke saw this opportunity to gain an upper hand, and grabbed the two weapons, throwing them in Naruto's direction. Naruto, still on the defensive, performed a set of fast handseals.

'Ninpou: Shuriken Shibari!' Naruto called out, and the shurikens dropped useless, having fallen control under Naruto's power. He then watched Sasuke perform a set of handseals that he only knew too well, and copied them perfectly, having the rather interesting ability to memorize Jutsus within minutes, calling out, 'Katon: Karyuu Endan!'

White-hot flames came out from both of their mouths, pratically burning the whole meadow that they were in, and it looked for once, like a controlled inferno. Sasuke and Naruto stood, showing no fatigue. Sasuke's Sharingan was glaring ito Naruto's blue eyes, but Naruto showed no signs of being intimidated by them, nor any other affect.

'Let go of your vengeance, Sasuke.' Naruto repeated, this time more direct; Sasuke said nothingin response.

'You don't have the right to let me think any differently! I will kill Uchiha Itachi; by hook or by crook!' he roared.

Sasuke came charging at Naruto through the flames, and Naruto leapt out of the way, his face betraying nothing. Sasuke dircted a punch Sasuke's way, and the attack was blocked by the blonde Genin. Sasuke leapt into the air, opting for a kick to slam his opponent onto the flames they were fighting amongst. Naruto blocked this attack by crossing his arms to use as a makeshift shield from the attack. The heat was getting to him; it was basically eating the oxygen in the area away. Naruto pushed Sasuke into the air, and the Uchiha performed another set of handseals,a look of pure malice upon his face. Naruto performed a different sequence, opting to put out the fire before anything else happened to him.

'Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!' Sasuke breathed out a fireball of large proportions; Naruto kept concentrating.

'Doton: Yomi Numa!' the same Jutsu that he had used to defeat Sasuke was performed, and as a result, the whole meadow was turned into a miniature swamp, effectively putting out the fires; after executing the Jutsu, Naruto disappeared and Sasuke saw this as the same Jutsu in the Chuunin exams, chose his own plan to escape before landing.

'Kawarimi no Jutsu!' Sasuke was replaced by a rock, which sunk into the swamp harmlessly as Sasuke appeared near the swamp, his left knee and right fist on the ground, the tomoe of his Sharingan spinning wildly, 'Where are you!'

'Here, Uchiha.' Naruto was atop a tree just behind Sasuke, his hands in his pockets, looking down at him.

'Damn you; why the hell are you doing this to me!' Sasuke shouted, Naruto took a moment to answer.

'Because Konoha doesn't need another moment of darkness. Especially not from an idiot who cares for nothing but his selfish own desires.' Sasuke charged at Naruto after he finished his talk, further enraged at Naruto's words.

This bastard! I will kill him by my own hands if he dares to mock me again, Sasuke thought, hate in his thoughts.

Sasuke's punch was met by Naruto's forearm, and the young man used his chakra control to alter his position from the top of the branch to hanging just under it, sending Sasuke off balance from his own momentum into the small patch of forest. Taking this opportunity, Sasuke used it to pinpoint Naruto, his eyes blazing with glee at the clear target.

'Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!' Sasuke shouted, breathing out a dragon-shaped flame, charging towards the blonde.

Naruto disappeared from sight, appearing behind Sasuke and grabbing him, following this up by practically throwing him into a nearby tree. Sasuke's feet met the tree, and he came charging towards Naruto,who once again, used a cross-block to make sure that the attack did not connect with its target. Sasuke took this opportunity to execute another move, but before he could do anything, his ofrearm had been grabbed by Naruto and he was sent hurtling towards the ground.

He felt pain as his shoulder blade seemed as though it had taken quite a bruise from the strong onslaught.

Naruto turned into nothing, and Sasuke's eyes widened in realization that it was nothing more than a Kage Bunshin.

'Had enough, Uchiha?' Naruto questioned Sasuke, who gave no reply to his opponent, 'See where rage leads you?'

'ENOUGH!' Sasuke shouted, performing a set of handseals all too familiar to Naruto's mind; the Jutsu from before.

'Chidori, huh?' Naruto's eyes slightly narrowed; he had not expected Sasuke to move this far in the battle.

'I'm going to finish you off right here, Uzumaki! I may not kill you, but your career as a ninja is over!' he roared.

Sasuke came charging at Naruto, who merely hit the tree behind him, causing the leaves to fall to the ground.

'If you insist on this.' The Ram Seal was formed; and the leaves around Naruto came to life, 'Konoha Shuriken.'

As Sasuke came charging at Naruto, so did the leaves, and in an instant, there were hundreds of cuts all over his body. In pain, the Chidori was disabled, and he crashed to the ground in pain from the wounds received from Naruto.

'God… damn you, Uzumaki…' Sasuke whispered, barely able to get up or breathe in air, 'How did you…?'

'Let me show you where true strength comes from, Uchiha Sasuke. Don't tell anyone about this Jutsu I made…'

Sasuke's Sharingan eyes widened as Naruto's eyes turned a feral red, much like his own eyes, but they had slits.

'Genjutsu: Youma Koai.' Sasuke's world turned dark, and the next moment, he felt nothing of the pain before.

He was in a dark corridor, one that, upon closer inspection, looked like on of those dark corridors of the Uchiha Clan's compund, the ones that he had seen, but was restricted to enter as a child. He forgot about them now, after the clan was gone, nothing else mattered but him winning against Itachi to restore the order of his Clan's power.

'No Sasuke! Leave her alone!' Sasuke recognized that voice; it was his brother's, no, Uchiha Itachi's.

His eyes widened at the sight before him that faded into view, showing a room showered with blood everywhere, and he was in the middle of it all, clad in Konoha ANBU gear, a sword in his hands. The room looked as though it itself was bleeding, what with the blood. Sasuke was visibly shivering; it reminded himself of the Uchiha massacre five years ago. The room setting was also quite familiar to him; it was as though this place was a homely one, with the place looking like it was neatly arranged before what had happened now. His eyes darted to what he saw next.

It was his brother Uchiha Itachi, his eyes bleeding; he was blind now; and noted that instead of the smug pride he should be feeling at the moment at his brother's pitiful position, but sadness. The Uchiha Sasuke in the middle of the room had a woman at his feet, her arms looking as though they were cut repeatedly, as well as a neck wound, which was bleeding a lot of blood. She was coughing, causing the blood to flow in even faster intervals. The grown Sasuke grabbed her by the hair, yanking her to his full height, which he was taller by several inches. Sasuke was rooted to the spot in shock; this was not happening; was he really doing this? This was not happening! He was not a monster!

'You slaughtered my Clan, Uchiha Itachi; now, I do the same to your…' the grown Sasuke smirked, and he could see Itachi screaming words for him to stop. The next moment, more blood rained as Sasuke stabbed her in the stomach, and she fell to the ground, lifeless; she was dead. Sasuke's eyes widened in shock; the grown Sasuke smirked, 'family…'

'No… this can't be me… this isn't what I am…' Sasuke dropped to his knees, breathing haggardly as he watched.

'Mommy? Daddy?' was the voice that caught the ears of all the Uchiha's present; it was a little black-haired girl.

'RUN!' he heard Itachi's voice shout, and the next moment Uchiha Sasuke found himself tackling his other self.

But he only passed through, as though this was something that he could not interfere with. He looked on in horror.

'An eye for an eye, Itachi, and…' Sasuke chuckled at the sinister joke he made, looking at the girl, 'a family…'

The world shattered into complete darkness, and Sasuke was left alone, shivering; it was too much to take in.

'No, it can't be…' the Uchiha said to himself, recalling the scene that had just happened before him.

'If you continue down that path of hate, Sasuke, that is one of the many paths it will lead you.'

Naruto was there, his hands in his pockets and expression one of understanding. Sasuke pratically bowed down before Sasuke, tears streaming down his face as Naruto watched him. He did not want to turn into a monster.

'Please, Uzumaki!' Sasuke pratcially begged, his head down upon the darkness, 'That is not what I want to become. I don't want to kill that little girl! I don't want to turn into that thing! I DON'T WANT INNOCENT BLOOD UPON MY HANDS!' Sasuke finished with a roar of despair, 'Please… help me turn away from this path. I don't want this.'

'You blinded Itachi, didn't you? And you had your revenge.' Naruto said, his tone the same as Kakashi's normal one.

'BUT NOT LIKE THIS! I WANT TO BEAT HIM IN A BATTLE OF HONOR! NOT A BLOODY MASSACRE!'

Sasuke looked at Naruto, his eyes letting out the tears of despair. Naruto managed a smile, bending down.

'Take my hand; come on.' Naruto's eyes closed as he smiled under his facemask, offering his hand; Sasuke took it.

'Now, let's go back to the real world; God knows how long you've been unconscious.' Naruto said cheerfully.

Sasuke fought down a smile, opting to shake his head at the thickness of the blonde before him.

'By the way, my name is Uzumaki Naruto; I like ramen and I dislike arrogant people and those who look down to others; my dream is to become Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato.' Naruto said, his eyes crinked as he smiled.

Sasuke hesitated for a moment, but went on with his own words; feeling as though he had gained freedom.

'My name is Uchiha Sasuke; I like training and dango; I dislike annoying fangirls and perverts. My dream is to k- no, surpass Uchiha Itachi and restore my clan's honor.' Sasuke said, his face showing his own impression of a smile.

'Nice to meet you, Uchiha Sasuke. I hope we become good friends starting from today.' Naruto held out his hand.

Sasuke shook it, and the world around them started to glow in a bright white light.

'Naruto, can I ask you a question?' Sasuke asked, and Naruto gave a slow nod as it became brighter, 'How did you know how Itachi looked like? Have you met him before?' Sasuke was greeted by a nod and a small grin.

'I beat him.' Was the answer, and those were the last words he said before the light engulfed them.