1Chapter One: The Setup

"Chidori!" "Rasengan!"

"Tch, Damnit dobe, your little number took a lot outta me, now it'll take hours to get to Sound!" Sasuke then smirked, "Thanks, though, Naruto. I'll be sure to put the Mangekyou to good use!"

Suddenly, the weird red chakra surrounded Naruto's body again. Naruto began to writhe, seemingly in pain, while the chakra began to seal up all his wounds, minus the two large Chidori holes in his chest and shoulder. His eyes opened to reveal purple orbs, as opposed to his normal blue eyes.

Without a word, Naruto bolted into an upright sitting position, using his momentum to slam his fist into Sasuke's stomach, pouring Demonic Chakra into Sasuke. Sasuke screamed in agony as the Kyuubi's chakra shut Sasuke's mind off, effectively putting him into blissful unconsciousness.

With Sasuke out cold, Naruto stood up, grabbed Sasuke by the collar, and slung him over his wounded shoulder. Naruto staggered for a few moments as he finally got control back from his 'tenant'. As soon as the last of Kyuubi's influence had faded, Naruto fell to one knee and coughed up a dangerous amount of blood. As the blood continued to trickle down the sides of his mouth, Naruto began to head off in the direction of Konoha. Unfortunately, due to his current state, he was unable to get up to the higher ground that he had used to arrive at the Valley of the End in the first place, so he was forced to take a route that detoured around the higher ground, the very ground that Kakashi was taking to get to the Valley of the End. The fact that their paths would now not cross, and the fact that Naruto had virtually no excess chakra for other ninja to sense, meant that he was basically undetectable to Kakashi.

As Kakashi finally made it to the Valley of the End, he found only the remnants of what he thought must've been a brutal fight. He and Pakkun searched the area, but no sign of Naruto and Sasuke, minus the large amounts of blood, which Pakkun identified as being largely Naruto's, could be found. Kakashi was about to have Pakkun search for either Naruto's or Sasuke's scent, when the rain hit.

"Damnit! I knew not taking the Hunter-nin training in ANBU was a mistake! Damnit, where did you two go! Tsunade is going to kill me..."