Sasuke, Sakura and Ino sprinted as fast as they could from the enemy ninja. They were being hunted down by what they guessed were Kiri hunter nin. The Konoha nin were nearly out of chakra from avoiding incoming attacks and sprinting full speed back to Konoha.

"Sakura, Ino we've got to stop running, I'll try to hold them off for as long as possible, you guys cross over into the Konoha shinobi patrol zone, ok?"

Said Sasuke. He had grown taller and had developed the mangekyo sharingan. However, after fighting off tons of Kiri shinobi, the elites of the Kiri military force, he was exhausted. A couple of seconds after Sasuke stopped his team, 25 Kiri nin appeared in front of the three Konoha shinobi.

Sasuke, Sakura and Ino had all changed. They had grown taller and their bodies developed. After Sasuke was forcibly returned to Konoha, he suffered extreme scrutiny from the Hokage, but got off with nearly no punishment. The council refused to allow any reprocussions to come upon him, stating that the curse mark caused him to do it. However, Sasuke now continuously had six ANBU following him in the village.

Over three years Sasuke earned back the trust of even the Hokage, fulfilling mission after mission. He even became extremely defensive of Konoha, often going to extreme lengths to kill anyone who insulted his homeland on missions. Sasuke continued too have his superiority complex about him due to him being Uchiha, causing many of the other Rookie 9 and Team Gai to dislike him, not to mention many of them considered him to be the reason for his one time friend's departure. He still maintained his cold attitude towards others, but had grown closer to Sakura. He didn't have romantic feelings for her but by the end of the three years Naruto left, he felt he could eventually.

Naruto was an entire different story for the Uchiha. After word about Naruto's departure, Sasuke had become quite angry, saying that Naruto contradicted himself by not allowing him to leave but then ended up leaving himself. As the months progressed, the Uchiha's anger transformed into extreme guilt. The realization of what possibly drove him to leave hit him. People on the streets were thrilled he left, often saying "Thank Kami the demon is gone!". Sasuke picked up on the extreme hatred the villagers had towards him after his experience fighting him and seeing the fox caused him to completely understand. They hated him for the Kyubi within him, despite him having no choice over the matter. Sasuke thought back to how terribly not only himself but Sakura acted towards him, which made him feel terrible.

Then he thought back to the night when Naruto walked into his hospital room. He went on to leave the room due to him yelling at Naruto and Sakura telling him to leave the hospital room, Naruto then left the village that night. Sasuke drew that he was directly responsible for Naruto's leaving. However, he had deservingly been promoted to Jonin because of his vast mission experience and success. He also had no interaction with Orochimaru since nearly joining him all those years ago.

Sakura had been training under the Hokage in medical jutsu and had become quite proficient at it. She was one of the best medics in Konoha and was labeled a medical prodigy. She still maintained her obsession with Sasuke, despite being called out on it by many of her one time friends. Nearly two years after Naruto left she began to stop becoming completely obsessed with the Uchiha, but still loved him. After Naruto's defection front the village, many of her friends directly blamed her for his departure along with Sasuke, resulting in an almost complete dissociation with the other Rookie 9 and Team Gai with an exception of Sasuke and her newly added team member Sai. Sakura's attempted romantic relationship with Sasuke hadn't really gone anywhere. He was more social with her but by no means were they romantically connected. Naruto was also a sour point for Sakura. For the first year Sakura was happy that the boy left, often saying that it allowed more time for her to spend with Sasuke and that she no longer had to deal with him constantly asking her out. But as the years went on, guilt slowly grew within her. She knew she was one of the direct reasons he left due to her final statements to the boy the night of his departure and her overall treatment of him. She often though about what she would say if she ever saw him again, but hoped she wouldn't. She didn't know what she'd say, no apology would make up for the cruelty she exhibited towards him over the years.

Ino had also been training with the Hokage, but only learned enough to heal people in the field which is what she aimed for. She was quite skilled in medical jutsu, easily one of the best in Konoha but was by no means a Sakura. She had worked on and mastered many various techniques regarding her clan. Her father had worked with her, and was impressed at the development she exhibited. She was now a chunin and had become an apprentice to Ibiki in the torture and interrogation department. Naruto's departure was somewhat hard on her, but not too much. She wondered why it affected her at all but disregarded the subject about a year after he left. She had never really been close with the blonde boy. .

"Surrender immediately and your lives might be spared"

Shouted the apparent leader of the Kiri shinobi, seeming like a jonin. The kiri shinobi weren't all that skilled but made up for it in numbers. They were mostly chuunin but had quite a few jonin mixed in with the group, making the group difficult to deal with. Sasuke's team looked at each other, silently debating their options until a squeaky and eerie voice echoed throughout the battlefield.

Naruto looked on in shock. On his trip back to Konoha he had run into none other than the two people he had grown to hate the most over the past three years. The ones that had motivated him to get stronger. Naruto felt his temper begin to flare for the first time in years. He felt the fox's chakra begin to rise but he quickly calmed himself. 'I won't attack them, especially if I want to return to the Leaf...' thought Naruto, contemplating what he would do. Then an idea hit him, 'Maybe I'll just scare them shitless!' thought Naruto as a wide grin appeared under his mask.

This would be his first test using Nuibari, and he swore he would not disappoint Kushimaru. In order to both fulfill Kushimaru's dying request and scare the life out of his ex teammates, he would have to be just as gruesome as the old wielder of the sewing needle. He couldn't show too much of his abilities to the Konoha nin either. He hoped his new high-pitched laughter he had been able to create would be as intimidating as Kushimaru's. Then his thoughts turned to the third member of the Konoha team, Ino. The first thing that came to his mind was, 'Danm... she...changed..' as he looked at her developed body. It somewhat pained him to know that she would see him do this but oh well, it's not like she'd ever go for him regardless. With that final thought, Naruto began his first battle with the legendary sewing needle.

"I don't think that'll be necessary, hehe" Said the voice, sending shivers down many of the ninja on the battlefield's bodies. The voice sounded vaguely familiar to many of the Kiri ninja. The voice that it reminded it reminded them of caused dread to spread through the forces, it sounded like none other than Kushimaru Kuriare, one of the Seven Legendary Ninja Swordsman of the Mist. The voice also sounded vaguely familiar to the Konoha nin, but none could place their finger on who it was.

"I…It can't be.." Said one of the Mist shinobi, completely terrified. After this was said, a form appeared in front of the Konoha shinobi in a blur, so fast that even Sasuke had trouble making out who it was. The Mist shinobi's eyes widened in terror as before them seemed to be a reincarnation of the mighty Kushimaru. The figure wore a Kiri ANBU mask, exactly the same as Kushimaru's but instead had a red triangle at the bottom of the mask and had a Leaf logo on the forehead of the mask. The man's hair was golden blonde. It was long and spiky and went around the sides of the mask, similar to that of the Fourth Hokage's. The item that frightened them the most was the weapon that the figure was wielding over his shoulder, one of the blades of the Seven Ninja Swordsman, the sewing needle Nuibari. Sasuke, Sakura and Ino had no idea why the kiri shinobi were so scared, it was just one shinobi.

"H..How are you alive?" Asked one of the Kiri

"Hehe… I'm not Kushimaru, the man you all fear" Said the man causing the Kiri ninja to exhale, fear starting to leave their systems.

"However, in order to fulfill his final dying request, I have become just as skilled as him in wielding my favorite little toy here."

Said the figure. Sasuke then commented,

"Who are you, and why are you wielding such a stupid looking weapon.."

Sasuke was still confused by the obvious terror the man had caused to speed through the ranks of the kiri nin.

"Sasuke Uchiha... I have no words to speak to you or the pink haired girl on your team, consider yourself lucky I'm saving you." T

his comment enraged Sasuke,

"Saving us! You haven't done anything! And why do you have a Konoha symbol on your mask, I've never seen you, your lucky I haven't killed you yet."

Yelled the Uchiha causing the figure to laugh in his maniacal tone.

"Well then why don't I show you some of my skill?"

The figure began to go through hand signs that were all too familiar to the Kiri nin.

"Hidden Mist Jutsu!"

Yelled the masked man. Sasuke and Sakura remembered the jutsu from fighting Zabuza, one of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist.

"I thought that Zabuza was the only one of the swordsman who could use that jutsu!"

Screamed one of the Kiri nin. None of them could see anything. Soon after screams filled the ranks of the Kiri nin as wires began to pierce through their bodies.

o0o

This was Naruto's first test against actual shinobi, and he was set on making Kushimaru proud of the next wielder of Nuibari. After the mist set in he began his silent killing assault upon the Kiri nin, silently maneuvering around the mist, continuing his maniacal high pitched laughter, which terrified the Mist shinobieven more. His practice with the technique allowed him to hear and sense almost every one of the enemies movements. He began his assault by throwing Nuibari at one of the Kiri nin who had no idea it was coming due to the mist. The blade pierced him through the heart as he let out a short scream of pain before dying as his body hung along the wires that were running through his body.

The end of Nuibari was made of a thick and wide butt end so that after the needle part of the blade pierced through the body of the nin, the needle would separate from the butt end causing the wire of the blade to appear, allowing the weapon to travel a great distance until stopped. Part of Naruto's training with nuibari required great speed so that he could catch the needle after it pierced through the body, allowing him to maximize the large amounts of wire present in the blade.

Naruto continued his onslaught, throwing the needle part of the blade with deadly accuracy, resulting in the instant death of many of the Kiri shinobi. The Mist shinobi couldn't even get off jutsu due to their inability to see. After killing 20 of the kiri shinobi with this method he decided to use one of the abilities of his blade that caused many to dread the sight of Kushimaru in combat. Naruto angled the wires of his blade in certain direction causing the bodies of the killed Kiri shinobi to slide along the wire until their corpses hit each other at a certain point along the wire, causing there to be a large bundle of lifeless bodies at a certain points along the wire.

Throughout the battle quick and short screams followed by the maniacal laugh of the masked man with the needle sword were heard in the mist. Sasuke was exhausted and so was the rest of the team, but even more so they were scared and confused by this man. Why was he helping them on what seemed to be a suicide battle. Ino became too tired and began swaying due to chakra exhaustion until she began falling to the ground. Sakura heard her body fall to the ground and immediately began to try and heal her despite her low chakra reserves. Sasuke continued to hear the screams until only silence was heard. He listened as the remaining kiri shinobi began calling out to their comrades, wondering if they were ok. Soon after the stop of screaming, the mist began to subside, slowly revealing blood stained grass, and then… then Sakura and Sasuke saw a bundle of bodies attached by ninja wire. But, the wire was attached to the needle sword the masked man had.

"Hehe, told you Uchiha, you shouldn't underestimate people."

Laughed the mask man as Sasuke and Sakura looked on in horror. There were now only 5 remaining Kiri hunter ninja remaining, and they were slowly backing away. Sasuke saw the look of pure dread on their faces. The five ninja quickly turned around in an attempt to run away but the masked man's hidden mist jutsu quickly enveloped the battle field once again, preventing them from seeing where they were going. The man's laugh echoed through the mist, once again sending shivers down everyone on the battlefield's spines.

Naruto needed to figure out why these kiri ninja were attacking his ex-classmates. The easiest way to get information that he knew of was one of Kushimaru's most gruesome and painful techniques.

"Long Sword art: Wire Crucifixion!"

Naruto quickly began throwing his needle over one of the Kiri ninja's arm and then threw it under. He did this to the other arm and then jumped up onto a branch above the ground, still holding the wire loosely. Once on the branch he pulled the wire upwards causing the enemy ninja's arms to spread outwards horizontally. The man screamed in terror wondering what was happening. Due to Naruto pulling the wire upwards the ninja's body slowly rose off the ground. Naruto wrapped more of the wire from the sword around a branch, leaving the man dangling.

He then wrapped more wire around the ninja's body as he dangled from the branch above. Naruto then through the wire through the ninja's stomach causing him to scream in pain. Naruto then pulled on the wire's wrapped around the ninja and pulled him against the tree. He then rapped more wire from nuibari around the ninja's limbs, rendering him immobile and slowly bleeding out. The way the man was tied to the tree gave off the look of a crucifixion as his arms were speed horizontally across the trunk of the tree while his legs were tied vertically down the trunk. Naruto then did this process with each of the Kiri nin as each screamed out in pain.

Sasuke listened on in horror as the remaining Kiri nin continued to scream.'He's keeping them alive' thought Sasuke, as he waited anxiously to see what the masked man had done to the remaining enemy shinobi. The mist began clearing as and even more disturbing sight than the bundle of dead men appeared in front of them. In the trees the five remaining Kiri shinobi were tied to the tree with wire's wrapped around them while some wires went through parts of their bodies. It appeared as if they were being crucified. Sakura nearly threw up at the disgusting sight as blood slowly poured out of the points where wire had entered through the Kiri nin's bodies.

"Now you five are going to answer all of my questions, and I'll end you quickly rather than leaving you to rot here for at least a day. I could even create some clones to entertain you some more, hehe."

Sasuke watched as the masked man jumped onto the branches with his needle sword over his remaining Kiri nin showed faces that were both terrified and wincing in pain.

"We…We'll n..never say anything to you!"

Said one of the Kiri nin timidly. The man laughed at this response.

"Oh we have a pesky one here. I'll make an example of just how much pain I can make you feel!"

Laughed the masked maniac. Sasuke had seen many crazy and cruel people in his days as a ninja. He'd come face to face with Orochimaru and fought him. He'd been put through Itatchi's Tsukuyomi and fought against Zabuza the Demon of the Mist. But something about this man made him want to kill himself rather than listening to that high-pitched maniacal laugh that made him feel sick to his stomach. The man jumped onto the branch above where the man who protested against him hung. The masked man pierced the ninja through his left shoulder then wrapped the needle around the trunk and pierced the blade through the back of his right knee and then pierced the man through his right shoulder and around the back of his left knee. The man screamed out as loud as he could as the man continued to pierce the man in the same way. This process continued five times before the masked man laughed again.

"So any of you going to not answer me? Because that man can still be sewn through at least twenty more times this way alone before he dies. Nuibari causes the person who it pierces to bleed out little by little, causing the most suffering possible."

Said the man coldly causing the already terrified and in pain ninja to slowly shake their heads to answer no, signify that they would comply with his demands.

"Good, so would any of you tell me why your chasing these three Konoha ninja?" Asked Naruto

"Th..they could have had information that could possibly be useful for our nation."

The man who answered stared at Naruto, pleading for mercy. Whoever was or had become the Mizukage clearly didn't have any control over their shinobi. No one could see the glare that was underneath Naruto's mask. Naruto slowly removed nuibari from his shoulder and pointed it at one who answered his question. He then threw the sword as you would throw a dart, right at the ninja's head. It penetrated him right in between his eyes and thudded into the trunk of the tree. Naruto yanked at the wire to pull the needle part of nuibari back into his hand.

"So you guys, attacked that poor blonde haired girl, that stupid pink haired girl and the Uchiha with a s simply because you thought they might have information to help your nation?"

The four remaining ninja nodded slowly, in complete fear.

"While I don't mind you attacking the Uchiha and bubblegum girl over here, you did do so without orders from your kage, correct?"

The four nodded again. Sasuke and Sakura were somewhat angry by the man's comments but were simply to scared to say anything. Sakura was also almost nearly exhausted from barley managing to save Ino.

"Well then I guess I can't let any of you survive, you are a disgrace to your village, simply causing conflict without even considering the aftereffects, good bye, Hehe"

Said the masked man, as he pulled out four senbon. He threw them each individually, hitting them in the neck, as the four remaining kiri nin died.

Sasuke continue to look on at this man, no, this maniac as he killed the final four enemy shinobi. The man jumped down to the bloody bundle of bodies and started pulling the long wire back until it formed back into simply the needle blade with the wire wrapped around the inside of the blade. All the corpses of the slain enemies fell to the ground. Sasuke began shake a little as the masked man walked up to him and began to speak with one of his bone tingling laughs.

"Oh Uchiha, its been a while since I've had this must fun. I do wish it could continue but your two friends over there seem pretty out of it."

Said the man as Sasuke cautiously turned around to see his two female teammates lying unconsciously on the ground. Sasuke looked back at the man and managed to mutter out a question.

"W..Who are you?" The man laughed at his question.

"Oh Sasuke-kun, you don't remember me? I'm hurt."

Laughed the man with an evil tone to his voice. Sasuke couldn't get over how familiar his voice was when it wasn't high-pitched, but he just couldn't place his finger on who it was. The masked man lifted up his needle sword onto his shoulder causing Sasuke to filch which caused the man to laugh even harder. Naruto grinned like a madman under his mask. This was great, he had Sasuke terrified.

"Hehehe, don't tell me the mighty Sasuke Uchiha is afraid of someone with such a "stupid weapon."

Sasuke attempted to respond but couldn't get over how gruesome this man was. He knew he would have remembered someone this cruel, so he must have never met him before. As Sasuke finished his thought, he saw the masked man move over to his two unconscious teammates. Sasuke began to move to intercept him until he halted as the man's needle weapon was placed at his throat. Sasuke didn't dare to make another move as he had already seen the amount of damage the man had caused with that sword and without even seeming to break a sweat. He had managed to wipe out 25 Kiri shinobi with using essentially one jutsu, and that needle sword, which was currently at his neck. Sasuke watched as the man bent down while keeping his blade at Sasuke's neck. He picked up Ino and threw her body over his shoulder and then spoke.

"We only have a short journey back to Konoha but your two friends here need attention quickly, so Uchiha, you ready to go?"

Sasuke stood dumbfounded, this psychotic maniac was helping him?

"Why are you helping me?"

The man turned to face him and said nothing and slowly walked passed him until he said something tto Sasuke.

"I don't know, I've wanted to kill you and bubblegum for a while."

Then continued walking towards the village. Sasuke found him self paralyzed in fear. That's right, the mighty Sasuke Uchiha was terrified. He didn't know what he'd do against a maniac like that in combat. Sure he had his sharingan but that was nearly rendered useless in the mist, not to mention the fact that this guy seemed to adore killing. Not just killing, but actually torturing his enemies. He knew he couldn't allow this man to enter the Leaf village, he had to somehow warn the village he was coming, but then a thought struck him, he had Ino. He then thought for a second, he was an Uchiha, one of the strongest shinobi in the hidden leaf village, he would take this guy down, regardless of who the masked man was, he would defeat him. A smile appeared on his face as he picked up Sakura's unconscious body and carefully placed it over his shoulder and began to try and catch up to the masked man.

Sasuke was running at probably 1/4 speed due to his lack of chakra at the moment but he saw what looked like the man with Ino over his shoulder. Sasuke took out two kunai and threw them at the man's body. He saw them impact, only to see the two figures disappear in a puff of smoke. Then ten clones of the man surrounded Sasuke, each with a needle sword pointed at him.

"I don't believe your in any shape to be fighting, let alone fighting me."

Said one of the clones, then another one chimed in.

"Maybe we should go with the wire crucifixion technique, I remember how much he loved that one!"

Said another one maniacally. Sasuke was extremely nervous, this was a really bad situation, there was no way he could fight the clones, let alone the real man in his condition. Then one more chimed in. He was hoping he could possibly take the man by surprise, but that had obviously failed.

"No, no, no, we've gotta follow the bosses orders, we can't be killing off Leaf nin, the old bat wouldn't like that, especially if it was the Uchiha scum-bag."

Sasuke gritted his teeth at this comment, the man obviously had a grudge against either him or the Uchiha clan and he wasn't happy about it.

"Listen you freak, your even more screwed up then my older brother, or even Orochimaru but your not even that strong, you just use that stupid needle of yours. When I'm fully rested I'll make sure that I kick your ass!"

Screamed the Uchiha, causing the ten clones to laugh. Before Sasuke could respond the clones all dispersed in clouds of smoke. Sasuke got even angrier but there was nothing that could be done, he'll deal with the masked man next time he sees him, as Sasuke continued a slow paced run back to Konoha.

Sasuke soon saw the front gate of Konoha. After about 5 more minutes of running he entered into the village gates only to collapse on the ground from exhaustion, with Sakura's unconscious form on top of him. The two guards at the gate immediately signaled for ninja to come get the two injured teammates, but all commotion was cut off at the sight of a tall, and skinny man with a kiri hunter-nin mask walking up to the gate.

He wore bandages from the tips of his shoulders up to his chin, completely hiding his neck. He wore black ANBU pants along with long grey leg guards with grey sandals. The ninja had a black sleeveless shirt that hugged his skinny but well toned chest and managed to cover his shoulders. He also wore grey arm guards going up to his elbow. The most disturbing thing that the guards noticed was that on one shoulder he held a long needle like blade, and on the other, he held none other than the heiress of the Yamanaka Clan. 'This is really bad' thought the guards as the man entered into the village gates. He then spoke to the guards.