Deidara stumbled into the entrance of the cave that sat upon the tallest tower in Rain Country. Bleeding, blurred vision, and a surprise accompanied him.
"Leader!" He cried, extending his only good hand towards the person he knew stood watch at this cave every wakeing second.
"Leader!" He cried again as the shadowy figure at the end of the cave opened its eyes.
The Dark mist parted as the dark god awoke from his meditative slumber.
"Fool…" he whispered. His voice, unbecoming of one who had been unconscious for so long. Deep and commanding, the voice of an apprentice masquerading as a master.
"…You lead him straight to us!" He leaped into action sticking to the roof of the cave just as a shadowy figure appeared where he once was.
Wrapped in black tattered robes, even his head was obscured by a simple cloth shroud that stuck to the top of his head. He stood there, hands at his sides and not even staring at his escaped target. The figure gave off emotion itself, the dread of humanity seemingly oozing from its pores. Not killing intent, but something much much worse. Unexplainable and undettered, the figure's dread blurred the air subtly, as if he shaped creation itself.
Pein frowned. It had been a long time since someone had snuck up on him.
He started walking towards the downed Deidara. Almost gliding along the surface, his robes concealed even the largest motions of the human body and covered the figures legs. He stopped in front the of scared, battered and bleeding man.
Deidara, for his part, played the frantic fool well. Scurrying backwards from his position on the ground, he tried to escape the touch of this wraith like figure. The apparition's sleeve covered hands had stopped just short of Deiedara's eyes. He could see fingers. Pale fingers. He closed his eyes. He would never open them again.
Pein had been surprised at the calm dispatch of one of the stronger members of Akatsuki. Even more so as to the gruesome end Deidara met. Bleeding out against the wall of the cave, his eye-sockets now empty.
The figure turned to him now.
Pein observed the way the man moved.
He stood with an air of…absoluteness. As if he really could read the future. No, its as if he will make the future. His movements the markthe reflection of death itself.
He did, however, notice the faint glow behind the thick cloth that covered his face. But by then, it was too late. The demi-god of war fell from his position in the ceiling, his body picking up its share of gravitational speed. Pain's life-les puppet lay defeated, an empty blue orbed stare replacing the ringed pupils. The figure melted into the walls once more, searching for the chakra signature it knew to search out.
"K..Konan…" Pain whispered out. An old red haired man, bones and skin and blood. A worthless husk of a man whose body could not keep up with his mind. A man whose plans of world peace through war would die, as would his reason for bringing peace.
Konan , Pain's childhood comrade, his sister, his only precious person. She was the reason he wanted a new world. A world where Konan could live in peace. The embers of the fire that ended his dream, still burning lowly. Konan's burning body, muscle and skin charred to a black crust, took what was left of Pain's soul.
"Why?" He rasped out, asking the thing that stood before his impaled form, why it took his dream from him.
There was a silence broken by the wraith.
"Because the world does not need to be saved by you. Because you could never shoulder the true burden. Because she would have hated what you would have become…"
Wide eyes, his last moments were upon him.
'Perhaps now, I can find true peace…Yahiko, Konan…together again…'
The old dark god closed his ringed eyes, blood now pouring freely from the multiple black rods that had impaled him to his wheelchair. A man with an ego would have hated to have been killed with their own weapon…but Pain didn't care, it seemed…
"The answer cannot come from God, the answer must come from man. To truly understand what it means to be a God, one must understand what drives man. What man's true nature is."
He walked away from his target, thinking to himself.
'To be a God…that is my fate alone…'
"To be God…" He spoke now, his head pointed up to the sky as he walked, as if talking to the gods looking down on him.
"…you need only kill all that makes you human and open your eyes to the world of man."
Titling his head forward, adopting a a more serious posture.
"And then you kill what is left."
He burst into a sizzling, steaming, almost burning red ribbons, floating along the air and dissipating out of view under the sun of mid-day.
The rain would fall in Rain Country just one last time.
To weep.
To allow the universe, time and space itself, to weep.
'Soon….'
In a camp one day's travel from the Bridge of Heaven and Earth, Naruto's team settled in for the night. All except for Naruto himself. He always stared into the darkness those glowing orbs of his, spinning a broadsword, twirling it into the gnarled branch. Grounding the tip millimeter by millimeter into the oaken tree that was his makeshift perch.
He contemplated what was to come. He always did, at night. Shaking off a small red moth from his hand, it ventured 30 meters into the shrubbery when it vanished.
'Everything is proceeding smoothly. Sasuke is the second to last variable remaining.'
Add to Naruto's massive mental faculties, the thought of the fight ahead extended his perusing. He would need Sasuke to play his part very soon. And to do it, some manipulation must be involved.
'Manipulation is always involved' he thought.
Jumping down from his makeshift perch, he locked away his weapon into the tatoo's on his wrists.
"In one day's time, we will be at the Bridge of Heaven and Earth. You should be cautious. I have received reports from my own spy network that this could be a double-agent. I will impersonate Sasori of the Red Sands. Our primary objective is to track Orochimaru, whom I know will be there, straight to Sasuke. Do not engage at ALL until I say so. We are to give the impression that I am alone."
An interesting tactic. Insane, but interesting.
"Are you trying to tell us that you plan to take on Orochimaru himself, and win? Hell, to have the gall to say you wouldn't be exhausted to follow him and engage again…Naruto, we know your strong, but this is Orochimaru!" Sakura almost yelled. She really disagreed with the mission plan. Konoha shinobi were supposed to stick together. Once again, as if reading Sakura's thoughts.
"Sakura, sometimes the best team work, is being able to not get in the way. Everyone has to play their part. Untill mission start, get some sleep.
Begrudgingly, they all did as told, sour over the fact that Naruto didn't need to sleep at all.
Orochimaru's first sign of a botched ambush was when he saw 'Sasori'. He had already heard that the Akatsuki cronie had been crushed by Shessomaru, the Flame of Zero. So yes, it was a tip –off to see the dead walking.
His first mistake though, was assuming the impersonator would be predicatable. He wasn't. Kabuto lay in a pool a blood, several swords stabbed through his torso and pinned him to the wooden rails of the half-mile bridge. Orochimaru's own entrance was interrupted as the stranger wasted no time and began to initiate a fight.
Orochimaru stared at his opponent, still in his disguise. He leveled his own massive killing intent towards the stranger. He was surprised when the figure showed no sign of being trapped or even affected by it.
"You think your miniscule killing intent Is enough to affect a God? Witness your own technique with real power."
Puffing away in a billowy white smoke, Naruto was revealed. Orochimaru immediately recognized two things. One, is that the brat in front of him was the Kyuubi Vessel. Perhaps he would now make a good match for Sasuke.
The next thing he noticed though, was Naruto's armor. The armor of the King, the Lord of Fire country. He had only seen the man once before, but the armor was so unique that it stayed in his memory.
He had no more time to think, however, when he felt the truly monstrous killing intent leveled at him. The world blurred and unfocused as the very air seemed to shake. Leaping back out of his stupor, Orochimaru witnessed the young vessel keep up with his backward leap speed.
'Genjutsu!' Orochimaru thought.
Naruto chased after him, kunai inches away, when he noticed Ororchimaru switch himself with a nearby mud clone.
'I need to end this quickly. Orochimaru must not fall here. Sasuke needs to witness it.'
He took his technique to the next level.
Gai and his team were currently stationed further North in the forest, where Naruto said there was an 86 percent chance of Orochimaru fleeing towards. Kakashi and Sakura, however, were stationed further South, and much closer to the action
Sakura was amazed at the ruthless efficiency Naruto had demonstrated. He was keeping up with a legendary ninja and looking like he did it with less effort. The almost mechanical way that Naruto had taken down Kabuto. Sakura still sensed his pulse, even from where she was.
"Kakashi-sensei, what do you think of the way he's fighting?"
When she got no response, she turned to face him
And was shocked
Kakashi had his eyes wide, both of them. One of them a strange form of Sharingan Sakura had never seen. A thin layer of sweat had covered his forhead.
In Kakashi's defense, he had a right to be visibly shocked. What he was seeing through his Sharingan was frighteningly powerful. It wasn't just the physical movements, its what was under the hood. Underneath the underneath. He had never witnessed a battle of this caliber before, between two genius ninja. The two that were fighting faster than Sakura could see were clones. And the two participants knew it. That's why there was more than one battlefield.
Mud clone fighting Kage-bunshin. Underground, in the air, zipping from branch to branch unseen by those not looking. The invisible war raged, explosions happening around them, Naruto's clones winning every sortie. He could not find the originals though. The thousands and thousands of seals on the clones skin, visible to Kakashi with his new Mangekyou Sharingan shocked him even more. The caliber of this fight was on an insane level of concentration and planning.
Orochimaru's own clones seemed shocked, and they kept on retreating to the far reaches of the North. Where Naruto said he would go.
Waking up from his stupor and covering his left eye, he gave Sakura the signal to pursue towards the Northern objective.
Their invisible war, narrowed to just the originals, was coming to a close in a small valley clearing between Gai's team, and where he thought, knew, where Orochimaru's outpost was. Facing his panting opponent whom sported new cuts and blood flowing from his right arm, he concentrated all of his will onto him. There would be no more stalling on Orochimaru's behalf. There would be no escape, lest Naruto would will it so.
"It seems the rumors of your weakness is true, Snake Sannin of Konoha. Orochimaru." He spoke in a calm, but serious tone. Orochimaru took the time between pants to notice Naruto was not even winded.
Frowning and getting his breathing down, he collected himself and faced the opponent with a wicked smile.
"You have grown, Naruto-kun. What you did to Kabuto was exceptional. I wonder, would you want more power?" He slid his elongated tongue out for more effect.
'How cliché…' Naruto thought '…that the snake would be tempting me when I have already tasted that fruit.'
"The snake cannot talk to those who do not listen to its forked tongue, Orochimaru." Still collected.
Orochimaru's wicked smirk turned into a vile looking frown, the wrinkles on his chin outlined grotesquely with his pale angular face.
"Then your fate has been sealed!" He spat as his mouth opened, hundreds of snakes pouring out.
'If you will not join me, then I'll just use you for another purpose! Sasuke needs to activate his final form before I take his body, after-all…'
With a swipe of Naruto's hand, thousands of kunai and shuriken poured out. The rain of metal, spewing forth like a wave of cold death, plunged into the snakes, creating a gory battle field that would be sure to attract its fair share of crows.
'Run all you want Orochimaru. No one can save you from my will.'
He took care to allocate his awareness on tracking the real Orochimaru. Stretching his senses, he raised his left hand to signal the teams in.
They landed all in a crouch. No one had time to stand before he barked out some orders.
"Gai, Ten-ten, Lee, Neji, Pursue the target with me and secure the battlezone. Make escape impossible. Kakashi, Sakura, secure the secondary objective.
Kakashi and Sakura were now distrustful of this Naruto. He managed to scare off a Sannin and know things he shouldn't possibly know. Do things he shouldn't be able to do…
"You'll need help from us to take down Orochimaru, Naruto. Besides, we still have to find Sasuke. There isn't a guarantee Orochimaru would go straight to him.
'That's why I let him free Kabuto. ' Naruto thought.
"Do not question my decisions, only care that I make them so." Naruto said.
Kakashi and Sakura frowned at this, but complied none the less.
After letting Kabuto heal, he immediately ordered his lieutenant to fetch Sasuke. His puppet would have to help him kill the Kyuubi brat. Once he delivered the final blow with his help, he would gain the final sharingan and be eligible for immediate body transfer. His decades of planning finally coming to a head, he foolishly skipped over a fact he otherwise wouldn't have. Surely, the Kyuubi brat did not intentionally avoid Kabuto's vitals, did he?
As Kabuto walked through the door with Sasuke in tow, Orochimaru sensed en extremely large build up of chakra directly above them. More specifically, directly above his own little mock throne.
Eyes widenening and cursing soon following, he leapt towards his two most valuable tools and witnessed the raw power of what was coming.
Jumping 100 meters into the air, he was far above the tree line. Naruto was at the crescendo of his leap, and glancing at a spot of dirt on the gravely terrain, he reached each hand to its opposite's wrist. Pulling apart and holding a bright figure with both hands, and a millisecond later, a vast puff of smoke fills 50 of the 100 meters his current height held.
The jagged, massive hunk of steel with a metal tang of a hilt, plummeted towards it target at breakneck speed.
Like a falling pillar of a monstrous structure, the weight and speed of the weapon pierced and bored through the ground as if it was an inch of sandstone and not the impenetrable twenty feet of granite slate it was.
Orochimaru knew exactly what he would do if he was Naruto at the moment, and he was sure any person of Naruto's caliber would do the same.
He took his two henchmen and disappeared by melting into the shadows. He had used the escape seal on his base. He could only use it once.
But…
A weapon of that size. Orochimaru noticed it. That was no ordinary piece of steel. That was a chakra manifestation. One that size…it appears as though
'It appears as though Naruto might be far beyond Sasuke's limit…I should flee this battle, lest I find him beyond my own.'
Choosing a tactical retreate, he was not surprised to catch a glimpse of the white hot flames that entered through the opening the whole had made.
Re-appearing though, was a surprise indeed.
Surrounding Orochimaru, Sasuke, and Kabuto, were what appeared to be Sakura, Kakashi, and the Kyuubi-brat himself.
'How…did he know I would be here…'
As if reading Orochimaru's thoughts, Naruto replied…
"Because tactically, I would choose this location as well…"
Orochimaru's eyes grew fierce. He grew angry, angrier than he had been in a very long time. Almost as angry as when his old sensei had sealed his arms away. This insolent youth had insulted him. HIM, the greatest of all the Sannin, the murderer of the 3rd Hokage, one of the strongest men in the world.
"You were useful to me a minute ago, brat, but now I just want to taste your blood for the fun of it!"
He leaped into action, summoning his Kusanagi from it's sheathe in his stomache, portraying a smiling snake-like version of insanity along the way.
Sasuke did not know what was going on. He was following Orochimaru's lieutenant, Kabuto, when all of a sudden all hell broke loose and he saw some faces he didn't want to see again.
It unnerved him, Sakura and Kakashi's determined stares. And that thing fighting his teacher. He had never seen such power before. Keeping an eye on the two old team-mates, he activated his Sharingan and observed the new comer. He chose the wrong time. The flare of chakra almost blinded him had he not shielded his eyes.
Naruto had chosen to release some of the power he was holding back.
'Impossible!' Sasuke thought.
And the uknown shinobi before him spoke for the first time to Sasuke's ears.
"Let me put an end to your madness, Orochimaru. I will show you mercy, so that you may live."
Mid charge, Orochimaru's eye's widened.
'The Flame of Zero? No! It can't be!'
Gai's eye's widened as he spoke to Neji beside him.
"Neji, whats going on?" He spoke quickly, trying to discern the scene before him.
Thousands and thousands of red fluid ribbons floated in the air. Through everything. Through trees and dirt and air and even Gai himself. They kept on wiggling, squirming, as if they were all caught in some unfelt breeze. An ocean of red, all with one thing in common. They all began at Naruto. Where they ended…no one could say for sure. Not even Neji. It seemed as though the ribbons were there all along, that they stretched on for infinity from the sky and the Earth.
"Its…they are chakra manifestations." He spoke in a whisper.
Observing Naruto himself, Gai could see definite changes.
Naruto's eyes began to glow a solid white, a blindingly solid white. His cloak, strewn about the heavens from the swell of hot air caused by the massive release of chakra. His armor now in full view. It was the most ornate, spectacular craftsmanship Gai had ever seen.
Orochimaru himself seemed too stunned to react himself. Naruto chose that moment to comment on himself.
"Behold the end of your wretched existence, Orochimaru."
Said snake sannin instantly grew frightened and went into a series of handseals while stopping his charge. It was very unlike Orochimaru to be the one to strike first.
Slamming his hands on the ground, a seal array began to show up and a giant puff of smoke had appeared.
Naruto did not flinch. Did not react, did not move, did not even appear to be breathing.
As the smoke cleared, the 100foot Pit Viper hissed and snarled. Its purple scales absorbing the light from the mid day sun and its open mouth showing two twenty foot fangs, dripping with a green fuming venom that frothed as it hit the grass under it.
It seemed to survery the landscape, taking note of Orochimaru's position on his head. The old beast followed his would be summoner's gaze and took notice of the opponent that Orochimaru had apparently needed help with. Say what you will of Orochimaru's relationship with the snakes, but do not question his power.
Now what Manda saw…he made very clear to his dark partner.
Without moving his mouth he hissed out.
"You fool. What kind of enemies have you made on the other planes? What kind of stupidity do you possess to make an enemy of this creature before us!"
It spat venom at Naruto, its coarse, molasses like viscosity making the ball of venom travel slightly slower than normal. Manda used this speed alteration to slither at incredible speeds along side it, curving and slithering towards Naruto.
Naruto almost literally exploded into handseals. The sound of massive amounts of wind breaking very apparent. The slight boom of the sound barrier breaking was also present.
Yet the chain of seals seemed to have no end while the venom ball and manda's own fangs were upon him. He leapt straight up hundreds of feet into the air, Manda's fangs piercing through the dirt, the unseen portions dissolving and crumbling in on itself due to the vats of venom injected into it. Thrusting his fangs loose from the dirt, he turned upwards.
Knowing Naruto would have no time to adjust his movements, Manda sprang and chased Naruto in mid air, the both deadlocked at the same upward speed of motion.
Naruto chose the cresecendo of his leap to finally finish his handseal sequence.
'Order of the World: The binding chains of fate!' Naruto thought as he seemed to slam his palms downward onto an invisible platform, which glowed and gave way to a massive seal array. It turned like clockwork, locking in place in the matter of milliseconds. Manda's eyes grew wide, and so did Sasuke's, Kakashi's, and Neji's.
"Something's happening!" Neji yelled. He saw Naruto's jump coming to a close and saw that the ribbons that surrounded them were tightening and expanding in a cone under Naruto's jump. Tighter and wider they stretched until even Manda's form was obscured.
Orochimaru's hackles rose on the back of his neck as he leapt off of Manda's head, sacrificing the great old beast to his own demise.
The ground shook as the area under Naruto's palms began to fill with a shining white light. The air blurred as it engulfed Manda's form in quick succession, and proceeded to slam unto the ground beneath.
The Earth roared in pain as dust literally engulfed the plain. The battlefield, chaotic with the sounds of steel hitting steel, puncturing flesh and ripping through sinew. The dust cloud, absolute and blinding, only those with eye techniques could pierce its gaze.
Neji! Whats going on?" Ten-ten shouted to her teammate. She couldn't even see two feet in front of her face.
"Naruto's attack kicked up a thin layer of dust for about 2 miles each way! They are engaging each other. It should settle soon!"
The sounds of battle rung throughout the darkness for several more minutes until the dust started to thin. It eventually stretched and blew away with the wind so that she could see almost all of the clearing.
Then the dust settled.
Manda's form lay on the ground encircling the blast area. It seemed he had tried to coil his body away from the cone, unfortunately, Manda's titanic body could only manage to barely clear the perimeter, resulting in the vertically disintegrated form before the Konoha shinobi. Nerves still firing and muscles twitching, vital organs of massive size poured out. The thousands year old beast was dead with a single attack. Beautiful and gruesome though it was.
Sasuke knew all too well what he saw in his Sharingan. True power. Power capable of killing his brother. More then enough. So he did the only thing he knew how to do properly. He assessed both sides, found his to be wanting, and switched.
Kabuto, pierced and pinned to a wall, blood gushing from his mouth and nose, still had that stupid fucking smirk.
"You havn't realized that it takes more than a pawn to be strong, Sasuke."
Sasuke retracted his chakra manifestation and kept his stoic expression as Kabuto died, still sporting the same smirk Sasuke hated him for. His actions were not unknown to the Konoha Shinobi. Everyone had taken notice of Kabuto's death. They were more pre-occupied with the titanic battle that took place before them though. Kunai and shuriken by the hundreds littered the brown topsoil. The middle of the clearing where the original attack went off, only a deep dark crater that was more than 100 meters in diameter. No one wanted to measure how deep, only take notice that one could not see the bottom.
Most shocking was the state of Orochimaru. His left arm below the shoulder, gone. One leg below the ankle, gone. Random sharp, thin kunai stuck out from various lethal spots around his body, buried up to the hilt. His eyes wide with shock, with panic and fear. His face, left eye gone, a bloody gushing hole where it once was; his pale and purple face paint mixing with the blood from a cut on his forehead. Panting, he croaked.
"What….are……you….!" He rasped between sharp intakes of breath. He exploded into handsigns.
Naruto sprung forward just as the tongue of the snake Orochimaru had summoned started to creep out of his mouth. A kunai behedded the snake, even as Orochimaru tried his best to dodge, his regenerative technique nullified if he could not escape or buy himself some time.
"Not this time." Naruto said. Rearing a summoned katana back he flashed into a series of jabs and slashes. Orochimaru somehow managed to avoid the slashes, but ended up having his remaining arm pierced through the palm in an attempt to stop a stab to the heart. He smiled wickedly and he dissolved into mud.
And yet, Naruto was not worried. Instead, his form exploded into a mass of moving, scattering red ribbons.
Up a distance on the only few remaining trees in the clearing had Orochimaru appeared. Up a distance on the only few remaining trees in the clearing had Orochimaru been beheaded. The head, falling toawards the floor twenty meters below, his eyes stuck in a look of horror and rage, a serene face of anger, the embodiment of venom and disgust. Even now, with his unnerving battle paint all but gone and his humanly tan complexion replacing it, the image of a snake remained.
'It's not over yet…' Naruto thought.
The mouth of the severed head opened and a gigantic white snake had rushed out. Planning to take Naruto by surprise by lulling him into a false victory, Orochimaru zipped and zig-zaged towards his original target. Sasuke.
Sasuke's own eyes widened, the scale of the fight proving his choice to switch sides, a most decidedly wise one.
He unsheathed his own version of the Kusanagi. But the sword was batted away as Orochimaru's new form towered over the now on his back Sasuke. He crawled backwards faster than he ever had. It was then that his hands felt something. A handle…perhaps? Under the loose dirt kicked up by the blast minutes earlier. Yes, he could definitely feel the leather wrap of the hilt…but…where had it come from?
'Use it, Sasuke…' he heard inside his head. A whisper, a ghost like instinct kicked in. He knew whatever he held was light and long. As Orochimaru's scaley mouth enlarged, fangs beared at their full foot length. As he swooped down to finish his jutsu by consuming the host, Sasuke lifted the handle and pointed towards Orochimaru's face with it.
Such a simple end to such a complicated mad man. In seeking immortality, he became a beast without fear. In seeking destruction, he became vile beyond reprieve. And in exploiting vanity and pride, the six foot spear pierced his open mouth, clearing the mutated skull and poking out of the still twitching beasts head. A simple end indeed, but death was often very simple…indeed…
Naruto chose that moment to decrease his power output. The blinding white light from his eyes seemed to vanish in an instant as red ribbons of various sizes and thickness blew upwards as if caught in a breeze while anchored to his feet. The ribbons faded themselves as his eyes went from glowing to luminescent to simply shining unnoticeably. His face still covered by his signature scarf, he didn't need to look up to catch his errant cloak, fluttering in the winds that caused the massive battle.
He slowly started walking to Sasuke while pulling on the cloak.
Sasuke was a little scared. He had switched sides again, killed Kabuto, and hopefully at least earned amnesty for the help. The spear disappeared in a puff of smoke.
'A chakra manifestation?' He thought, as the towering corpse of Orochimaru plummeted to the side, and Sasuke found himself unable to move.
Unable to twitch or scream or run or fight. The figure in front of him, not even winded. Orochimaru was one of the most powerfull ninja in the world and this…thing…tore him apart without batting an eye, like an insect.
Naruto stopped in front of Sasuke, his cloak and scarf concealing whatever distinguishing features Sasuke could have made out. The rest of the Konoha shinobi, each recovering from their own shellshock, surrounded him. They flanked Naruto on all sides, looking down on Sasuke.
It was Sakura who first broke the silence.
She broke it by lunging at Sasuke's almost prone form. Hugging him and crying. He had barely heard anything of what she said. The Konoha shinobi smiling, trying their best to make the trip back peaceful, to hopefully guage if Sasuke was worthy of being accepted back into the ranks.
But that thing in front of him, did not smile, did not move, did not even blink. It just seemed to stare, and not at Sasuke in particular. It was unnerving. Unsettling and cold. It just seemed as it was staring right through Sasuke, through him and the clearing and beyond even that.
Then it spoke.
"We leave back to Konoha immediately. Kakashi, take Orochimaru's and Kabuto's head. Ten-ten, Lee, make sure the objective is safe. Gai, you will take point with me."
He turned to leave, the long cloak dragging up dust in its wake. Stopping in stride.
"Welcome back Sasuke…"
Did he know this thing? Did he know who it was under the outlandish garb? Sasuke couldn't know, could he? He had never known someone that powerful.
Nonetheless, he allowed his old comrades to lift him to his feet. Following absently, they took to the trees after Kakashi's task was done.
As they soared through the trees, Sasuke finally found he couldn't take it anymore. He turned to Sakura.
"Who is he?"
"Who?" She replied. As clueless as Sasuke had remembered her being.
He turned, pointing his head towards the object of his curiosity.
She followed his gaze towards Naruto's flowing cloak, his scarf tracing his movements across the dense upper foliage of the oak forest.
"Oh….yah, he's changed a lot hasn't he?" She asked, the blush from her face gone and a serious attitude replaced it.
"Who is he?"
Stunned and now clairvoyant to Sasuke's confusion, the lightbulb in her head moved to her mouth.
"Its…Naruto…"
Stunned beyond words, he almost fumbled on the last branch, swerving to avoid the brambles closer to the trunk, he adjusted his composure.
His mind racing, battery acid pumping through his veins at the realization. Trying to figure it all out, how Naruto of all people would end up this god of battle, and not even his deductive mind could piece the massive puzzle Naruto was.
"What happened to him?" He wasn't even jealous of the power it…Naruto… held anymore. If it was Naruto, the power he possessed was already Sasuke's. He would take Kabuto's last words of advice to him. He would get his own pawn and become a king.
"When you left…" She paused to turn away and back again, as if hiding some emotion that was as apparent as a billboard over her head. Her forehead suited her…
'So transparent…' Sasuke thought.
"…He was assigned to the preffered duty roster…I wasn't able to keep in touch with him then. All I know is that he's apparently part of the Flame Guard, which one I have no idea. Something happened to him, he's not himself at all. I don't know who it is leading us, but its nowhere near the Naruto me and Kakashi remembered. We actually hoped you would fill us in a little on what you know of the Flame Guard."
He thought for a few moments…
"The Flame Guard…The government's most prized and dedicated Shinobi. They have been around for as long as the elemental countries existed."
That part she knew.
The next she didn't.
"But how can't you know which Flame he is? Those are public records…" Sasuke half stated, half pondered.
Their current course would be taking them through Kansai.
For Konoha, successful missions were usually celebrated on the way back… Prehaps Sakura might see the great city once in her life. She would also make a note to research more about Naruto.
And what better place than Kansai to get to the bottom of Naruto's past and the history of the Flame Guard?
