Sasuke was, and forever would be, the property of Orochimaru. He thought he had killed Orochimaru before he went on his mission to murder Itachi. He only found out the snake was never dead. He had used the reanimation jutsu to redirect his original body that is what he had killed.
Sasuke grabbed every tool he would need to complete his mission. He had his kunai and shuriken in his pouch and his snake sword on his back.
He took time to think about what he had to do.
'First I need to steal the scrolls, probably shouldn't the group guarding them so they can spread word of who stole them. If I'm lucky, the team they'll send after me will be my own, and then I'll defeat Hikaru and bring him with me...'
He fell onto his bed 'how the fuck am I supposed to do that. There's no way I'll be able to defeat him using my usual jutsu because he has the sharingan now...my only option is to use the curse mark...but there's also Naruto...'
The more he thought about the task at hand, the more of an arduous task it seemed to become. Sakura leaving him placed more of a burden on him than he needed. If things had gone according to planned, Sakura would have remained his and he could have used her as his mindless follower, blinded by a false love that he had created.
He stood up and looked to the bright light of the full moon "I guess tonight we'll figure out who's the strongest of us all."
He jumped onto the railing of his window, and made his way to the hokage's office. The night was filled with the sound of chirping crickets and crying cicadas. He made sure to stay as silent as possible. During these times of night, the ANBU patrolled the village. He didn't know exactly what Orochimaru's obsession with Hikaru was, but being that he had no choice other than to obey, he would carry out his mission, and keep his life as payment.
As he stood in front of the building's doors, he forsook all thoughts of peace and happy memories of his friends, such things would be useless now. All he had to do now, was kill to survive. He opened the doors, walked down to the inevitable future that lay ahead.
Neji, Tenten, and Rock Lee were standing guard over the scrolls. Tenten was busy sharpening her weapons, Lee was doing push-ups on his thumbs, and Neji was keeping a watchful eye with his byakugan.
"Lee-kun, Tenten-chan, someone's coming."
Both readied themselves "Who is it? Can you tell?" Tenten asked.
Neji concentrated on the person who was slowly but steadily making his way to the three shinobi.
"It looks like Uchiha Sasuke." The two other team mates relaxed "Neji-kun, why did you get us all worked up for nothing?" Tenten had been looking to test out her new weapons on someone. Waiting around for someone to attack them was very tedious work.
Sasuke walked down the curved hallway. He activated his sharingan and prepared to meet whatever team was waiting for him.
Lee smiled brightly as he saw the ninja stop in front of them "Sasuke-kun! It is very nice to see you. What brings you here at this time of night?" He then noticed Sasuke's sharingan. The only times he had ever seen Sasuke use his sharingan was when he was about to fight.
"Sasuke-kun...What are you doing?" He asked once more.
Sasuke gave no reply. His dark stare stuck fear into the strong heart of Rock Lee. Neji and Tenten watched Sasuke as he stood motionless. They knew something was about to happen, but they weren't sure what.
Sasuke brought his hand to his sword. As he drew it, Neji got into his fighting stance "Uchiha-san, by drawing that weapon in our presence, I will have no choice but to take it as a sign of an attack."
Sasuke continued to slowly unsheathe his sword.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Neji had no true intention of picking a fight with him, but it was his duty to protect the scrolls from any aggressors, even if the aggressor was a leaf shinobi.
"If you wish to fight me then go ahead, just know that I won't hold back at all." Sasuke's arrogant tone was enough to aggravate the Hyuga genius. He ran to Sasuke to put an end to his life.
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A light breeze blew through the window of Sakura's room. She slept peacefully with Naruto in her arms.
"Wake the hell up!"
Naruto and Sakura jumped up out of their peaceful slumber. They looked to see who the one who was responsible was.
"Hikaru-chan, what the hell are you doing in my..." Sakura realized she wasn't clothed and hid under her covers.
"You jerk! Why didn't you tell me I wasn't dressed!?"
Hikaru turned his head "I honestly couldn't care less Sakura-chan; we have more important things to worry about."
"Like what?" The blonde boy asked sheepishly.
"The scrolls have just been stolen."
The two couldn't believe what they had heard. The scrolls were under constant guard, and the ANBU were stationed all throughout the village. They thought there was no way that a sound ninja could enter the village.
"You two get dressed; I'll fill you in on the mission when you're done." Hikaru left them to get dressed in peace. He waited for them outside Sakura's front door for them to come down. In a matter of seconds, his team met with him. Hikaru began leading them to their target.
"So, how did you find out?" Naruto asked.
Hikaru took a deep breath as he readied himself to explain the situation "Neji-kun knocked on my door not too long ago, he had many gashes and had been impaled twice in his arm. He told me that the person who stole the scrolls defeated his teammates in the early start of the fight." Naruto and Sakura couldn't believe what they were hearing. This team consisted of three of the best ninja in the village. Picturing them being defeated that badly was almost unthinkable.
"Did you alert Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked.
Hikaru gritted his teeth "I was getting to that. The reason Neji came to me first, was because Sasuke-kun is the one who stole them."
The other teammates were at a complete loss for words. Sasuke was given a second chance after betraying the village once. After receiving no punishment for his crimes against the village, he betrayed it once again.
"So Naruto-kun, what do you want to do when we find him?" Hikaru asked.
"Why are you asking me?"
"You were the one who wanted to save him last time, so I figured it'd only be right to let you decide what to do this time."
Hikaru trusted Naruto's judgment completely. Whatever he decided, he would do his best to help put the plan into action.
Naruto gave no answer; he just remained in deep thought.
"Naruto-kun..." Sakura knew what Naruto was feeling. He was feeling an overwhelming amount of pain and anger. He almost died trying to bring Sasuke back the first time, and Sasuke still betrayed him.
"If you can't decide, then...
"No." he cut Hikaru off "I promised myself after we brought Sasuke-kun back to the village the first time, that if he ever betrayed us again I'd kill him."
These words left his teammates cold. Though it was not something they ever expected to come from Naruto, they knew it wasn't any less right.
"Good choice, I hope you can actually go through with it." Hikaru looked to the blonde ninja, expecting some heroic speech about how he would never go back on his word, but he didn't. He remained silent, as the hatred he felt grew stronger.
'I have no doubt you will try to kill him Naruto-kun...I just don't know of we have the strength to pull it off...'
These were Hikaru's last thoughts as they ran out of the village.
They reached the forest outside of the gates. They jumped up from the ground to run on the on the branches of the trees.
"How are we supposed to track him down? He could have gone in any direction." Sakura stated.
"Don't worry, that's what I'm here for." Hikaru focused his chakura to his hands, feet, and nose. "Ninja art beast mimicry: shikyaku no jutsu!"
Hikaru began running like a dog. He used the focused chakura in his nose to pick out Sasuke's scent in the air. "Just follow me. I can smell him." Sasuke's scent carried the heavy scent of iron. He smelled like he was covered in the fresh blood of the ninjas he cut down.
"Uzumaki Naruto!" the voice of a beat cried out.
Naruto could see his piercing red eyes staring into his "I can kill him for you."
He didn't respond to the demon
"My offer still stands, if you break the seal, I can grant you all of my power." The thought of this happening made the demon smirk his devilish foxy grin.
"What do you say, Uzumaki Naruto?"
Naruto shook his head "I'll be damned if I let you kill him. That responsibility lies with me and me alone."
The demon clawed at the cage that sealed him inside of the boy. "Besides, even if the seal is broken, my father will reseal it."
The demon laid its head to rest "My power is still at your disposal when you need it."
Naruto had no intention of depending on the fox's power to win the fight. He would kill Sasuke with his own hands and his own chakura.
"We're close." Hikaru announced.
The three could see the last Uchiha up ahead. He wore a bloodstained white kimono with a purple ribbon wrapped around the waist above his dark blue pants. His sword was tucked under the ribbon.
Naruto balled his fists, and picked up his pace.
Sasuke looked behind him and saw the blonde ninja darting toward him.
"Sasuke!"
He could see the intensity in Naruto's eye. He was clearly after his blood.
Sasuke focused his chakura in his eyes and activated his sharingan.
Naruto came at Sasuke with full force, and threw the first punch. No matter how hard Naruto tried to hit him, his sharingan allowed him to see his every move before he made it.
Naruto's next punch made contact with Sasuke's palm. He held the aggressing ninja as he fired his dragon flame.
"Naruto-kun!" Sakura cried as she saw the flames engulf his body.
When Sasuke's flame subsided, most of Naruto's skin was burned off.
Sasuke laughed as he saw the ninja's burnt and bleeding body "Pathetic, you came all this way just to die by my flame."
Sakura and Hikaru stared at Naruto's motionless body.
Hikaru released his shikyaku no jutsu, and replaced it with his sharingan. While Sasuke was focused on Naruto, Hikaru forced a powerful burst of lightning from the palm of his hand, and charged for Sasuke.
Sasuke released Naruto's fist, and countered Hikaru's attack with lightning charges from both arms.
Because of the extra power, Hikaru's attack was canceled out, and used against him.
"I've noticed something about your jutsu Shibuya. You're only able to copy the first thing you see. If you copy a jutsu before you see all of its properties, then you're left with the weakest effect."
Hikaru grabbed the collar and waist of Sasuke's outfit, and made lightning release from both palms.
Sasuke jumped back before the jutsu had time reach him.
"I don't understand...how did you..."
"You're not that bright, are you Uchiha? I might not have seen all of your jutsu, but I still have the sharingan, I can copy your jutsu."
Hikaru looked to Naruto to see if he was okay. He saw Naruto's skin quickly being regrown onto his body, as he stood up.
"That was embarrassing, but that's the last time you'll get such an easy hit on me."
Hikaru smiled "It's good to see you're okay Naruto-kun."
Sakura jumped in between her two teammates.
"Let's end this, once and for all." She said.
Naruto preformed the kage bunshin no jutsu making ten copies of himself.
Sasuke drew his sword.
Sakura ran to get her hit on Sasuke. Three clones of went to Naruto to cover her. As Sasuke lowered his blade to meet Sakura's chakura charged hand, one clone took the hit, while another held Sasuke's arms. Before Sasuke could use his full body chidori, Sakura's fist made contact with his chest.
The blow forced him to plummet from the tree to the ground.
"Holy shit! Nice hit Sakura-chan!"
"Wow that might have been the first complement you ever gave me Hikaru-chan."
Blood came out of Sasuke's mouth every time he coughed. He felt that more than one of his ribs were shattered, and he could hardly stand.
His former teammates surrounded him "Uchiha Sasuke, for your betrayal of your home village as well as the shinobi who defend it, I, Uzumaki Naruto will end your life."
Naruto walked to Sasuke, and readied his kunai.
Sasuke moved before Naruto had the chance to strike.
"I'm not done yet."
Naruto focused chakura through his body stronger and faster than he had before. He felt his power begging to rise as the rims of his eyes became red
"Then let me end you!"
Hikaru replaced the sharingan with the shikotsumyaku
"I cover you this time Naruto-kun."
Hikaru ran with four spiked bones extending out of his forearm. He ran at the speed that rivaled Rock Lee's.
He raised his arm as he prepared to run Sasuke through. A smile spread across his face, their mission was almost complete.
"Hikaru!" Naruto called out.
He didn't understand why Naruto sounded so worried, he was on the verge of finishing off the greatest traitor of the leaf since Itachi. When Hikaru tried to move, he couldn't, he then noticed he was staring straight into the red eyes of the Uchiha boy. Hikaru looked at his arm, it hung limply as the bones he used as spikes were destroyed, and his stomach had been run through by Sasuke's chidori.
"...No..."
Sasuke pulled his arm out of Hikaru's torso and watched as he fell to the ground.
"Hikaru-chan!" Sakura ran to aid him before he died if severe blood loss.
Sasuke prepared to take out the last remaining Shibuya. He lifted his right arm, and formed a lightning dart.
"Odama rasengan!"
When Sasuke heard Naruto's battle cry, he had already taken a direct hit. He was sent flying in the opposite direction.
"Sakura-chan, take Hikaru-chan and go back to the village."
"But Naruto-kun, what about you?"
"I'm gonna finish what he started, and kill this bastard."
Sakura wanted to help him, but she knew if she did, Hikaru would have absolutely no chance of living. Even if she brought him to the village his chances were still very slim, but a slim chance was better than nothing. She took Hikaru on her back, and began to make her way back to the village.
"Be careful Naruto-kun...I'll come back for you."
When the dust cleared, Naruto could see Sasuke staggering to his feet. His skin was badly torn where Naruto had hit, he wouldn't be able to last much longer.
Naruto used the kage bunshin no jutsu once more to make two copies of himself. He held out his palms and focused his chakura as the clones spun it "It all ends right here."
Sasuke charged his chakura for his final assault as well.
The spinning balls of chakura and wind in Naruto's hands grew larger every second, until he finally formed their shrunken forms.
Sasuke fused his chakura with the very elements of the earth causing dark clouds and blustery winds to fill the area.
"Rasenshuriken!" He launched the two wind shuriken at the rogue ninja. It destroyed every tree that stood in its path.
With his chakura fully charged, Sasuke was ready to counter attack "Kirin!" directly from the clouds above; a strong wave of lightning was released.
With no escape, both ninja closed their eyes, and waited for their opponent's jutsu to make contact.
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Sakura ran as fast as she could, trying not to move Hikaru too much.
"We're almost there Hikaru-chan, you're gonna be fine." she said these words mostly to comfort and readied herself. In truth she wasn't sure if she could get him to the hospital in time. His blood was seeping through her dress at an alarming rate.
"You idiot..." he whispered. "...you should have focused...on the mission and not me..." blood dripped from his mouth as he spoke.
"Stop talking, you need to save your energy..."
He smiled weakly "...we both know exactly how this is gonna turn out..." he shut his eyes tightly as the pain in his arm and lower stomach became more unbearable "I... don't think I'll make it...Sakura-chan."
Tears began to steam down her cheek "You're gonna be just fine...I know you will..."
"You...protected me once again...thank you so much...Onee-chan..." Hikaru's head hung on Sakura's shoulder.
"Please Hikaru-chan...hang on..."
By the time she had reached the village hospital, she could no longer feel his pulse, and his breathing had stopped. The nurses rushed him to surgery as soon as Sakura brought him in. She fell to her knees and let the tears trapped in her eyes escape. She had failed to move fast enough, and because of her, Hikaru's life hung by a wilting thread.
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Captain Yamato and Kakashi had just made it to the battle scene between Sasuke and Naruto. The entire area which was once abundant with grass and trees was now only ash.
"Kakashi! I found him!" Yamato showed Kakashi the burnt and bloody body of Naruto. His jump suit was torn apart, and a majority of his skin was red and black.
"We should have gotten here sooner, I should have known Sasuke would have been too powerful for Naruto to handle on his own!" Yamato couldn't help but feel this way after only showing up to see the aftermath of the battle.
"I wouldn't be too sure about that." Kakashi said "There's no body over here, but there is a considerable amount of blood." he looked for footprints to see where Sasuke might have headed; instead he found none "Just as I thought."
"What is it?"
"There's no way Sasuke escaped on his own. From the amount of blood he lost, he shouldn't be alive, let alone moving."
Yamato held Naruto on his back "We should get back to the village before Naruto meets Sasuke's possible fate."
"I agree."
The two jounin made their way to the village.
'I'm sorry Naruto, this is the second time I failed to come to your aid when you needed me...'
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Naruto awake in a hospital bed. His body was still numb and he could hardly see.
"Naruto-kun!"
The familiar voice was followed by a tender kiss. as his vision cleared, he saw the face of his pink haired lover. He saw her warm smile and her wet eyes.
"...Sakura...it's so good to see you." she passionately kissed him once more.
"Where's Hikaru?"
Sakura's smile slowly faded away "Hikaru's injuries were very serious...the nurses almost weren't able to restore the organs that had been torn. He still isn't able to breathe on his own yet..."
Naruto weakly held Sakura's hand "There's nothing you could have done to prevent that from happening, so you shouldn't blame yourself."
Sakura knew that it didn't matter who she blamed, she still almost lost two people who she cared for most all in one day, and that was more than what she could take.
Author's note: Please please please forgive me for being so damn late! I just had so much crap to take care of. But I hope this chapter made up for my being two days past due.
So many questions come from this ending, what will happen to Hikaru? Where did Sasuke go and is he still alive? And how will I incorporate Orochimaru into the story? You'll see in due time :)
~Happy Murder~
