A/N: Slightly shorter chapter this time, but I've got a lot on at the minute so I'm sorry about that. Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who is reading and reviewing, I really appreciate it!
Chapter 7: Target: Sasuke Uchiha
The team from the Leaf Village walked across the desert, headed for home after a job well done. Unsurprisingly, Team Gai lead the way with Gai and Lee racing each other to get back. Neji and TenTen trailed not far behind, both looking extremely embarrassed. A little further back, Sakura walked just ahead of the three other members of her team. Sasuke and Naruto were practically carrying Kakashi, who was completely exhausted of chakra after using his Mangekyo Sharingan.
Naruto was walking with a huge smile on his face and not even the ridiculously high temperature could wear him down. The sight of Gaara being welcomed back to his village, the sound of the villagers weeping in joy as their Kazekage returned to them gave Naruto hope. However, it was his final conversation with his fellow Jinchuriki that really lifted his mood. Naruto felt that he'd finally figured out the awkward sand user and that he now had another friend for life. These thoughts took up most of Naruto's attention, meaning that he wasn't keeping up with Sasuke.
"Hey, Naruto do you think you can move a bit quicker?" the Uchiha snapped, sounding very irritated.
"Calm down Sasuke" Naruto replied, "Enjoy the walk. It's not often we can take it easy right after an S Class mission."
Sasuke sighed dramatically and shook his head. Despite the success of the mission, Sasuke seemed even more tense than usual. This didn't go unnoticed by either Sakura or Kakashi.
"Sasuke" Kakashi began, his voice reflecting the weakness he felt. "What happened in your fight with Itachi? You clearly didn't kill him, or you'd be far happier than this."
Sasuke knew that the question was coming and he didn't hesitate to answer.
"What happened was…"
Sasuke and Itachi continued to clash, Sasuke using his katana and Itachi using a kunai. Sasuke knew that he was gaining the upper hand, but couldn't understand why. He knew that Itachi was far stronger than what he was showing, and he was starting to get annoyed.
Then, Sasuke jumped back and made hand seals. Itachi realised what he was doing, and made the same seals.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
The balls of fire clashed in the air, creating a huge dome of heat. Sasuke's fireball began to push back his brothers, before eventually overpowering it. That told Sasuke all he needed to know and it only added to his fury.
"How dare you" Sasuke growled, as she shook with anger. "How dare you play with me like this, after everything you've done."
Sasuke fired a beam of lightning at Itachi, who just about dodged. However, the beam did tear his cloak at the top of his arm. Sasuke purposely held back in that attack, just to be sure. Itachi remained expressionless, just as he always had been.
"Why won't you take me seriously?" Sasuke screamed, as he transformed into his Cursed Seal Second State without even trying. He then flew towards Itachi, abandoning all restraint. He let loose with a barrage of devastating kenjutsu attacks and overwhelmed Itachi. Finally, Sasuke broke through the defences and pierced Itachi's stomach with his sword. He then channelled his Chidori throughout Itachi's body, leaving him paralysed.
"Now, I watch you die like you did our parents" Sasuke rasped, as the gaze of the two Sharingan's met.
"Not this time, Sasuke" Itachi replied, as he slipped from the sword and onto the floor. Sasuke then watched as his brother transformed into a completely different person, a stranger. Sasuke then understood why it seemed like Itachi was holding back before.
"Why do you continue to do this to me?" Sasuke asked, before flying off to find his comrades.
"I see" Kakashi said, after listening to Sasuke's story. "That's what he meant by that jutsu. It must have been a jutsu that allows you to take over another's body, while only being able to use a part of your chakra. Don't worry Sasuke, your time will come again."
Kakashi gave Sakura and Naruto, who looked ready to ask a million questions each, a look that told them to leave the subject there. As for Sasuke, he was left thinking about the one piece of information he left out of the story, the one thing Itachi said as he was lying on the ground before leaving.
Meet me at the Uchiha hideout one month from today. We'll settle this there.
Deep underground, in a hideout hidden away from the world, a loud coughing noise could be heard. The very sound it made let anyone unfortunate enough to hear it know that, whoever was responsible for it was very sick indeed. In this case, the young man who heard it just happened to be a medic. He ran quickly through the dimly lit halls of the compound, carrying a small tray filled with medicine. His glasses were constantly slipping from his face and his shoulder length grey hair swung around his head. Finally, he reached the source of the noise and slowly opened the door.
"Kabuto?" a croaky voice called out in the darkness. "Is that you? You sure took your time on your scouting mission, although you got back a good time."
"Lord Orochimaru" Kabuto gasped, as he ran inside the room. Sat up in the bed was a white skinned man with long black hair. Those features weren't alarming, but the man's general demeanour caused concern. The Great Snake Master, one of the Legendary Sannin and the man who brought about the death of the God of Shinobi was reduced to a sick old man who relied upon Kabuto's medicine to survive. It was a sad sight and one Kabuto found distressing.
"The deterioration of this body is happening faster than I expected" Orochimaru grumbled, as he finished the last of the medicine. "I'm going to have to take a new body soon. I can't believe that I've reached this stage of the cycle without having got my hands on Sasuke and the Sharingan."
"Actually, I've got some good news on that front" Kabuto said, looking for approval. "I've heard from my source that Sasuke is going to be getting a solo mission where he has to leave the confines of the village. He'll be alone without any backup."
"Interesting" Orochimaru mused, which wasn't the response that Kabuto was hoping for. "Why are they letting him out on his own now? For the last three years, he's always been surrounded by elite Jonin and ANBU, making it too difficult to get close to him."
"Well" Kabuto began, feeling awkward about what he was about to say. "It seems that news has reached the village about your condition, so they know that you personally won't be coming after him."
"Jiraiya" Orochimaru hissed, the very name of his fellow Sannin causing untold anger. "In any case, they've given us an opportunity to take him and it cannot be wasted. Obviously, I cannot go so you will have to do it."
Kabuto had been expecting this and he accepted the job gratefully. He knew that he needed to keep proving his worth to his master because good medics can be easily replaced.
"Take every available Sound Shinobi with you" Orochimaru ordered. "Sasuke is probably stronger than you now, which is why they can trust him to go on his own. Oh, and you'll need to take those two for support."
Kabuto was surprised at his master's last order. However, he knew better than question it and he confirmed his approval of the order. Before leaving, Orochimaru had one last thing to say.
"Kabuto, this is our last chance to get Sasuke" he hissed, "So, you need to know that, if you fail to retrieve him-"
"I know" Kabuto replied, not wanting to hear the horrible punishment that would await should he not deliver Orochimaru's prize.
After what felt like a lifetime, Naruto and Sasuke finally carried a now unconscious Kakashi over the threshold and back to the village. Quickly, the two guards who were stood at the gate ran over to the stricken Jonin and took over from his teammates.
"What's wrong with him?" one of the Chunnin asked nervously, worried about how the great Kakashi could have ended up in that state.
"He's fine" Sasuke replied lazily, "He's just overused a new jutsu of his that takes a lot of chakra. Just take him to the hospital and let him rest for a week, he should be fine."
The Chunnin nodded and carried him off right away. Naruto found that he felt slightly jealous of Sasuke at that moment, who had obviously earned the respect of the lower ranked Chunnin. However, that jealously soon evaporated when Sasuke was told that he had to report to the Hokage.
"Already?" Sasuke moaned, before he reluctantly trudged off towards Tsunade's office. Naruto laughed cockily before walking over to talk to Gai's team, who had got impatient and left them behind.
"What was the big idea?" Naruto yelled, in his usual tactless way.
"Sorry Naruto" TenTen replied regrettably.
"Believe me, I'd have rather been moving at your pace" Neji added, while glaring at Gai and Lee, who were engrossed in a conversation that mostly involved the word "youth."
"I wonder where Sasuke went?" Sakura asked, much to Naruto's annoyance.
It's been three years but its still all about Sasuke! Naruto thought, although he didn't dare say any of this.
"Hey, Neji!" a soft voice called out, as a purple haired girl ran over to the group. "I heard you just got back from another mission, so I thought that I'd-"
She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Naruto among the group. Her eyes grew wide and her face became flushed.
"Hinata?" Naruto asked, suddenly worried about the girl's safety. "Hey, aren't you glad to see me?"
Hinata stammered while she tried to think of something to say. She then mumbled something about having to see Kurenai before leaving.
"Something's will never change" Neji said, to the agreement of everyone except Naruto, who had no idea what was going on.
"A solo mission?" Sasuke asked, trying to make sure that he heard it right. "Why are you giving this to me?"
"Well" Tsunade began, "I was originally going to give it to Kakashi but he's currently incapacitated, so I decided that you should do it instead. It's not too difficult, you just have to collect one of our villagers from another village and bring him back here. It's just standard protection, he just requested a Jonin because he's paranoid."
"That's not what I meant" Sasuke replied, not caring for Tsunade's position.
"Orochimaru is on his death bed" Tsunade said, much to Sasuke's surprise. "He won't be able to come after you himself. In any case, Kakashi's name is still under this mission so he won't know you'll be alone. In any case, even if he does send anyone after you, we expect you could handle it."
This show of confidence caused Sasuke to reveal a small grin, before turning around to leave. However, as he reached the door Tsunade called out to him again.
"Oh, and I expect you to wear your flack jacket and headband on this mission" she said, which caused Sasuke more annoyance than he let on. Tsunade watched him leave, before she put her hands to her head in stress.
I hope I don't regret letting him go.
The next morning, Sasuke left the village through the main gate and headed towards his destination in the Land of Waves. He had quite a nostalgic feeling as he set off for that destination. As he walked the familiar route, he could almost see the fake puddle on the ground from years gone by. He could hear the sound of Zabuza's enormous sword flying through the air as he surprised Team 7. He remembered how impressive Kakashi looked back then and sheer ferocity with which the two Jonin fought. Three years later and Sasuke was the Jonin making this journey. He even wore the same outfit as Kakashi, albeit with a small Uchiha crest sewn into the collar. After allowing himself to wallow in nostalgia a while longer, he decided to pick up the pace and took a shorter route through the trees.
Quicker I get there, the quicker I can get this out of the way and get home he thought, as he effortlessly jumped between the branches. After a while, he noticed something that put him on his guard.
So, someone is following me? Is it one of Orochimaru's henchmen, or someone else entirely?
Sasuke decided to let whoever was following him continue for the time being. He was unable to pinpoint his pursuers location, so he decided to wait until he found a location that was more advantageous. After a short amount of time, the trees came to an end and opened up to a small lake. Sasuke decided to walk over to the lake and pretend to draw water. As he did so, he waited for the inevitable attack to come. It didn't take long until Shiruken flew out from the trees. Sasuke blocked easy and dodged the masked Shinobi that followed. When he landed from his jump, around 100 Shinobi wearing a Sound Village headband surrounded Sasuke.
"Is this all you sent for me, Orochimaru?" Sasuke asked out loud, before moving to take down every single one of them. His speed was incredible and the other Shinobi could do nothing about it. After five minutes, the other Shinobi lay wounded on the floor and Sasuke put his sword back in its sheath.
"How disappointing" Sasuke remarked, before another figure emerged from the trees, clapping in a sarcastic manner.
"Well done Sasuke" Kabuto mocked, "you really have met my expectations. Maybe this won't be such a boring fight."
"I remember you" Sasuke said, "You took the Chunnin exams that time. It's Kabuto, right?"
"That's right" Kabuto replied. "Although, you look different than what I expected. I can't believe that you were fooled by the Leaf and you're back to playing ninja again."
"I remember being told that you were as strong as Kakashi was back then," Sasuke continued, ignoring Kabuto's attempt at an insult. "Which is a shame for you."
Sasuke withdrew his sword, before running over to his target at full pace.
"As I'm far stronger than Kakashi was then!" he cried, before bringing his sword down on Orochimaru's spy. Kabuto was able to avoid the lethal blow and he activated his Chakra Scalpel. A taijutsu exchanged resulted but it was obvious who was on top right from the start. Kabuto couldn't get near Sasuke, whose superior speed and Sharingan precognition kept him away from Kabuto's chakra draining hand. Sasuke deliberately avoided using Chidori, a trait that Kakashi often derided him for. Sasuke liked to play with his opponents at times, which was the case here. Finally, he kicked straight through Kabuto's guard and forced him on the lake's edge.
"It's been fun" Sasuke lied, "but now I need to finish this. I have a mission to get to."
Sasuke jumped into the air and prepared to slash Kabuto with his katana. However, before he could get there the water rose up and charged at him.
What, a water jutsu? When did he do this? I didn't even see him weave any hand signs.
However, upon closer inspection Sasuke saw a face in the water. He could make out purple eyes and a devilish grin as the mass of liquid charged towards him.
What is this jutsu? Sasuke wondered desperately. I don't have enough time to get into Second State. This is bad, what can I do?
Sasuke didn't do anything as he was suddenly whisked away to safety. He realised that he was flying on a bird that looked to be made of some kind of black substance. The bird set him down on the ground, where a pale looking boy in ANBU uniform joined him.
"Who are you?" Sasuke asked, as he realised just who it was that was following him before.
"That's not important" the boy replied in soft tones. "All that's important is that we defeat the enemy."
