I'm a tiny bit late with this chapter. I blame Kingdom Hearts 3.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
"I imagine you have a lot of questions Sasuke," the masked man began. "But first…."
The masked man reached out and broke the chakra cuffs on Sasuke's wrists. Sasuke rubbed his now free wrists as he felt the slow return of his previously suppressed chakra. Sasuke took in his surroundings. The landscape was bare and dull looking.
"Not really. I'm aware of who you are Madara," Sasuke said flatly. "I had suspected that there was another Uchiha that helped Itachi murder my clan. Your presence here confirms that."
"How do you know that name?" the newly named Madara asked.
"The new Hokage was my former sensei. When he took the hat, he learned some interesting things. He told me the truth because he thought it was better for me to learn from him than someone like you," Sasuke said.
"Oh? So, you know about how the village feared the Uchiha and alienated them," Madara mused. "You know how the Uchiha planned a coup in an attempt to take back their place in the village? You know how Itachi chose the village over the clan and cut down your family in cold blood?"
Sasuke did not answer. Madara pressed further.
"But more than that the village allowed Itachi take the fall in the public eye just to preserve the image of the village. And yet knowing all of this you remain loyal to Konoha?"
"My loyalties are hardly relevant to a washed-up old man who can't let go of the past," Sasuke quipped.
"You are right. I am the type of man who can't forgive so easily. But then, why should I offer forgiveness when this world continually shows that it is undeserving," Madara replied with no small amount of anger. "But you've given me a good idea. Let's see how forgiving you are."
Madara closed the space between them and the two vanished from the area.
In the land of the Earth
Itachi was enjoying a rare of moment of quiet. Was being the operative word. Itachi looked at the body strewn in front of him and then turned his gaze up to his partner. Considering he just battled a jinchuuriki with no aid he did not look worse for the wear. His cloak was singed in several places, but he seemed to have no wounds, courtesy of his sword's abilities most likely.
"I had hoped for more of a challenge, but he was lightwork. I don't suppose you'd want to spar?" Kisame said with a toothy grin.
Itachi stared at the shark man impassively. Without a word he rose from his meditative pose.
"Let's go."
Kisame laughed at the expected answer. He scooped the unconscious jinchuuriki onto Samehada which he then rested on his shoulder.
"Wait," Itachi ordered.
"What's wro-" Kisame started.
He was cut off by air in front of them distorting. Out of the distortion appeared the masked man and Sasuke.
"Oh ho, well doesn't this look interesting. He looks a lot like you Itachi. Your younger brother I presume?"
"Madara what is the meaning of this?" Itachi demanded.
"An experiment of sorts. But unfortunately, I have some business to attend to, so I'll leave it to you," Madara before he twisted out of existence once more.
The silence that followed was deafening. Sasuke knew he was fucked. His chakra was still not recovered after having it forcefully suppressed by those cuffs. And he had no weapons at all. And standing before him was two S ranked criminals, one of which was his brother. He had no chance of winning. At best he could try to create an opportunity to escape.
He then noticed the unconscious man on Kisame's sword. He recognized him as one of Iwa's jinchuuriki.
"Hello foolish little brother," Itachi greeted. "I had not expected to meet again in such a fashion. But tell me do you know possess eyes like mine?"
Sasuke scoffed but did not answer. Instead he changed the subject. "I know the truth. I understand why you did it, but I have no desire to forgive you. I will still cut you down."
Before Itachi could respond Sasuke had his hands in a tiger seal and spat out a fireball at Kisame.
Kisame laughed and created a water shark that collided with the fireball creating a veil of steam. The shark man's laughter was cut short as felt himself sink into the ground.
"What the? What is this?" Kisame exclaimed.
"Earth Style: Swamp of the Underworld," Sasuke said from beside him.
Sasuke grabbed the body from off of Samehada and dashed off.
"Come back here you damn brat," Kisame roared as he struggled to escape the thick mud he was trapped in.
After a minute Kisame finally manage to pull himself free of the mud. At that point Itachi came up beside him.
"And where the hell where you?" Kisame demanded.
"I was attacked by a lightning clone of his, which then exploded and caused me to be temporarily paralyzed," Itachi explained.
"You fell for that? I thought your Sharingan allowed you to see through stuff like that," Kisame asked.
"I would have but he baited you into creating that steam cloud knowing you couldn't disperse it with your sword. Doing so obscured my vision allowing him to briefly paralyze me and trap you," Itachi further explained.
"Huh, damn. Your kid brother is pretty smart, and he knows some interesting techniques," Kisame said. "I wonder why he didn't try to kill you. He said he would."
"His chakra was dangerously low. He likely used all that he had just to get away," Itachi said.
"So are we going after him. He took the Yonbi," Kisame asked.
"No, your fight with the Yonbi likely already alerted Iwa. There are certainly out in mass looking for us. If we go after Sasuke we'll be discovered and draw us into a needlessly large fight. For now, we retreat."
"It feels like a waste but whatever you say," Kisame obliged.
"You've grown quite a lot Sasuke," Itachi thought. "I had expected our first meeting to be more explosive. It seems I was right to entrust the future of the clan to you. The day when you wipe clean the sins of our clan is coming soon. But before that I need to learn what Madara is up to."
"Now would you care to explain to me how in the hell Sasuke managed to escape without anyone noticing?" Naruto asked his voice laced with anger. "Why was no one watching over his cell?"
Naruto towered over the man before him, the warden of the prison. The man cowered at the killing aura that Naruto was releasing.
"I thought that he was secure. He was still cuffed. And there was no evidence of the door being forced open," the warden sputtered.
"He was a fucking Uchiha and more than that he was strong enough to trade blows with me. Now does that sound like someone who merited lax security?" Naruto roared.
"No," the warden whimpered.
Without any prelude Naruto stabbed a kunai through the base of his skull. "Fucking idiot."
Naruto turned to the closest guard. "You're the new warden. Don't fuck up and you won't meet the same fate. Now get the hell out of my face. All of you."
The newly appointed warden and the remaining guards fled. Fu came up behind Naruto and leaned on his shoulder. She inspected the fresh corpse at his feet.
"Seems a bit brutal don't you think? Considering I didn't feel his chakra leave the building it's most likely that he was teleported from the building," Fu suggested.
"What like a space time jutsu?" Naruto asked. "I suppose it's possible but there's nothing to suggest he knows one."
"True, but he definitely allowed himself to get captured a little too easily don't you think? He seemed more interested in fighting you. Also, didn't he have a partner that got away? Maybe that guy got him out. Although his chakra vanished right around the time you engaged with Sasuke. Bah, who knows," Fu threw her hands up in frustration.
"The first time Pein leaves us in charge of the village and two people get into the village and they both get away," Naruto sighed. "Damnit, we need to make sure neither of those two are still present in the village. After that bring Zetsu here and have him find those two."
"You got it."
A pair of Iwa shinobi were searching through Roshi's hut but as was expected it was empty. There were signs of a struggle all around the hut though.
"This is pointless. Whoever it was that kidnapped Roshi is likely long gone by now," Kurotsuchi complained. "Let's just go back."
"Not yet, dad gave us orders to find him if he's still in the area and if not get an idea as to who took him. Now come on let's follow this trail and see if it can lead us to any clues," Akatsuchi ordered.
Kurotsuchi grumbled but complied to the orders. The pair followed along the path created by the destruction. They passed various jagged earthen structures that were eaten away but was almost certainly Roshi's lava release. But perhaps more curiously the whole area was soaked through as if it had been underwater. They walked for nearly ten minutes before they found an end to the destruction.
"I guess this is where the fight ended. Let's search the area," Akatsuchi suggested.
With a nod Kurotsuchi began looking around the area. She climbed up a near cliff face to get a better view of the area. Looking over the landscape nothing stood out to her. As she said before Roshi's captors were long gone. As she was about to return her father he called out to her.
"Kurotsuchi over here. I found him."
"What the hell!" she exclaimed. She quickly jumped down the cliff she was on and made her way to where she heard her father. After crossing two nearby ridges she came up beside him.
"Down there," her father pointed.
She looked down into the valley and sure enough at the bottom was Roshi and some other guy she didn't recognize. Roshi's captor maybe? They were both unconscious.
"Who's that other guy?" she asked.
"I don't know, we'll take him too and interrogate him. Maybe we can get an idea for who is tried to take our jinchuuriki," Akatsuchi suggested.
Sasuke can't catch a break and Madara is becoming more active again. I hope you're excited as I am.
Be sure to review. See y'all next time.