Explosions rang throughout the forest as Sasuke and Naruto launched Fireballs and Rasenshuriken at each other. Both dashed and kicked each other before blurring out in a burst of speed and crossing knives against each other.

Naruto had a gash over his cheek, while Sasuke had a bruise across his face and a cut on his lip. "Both of aura is equally matched, you've improved much, Uzumaki!" Sasuke praised as he pushed Naruto back, "even if my aura and your aura can't block each other…I will still land the fatal blow and sever all ties I had with Shi-Yan, with you, with everyone!"

"You're just a small-minded bastard who thought joining the cult was better than learning power on your own!" Naruto pushed him back before forming a Rasengan in his free hand and blasting Sasuke backwards. "And, I'll make sure you pay for what you did Shi-Yan-sama and Sakura!"

Sasuke held his arms out in an inviting manner, "go on…feel free!"

Naruto threw the knife at Sasuke who deflected it with a kick, only for Naruto to appear behind him, and smash him with knee across his back. The blonde flipped backwards afterwards before forming a Rasenshuriken and throwing it at Sasuke who merely pointed his hands out at it. "Kirin!"

A red eyed beast made of lightning formed, before colliding with the blast, and a small explosion emanated from it.

Snake was near the temple when she heard the explosion, looking at the wall of light that emerged from the forest, "what kind of monsters did Shi-Yan create?"

Lightning crackled around the area as Sasuke hands crackled with electricity, Naruto was nowhere to be found as he looked around, before he smirked. "Running away?"

"No," Sasuke's eyes widened as he looked above him to see Naruto coming in with a Rasengan about the size of a beach ball in right hand, "coming down!"

Naruto smashed into the ground as Sasuke leaped away, before he watched Sasuke send a wave of lightning his way. Forming an energy barrier Naruto blocked the lightning before forming a small Rasengan and throwing it at Sasuke, it then formed into a Rasenshuriken before Sasuke for first to blow fire onto it and disarm it.

Naruto appeared above him, smashing him into the ground with a kick, before landing on top of him. He grabbed a knife, holding it at his throat, "it's over Sasuke!"

"Heh," Sasuke chuckles before Naruto's eyes widened as lightning crackled around Sasuke and began to electrocute him.

Naruto fell off Sasuke, before rolling away as Sasuke got up, he then heard what sounded like a thousand birds chirping at once. "Chidori!" Naruto eyes widened as he formed a Rasengan and smashed it against Sasuke's hand that was covered in lightning.

"Not bad Naruto…" Sasuke growls as he smiles, "but your aura reserves have to be low by now and you're not a master at absorbing aura from nature like I am."

"You stole that technique from Shi-Yan, how dare you say you mastered it!" Naruto yells in his face, "I've waited for this day Sasuke for the last four years! Now I can cut you down for what you did to our family!"

"A family of weaklings," the lightning grew around Sasuke's hand as an orange-like eyeliner appeared around his eyes, "has no future."

Naruto was forced to channel more aura into his Rasengan followed by his wind, Sasuke chuckles as he begins to push Naruto back. "Gah…neh…" Naruto growls as he is being slid back in between steps from Sasuke who just keeps laughing as he pushes Naruto further and back.

"Shi-Yan gave you a light Sasuke!" Naruto screams before headbutting Sasuke hard, which splits both of their heads open, "and you stole hers away!" Naruto canceled out Sasuke's attack with his own as he had aura flare around him.

"You," Naruto punched Sasuke hard across the face, before kicking him into a tree, "Don't deserve to have a future!"

Sasuke gets up, wiping his lip, before looking right at Naruto. "Lady Salem begs to differ Naruto."

Sasuke chuckled as suddenly his robe tears at the back, revealing two wings that were a dark lavender in color as they flapped, Sasuke's skin turned ashen gray as he looked up at Naruto. "This is the power of The Cult, this is the power of the demoness that is Salem."

"You fool," Naruto looked right at Sasuke, "you've…you've traded your soul!"

"Yes, for the power to crush nations and rule over this world as a king. The Uchiha were always of noble blood, my forefathers ruled this world prior to even the second Crusade, back when Soshi was the commonly used form of aura!" Sasuke tells Naruto, "and when faunus were nothing more than slaves to humans."

"You fool!" Naruto screams as he forms a large Rasenshuriken, but instead of throwing he charges right at Sasuke who didn't expect Naruto to be as fast as he was. "Raaaghh!"

Naruto slammed the Rasenshuriken into Sasuke, who smiles, and blocks it with his wings before finding that they were being torn apart! "What?!"

"I've grown stronger because of the willpower carried with me from Shi-Yan-sama and my unbridled fury against you! This is the end of us Sasuke, there will be no coming back, die Dragon!" Naruto screams as he entraps Sasuke, before he felt something stab into his gut.

Naruto looked down, seeing Sasuke's sword covered in lightning, he must've magnetized his sword! "Heh, then I guess we'll see who bleeds out first!"

Naruto launched Sasuke away and watched as he careened against a few trees before the Rasenshuriken exploded. Naruto landed on the ground, holding the wound on his stomach, before he walked over to his mask. Coughing up some blood, Naruto slid his mask back on, before sliding against the tree.

Suppressing his emotions, Naruto saw several Beowulfs run past him and heading for Sasuke's hopeful corpse. Putting on the Swallow mask, Naruto sighed, before climbing up into a tree. As he leaned against the tree he swore he saw a black-haired boy and a pink haired girl sitting next to him.

Naruto eyes fluttered for a moment, before he allowed them to close, "Sasuke…did it really have to be this way?"

A lone tear fell from his eye, before he felt himself drift off into a memory.


Naruto, a young and short yellow haired faunus was struggling to climb a tree. Sakura, a human girl with pink hair and green eyes laughed as she watched him struggle. "Come on Naruto, stop being so slow!" she called out to him.

"Hey, I'm trying to best I can hear ya know!" Naruto called out as he dug his claws into the bark and attempted to climb that way only for his nails to break, "ah!"

A black-haired boy sat on top of the tree next to Sakura, who looked at Naruto with pity. "Here dobe," Sasuke extended out his hand to Naruto, "take my hand."

"I don't want your help Sasuke!" Naruto yells as he attempts to climb the tree, "I can do this on my own!"

"You can't do everything by yourself idiot," Sasuke sighs as he walks past Sakura, before watching Naruto fall again and caught him before he fell by clutching his hand. "Sometimes you just need a little bit of a hand."

Naruto scuffs at Sasuke, who pulls him onto the tree branch that they were sitting on, the trio looked at the sunset. "So, what's the point in all of this?" Naruto questions, "I'm never going to be as good as you two!"

"With that attitude, you won't be!" Sakura tells him off, "you just need to focus and learn to be able to accept help."

"I've done things on my own for so long, I just don't like being helped." Naruto tells her, before looking at the sunset. "The sun…it reminds me of my village."

"Really?" Sakura said, "it must've been beautiful."

"It really was," Naruto chuckles, "they actually had Sakura trees in the village too ya know. They were pinker than you!"

"Ha, don't make me laugh, my hair is about as pink as pink could get." Sakura points out, they both look at Sasuke, "what does this sunset remind you of?"

"The last night with my family…"


Sasuke woke up, he felt snow pelt on his head, before looking down at a puddle of water. The Grimm that came and attacked them had been destroyed by the arrival of Ox who was standing on a tree above him. "You could've finally ended it all, why didn't you go full power?"

"To kill your family, one must dabble in making sure they push your limits beforehand…no other battle will suffice the end of a bond." Sasuke tells Ox as he gets up, before looking around, "the sun is setting beneath the clouds."

"Which is why we must leave; the artifact will be given to Salem by Cinder anyhow. You've missed your opportunity given to you by Lady Salem to kill The Last Swallow." Ox stated in a deep voice, "she will be displeased that he wasn't taken care of sooner."

"She wanted Snake dead as well, should we go after her?" Ox shook his head, "why not?"

"She's still useful, and as far as my sister's concern a less immediate threat than Swallow…Naruto is." Ox told him, "you'll get another opportunity in a few months when we invade Vale and destroy the bastard kingdom once and for all."

"Heh," Sasuke chuckles, "so tell me something why is Lady Salem afraid of The Swallow?"

"That is none of your concern, just know that you've missed an opportunity, for now I must take you back for healing. It would appear Naruto has surpassed Eagle in wind Soshi," Ox scratched his chin under his mask, "come now we've got much to report."


Swallow woke up, it was night, before he looked around. "Damn..da-ah-mn…"

Swallow got up, and fell to ground and barely caught himself as he walked. Slowly, he looked around, making sure there was no Beowulfs or any other creature of Grimm. He hobbled his way towards the temple, before entering it.

The temple itself was bare bones, but there was a pedestal where the artifact could have been. "Damn…I guess Snake left me." Swallow speaks as he sits down on a pew, before looking over. There he was saw Snake laying inside the pew, asleep, apparently whatever she was holding kept Grimm away.

"Snake…"
"Mmhmm…"
"Snake."
"Mmmm…Na…"
"Snake!"
"Wh-what?!"

Snake shot up, her mask flying off, revealing groggy eyes, "oh shit Swallow…you okay?"

Swallow's armor and clothing were in tatters, but his mask was fine. "I'm peachy, I think I killed Dragon…but I'm not too sure. We should leave while it's dark, it'll conceal our movement and give us a natural Grimm barrier when it comes to us being tracked."

"I don't think we should, you look like you could use a rest." Snake tells him, and he leans back into the pew a little bit. "Want to see the artifact?"

"Sure," Swallow tells her as she opens her backpack and reveals a sort of crystal ball, "that's it?"

She nods, and he takes it out of her hand rather roughly and looks at it. "So, this is the thing I watch someone die over, pretty pathetic actually." Swallow mumbles, before considering it as he rolled it around in his hand. "the real artifact is inside this however."

Snake watches as he takes both of his hands and smashes the crystal ball, before pulling out a necklace that a jade stone on the tip of it that was turquoise. Looking at it, Swallow noted the runes on the jade, before handing it to Snake. "It's just a stupid runic necklace, nothing more and nothing less."

Sighing, Emerald took it, before looking at him. "Maybe we haven't found the real artifact?"

"Maybe, or maybe Dragon got to it before us." Swallow suggests as he rolls over, before sighing.

"You're bleeding!" She announces as she looks at the back of his arm, noticing some blood leaking out of it.

"Nothing but a flesh wound, I've had worse…" Swallow mumbles before turning back over to face her, "tell me something…did you ever find out who saved you?"

"Yeah, actually we met the night before left out to this place…his name is Naruto Uzumaki." Snake tells him, "don't tell me this is like the talk someone has before they die…"

"Hah," Swallow chokes out, "you only wish little girl."

Looking up, both saw that the roof was open due to a hole. It was starting to stop snowing and the clouds were clearing up. The stars behind the cloud looked magical in their own way, the moon having just waned enough to not cause too much light pollution.

"You know, at one point in time they tried to go into space…" Snake said before she sighs, "but it ended in failure once the dust generators stopped firing. Apparently, we're stuck on this planet."

"Shi-Yan once told me a story…" she looked over at Swallow, "that comets that traveled in the night sky weren't shooting stars but the spirits of loved ones that come to check over you every so often. She told me that if I looked hard enough I could see different colors, and when I was a kid I used to stargaze…"

"I did too…but I just liked looking at the stars," Snake told Swallow, "but tell me something how many comets do you associate with lost ones?"

"Four...Shi-Yan would be a purple comet; my father and mother respectfully would be yellow and red…" She could've sworn that she heard Swallow choke a little, "Sakura..."

Swallow imagined that a pink comet flew over the night sky, before sighing, "who was Sakura?" he turned to see Snake as she removed her mask. Emerald looked right at him, before he chuckled.

"Just a good friend…" Swallow says before turning over, "please don't' try to touch my mask when I'm asleep…we'll go with your plan tonight."


Naruto and Sakura were walking alone in the forest. "So, why did we walk out here Naruto…what did you want to tell me?"

"I just wanted to say thank you, for helping me achieve my new level in Katachi." Naruto says as they walk towards a small rock overlooking a cliff and sat on top of it.

They both looked at the sky, "where's Sasuke?"

"I invited him out here, but he told me to just leave him alone for today…I guess today is the day of loss for him." Naruto sighs, "I can understand it…"

Both sat in silence, before Naruto looked at Sakura and smiled. "I'm really glad that you're my friend Sakura, you and Sasuke both. You're like a second family to me, and Shi-Yan being our grandma or something."

"Thanks Naruto…" Sakura looks away little bit, before noticing a comet pass over them, "oh look!"

Several more comets flew over them, before they saw a meteor shower, both just looking up into the sky. "What are the odds that we would see a meteor shower?"

"A bazillion to one, what do I look like a mathematician." Sakura argues with him, before chuckling, "it really is magical though."

"Yeah…" Naruto said, before looking right at Sakura and smiling.

The pinkette looked right back him, before they both looked into each-other's eyes, and slowly started leaning towards one another. This was interrupted by the breaking of a stick, and a man with red hair coming into viewpoint.

"Master Nagato!" Naruto whines as he looks at the man, "why!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I interrupt something?" Nagato asks as his Eagle mask bounces off his leg as he walks.

"No!" Both yelled as the man rubbed the back of his head.

"That's a shame, both of you really make a cute couple."


Swallow eyes snapped open from behind the mask, he felt warm, before noticing that he had a bandage around his stomach. His mask was still on his face, and his shirt was still on him and stuck to him slightly due to the dried blood.

Apparently, Snake had taken it upon herself to wrap him up in the bandage though, but also, she had her arms wrapped around him. She had her mask back on, but she was lightly snoring, Swallow looked at her over his shoulder before gently removing her hands.

Getting up out of the pew, Swallow looked at his scroll, it was around six in the morning. "Snake…" he called, and watched her lean up. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it, really don't mention at all." Snake told him, "I just did it because I felt sorry for you."

"Whatever," Swallow chuckled after saying that, "we should get moving. Cinder is probably worried sick about you, come along now."

"Sure, just let me grab a few things around here. I seen some really old looking coins last night, and I hate to miss them." Snake tells him, before she gets up and goes walking around.

"Hey, quick question for you…" she turns to him, "would you like to see this Naruto Uzumaki again?"

"Maybe, he seemed nice enough, but he told me he wasn't looking." Swallow chuckled a little bit, "what's so funny?"

"I can't really say for sure, but this guy sounds like he's shy around you." Swallow told her, "he's probably never been with a girl before let alone a date."

Snake blushed heavily behind her mask, "just shut up! I wasn't going to do anything like that and this isn't a date…it's a friendly get together."

"Sure, sure, keep telling yourself that." Swallow walks away laughing, leaving behind Snake who was flicking home off as he left.

"I hope that bandage rips open, you asshole!" She screams before stumping off to another direction, but for some reason as she started to calm down shortly afterwards…she found herself chuckling herself.

"Damn it, he's starting to rub off on me." Snake says as she looks at the mural on the walls depicting a golden dragon fighting a black dragon, "I wonder how old this place is."