Chapter 12: Dark Manipulations

Hello once more my wonderful fans! A new chapter has arrived courtesy of Yatsushiro Ryko! He's been a bit slow lately as tests have been a bit of an issue for him, but don't worry, he's not gonna stop anytime soon!

That being said, I probably should worry about my own tests...meh, I'll be fine. I get good grades anyway.

Unfortunately, there's no Review Time this chapter, there weren't any reviews that I felt needed a direct answer...now I'm sad...

With that being said, let's get on with this chapter!

Let the party begin!

(Forest)

Sasuke growled as Naruto's logic made sense, and it was far too true. Tenten and Sakura could handle themselves against probably eight high level Chunin on their own, but what if there was more than that? "Naruto cover me! I'm going after them!" Sasuke declared as he started sprinting off in the direction the girls had taken.

Three of the ninja noticed Sasuke and decided to try and stop the runaway target.

"Fuuton: Hankon Fuudou!" (Wind Release: Scarring Wind Tunnel)

All three of them were forced to abandon whatever Jutsu they were preparing when they were forced to avoid an attack that would have most likely ripped them to shreds.

"Where the hell are you guys looking? I'm right here morons." Naruto growled out in his deep, altered voice.

Kakashi landed down right next to Naruto as the remnants of Team Seven stood back to back in the middle of the valley, out in plain sight in a large clearing devoid of trees.

"Naruto, get your armour ready but only use your forms as a last resort. Keep it hidden for as long as you can." Kakashi whispered to his student.

"Haha, as if we'll need to." Naruto joked.

Kakashi chuckled. "Oh well, they're going to come at us full force now. Ready?"

"Let's go!" Naruto yelled out.

Together the two Konoha shinobi launched themselves into the battle.

"Doton: Oukina Shougeki!" (Earth Release: Great Impact)

Naruto launched another one of his large earth techniques that shot towards a group of the enemy that had the blonde boy and Kakashi surrounded. It served its purpose well enough by acting like a massive bowling ball that forced the enemy to separate.

"Raiton: Gian Yari!" (Lightning Release: False Darkness Spear)

"Raiton: Jibashi!" (Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder)

The ambush party retaliated quickly enough to the threat. Due to Tsuihogan, Naruto managed to trace the path of the waves of lightning headed towards him and Kakashi and cursed once he found their target. Acting quickly enough the orange masked Genin harshly shoved his sensei out of the way before leaping to the side himself to evade the bolts of lightning that impacted against the ground where Naruto and Kakashi had been standing previously.

While the distance between Genin and sensei widened, Naruto cursed again, suddenly realizing that the two of them had been separated. Inside his head the young Uzumaki wondered why he hadn't thought of pulling Kakashi along with him instead. Naruto suddenly shook his head to clear those thoughts and focus on the battle that was taking place. Narrowing his eyes the blond haired boy quickly analyzed his situation and took note of everyone's position on the battleground. Maybe there was still a chance to regroup with Kakashi?

Rushing towards his sensei Naruto went through a few of the possible scenarios that were possible of occurring and mentally ticked off the ones that seemed foolish. Being left with quite a few of the possibilities, the masked Genin hoped that at least he could get back to his sensei since it was always easier to fight with a partner by your side, especially in an area as open as the field that they were in. As luck would have it however, the worst possible scenario was the one that happened to take place. In other words, the ambush party had already filled in the gap and was slowly pushing the two away from each other. It didn't take long for the young Uzumaki to be surrounded on all sides by fifty nine enemy ninja.

The orange masked boy began to study his opponent's carefully while everyone seemed to be in a tense standstill as the glowing orange of his Tsuihogan met their eyes. Studying their chakra levels gave Naruto the knowledge that among the fifty nine, there were only around four Jonin level shinobi while the rest were Chunin level only. Then he again he was only a Genin, alone at that, so maybe the odds weren't as good as he thought.

The four Jonin however didn't seem to have as much chakra as Kakashi, speaking of which, Naruto looked a little further back before he noticed Kakashi in a similar standoff with another man. Naruto frowned when he noticed that both Kakashi and his opponent had around equal chakra reserves with each other and both being far above those of anyone in the clearing. Well, except for Naruto of course. But that meant that Kakashi was probably going to be locked up for a while.

But that wasn't the only problem. For some reason that he couldn't explain, Naruto was feeling a very powerful urge to just transform and completely pummel these shinobi. Never before had Naruto felt such a primal urge to just unleash pain onto all his opponents. But it wasn't pain by Jutsu that he wanted to cause, it was sheer pain bestowed by his own two fists. The feeling was very new for the cheerful blond and it took a lot of will power to hold back. In a shinobi battle the winner would be decided by the side that carried the better brains. Brutes that relied on power alone never got anywhere.

One of the Jonin that he had sensed within the enemy ranks suddenly spoke, breaking him out of his musings. "Give it up kid, if you come peacefully then we do not need to hurt you." The Jonin spoke gently. However Naruto could easily see the lie. Whoever this man was, he had some sort of grudge against the Uzumaki.

"Why do you care anyway? This is just one boy that probably doesn't even know shit. I mean seriously, it's just a genin." A Chunin enemy spoke up in a confused manner that immediately irritated Naruto. Not only was the masked blond annoyed by the grating voice of the clueless idiot, but he was being severely underestimated. This was further proven when several grunts of agreement were heard from around Naruto.

Sure, it was a large advantage on his part that they were underestimating their opponent. Naruto knew this. But he couldn't help the mounting rage that had been steadily building ever since he had caught sight of these men. Forming one hand seal, four puffs of smoke appeared around Naruto signifying the arrival of four clones that formed a tight knit circle standing back to back, their orange eyes glowing menacingly as they all stood in their unique fighting stance.

"Hahaha, you really are just some stupid Genin!" One of the ambushers mocked. "What use are clones in a battle like this when we clearly know which one is the real you? Illusions don't work so well here in the real world brat."

Each one of the Naruto's seemed to take the insult to heart and fueled chakra as each Shadow Clone began running through different hand seals, something which only the Jonin level ninja noticed causing them to narrow their eyes in suspicions.

"Doton: Oukina Shougeki!" (Earth Release: Great Impact)

"Suiton: Houdan!" (Water Release: Cannonball)

"Katon: Goukakyou!" (Fire Release: Great Fireball)

"Fuuton: Hankon Fuudou!" (Wind Release: Scarring Wind Tunnel)

"Raiton: Jibashi!" (Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder)

Finishing their respective hand seals each clone shot out a destructive Jutsu of each element catching the enemy off guard with the variety. However some still firmly believed that it was just an illusion and raised their hands in the Ram seal to try and disrupt the chakra to dispel the illusion casted upon them. Due to this they were caught inside the Jutsu launched towards them, only then realizing the reality of their situation.

The large earth jutsu boulder collided powerfully with two shinobi sending them careening off into the distance as they were carried out of the clearing from the collision with the boulder.

The water jutsu had a similar effect on the lone shinobi that it connected with, smashing into his stomach with the force of a train and launching him a good ways away from the battle.

Noticing what happened to his comrades, one of the Jonin knew that getting hit by the fireball headed his way was probably not in his best interests. "Suiton: Suijinheki!" (Water Release: Water Encampment Wall) he chanted out, spewing large amounts of water from his mouth to counter the raging fireball. The two techniques struggled against each other for a moment trying to outdo each other, hissing into steam before they nullified each other.

"Dodge the techniques! They are real!" The Jonin shouted out in warning to his comrades.

Paying heed to the warning, the other Chunin leapt away from the tunnel of visible, cutting winds that whistled their way. Less than a moment later the technique connected with the ground they had been standing on just a few seconds prior before burrowing effortlessly deep into the ground.

Frowning in suspicion the shinobi all leapt up from their new position as the technique erupted from the ground beneath them. "Raiton: Raikyu!" (Lightning Release: Lightning ball) Shooting the condensed ball of lightning at the incoming tunnel of wind proved useless as the ball of lightning discharged upon contact with the technique. "Damn it he's a wind user! All of us here use lightning!" The ninja shouted in alarm as they were forced to flee from the technique.

Lightning was not one of Naruto's four affinities, however, that did not mean that he could not use it to an extent. It just took a whole lot more chakra and control to perform, but the masked Uzumaki had plenty of chakra to spare. The only problem was that if you did not possess an affinity for that element, then you could only go so far in it. Naruto could perform a few of the easier jutsu of lightning but he sincerely doubted he could reach the extent of Kakashi's 'Chidori'. That required an affinity to lightning at the very least.

But the lightning that surged out of his fingers was enough to warrant a threat to the enemy who wisely leapt as far back from the technique as they could.

"What the hell? This Genin can use all five elements!" Another shinobi shouted out in alarm.

'Not only that, each one of those jutsu was solid. No ordinary academy clone could launch Jutsu unless they were elemental clones. But even then, an elemental clone could only use the element that it was made of and it is impossible for a mere genin to have such high control for each affinity. Then that means…' The Jonin's eyes widened in alarm when he realized what was going on, 'That's a Konoha forbidden technique! That kid is using the Kage Bunshin!'

"Men, these are no ordinary clones, they have high elemental affinities and intelligence separate from the original but they will all dispel in one hit! The original is the one who does not dispel after one hit!" The Jonin level ninja warned his comrades who all quickly acknowledged the information.

Behind their orange face masks, every single one of the Naruto's smirked. The Jonin had been right for the most part but missed out one important detail. These clones were indeed Shadow Clones, but they had enough chakra in them to activate the ability to harden their skin to form an armour denser than steel. It was a shame that he could only create four of them at the moment instead of an army of shadow clones, but it seemed that quality was more important here rather than quantity.

Someone else however, was not impressed in the slightest.

"Why are you holding back?"

The deep and menacing voice resonated powerfully within Naruto's mindscape, causing him to freeze as his four clones began engaging the enemy in combat. It was a completely new voice, belonging to none of his current tenants. In all essence it seemed to drip with malice either matching or surpassing the venom in the Kyubi's voice. "Who are you, what do you want?" Naruto demanded inside his head.

It might seem like such a stupid and obvious question to be asking, but there were always times when you're opponent would be even more stupid and actually answer your question.

"Who I am does not matter right now, what matters is the fact that you are not killing these men." The voice stated matter of factly.

Okay, so maybe he wasn't going to find out who exactly the voice belonged to, but the issue it raised was enough to gain all of his attention as his eyes wanted. "What!" Naruto demanded angrily.

The voice growled in response, "You are holding back! Both your Earth and Water jutsu should have pulverized those shinobi that it connected with and that fireball should have been enough to vaporize that shinobi! Now answer me! Why are you holding back?"

"I don't know what you are talking about!" Naruto shouted back defiantly in his mind.

"No! It is YOU who does not know what you're talking about boy! What's the matter? I've seen those techniques of yours destroy the landscape, these shinobi should all be dead by now? Do you lack the will to fight?" The voice countered.

"No, I want to survive this encounter, of course I have the will to fight!" The blonde Uzumaki shot back.

"Then maybe you lack the resolve to kill?"

Naruto's offense faltered for a moment silence prevailed, giving the mysterious owner of the voice all it needed to know. And when the voice spoke again, it spoke with a knowing tone in itself, seemingly amused by the revelation it had just encountered.

"So that is why, you do not wish to kill. Coward."

"That isn't it! Just because these men attacked us doesn't mean that they have to die." Naruto argued weakly.

"You are simply saying that because you do not wish to stain your hands with blood. What type of shinobi are you? You think that these men did not come here with the intent to harm you and your friends? This was an ambush boy, an ambush. They were waiting here for you with the sole reason of attacking in numbers and making sure that there is no hope for you and your teammates to get away. And while your friends are in danger, you are sitting here simply knocking out the men that wish to kill them. Have you no shame?" The voice mocked venomously. "You want to lead a village but you do not wish to take a life. You think simply being the heir to a clan is enough for you to lead your people? You lack the very qualities that make a leader. Did you see any peaceful leaders?"

"Yes, the Third Hokage…"

"The peace loving fool? Do not lie to yourself. That man has been in all three of the Great Wars. How do you think he earned his title as the 'god of shinobi'? By preaching about peace on the battlefield? Foolish Brat! He was given that title by his enemies' fear of him on the battlefield! That man alone is responsible for the death of hundreds if not thousands of shinobi in his time alone! But the fact is, he did it for the sake of his village, his home. Yet you, in the face of danger still seek to keep your hands pure. What is your plan after knocking them all out anyway? Hoping that they will treat it as a friendly spar and everyone will simply walk away? You naïve boy, in this world it is and always will be kill or be killed. With your attitude right now you're literally begging to get you're comrades killed. I won't be surprised if some of them are already dead." The voice lectured gravely as Naruto's eyes widened.

"And what do you mean they don't deserve to die? Don't tell me you haven't noticed their main affinity yet?"

The gears in Naruto's head that were trying to understand the small speech came to a halt with the realization bestowed upon him. "Lightning users…"

The owner of the voice grunted, "And which village is renowned for their large amount of Lightning users?"

"Kumogakure…"

"Well done! Now you know who is responsible. I'm going to let you in on a little secret as a reward, Kumogakure loves bloodlines, to the extent that they would literally rob them from other villages. Just because their village did not get the biggest percentage of bloodline clans didn't stop them from dreaming. Do you know how many have been caught and stolen? Your precious Hinata was almost one of them if you remember correctly. If not for Hiashi stopping the thief and Hizashi's sacrifice, poor little Hinata would be nothing more than breeding stock in that detestable village!" The owner of the voice smirked when he could feel the rage burning hotter and hotter within Naruto.

On his part, Naruto's fists were tightly clenched with his eyes closed and his head bowed, his blond locks shadowing his face as his clones battled all around him.

"And you heard the commander a while ago." The voice continued, "This entire ambush force was dedicated to capturing Uzumaki and are authorized to kill any ones brought along with them. This group poses a threat not only to you, but to every single one of your friends and especially the other Uzumaki. You and Arashi would be subjected to torture and forced to give up the location of your people so they can finish exterminating the threat of your clan. Arashi would probably give them hell, but what if this group of seventy five shinobi encountered Kaede or Akane and they were caught? You practically handed them breeding stock and a subdued Uzumaki clan within Kumo. They would suffer a fate far worse than death itself! And to think that it was all because you didn't want to kill them over here. So much for a leader of your people." The voice scoffed but was silently pleased as Naruto started unconsciously drawing on the Kyubi's chakra in his rage.

"Not to mention what else would happen if their teammates were caught in the crossfire as well, or yours for that matter. Their deaths would all be on your head. And that would be simply because you did not want to kill these monsters here when you clearly have the power to do so. Actually, I think you may have already lost a few of your teammates…"

Naruto's eyes snapped open as his head shot up. Gathering up chakra he sent out another wide range Chakra pulse and his heart almost stopped with the information that returned to his body.

"You can feel it too can't you?" The voice actually seemed a little remorseful.

Naruto didn't need telling. From what he could sense, Sakura was lying immobile on the ground with very little let in the way of chakra, there was no sign of Tenten, and Sasuke was far away from Sakura and going up against many shinobi with his chakra draining fast. Naruto didn't know what happened to Sakura or why Sasuke seemed to be a distance away from her and fighting a suicide battle, but he knew that if he didn't make it there in time then Sasuke was going to perish, his brother figure… And why couldn't he sense Tenten? His childhood friend from the orphanage should have at least been either fighting alongside Sasuke or taking care of a possibly injured Sakura. Then that meant she was… dead. The blond Uzumaki did not want to believe that word as tears slipped from his eyes, but there was no evidence against it. His friend was dead, the other was probably dying and the last had almost no hope of winning. And it had been because he hadn't gone quickly to aid them, because he hadn't killed these men that deserved death, because he hadn't wanted to kill and hadn't thought of the consequences.

A massive explosion of light occurred nearby seizing all the fighting in the clearing as everyone turned to see two massive dragons clashing for dominance before there was another blinding flash of light and everything was silent again. But that wasn't what had caught Naruto's eye. All that the masked Uzumaki saw in slow motion was Kakashi falling to his knees with an exhausted look in his eyes. The disheartening scene replayed once again before his eyes as he sensed Kakashi's dwindling chakra reserves.

"And there goes Kakashi." The voice stated mockingly. "And it's all because of you!" The voice yelled accusingly. "All of your teammates are hurt or dying because of you!"

The words cut through Naruto's heart like a hot knife through butter as the grief overcame him, the voice's words echoing relentlessly within his head

"Tch, even with their deaths you are a failure." The voice said disappointedly.

If the voice had had physical substance then Naruto would have been glaring daggers at it. "What do you mean!? They're already dead! I can't even reach Sasuke in time! What do you still want me to do? It's too late…" Naruto replied as sobs rocked his body.

The owner of the voice smirked evilly. "Take revenge. Kill these monstrosities that dared to attack you. This way they can take no more lives of your precious people."

And just like that, Naruto's grief was instantly converted into anger and hatred, drawing even more of the Kyubi's power as he activated the first of his Celestial Gates. His enemies watched in confusion and fear as his body became shrouded in a bright blue chakra before becoming engulfed in a fiery red.

But that wasn't the only change. All four of the armoured clones dispelled instantly as the original began leaking enough killing intent to make everyone feel weak on their knees. And if they were afraid before, now they were terrified as Naruto split into two and both his bodies suddenly started growing to the size of giant's and transforming into something they had never seen before, moving masses of armoured steel that glared ominously at them through glowing, obsidian black eyes.

All life in the clearing suddenly froze in anticipation as the two gigantic masses of destruction eyed their prey.

Just as suddenly as the silence arrived, it was broken when the chakra coated Bumblebee and Barricade released deafening roars that chilled every human in the clearing to the bone. The ground beneath both steel behemoths cracked violently under the strain.

Time froze again for a split second before Barricade blurred forward at immense speed despite his size and crushed a man under the weight of his mace and Bumblebee leapt forward and the yellow robot's arm flashed forward, a sickening crack resonating from a man as the huge steel fist collided with his chest. The shinobi was sent flying a good distance away before crashing violently as his body impacted mercilessly against the sturdy trunk of a tree. Not stopping there the man flew straight through three more trees before his body stilled completely with no hope of ever moving again.

"What the hell is this kid!?" One of the surviving shinobi yelled out as he watched his comrades getting brutally destroyed.

The fear suddenly spurted the other shinobi into action as they began to try and subdue their angered target.

Meanwhile on the other side of the clearing Kakashi was watching in horror as his student began to mercilessly decimate their enemies. Kakashi cursed when he realized that he had used far too much chakra in his fight against Xaxa and was now unable to move as fast as he used too. He could only watch the monster that his student had apparently become. 'What happened to you Naruto? What could have possibly pushed you this far?'

(Inside the Mindscape)

"Who was that voice?" Optimus demanded angrily. "And why couldn't Naruto hear us while it was talking?"

Kurama looked at the large robot seriously. "I do not know. You heard the entire conversation as well didn't you?" The bijuu asked.

Optimus nodded grimly. "And unlike Naruto we both know that that voice was faking its emotions. It succeeded in sending Naruto down the wrong path. If he carries on this way he will lose his way and may very well ending up as something other than the savior of this world. The cube chose Naruto due to his kind and forgiving soul and the cube is also aware that there is a prophecy in this world that a child with great power should be born and would either walk the path of dark or the path of light. So far Naruto has been following the path of light but ever since the introduction of this voice, he has been set on the path of hatred. Whoever this voice is does not seem to have good intentions if it has done this on purpose."

The massive Bijuu sat in thought. He could not deny that Naruto probably was the one that his father, the Rikudo Sennin, spoke about if the Cube had chosen him. But the amount of anger and sheer hate that was being released by the boy was a clear preview of what the world would suffer if they let the boy walk down this path. This hate did not belong in such a forgiving soul and although Naruto was one of the kindest people alive, he still had weaknesses and was susceptible to falling to the darkness. The Kyubi growled as the situation reminded him a little too much of the cursed Uchiha that he hated so much.

It could not be helped since love bred hate, but Kurama wanted, no, needed Naruto to let go of the hatred he was feeling right now. Kurama may have hated Madara much more than any other human, but Madara had been an honourable man until his little brother Izuna had been killed. Even after that the legendary Uchiha had gone on with Hashirama to create Konoha, but he still failed to remain with the light after the village he had helped to create turned against him.

The scary part was that Naruto had the potential to turn out even worse than Madara.

"How do we get into contact with Naruto Optimus? As long as that voice maintains his connection with Naruto, he cannot hear us."

"The answer there is simple." Optimus replied as his arms converted into cannons.

Reading his mind Kurama grinned wildly. "We cause a disturbance in the mindscape don't we?"

Barricade decided that now was probably a good time to intervene. "And just how exactly are we going to cause a disturbance in here?"

"We fight." Optimus stated matter of factly as the large robot shrugged his shoulders.

Barricade and Bumblebee also decided to pull out their weapons as they faced the giant fox that was grinning wildly at them.

Kurama gave a deep laugh as he looked at his temporary opponents. "Even if we share the mindscape, we cannot physically injure each other in here, but that doesn't stop it from hurting."

Barricade grinned. "Perfect."

"Now it is time to take on the almighty Kyubi! Strongest of the… "

And before Kurama could finish he received a barrage of blasts to his face as he yelped in pain.

"Oh it's on!" he growled gleefully as he leapt into the fray.

(With Sasuke)

The Uchiha was not enjoying his current fight, not at all. No matter how powerful a Genin he was, and even that was in part due to his teammates and their superb teamwork, no genin could successfully take on eleven ninja who still had unknown skill levels. For all he knew they could all be Jonin.

'What an unfair fight.' Sasuke summarized glumly.

Suddenly his mind went back to Naruto and Kakashi's situation with the amount of shinobi that they were up against. 'Maybe the odds are a little in my favor.' The raven haired Uchiha mused. 'Then again Kakashi is a highly skilled jonin and Naruto has an unfair advantage over most shinobi.'

A spark of lightning from one of the tree tops alerted him to an attack and he tensed for action.

"Raiton: Gian Yari!" (Lightning Release: False Darkness Spear) The shout rang out as three successive shots of lightning burst from the ninja's mouth.

Sharingan spinning Sasuke executed three consecutive back flips to avoid each bolt of lightning as each lightning bolt scorched the ground where he had been standing on previously. As soon as the assault ceased, the young Uchiha skidded back on the ground a little from his momentum before kicking up dirt as he blurred towards the source of the attack.

The shinobi in the tree widened his eyes as Sasuke sped up the tree and in his panic launched three kunai at the Uchiha in an attempt to delay him.

Sasuke's Sharingan spun rapidly as they offered the genin the proposed trajectories of the projectiles and the young Uchiha effortlessly knocked them off course with a kunai of his own before carrying on his path unheeded and appearing in front of the shinobi who was too late to move away and evade the deadly genin.

Summoning fire to his right arm Sasuke glared at the man with his Sharingan. "It's over." The Uchiha stated matter of factly before punching the man's chest with as much force as he could muster. The last thing that the shinobi saw was the merciless glare of blood red eyes with three tomoes in each one.

Sasuke didn't need to see the results of his jutsu to know that it was effective. The shinobi had been no different from their commander earlier and the fool hadn't even been smart enough to use a substitution jutsu to save his life, too stuck up in his fear. Sasuke still wasn't okay with taking a life, but he would live. It was either them or him anyway.

'One down, ten to go.' Sasuke thought tiredly.

Before Sasuke could think any further he was forced to leave his position on the tree as it was bombarded with more lightning jutsu. But even on the ground, he got no rest.

"Raiton: Hankon Raidou!" (Lightning Release: Scarring Lightning Tunnel)

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the Jutsu. 'That thing is similar to Naruto's Wind Release: Scarring Wind Tunnel. The differences are this tunnel is obviously made up of lightning chakra, and that the user is spinning inside it. A deadly jutsu, but it also has its drawbacks.' Sasuke commented as he analyzed the Jutsu that was slowly approaching him, slow from his Sharingan's point of view anyway.

Storing information about the jutsu away for later, Sasuke decided that it was about time he capitalized on the jutsu's glaring weakness. It was good for tearing down defenses, but because the user was spinning inside the tunnel then it would prove to be fatal if any opponent it was used against had common sense. Forming the single hand seal that he needed for the technique, the young Uchiha inhaled large amounts of air and focused chakra to his lungs before shouting out the name of the Jutsu, "Katon: Goukakyou!" (Fire Release: Great Fireball)

The large ball of flames spewed forth from Sasuke's mouth forming an incredibly hot inferno that had the capability to burn through almost anything within the vicinity due to its intensity. Unluckily for the user of the lightning jutsu, both him and his technique were caught up in the flames and incinerated almost without a trace. That was the weakness of the jutsu that Sasuke had noticed, although deadly in piercing power, it lacked any sort of defense if the user was attacked and the lightning jutsu could not pierce it.

Hearing the whistling of kunai and shuriken behind him, the raven haired boy whirled around and struck the weapons out of the air before his sharingan caught onto one detail that many other shinobi would have missed: the presence of exploding tags on the handles of the kunai.

Thinking quickly Sasuke substituted with a log and not a moment later the log was blown apart from the explosion that resulted.

From his spot high up in a neighboring tree Sasuke frowned underneath his mask, that experience had been a very close shave. 'Thank Kami for whoever invented the Substitution Jutsu.' The young Uchiha thought to himself.

"There he is!" One of the remaining shinobi cried out, alerting his comrades to the Uchiha's new position.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. 'That one was the one who threw those explosive kunai. Well, two can play at that game!' The young Uchiha spun around on the branch he was on as the shinobi leapt up towards him. Sasuke didn't leap away immediately but instead waited until the enemy shinobi was almost on top of him before he leapt away.

What the shinobi hadn't seen was that Sasuke had slapped an explosive tag on the underside of the branch before leaping off so he was completely unprepared when the branch he landed on exploded in a shower of flame.

Sasuke smirked when he heard the man's screams, evidence that his trap had worked. Stopping once again to turn around Sasuke frowned at what he saw of the man, or what was left of him. The entire lower part of the man's body had been blown apart but the man was still screaming in pain. Sasuke didn't want this. He may have been fine with killing but he would not torture anyone or give them such a slow and painful death. Even if the man lived he could no longer be a shinobi. So Sasuke did the one thing that he could for the suffering shinobi.

The man's screams stopped not a moment later when a kunai found itself lodged deeply within his head, ending his suffering. To Sasuke it was a merciful kill, quick and painless. If the young Uchiha died in battle then he would want to go down that way as well. Even if the ninja had been an enemy, both of them were still human and Sasuke didn't wish such a gruesome fate for anyone.

Returning his focus to the fight the young Uchiha decided to take the fight back onto the ground in the middle of a small clearing. It was harder to get ambushed while out in the open. 'There's still eight more of them and I have less than a quarter of my chakra left. Shit, this isn't going well. I might need to get out of here soon.' Sasuke calculated as he scanned the clearing.

His eyes widened when two shinobi blurred out of the tree line with swords in their hands charged with lightning chakra. 'This is bad.' Sasuke thought quickly. 'A kunai would be useless against such weapons, too small and made of the weak metal. I don't even know how to do that efficiently with my own weapons yet. Guess I need to use my sword for this one.'

Sasuke unsheathed his Uchiha ninjato, its obsidian black blade glinting dangerously while the bright red crow symbol and the Uchiha crest practically glowed from either side of the blade near the hilt. It was just in time to parry the first strike so that the Uchiha could follow up and kick the shinobi powerfully in the chest, sending him flying backwards.

The second assailant was either more skilled than the first or more careful but he was good enough to engage Sasuke in a one on one duel. The clashing of their blades rang across the forest while sparks literally flew off the blade of lightning every time it connected with the obsidian ninjato.

Sasuke could tell that he was holding up quite well but he could already feel his arms going numb from parrying and blocking the blows of his physically stronger opponent. The Uchiha sword style involved mainly parries and dodges to allow lethal counter attacks aided by the sharingan, but that wasn't possible when your opponent was faster than you and also possessed an unreadable style of sword fighting.

His opponent seemed to favor slashing a lot but Sasuke had quickly noticed that his opponent's blade was always tilted at a certain angle that would allow the enemy shinobi to impale or disarm Sasuke if he wasn't careful. This led them to a pretty much even stalemate since Sasuke was mostly defending and the opponent was on the offensive. But Sasuke knew that he couldn't keep it up much longer with how hi arms were faring. That and the shinobi he had kicked away earlier had made another sudden entrance into the battle and Sasuke had barely avoided getting bisected by the surprise attack.

The young Uchiha leapt back up into the trees studying his two opponents while they in turn glared back up at him with hatred. He couldn't really blame them; he alone had killed around four of their comrades already. The standoff continued for another few minutes before Sasuke began running through hand seals again.

"Katon: Housenka!" (Fire Release: Phoenix Flower)

A multitude of smaller fireballs erupted from Sasuke's mouth as he fired them up from his vantage point like a sentry.

The first swordsman chuckled in amusement before running through his own hand seals. "Suiton: Teppodama!" (Water Release: Liquid Bullets) Multiple condensed bodies of water flew out of the ninja's mouth impacting solidly against the fireballs and cancelling them out and effectively creating large amounts of steam that also blocked their view of the Uchiha.

Sasuke smirked when he saw his plan work yet again, Kakashi's lessons regarding strategy were indeed useful in real life battle. It was a shame that some shinobi thought that everything was about power. 'Even a Genin given the right mind and tools can take down a careless Kage.' Sasuke recited his sensei's words in his head before moving onto phase two of his plan, the fireballs had only been part one.

The first swordsman was so caught up in blocking the fireballs with his water jutsu that he did not notice the kunai and shuriken that were following closely behind the fireballs. Sasuke had expected the man to use a water jutsu and while normally kunai and shuriken would not go through a fire or water jutsu, they could go through steam quite easily. The first swordsman never knew what hit him, only that his vision had suddenly been going dark for some reason.

The second swordsman however had not been preparing any sort of counter jutsu and although shocked about the appearance of the projectiles, was able to use his lightning coated sword and deflect all of them.

When the onslaught of projectiles ended the second swordsman cautiously watched the steam in front of him as he warily watched it slowly disperse in case of another attack. It was because of his focus on the steam that would prove to be his downfall as he did not pay attention to his other surroundings.

The ground behind him suddenly exploded violently as Sasuke erupted from underground. Faster than the older shinobi could react, Sasuke plunged his ninjato straight through the ninja's back, making sure to impale both a lung and the heart.

The lightning on the swordsman's sword slowly died out as the shinobi coughed up blood and fell on his knees. "How?" he asked weakly.

Showing a little respect to the fallen warrior Sasuke explained briefly. "I used the fireballs to distract you as there were kunai behind them. When your friend used his water jutsu it became steam and the kunai appeared out of the steam quickly enough to get your attention. By this time I was already underground using the hidden mole technique."

The older shinobi nodded before he coughed up once more and fell lifelessly to the ground.

Sasuke stared at the body for another minute as he panted heavily. 'Damn it! Damn it to hell!" Sasuke cursed. 'There's still six of them left and I'm almost out of chakra! So these are my limits without my teammates.' The Uchiha thought glumly.

Thinking about a tactical retreat the Uchiha decided that he had given his clone enough time to put some distance between them and their ambushers. The young Uchiha stretched his senses for a moment and when he couldn't sense any of the remaining six shinobi, Sasuke slowly sank into the ground, confident of his quick escape.

Closing his eyes as he sank into the ground Sasuke began extending his senses into his surroundings. This jutsu he admitted was very handy to know, although quite unusual. Once the user was submerged into the ground, all the other senses were somehow shut down as they started burrowing through the ground. The only thing you felt was the positions of whatever was above the ground due to feeling the vibrations or from simply sensing their chakra. For some reason if you were underground it was possible to sense the chakra of those above you but you were invisible to the majority of chakra sensors if you were underground.

That was why the masked Uchiha was startled when he sensed the presence of four shinobi above him and one seemed to be going through hand seals based on the buildup and molding of chakra that Sasuke could sense. 'Impossible! They can't know exactly where I am! Can they?' he thought to himself unsurely.

He was proven wrong however when he felt as if all the nerves in his body were being fried. The pain was unbelievable and Sasuke could already feel his muscles going numb. He didn't know what was happening but whatever it was, he didn't like it one bit.

Using common sense, the young Uchiha changed his direction and shot back up towards the surface. No less than a second later Sasuke erupted out of the ground into the air. However, he had forgotten that he was still a little disoriented having just come from underground and was vulnerable for a minute as his eyes stabilized to the surroundings. His eyes recovered quick enough to notice a kunai come flying straight towards his head.

In desperation Sasuke tilted his head to the side just enough for the kunai to graze his cheek and draw blood. Unfortunately for him, he had been so focused on the kunai that he completely missed the man that had just body flickered behind him.

The young Uchiha almost had no idea what was happening. One minute he was dodging a kunai and the next second his vision, even through the sharingan, was blurring badly and he felt himself stumble forward. He was given no chance to recover however as the shinobi that had thrown the kunai earlier took advantage of his predicament and punched him powerfully in the face with a right hook.

What followed next was mostly just a blur for the masked Uchiha. The only constant was the pain that seemed to collide with his body from different angles as he felt himself getting tossed around.

A dull ache was slowly building up across his body as he felt the consecutive blows from an untold amount of attackers. Who knows, with how things were going he was probably dead at the moment. That was such a saddening thought, dying without really achieving anything.

The next thing that the masked Uchiha registered was his back slamming into something hard and solid before he slowly slid down onto the ground. His vision started to clear as he gazed up to get a reading on his surroundings. Thankfully whatever punishment he had received had ceased for some reason or other and he was wondering why. Not that he wanted it to continue but one did not suddenly stop an attack when they had the advantage. His eyes widened upon the information that he received.

Sasuke discovered that he had crashed into one of Fire Country's large tree trunks at the end of the brutal assault and was currently leaning rather helplessly on the tree trunk, but that wasn't what concerned him.

Right in front of him were four of the six remaining shinobi and the reason they had halted their attack became clear as day as Sasuke watched all four of them simultaneously going through hand seals. They were going to end it. 'No!' Sasuke thought defiantly. 'I am not going down like this!'

Summoning lightning chakra to the tenkutsu on his throat, Sasuke built up the energy required for the jutsu in seconds. It wasn't going to be a very powerful jutsu due to the limited time frame that he had available but it would buy him some time. And right now, that was what he needed most. "Raiton: Raikyu!" (Lightning Release: Lightning Ball)

One of the four shinobi got hit by the brunt of the technique head on as he had been too focused on the hand seals that he was performing to concern himself with his surroundings. Normally the jutsu that Sasuke had just used would have been enough to kill a man, but the weakened jutsu had been just enough to completely paralyze the man in question.

Sasuke smirked, in their worry for their comrade the other three enemy shinobi had abandoned their hand seals in favor of checking up on their friend's fate. Big mistake. This was exactly what Sasuke had wanted, they were all gathered and distracted and the young Uchiha could finish them off in one go! This time Sasuke gathered all of his remaining chakra, which wasn't that much left, and pushed it all outward in a sea of flames. "Katon: Ryuuka!" (Fire Release: Dragon Fire)

Unfortunately, the three distracted shinobi were alert enough to leap away from the intense flames and up into the tree branches at a second's notice but their paralyzed comrade could do little else other than widen his eyes and scream as the burning flames consumed him. The three that jumped away however did not get away unscathed as each one sported third degree burns where the flames had managed to lick them greedily.

After ending the technique Sasuke literally collapsed back against the tree as he slumped down into an undignified heap with his back against the tree trunk. Sasuke once again watched the enemy shinobi as they prepared another jutsu. This time however, he was truly helpless. 'Damn it all, the plan didn't work. There's like five of them left and I have no chakra left, not even enough to get away. I don't even have any of the soldier pills, I left them all with Tenten.' Sasuke panted heavily as he mentally ticked off options in his head. 'It's over now, sorry Naruto, I won't be there to be Hokage along with your village.' Sasuke thought glumly as he closed his eyes in resignation. There was no longer any way that he could get out of this situation. 'At least Tenten and Sakura are safe.' He thought happily. At least his death would not be meaningless. 'Goodbye, Mum, Itachi, Naruto. Take care.'

"Raiton: Zekkyou Washi!" (Lightning Release: Screaming Eagle)

Three piercing screams filled the air as the three separate jutsus each roared to life, shaping themselves into three human sized eagles that glided around their users for a moment before diving straight towards the helpless Uchiha.

Sasuke opened his eyes, determined to meet his death head on. 'What an interesting technique, this is going to hurt.' He joked a bit in his head.

Less than a moment later there was a blinding flash of light and a deafening explosion as the three lightning jutsus made contact. It was bright enough that even the three users raised their arms to shield their eyes from the tremendous amount of light that the blue explosion had caused.

Sasuke was once again unsure of what had happened. The eagles had been directly in front of him, screeching loudly in his face before they exploded. The amount of light blinded his sharingan as his ears began ringing as a result of the close range explosion.

Strangely enough however, he felt very light. It was almost as if he was floating in space. The ringing was slowly starting to fade away while his vision was a startling white that showed blurry outlines as everything started to solidify. His stomach was also doing somersaults as his legs felt numb. Was this how it felt like to be dead?

His answer was given a moment later when his vision cleared and he managed to recognize the back of a bun haired girl wearing a black outfit with dark purple sleeves standing defensively in front of him. That alone already confirmed her identity. But the most noticeable trait about her being was the enormous mace that the girl carried, and especially the way that it was practically glowing a magnificent blue.

"Tenten?" Sasuke asked weakly. "What are you doing here? My clone was carrying you away."

The bun haired girl snorted. "Saving you of course. Why else?" She asked like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

The three shinobi up in the tree were more than surprised at the sudden change of events as they leapt down to try and finish the job. They had lost far too many comrades to the red masked Uchiha alone and they weren't about to let him get away.

The young Uchiha quickly took in his teammate's previously beaten up face was now healed and perfectly fine save for a few streaks of dirt here and there as she stood her ground against the oncoming attackers. He quickly concluded that Tenten had at least met up with Sakura and that his pink haired teammate was fine. But then where was she?

Out of nowhere a steel arrow embedded itself into the neck of one the charging shinobi, causing him to gurgle and clutch his neck as he fell to the ground.

Sasuke smirked. Well then that answered his question. The only shinobi he knew to use arrows was Sakura.

The two remaining shinobi however were not amused as they immediately halted in their tracks, wary of the surrounding forest. Pausing however turned out to be another big mistake as Tenten closed the distance between them at an insane speed.

"Batter up!" Tenten declared cheerfully before slamming her oversized mace into the older shinobi like a baseball bat. The mace itself had already stored up an enormous amount of energy from absorbing the three lightning eagles earlier. Combine that with the fact that the mace was incredibly heavy and large you get a recipe for disaster. Her target stood no chance as that one blow completely obliterated him from the face of the earth.

The last shinobi's eyes now widened in fear at the display of power, this was unbelievable from three kids. He had lost his squad of fifteen shinobi to three genin. That either spoke volumes about their power or his group's incompetence as shinobi. The last ambusher liked to think that he and his comrades had at least been decent ninja. There was only one option in his mind right now, retreat and possibly escape alive. Commander Xaxa would probably forgive him anyway, his part in the mission had not been a primary objective and the commander was an understanding man anyway.

Turning around in preparation to flee, the last shinobi was not expecting to come face to face with blood red sharingan eyes with three tomoe spinning rapidly within them. As sudden as the devil eyes had come, the last shinobi lost all feeling to his body. Looking down in horror the shinobi saw something which he dreaded to see. A flame covered fist had pierced straight through his chest, much like what had happened to Miza, his recent leader. But how was this possible? The boy had been pretty much helpless a minute ago. Unfortunately for him, the man would take the question with him to the grave as the light in his eyes dimmed.

Sasuke's shadow clone nodded in satisfaction before giving his original a wave and an eye smile, eerily reminiscent of their current sensei. The young Uchiha had to wonder why his shadow clones always seemed to have personalities of their own. Aside from that he was still denial and shock, he had been inches away from death before he had been saved and it was a great feeling. No wonder why rescued hostages often became attached to their rescuers.

"Come on Sasuke-kun, get up a little." Sakura suggested gently from behind him.

The young Uchiha complied and breathed a sigh of relief when a soothing chakra entered from his back, slowly healing the injuries that he had sustained. Thank Kami for them having a medic. "Sakura, nice to see you're okay. I didn't see you a while ago." Sasuke started as he relaxed for a minute.

"I was chased somewhere else after I thought they killed Tenten. I ended up killing the guy that was chasing me." Sakura's voice wavered for a moment and her chakra control slipped a little.

The meaning was not lost on Sasuke, both the girls and him had gained their first kill today. He liked to think that he was dealing with it well but he wasn't too sure. At least he had found a reason to fight and kill. He wasn't too sure how they were dealing with it but it probably wasn't that bad considering they had just killed to save him.

"Well how are you two holding up?" Sasuke asked carefully as Tenten took a seat next to him.

Tenten frowned a little before answering. "I'm fine…ish. I remember freezing up for a while there and then the next thing I knew I was hugging Sakura and then coming back to get you when I realized that the Sasuke with me was just a clone." The bun haired girl admitted as she sealed away her mace.

"I'm fine too." Sakura replied afterwards. "I was crying for a while until Tenten saw me. I guess I was just glad she was alive and snapped out of it." The pink haired girl added.

"What about you Sasuke?" Tenten asked as she turned to face him. "I kind of remember you killing the female commander in front of me, and you've obviously been busy while we were away."

"It wasn't really a big deal. I mean it was… scary, but I didn't want either one of you to get hurt or killed so I tried to fight and survive while buying you guys time to get away. Too bad my escape plan failed miserably." Sasuke chuckled a little before he stilled, his eyes furrowed in concentration.

"Wait a minute." He ordered slowly as he leapt up to his feet and on alert despite Sakura's protests as she tried to heal him. "After I killed the commander, there were eleven shinobi left here." He did some quick math in his head recounting his recent battle. "I killed six of them before I ran out of chakra so there were five left. Then Sakura got one and you got the other while my clone got the third. That means that there are two more around us here!" Sasuke stated in alarm as he came to his conclusion.

Instantly the team was up on their feet and back to back as they scanned the forest around them. They almost jumped when Tora meowed from Sakura's neck. The cat had been so quiet up until that point that they had all forgotten about it.

"Let's head back to Naruto and Kakashi." Sasuke suggested suddenly, his eyes still trained on his surroundings.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Sasuke-kun, there was a large battle going on there and we were told to run away."

Sasuke scoffed at the reminder. "Yeah, whatever. But I have a feeling that something bad is going to happen and that we need to be there."

If the situation hadn't been so tense Tenten would have rolled her eyes. "Yes boss, but what about the other two here? Do you think they fled?"

Sasuke shook his head. "Maybe, maybe not. But one thing I do know is that they had a chance to attack us while we were distracted but they didn't. That either means that they don't want to attack or can't."

"Then let's head back to Kakashi-sensei, the faster we get there the better." Sakura suggested.

At Sasuke's nod the trio blurred away from the field, never noticing the two figures watching them.

"Should we follow them?" one of the two asked his comrade.

"I don't know. Maybe if we follow them and they sense us then they might turn around and kill us like they did with the others here. Or maybe they will spare us because we didn't attack them only to kill us later on when they find out that we were part of the group that attacked them. Then they will torture us for almost killing them before sending our mutilated corpses back to Raikage-sama who get angry at Konoha and then the Fourth Shinobi war will start and then…"

"Shut up Omoitsu!" his partner almost snarled. "I just asked if we should follow them."

"I am sorry Karuiki." Omoitsu replied. "We would probably die when they notice us and recognize who we are."

"If. If they notice us." Karuiki emphasized with a smile.

Omoitsu smiled back at his long time friend. "If they notice us."

Chuckling to themselves the two friends set off after the trio.

And done! Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I know I did.

You all can take a guess as to what the dark voice was, but you'll NEVER get it! This is something that I had planned in the creation of this story idea, meant to appear towards the end of canon, like Fourth War canon.

So...I hate to do something like this, but can I get some of you to check out my new story? I don't want to look like I'm begging you to look, but it's a bit barren in the views and reviews, I really want to see some feedback on it.

Please Review! Ciao!