A/N: I don't own either Naruto or Harry Potter; if I did I definately wouldn't be writing fanfiction for free.

And thank you for everyone who reviewed! :)


"All in favor of the plaintive, Harry Potter, please raise your hands." Madame Bones, acting as judge in her capacity as Head of Magical Law Enforcement for the trial, asked. Harry watched as the majority of the members within the wizengamont raised their hands. "All in favor of the defendants, SPS Corporation, please raise your hands." It was immediately noticeable that the number of hands for the defendants was significantly less than for the plaintive.

The court room exploded in noise as people began talking and cameras began flashing. Due to Harry's high profile and the rumors that had ran rampant for months as the Daily Prophet had successfully dodged each lawsuit attempt, many people had decided to come watch the proceedings, from the curious public, rival media sources and almost every single member of the wizengamont (though for any given trial at least fifteen members must come to act as jurors – unless it has to do with ministry affairs where they'd act as judge and prosecutors.)

Madame Bones slammed the gavel down. "Order! The wizengamont has spoken, thus Harry Potter will be awarded 50% of the Daily Prophet shares owned by SPS Corporation, and a further 500 galleons for slander against his person. Courtroom is dismissed."

Harry barely had enough time to shake hands with his lawyer before a flash of flame and an unearthly beautiful song rang throughout the cavernous room, instantly grabbing everybody's attention. Hundreds of eyes watched as Fawkes the phoenix made a small circuit of the room before landing before his human companion, Albus Dumbledore, and dropping off what looked to be a large bundle wrapped in non-descript brown paper. There was a single sheet on top of the bundle, which the Head of the Wizengamont bemusedly picked up to read. The murmurs of confusion that spread through the room was interrupted as the reputed strongest wizard of the age picked up his wand and swore an oath on his magic.

"I, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, do swear on my magic on this day February the 19th in the year 1994, that I have no previous knowledge as to the contents within the package delivered to me by my familiar Fawkes the phoenix on this very day in the ministry, Courtroom 10. I also swear on my magic that, to the best of my knowledge, the contents of the package were not acquired by illegal means."

After that unexpected oath, the murmurs grew ever louder, only to be cut off again a few minutes later once Dumbledore finished skimming through the papers within the package.

"I am calling an emergency Wizengamont meeting, for tomorrow Sunday February the 20th. Minister Fudge; I expect for you, both the junior and senior undersecretaries, and all the ministry Heads to be available when called tomorrow as well. That is all I have to say at the moment, so I will take my leave and return to Hogwarts; farewell."

The courtroom again exploded in noise as the elderly man disappeared with the bundle of papers in a flash of flames, courtesy of Fawkes. Everyone started to speculate on Dumbledore's actions, the contents of the mysterious package, and why Dumbledore felt the need to make a magical oath about its contents. Harry let the noise wash over him as he unobtrusively escaped from the courtroom and made his way to the lift. He had no need to speculate as he already knew what the package contained – he was the one who sent it. Including the letter he left on top, telling Dumbledore to make that oath before opening the package with letters cut and pasted from the Daily Prophet.

The lengths in which Harry went through just to deliver a package seemed kind of extreme, but it was necessary. To understand the reasoning, first you must be aware of the role of the wizengamont in relation to the ministry of magic.

The ministry is technically the real power amongst the people; they are the ones who make the laws, write the bills, and arrest those who have done wrong. Like its muggle counterpart, the minister must be voted into office. The wizengamont however, is the overseer of the ministry – even if they hold no direct power over the people. The ministry makes and proposes laws, but it is the wizengamont who decides whether to pass it or refuse it. They don't have the power to arrest or prosecute any given citizen (though they do act as jurors for their trials), but they do have the power to prosecute anyone from the ministry, notably those who abuse their power. Unlike the ministry, the public does not choose who holds a position within the wizengamont. There are a total of 200 seats, no more, no less (though they are usually not all filled, as some – like Harry – who hold a seat or two are too young to claim it, or some just can't be bothered to perform their duties and have not yet appointed a representative). Most of them are held by old families, and are thus passed down and are inherited by the new generation. But for those families who have died out or have their seats revoked (such as the Lestrange family where all the living members are convicted criminals), seats are appointed based on contributions towards the wizarding society (such as muggle-born Susan Hothway gaining a seat for her discovery of the soothing properties of murtlap essence and half-blood Alfred Ellington gaining a seat for inventing the Wizarding Wireless). Decisions on who the new members and the Head of the wizengamont ought to be are decided by majority voting of current members. Since the wizengamont acts as the supervising force of the ministry, it is frowned upon to hold both a high ministry position and a seat of the wizengamont so there is no conflict of business; usually once someone reaches a position of power within the ministry they allow a relative to take their seat in the wizengamont (which is why Lucius had never run for minister, preferring to run things in the background).

Due to their role of policing the ministry, all members of the wizengamont (the Chief Warlock specifically) are granted access to any and all official ministry documents. But, even though they have the right to all documents, the ministry isn't forced to hand them over or even offer information about any documents. This means that almost all high-up ministry officials have made dozens secret, but ministry approved, deals or orders that the wizengamont have no idea exist, let alone proof that they do. Until now that is. And with the way it was delivered – via a phoenix, notoriously resilient to being controlled or influenced by outside sources as well as synonymous with good and noble – along with Dumbledore's oath, well there was no way to prove that the documents were procured by illegal means and therefore there was no way they could be dismissible in court. Which meant that starting tomorrow, there was going to be some drastic changes within the ministry.


It was late in the evening, and even though the famed Copy-nin was supposed to be well on his way to the Fire/Grass Country border to deliver a scroll to those patrolling in that area, he instead was currently still within the giant walls of the city. It was rare that a jounin sensei would be assigned solo missions – especially when the students were still genin – but after the invasion Konoha couldn't afford to look weak or vulnerable, which meant that they were accepting as many missions as possible and making use of every chunnin and jounin they had while genin were kept busy rebuilding and cleaning up Konoha itself. But despite the mission given to him, Kakashi was putting it off while searching through the many training grounds in the all but abandoned Uchiha district for his dark-haired student.

When he had first been assigned to team 7, he had quickly formed the closest bond with the last Uchiha. It was hard not to; they were very much alike. Where Naruto caused bittersweet memories due to his Obito-like personality and mini-Minato looks, and Sakura (and all fan girls for that matter) was just beyond Kakashi's understanding, Sasuke had been a kindred spirit. They had both been orphaned at a young age via traumatic means and both were forced to live with the burden of the village's expectations as the last of their once formidable clans. Both were considered geniuses, they were among the only people left in the world with a sharingan eye, they both had a strong affinity to lightning and both had the same stand-offish attitude at that age, drowning themselves in their training as an outlet only cemented the bond.

It was for this reason that Kakashi felt he knew his young student quite well, and why he knew that if he left Sasuke as he was – stewing over his teammate's successes and his own perceived failures – no good would come from it. Finally he caught sight of the Uchiha.

"Wha-?" Sasuke exclaimed as he was quite suddenly tied to the tree he had been resting on.

"I just wanted to make sure you'd hear me out; last time you walked out on me." Kakashi explained with an exaggerated sweet smile (though only his eye and tone of voice gave it away) as he landed in front of the Uchiha.

"Untie me now Kakashi! I don't have time for this!" Sasuke growled angrily. He wasn't in the mood to be placated; he needed to get back to training if he wanted get stronger, not sit there listening to empty words.

"No." The white-haired jounin replied, tone turning uncharacteristically serious. "Sasuke, you need to stop seeking vengeance."

Kakashi ignored his student's enraged expression and growl and continued his lecture. "I've been a shinobi for 20 years; I've seen what happens to those who can't let go, who become obsessed with getting revenge. It consumes them until nothing else matters; their loved ones, their friends all become second thoughts until they become mere shells of themselves. And for those who do manage to get their revenge...they are left with nothing but emptiness. This path will only lead to more suffering and hurt, for you and those around you..."

"Shut up!" Sasuke interrupted, screaming in anger and frustration. "You don't know what you're talking about! You have no idea...!"

"What would you do?" the genin asked once he had calmed down a bit. "Huh? What would you do if I killed everyone you love and care about? Would you still believe that vengeance wasn't the right path?"

"Well, I guess you could kill everyone close to me," Kakashi replied with fake good humor, "but unfortunately you're too late; all of my loved ones died either in the Third Great Shinobi War or during the Kyuubi attack."

Sasuke was taken aback at the matter of fact statement and remained silent.

Kakashi sighed in resignation; he was a very private person and hated talking of his past – especially the more painful experiences of his past – but if it meant saving one of his students from making some very bad decisions, Kakashi was willing to divulge some of his history. He was really turning soft now that he'd accepted a genin team...

"Have you ever heard of Uchiha Obito?" the masked-man asked his student. At Sasuke's blank expression Kakashi guessed the right answer. "I guess not..."

"He wasn't part of the main branch of the Uchiha clan, would've been something like your third cousin twice removed, and was generally regarded as a failure of the Uchiha. He didn't take his training seriously until after he became a genin, didn't awaken his sharingan until after he became a chunnin, was constantly late and was more boastful than Naruto with less power to back it up. And he was my teammate."

"Much like you I resented my teammates; I had already been a chunnin for many years when they became fresh genin, and I felt that they were holding me back from my full potential since we'd have to take easier missions so it wasn't above their capabilities. It wasn't until it was too late did I realize his importance to me; that my grief over my father's death and my obsession of the shinobi rules due to his perceived failures had blinded me to what was right in front of me."

"Don't make the same mistake I did; Naruto and Sakura are good teammates who care for you and will follow you through hell and back. They can help you take on Itachi, and more importantly they'll give you something to live for once you've gotten your revenge."

"It's true that neither of us has been particularly lucky in the past with our precious people, but we haven't got it that bad either. While we can't bring back those we've lost, we have found new precious companions; just make sure you don't take them for granted in your obsession over those that you've already lost."

There was silence for a while as Sasuke digested what his sensei had said. Kakashi didn't bother interrupting his student's pensive mood and cut the Uchiha loose before using the body-flicker technique to be on his way and finally set out for his mission.

Kakashi would have liked to stay longer and ensure his talk hit home with his student, but he was already pushing the envelope too much by postponing his assignment (and even with his usual reputation for tardiness, he would have to travel at full speed to make time). Besides, he would be back in Konoha no later than noon tomorrow; what was the worst that could happen between now and then?

It was too bad that the combination of digging up painful memories and his rush to get to his mission made Kakashi more unfocused and careless than usual; else he would have noticed the chakra signatures of the four Sound shinobi hidden nearby, waiting for the opportunity to lure the Uchiha away to Orochimaru.


His muscles burned, his lungs ached but the blond refused to slow down. In fact, he even picked up his pace, ignoring his body's complaints as he desperately chased his teammate towards the border of Rice Fields Country and Fire Country; where the infamous Valley of the End was located.

He couldn't understand just why Sasuke was running away from him; did he really want to go to that traitorous snake bastard? Did he really want to turn his back on his training, his village, his friends? All for the sake of power and revenge?

Naruto's hands clenched just thinking about it. Somewhere behind him, their friends and comrades were fighting for their lives, all for Sasuke's sake. And what does the bastard do about it? He runs away to a known traitor of his own free will, making all their battles, their injuries and maybe (though hopefully not) their deaths, worthless. Well, not on his watch! The demon container would haul the Uchiha back by force if need be, but there was no way he'd let Sasuke spit on their efforts and run away to the snake sannin.

Finally the dark haired genin realized that he'd have to confront his stubborn teammate if he wanted to take up Orochimaru's offer. It was just as well; Sasuke had been dying to have an all-out battle with the blond, to finally see once and for all which of them was stronger. He came to a stop right outside Fire country's border, on the head of the giant statue of Uchiha Madara, his ancestor. The last Uchiha waited until the dobe finally caught up, stopping directly across from him on the head of the giant statue of Senju Harishama. Sasuke couldn't help but find it ironic that this was where they would have their fight before the dark-haired ninja would cut all ties to his former teammate and village; history was once again repeating itself.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled out, clearly enraged at his teammates actions. "What the hell do you think you're doing?! Leaving the village, without even bringing your hitai-ite?!" Naruto asked, pulling out said forehead protector that the Uchiha had left behind with the unconscious Sakura.

"I don't need it anymore." Sasuke replied in a tone that made it clear he thought Naruto was an idiot for not understanding that fact.

"Bastard, stop saying stupid things like that! Now get over here and put on your headband so we can go back to the village!" the blond demanded.

Sasuke ignored the blond, turning away dismissively – even now the Uchiha was unable to resist spurring his teammate on. "Still as stupid as ever, huh dobe? Let me spell it out for you; I'm done wasting my time playing ninja with you. If I ever want to have the power to avenge my clan I can't spend time in Konoha doing the useless missions the Hokage assigns us. I'm leaving Konoha and I'm never coming back."

Naruto, enraged at his teammate's words, leapt across the giant gap between the two statues to knock some sense into his teammate – literally.

"Tch," Sasuke grunted, easily able to block the punch and counter due to the time it took for the blond to reach him, throwing Naruto off of the statue and down to the raging waters at the base of the waterfall hundreds of feet below. Naruto quickly made a chain of shadow clones to catch his fall and launch him right back up to his teammate.

"You are wasting your time dobe," Sasuke said as he dodged a kick and tried landing a punch into the blonde's ribs. "Orochimaru is willing to give me the help that Konoha won't."

"So you're going to that snake asshole?!" Naruto asked outraged, launching another attack at the dark-haired pre-teen. "The one responsible for hundreds of deaths; including the Third Hokage?!"

"Orochimaru will give me power; with him my abilities won't become stagnant and my skills will grow." The Uchiha replied calmly, even as he was forced on the defensive.

"That jerk is just using you!" Naruto yelled out, frustration with his obtuse teammate causing his attacks to be sloppier and more aggressive than they usually were in spares with his teammate. "He wants to use your body for his immortality jutsu!"

Sasuke turned back to his frothing teammate.

"I know."

Whatever Naruto was going to say died in his throat. However he expected Sasuke to react to the truth of the snake sannin's intentions for him – rage, denial, betrayal – calm acknowledgment and acceptance was definitely not it.

"You...know?" Naruto asked, beyond perplexed. His attacks stopped as he tried to process that fact. "You know that the bastard is only using you, that when he's done with you you'll be dead...and you're okay with that?"

"As long as Itachi dies, any price is worth paying." Sasuke replied with one hundred percent conviction, taking advantage of Naruto's stupefaction to launch the fireball jutsu at the blond.

Naruto found himself at a loss for words and numbly dodged the fire, forcing him to block the incoming kick that was coming straight for him. He knew of Sasuke's vow to avenge his family and kill his brother, but until now he didn't quite grasp just how seriously Sasuke took that vow and to just what lengths his teammate was willing to go through to make it a reality.

"Cut it out teme!" Naruto yelled, trying and failing to gain the upper-hand in the fight. "You don't have to go to that bastard in order to kill your brother; you can get strong enough in Konoha! Me, Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei can help you!"

"Don't be stupid!" Sasuke yelled out, attacking more savagely than before and forcing both combatants off of the statue and onto the turbulent river below. "What can you or Sakura do against someone like Itachi, except get in the way?"

"Is that what you really think?" Naruto asked, catching Sasuke's arm and pulling it down so his off-balanced teammate's chin would impact solidly with his raising knee. "That we're so useless that we would just be in your way? Has being on team 7 been really that pointless to you?"

"Being on team 7 did serve a point..." Sasuke admitted, blocking the blond's knee with his other hand and flipping upside down to deliver a solid kick to Naruto's chest, creating some distance between the two combatants.

"If I hadn't been on team 7, you'd never have become my best friend..." Sasuke said, thinking of Itachi's words on how to gain the mangekyou sharingan.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Naruto asked, watching as Sasuke started forming a chidori while charging forwards. Reflexively the blond started forming a rasengan in reply as he too charged forward.

The two high-powered techniques collide, throwing back both genin into the cliff walls on either side of the river hard enough to form indentations at the points of impact.

"Enough of this; I've wasted enough time here with you." Sasuke stated as the blond finally found his feet at the bank of the river after prying himself off of the cliff side. Naruto watched in morbid fascination as a pulse of tainted chakra emerged from the dark-haired boy as comma-like black marks started slithering over Sasuke's skin, ending up covering half of the Uchiha's body. It soon became apparent to the blond that those marks were more than decoration; Sasuke was suddenly faster, stronger and more powerful than ever before, forcing Naruto on the defensive as their fight continued at a higher intensity. The only good thing that resulted in Sasuke's sudden transformation was that it forced Naruto to calm down a bit and take the fight a bit more seriously. Now, not as fraught with emotion and realising that the Uchiha was aiming to kill, Naruto wasn't hitting as wildly and haphazardly as before.

Both combatants were surprisingly quiet compared to just a little while earlier, both focused on the fight and letting the sound of grunts, crumbling stone, small explosions and other battle related noise fill in their sudden silence – well, at least for a few minutes.

"Teme...!" Naruto growled out, frustrated that all his efforts at subduing his sad excuse for a teammate via breaking all the Uchiha's bones was being thwarted by said teammate. "Stop being stupid and stay still so I can drag your sorry ass back home!"

"I already told you; I'm done with the Leaf village. There is nothing else for me there." Sasuke replied, dodging a hail of kunai. "Quit being stubborn and trying to convince me to go back; you who had never had a family, and never had to go through the pain of losing them, don't understand me or my motivations. You won't stop me from doing what I have to do."

Naruto caught Sasuke by the back of his shirt and threw him into the cliff wall, pinning him down before the Uchiha had time to react.

"I may not have had a family like you or Sakura-chan," Naruto conceded, keeping hold of his struggling teammate "So I might not fully understand what it's like to have a real family, but I still have precious people. O-jiji was like a grandfather, and Iruka is like a father. And I thought you and me are like brothers; that our team was like family. And that's why I can't let you go to that snake bastard and just throw your life away like this!"

Sasuke was taken aback at the blond's conviction; Naruto really did consider themselves as brothers and the dobe would really do whatever it took to prevent Sasuke from making this 'mistake'. Suddenly his eyes began to burn, not unlike it had when he had first realized that Naruto meant more to him than any given random stranger during the Wave mission, when he had first developed the sharingan. Sure enough, when he next opened his eyes details seemed clearer, the water seemed to flow slower and Sasuke knew that his sharingan had developed.

"Pass me my hitai-tie."

Naruto numbly let go of his teammate in shock. "What?"

"My forehead protector; the one you brought all the way from Konoha? Pass it to me."

Naruto reached into his pocket to retrieve said item and handed it back to its rightful owner.

"I still won't come back with you to Konoha," Sasuke explained as he tied the headband firmly on his forehead. It was the least he could do for the teammate who helped him manifest and then develop his sharingan; and cause of Sasuke gaining the mangekyou sharingan soon as well. "But, since it seems to mean so much to you, I will wear this for our last fight."

Naruto didn't really know how to respond to that; on one hand it seemed that his rival finally acknowledged Naruto as an equal and a comrade, but with the same breath he declared his intentions to betray that bond and leave, never to return.

Sasuke didn't give the blond much time to sort out his thoughts; as soon as the hitai-ite was on the Uchiha was on the offensive, using the power of his newly developed sharingan to increase the pace and intensity of the fight. Naruto, caught flat-footed at the sudden assault, was barely able to keep up and was unable to turn the tide of the battle.

The Uchiha finally delivered a solid blow, knocking Naruto back by several feet clutching his abdomen as the wind was knocked out him.

"If you're having so much trouble fighting me now Naruto, I'd hate to see how you fare against the power Orochimaru gave me." Sasuke commented with a sadistic smile.

Once again Naruto looked on as the same tainted chakra was released into the air, further changing his teammate. The Uchiha's black hair became dark grey and even spikier. His skin went from the usual paleness to a greyish-brown only a few shades lighter than his hair. His red sharingan became even more demonic as the pupils turned a sickly yellow and the white's of his eyes became black. But the most disturbing part of his transformation was the claw-like protrusions from the Uchiha's back; each nearly as big as the rest of Sasuke's body.

Naruto barely had enough time to gape at his teammate's new twisted form before Sasuke was on him again, attacking relentlessly. The blond wasn't doing a very good job keeping up, getting hit more often than blocking. He searched desperately inside himself for more chakra, more power; as large as his reservoirs were, he had already used up a fair bit before this fight even started, trying to run fast enough to catch up to his teammate after Sasuke's (and the Sound Four's) five hour head-start, and then in the fights with the Sound Four (granted that Naruto only ended up fighting for a short period before one of the other members on the Sasuke retrieval team took over).

And just like the other two times in his life where he desperately searched inside himself for more power, he found it; the Kyuubi's chakra. The first time Naruto used it was during the wave mission, when he had thought Sasuke had died. It had only been for a short amount of time – just long enough to break Haku's ice prison – but the blond could still remember how his feelings of anger and devastation had seemed augmented and how out of control of his body and mind had been for a minute. The second time had been when Ero-sensei had tossed him off a cliff; fearful for his life Naruto had scrapped and gathered every bit of chakra he could find – demonic or not – in order to have enough to summon a toad large enough to save him. It had worked, but Gamabunta had requested that Naruto abstain from using the Kyuubi's chakra when summoning, not liking the tainted feel or the potential repercussions from using said chakra. Naruto had complied and had spent the last week before the third stage of the chunnin exams working on summoning the boss toad only using his own chakra. Even when fighting Gaara, Naruto had not used the Kyuubi's power.

But this time, instead of the chakra just coming to him, Naruto suddenly found himself somewhere unfamiliar.

"Wha...?" Naruto muttered, taking in the dank cavern with a ceiling so high it was lost in shadows. "Hello? Sasuke...?"

Naruto cursed the fact that he was so weak against genjutsu, and tried disturbing his flow of chakra.

"Kai!"

Seeing how nothing had changed, the blond then pinched himself hard, trying to break out of the illusion using pain.

"Itai!"

To the blue-eyed genin's displeasure, there was still no change to the dreary scenery. Except for a sudden deep, booming – and malicious sounding – chuckle.

Naruto hesitantly followed the noise until he reached a giant set of barred doors, held together by a seal. The hairs at the back of his neck stood up on end at the feel of this place, and Naruto knew that nothing good would come from this.

"So, after so long the brat finally deems to visit...." the deep voice spoke as enormous red eyes pierced the darkness form the other side of the seal.

"K-Kyuubi...." Naruto murmured, wide-eyed as the demonic fox stepped forward allowing the young ninja to have a full view of its enormous form. If this was the being responsible for the attack all those years ago, the blond didn't blame the other villagers for still fearing and hating it even when sealed away for nearly 12 years.

"What a pitiful creature you are," the nine-tailed beast commented, looking down at the small boy with disdain. "To think that such a lowly bag of flesh would be my keeper...disgraceful."

"Like you're one to talk, you stupid fox!" the blond yelled out, overcoming his initial fear in the face of yet another person underestimating him and deeming him worthless. "Why'd you bring me here anyway? I don't have time to waste here with you; I need to bring Sasuke back to Konoha!"

"Stupid mortal," the Kyuubi growled. "I didn't bring you here; you came here yourself. And you need not worry about the outside world; time passes differently here than on the mortal plane. For all the time you spend here, only a moment will pass outside."

Calmed at the knowledge that his teammate won't do a runner while he was busy with the Kyuubi, Naruto realized what must have brought him here. "Hey stupid fox, I need some of your chakra!"

The demon growled. "You dare try and order me; the most powerful of the tailed-beasts! If it weren't for this accursed seal I'd eat you for your presumptuous attitude!"

"Hey! You've been living in me all this time; you owe me some rent! So lend me some chakra already!" Naruto ordered.

The demon fox just looked at the tiny human for a second, before laughing. "My, you are a gutsy one aren't you? Very well, I will gift you with some of my chakra..."

The next thing the blond genin knew he was once again at the Valley of the End facing his deformed teammate.

Sasuke's punch was powerful enough to send Naruto flying, but Kyuubi's chakra had cushioned it enough so it didn't really hurt, and the blond landed on his feet ready to go on the offensive. With the power boost from Kyuubi, the fight was no longer so one-sided and both opponents traded blows and jutsus trying to subdue the other and prove once and for all who was strongest. But a problem arose when Naruto was hit with one of the Uchiha's many fire-based techniques. As before, the demonic chakra rushed to the injured areas, healing the wounds almost as quickly as they were attained. But this time, instead of flowing back once the injury was healed, the demonic chakra kept coming. As more and more of the much more potent chakra flushed his system, Naruto found it harder and harder to concentrate and harder to control it. He desperately tried to stem the flow to a more manageable level as he nimbly dodged another attack.

With Naruto distracted fighting an inner battle, Sasuke had all the opportunity he needed. The Uchiha took the offered opening, and before Naruto even realized what happened he was pierced through the chest with a chidori.

Both teammates stared at each other in shared disbelief; Naruto unbelieving that Sasuke would actually use such a fatal technique and Sasuke shocked that it actually hit. The Uchiha numbly canceled the jutsu and pulled back, allowing the blond to collapse onto the ground, unable to keep himself up after such a critical hit.

Naruto had never felt such pain or despair; he couldn't breathe since his left lung collapsed, he couldn't think around the pain stabbing at his senses and yet he recognized deep within his mind that he was dying.

Suddenly there was a sudden shockwave of power, the blond genin at its source. There was so much of the chakra and it was so potent that Sasuke could have sworn that he could have seen it even without the sharingan active. It surrounded Naruto like a cocoon, healing the chidori inflicted wound until only flawless skin remained – the torn jacket and shirt being the only indicators that the blond had ever been injured. The once blue eyes turned red, vertically slit like a cat. The whisker-like scars across his face seemed to thicken and become darker and more pronounced. His nails grew longer and sharper, resembling claws that Sasuke didn't doubt worked just as well as any Inuzuka's. The blonde's hair moved to an unseen wind, seeming wilder and adding to the feral look.

The Uchiha watched in confusion. Just what power was this, and since when could his teammate wield it?

The dark-haired boy had no time to think about it though, since no sooner was the transformation complete than did his teammate attack. But unlike before, Sasuke could tell that Naruto was attacking to do as much damage as possible. The blond seemed to forget all about his ninjutsu abilities, only using his chakra as a sort of shield and occasionally as an extra limb or two as Naruto attacked almost mindlessly.

The longer they sparred, the more frustrated this new Naruto became and his attacks became wilder, more barbaric and with less finesse. Gone was the usual taijutsu moves Sasuke was familiar with, replaced with claw swipes and bites more akin to the Inuzuka style in man-beast mode. Naruto even moved like them, using all four limbs like a four-legged beast.

Sasuke couldn't decide if his teammate's transformation made the fight easier or harder; it was a lot easier to anticipate the blonde's moves and by restricting himself to this animalistic taijutsu style forced Naruto to come to the Uchiha in order to score a hit. The downside was that chakra cloak which rendered all of Sasuke's attacks useless, since it absorbed most hits and healed anything that did connect. That extra tail-like limb was also problematic since it grew and shrank at its leisure, making it very hard to keep track of and allowing the blond to score several hits and avoid other attacks. The blond also seemed faster and stronger physically in this state.

The Uchiha powered up another chidori; it had incapacitated Naruto before, and this time if Sasuke didn't hesitate after landing the blow he could finish this battle once and for all. Like earlier on in their fight, Naruto seeing the chidori had him reflexively create a rasengan. Again they charged, their techniques meeting head on. But unlike before, this chidori was super-powered using the tainted chakra from the curse seal. Likewise, Naruto's rasengan became more potent with the Kyuubi's demonic chakra. The resulting shockwave had much more force than earlier experienced, slamming both boys mercilessly against the cliff side with enough force to kill most people. Thanks to their current enhancements neither boy died, but they both were knocked out, unconscious and vulnerable on the cold hard ground of the river bank.