Chapter 36: Mangekyou Sharingan's Secret! Sasuke's Determination!

Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Yamato were walking back towards the village, the bandit leader tied up and being carried by a horde of clones. They had already dropped off the women at their homes and received their rewards.

"So, what are we gonna do with this guy captain?" Naruto asked Yamato as they walked, pointing his thumb towards the leader of the bandits. The man was now swordless as Yamato had taken it and given it to the leader of the village.

"We give him to the ANBU interrogation department, Lady-Tsunade asked us to take him alive for that sole reason." Yamato answered, looking back at the man.

The rest of the journey was in relative silence, until they reached the gate. "Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, go report to Lady-Tsunade, I will deliver him to the ANBU interrogation office." Yamato ordered.

"Yes sir." The teens saluted and walked into the village, heading for the Hokage Tower.

"So, Shikamaru how do you do a mission report?" Naruto asked once Yamato was out of earshot.

"You tell the Hokage what happened during mission." The Nara answered, putting his face in his hand.

"Oh." The blond said, a slight blush on his face, "Let's go tell the old lady what's up then." He marched on ahead.

The blond walked into the hokage's office, announcing his presence loudly, "I'm baack!"

"Naruto, how did the mission go?" Tsunade asked.

"It went well, we beat the entire camp up, Sasuke and I got into a fight with this one guy who told the teme to go look at the Uchiha shrine for some secret, then the guy turned to dust after saying that Orochimaru would train Sasuke. Then we found the leader and Captain-Yamato decided to take him to the ANBU and so we brought the women who were captured home and then came back." Naruto explained.

"That's all that happened?" Tsunade was expecting something more, especially since she now knew that Orochimaru was involved.

"Yup!"

Sorry we're late Lady-Tsunade, Naruto ran ahead of us, Shikamaru Nara and Sasuke Uchiha reporting." Shikamaru said, walking into the office as the door was still open.

"Hello Shikamaru, congrats on a mission well done, I heard it all from Naruto but I hope you have the written report for me to archive." Tsunade asked.

"Troublesome." The Nara muttered, reaching into his pouch he brought out a scroll and handed it to Tsunade, who opened it and read it.

"Hmm, seems Naruto has more information than you, the large man that was encountered is not in here." Tsunade said, looking towards the future clan head, who shrugged his shoulders.

"I have no clue about any large man, I never encountered him."

"Neither Naruto nor I told the others about that encounter." Sasuke injected.

"I see, Sasuke would you please take the scroll and include the events that transpired between you and the man who spoke with you." Tsunade asked.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted, taking the scroll and a quill from Tsunade's desk, quickly writing down what happened. "Here." He handed Tsunade the scroll and she looked it over.

"Seems good." She said, "Shikamaru, Sasuke, you two are dismissed, Naruto may I speak with you?"

"Sure granny." The blond said as his friends left. Once the door was closed, he looked at her, "What's up?"

"Sasuke seemed to leave out the part about Orochimaru's training, and I don't think he's forgotten about it, I need you to keep an eye on him."

"I understand." Naruto nodded, he knew that Sasuke wanted to kill Itachi, and he also knew that Sasuke would do almost anything to get the power to do so, "I'll ensure that Sasuke doesn't leave the village."

"I'm counting on you Naruto." Tsunade smiled, "Now, I believe that there's a house you're trying to find, check near training ground 9."

"Training ground 9 huh?" Naruto thought aloud, "Oh, the forest with the path out of the village?"

"Yes that one."

"Thanks granny!" Naruto ran up and hugged the hokage, then bounced out of the room, going through the window and running to the edge of the roof.

Naruto kept running over the roofs of the village, bouncing from roof to roof in hopes of finding his parents' old house. He kept running, but was stopped when he saw none other than Gaara standing on one of the roofs, the red-haired boy looked as if he was waiting for someone.

"Gaara?" Naruto shouted, "What are you doing here?" The blond stooped in front of the sand shinobi.

"I am waiting for you Naruto Uzumaki." Gaara said, his voice actually had a hint of emotion in them, though Naruto couldn't pinpoint which one.

"What's up?"

"I was hoping you could help me with something."

"What is it?"

"Help me make friends." Gaara asked.

"Sure, that's easy, I mean you already have one right?"

"And who would that be?" The redhead looked confused.

"Me of course." Naruto smiled.

"We, are friends?" Gaara asked.

"Of course we are" Naruto clasped the sand jinchuuriki's shoulder, "Now let's go try and find someone else." The blond smiled.

"Let's." Gaara nodded.

Sasuke was walking back to his home. He was thinking about what he had written in his report to the Hokage, and how he had left out that Orochimaru had offered to train him. The raven haired shinobi had to admit that he was thinking about taking the offer, his killing of Itachi meant more to him than his loyalty to the village, but did it mean more than his friends? The last Uchiha was thinking about what he would decide when he walking into the sturdy frame of Jiraiya, the Sannin who had trained Naruto.

"Sorry about that young man." Jiraiya said, then looked down to see the Uchiha, "Oh, you must be Sasuke, I'm Jiraiya. I've heard a lot about you from Naruto."

"Hn." Sasuke grunted and pushed his way past the Sannin, eager to get home.

"Sasuke, words." Kakashi had appeared behind the Uchiha and grabbed his shoulder, halting his escape.

"Nice to meet you." Sasuke grumbled, "Can I go now?"

"I guess so." The single eyed Jonin said, releasing his shoulder and walking away.

"Grump." Jiraiya commented before following Kakashi.

Sasuke continued his walk home, ignoring the girls that were calling him over. He hurried home and went immediately to his clan's temple. He had never been in there before, it was a plain looking place, with just a single plaque at the far end. He walked to it and read it.

The Uchiha Clan

The Uchiha clan was, along with the Senju, one of the founding clans of Konoha

Revered for their infamous Dojutsu the Sharingan, they are known as Konoha's strongest clan

And that was it. A brief snidbit of information that was completely useless, unless…

"Sharingan." Sasuke activated his Sharingan, the three tomoe swirled before coming to a halt. He looked at the plaque and the writing had changed.

The Mangekyo Sharingan

An advanced form of the Sharingan

It is awakened by a traumatic experience, the easiest way is by killing one's best friend

It's abilities depend on what the user wishes to accomplish at the moment of awakening

Overuse will cause the eye to die and the user to go blind

It is possible to advance even further by killing one's sibling who has also awakened the Mangekyo and merging the eyes.

Sasuke smiled, he would soon have the same eyes as Itachi, then he would kill the man and have even stronger eyes! But the price, was Naruto's life.

"I'm sorry Naruto, but to achieve my dream, you must die." The Uchiha said with conviction, he then took a scroll from inside his shirt and threw it to the ground, causing a puff of smoke and a snake to appear, "Tell Orochimaru that I accept." Sasuke said to the snake.

Sorry it's so short, but it is what it is. I have a poll up for this story about who Gohan should attempt to Recruit for his team so if you're interested go check it out. I'm still taking jutsu ideas if you have any. Thanks for reading.