Disclaimer: Naruto is a comic by Masashi Kishomoto, published by Shonen Jump, and produced as an animated series by Viz Media. The Art of War is a widely published text originally written Sun Tzu. The Kuroihi Syndicate, the Enkou Syndicate, the Kaki Alliance, the Shirotsuki Clan, Sora Keitaro, Sakurazaki Hana, Momiji Hashi, Dewaya Yahiko, Chairman Kuroihi Ryouke, Kuroihi Yamato, Kasen Eiji, Yagami Shinji, Utawa Miji, Doragon Gan, and all affiliated members are my intellectual properties.
Author's Note: Readers, friends, beta-readers, and editors. Today, Oyabun and Takato's Light II will be arriving several hours earlier than normal. A while back, I posted a chart on my deviantart account explaining the organizational structure of the Kuroihi Syndicate - you can find it under my profile name leonardo1123581321. With that out of the way, I'd like to offer congratulations to my good friend Kells (my beta reader) for her marriage and to have a good marriage. God speed Kells. And so, I go on to review responses:
dalc789: In order: 1) I really loved writing this story and I wanted to polish my writing ability which is the main reason I've been working on it for so long. 2) As far as you know. Maybe Tsunade had a sex change? Or transgender! Maybe Tsunade is an it (not from a lack of gender, but rather an excess).
RaiOokami: I'm happy to see you enjoyed the last chapter. To explain the numbers are sequence. Specifically, the sequence is: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, etc
Lazyman12: I'm not quite sure what you mean.
DEBob19: Yes, I was saving that joke for a long time and I was finally glad to be able to use it. Regarding Sai, he's only had one mission: to infiltrate the Kitsune Clan, learn their secrets, and get close to Naruto. Anything that helps that along is part of the mission.
Shadow-Sensei: Thank you for enjoying the story so far, since it's always good to hear your input. The story has been very complicated and ended up being much bigger than I anticipated, but that just made it all the more fun for me.
dogbertcarroll: Can't the same be said of all fanfiction, though? If anything, I like to think mine is fairly tame since: 1) All the guys aren't all madly in love with each other, 2) It doesn't stray too far from the series original canon, 3) It does a fairly good job of fitting the yakuza into the story. If suspending your disbelief for this fanfiction is too much, then I must question your own fanfiction regarding Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Ironman running around.
Challenge King: I'm glad you've been liking the story this far.
I believe that's all for review responses, so I now invite you dear reader to see the rest of Naruto's tale:
Oyabun
(An Older Brother)
Chapter 48: Sasuke's Nindo, Naruto's Bushido
Sai and Naruto raced through the forest as fast as they could, putting as much distance between themselves, Scorpio, Lee, and their attacker as possible. More importantly, they were hoping to overtake Sasuke who was probably already at the border to the Land of Rice. If that was the case, the Konoha ninja pursuit would be seen as an act of aggression perpetuated the Land of Fire. More worrisome to Naruto was that if he got caught, his presence in the Land of Rice might incite further conflict when the war between the Families had just ended. He would have to be careful from this point on.
Naruto's leg was killing him with each step he took, but he powered through the pain by keeping most of his weight on the opposite leg. After what felt like an hour of this excruciating exercise, they came across a road that was red with dried blood. Three men adorned in black suits we're spread across the road. The tattoos on their necks meant they were Kitsune. Naruto kneeled down beside each of the bodies to check if any were alive, but found that all three were gone. A quick inspection of their wounds and the kunai on their bodies told him that they were killed by a ninja. Possibly Sasuke. Naruto tried to reason with himself that Sasuke wasn't a murderer, but past evidences suggested that Sasuke would readily take a man's life if given the chance. He hadn't forgotten their duel in the Hyuuga compound, nor the killing intent in Sasuke's eyes. He would hate to admit it, but if that was the case, then Sasuke was definitely not going to come back to the village without a struggle.
Another large ravine that cut through the middle of the forest. There was a waterfall to the side, flanked on both sides by two large statues. The two statues faced towards each other, both had one hand around a weapon and the other making the sign of comradery between ninja. Just ahead, on the other side of the ravine, Naruto felt a weak presence of cold chakra. Naruto really hoped that wasn't Sasuke, since there was no visible way to traverse the ravine without climbing down and backup it. More worrisome, was the river below that smashed its ways through the ravine at full speed. Naruto traced the ravine with his eyes and found nothing that would let him get to the other side quickly. He didn't like it, but he would have to waste more chakra to walk down one end of the valley and up the other.
"Boss Kitsune, if I may," Sai interrupted Naruto before he could make his hand signs. Sai had retrieved a scroll of paper from within his pocket and started to draw upon it with amazing speed. Sai made a hand sign as soon as he finished and shouted, "Choju Giga!"
The drawing on Sai's scroll started to move, blinking at first but stretching next. The drawing proceeded to peel itself away from the paper and expand in proportion as it took shape. Naruto couldn't believe, but the picture Sai had drawn came to life in the form of a giant bird. Sai climbed onto the bird's back and reached out a hand to Naruto, "Climb on."
"Sai, how did you do that?" Naruto asked him.
"My... brother taught me," Sai said hesitantly. Naruto didn't know what to make of it. Sai knew how to use chakra and ninja techniques, which would make him a ninja. However, Sai said his brother taught him how to do this. Would that make Sai's brother the ninja or Sai a liar?
"You never mentioned a brother," Naruto pointed out.
"You never asked, Boss Kitsune," Sai frowned, "Are we going?"
"That's not what I meant, Sai. You're a street urchin living in Konoha. If you had a brother who could teach you something like that, then that would make him a ninja for the village - which brings me to another thing: We're about the same age, which would make you old enough to be a genin," Naruto concluded, drawing out both Kitsune and Kusanagi. Sai shook his head, "I'm not a genin, and my brother... died. A long time ago."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Naruto said with all the sincerity of a brick to the face, "Although that doesn't answer one question: wouldn't the village have taken care of the next of kin if your brother died? How did you end up on the street?"
"He wasn't my real brother," Sai explained, "He was... someone I was very close to."
"How did he die?"
"Sickness," Sai said, "Can we stop talking about this? It's... difficult."
Sai's eyes were cast towards the ground and wallowed with what looked like genuine sadness. Naruto decided to drop the issue for the time being, but only put away Kusanagi. There was still a lot about Sai that Naruto simply couldn't trust, and a lot more information for him to look into. Naruto thought that learning more about Sai would help put Naruto's mind at ease, but he still found a lot of it to be suspicious. For now, he would just have to trust this mysterious kid.
With that, the blonde boss took Sai's hand and said, "I'm sorry. Let's get going."
"Take off," Sai said quietly, and the bird took to the air with one beat of its massive wings. The bird ascended high into the air and crossed the massive ravine with ease, giving an amazing view of the statues flanking the waterfall. On the left, beside the Land of Rice, was a man Naruto didn't recognize but on the right, beside the border of the Land of Fire, was the First Hokage. If that was the case, the man on the left had to be Uchiha Madara - one of the founders of the Hidden Leaf. The story went that the First slew Madara for betraying the village, but the statues seemed to depict them more as friendly rivals than arch enemies.
"Boss Kitsune, should we be worried about entering the Land of Rice like this? They might take it the wrong way."
"We'll just say we're traveling, Sai," Naruto explained, "And you should've done this earlier if you had the ability. It would've saved us a lot of time back there."
"Yes, sorry, Boss Kitsune," Sai apologized. They rode atop the bird for a good ten to twenty minutes before finally catching sight of someone traveling alone through a forest road. As far as they were, Naruto could immediately tell who it was. Perhaps it was intuition. Maybe it was just destiny. In either case, he knew. It was Uchiha Sasuke. Naruto patted Sai on the back and pointed down, "Down there!"
"Yes, sir," Sai said, guiding his bird into a dive. It came to a stop just in front of Sasuke, and Naruto leapt off the bird right away to meet him. Sasuke's face bore nothing but contempt and mild surprise. More horrifically, the left side of his face was littered with black markings and his eyes had inverted their colors. Although Naruto normally tried to maintain some composure when talking to others, but the way Sasuke looked now was more than enough to stop him in his tracks. Still, he had to act natural for appearance's sake, "There you are, Sasuke. We've been looking forever for you. We're here to take you back to the village."
Sasuke started snickering, then laughing, before cackling at the top of his lungs, "You are the last person I want to see right now. What the hell makes you think I'm going anywhere with you?"
"I didn't think you would," Naruto answered, "You left the village, which means you weren't going to willingly return."
"So then why did you follow me?" Sasuke asked, his voice suddenly becoming more serious but still mocking, "Was it Sakura? Did she beg you to come after me, the great Boss Kitsune! The prodigy of the Kuroihi! The Jinchuuriki of the Nine-Tailed Fox!"
"I just wanted to talk, that's all," Naruto responded calmly, "We can talk, right?"
Sasuke's eyes narrowed suspiciously but his smile was still there, "Sure, we can talk. Talk as much as you want. I'm going to kill you anyway."
Naruto was taken aback by that last part. Sasuke planned on killing him. Sure, he and Sasuke never got a long in the past. And Naruto had considered letting Sasuke die in the past, but he never actually planned killing him. More annoyingly, Naruto couldn't lay a finger on Sasuke because of previous agreements. He would have to wing it somehow, although he had no idea what he could do if he couldn't even touch him, "Sakura did ask me to come after you. To be honest, I could care less what she wants. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate her - but I don't think the two of us will ever get along. The fact is, I'm here to bring you back to the village of my own free will."
"You still haven't told me why," Sasuke stated.
"To protect you."
"Why!" Sasuke demanded.
"A promise I made," Naruto stated, "I promised him I'd keep you safe. If I let you go to Orochimaru, I break that promise. Konoha and Suna aren't the only ones who want him dead. The Kuroihi, the Kaki, and the Shirotsuki are all coming after him too. I know some people say I can do anything, but there are some things I just can't do. If you go to Orochimaru, then I won't be able to protect you because they'll kill you along with him."
"I won't die," Sasuke affirmed, "That's my nindo, my ninja way. That's always been my ninja way. I will live and survive, until I kill the man who ruined my life!"
"You mean your brother," Naruto said calmly.
"He slaughtered my entire clan! The only reason he left me alive was because he said I wasn't worth killing! I will make him pay for what he did to my clan! To me! To my life!"
"I'm sorry Sasuke," Naruto apologized, "You can still plan on killing him if you want, but I'm not letting you go to Orochimaru just to die."
"Is that a fact!"
"It's my bushido, my 'Warrior Way'. I never go back on my word, and I take care of the people I care about!" Naruto affirmed, "I'm keeping my promise to protect you. And that means I will take you back to the Leaf Village!"
"Your Warrior Way?" Sasuke laughed, "Since when were you a samurai? Last time I checked, samurai didn't go around robbing the poor and killing the innocent!"
"It's funny," Naruto snickered, his tone becoming more erratic, "You're telling me I'm a horrible person when ninja are the ones who build themselves around deception. I mean, I'm only twelve and I've learned more about the terrible things the village has done than I ever wanted to know. I mean, damn! Do you guys like lying to each other, or does it just come with the territory?"
"Don't talk to me about lies, Naruto. You're entire life became what it is because you faked your own death!"
"I did what I had to, Sasuke," Naruto explained, "To save my life. And I'll do whatever if takes to save your life from Orochimaru."
"What makes you think my life needs saving?" Sasuke asked with a smile. The smile was unnerving. Those who knew Naruto's own wicked smiles in the past would have described Sasuke's as all of them compressed into a single moment of pure malevolent genius. The kind that knew it could not lose. And it made Naruto fearful. It was becoming more and more difficult to maintain his composure, "You're going to Orochimaru. What more reason do I need?"
"Orochimaru has given me power," Sasuke explained pulling his collar aside to reveal that the markings on his face extended all the way down to his shoulder, "This curse mark is a gift, one that's unlocked untold possibilities. And Orochimaru has promised me more. I just need to find him."
"What kind of power would make you want to go to him?" Naruto asked, which only made Sasuke snicker more. His eyes turned red and two comma like marks appeared around his pupil, "Let me show you!"
Sasuke moved so fast that Naruto just barely had time to recognize it. In the matter of a blink, Sasuke had closed the gap between them and introduced his fist to Naruto's face. The sheer force of the blow sent Naruto flying backwards into Sai's bird which disappeared in a splash of ink. Naruto wiped the ink off his face and took a fighting stance with Kitsune. At the same time, he wrapped a hand around Kusanagi and slowly trickled chakra into the blade, "I liked this suit."
"Good, cause you're going to die in it," Sasuke jeered, getting another running start at Naruto. There wasn't enough chakra built into the Kusanagi's scabbard, so Naruto was forced to take the defensive. He raised up Kitsune to block a kunai in Sasuke's hand, while Sasuke's free hand clasped onto Naruto's face to push him down. As he fell, Naruto pulled Kusanagi out and fired a wave of chakra, "Kenton: Rasengan no Ken!"
The chakra tendrils shot out of the scabbard to hit, nothing but air. Naruto wasn't sure how, but Sasuke successfully managed to get out of his attacks path. But, how? That attack was able to hit both Orochimaru and Kabuto! How did Sasuke get around it? From behind him, Sasuke's smug voice explained, "This is the power Orochimaru is giving me! The power to kill you!"
Naruto felt a sharp pain in his back and all the energy ran out of his body. Both of his katana slipped out of his hands and hit the ground with a klang. There was a slight nudge forward and he felt himself falling face first to the ground. By some miracle, he managed to catch himself on the way down and rolled himself on his side to get a look at Sasuke, "I mixed that kunai with some of my own chakra. It's won't kill you, but it will mess with your chakra flow for a while. But I won't just kill you. I'll play with you first."
"Leave Boss Kitsune, alone!" Sasuke and Naruto were surprised to see Sai uppercut the genin with a sharp punch to the jaw. Sai certainly caught Sasuke off guard, but it didn't take long for Sasuke to use Sai's own momentum against him. Sasuke flipped backwards and kicked Sai into the air. Sai rolled in the air and landed a few feet away with little effort, holding both his brush and his scroll in hand.
"Who are you? I don't remember ever seeing you around the village," Sasuke frowned.
"My name is Sai, and I will not let you lay another finger on Boss Kitsune," Sai declared, drawing furiously on the scroll he held out. Three tigers of ink leapt towards Sasuke from the paper, and were quickly dispersed by a blast of fire from Sasuke's mouth.
"I take it you're a member of the Kitsune Clan? So, are you here to fight and die for your boss?" Sasuke teased.
"Boss Kitsune isn't my boss, and I'm not a member of the Kitsune Clan."
"Then why are you here?" Sasuke demanded.
"Because Boss Kitsune...," Sai answered awkwardly, "Is someone important to me. I will do everything to protect him."
The way Sai spoke sounded forced. Like he meant what he was saying, but had a hard time saying it - and it made Naruto wonder how genuine it was. Still, Naruto would take any help he could get at the moment. It was just a question of how long Sai would last. Sasuke took him out in a matter of seconds, so how long would a street kid like Sai last? Naruto didn't want to think about something as terrible as that. Mostly out of pity for Sai.
So, it was natural for Naruto to be amazed when Sai was able to keep pace with Sasuke. He wasn't as fast as Sasuke, but he was able to keep a safe distance between them and could change his position if Sasuke tried to land a hit. During those brief moments when Sai dodged out of the way of one of Sasuke's attacks, Naruto saw Sasuke's left pinkie finger twitch a little. It was subtle, but it was there. Naruto watched Sasuke more closely as the two continued their game of cat and mouse. Then Naruto saw it again. Sasuke's left pinkie twitched as the Uchiha brought his arm back to wind up a punch. And he saw it again just before Sasuke started making hand signs. Just like how Keitaro's leg would twitch before he moved, Sasuke's pinkie twitched whenever he was about to attack.
It was a good discovery too, since Naruto was getting some energy back into him. The blonde gang leader dragged himself to a nearby tree and reached for his back where the pain was. Naruto felt a metal edge, and wrapped his fingers around it carefully so he wouldn't cut himself. He bit his tongue to force back a scream while he removed the kunai from his back. He threw the kunai aside and pushed hard against the wound to stop the bleeding. It hurt like hell, but it was better than the alternative: death. Using his free hand, Naruto reached for Kitsune, replaced it in its scabbard and used it to focus his chakra.
But nothing came of it. Between the pain, Sasuke's chakra, and his own mind getting hazier, it was impossible to concentrate chakra into anything. The world around him was getting fuzzier, and started to disappear into nothing. He could already feel death's cold embrace greeting him. He didn't want to die though! Not like this. Not when he had so much he still wanted to do. So many people he cared about. He couldn't afford to die!
Uzumaki Naruto...
"Damn, it's the fox," Naruto mumbled to himself.
So, this is it? This is where the great Boss of the Kitsune Clan dies...
"I'm really not in a talking mood right now, fox," Naruto mumnled.
Then die here, far from anyone you ever cared for. Just know that I'll make you suffer for dying like this when we get to hell...
Why do you care? Naruto thought, I thought you said you could resurrect yourself if you died.
I'm a demon...I lie...
Point taken.
There is another way, though.
Naruto found himself standing within the same dimly-lit room as before, where water flowed along the floor. The steel gate was before him, and on it was the same piece of paper with the character for Seal on it. Through it, he saw the menacing grin and wild eyes of the Nine Tailed Fox staring back at him, "Damage the seal, Uzumaki Naruto."
"What?"
"Damage the seal, and release some of my chakra."
"Right, why would I listen to you? You just told me you lie. How do I know you're not going to try to take control?"
"Because I won't. I'll heal your body and expel the Uchiha's chakra. From there, the Uchiha is your problem."
"That's not exactly a comforting assurance."
"Would you rather die?"
"No."
"Then damage the seal."
"Okay, how?"
"Tear a corner off the seal. Do that, and my chakra will do the rest."
"You know I'm just going to get the Pervy Sage to redo the seal later, right?"
"Death doesn't sound any better."
"Alright, seal release!" Naruto said, tearing off a small piece of the paper on the gate.
Naruto jolted awake in the middle of the forest. He could feel the fox's chakra surging through his body, invigorating him with every pulse through his body. The pain in his back was gone and his mind felt crystal clear. The fox's healing ability was amazing.
Certain that he couldn't lose, Naruto tightened his grip on Kitsune, jumped off the ground, and retrieved Kusanagi. He resheathed Kusanagi to prepare another Rasengan and held Kitsune in an offensive stance to fight Sasuke. Sai and Sasuke were fighting just a few yards away, and it was clear Sasuke was winning. Sai scribbled on his scroll every chance that he got, but was never able to summon anything more than a few small animals since Sasuke wasn't giving him the chance to draw anything bigger. This was a good thing, though. If Sasuke was distracted, Naruto could easily attack him. He raised Kitsune over his head, and started funneling chakra into the Kusanagi. Almost immediately, Naruto felt Kusanagi vibrating in protest of how much chakra built into the scabbard.
Having never really been in control of his own body when it was channeling the fox's chakra, he could honestly say that it was amazing. He couldn't ever imagine not using this chakra. Naruto didn't waste any time in getting a running start after Sasuke. Somehow his entire body felt lighter and it moved with no effort. He stretched out his arm and swung Kitsune at Sasuke once he was in range. Sasuke managed to see Naruto's attack and ducked underneath the swing before it connected. Still, Naruto managed to get some of Sasuke's hair - so that had to count for something.
Sasuke leapt away from Naruto and Sai, landing a few feet away, "I thought you were dead."
"Isn't that what you said last time?" Naruto asked, recalling when he faked his own death in the Land of Waves. He really hoped that it didn't start becoming a habit - because getting hurt all the time wasn't exactly a long term survival plan.
"Heh, so you played possum while your friend here got stuck fighting me?" Sasuke asked, "What kind of bushido is that?"
"Are you alright, Sai?" Naruto asked, completely ignoring Sasuke.
"Yes, Boss Kitsune," Sai answered, wiping blood from his mouth with the back of his hand, "I'm glad to see you're alright."
"Thanks," Naruto nodded, "Listen, I have a plan. Sasuke moves faster than my Kenton so I need you to use your drawing to make something big. Really big. Something to hold him down so I can use the Kenton. Can you manage that?"
"Maybe, what did you want?"
"Anything. As long as it's really big and can slow him down," Naruto told, "Can you do that?"
"Maybe, but it'll take some time," Sai answered.
"How long?"
"Twenty minutes."
"Done," Naruto said, rushing Sasuke while paying attention to his left hand. The pinkie finger twitched, and Naruto saw Sasuke fling three kunai in his direction. Naruto slid beneath all three kunai and continued with Kitsune ready to swing. Much to his annoyance, Sasuke sidestepped his attack and prepared another kunai. Sasuke thrust the kunai forward, but Naruto adjusted Kitsune to block the kunai. Unlike before, he managed to stop the kunai before it pierced him and knocked the kunai out of Sasuke's hand. Naruto spun around and drew Kusanagi as soon as Sasuke was in his sight. With a loud boom, all of the chakra shot out of Kusanagi's scabbard with a sudden rush. Like before, Sasuke moved out of its path just as the chakra tendrils raced past and tore apart the forest behind him.
Naruto threw Kusanagi back into its scabbard and started concentrating more chakra for another attack. Naruto swung Kitsune, taking care to aim his swing to conserve energy. Sasuke dodged each swing with ease and then countered by catching Kitsune mid-swing. Sasuke yanked Kitsune out of Naruto's hand and pointed it back at him, "What's that trick of yours? The Kenton, right? I'm guessing you do that by channeling your chakra into this sword. Like this-"
Sasuke was cut off when the Kitsune exploded with chakra that it fired at Sasuke. Sasuke was sent thrown into a nearby tree while Kitsune whirled through the air and landed beside Sai. Naruto recovered it right away and pointed it back at the genin.
"How?" Sasuke growled.
"Chakra infusion," Naruto explained, "Kitsune only responds to my chakra. If anyone else tries to mold chakra through it, it'll just shoot it back at them."
"When did you learn something like that?" Sasuke shouted.
"The Land of Waves," Naruto answered, "From Haku and Zabuza."
"You learned something from those murderers, but you won't let me learn from Orochimaru?" Sasuke asked sarcastically.
"Different circumstances: Zabuza and Haku didn't have the whole world looking for them."
"You still learned from them."
"That's not the problem here, Sasuke. I'm trying to save your life!" Naruto shouted, charging at him again with Kitsune in the air. Sasuke's finger twitched and Naruto found himself facing a wall of flying kunai. He was forced to release Kusanagi early, firing the chakra out of his scabbard to deflect the incoming wall of kunai attacks. The kunai were knocked aside to show Sasuke right behind the mass of weapons. With his Rasengan wasted prematurely, Naruto focused chakra around Kitsune and swung it wildly. The chakra flew off the blade and formed a wave of energy that forced Sasuke to abandon his attack. Sasuke managed to position himself out of the wave's path and skidded to a stop a few feet away, "How did you-"
"Hell if I know," Naruto gasped in surprise, "I didn't know I could do that."
And now he did. And now he had an advantage over Sasuke. He held out both Kitsune and Kusanagi at arm's length and started letting the chakra flow into both swords. With two swings, Naruto released the energy in both swords and managed to cut down the surrounding trees. Sasuke managed to escape the destruction by substituting himself with a rock. A snapping twig behind him, alerted Naruto to Sasuke's presence and he found himself on the receiving end of another attack. The blonde brought up both swords defensively and caught a mass of kunai.
"Futon: Gokyaku no Jutsu!" Sasuke blasted a fireball out of his mouth that Naruto was unable to avoid. He could feel the fire burning away at his clothes and eating away at his skin. He hurried to remove the burning coat, shirt, and tie - getting them off just before they could melt to his skin. That didn't save him from the second degree burns, which stung like hell. Even so, he could already feel the fox's chakra at work and his wounds were closing despite the pain lingering.
Naruto readjusted himself and aimed both katana at Sasuke, "Remember how I said I liked that suit?"
"Yeah, so what?"
"I really liked that suit!" Naruto shouted, racing at full speed towards Sasuke and unleashing a series of swift swings, stabs, and cuts. Sasuke easily weaved through the attacks, and found a way to kick Kitsune out of Naruto's hand. Sasuke then came in close under another of Naruto's swings and nailed a punch on his stomach. At this distance, Naruto could see all the sweat running down Sasuke's face and fatigue in his eyes. His sharingan eyes; the three marks around the pupil.
Naruto was no expert, but he was certain he only saw two marks there before. If there were three, did that mean his sharingan had suddenly become stronger? That was a little too convenient and could a sharingan become stronger. Naruto wrapped his hand around the area Sasuke hit and swung Kusanagi wide. Sasuke leapt over Naruto and kicked him forward into a tree. He spun around to face Sasuke in time for the Uchiha to throw a solid hit in the face. This was a chance, and Naruto took it. He grabbed Sasuke's hand to hold him in place and plunged Kusanagi into Sasuke's leg. It went through clean and Sasuke screamed in agony, beating on Naruto's hand as much as he could. Naruto pulled the katana out, and it made a disgusting sliding noise as it did. Sasuke grabbed at his leg but was still standing, "I'll kill you!"
"Damn. I thought that would at least knock you down," Naruto thought out loud.
"Die!" Sasuke shouted, creating a Chidori in his hands. Sasuke moved at Naruto ready to strike. Naruto threw up his katana to protect himself while the sound of birds screeching filled the air.
"Choju Giga!" Sai shouted. Before Sasuke's attack could connect, an ink flew between Sasuke and Naruto - taking the hit for the Kitsune Clan head. The blonde boss was shocked to see hundreds of tiny ink mice and bird swarm over Sasuke. Sasuke desperately tried to pull them off to little avail. There was simply too many for him to get to. Naruto couldn't believe it, but Sai had pulled through. And there was no time to lose. Those mice wouldn't be able to hold Sasuke down forever. He threw Kusanagi back into it scabbard, and started focusing his chakra into it while retrieving Kitsune. Naruto focused chakra around the blade of Kitsune and returned to where Sasuke lay struggling to pull the mice off. As the chakra flowed, Naruto leapt into the air and took care to position himself just right.
He then released both the cahkra wave from Kitsune and the chakra from Kusanagi's scabbard, "Kenton: Rasengan no Ken!"
The attacks tore through all of Sai's mice and birds, reaching Sasuke who lay at the bottom of the pile. Sasuke shrieked out in agony as the attacks connected. His clothes tore, his skin broke, and he became soaked in ink and blood. Then he fell silent, collapsing into unconsciousness from both the pain and force of the attacks. Naruto went to his side right away and placed two fingers on his neck. There was a pulse which meant he was alive. He was thankful for that. The last thing he wanted was to kill the boy. Otherwise, Itachi would come after him.
"Is he alive?" Sai asked.
"Yeah, he's still got a pulse," Naruto answered, "That was good work, but not what I meant when I said big."
"A thousand tiny ants are harder to kill than one dog," Sai remarked. Naruto nodded, "It worked anyway. Do you think you can draw us a ride back? Not a bird. If Sasuke falls, that'll be a problem."
"I think so," Sai set out to work drawing. After a few quick strokes, a large tiger with a saddle on its back leapt out of the scroll. With help from Sai, Naruto threw Sasuke over the tiger's back. Sai sat in the front to steer while Naruto sat behind him to make sure Sasuke didn't fall off. The tiger rode off through the forest, in the direction of the Land of Fire.
As soon as it had scaled the vast chasm that marked border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rice, a leaf ninja appeared. A jonin wearing a mask the covered the bottom half of his face, draping his head band to cover one eye, and silver hair - Hatake Kakashi. Kakashi raced alongside the tiger, "I heard that the Kuroihi had gone after Sasuke."
"He's alive but unconscious," Naruto explained, "I know you can't go to the Land of Rice without permission from the Feudal Lord, and Sasuke refused to go back to the Land of Fire. I had to knock him out just so we could drag him back."
"I'll take him back from here," Kakashi said, "Your job is done here."
"No," Naruto refused, "I made a promise to protect Sasuke and that's what I'm going to do. Besides, how do I know you weren't sent here to kill him?"
"Why would I kill my own student?" Kakashi demanded.
"How do I know you're the real Kakashi?" Naruto returned the question.
"What kind of question is that?"
"There are a lot of people who would want Sasuke dead. If you don't mind, I'm going to hang on to him for a while," Naruto said, "You can accompany me back to the village if you want, but no one is getting near Sasuke until I get him to a doctor."
"A medical team was dispatched to assist the recovery team," Kakashi informed him, "Let them have a look at Sasuke."
"The only one seeing Sasuke will be a medic I trust," Naruto said.
"And who's that?"
"Lady Tsunade."
...
It must have been quite a sight, when they finally returned to the village in the middle of its busiest hour. A half naked Naruto, with an unconscious Sasuke, and a beaten Sai riding atop what looked like a crudely drawn tiger. It came to a stop at the village gate to let loose a triumphant roar before continuing on in the direction of the village hospital. In its haste, the riders failed to notice the pink haired Sakura waiting to meet them at the entrance.
Sakura was only able to catch a glimpse, but what she saw stunned her. Sasuke's eyes were closed, and his body was covered in dried blood. Naruto, on the other hand, didn't have a scratch on him except that he was missing his shirt and coat. Naruto told her that he was going to bring Sasuke back, but he didn't mention that he was going to bring Sasuke back in this state. She tried to be grateful, but knowing Sasuke was like that left her confused. Even so, she followed them to the hospital - running as fast as she could.
When she finally arrived at the hospital, she went straight to reception and asked to know where her team mate Sasuke was. The receptionist apologized and stated that Sasuke had been moved into surgery. Sakura's heart sank at the revelation and she resigned herself to waiting in the lobby - hoping that Naruto would pass by on his way out. She must have waited for hours but her patience paid off when she saw Naruto come down the hall to meet one of his clansmen at the hospital entrance. The clansman was holding an orange dress shirt, tie, and coat, that Naruto dressed himself in, "Thanks for bringing this Shinji. I hope it wasn't too much trouble."
"You can thank me by not hurting our income sources so much," Shinji answered, "Sometimes I wonder if you even care about our budget."
"We have cash to burn," Naruto said.
"And payments to make. Those renovations don't pay for themselves."
"I'm sorry, Shinji. I wish I could tell you more, but I can't. All I can say is I'm trying to secure the future of the clan."
"Naruto," Sakura said to get his attention. Naruto turned around just as he finished buttoning up his shirt and frowned, "Oh... hello, Sakura."
"I saw Sasuke when you guys ran by the gate and-"
"Let me guess, you think I killed him?" Naruto cut her off.
"No, I-" Sakura paused hesitantly. She was trying to be thankful to Naruto, and getting frustrated wouldn't help. She took a deep breath to calm herself down, "I want to know what happened... to Sasuke, I mean."
"He didn't want to come back to the village," Naruto explained, "I tried to talk him into going back, but he wouldn't listen. Then he attacked. I didn't have a choice. He didn't pass out until he got to that point."
"Oh."
"Yeah, oh," Naruto frowned, returning his attention to Shinji, "Have you heard anything about Scorpio?"
"Yes, he was brought back with the rest of the recovery team by the medical shinobi," Shinji answered, "They were all in pretty rough shape. The Sound escorts really worked a number on them."
"They'll live, right?"
"We don't know, right now. It all depends on the skill of the medical ninja now. I didn't think you'd care, though."
"When have I never cared?" Naruto asked, raising his collar for Shinji to fasten the tie, "Thanks for helping with this. You need to teach me how to make a knot like that some time."
"Later," Shinji finished fastening the tie, "I don't think a hospital would be a good place to teach you."
"Right," Naruto threw the coat over himself, and turned to face Sakura, "Look, it wouldn't have gone that far if it was my choice. It looks bad, but he'll live. Lady Tsunade, herself, is taking care of him."
Sakura was able to breathe a sigh of relief when she heard that. Lady Tsunade was a famous medical shinobi, responsible for reforming the ninja system so that every team had a medic assigned to their roster. If anyone would be able to keep Sasuke, it would be her. Her worries put to rest, Sakura said one last thing, "Naruto... thank you."
"Don't mention it," Naruto answered, walking out the door.
...
Author's Note: That's all for this tonight, dear readers! My final update will be in four weeks on Friday, July 27th. If you loved it, let me know in the reviews section. I also welcome constructive criticism and analysis into the final chapter of the story. If you are attending Northern Illinois University and would like to chat, just PM me and we can meet face to face! Or add me on Facebook, Twitter (leofib11235), the Playstation Network (PSN ID leo112358). However, please let me know that you read these stories because I tend to ignore invites from random people I don't know. Until next time, this is leonardo1123581321 signing out!
