Sasuke, Hinata, and Orochimaru were still running to where Shikamaru and his team were at. They had been running for quite a lot of time and he was even surprised for the most that Orochimaru had decided to really stick along. The sun shined bright in his face as sweat went down his forehead-
BOOM!!! BOOM!!!
The loud explosion ahead almost startled Sasuke but definitely scared Hinata. She almost froze right there but kept her composure. The explosion was so strong it shook the entire ground.
Sasuke looked over to see where the explosion came from and saw smoke going up into the blue sky.
"Hinata, check out what happened.." Sasuke ordered.
"H- Hai!"
In an instant, Hinata activated her byakugan and searched over to where the explosion took place. So far she had seen nothing but fire and destroyed trees from the impact. This meant two things, one.. one of her comrades had made it out just in time. Or two... she had either just lost a friend.
"I see nothing there. Just fire spreading and the impact it left." Hinata said.
She looked away from the impact and saw three people struggling to fight someone. She had already noticed the three.
"I found them!" She said. "Ino, Choji, Kakashi.. they're all there!"
"Good catch. What are they doing? Is their battle over?" Sasuke asked.
"No, there's an enemy... Shikamaru told Tsunade-sama that there were two Akatsuki members but now there's only one. Meaning.."
"The other one must be dead.." Sasuke said before he felt a presence nearby and immediately activated his sharingan and drew his sword.
"Nice of you all to join.." Orochimaru smiled and Sasuke and Hinata both looked back to see four people running besides Orochimaru.
He saw that one of them had white hair, with purple eyes, and a purple sleeveless shirt and a long sharp blade on his back, but not just any blade... Zabuza's blade. He looked about their age as well.
He then noticed a girl who also looked about his age too, with red hair, crimson eyes, glasses and a lavender uniform. Sasuke looked at her in slight confusion and felt as if he'd seen her somewhere but was not too sure.
The girl caught a glimpse of him and was completely mesmerized as her cheeks turned a bit red and almost lost her balance when running. Sasuke was already annoyed.
Next he saw a man who looked slightly older and was tall. He had orange spiky hair, with red-orange eyes and had a calm expression on his face.
Next Sasuke immediately noticed Kabuto beside them, he still looked the same.
"Relax Sasuke.. these are the people I called for help." Orochimaru said.
"Huh? Oh! Sasuke Uchiha!" The white haired boy with purple eyes said shocked almost.
"The sole survivor of the now slaughtered Uchiha clan?" The orange spiky haired man said. "Isn't it said that your brother is the reason they're dead?"
"S- Sasuke-kun!" He heard the red head call his name in a fangirl tone.
"Urusai.." Sasuke said, clearly annoyed by all three of them already. He really didn't like how the orange haired man mentioned his clan either. "My clan or brother's name has no business coming out your mouths." He told them all.
"Orochimaru called you because you all could help fight, but from what I'm seeing you all might be a bunch of idiots.."
"Oi! Calm down, we just got here and you're already trying to start something-"
"Suigetsu, Sasuke is right, we gotta fight an Akatsuki member so you better focus." Orochimaru said to the boy, who's name is Suigetsu.
"Akatsuki? They're already making their moves after losing a member?" Kabuto questioned.
"I sense chakra up ahead, a lot too.." The red head said.
"Already on it Karin." Orochimaru responded.
Instantly the two arrived just on time to see a, what looked like, black thread with a mask charging right at Kakashi.
Right behind Sasuke, Orochimaru had extended his neck as a sword came out of his mouth and impaled the weird masked thing against a nearby tree.
It was weird sight seeing Orochimaru's neck extend like taffy before going back in place as his sword dispersed as well. Kakashi didn't even need to look to see who it was and he just sighed in relief.
"You're timing couldn't have been better.." He said through his mask. He was in a bit of rough shape because of how long the battle had been going on.
"Well I'm more early than you." Sasuke responded as he looked over to see the enemy. He was quite tall and had green eyes and his body was sorta scary. He had 2 more masks on his threads that seemed to connect to his body.
Those threads came out of his upper body and even had some coming out his mouth.
"Sasuke-kun!" He heard a voice call and saw Ino standing there alongside Shikamaru and Choji.
"Hinata?" Choji questioned.
They were about to approach but stopped when they saw new people behind them both.
"It's all right, these are recruits." Sasuke said. The new recruitments stood behind him, one of them a bit too close to him with her cheeks red.
"Orochimaru.." The Akatsuki member grumbled. "You damned traitor."
"Kakuzu, it's been a long time..." Orochimaru smirked. "He still hasn't changed one bit.."
"Sasuke Uchiha..." Kakuzu said. "So you're Itachi's little brother You look almost exactly like him."
Sasuke glared at the man once he mentioned his brother's name, his sharingan's flared. "What makes you all think your reinforcements are going to work? Perhaps I can finish what your brother didn't.."
"S-Sasuke-kun.." Hinata tried to say but they all saw one of the masked threads charge and Sasuke quickly jumped out of the way.
"Kakashi-sensei... what are those things?" Sasuke asked he got in a fighting stance.
"Funny enough, those are his hearts.. he had all 5 but I already took out two and you took out the other. Take out the rest-" Kakashi tried to explain but saw thread charge at him again and he barely dodged it. "Then he might just die!"
"Leave it to me.." Sasuke said.
He took out his sword and began to channel his chidori through it. The rest notice this and look at the Uchiha in interest to see what he has planned.
Sasuke waited for the right moment to send one of his hearts his way and when it did he began to try and time this perfectly.
He read all the enemies movements and jumped right when the heart was about to hit him and tried to slash right through it but it wouldn't cut through all the way.
Sasuke cursed under his breath as he quickly turned to see the man running towards them all.
Suigetsu then stepped in and instantly tried to cut off Kakuzu's leg but missed completely. Kakuzu tried to punch the boy but when he did his head just turned into water as he stood still. It was a bit of a surprise to Kakuzu that he didn't even realize Suigetsu was the distraction.
"Chidori Eisō.."
Sasuke's lightning stream had gotten longer and instantly cut through one the hearts, he cut the heart in a perfect half before withdrawing his Chidori as Kakuzu felt like he was getting weaker.
While feeling pain, the orange haired recruit had began charging towards Kakuzu and instant, gave him one helluva punch that could easily break every bone in your body.
The strength of this guy surprised Sasuke a bit as he watched Kakuzu almost get buried into the ground as the person who punched him laughed like a maniac and Sasuke noticed he had a curse mark activated.
"Jugo.. let's Sasuke handle this.." Orochimaru said and the man, who's name is Jugo, began to call down as his curse mark went away.
"Kabuto, Karin... heal his team."
"Hai!" The two said and rushed over to where Kakashi, Ino, Shikamaru and Choji were.
Sasuke didn't even realize that Kakuzu's thread was coming from the ground and instantly wrapped around his foot and dragged him like a rag doll.
"Sasuke-kun!" Hinata shouted as she tried to rush over to him but Orochimaru put his hand on her shoulder.
"He knows what he's doing.." The snake sannin said with a big smirk on his face.
Kakuzu held Sasuke in his face before slamming the Uchiha into the ground painfully and stood over him.
"Chidori Nagashi!!"
Kakuzu had to act quick when he noticed Sasuke had lighting surrounding his entire body but it was too late and the enemy was electrocuted and sent back from the impact.
He had to admit, that was a pretty smart and clever way of Sasuke to get out of his grasp. He got back up and realized he can no longer toy with him any longer, I mean he's an Uchiha, and sure enough these reinforcements could get in the way at any time.
"Sasuke... I'd have to admit you're one strong brat.." Kakuzu said as the boy got back up on his feet as Suigetsu stood by his side as if the two had been friends for a long time. Orochimaru joined alongside as well.
"Your days come to an end here, everything you and your partner caused ends today." Sasuke said. "I'll kill you.."
Sasuke stood there with a chidori in his right hand as he glared at the enemy.
"You're clearly misjudging me, you-"
A big impact came down on the enemy as sand flew everywhere and into everyone's eyes. Sand went down their throats and they coughed as if they couldn't breath.
"AAAAHHHHHH"
Everyone heard the loud painful scream behind the big sandstorm and each worried as if it were their comrades who were getting hurt.
Some held their ground as others fell against the desert ground before another crash came down where the enemy should be.
A few more seconds pass by and it quiets down. Way too quiet indeed. Karin wiped her eyes to get the sand out while also trying to clean her glasses as well.
"Oi! Sasuke what the hell happened?!" Shikamaru called.
"No idea.." Sasuke shouted back as the sand began to clear out. Everyone got back up from the ground and dusted sand off of them.
Almost everyone cursed under their breaths, wondering who or what caused this huge sandstorm. "I- Is everyone okay?" Kakashi asked.
"Hai.." Most responded before hearing a soft slight gasp from Hinata which made Sasuke's head turn quick.
"Hinata... what's wrong?" He asked as he stepped forward when the sand storm had finally been put to a stop.
He looked to where the enemy was at and saw Kakuzu laying against the ground, but it was a horrifying view.
His last heart had been destroyed and his torso had been slashed with a huge hole in his stomach area. Lastly his head was nowhere to be found, blood was everywhere, it was a horrific view but what caused it? More importantly WHO caused it?
"Oh my kami.." Choji muttered.
"What is it?" Ino asked.
Everyone's eyes, except for Sasuke's, widened in shock of how this just happened instantly and unexpectedly.
"Oh kami.." Ino said as she found herself gagging and turned away and waited to throw up but nothing came.
Sasuke stepped up and stood in front of Hinata to keep her from looking at the body any longer, he also had to stay alert just in case the person who caused this were to come back in an instant.
"Who on earth could've done something this... this... monstrous..?" Kakashi questioned as everyone stood frozen.
Naruto's POV
Naruto smiled behind his mask as he walked through the forest. The day was still bright with the beautiful blue sky and clouds.
Naruto's hair went back to blond as he removed his mask with his left hand. He had blood on his clothes and a little bit on his mask. Mostly, his sword was stained with fresh blood after his battle.
He exhaled as he felt a gentle breeze blow against his sweaty skin as he walked further with nothing but a stoic expression.
He looked down on his right hand, he was gripping Kakuzu's hair tightly as blood dripped down from where he cut his head off. He dangled it a bit as he kept his stoic expression.
"Such a damn annoyance..." He muttered and threw the head on the floor. "Let the maggots eat away."
Naruto looked back at the head. Kakuzu's eyes stayed open and the color in them was gone, he looked back at the bloodied trail he left.
"I guess Sasuke and the rest left the easy part to you kit.."
Naruto shrugged and continued walking, he needed to find a lake or something to help clean his now bloodied clothes.
3 Akatsuki members have now died in the hands of Naruto Uzumaki, he thought long and hard about who should be next. Itachi? Pain?
He didn't care who was next, he held onto his promise of killing everyone in that organization even if he died in the process.
Suddenly Naruro grinned, he grinned from ear to ear, seeing how things were going according to plan. That grin never left his face as the breeze blew against his face and hair again, and he walked farther away from the head on the ground.