This chapter is quite a fun one-including Naruto and Sasuke both getting to have some fun so I hope you all enjoy.
The next week was peaceful, Naruto was, of course, released from the hospital later that day, and Sasuke and Itachi joined them at home the next day-Sasuke had refused to let Itachi return to the Uchiha compound, at least until it had been completely renovated-which he was hiring some Genin to work on.
She had, after some arguments, taken her mom back briefly to Wave to make sure their family were okay and that they knew Naruto was okay, but they'd had to go back home the same day so they hadn't been able to linger.
The main focus during the first week was just getting used to village life, for both Naruto and Itachi-neither of them would currently be taking any missions, Itachi for medical reasons and Naruto because she was taking a bit of a break.
Still after a week of relaxing Naruto was feeling incredibly bored.
Sakura was busy at the hospital, as was her mom, and Kakashi, Sasuke and Karin were all training, which was why Naruto had decided to head to the training field and bug them-besides it was about time that she met their other teammate.
Naruto lingered at a distance when she reached the training ground, watching curiously.
They seemed to be sparring, Sasuke vs Karin and Sai.
Sasuke had summoned up his Susanoo-an impressive sight since last time Naruto had seen it it had been a set of ribs but there was nothing else it could be, huge a glowing purple chakra humanoid shape- with Sasuke almost suspended in the air inside of it controlling it. and it was grabbing for Karin and a figure who had to be Sai, who were on the back of some bird that-it looked strange almost like-
"Sai can bring his drawings to life."
"That's really cool." Naruto glanced sideways at Kakashi, who smiled back at her.
"I did wonder when you'd get bored of staying at home."
"Who's winning?"
Sasuke-kun is the strongest, though working together Karin and Sai do stand a reasonable chance against him-especially if Karin-chan can pull off her Chakra chains again."
"Hm." Naruto watched the bird just dodge the Susanoo's hand. "Kakashi-sensei-"
"Go on." Kakashi laughed, jerking his head, "I know you and Sasuke-kun have been dying to have a scrap ever since you got back."
"I wish I'd had some clones ready." Naruto grinned, "But I suppose-" she summoned two clones quickly, which instantly dropped down onto the floor,
crossing their legs and meditating.
"What are you doing?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow, a curious look on his face, "Should I be concerned.
"Just preparing." Naruto grinned and winked before unsealing several kunai from her wrist.
"Y'know Naruto-chan you might even need Kurama's help to deal with Sasuke-kun now."
"We'll see." Naruto grinned, "Honestly I hope I do because I want Sasuke to be badass I really do."
Then she was throwing a kunai hard, the metal glinting as it sped towards a spot of air between Karin, Sai and Sasuke. She grinned and she summoned two dozen clones and they all Hirashined to that single Kunai.
She heard Karin's shriek and saw the bird she and this Sai were sat on swerving out of the way quickly as the clones launched themselves at the Susanoo, each of them forming a Rasengan as they flew towards it.
She saw Sasuke's eyes widen and that smug smirk spreading across his lips when he realized what was happening.
"Finally." his voice was eager, and he swung his hand, and most of the clones were smacked out of the air by the Susanoo.
Naruto managed to dodge it slamming the Rasengan into it-not that it made even the slightest bit of difference-and that was real impressive all things considered.
She'd have to take this very seriously.
Naruto summoned fifty clones lightning fast, landing hard on the ground and rolling as she did.
It wouldn't last long but one of her clones would have gathered some Natural chakra at least.
She glanced at two of her clones which ran off to go and meditate, and she dispelled one of the currently meditating clones, slipping into Sage mode with practiced ease.
She took advantage of Sasuke dealing with her clones, which he was batting away one by one.
Naruto smirked to herself as she took advantage of his distraction, taking off at a run towards him, a familiar shrieking filling the air, then she was throwing it when she judged herself close enough and he lunged to try and smash her out of the way.
The Rasenshuriken sliced the Susanoo's ankle away and Sasuke let out a shocked yell as he fell to his knees, the Susanoo unstable and off balance for a long moment at the sudden lopsidedness.
But Sasuke recovered fast, drawing a sword from the back of his Susanoo, and Naruto dodged the blade quickly, rolling beneath it and between the chakra constructs legs, leaping up once she was behind it, spinning and putting all of her strength into the kick she aimed at the constructs back.
It swayed forward-which was impressive both for her and for Sasuke really, but it didn't topple forwards, which was annoying, and it was twisting, sword out and flying towards her.
And the fight went on, they were well matched Naruto had to admit, Sasuke was clearly tiring but he was strong, incredibly so, and Susanoo gave him a very impressive edge, but if there was one thing Naruto was it was stubborn, even as she felt herself slipping out of Sage mode. Well she could go into it again but... there was one thing that could be more fun.
As if sensing her decision she heard a familiar chuckling deep in her mind.
"I've been waiting for this brat."
"Let's play then."
With that Naruto was pulling on Kurama's chakra, the familiar joyous warmth flowing over her as the chakra cloak flaring around her.
She could see Sasuke's eyes widen, and then she was flying towards him, and Sasuke moved too.
Their fight was oddly elegant despite the raw power of each of them as Sasuke sent lightning crackling towards her and Naruto leapt away from it, and towards Sasuke, chakra blades enhanced with Kurama's chakra flew towards him, only to have Sasuke dodge sideways, blade swiping towards her, and she only just changed her course enough that it only caught her upper leg slightly and she landed lightly, pressing her hand to it and grinning when she saw the blood, looking across at Sasuke who was looking smug, "You're not the only one to have gotten stronger Naruto-chan."
"I can see that." and Naruto and Sasuke were rushing at eachother again just like that
The pure force when Naruto caught Susanoo's fist sent a shockwave out around them, the trees rustling frantically as Naruto planted her heels into the ground as she was forced backwards, and the force of it made her arms and shoulders ache. Then she leapt backwards, flipping as she did, landing a short distance from Sasuke, panting and rolling her shoulders as they sized one another up.
She could see Kakashi stood a fair distance away, with Karin and Sai-and was that Baa-chan and Ero Sennin too. Seemed like her and Sasuke's little match was turning into a bit of a show.
Well she didn't mind showing off.
"The brat's Susanoo is good but he hasn't mastered it. I think we should give him a taste of what a Bijuu and their Jinchuriki are capable of don't you brat?"
"You thinking what I'm thinking?"
"I'm thinking we blow the bastards Susanoo's head off, as long as we don't overpower it we shouldn't cause too much damage-"
"As opposed to that time we nearly wiped out an entire forest-"
"Yeah well, no one saw us-"
"Kurama we leveled half of the fucking trees-"
"They shouldn't have been in our way then brat should they?"
Naruto laughed, shaking her head, but she focused.
No one had saw her using what she was going to use before, it was something she and Kurama had worked on privately.
She kinda wished she'd been able to use it on Obito but it was too destructive and he'd been to close to her family so she hadn't-but she was sure she could use it on Susanoo.
She summoned a clone, a plan forming in her minds as it slipped away to go about it's task, thankfully Sasuke was watching her with a raised eyebrow and a curious look on his face.
She leapt backwards, focusing on gathering positive and negative chakra-it was easier for her to learn than it might have been for others, after all she already knew the Rasengan-and she wouldn't be surprised if the Rasengan had been based on what she was about to do-there were certain similarities.
The deep orb that started to form in her hands was such a deep purple that it was almost black.
She was able to form them using her mouth of course but she preferred it this way because of how used to the Rasengan she was.
Then she was Hirashining behind Sasuke's Susanoo as her clone-perched in one of the trees that were still standing a short distance behind Sasuke had just tossed a kunai-and she was behind him, and Sasuke was turning, the chakra construct turning with him as she threw the Bijuu Dama.
It hit Susanoo, exploding on contact.
It almost vaporized the head, neck and shoulders of the Susanoo on contact, and Naruto smirked smugly as Sasuke was thrown backwards out of the destroyed Susanoo, though she did Hirashin to him quickly, catching him as he flew through the air, catching him around the waist moments before he'd have collided with a tree, landing with a grunt as Sasuke slipped from her grip, panting, his eyes wide and face pale.
"What the hell was that?"
"Bijui Dama." Naruto grinned, "It's something the Bijuu can do-Kurama taught me."
Sasuke was gaping at her before he let out a shaky laugh, "You obliterated my Susanoo."
"You should feel smug. I wouldn't use it against just anyone asshole, I only used it against you 'cause I was confident that you could handle it." she
released her grip on Kurama's chakra, returning to normal and tilting her head back, letting out a breath as she swayed very slightly for a second.
"How'd you feel?"
"Completely drained." Sasuke was grinning despite his words, "But that was the best spar I have ever had-seriously Naruto-chan that was-that was something else-"
"Are you two done destroying the training area?" the call came from a fair distance away, though Kakashi was walking towards them followed by the rest of their audience-which had grown even more to include Itachi too.
Naruto and Sasuke both looked around at Kakashi's comment, and Naruto laughed, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly as Sasuke blinked slowly. "Uh, sorry?" because the training ground was somewhat destroyed, with half of the ground churned up from their fighting, and some of the trees had been knocked down too.
"New rule." Tsunade spoke up, looking amused, "If you two want to spar you find a very large area outside of the village where you can do it."
"What did you think Baa-chan?"
"I think that Jiraiya was right." the woman smiled fondly, "You're definitely Kage level physically. And Sasuke-san you're incredibly strong too."
"You are little brother." Itachi's expression was proud, "Stronger than I ever imagined you being. And I always knew you had potential."
Sasuke straightened up, looking incredibly pleased at the praise from his brother.
"Naruto-chan still beat me-"
"Yeah but I'm like, something else." Naruto grinned, "After all I have the fuzzball to help me."
"You've definitely mastered Sage mode and your perfect Jinchuriki mode." Jiraiya's voice was approving. "You should be proud of yourself Naruto-
chan. I know I am."
"No more sparring for today though." Kakashi added, "You two are going to take a break, get some food or something but no more fighting. Karin-chan, we'll be working on your chakra chains, Sai-san, you can help and we'll work on your social skills too."
"Oh!" Naruto focused on the pale boy who Kakashi's comment had been directed towards, "Hi, you must be Sai-san. It's nice to meet you, I'm Nohara Naruto, which I guess you probably already know since my cousin and my friend are your teammates."
The boy stared at her, a rather strange looking smile crossing his face.
"It's nice to meet you Nohara-san." his voice was somewhat stilted, uncertain, "You're very strong. And loud."
"Yeah, yeah I am." Naruto grinned, "And unashamed. And you're pretty skilled yourself y'know, that bird was so cool."
"You are strange." Naruto blinked slowly, a surprised look on her face at Sai's words as Karin sighed to herself and Sasuke groaned quietly.
"You're kinda strange too." the blonde pointed out. "Doesn't mean bad though right."
"I... suppose." Sai's uncomfortable smile became a hint more genuine and Kakashi grinned proudly.
"Sai-san sometimes struggles with tact-"
"Eh, I'm not easily offended." Naruto saved a hand dismissively, "Don't worry Sai-san I'm not gonna get all freaked out."
"The first time he met Sakura-chan he called her ugly." Karin whispered, and Naruto winced.
"Ooh, bet that didn't go over well. Well Sai-san, like I said you're not gonna offend me. I know I'm weird-one of my best friends is a fuzzy bastard who lives in my belly." she jabbed her thumb into her belly, "You're my families teammate and that means you're kinda family too, so you're not getting rid of me any time soon. Besides when I first met Sasuke-kun he pretty much wanted to murder me-"
"Only a little." Sasuke shrugged as if they were discussing the weather, "and you did punch me-"
"You were mean to Sakura-chan."
"Yeah yeah I was an asshole, you're not saying anything new."
"Before you two start bickering-" Tsunade cut in before Naruto could respond, "Naruto-chan, I want you to come and see me tomorrow at eight. Don't be late okay?"
"Okay Baa-chan."
"Right. Now I should be going. Jiraiya you come with me, I want to discus your leads on the leader of the Akatsuki."
"Right." Jiraiya nodded and followed Tsunade, and Kakashi turned to Naruto, Sasuke, Karin, Sai and Itachi.
"Right, Sai-san, Karin-chan you two come with me we'll need to find a new training ground. Itachi-san keep those two out of trouble."
"HEY!"
"It's not me who causes trouble it's her!"
Itachi smiled, shaking his head. "What do you two want to do-"
"I want ramen!"
"I want sleep." Sasuke admitted. "Sorry dumbass but I'm wiped out, not everyone is a chakra powerhouse."
"Awe." Naruto pouted, "But I don't want to have to get ramen alone-"
"Itachi-nii." Sasuke shot him a pleading look, "Can you go instead-or she'll pout until I cave."
"I see." Itachi chuckled, "I'll go,"
"YES!" Naruto grinned, "Ichiraku here we come!"
