The Legend of A Master

DISCLAIMER – I DO NOT OWN POKEMON OR NARUTO, THEY BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.

Chapter 12: The End of the Uchiha

It was nice to take it slow once in a while. Draco tottered alongside Eon as they were watchfully supervised by their trainer. Draco was very much like a toddler right now fascinated by every sight and sound.

Without warning, Draco began barrelling into the bushes swinging his arms with great excitement.

"Draco? Come back please"

"Psy..Psyyy!"

Draco in his great excitement had slammed face-first into a yellow psychic duck. The bulkier Pokemon didn't seem to be upset by Draco. The Psyduck pat the baby dragon as Draco gurgled happily at his ministrations. Arion followed slowly intending to call Draco back.

Vines shot out quickly as Arion had to jump back. An explosive kunai followed him as he quickly deflected it with a shuriken. He landed in a wide stance keeping his head down but his eyes watching. He pulled up his mask, effectively covering his face.

An angry Bulbasaur burst through the foliage followed by a blue-haired girl. The girl had drawn more weaponry at the ready. Arion's eyes scanned her form as he recognized a Hitai-Ate aligning her to Hoshigakure. Arion raised his hands in surrender.

"I have no ill intent in my approach, I just want to collect Draco back" Blue eyes were locked on him as they flickered to his raised hands and the baby dragon who was obviously distressed seeing his trainer get attacked. The Tusk Pokemon struggled as Psyduck tried to keep him out of the line of fire.

Bulbasaur stared at Arion intently before backing away into the forests behind. The girl sheathed her kunai as she motioned for him to retrieve Draco. As he started to, his ears picked up on familiar metallic whizzing coming from behind him. The girl seemed to realize too as she started to draw her kunai. Before she could move Arion had already finished weaving hand signs.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu [Fire Release: Great Fireball technique]" The large stream of fire was more than sufficient in stopping the shuriken's advance.

"Henge" As the smoke cleared, the Jounin stepped out. Turning around the girl was gone once more.

"Eon"

"Handled" Eon immediately nudged Draco as the silver fox guided the baby dragon to safety.

"Our forces said nothing about no Leaf shinobi?! What the f*** is going on?" It was a duo. The dusty red colour of their garb stood out amongst the greenery.

"What is the meaning of this?" Hand on the hilt of his sword, Sasuke cut a very threatening figure.

"Move out of the way Konoha scum, this has nothing to do with you" This one was stocky, well-muscled and built like a boulder.

"On the contrary, you are in the land of fire, crossing the borders and attacking is an infraction of the agreement"

"Outta the way or we'll just cut you down to get to the village" the other one was lean. He had a rather slippery look to him reminding Sasuke of an Eel.

"Village?"

"Try me"

"Tch, you're gonna delay us huh? your funeral punk. Do the thing Taichi"

"Sure thing Haruto"

"Meisaigakure no Jutsu [Camouflage technique]"

"Doton: Retsudotensho [Earth Release: Split Earth Turn Around Palm]"

"One's a distraction while the other one hides to strike, a deadly combo... if I wasn't me" He avoided deftly, leaping up. With unusual speed, the stocky Haruto was right behind him. The Iwa nin smashed his fist into Sasuke's side, the leaf ninja barely had time to react, only managing to put up a flimsy block that sent him hurtling.

"Fast!" The attack was clearly some sort of practised combination as Taichi reappeared ready to sink a kunai into the base of his skull. Sasuke thought fast as he wove signs, funnelling earth chakra into his sword and stabbing it into the ground.

"Doton: Doryuheki [Earth Release: Earth Release Wall]" A wall of stone erected between Taichi and the leaf shinobi as Sasuke landed heavily onto it cracking the wall but it remained tall.

"Crafty bastard aren't ya? Taichi kick it up a notch!" Taichi threw up a Pokeball as he disappeared again. In a blue flash, a Nidoking appeared roaring his displeasure.

"Nidoking Fissure"

"Doton: Yomi Numa [Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld]"

"They're trying to force me up with fissure and then trap me in the mud... Clever" Channeling chakra into his feet, the Sharingan user leapt up.

"Storm, Raijin you're up"

"Roger"

"On it"

Both released in flashes of light Raijin smoothly landed on Storm's back.

"Voltage Crash!"

Storm activated brave bird as Raijin activated Volt Tackle. When they were overhead, Raijin jumped up allowing Storm to rush in with Brave bird.

Storm was fast, fast enough that Haruto decided to block encasing his arms in stone (Doton: Kengan no Jutsu [Earth Release: Stone Fist Jutsu]). Even with the support, Haruto had to push back against the force before suddenly Storm disappears.

Knocked off balance, the Iwa shinobi is momentarily stupefied before Raijin crashed into him like a spear of lightning.

"One down, one to go"

Sasuke had other problems to tend to as he was still hurtling to the ground towards the entrapping mud.

"Well, it isn't the most ideal way to test it out but there's no time like the present"

"Fūton: Reppūshō [Wind Release: Gale Palm]" Clasping both hands together, the Konoha shinobi threw the compressed air down as he neared the mud. The wind amazingly acted as a cushion that allowed Sasuke to springboard off it and land in an unsteady crouch but onto solid ground.

"That - was - awesome!"

Nidoking however, were not impressed. Raijin immediately reacted, backed up by Storm ready to keep the Nidoking busy. Storm started to chip away at Nidoking, making full use of quick attack as Raijin began to frustrate him by dodging his attacks with agility.

Sasuke heard a swoop of metal and blocked the incoming hit with his scabbard. Smoothly drawing out a kunai with his other hand, Steel found bone as Sasuke jammed it into Taichi's Leg. Taichi howled in pain as he fell forward.

"You f****** bastard, when I get my f******* hands on you" Immediately he was silenced as Sasuke smashed his sheathed sword into the Iwa nin's temple. He snatched at his belt to forcefully return Nidoking to his Pokeball.

"Finally" He glanced back at both of the unconscious shinobi.

"Now to find out what the heck is happening here"

Melanie was having a very bad day.

The first was an honest mistake, the Pokemon breeder could clearly tell the baby Pokemon was just excited and simply wanted to explore. She should have known that it was much more than that.

At the sight of Iwa nin, she knew that her seals had been breached while she had been distracted. She had been prepared to defend when the trainer who had stumbled in did so for her with a simple but powerful Katon jutsu. Once the smoke had cleared the gleam of the Leaf insignia on his Hitai-Ate just reassured her to go back and defend the best she could.

Hoshigakure was not very big, but they were a proud village. They earned most of their revenue through Pokemon breeding and protection contracts. The hidden village contract was their most prestigious because it had come directly from the Pokemon league. Konohagakure had directed the League to Hoshigakure citing their specialities as a sign of goodwill that lasted to this very day.

She just hoped that this shinobi upheld that relationship.

Bulbasaur let loose another powerful volley of Razor Leaf as she unleashed another brace of Shuriken. An explosive tag had surprised her making it difficult to judge distance with her one good eye and for as strong as Bulbasaur was he was getting tired too.

"Give up wench, I have you cornered"

This was bad, she had to buy more time to finish the evacuation but her vision was blurring and her left arm hung useless and numb. As she closed her eyes she prayed for a miracle.

"Where the f*** are Taichi and Haruto?" Daifuku muttered under his breath as he approached the prone shinobi. Their three-man cell had split up to try for a pincer formation with Daifuku, the Combat heavy specialist attacking the front and the more stealth-oriented Taichi sneaking in with Haruto watching his back.

Live steel flew as Daifuku recognized the familiar sound.

"Paper bomb!"

He jumped back as a clone took the opportunity to body flicker Melanie out of the danger zone. Landing awkwardly on his ankle Daifuku was caught off guard as a new shinobi closed the distance between them, hands drawing the sword from its sheath. Instinctively the Iwa nin brought his blade down but was too slow. With a flick of a wrist, he was disarmed and stumbling looking directly into the eyes of the newcomer.

"Go to sleep now"

Utterly caught Daifuku succumbed, his last memory was glinting steel and red eyes.

It was many hours later when Melanie came to. Her head was fuzzy at first before she tried to jerk up with a start. Keyword being tried.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you"

Painfully turning her head to one side she saw the masked shinobi sitting beside her leaning against the wall. Bulbasaur was resting beside him with a Silver Eevee and a baby dragon all curled up together.

"That was very brave of you" that voice made her jerk violently. The Hokage was seated at the only table on the far right.

"Ho-ka-" she dissolved into a fit of coughs. Sasuke was already uncorking his canteen, letting the girl drink the cool liquid.

"Don't talk right now. I reset your arm and neutralized the poison but you aren't going to be fine for a long time" With a wary nod, Melanie settled back onto her futon.

"One last thing" Melanie turned slowly to look at him.

"I'm very sorry about this" His Sharingan glowed as her eyes glazed over. Once she was asleep, Sasuke joined his superior eyeing the strategic candles and seals. With a single hand seal, the sound seal was activated.

"The Hoshikage has been informed. He was grateful for Konoha's assistance with the attack" Sasuke nodded absently as he stared at the injured Pokemon.

"The Iwa shinobi have also been contained, they're on their way to T&I as we speak." His bones ached. Taking a break from regular training was really taking a toll on his effectiveness.

"Sasuke" Sharp red eyes snapped up to meet his commanding officer as the Fire Shadow reached to unseal a scroll. The scroll was deftly caught and its contents scanned.

"...What is this?"

"Do you remember Mr Tobias Shelton?" his brow furrowed as he remembered the medical advisor, he nodded once.

"He is a civilian and while he does primarily work in the Land of Fire, he is still a freelancer." Sasuke merely frowned almost egging his superior to give him the short version.

"Coming down to it, he was very grateful for your work on the protection mission and said as much to his superiors...A little too much I think"

"St Shelby requested a security detail to the Land of Lightning but cancelled the request when they found out you weren't available. They weren't interested in any other shinobi, only you" Sasuke nodded slowly.

"Afterwards we received three more requests, all from subsidiaries of St Shelby, requesting you specifically. All of them were protection details and all of them to the Land of Lightning. They however accepted replacements." Sasuke frowned at that.

"Why do I have a feeling Kumo is behind this?" The Hokage had never looked older.

"Between the Hyuuga kidnapping and requests for you, I dispatched Ibiki and a recon team to investigate covertly."

"With all due respect Hokage-sama. Ibiki is one of the most recognizable reconnaissance personnel in the 5 great nations" The Hokage laughed a little at that.

"I suppose he is, but this was very important. As we suspected, the Raikage is trying for a Kekkei Genkai steal" Sasuke inhaled sharply. When he opened his eyes, his Sharingan glowed in the candlelight.

"Konoha's Spymaster confirmed Ibiki's first impressions, but doesn't think a war is brewing just yet"

"Jiraya sama is involved?" The Hokage nodded. Sasuke's brow furrowed in thought.

"Jiraya did the leg work and got the right people talking. But the distraction won't last long, you won't be hidden any more"

"The Byakugan is a dominant gene, the Sharingan is recessive. They tried for a Byakugan from the main branch and then when they heard of a young Uchiha male they wanted to probe and have the home advantage..." Sasuke mumbled as his mind raced, this was a difficult position to be in. He groaned.

"Now we already settled the matter of the spy at St Shelby." One less thing to worry about.

"And the Hyuuga have increased security around the compound. The clan is very particular about protecting their own" Sasuke breathed out.

"So that just leaves me" The Hokage nodded gravely.

"You are currently inactive. A part of the Shinobi reserves and not within the safety of the village. Your travelling increases the chances of an ambush. And while you did some missions solo, you mostly worked with teams that gave you camouflage and safety." Sasuke considered his options.

The Sharingan was an asset. During his time as an ANBU, the appearance of a new ANBU operative with Sharingan eyes spread like wildfire. News spread fast, the nations were put on guard. Many whispers flowed through government offices. That was the strength a Kekkei Genkai gave a village. Conversely, it made his movement very limited as a civilian. Soon someone was going to notice the common red-eyed child that disappeared when Uchiha Sasuke appeared.

"So what would you have me do?" The Hokage looked at him dead on.

"You'll have to die"

Signing Off,

The Aura Phoenix