Wow, I am really sorry about how long this one took. But, I have moved back home and out of my dorm, so maybe that means more time to write? also, my second job can get pretty slow, and my boss will let me use my computer when I can. Bonus writing time!
I would like to thank everyone who dropped their opinions on the whole situation with Sasuke and Naruto! Also, I do agree that the scene was pretty awesome to read and write lol.
I make no own claims.
The rest of that night went quietly, and the entirety of Team 7 woke up ready to scarf down a quick breakfast and leave. Naruto had the Sage clone disperse the natural energy back into the ground before dispelling. The first stop of the day would be the biggest settlement they would encounter during the mission, and once Naruto got it out of the way he'd see if Sasuke wanted to take either the next one or the last one of the day.
Sasuke was once again in the lead of the group, using his eyes to scout ahead twice as far as either of his teammates could see. The town wasn't too far out from camp, maybe an hour's travel. Likely less since Naruto liked to push the speed when he could.
"Naruto, I'm seeing a massive clearing of almost pure dirt ahead. It looks like it could be a crater of some kind," Sasuke reported as the team sped through the treetops.
"Really? It's pretty close to the town, and it must be really recent if it didn't show on the map."
"Hn. Bad news, I think I'm starting to see some rubble. I'm pretty sure that this crater… was the town."
Naruto didn't break stride, but his brain jumped at the words.
"That wasn't a small town by any means, no simple bandits could blow it off the map without everyone knowing about it."
"That's why I'm worried. Thoughts?"
"Take the lead back, maybe send a clone ahead to scout. It might not be the actual town, it could just be a few outskirt farms."
Naruto didn't argue with the voice in his head, summoning a clone into existence and giving the order to take off and scout the crater. It rocketed off as Naruto switched spots with Sasuke. "We'll go at three-quarters of our original speed, give the clone time to check things out."
This is what shadow clones were originally made for, and it was where they truly excelled at. Recon in a possibly dangerous area. Naruto felt confident that whatever his clone sent back to him would be valuable information —
The clone popped. Well, it got dispelled by force.
"I see a dust cloud originating from the center of the crater ahead," Sasuke warned.
"Stop," Naruto halted the group.
"What are we up against, Naruto? You have a plan yet?" Sakura's voice didn't make it to the blond though, his mind was occupied with analyzing the short yet clear memory the clone had returned to him.
"There's one man in the center of the mess. He's… blind. Or at least blindfolded. He also had some odd piercings, but I don't know if they're purely cosmetic or not. The thing is, he's sitting on some kind of throne fashioned from the rubble. And he dispelled my clone with… something. It was like he pushed physical air at me, but the impact was way more solid than any wind jutsu has a right to be."
That description puzzled even Sakura, and Naruto was just fine admitting that she was the brains in this operation. That wasn't a normal jutsu. "Is he for sure hostile? He could just be a scared survivor."
Naruto was a bit skeptical since his clone was taken out so easily, but that could have been his ego talking.
"Definitely your ego and pride talking, just go and see what the old man wants."
"Kurama says we should just go talk to him, so that's what we'll do. Be ready to fight, though."
Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke walked out into the devastated field doing their best to come across as friendly. They weren't too sure if it would help since the guy was blind, but it wouldn't hurt to try.
"Excuse me, sir? Do you know what happened here?" Naruto asked, stopping a few yards away from the seated man.
The blindfolded man turned his head to face the trio. "Ah, children. Come, sit with me."
Naruto looked at first Sakura and Sasuke, and when he got a pair of shrugs he sat cross-legged in front of the man. "Why are you sitting alone out here? Do you need any kind of help?"
The man smiled sadly before he answered, "The story that brings me in front of you is a long one, one much too long for a single sitting."
Naruto saw both of his teammates show their annoyance from the corner of his eyes. Sasuke was reserved and merely closed his eyes, but Sakura's was more obvious with the way her eye twitched.
"Do you know what happened to this town?" Sasuke asked once he reopened his eyes.
With a tilt of his head, the blind man said, "They were crushed by the weight of their sins, boy. Blown to the side to make way for a new world's peace."
"Great, he's an end of the world kind of guy…" Sakura mumbled under her breath.
"Okay, but what happened exactly?" Naruto pushed.
"I will tell you, but you must first know that I am not here to fight any of you. You have enough of war on your plate as it is."
That one through a red flag or two.
"Naruto, be ready to defend yourself. I do not trust this man."
The man shifted on his rubble chair before speaking again, "I happened. I crushed these people, their sins were the fuel all pain needs, and instead of spreading to the world I made sure it was contained to the sinners themselves."
"What?!"
Sasuke shifted in place, resting a hand on his shuriken pouch. Sakura pulled her gloves on tighter, ready to start throwing fists at whatever she had to.
"I don't understand, who are you?" Naruto asked, mentally preparing himself for an answer.
The man stared up into the sky, his head tilted back as far as it would go even though he could not see. "That is a good question. I have many names, and yet I have none. I am many people, and yet I am no one person. For the sake of ease, you may call me Pain."
Naruto was used to old men talking in riddles and rhyme by now, so he followed most of that.
"And you, Pain, destroyed this entire town? On your own? You don't work with anyone?"
There was a deep, slow chuckle as the blindfolded man stood. "No, Naruto, the organization I lead is not here with me. It is not yet their time to serve a god."
"How do you know his name?" Sakura asked immediately.
"Who works for you?" Sasuke's question followed soon after.
Naruto stayed silent as realization dawned on him. Kurama gave off a low growl within his mind. This was a very, very dangerous man, and he was just sitting in front of him. The man stood then, prompting the three members of Team 7 to jump to their feet as well.
"We've had an eye on Naruto for quite some time, actually. Speaking of, I know of that little stunt you pulled last night. The same as I'm aware of the discord it caused among you."
Sasuke looked sharply to Sakura for some kind of response, but she refused to meet his gaze and focused on the strange man.
"What are you talking about?" Naruto demanded. He was confident that he would have known if they were being watched.
"Sakura, you fail to understand the implications that war brings. In times like these, villages like yours expect anything to go. You are taught to go to any lengths to shorten the war and save as many of your own people as possible. Unfortunately, that little girl and surviving man of that group had to be put through what you all did last night to achieve this. But this is war, and it was expected."
Sakura relaxed a bit as she started to see the new viewpoint.
"On the other side of the coin, Sasuke and Naruto could have taken measures against the situation. Had they been given more time perhaps they would have, but what you two did can be considered despicable by any means, and your people will only believe it justified under the banner of war. Just know that the little girl's wellbeing is on your heads."
Sasuke took his turn in softening his stance. Not everyone was as cold or hard as he could be since not everyone had been broken and rebuilt like had been. His actions did have consequences, and what made it worse was that they wouldn't hurt him, but others.
"Naruto, you had the best understanding of what you were doing, but still decided to let events unfold the way they did. You let things drag out and become much worse than necessary, simply because you found it amusing that Sasuke was doing so well. Your sins weigh the heaviest."
"And what are you going to do about it, old man? Flatten me like this village?" Naruto struggled not to snarl as he spoke. In truth, if this was the man he thought it could be he would need Kurama's help.
"No, Naruto, I promised you that I wasn't here to fight any of you," the man began to turn away slowly. Naruto's eyes widened as his worst fears were shown on the man's cloak.
Red Clouds.
"Your time to die by hand has not yet come."
"He's Akatsuki!" Naruto yelled, and with less than a thought five tails burst from behind him.
Naruto released every ounce of Malice he could muster, doing his best to direct it at the leader of Akatsuki. There was a lot more he was capable of releasing now, nearly double of what he had used during Konoha's invasion, and it showed. The ground beneath his feet cracked and cratered, and even with his focus on the Akatsuki leader both Sakura and Sasuke were buckled by the feeling.
"I see you have grown since the last time I watched you," came the casual response.
To Naruto's shock, a hand flicked out and then backward, flinging a piece of paper at Naruto. It flew too fast for even Naruto to avoid, and it stuck itself firmly to the right side of his forehead.
The Malice cut off, the tails disappeared, and Naruto fell shaking to his knees. He felt empty. Devoid of energy and warmth, and now he couldn't even feel Kurama.
"Kurama!" his internal shout was as loud as he had ever managed, but there was only silence in response.
"We got him," Sasuke's eyes lit up in the now familiar pattern of his Eternal Mangekyo, and Sakura blitzed herself to the second gate.
The couple flew forward, flying at the turned back of the man. Naruto was too weak to tell them to stand down, all he could do was support himself on his shaking arms. Naruto saw fire streaming from Sasuke's mouth, and he knew that a massive wave of heat and destruction would soon follow. Sakura was ready to launch her fist forward, green energy swirling around her hand. Naruto felt confident in his team, but it all changed when he heard the cold voice of the man once more.
"Shinra Tensei."
Sasuke and Sakura were flung back, and Naruto followed them soon after. He had no way of catching himself, and the powerful push sent him crashing into and through the rubble. Without Kurama's healing power or even his own strength, Naruto was in serious danger of dying. He felt his arm snap, his leg get cut open by a sharp rock, and the impact of the hard ground with every tumble he took away from the man.
The three shinobi of Konoha stopped about fifty yards from their enemy, Naruto remaining on the ground in severe pain.
"I do have to thank you for such a tag, Naruto. Had you not given it to Suna while it was under the control of a certain snake I never would have been able to buy it off of him."
Naruto cursed within his throbbing head.
"I have only come to tell you that I do hope you win your little war. I may not pick one, but I do favor one side over the other. The man you captured last night was on his way to Orochimaru, so you should learn of his location soon enough. Also, the border towns in Frost Country have already been militarized against you. You can either return home or purge them for me. It makes no difference to my plans."
Naruto managed to painfully tilt his head up to look at Pain once more. He stood calmly, facing the trio without a care in the world. He must have been using some form of voice amplification, because he was speaking in the same tone from this distance. Sakura was soon at Naruto's side, removing the tag and healing what she could.
Pain tilted his head as he watched Sakura snap Naruto's arm back together and heal it manually, happy that the tag worked.
"Now that I know that I wasn't sold faulty goods, I will take my leave. Know this, children. You are some of the only mortals to live after being face to face with a living god."
Naruto braced himself on one arm and focused on regaining his chakra back, as well as his connection to Kurama. If it was truly his tag, then he knew that the more chakra someone had and tried to use the sooner the effect would wear off after removal.
"Also, Naruto?" Pain straightened and spread his arms wide, "by meeting me, you are all that much closer to finding Hinata."
And then he was gone. No flash, no smoke, just gone.
And Naruto was livid. His chakra seeped out of his tenketsu, doing its best to reopen everything. Both of his teammates backed away from what they knew was a coming explosion. Red began to leak from him, rolling off of him in growing waves. A dam broke, and Naruto was explosively shrouded in gold. Black marks adorned his body, and he radiated with furious power.
"Uh, please don't make everything explode?" Sasuke asked hesitantly.
Naruto let the cloak fade and did his best to calm his breathing. Hinata would have to… wait. There was still a mission to do. "Let's move. We have to make sure the rest of the villages and towns are okay. We have no idea if this was the only target, so we'll check them all before getting into Frost. Then we'll move West and link up with Neji."
Sakura knew that this tone meant it was time for business, and nothing else. Tonight, she would try to talk to him, hopefully after he had calmed down some. With that in mind, she followed him North with Sasuke, past the ruins of the town and towards their next objective.
"I know you're upset. I'm inside you. I'm always inside you."
"Ugh, don't say it like that."
"Whatever it takes to get you talking again. You haven't said anything since we met Pain, and that was hours ago."
"What did you expect? And you've SEEN the rest of the villages today… all of them destroyed in the exact same way."
"He isn't Akatsuki's leader for nothing."
"Exactly! So why would he be so stupid to show himself to us like that?"
"I don't think he's stupid, Naruto. That little show he put on for you had a purpose. What do you think it was?"
That got Naruto thinking as he led his team even further towards the Frost Country border. Their pace was furious, but there weren't any complaints yet.
"He wanted me to know that he's everywhere. He knew everything important about me and even a bit about Sasuke and Sakura."
"Good. And?"
"He let us know that this war isn't our only concern, and there isn't even a guarantee that countries are the only ones involved. Akatsuki could strike out at any time they wanted."
"What else?"
"He knows where Hinata is. If Akatsuki doesn't have her, then one of their members will know who does."
"Naruto, he cut our link. Think about that. He did what should have been impossible and cut off all of your chakra. Only you or your sensei should be able to do that."
"You heard him! He bought my tag from Orochimaru. I gave the tag to the Sand Siblings to help Gaara sleep, so no doubt they had it looked over and turned into their Kazekage before they used it. And of fucking course the real Kazekage was dead."
"I feel like a big part of his appearance was to show you that you aren't invincible. He even shrugged off a five-tailed Presence."
"All he did was show me one of my weaknesses to work on… and that no one is invincible. That includes him."
"Naruto? We're getting pretty close to the border. Can we take a break before we cross into enemy territory?" Sakura spoke up from behind her leader.
Naruto's head snapped up and he noticed that the sun had sunk below the treetops. He had spent more than a couple hours alone with his thoughts and with Kurama. He looked behind him next, and he felt more guilty than he ever had before.
Both of his teammates were breathing heavily, their chests and shoulders heaving with every step. His brutal pace hadn't slowed in the slightest, and their non-Biju enhanced bodies were feeling the toll. Like real soldiers, like real friends, they were prepared to follow Naruto on his hatred-fueled warpath with no rest. It was a good thing Sakura spoke up to snap him out of his reverie.
Naruto came to an abrupt stop, both surprising and relieving his haggard teammates. "I'm sorry, you guys. I was up in my head this whole time. We'll rest for the night and head out in the morning."
Sasuke looked up from his position leaning against a tree, "Not that I'm not grateful or anything, but what happened to scouting things out at night?"
Naruto glanced between his two closest friends before sending out a pair of clones. "After today I think I owe you guys a decent night's rest. We can have a small fire after dark if we use only the driest wood. Sakura, how far away is the border?"
"About an hour and a half at standard travel speed, less than half that if we keep up our speed from today," she was bent at her waist, rubbing at her calves while taking deep breaths. Naruto was absolutely amazed she made it that long.
"Then a small fire shouldn't be anything to worry about unless there's a scouting party."
"I have to agree with Sasuke on this, though. You don't have to worry about us, we'll be fine in a few hours and we can go with your original plan to scout at night."
Naruto smiled as he had a pair of clones take their tents and begin to set them up for them. "Oh, scouting isn't our primary objective anymore. We're just double checking on what that Pain guy told us."
Sasuke happily down once his tent had been taken from him. "And if what he said was true? We just gonna head into Sound and link up with the second team?"
Naruto's smile grew wider, "Oh, Sasuke! Don't you remember Team 7's original team dynamic and purpose?"
Sakura answered with a sly tone, "Yes, Assault Oriented Striking team, originally of the fourth degree but elevated to second just before you left on your training trip."
Naruto stared at her for a hard second, his clones stopping to do the same. "I mean, I was looking for a simple 'Assault' but hey that works too."
"What the hell is with the degrees?" Sasuke asked.
"Fourth degree is the lowest, and it's always given to genin teams no matter what their specialty is. The higher your degree, the more priority missions you're given. They're harder, more important, things like that," the resident encyclopedia/dictionary/almanac informed her teammates.
"Well, in that case, we're gonna give everyone a reason to promote us to the first degree. Because we have a few Kumo infested towns to wipe off the map."
Sakura was quick to interject, "What about the civilians? I can understand last night a bit now, but if we just blow up civilians then we're no better than Kumo or Orochimaru."
Naruto flinched at the implication.
"She has a point, kit. You will need a more precise approach to this than simply letting me cut loose."
"You're right," Naruto conceded as his first clones returned with wood. "We… we'll talk about this over dinner. Kurama we're still in the hunting area right?"
"About half a mile out of the suggested border, but it's no real problem."
Naruto ran through the summoning seals and placed a hand to the ground, allowing a three-tailed Kurama to emerge. With that many tails, he was about the size of a large wolf.
"He's so… gorgeous!" Sakura clapped and covered her smile.
Kurama showed his teeth, and his sleek coat appeared to shimmer as he looked at Sasuke. "Watch out, Uchiha! Sounds like you have some competition!" and the large fox took off into the growing darkness to the sounds of Naruto's laughter. Underneath it was Sakura's giggles and Sasuke's low muttering of curses.
Naruto sat in front of a small fire, his teammates seated similarly around the ring of light and warmth, fresh venison between their hands. Kurama lay in a rolled ball of fur off to the side, and Naruto caught Sakura moving to pet him several times. For Sasuke's sake, he stopped her every time.
In this rare time of his head being completely private, Naruto thought. Not that he didn't USUSALLY think or anything, it's just now he thought about the bigger things in life.
He actually had a lead on Hinata. If Akatsuki did have her, then it seemed like Naruto would have to start headhunting for S-Ranked criminals. No problems there.
The problems were with Naruto himself. He had changed so much over the course of a few years, and he wasn't too sure he liked all of the changes. He wasn't sure if Hinata would. What happened to the kid who believed he could save everyone? Why didn't that kid tell him to save that little girl like Sakura said he should have? Was he really starting to enjoy the wanton destruction and humiliation of his enemies? That wasn't him. That was Anko, and no way in hell would he become an Anko.
"Guys? Am I… a good person?" Naruto asked hesitantly once his own venison had disappeared.
Sakura glanced at her boyfriend before asking, "What do you mean?"
"I mean, what if that Pain guy had a point? As crazy as he was, what if the weight of sins really is what will sink us?"
"You've spent too much time talking to old men, Naruto. Say what's on your mind without twisting it up," Sasuke grunted. He came across a bit brash, but Naruto knew he was doing his best to be supportive.
"I used to be so different. I hated killing, and I thought I could save everyone. I… hang on, I have an idea," Naruto disappeared in a sudden flash, startling both of his teammates. Kurama didn't stir and was likely still sleeping.
As Sasuke waited patiently for Naruto's return, Sakura once again inched closer and closer to Kurama and his magnificent fur. The flash of gold scared her back into her original seat.
"I wrote this around the time I became a genin. Jiraiya-sensei told me it would help… but it seems so different now that I'm reading it so much later…" Naruto held up a folded, slightly wrinkled piece of paper in the firelight.
"What's it say? What is it?" Sakura pushed.
Naruto was silent for a second, but he eventually read the paper aloud.
Naruto Uzumaki's List to Live Life By
Shinobi have no room for Honor. That is for Samurai and dead ninja.
But a man is allowed to be as honorable as any samurai.
All ninja are tools to protect the village from harm.
But all real men put what they love above all else.
I will never abandon my friends. Nor will I ever disappoint my family.
I will not let what happens on a mission effect what happens in my home.
Mercy isn't for the weak, it is for the deserving.
Death may be mine to deliver, but it isn't mine to control.
If I am able to help someone, I will put their needs above my own.
If I ever have to choose between honor and duty, I will choose both.
Or die trying.
"I don't know what you mean, that all sounds just fine," Sasuke asserted once Naruto finished.
"Exactly. The problem is that I feel like I've been drifting further and further away from the kind of person I want to be. Twelve-year-old me would never have let that little girl stay. He wouldn't have jumped straight to eradicating villages without considering civilians as I did."
Sakura took his old argument and said, "Twelve-year-old you was never in wartime."
"Is that what's going to happen?" Naruto asked cynically. "I'll go through war after war and lose a little more of my values and humanity as time goes on?"
Sakura had no response to that.
"The leader of the fucking Akatsuki had a better grasp of right and wrong than I do. He knows who deserves to die, and he believes that he's dishing out some kind of justice. What am I doing?"
Sasuke lowered his chin, deep in thought.
"I've been going around just reading orders and killing people. They're nameless to me, but they had friends. Probably family. Odds are they all had their own Hinata and I took them all from her when I didn't have to. And the fucked up thing is that I'm perfectly willing to keep doing it. I don't care about others so much anymore… as long as I keep you guys and everyone I care about safe I'll kill whoever I have to."
Sasuke picked up his head, and he had a determined look in his eye that Naruto knew meant that he had thought out what he had to say. "The thing is, Naruto, trauma changes people. It either forces them to grow or it crushes them. You'd never be crushed by something like this or anything you've been through, so you've been forced to grow. The more painful the experiences the harsher you have to grow, it's just the way it works. You both saw it happen to me after the incident, and you, Naruto, were the first to start pulling me out from under the crushing weight. Thank you for that, and know that we're both ready to 'help you, with whatever it is you may need.'"
Naruto sat and stared, recognizing more than a few little things from the first time he had properly met Sasuke. He would never get used to just how much the Uchiha was capable of saying when he wanted to, but Naruto would also be forever grateful for it.
"You ever consider becoming a sage?"
"Fuck off."
Sakura interjected the light banter, "He's right, you know. We're right here, and nothing is going to change that. We'll help you through this war the same way you'll help us, and we'll help you get Hinata back. I'm sure once she's with you you'll feel more complete, and a lot happier with who you are."
Sakura locked eyes with Sasuke for a split second, chewing the inside of her lower lip as she looked at her boyfriend. "That's just how this sort of thing works."
Naruto stood and gave his friends one last smile. "Thank you, guys. Really, I got really lucky with my team. I'm going to head in for the night, my sentry clone will wake us at dawn."
Naruto had turned to make his way towards his tent, but he was stopped by a slim yet strong pair of arms wrapping themselves around his chest. A third hand placed itself on his shoulder, and Naruto knew even Sasuke was getting in on this impromptu group hug.
"You're a good person, Naruto. We don't doubt you, so don't go doubting yourself," Sakura mumbled.
"Yeah, quit flipping your shit, you pansy," good old Sasuke.
Naruto laughed lightly as he disentangled himself from the support of his friends. "Go to bed, you guys. I'll be fine in the morning. Kurama you can either sleep out here or dispel yourself and head back into my mind. Your choice."
The lack of response led Naruto to believe that the fox would sleep in the real forest tonight.
"Good night, you guys."
"This is about as close as I'm comfortable taking us. I could send in a clone, but if they have a sensor, which they almost certainly do, it would be found pretty quickly. Sasuke, can you see from here?" Naruto had his team up on a cliffside, laying on their stomachs and scoping out a village a good mile away. It was true a good sensor ninja could reach well over half a mile, but if they kept their chakra usage low enough they should be safe from this distance.
Sasuke activated his Mangekyo and narrowed his eyes in focus. "I only see Kumo shinobi on patrol and setting up defenses. No civilians in sight."
Naruto scowled. "Great. So, this is either a scorched earth or a search and rescue mission now. Do you see any teams or single shinobi on the outskirts?"
"Yes, it looks like a duo is headed off to the east side of the village to get wood. They have a wagon and axes."
Naruto looked at Sakura, silently asking for her input on the situation. Since everyone on the team was technically capable of leading one of their own, Naruto thought it was a good idea to get ideas whenever he could.
"If Sasuke could trap one of them in a genjutsu and lead the other one far enough away to eliminate one and capture the other we could interrogate him for information on the village, and maybe even the rest of the villages."
Naruto nodded to himself, already liking the plan.
Sasuke spoke up then, "Visual genjutsu still uses chakra, what if the sensor picks it up?"
"Most soldiers will travel either to the front edge of the woods or the back end of the resident sensor's range. If Sasuke can get one with his cheating eyes from about twenty yards away he should be safe enough for light chakra use."
"Sasuke is that pair cutting at the front edge of the woods or are they moving deeper in?" Naruto asked.
"They've started cutting about two-thirds of a mile in."
"Okay, Kurama says that should be about the effective range of their sensor. You just have to hit one with your genjutsu from your max distance and you should be fine. Just keep your kill quick, quiet, and don't use chakra."
Sasuke laid a hand on the hilt of his sword and said, "Be back in five."
Sasuke returned with a Kumo chunin trailing him. The Kumo nin had a glazed look in his eye, and he clearly had no idea what was going on.
"I'm telling you, those eyes are totally cheating."
"Good job, Sasuke. Sakura, immobilize him please."
Sakura nodded and knelt down by the dazed man's legs. Her hand came up by her waist as she looked for the best place to immobilize the man in question. Suddenly, her fist flew forward. There was a sick squelch right before a sharp cracking sound, and then she pulled her bloody fist from between his legs.
The Kumo man snapped out of the genjutsu, no doubt in horrifying agony. His mouth was stretched wide as tears streamed down his face, but no sound or air escaped his lips. As Naruto looked on in morbid fascination, he finally heard the pained squeak that came from the target.
"Oh my gods, Sakura!" Sasuke said as he backed away. The prisoner was now on his side, cupping the crushed remains of his manhood. "I was expecting some kind of medical thing…"
Sakura shook the blood and puss from her hand as she responded haughtily, "If you boys can enjoy torturing a group of people then I should be allowed to enjoy my own bit of torture."
"… That's a red flag. Tell Sasuke to run as far away from her as possible."
"Uh, we still need information from him, and we can't wait a whole day for him to numb the pain to talk," Naruto said.
Sasuke perked up at that, "How about three days? I can be back in less than a minute."
Naruto knew vaguely what he meant, it was one of Itachi's most feared techniques. "Go ahead, just get what we need from him."
Sasuke nodded, turned the downed man to face him, then went completely still for nearly a full minute. When he moved again, the Kumo ninja convulsed on the ground, but Sasuke quickly used his sword to put an end to his suffering. Naruto was honestly relieved for him.
"Alright, what's the deal? How did it go?" Sakura asked her boyfriend.
"I'm not quite as good as Itachi yet, so I only had two days to talk to him. Plenty of time, but he made me promise to kill him and end his 'phallic torture'," his eyes then flicked to Sakura in fear, "but he did tell me that Kumo always makes civilians evacuate before they dig themselves in. Aside form this village, there's three more as we head West."
"Great," Naruto sat down, made three clones, and started to amass Nature chakra. "That's one for each of us!"
"Oh, Naruto, you spoil me!"
"Have fun, big guy!"
"You're letting Kurama out? Won't that tell them who's responsible?" Sakura asked.
"Yeah, but who cares? We're already at war. This'll just put a nice little chunk into Kumo's forces, and we can hit the next village before word reaches them. I'll take the next one, Sasuke can take the third, and Sakura you can cut loose on the last one!"
"What makes you think I can destroy an entire village?" Sakura asked worriedly.
"Uh, you can demolish buildings with a tap of your knuckles, you can open the GATES, and you can literally turn invincible," Sasuke answered. He finished just as Naruto finished gathering the needed chakra.
"Yeah okay that's fair."
Naruto stood and handed Sakura one of his Hirashin kunai. "Sakura, you're the strongest one here, do you think you can hurl this thing a mile and over their village?"
She looked at the kunai, then felt its weight and balance. "I mean, probably. It's worth a shot."
"You ready in there?"
"Oh I am going to ENJOY this!"
Naruto placed a hand on the kunai again, coating it in an application of Gale Palm. "That should make it much easier. Let her rip!"
Sakura reared back, focused her chakra, and hurled her arm forward with everything in her. There was a small shockwave as the kunai left her hand. It had both broken the sound barrier and threw up a small cloud of dirt.
"You overshot it by half a mile," Sasuke deadpanned.
"I can make that work!" Naruto exclaimed before flashing out of sight.
"Is it bad if I said that was pretty hot?" Sasuke asked once they were alone.
"How long do you think we have?" Sakura asked him back.
"Probably not long enough for anything good."
One of the sitting clones coughed. "Guys, we're still here."
Sakura shrugged, "Yeah, but we know you'd erase that memory or whatever before dispelling."
Then the clones disappeared, and they heard a deafening roar from the direction of the village. There was Kurama, in all his Nine-tailed glory.
"Think we're far enough away?"
"Fuck I hope so."
Next chapter I promise you guys a huge surprise, something this story has never seen before! And I also promise it won't take this long to get it out again. See you next time!