Nothing to say, Without further ado, let's go.

Chapter 35: The Last Dregs of Darkness

The world around him wasn't real.

Sasuke knew that for certain without having to see those he'd once loved surrounding him, despite the fact that all of them were now nothing more than corpses. He narrowly avoided vomiting as he watched them all going about their daily routines, knowing nothing of what would befall them in mere moments.

Sasuke screamed, yet there was no noise. No, that wasn't true. He himself could hear the desperate shout, the cry for those around him to run away, but they clearly couldn't.

"Of course, they can't." A part of his mind, perhaps the only part of him that was still completely sane, echoed. "This is merely an illusion. Don't lose yourself!"

How could he not, though, as he heard the first sounds of combat, the telltale sound of metal carving through flesh, muscle, and bone as a body fell to the floor around him. He tried not to scream as his aunt and uncle shared one last embrace, before Itachi's blade ran through them both, spilling their blood upon the dirt below them, their bodies following suit a moment later.

Ten ninja, all Uchiha with their Sharingan's blazing, surrounded Itachi. He closed his eyes, curled into a ball, and sobbed quietly as he listened to their shrieks and cries, heard their corpses hit the earth like everyone else would that night.

I wonder… what it was I did wrong?

To Sasuke, it had never made sense. Why had his brother been some wild animal, barely concealed by human flesh? Why had his family been caught in his 'training'? Why had he been chosen to avenge them all?

Itachi had said it was because he could gain the Mangekyou Sharingan, so that he could challenge his brother when their eyes were the same…

But so, what!? Why me, why me!?

Sasuke screamed, though there was simply no point. It wasn't as if he thought that would break the illusion, or anything quite so powerful. He screamed simply because he was frightened, because he was enraged, and because he was powerless. He screamed because there was simply nothing else he could do.

Silently, as he watched those around him become pulp upon the earth, he thought he faintly heard a slithering, malevolent presence. A hand on his shoulder, bony and cold, seemed to reach out for his very soul.

It promised revenge, Itachi's death, assuredly. It promised a world where the Uchiha could have their names restored, and one in which their slaughter would be avenged.

He could faintly remember, three years ago, when he and Naruto had merely been two children desperate for companionship, this same hand trying to drag him back into the lonely darkness of his bedroom.

At the time, he had seen Naruto's offer as something ethereal. It had been too good to be true to him, and yet, looking back on it now, that only went to show just how far gone he'd once been. Naruto had been a small boy bereft of a friend, one which he'd desperately sought, despite pretending that he wanted nothing less.

At the time, he'd seen him almost as a savior.

That wasn't fair to the boy, as he'd realized very quickly. Naruto was as much a savior as he was an annoying, loudmouthed brat, one without much common sense, nor an ounce of self-control. That hadn't made him any less essential to Sasuke's recovery, despite what the other kids might've said about him.

That hadn't made him any less than Sasuke's closest friend.

Yet he found his own hand drifting towards his shoulder, wanting to interlock his fingers with that of the darkness surrounding him, wanting to once more dive in. Having been reminded of what it was Itachi had done, having once more seen it with his eyes, he wanted to avenge his family now more than ever.

I'm sorry, Naruto, everyone…

His hand slid up his right shoulder, brushing up against the cold corpses hand, and grabbing on to its pointer finger.

But Itachi has to die, and…

His hand interlocked with that of the darkness, and with a sharp tug that nearly pulled his arm out of his socket, he felt himself be dragged upon the dirt of the Uchiha's main road, towards his family's home.

And I love you all, but…

In an instant, far faster than it should've taken, he'd been brought to the Uchiha manor, been brought around it into the yard behind, and brought onto the edge of the pier, the same place he'd practiced and learned how to use the Fireball Jutsu.

But to kill him…

This was where the hand originated from, the very depths of the lake. The cold, unfeeling dark below, where not even direct sunlight could shine. He allowed the hand to pull him, allowed it to drag him off of the pier, and didn't resist as he hit the water.

To kill him…

The water wasn't cold. Nor was it warm. It seemed almost nonexistent, and yet, even still, he felt as if he were drowning. He felt as if the Sasuke Uchiha who'd become friends with Naruto, and Sakura, and Ino, and had grown to respect Kakashi, and the Third Hokage, who'd come to know the world as something brighter, would soon cease to be.

To kill him, I'd do any–

"SASUKE!?"

His eyes snapped open, and he inhaled a gulp full of water as he struggled to comprehend the voice he'd just heard. Panic shot through him as he saw his vision go blurry, felt his lungs constrict within him. There was an intense pain in his shoulder at two points, as if he'd been stabbed with a knife, and he felt as if he could feel blades there, intangible, yet still present.

Naruto!?

He couldn't breathe, and yet he needed to. He tried to swim upwards, back to the surface of the water, but the hand on his shoulder seemed to clamp down, constricting his very bones as it held onto him. He reached for a kunai from out of his bag, but the moment he did, another set of skeletal hands came from out of the deep, grasping him and holding him fast as they allowed the now open tool bag to spill out its contents.

He watched with panic as his many tools, kunai, shuriken, and a few scrolls, floated in the water, sinking steadily, far beyond his reach. He tried to fight against the fact that he was drowning, even as he coughed, and water filled his lungs.

I… Naruto… I'm sorry. But… but who I am now can't kill Itachi. I don't have a choice…

Please, forgive me…

His vision faded, and he sank into the murky depths.

…

"I think you're lying. I don't think you care whether or not you live or die. You think that Sasuke Uchiha, the quiet boy who used to sit in the back of our class those years ago, died when the rest of his clan did. I think that right now, The Sasuke Uchiha in front of me is living for the sole purpose of killing Itachi… and y'know what, that's terrifying for me. My best friend doesn't even care about his own life."

Ah… This is when Naruto told me off for acting so self-centered. Heh… Always looking after me… Worrying about me…

"Then tell me I'm wrong, Sasuke… Because honestly, I'd love it if I was."

What was it that I said to him? I've forgotten…

"You're wrong."

He felt as if his heart had been carved out with a knife. His eyes couldn't see, and yet he felt them open. He could no longer breathe, and yet it felt as if his lungs had air once more. His hands were held within the tendrils of the monster below, and yet he felt like they eased up, like he could move.

I can't give up…

Everything hurt as he drew his hand in front of him, looking down into his palm, even if his vision was still far too blurry to truly see.

I promised Naruto…

He focused hard, as hard as he ever had, on bringing chakra into that palm, allowing it to become lightning.

That I'd find a reason to live for myself!

Sasuke opened his mouth, and screamed, with all the remaining might inside him, one simple word.

"CHIDORI!"

For several seconds, agony was all that he could comprehend.

Lightning traveled through the water, electrocuting him and the arms behind him. It was far stronger than it had any right to be, and he had a feeling that was because of the illusory nature of this world. Still, he couldn't let up. The hands hadn't yet let go.

His body seized up, and the pain became unbearable as he siphoned even more chakra into his right hand. He felt his heart stop, felt his flesh stop responding to him, and yet, for some reason, his Jutsu, the manifestation of his will, wouldn't stop.

No, it was more accurate to say that it refused to stop.

He let out what he could only describe as a roar as he opened his mouth, a guttural, nearly inhuman noise caught halfway between a scream and a laugh.

I won't fall into the murk! I'll go back! I'll see my friends once more!

You won't defeat me, Itachi! Not here!

With those words, the hands holding onto him tore at their wrists, and he forced his body to move. He swam upwards, even as the surface of the water began to glow with a faint, golden hue, as if the sun were directly above him, hovering in mid-air.

He held his hand out, a smile on his face as his Sharingan spun into being. His vision cleared up, and he felt his heart begin to beat once more.

Not as if such a thing truly mattered in an illusion.

As his right hand breached the surface, so too did his vision distort. It began as a single crack, but as if the world itself was becoming undone, it spread, until the very universe shattered, and he was back inside of he and Naruto's hotel, pinned against the back wall of a hallway, with his brother holding him aloft with one hand.

Itachi, however, seemed perplexed.

"You actually broke free." His brother's tone was calm, but the edge that had previously been there was gone, replaced instead by…

If he were more foolish, he might've thought it pride.

"Kisame, I believe I told you not to let the Jinchuuriki interfere."

"Well, I didn't let him interfere, I can't exactly stop him from shouting or throwing things, now can I?"

Sasuke looked up towards Naruto, and nearly fainted as his eyes widened.

Naruto was beaten and bloody, with cuts and bruises running up and down his broken body. Itachi's partner, Kisame, had him over his shoulder, handling the boy like a bag of rice.

The thing that struck him the most, however, was that the boy wasn't moving.

He tried to move his right hand, to reignite Chidori in his palm, but pain shot up the limb before he could. He looked down, at his right shoulder, and found there to be 2 shuriken piercing his body.

"Your… friend threw those, trying to get me away from you, I imagine." Itachi taunted him, looking back over at Naruto, and smiling in an oddly serene way. It infuriated Sasuke to no end. "It's good to see you've made such great friends."

Rage filled him.

"I'll kill you!" Sasuke seethed, practically speaking through his teeth. "I'll make sure you know the pain and suffering you made our entire clan endure before it's over!"

"I'm sure you will." Itachi spoke casually, before punching him once more in the chest, forcing blood and mucus to spill out of Sasuke's mouth. "But you'll have to be a bit stronger than this."

Black spots filled his vision, and this time, he feared they weren't the illusory kind he could shrug off with sheer willpower. He attempted to keep his eyes open, desperately fighting against his own exhaustion as he fell upon the floor. His brother's Mangekyou had not been kind, and even now, he could still feel some of the residual effects wreaking havoc upon his internal systems.

He tried to force himself to stand, to force his body to move, just how he'd done back inside his brother's illusion, but it wouldn't respond, wouldn't let him surpass his limits as he'd done before.

He let out a pitiful groan as he reached out, trying to crawl across the ground to where Naruto was.

"Still, why'd you go easy, Itachi?" Kisame, his brother's partner, called out to him. "I've never seen anyone break out of one of your illusions before, what, feelin' a bit of brotherly affection?"

Sasuke didn't see the look Itachi gave the man, but whatever it was, it was enough for Kisame to take a step back, and raise his left arm, the one not holding Naruto, up in the air, in a playful gesture of surrender.

"Joking, joking." The shark-like man laughed, smiling in a way that showed off each and every one of his sharpened teeth. "I swear, you're never any fun."

"We are here to take the Jinchuuriki, nothing more. That does not require you to embarrass yourself with a failed comedy routine."

The two ninja began walking away, Itachi stepping over Sasuke's body without a care in the world, not even sparing a look back at his brother.

"Ouch, and here I thought you couldn't emote at all, but lo and behold, I've nearly cut myself upon that edge."

"W-wait!" Sasuke shouted, or, well, he tried to shout. His actual voice came out as more of a desperate whine. "Stop… don't…"

Itachi, surprisingly enough, did stop, though it was only to look back at Sasuke with a look of disappointment.

"And for what reason should I stop, foolish little brother?"

He didn't really have anything. All he could do now was buy time. Time in which he hoped a savior would come to bail them out.

And he had one particular ninja in mind.

"Because you're about to be captured by yours truly, that's why!"

Hope surged through him as he looked up. He let his head hit the carpeted floor below him as he breathed an immense sigh of relief.

Jiraiya was back.

Itachi and Kisame, to Sasuke's astonishment, took a step back. It seemed that they knew who it was they were facing, but even still…

Seeing actual threats like these two back up in the face of… him…

Jiraiya smiled widely, a cocky look that told everyone in the room, no, more proclaimed to them, that he was in charge. It was only now, that he was able to relax, that Sasuke realized he had the same woman from earlier, the one in the far too skimpy blue dress, draped across his back, in almost the same way Kisame was holding Naruto.

He also got a fairly intimate knowledge of the woman's panties, as the underside of said skimpy outfit was on display for the world to see. He tried not to focus on that, but he was a twelve year-old boy with some emotional trauma to work through, he'd take just about anything he could get to keep him sane at the moment.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" Jiraiya took a step forward, drawing chakra into his palms which was visible even from Sasuke's distance. "A couple of Akatsuki lurking around, trying to kidnap my student?"

Akatsuki?

"Jiraiya of the Sannin." Kisame spoke, smirking as he hefted his massive sword across his left shoulder. "So, I suppose our little decoy wasn't so useful, ey?"

"As if someone of my caliber would fall for such a trick." Jiraiya spoke calmly, pretending as if such a trick hadn't fooled him less than half an hour ago. "You'd need something far stronger than that!"

"Shall we skedaddle, old buddy?"

"Keep ahold of the Jinchuuriki, we're not to lose him." Itachi informed the ex-mist ninja, taking a step backwards.

"I don't think so!" Jiraiya spoke, slamming his left hand onto the ground below him. "Summoning Jutsu: Toad Mouth Trap!"

Itachi motioned for Kisame to follow behind him, running backwards towards a dead-end as the former began creating hand-signs. Sasuke didn't recognize them, but whatever they were for, it must've been extreme, for he couldn't remember the last time his brother had been forced to utilize hand-signs at all.

It took a moment, as Itachi passed by him, and Kisame was only a step away from doing the same, for Sasuke to realize the severity of the situation. In the man's arms lie his best friend. He knew not why they needed the Jinchuuriki of the Nine-Tailed Fox, but he could hazard a guess that it might not have been the best for Naruto's health.

He acted without really thinking. His hand fired out like a bullet, latching onto the leg of the hidden mist Jonin and holding on as hard as he could. As the man attempted to take another step, Sasuke's weight just barely managed to keep him still.

Unfortunately, he could hold the ninja for only a scant second. The moment Kisame concentrated, he pulled him along with him, swinging Sasuke around on his leg like a fish on a line. With one final motion, he was sent flying into the wall ahead of them, landing on the ground with a wracking cough.

"I must say, Itachi, I like your brother a lot more than you." Kisame's voice was filled with a smugness that irritated him to no end. "He's got some serious guts, not to mention that whole revenge-filled-rage thing he's got going for him. I'm pretty intrigued, I've gotta' say!"

"Quiet your delusions and get over here, we're going."

"Right, right." Kisame sighed. "I swear, you really do take all the fun out of things."

Sasuke's brain moved at a mile a minute. It tried with all its might, every fiber of its being to think of some way, any way, that he could save Naruto from these people.

I just need him to stop… Sasuke thought, thinking of Kisame. Just for a moment… just to buy time for Jiraiya…

He has to stop; I must make him stop.

His eyes widened as his Sharingan spun into being. There was no moment for him to hesitate. There wasn't even a moment to really think about what he intended to do. He simply knew what had to be done. Much like he'd stopped Naruto and Gaara when the two had lost themselves to their tailed beasts, now he had to do the same to Kisame.

This time, however, It was to a missing ninja, one that, if he was standing beside Itachi, and bantering with him playfully, was likely frighteningly powerful.

It doesn't matter.

I have to save him.

Those words echoed in Sasuke's mind like a mantra. His eyes seemed to radiate power, power that he'd only really felt when the boy was in danger like this. Now he just needed to get Kisame to face him.

Compared to what came next, that was fairly simple.

"Get back here!" He shouted, spittle flying from his mouth as he gave himself a headache. "Itachi!"

If he were right about the personality of the shark-skinned man, then he would do something like sneer, turn around, and make one last joke at Sasuke's expense. A moment later, that very same sequence of events began.

"Y'know, Itachi, I don't see how-"

The moment Kisame's eyes met his, Sasuke felt a near blinding pain shoot through his spine, all the way through his body, and down to the tips of his toes. He barely held himself up with his arms, despite the screaming of his entire right side, and more specifically, his shoulder, which was still bleeding from where Naruto had accidentally struck him earlier. Even still, the most important thing now was that he didn't break eye-contact.

This feeling was worse than when he'd stopped Naruto and Gaara. If anything, he'd compare it to when Itachi had first cast his Mangekyou Genjutsu upon him, in their family's ceremony room all those years back.

"Oi, Itachi!" Kisame spoke through his teeth, barely able to move, yet somehow still managing to talk with relative ease. "Your brother's really not half bad!"

"Don't tell me you need my assistance?" Itachi called back from the end of the hall, where he'd just cast an odd sort of black flame on the wall of the toad's mouth, burning away the flesh with nary a thought.

"Nah, I'm good, I'm good."

agony traveled through his veins like fire as the man in front of him began to move. To Sasuke's immense dismay, there was no Ninjutsu or Genjutsu that allowed the man to break free. It was pure, brute strength.

"I'm coming, kid!" Jiraiya shouted out, wrenching his hands free of the frog's flesh and running towards him, already building to another jutsu as he formed sign after sign in his hands. "Fire Style: Flame Bullet!"

The fire did, indeed, blaze to life, gunning towards Kisame and Itachi as the caster rounded the corner. Unfortunately, just as it was about to hit, Sasuke's line of sight was broken by the flames, and the ex-mist ninja was freed.

"Water Style: Shark Bomb!"

The two jutsu collided in the middle of the hallway, exploding and causing a massive blast of steam to push both he and Jiraiya backwards a foot or two.

His own head hit the floor, and he nearly passed out right then and there. He still couldn't, though, not until he'd saved Naruto. He dragged himself forward with just his left hand, barely managing to gain a single inch in doing so.

"You're not getting away!" Jiraiya shouted, forming more seals with his hands. Unfortunately for him, Itachi was in the mix now, turning around and answering Jiraiya's second fireball with one that dwarfed it, encompassing the entire space and threatening to overtake the both of them.

"Kid!" Jiraiya turned, blocking the flames from hitting him.

"Forget about me!" Sasuke shouted, his voice far weaker than he'd wanted it to come out as. "Please, save Naruto!"

"Workin' on it, kid!"

His teeth ground together, and he tried to force himself to stand up. His legs however, had other plans, for they would neither stand, nor even push themselves forward. They weren't broken, he had a feeling he'd know if they were, but they clearly weren't responding to him. He imagined that was a mixture of exhaustion from breaking out of Itachi's illusion, and from being beaten by him in their fight earlier.

"Well, it's been fun and all, but we really will be late if we stick around much longer." Kisame taunted from the edge of the new hole they'd made in the side of the building, giving a two-fingered salute as he made to jump out. "Toodaloo!"

He'd tried to use his Genjutsu again , but all he'd received was a pain too intense for him to focus under, and he'd nearly instantly been forced to the floor again. Sasuke's hand shot out, as if trying to grasp the man from his position on the hotel floor.

A glint in the distance had his eyes widening. It grew in size, coming right for them at an incredible speed.

And…

Is it… shouting?

"Dynamiiiiiic…."

Kisame's eyes widened slightly, and he turned back around, only to be kicked in the face by a flying, green skin-tight-suit-wearing man with a bowl-cut.

"ENTRY!"

Kisame, through some miracle of raw strength, managed to stay standing after being hit by a veritable meteorite of a hit. The man did, however, momentarily lower his guard, allowing the newest arrival to grab at Naruto, hoist him off of the shark's shoulder, and jump back.

"Sorry I'm late, Jiraiya!"

"Late?" Jiraiya seemed bewildered. "I never asked for you to come."

"Hmph." Guy laughed under his breath, wagging his finger back and forth towards the white-maned giant. "It was not what you said, but what you didn't say that tipped me off!"

"Oookay, sure." Jiraiya apparently gave up. "We certainly appreciate the assistance."

Guy smirked, handing Naruto over to Jiraiya and taking a battle stance, facing Kisame with one hand in the air.

"Do you wish to duel, stranger? I can guarantee that you won't be getting past me!"

Kisame simply sighed, rubbing his cheek with one hand as if, instead of taking a kick with the force of a train behind it, he'd merely been slapped by a scornful lover.

"Nah, I'm outta' time. Oh well, I suppose I'll get a scolding from my boss later." Kisame waved as he hopped out of the building, before, seemingly coming to a realization mid-air, he shouted back at them, voice rapidly fading. "Wait, what do you mean stranger!?"

Guy dropped his stance and turned back towards Jiraiya.

"Should we pursue?"

"Nah, no point." Jiraiya let out an angry sigh. "I've been tracking the Akatsuki for a while, ever since Orochimaru was a member. They're a den of foxes. Honestly, we'd probably lose them before they even got out of the city, not to mention that'd put these two in danger again." He added, gesturing towards him and Naruto. "We'll hold off for now. I wouldn't mind if you could send a message back to the Leaf, though. If there's anything Root's good for, it's intel. Have them get all they can on those two."

"Roger that." Guy spoke, before, with a small frown, he turned back towards Jiraiya. "Actually, I knew Itachi Uchiha, but who was that other man?"

"Wait," Jiraiya spoke confusedly, turning back to the green beast of the leaf with a disbelieving expression. "Didn't you fight him not two days ago? You don't know who he is?"

"Not a clue."

Sasuke sighed, letting his head hit the ground, and breathing such a harsh sigh of relief that he felt his lungs actively constrict afterwards.

Looks like everything's alright. Sasuke thought with a smile.

He passed out not a second later.

/-/

Naruto came to slowly, briefly flinching away from the bright light of the sun hanging overhead.

He was disoriented, even if a small piece of him in the back of his mind told him something was up.

Now… what was it…?

He tried to move his body, and was immediately met by a flash of agony, Torn muscles and cracked bones threatening mutiny against him if he didn't hold still.

Ah, right. Naruto remembered. Those two.

He winced as he forced himself to sit up, ignoring the way his body practically revolted against him, and looked around. The last thing he could remember was… was that bastard holding Sasuke against the wall, holding him in some terrible illusion. His friend had screamed, cried, begged to be let lose, and the man hadn't so much as flinched.

Just thinking about it had Naruto's blood boiling, and he had to reach down and still his right hand to stop it from shaking.

Sasuke's brother… he really was as bad as the boy had told him.

He'd had his doubts, if he were being brutally honest. Hearing that a man had killed his entire clan just because he could and had suddenly thought "hey, why not?" one day wasn't exactly the easiest thing to believe, not to mention Sasuke directly stating that he'd challenged him to a future duel, when he'd killed his best friend and obtained the same eyes as him. It was kind of difficult to believe someone that evil actually existed.

Well, surprise, surprise I guess. Naruto groaned, massaging his lower back and letting his breaths come out in short, pained bursts. Sorry I doubted you, Sasuke. Your brother really is the worst human being to ever live.

"Ah, you're up."

Naruto turned towards the voice, sighing in relief when he saw Jiraiya, and not Kisame and Itachi. That would've been a far more awkward conversation than his aching muscles and burning blood were in any real mood for.

Still, best to take things one step at a time.

"Where's Sasuke!?" Naruto's voice came out slightly more panicky than he'd hoped, and he clamped down on his own worry as embarrassment hit him. "S-sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Hah, no worries, kid. He's passed out over there." Jiraiya pointed towards a tree about ten feet from them, and sure enough, Naruto could just make out the outline of a boy's arm and leg sticking out from behind the bark. "He's… exhausted is probably underselling it. I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't wake up today."

"Is he alright?"

"Better than he has any right to be, at the very least. His brother didn't exactly go easy on him. He's got a few fractures in the rib area from where his brother kneed him, his right shoulder's injured pretty badly from where you hit him with your shuriken, and he's probably suffering from some mental feedback as well, expect him to be kind of out of it when he does wake up."

Naruto coughed uncomfortably, trying to ignore his own contributions to his best friend's injury list.

"T-that's not great."

"No, obviously not, but like I said, it probably should've been worse."

Jiraiya sat down in front of him, offering a small flask filled with what looked to be water. Naruto squinted at him for half a second before reaching out and taking it, inspecting the bottle, sniffing the liquid inside and, after finally determining that it wasn't alcoholic, downing the entire bottle in a matter of moments.

"Way to show trust in your mentor." Jiraiya glared at him. "As if I'd offer alcohol to a damned twelve-year-old!"

"You left the both of us on our own earlier today just to hit on a chick!"

"And that was entirely different!"

"You stole all of my money!"

"Correction!" Jiraiya brought out Naruto's froggy wallet from inside of his coat, notably deflated compared to how engorged it'd been this morning. "I stole half your money."

Naruto shot the man a death glare, which had no real effect, given that he was a small, young Genin, giving the stink-eye to one of the most powerful Shinobi on the continent.

"Anyways, as I was saying, Sasuke's wounds should've probably been worse. He managed to shake off his brother's first grab, preventing him from having a broken wrist to add on to the rest of his injuries, not to mention from what Itachi said, he actually managed to break free of the illusion as well." Jiraiya rubbed his chin with his fingers, seemingly deep in thought. "Which doesn't make much sense, given that just a few days ago he kept Kakashi in an illusion with barely any effort at all."

"Maybe Sasuke's just that strong?"

"Yeah, definitely, he's just stronger than Kakashi of the Sharingan, Copy wheel Kakashi, the Hero of the Sharingan Kakashi. Yep, tiny little Uchiha kid, definitely more powerful than-"

"Alright, I get it, I get it! No need to be an asshole."

"If I didn't know Itachi, I'd have almost said he was holding back out of some kinship with his brother, but, well… he wouldn't have done any of that if he really cared."

Naruto's eyes widened briefly, and he looked up to his mentor with what he thought was a pretty good idea.

"Maybe he was testing Sasuke's eyes!"

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow, a visual cue for Naruto to keep talking.

"I mean, we know he wants to duel them when-" He put on his best Itachi Uchiha impression. ""Our eyes are the same." Or whatever kind of garbage he thinks. Isn't it possible that he was holding back to see how far Sasuke had progressed?"

Jiraiya's eyes widened minutely, and he nodded for a second before smiling down at Naruto, an honest to goodness impressed expression on his face.

"Not a bad theory, kid. I think it's about as good as we're going to get, too, given that we can't exactly ask Itachi what he meant by it." Jiraiya stood up, offering a hand to Naruto. "We're going to set up camp in a bit, stop here for the night and continue once sleeping beauty gets up. But, I thought that in the meantime, I could show you a pretty nifty Jutsu."

Naruto's eyes lit up, and he felt energy course through him. He made to stand, only for his legs to officially declare their withdrawal from the Naruto union, leaving him to flop gracelessly onto the grassy dirt beneath him.

He tried not to blush as Jiraiya cackled at him.

"Well, I suppose the Nine-Tails wouldn't work that fast when Samehada was the thing that hit you."

"Samehada?" Naruto questioned, digging his face out of the dirt and looking up at his teacher, puzzled. "What's that?"

"Ah, right, Samehada is the blade of that guy, Kisame. It's one of the Seven Swords of the mist village."

Naruto tilted his head to the side, briefly confused.

"They've only got seven swords?"

Jiraiya slapped a hand against his face.

"Y'know what, yeah, sure. That's one of the only seven swords the mist village has. You've encountered one of the others before, Zabuza's Executioner's sword."

"Oh, I get it. So, they're… special swords?"

"Oh, thank god, I was beginning to think you really were that stupid."

"Oi!"

"Anyways, yes, they're special swords. Zabuza's, for instance, reconstitutes itself using the iron in blood. If it breaks, it can rebuild itself by killing others. Samehada, on the other hand, saps chakra from anything it hits, and uses that chakra to recharge that of it's wielder. Kisame Hoshigaki is perhaps the most adept user of the sword there's ever been. In a straight one-on-one, there aren't a lot of people in the world who could beat him."

Naruto absorbed that information as best he could, but there was one burning question in the back of his mind.

"Could you? Beat him, I mean."

Jiraiya's eyes widened, clearly not having expected the question.

"Hmm… I think I could, yeah. Kisame's good at taking care of targets around his size, people who can't summon giant monsters or have ways of regenerating their chakra." Jiraiya pointed to himself proudly. "I happen to have both."

"Regenerating your chakra?" Naruto's face scrunched up. "How do you do that?"

"Well, I guess I'm not really regenerating it, in my case, but I can gather more through an art called Sage Mode. I believe I discussed this with you and that Sakura girl before."

That did ring a bell for Naruto.

"Yeah, but… didn't you say you had to stand still for gathering natural energy to work?"

"Ah, yes, but Naruto, tell me something, when you're riding on top of Gamaken, for instance, are you doing any moving, or are you just using chakra to keep yourself steady?"

Naruto briefly thought about that, before a smile came to his face, and he felt a bit of awe for the man in front of him finally surface.

"So, you get to use the upsides of this sage mode thingy, without having any of the downsides!?"

"Well, not without any, it still requires a massive amount of concentration, but you get it without a lot of them, yeah. Unfortunately, I was never actually that good at Sage Mode myself."

Naruto's eyes became comically wide.

"Wait, you're telling me that you, the Toad Sage, have problems using Sage mode?"

Jiraiya glared rather fiercely at him.

"Perhaps."

"Oh my god."

"You shut up! And here I was, ready to teach you a super-powerful A-rank Jutsu, but I suppose I'll just hold onto it," Jiraiya, in perhaps the least adult thing Naruto had ever seen out of him, seemed to actually be pouting. "Not like my student wants to learn anything from the failed Sage."

"Oh, fine, I apologize." Naruto sighed. "There, happy?"

"Not particularly, but I suppose it'll have to do."

"What's this Jutsu called, anyways?"

"Heh." Jiraiya snickered, looking over at Naruto with an odd sort of smile. It seemed oddly nostalgic, as if he were looking past him.

"It's called 'Rasengan'."

End Chapter 35

And here we are, at the end of the chapter!

I have like... literally nothing to say this week. I'm not sure if there is anything, really.

Oh right, Sasuke's entire character arc...

Meh, I'll talk about it later. It's obviously not over, but he's made his decision. He's not going to abandon his friends, not for anything.

I'll be taking next week off for Christmas, so chapter 36 will come out on the 31st of December. Cool beans, Cool beans.

See you all later!