Disclaimer: I do not own any of the content following this statement. All titles, names, and plots are owned by Masashi Kishimoto.
Reflections
Chapter 1
The cost of Freedom
Resting on the ledge of the window, Naruto looked around one last time before entering the Hokage's office. The village hidden in the leaves was spread out before her looking like a storybook town with happy people moving from shop to shop without a care in the world. The cloudless sky was bright, with a blue you only see in the middle of high summer.
Some would say the heat is unbearable, others would say it's the humidity but Naruto didn't see the difference, summer was summer and winter was winter. What really gave her pause this morning was the simmer of the barrier shield over the village. The fourth Hokage's greatest creation had been active day and night after the Sand and Cloud villages had attached the leaf during the Chunin exams.
Hundreds had died that day at the arena but the shield had held. Rumor was that dozens of Chunins had died of chakra exhaustion keeping the shield powered, truth or not it had held that day and every day after. The war with the Sand and Cloud villages was all consuming now with the vast number of leaf shinobi on the front line. Why she and the other members of root were still in the village was a question she dared not ask, she did not want another visit from the Yamanaka mind burner again.
The civilians had been told it was an accident, that the sand's Jinchuriki had lost control that day. But Naruto knew the truth having been sent to hunt down Gaara once he broke down the outer wall of the village and run into the great forest. It was the first time she had been told to fully use the Nine-Tails power.
She was unprepared for the combined forces of the two attaching villages to close around her as soon as she exited the shield's protection. Releasing the full power of the 'Demon Fox Cloak' she had been able to reduce their Jonin forces in half. The memories of that day are blurry at best, only flashes of flesh and blood covering the forest floor as she fought to stay alive.
If it wasn't for her own people telling her she had reached the four tails stage and was facing off with the Matatabi she would not believe it. The Two-Tail Jinchuriki was more than twice her age and with years of experience, she had nearly beaten her to death without taking anything more than a glancing blow from Naruto red cloaked form.
The third Hokage had had to comment 4 full teams to retrieve her from the battlefield. Using chakra seals they had been able to pull her in behind the shield wall but not before half had been burned by the Nine-Tails lashing tails and the slashing attaches of the Matatabi. Her master Danzo had tightened the seals on her that day to prevent her from losing control again. The punishment for losing control still haunted her dreams. He said she needed more training and experience but she knew he was just afraid she still had her own free will.
Nobody knew that every time that Yamanaka bitch put that seal on her free will and closed her off from her emotions the fox would rip it away laughing at the foolish humans. She only wished that dam fox could help her when she really needed it. The fox said she had a plan to get them both free someday, Naruto only hoped that meant her staying alive when it happened.
Knowing she can't waste any more time she checked that her veil still covered her face and her hair was well hidden under the black bandanna, the last time the Hokage saw her face he beat her senseless screaming he didn't want to see her ugliness ever again. Satisfied everything was in place she gave the tap code on the glass and when it slides aside she entered the dark smoke-filled room that is the Hokage's office. Kneeling down on one knee with her head resting on her thigh she said, "I live to serve my master's"
"I have a mission for you my little fox bitch,", said Danzo from where he stood next to the desk of the third Hokage. "As you wish master,", she replies knowing any other answer would result in some form of new punishment. Hearing the Third tap his pipe clean she lowers her head even lower hoping he didn't see some form of disrespect in her that required correcting.
"Last night Sasuke Uchiha left the village.", said the Hokage in that raspy hoarse voice of his, "He was helped by a team of sound shinobi, you are to find him and kill all of them at all cost."
"Yes Hokage, who will be on my team?", she asked trying to show she is a team player.
Danzo clears his throat and moves around the desk and kicks her onto her back, she curls into a ball and waits for her punishment. "You will be hunting the Uchiha alone. We have extracted everything we need from him,", laughing at his own joke he looks down at her, "If you're lucky you can be picked to give birth to the new generation of Uchiha, one that will not have the madness of free will."
The thought of being used that way makes her want to cry but she holds herself calm and emotionless knowing it was the only way to leave this smoke-filled room in one piece. Rolling back to her original pose she waits for her final orders.
Hearing more than seeing the scroll fall in front of her, she hears the Hokage say, "Here is the last know location of the target and some information on the team he is believed to be traveling with. Take it and go." Hearing the sound of a fire jutsu as he lit his drug-filled pipe she hurried to leave before the smoke reaches her. The last time that smoke entered her body it took days before she felt normal again.
Placing the scroll in her vest she stands and bows one more time before turning back to the window. She can see a small girl, a new root member slide the glass to the side as she approached. Landing on the windowsill she gives a quick look to the girl and then jumps from the Hokage tower wishing to never return.
The sun blinds her for a moment but she knows this village and can move about it blind if need be. Making a bee line for the main gate she lands near the guard house on the inside of the closed gate. The two chunins look up from their card game and see the root member walking slowly toward them.
What they see is a smallish thin framed girl of about 14 or 15 years, with her hair covered in a black bandanna with the leaf symbol on her forehead, her face is covered by a black veil but for her bright blue eyes that shine brightly in the morning light. Wearing the standard skin-tight body suit that leaves little to the imagination. Her long legs and shapely ass are on display with her Chunin vest hiding her small bust from their lustful gaze. They can see she carries a number of weapon pouches around her small waist as she walks up to their window.
"Papers." one of them says all business now that she has presented herself to them in the proper manner.
Handing over her mission scroll they check the seal on the side and confirm it's from the Hokage's office with this week's code. Handing it back he gives the signal to the other members of the gate team and the great doors move apart enough for a slim girl to slip through.
Leaving the village for the second time in her life she walks to the edge of the shield wall and places her hand on the glowing wall. Sensing her chakra the barrier team opens a small hole in the wall for her to slip through. Now truly free she lets out the breath she didn't even know she had been holding and runs into the tree line hoping there isn't an enemy assassin waiting for just this time to strike.
Running for 30 minutes without pause and then climbing to the relative safety of a tall oak tree she leans back into the tree and opens the mission scroll. Reading the scroll, she finds it doesn't give any of the history of the emotionally broken boy or why he would want to leave the village of his forefathers.
She knows like everyone else in the village about the Uchiha rebellion and how the Hokage had ordered the slaughter of every man, woman, and child but one of the founding clans. Leaving only this one boy alive to be used as a stud, if he is lucky or a lab experiment more likely. It lists out a number of family jutsu he is known to have mastered and some his sensei taught him, most notably the Chidori.
Rolling the scroll up and putting it back in her vest she heads into the forest looking for any signs of the five of them passing through. The thought of just running crosses her mind but it is quickly pushed to the side as she remembers the Hyuga seal placed on her back. The Hokage decided after her third attempt at leaving the village he would put a stop to her little rebellions and teach her a lesson at the same time.
Being a six-year-old she had no idea what they did to her that night at the Hyuga compound but the next time she ran from a training ground the Hokage with just a hand sign used the seal to stop her. The pain was unbearable and overwhelmed the young girl. After hours of screaming in a field of grass with just the Hokage looking down on her taught her an important lesson that day.
Landing on the ground near a deer path she can see an odd sandal print that is too fresh to be from any hunters. An outline is clearly of a heavy man or someone carrying a heavy load. Either way, it was a clue and the only one she had. Staying in the trees she followed the path for miles until it was dark. Climbing high into the trees she hoped that her prey was dumb enough to light a fire so she can spot them.
As her eyes adjust to the light her belief in the arrogance of the sound shinobi pays off as in the distance she makes out a small flickering light of a fire between the leaves. Moving slowly down into the underbrush she works her way over to the camp site. It takes almost an hour to move silently the half mile between them but parting some tall grass she can see the four shinobi sitting around a fire with a large wood casket with straps for carrying next to the large fat one.
Not seeing Sasuke anywhere Naruto decides to wait and watch and gather what intel she can. It doesn't take long as the four of them are a talkative bunch.
"Hey fat ass, don't eat all the meat, hand some over.", said the red head as she hit the largest of them in the arm almost making him drop the stick he was using to cook some meat.
"It's not cooked yet Tayuya.", the large man said slapping the hand away from the now named Tayuya, the scroll had her listed as a Genjutsu user. Naruto hated Genjutsu and planned to take her out first if given the chance.
"Come on Jirobo, give it to her, a piece of trash like her doesn't mind eating raw meat.", said the guy with a bow next to him. Now with two names, it wasn't hard to figure out the other two at the fire. The bow user was clearly Kidomaru with the extra arms he wasn't hard to miss. Leaving Sakon and his twin that the scroll listed as a merging body with their Kekkei Genkai, Sakon, and Ukon are able to merge and separate with each other at will. Naruto thought it was sickening and wondered how they figured that skill out when there were younger.
Walking over to the casket Tayuya kicked it a couple of times yelling, "Hay you alive in there Sasuke!", getting a laugh out of her team. Now knowing Sasuke's location Naruto just had to wait for her chance to strike. Sliding back away from the camp and its bright fire she found a root of a large tree to hide behind and watched for a chance to make her move.
After four hours of listening to them insult each other, Jirobo stood up and announced to the camp he had to take a shit. Getting a round of insults thrown at him he laughed it off and walked off into the bushes to do his business.
Naruto couldn't believe her luck as she followed the large fool as he looked for a good spot to drop his pants. Pulling out some ninja wire she walked up the side of a tree to wait for him. He seemed to be part dog the way to had to circle around three times before undoing his belt and dropping his pants to squat down.
Naruto moved above the large man and throws some ninja wire over a thick branch to then quickly make a loop on one end, she waits for the perfect time. Just as he strains to relieve himself and the smell hits her nose at his success she dropped the loop around his neck and jumps from the tree holding the other end of the wire, pulling with all her strength.
With his pants down around his knees and totally focused on the job at hand he is unprepared. The wire cuts deep into his flesh and as his feet leave the ground he starts to swing under the branch. He kicks for a couple of seconds but as the wire cuts deeper crashing his windpipe and into his flesh, cutting muscles deep until the wire reached the bone, blood begins to run down his chest as his swing slows. With a last kick his bowels give out and a large excrement hits the ground.
"Dammit, Jirobo, couldn't you have found a better spot your stinking up the whole camp." yells out Tayuya throwing a rock into the bushes she saw the large man walk into. tying off the wire Naruto leaves him hanging, throwing a kunai into his forehead for good measure, if there is one thing the hated Hokage taught her was to be sure an enemy at your back was a dead enemy.
Naruto moved part way around the camp hoping they were so arrogant as to send one of them to check on their missing teammate. "What the fuck are you doing over there.", yells the crazy redhead, "You beating your meat or something, we got to get moving and I am not carrying petty boy over here.", she said kicking the casket a couple of more times for good measure.
Not getting a response and looking to her teammate and getting no support the enraged redhead stomps off into the bushes planning on doing who knows what to Jirobo while he is trying to take a monster dump. Naruto would never know as Tayuya steps on one of the explosive tags she had hidden under the leaves. The explosion triggers all the other tags and all ten explosions rock the forest.
As body parts start to fall around them the last two members of the sound four watch Tayuya's head roll up to the fire pit with a look of total surprise on her burned face. They jump into action spinning around expecting an army of leaf shinobi to come flying at them from all sides. Seeing no rushing horde of enraged Ninja Sakon turns and says, "Kidomaru take Sasuke to our master, I will take care of whoever is attacking us.", getting a nod from Kidomauro, he jumped up into the trees.
Kidomauro runs over and pulls the straps over his shoulders and runs into the trees pulling out his bow with his extra arms to fire wildly into the underbrush. Naruto pauses for a second to look for Sakon when without a sound he lands on her back and kicks her to the ground.
"What the fuck is this, the leaf sent a little girl to stop us.", he said kicking her in the gut as she tried to get up. It felt like a rib broke but she would have to deal with that later as he pulled her up by her hair and punched her in the face sending her flying into a tree.
Ducking under his next punch Naruto rolls away and pulls out a kunai and three shurikens to throw at the back of Sakon. His reflexes are incredible as he moved out of the way of the shurikens and catches the kunai before throwing it back at Naruto.
"It's going to take a lot more than that to take me out bitch. Come over here so I can kill you nice and slow,", he yells at her as Naruto jumps into the trees. Looking down at him from the tree top Naruto debates leaving him and going after Sasuke or staying to finish this fight. Her indecision cost her her chance to make up her mind as another sound nin comes from behind the tree and touches her arm.
S
he is racked with pain as she watches his whole body slowly slides into her own, screaming in agony Naruto falls from the tree to land at the feet of Sakon, "Oh I see you have met my bother.", Sakon said grabbing her arm and pulling her toward the fire. The pain from the merger with Ukon blinds her to her surroundings as she is thrown into the fire. The flames only add to the pain as she rolls screaming away from the burning coals kicking Tayuya's head into the fire, with a flash the dead girl's hair catches fire lighting the camp as Sakon walk over to her.
Laughing Sakon kicks her over and over again as Ukon burns her from the inside, Ukon controls her body and stops her from protecting herself, she tries and can't even move to get out of the way of Sakon's continuous kicks. Growing tired of this game Sakon stares down at her beaten and broken body saying, "I wish we had more time to play with you little girl but our master doesn't like to be kept waiting."
"Kill her, Ukon.", said Sakon turning his back as she starts to scream.
Naruto doesn't know what to do, this can't be the end, she still has a Hokage to kill, panicking she calls on the kyubbi, "Help me FOX", she cries out pushing what little chakra she can control into the seal trying to open a connection.
Burning red chakra floods her body forming a red chakra cloak with one tail waving in the wind behind her. Laying on her back she rolls over to stand as the pain fades into the background, she hears Ukon screaming as his head appears to grow from her side, looking down she can see a half formed body leaving hers, to crawl back to his bother who still had not turned around thinking it was a waste of his time to watch her die. Ukon reaches out to his bother with the fresh bubbling off his bones as the kyubbi chakra eats away at him.
With one last effort, Ukon pulls free of Naruto and jumps into Sakon's body hoping to heal from the burning demon fire. Naruto falls to her knees as the red cloak fads away, shaking her head to clear the pain she looks over to Sakon as he falls to the ground, burning from the inside out in red chakra fire, his skin is covered with bright red blusters as the Kyubbi chakra and his healing ability fight for dominance.
Naruto stands and ties her hair back into her bandanna as she watches with dispassionate eyes the kyubbi chakra eat away at Sakon from within until his very core was burned out and he falls into a pile of dust and bones.
Spitting on the dusty remains she said, "I am not a little girl.", with one last look back at the bloody camp, she steps over the burned head of the loud red head and walks into the trees in search of Kidomaru and her final target Sasuke Uchiha.
Feeling the Kyubbi chakra start to slowly heal her she limps off between the trees after Kidomaru, holding her side and gasping for breath with every step. Coughing up some blood she knows a broken rib has punctured her lung. 'Come on Kyubbi', she yells in her head hoping the fox can heal her before she finds the runaway Uchiha. The crack in the seal she made had closed and she didn't have enough strength to do it again.
Her walk turns into a jog as the pain in her leg fades and soon the jog is a run as she is able to take a full breath. Silently thanking the fox she picks up speed and leaps into the trees to try to catch up to the traitor.
Using one of the 'gifts' from the Kyubbi she sends chakra to her eyes that give her near-perfect night vision. Doubling her speed she soon spots an open coffin cast aside on a deer trail fair below.
Deciding she needs to know, she jumps down and lands next to the overturned coffin. Kicking it over she can clearly see it's empty but before she can leap back to the relative safety of the trees an arrow pierces her right arm above the elbow.
Rolling with the force of the blow she throws a Kunai in the direction of the arrow screaming "Kunai Storm" turning the one into a thousand Kunai as they fly into every tree and bush killing anything in their path.
Hearing the ping of a bow again she rolls to her right and hears more then sees an arrow hit the ground where she had been. Breaking the arrow in half and pulling it from her arm she scans the trees for her adversary.
Closing her eyes she focuses all her attention on her ears trying to find any sound that can give her an idea of where he can be. Hearing a nearly imperceptible snap she jumps up high and yells, "Fireball bullets", shooting a series of balls of fire into the tree tops hitting a dozen or more trees and setting them on fire to light up the night.
Using her momentum she hits the side of a tree and leaps higher into the canopy, "Wind Barrier", she yells, using one of her more weaker jutsu but it was enough to make the fire flare brightly and spread higher into the branches overhead. She needs to flush him out and prevent him from taking any more shots at her.
'Got ya', she thinks seeing him jump out of a burning tree into another leaving a trail of smoke behind. His unique body with his two extra pairs of arms gives him a spider-like look as he moves from branch to branch as she locks onto him. With five quick hand signs, she says, "Fire Phoenix", locking the fist-sized burning birds onto the jumping sound shinobi.
The nature of the jutsu allows it to track and turn as it follows its target until it explodes into his side. With a scream, Kidomaru misses his next jump and falls to the ground trying to put out the fire still burning on his back. Her famous luck holds out as the phoenix burns his bow and arrows into a flaming tangled mess.
Having his main weapon destroyed Naruto jumps down aiming to land on his back. Using his extra arms he catches her out of the air and slams her to the ground, kicking up at him she backflips as she throws a Kunai at him with a quick hand seal she cast, "Bat Ghost" a genutsu making him see a cloud of black bats flapping into his face. Covering his face to protect himself from the bitting little monsters he is hit in the stomach, the kunai sinking deep into his gut.
Pulling the blade free he makes a hand seal with three of his hands, "Gum Style Spider Thread", encasing his whole body in a coating of brown metal-like substance. "Come on you dam bitch let's dance.", he screams out rushing at her forming a blade in each of his four hands from the spider thread coming out of his pores.
Doing three quick backflips to create some distance, she can tell he has lost some of his flexibility using this jutsu. It was a tradeoff, armor for protection for a loss of speed. Throwing a shuriken into his side and watching it bounce harmlessly away Naruto tries to think of something as a hundred Kunai made from spider thread come flying at her.
Hiding behind a tree Naruto hears him laughing, "It's no use hiding, no chakra can penetrate my spider thread so your little mind tricks will not work, and as you can see your Kunai are useless."
As he comes closer Naruto can hear his heavy footsteps. He must be increasing his armor thinking she would come out of hiding soon. "Come On.", he yells, "I will make it quick and painless, but I can't promise I won't use your dead body for some fun afterward.", his sick laughter fills the forest and echoes off the surrounding trees.
'I can't fucking believe he just said that.', Naruto thinks filling with rage, but it does give her an idea. Anko sensei had tried to teach her to use being a woman to her advantage but after a month of trying and with so little to work with she gave up and taught her how to make some poisons.
Now a year later Naruto had grown into herself more and had something to work with. 'I can't believe I am doing this.', she thought but running out of time it was worth a shot. Taking her vest off and undoing the top four buttons on her shirt exposing a good part of her chest she recalled the next step in Anko's secret seduction attach.
Crying, was the one thing she never did but had learned to do on command. She started crying like a lost child, with loud and long sobs. Once sure that he could hear her she walked out from behind the tree.
"I give up,", she cried wiping the tears from her eyes, "Those mean shinobi ran off and left me behind.", pointing randomly at the trees she cried great wet tears and staggered over to him.
"I knew it, there had to be more than one girl to take out the sound four", he said arrogantly, dropping his guard and looking down the front of her shirt. Anko was right, all men are pigs and stupid to boot.
Walking right up to her he used two hands to hold her face to push her veil aside and two to grab her ass as the other two held her wast steady. Seems he had a plan and she wasn't getting away. "So little girl you ever been kissed by a real man before.", he said with a squeeze on places no man had touched before and lived. Grunting out no Naruto looked up at him with her best doe-eyed look.
Still covered in his spider threads he lets the shield drop from around his face and leans down to kiss her. Not expecting it to be this easy Naruto makes quick hand signs and as their lips touch, she blows a grand fireball into his mouth as she reaches up and grabs the back of his head to hold him to her.
She counts to five as he tries to push her away before he goes limp. Cutting off the chakra to the jutsu she steps back as he falls over onto his back with a puff of smoke and fire exiting his still open mouth. Seems his armor was good at holding in chakra as it was at stopping it.
Buttoning her shirt back up and spitting his taste from her mouth, tying the vail back in place, she gathers up her vest and with one last look walks over and shoves a kunai into his mouth up into his brain. "That sure to do it.", she said leaving the blade for the next person to find she leaps into the trees in search of her last target.
The sun rose with great splashes of red and orange colors across the morning sky, Naruto ran from the forest into a great plan of grassland as the sky turned blue and the birds came out to sing their morning songs. None of this was noticed by the blonde-haired girl as she was focused on the footprints in the grass. Seems Sasuke was moving slow but in a bee line for the river up ahead. Not sure what condition he is in she slowed down and stayed low using the tall grass and her short stature to her advantage.
He would be fully rested while she had been going nonstop for over 24 hours. The new seals the Hokage had put on her after her little plan to run away prevented her from calling on the fox's chakra like she was used to doing. Every jutsu was harder, even time to heal took longer, the Hokage said she would learn from this but all she learned was not to get caught again by that crazy drugged-up old fool.
Reaching the river, seeing it was a rushing torrent at the bottom of a deep ravine, looking upstream Naruto can see two great statues forming a dam blocking the river and creating a large lake on the other side. The valley of the end is aptly named for the massive battle that happen here long before she was born, the villagers had placed these two imposing figures here so people would never forget.
Looking closely Naruto can see Sasuke climbing the nearest statue's head. Gathering herself she runs up through the woods to the river head hoping to reach it before the traitor is able to cross over and disappear into the forest on the other side. The river was the border of fire country and crossing over would not only put her in danger but break the already fragile treaty currently keeping the peace.
Out of breath but standing on the head of the statue of the first Hokage she can see Sasuke had jumped over to the other side and was slowly walking over the head of the opposing statue.
"Sasuke you traitor, don't you dare run from me, you coward!", Naruto yells knowing his family history, hoping to push his buttons and force him to fight. Standing with her hands on her knees breathing deeply watching the raven-haired boy slowly turns to face her, she isn't really surprised to see half his face covered in black seals with one eye turned completely yellow. The curse mark of the butcher of the sound village, Tsunade's handy work was known across all of the five great nations, the bounty on her head would pay for a small village or two but none had ever come close to collecting it. Just another great failure of an old Hokage that should have died long ago.
"What do you want loser.", Sasuke said with dead eyes and little passion in his voice. "Leave me alone, this is my one chance to avenge my family."
"I have my orders and you're coming back with me one way or another.", Naruto said standing tall now that she has had a moment to rest.
"I have lost everything and everybody I ever loved, why can't you just leave me ALONE!.", Sasuke said screaming that last part as more black seal marks craw across his face and Naruto assumed the rest of his body.
He turns his back to her and starts walking away, seeing this is her last chance Naruto backs up to get a running start and running forward as fast as she can she leaps over to the waterfall aiming for Sasuke's back.
Feeling something behind him Sasuke partly turns right before Naruto lands on him forcing him to the ground, they both slide over the rocky head of the statue. Coming to a stop Naruto is straddling Sasuke, looking down into his dead eyes she draws her arm back snd punches him in the jaw hoping for a knockout. Sasuke looks up at her and spits a mouthful of blood on her face.
With the sun beating down on her back the two shinobi stare at each other, both alone in the world but only one of them with a chance of escape.
"Why are you doing this?", Sasuke asks, "What could you want from me that hasn't already been taken."
"Want?", Naruto said, "I want nothing from you, you're only a mission in a long list of missions I must do." Holding onto the front of his shirt she gets ready to punch him again. "If you want nothing from me then let me go.", Sasuke said grabbing the front of her vest and pulling himself up into her face.
Forcing Naruto back Sasuke pushes until they are both standing and then with his curse seal blazing he punches Naruto in the gut sending her flying to the top of the waterfall. "This power, it will set me free to avenge my family", Sasuke said to himself looking down at his hands as the seal marks expanded to cover his arms.
"That almost hurt." he hears, looking over into the lake Naruto is standing on the water, locking eyes she runs over the water and jumps back up onto the top of the stone head. Seeing her coming Sasuke jumps down to meet her halfway, as they close together he spins and kicks her in the face and lands on the upright hand of the stone carving. Naruto goes flying back into the lake and sinks out of sight.
Swimming back up to the surface Naruto thinks, "This isn't working." and tries to come up with a better plan than a fist fight with a guy pumped full of drugs and black chakra while she is near exhaustion.
Standing on the surface once again she pulls a Kunai from her pouch and seeing Sasuke just standing there looking down at her, throws it with all her might, "Kunai Clone" she yells turning the one into a hundred solid blades all flying at the crazy boy. Not waiting for them to reach their target she runs across the water and starts up the rock face.
Sasuke looks over the side down at her with one yellow eye and the other turning red, he is unscathed having avoided all the Kunai.
"Why!", he screams down at her, throwing a dozen shurikens, each trailing a ninja wire so thin it can't be seen. All the shurikens fly past her wide of their target before sharply turning to wrap the thin wires around Naruto pinning her arms to her sides. With a tug, he pulls her loose from the stone and lets her drop like a rock back into the lake. As Naruto struggles to free herself from the wires she feels a large splash in the water nearby as a piece of the cliff face falls past her.
As the stone sinks, the wires grow tight and she is pulled deeper into the water. 'He tied the wires to the stone', she thought, rushing to the bottom of the lake. "How deep can it be." she thought as the light faded and she continued to be dragged down.
Once the stone hit bottom Naruto looked up and guessed 400-500 feet of water stood between her and living. Having only a fire nature the water severely limited the jutsu she could use. 'Some backup would have been nice to have right about now,', she thinks forcing her arms down until she feels the pouch on her side.
Freeing a Kunai she is able to force it under the wire and cut herself free. Now for the hard part. Swim 500 feet straight up without drowning.
After a couple of leg kicks Naruto knows she doesn't have the strength or time but not giving up she makes a hand sign and shoots a stream of fire into the water below her. As the water boils a great bubble forms and pushes her up and out of the water at great speed.
Flying out of the water she takes a great lung full of air and shakes the water from her eyes looking for the bastard that almost killed her. There he is walking down the path from the statue's head as if he is on a morning walk to do some bird watching.
Still rising higher Naruto pulls an explosive tag out, wraps it around one of her remaining kunai, and throws it with all her strength at the back of the last Uchiha. Throwing a kunai of his own he deflects hers to the side where it blows a hole in the side of the mountain.
Landing on the stones at the edge of the lake it takes but a few quick hopes to reach the Uchiha's side and face him once again. "Why!", he yells in her face and takes a swing at her, ducking under his arm she tries a leg swipe but he jumps over and kicks her in the face for her trouble.
"Answer Me!", he yells blocking her leg with his and pushing her back to give him room as he fires a fireball in her face. Rolling under the flame back into his space she punches him in the jaw and he just stands there, she hits him again, and again, "Is that all you got?", he says spitting blood in her face.
Naruto braces her feet wide and throws a punch straight at his nose. Holding his hand up he catchers her fist, "You are weak, you don't even have enough strength or desire to hurt me in this form.", he says as the curse mark covers his face and both eyes turn a bright yellow.
Pushing her back he kicks her in the chest and as she falls back he jumps at her and kicks her repeatedly until with one last kick she flies off the edge of the cliff and falls toward the base of the status. The crazed Uchiha jumps after her to land on her with both feet to slam her to the ground.
Buried a couple of feet on the ground she blacks out for a second as the boy walks away. "You can't stop me, I have been given power, power to get my revenge, and once my new master trains me I will kill you all," Sasuke said before turning his back on what he thinks is the dead leaf shinobi at his feet.
He gets ten feet before Naruto with a groan rolls out of the hole and stands up, the fox's chakra healing her at an incredible rate, this is one of the few things the seals don't prevent her from getting from the fox when she is on the edge of death. God, she hates the Hokage, that is one thing she can agree on with the Uchiha.
Her bones heal but the seals prevent the fox's chakra from giving her any strength to fight. The fear of the Hokage that she may turn on him was well founded but it also stopped her from recovering like she used to.
Rushing forward Naruto throws a punch but drops low before it can reach its target, using a leg sweep she tried to cut the legs out for under the boy but he doesn't fall for her tricks and jumps over her legs and kicks her in the face once again. 'Dam that is getting old', she thinks feeling her mouth fill with blood.
"I can spot every move you make before you make it with my Sharingan.", he said with blazing red eyes shining from behind his hair. 'Dam I wish he would pick an eye color and say with it,' thought Naruto
"I deliberately went along with your futile attempts at stopping me to see how weak you were. I am surprised the Hokage sent such a pathetic girl as you to stop me.", Sasuke said with a sneer.
"I am getting really sick of people pointing out I am a girl.", Naruto said reaching for a kunai but finding none left in her pouch. Finding a shuriken she throws it at his feet, when he jumps up to avoid it she leaps forward to land on her hands and with both feet kicks him in the chest sending him flying back into the stone wall twenty feet back.
"You may see it coming but you can't fly out of the way pretty boy," Naruto said landing back on her feet as he slides down the wall.
Hitting the ground Sasuke leaps at her with every intent to end this, they trade blows in a taijutsu fight that ends in a draw, both back away winded but ready for more. "Get out of my way!", screams Sasuke with blazing red eyes as he forms hand signs and blasts a fireball at Naruto.
"Fire is my nature pretty boy.", she yells back forming her own hand signs and taking control of the stream of fire and turning it on Sasuke. He leaps into the water as the fire flies over his head, popping to the surface he makes a new set of hand signs and yells, "Chidori!, as he runs straight at Naruto.
"You want to play it that way, Ok, let's play.", Naruto said making her hand signs, "Rasengan!", she yells charging at the avenger.
They meet in the middle of the water, his Chidori slamming into her Rasengan, they both hold their jutsu against the other waiting to see which one fails first. After a second the combined jutsu expands around them and Naruto can feel bolts of electricity shooting into her body.
The seal on her back reacts with the chakra in the lighting and flare for a moment and fails, pain, unlike anything she had felt before courses through her system as the Rasengan loses cohesion and explodes, and they both fly back landing in the water. As she watches the surface fade away once again as she sinks into the darkness she feels an old presence.
'That was an unexpected bonus, that old monkey's seal work isn't as good as he thinks.' said the fox in the back of her mind.
'Fox you're back, will you help me?', ask Naruto as she kicked herself toward the surface.
'Until I can find a way to kill you without killing myself.', the fox replied with an evil laugh.
Breaking the surface and taking a deep breath Naruto feels her strength return in full as the Fox's chakra fills her system, "Glade to see you haven't changed.", Naruto said to the fox, not caring who can hear her at this point. She knows she isn't crazy like they tried to tell her when she was young.
"Fire Phoenix Flower Jutsu!", she hears as Sasuke shots dozens of fireballs at her, all flying in a random pattern Naruto jumps high into the air only to come face to face with a tattooed covered Sasuke, he has called on the cures seal until it covered his whole body in a black tattoo like markings.
They trade blows as they fall back to the water, now with the fox's power on her side she is able to match him blow for blow until he slams her into the water. Bobbing back up to the surface Sasuke pulls her out of the water by the front of her vest and slams her into the stone wall that surrounds the bottom of the waterfall.
"Chidori!", he yells aiming the jutsu at her heart, at the last moment Naruto hits his arm so that the Chidori slices into her shoulder above her right breast. The pain is unbelievable as he pulls his hand out of her body and steps back. Dropping to her knees the fox floods her body with red chakra until she glows, as the water is pushed away from her in a great circle the wound heals with only the blood dripping off her fingers to show any sign it was there at all.
"That really hurt you bastard.", Naruto said to the shocked Sasuke as he just watched a hole heal shut in a matter of seconds. "You should be dead.", Sasuke said not believing his own eyes.
"Ya I hear that a lot," said Naruto, the nails on her hands growing longer and she can feel the fangs in her mouth extend out past her lower lips. She would look like an unholy demon if her veil didn't cover her face.
"What are you?", Sasuke said taking a step back as he called on more power from the curse seal, now with his eyes growing a second time he can see every detail around him as if he was using a microscope.
"I am your death.", Naruto said in a calm deadly voice with an echo of the fox. She did not care anymore about this mission, this has gotten personal, and he was going to die.
As she rushed forward Sasuke can see every move before it happens but her speed is so great he can only block half the blows as he returns hit for hit with the now enraged shinobi. Blow for blow they are a match until Naruto drops into the water and pulls him under. Using her chakra to jet through the water she slams into him over and over until his body goes limp.
Thinking it's over she waits for him to float to the surface, 'I am going to bring back his head for that old monkey to cry over.', Naruto thinks feeling around for a blade but finding none.
As Naruto waited Sasuke swam over to the river bank and climbed out of the water his skin has turned gray and ashen with three tomes in his eyes but now he can only see in shades of red, and the only thing is he can feel is hate, hate for this 'Girl' that is standing in his way to total vengeance.
"Dragon Fire Jutsu", he yells sending a jet of white hot flame into the back of the unsuspecting blonde. The force of the flame pushes her across the river slamming her into the stones as they start to melt around her. The Kyuubi's chakra flares brightly around her body protecting her from most of the heat, Naruto notices the bottom of her boots has melted and has stuck to the stone.
Pulling her feet free from the boots she looks over at Sasuke, he had called on the full power of the curse seal and was transforming into its final form, as great grey hands sported from his back like bat wings from the inner circle of hell he screamed into the sky.
"You will die now shinobi, not ME", Sasuke said flapping his wings as he created a Chidori with all the power of the curse seal behind it.
Naruto seeing the crazed look in his eyes knew this was her last chance to end this, 'Fox I am going to need everything you can give me.', she thought creating a Rasengan in her hand and running full speed at Sasuke until they meet in the middle.
The two jutsu collide head-on, each filled with all the power the user can channel. The unstoppable force meets the immovable object high above the valley's floor. The power of the jutsu merges and flares into a sphere of incredible power that expands around them first a few feet then more until it encompasses the entire valley burning into the very stone walls that channel the river.
Naruto and Sasuke stare into each other's eyes with burning hate and an unstoppable resolve, both fighting for the one thing that matters most to them, freedom, one wanting it now and the other planning for it in the future.
As seconds turn to minutes, time itself seems to stop and the world around them breaks into a kaleidoscope of images. Thousands upon thousands of images each containing a reflection of this very moment in time but each a little different than the next. Naruto learns that if she focuses on one image it becomes clear for a split second, in one she has a sword in Sasuke's heart, another a kunai, and again another her fist. She is dressed in every type of battle uniform she can imagine from samurai armor to an Anko-style short skirt but they all have something in common. In the thousands of images, Sasuke dies a quick and bloody death.
'What is happening?', Naruto asks the only being that could possibly know, The fox doesn't respond at first and then says, 'Freedom human, what you see is freedom, look around and find the one that pulls you in and run to it so we can both break free.', the fox sounded strained as if holding back the universe and Naruto realizes that that is what it is doing, opening a way out of this universe into another.
In this frozen moment of time, Naruto searches for the one reflection that calls to her but each is only a small change from her own, and then she spots a small sliver of light that is blurry and small. Willing her attention, no her very being to see what is behind that small light she can see not a girl killing a boy but two boys, one clearly Sasuke in his hand batwing form but the other is a blonde boy in a hideous orange jumpsuit, as time starts to slowly tick forward that Sasuke blocks the Rasengan and starts to shoves the Chidori deep within the blonde boy's chest.
"NO!", screams Naruto shocking both herself and the fox with her strong reaction.
"Now human, will yourself to his side, using everything you have to get there.", the fox's voice is weak but his intention is clear, leave the here and go to them there.
With time slowly beginning to move once again, Naruto breaks away from her opponent and tries to walk, then run, and finally swim to the orange clade boy's side hoping to reach him before the Chidori can complete its path and end him.
As she moved away from the Sasuke she had been fighting falls away and the jutsu starts to collapse with him and his world begins fading away. She is now swimming in the in-between place trying to get to a new place where she hopes she can belong. As each passing second ticket by the worlds she passes each pulls her toward them offering her more of the same, she knows those worlds and rejects them pushing herself to her target.
His world, his reality, grows closer and closer but with each tick of the clock, the Chidori sinks deeper into his chest. Finally, she is pressed up against a barrier, it is the only thing between her and this new world. "Fox, what do I do?", she screams out unable to leave the here to get to the there.
"You must give in to your longing, stop fighting it.", she can hear the fox now but a whisper in the back of her head. Looking as if through a glass she stares at this strange boy as he falls to the ground a Chidori through his chest and a sad but truly evil Sasuke standing over him.
Breaking down in tears, for the first time since her mother's death when she was three Naruto gives in to the pain of longing to be happy and free, leaning on the glass she falls through it to land on the muddy ground in the middle of a thunderstorm.
Totally drained she crawls the ten feet to his side, looking down into his face she can see the same need, the same longing she has had all her life. Tasting the salty tears still running down her face she cups his cheeks in her hands and hovers over him his eyes open to stare into hers.
"Are you an angel?" he asks and for the first time, she notices that her vail and bandanna had fallen away leaving her bare to the world for the first time in many years. Her blonde hair flows around her face almost reaching his, and her wide blue eyes and shape feature any supermodel would wish for, looks down on the boy.
She had been told all her life she was ugly and hideous, was nothing but a weapon, she refused to give in to those thoughts, wanting to be a real shinobi not some blade to be cast away.
"I am no angel but I am here for you.", she said using her body to shield him from the rain. She can see the hole in his chest slowly closing and she realized he to must have a fox, but hers had fallen silent but was still an echo of power she feels the fox in her.
His smile is genuine as he says, "Thank you.", before passing out, she to feels the pull of total exhaustion as she falls over him to join him in a dreamless sleep.
...
Please review and give some feedback on this idea, I am really not sure how far I should take this. Thanks