Okay, I've given this story to a couple of people... to beta chapter 17,
but GWFasc... you never left your e-mail... so I dunno how to contact you!!
Leave it in your next review and I'll send you 17... and maybe 18... if I
feel up to it.
Title: Jaded
Series: Naruto
Rating: PG-13 (Will go higher later on)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama, Romance, Humour, Horror, Tragedy, Supernatural, Fantasy, etc. (pretty much all)
Summary: Blah, you've heard this a hundred times, do I really need to keep putting it here?
Pairings: SasuNaru...... one sided SakuSasu, and hintings of other couples throughout. Oh, and definite KakaIru... although... I warn you. I'm not exactly nice to them.
Chapter Title: 16. Practicing With Distractions
They figured it would take three days to properly train and prepare for a final confrontation with Orochimaru. They figured that since Naruto's escape he had upped his security and they'd never have another chance like that so they'd have to settle for a full-fledged offence. Naruto had, for the most part, opted to stay downstairs, training night and day by himself. Often a couple of his fellow shinobi would keep him company but he refused to fight with them and they never asked. Hinata had frequently been found just sitting on the stairs watching him work. Jiraiya came down to the basement on the second day, when he was alone.
He sat on the same steps and watched as Naruto aimed dozens of attacks at the new punching bag at the centre of the room. He'd already gone through two of them so far. It wasn't until the boy was starting to show signs of fatigue that Jiraiya spoke up.
"Don't use Rasengan against Orochimaru." He exclaimed. "But if you're forced to, only as a last resort." The boy didn't turn around and only acknowledged the old man's comment with a curt nod. "Once the guards are taken out, everyone will be attacking him together. I don't want you to miss and kill one of your friends." Again Naruto nodded sharply and Jiraiya turned to leave.
"Jiraiya?" The man stopped and looked back to see the blond's shoulders shaking. "We'll kill him, right?"
"Yeah, Naruto-kun. He won't live past tomorrow."
***
Naruto walked outside to meet and train with Sasuke. He nodded solemnly before crouching low in anticipation of an attack. The dark-haired ninja faked left and kicked right, almost hitting his partner, but the blond dodged and brought his kunai knives up to protect his face. Sasuke smirked and jumped back to await Naruto's response.
A few minutes into their fighting, Naruto looked to the side to find they had an audience. Or rather, he had an audience. Hinata sat on the steps of the house, watching them practice. He grinned to himself at the attention and returned his attention to his sparring partner. If Hinata had come to watch him fight, then he'd show her a fight.
Sasuke had noticed the girl's presence, too and frowned when Naruto's movements became slightly exaggerated in order to show off to her. He wasn't even paying attention to Sasuke.
Growling slightly, he continued to fight, hoping that Naruto would come to his senses and stop showing off for Hinata but he was sadly mistaken. He dealt a quick blow to the boy's chest, flipping him over his shoulder before turning around and kicking him swiftly in the side. Naruto winced in pain before staggering back to his feet.
"What the hell was that for, bastard?" He asked angrily, clutching his side. Sasuke smirked inwardly, noticing his partner's focus was fully on him again.
"You were too busy looking good for your audience to notice that you left yourself open." He snapped back. "If you act like this when a girl watches you then you'll end up slicing off your own head when the real thing comes." He glared spitefully at the blond before turning to Hinata.
"Don't you have anything better to do other than distracting my sparring partner?" He yelled. The shy girl jumped up and ran back into the house mumbling her apologies. Sasuke frowned at having to scare her off like that. He understood why Naruto enjoyed the attention, but now wasn't the time to be thinking like that. He turned back to Naruto who looked to be ready to fight again.
"Next time, watch your back." He warned, following Naruto's lead. The blond scoffed.
"You're assuming there's going to BE a next time. You assume too much." They continued practising long into the night.
***
By the third day, Naruto had found a way to rope Rock Lee into teaching him some Taijutsu moves in the basement. Lee had been out of commission for over four years, but he could still outlast the best of them, and only walked with a slight limp. He agreed eagerly to help Naruto train; taking any chance he got to show his support for the shinobi of the village.
Gai sat off to the side, watching his former student clash head-on with the flamboyant blond from his rival's team. He found it amusing that Lee had found a way to fight for Konoha through the kid. Naruto surprised him, though, treating his young mentor much the way he would treat any other shinobi and didn't seem to put any notice to the fact that Lee had been stripped of his position. He acted as though the green-clad boy was just another of his comrades getting ready for battle. He smiled fondly, watching the two increase Naruto's speed and knew Kakashi had taught the boy some valuable lessons.
Lee on the other hand, was amazed by the blond's stamina. Even after hours of gruelling training, he was still energized to try the new moves again, and again. His spirit and stubbornness was starting to make Lee exhausted.
Gai laughed out loud when he saw his former student forced to lean on an old armchair to catch his breath while his friend was still bouncing off the walls. They'd finally found someone who could outlast Rock Lee. Both boys looked up at the sensei's laughter and smiled themselves.
Lee stuck his hand out for a handshake. The blond eagerly took it and shook it firmly.
"Do it for Sakura-chan." He exclaimed. Naruto's eyebrows shot up. For a while now, he'd totally forgotten about her in his attempts to train.
"Hai, I will." He replied. "I think I need some sleep now, though. Everyone else must be training, ne?" He grinned and bounded up the stairs, two at a time, towards his room. Even though he didn't show it, he was dead tired, and wanted to be well rested come the morning when they set out to reclaim their village.
***
"Get up, idiot!" Sakura's scream echoed throughout the entire Uchiha household. Anyone who was asleep before would be awake now. Anyone, that is, except Naruto, who needed a hit to the head before he'd give up his nice warm blanket and rise from his bed. He moaned and groaned but finally awoke when his clothes were shoved into his face.
"Get dressed, dobe." Sasuke said. "We're ready to leave." He looked to the side to see Jiraiya getting the same warm treatment from Tsunade. Naruto nodded and quickly changed into his notorious orange outfit and followed his rival downstairs to where Sakura and everyone else were waiting for him, while the other men and women from the village were already fighting Orochimaru's guards.
"Good luck, everyone." Tsunade nodded to them all before opening the door and running out into the street to assist the fallen shinobi.
Naruto ran out, following Sasuke and the other genin towards the heart of the fighting near Hokage Tower. He pulled out his kunai and shuriken stars and began aiming at anything that came at him with a Sound hitai-ate. Within minutes the streets were covered in blood, but no sign of Orochimaru. At least, none until everything stopped.
Naruto, being the brash fool he was, continued attacking until he noticed the unnatural stillness of his surroundings. He dropped the man he had been pummelling and looked around to see that everyone was looking up, watching the Tower. He, too, turned his gaze upwards to see the infamous Sound ninja standing with one foot balanced over the railing, holding Sasuke by the back of the neck over the edge with a kunai to his throat.
"Naruto!" He called down, his voice slick and oily. The boy suppressed a shiver, but refused to respond. "If you don't give up now, I will slit this boy's throat." He stifled a gasp but remained defiant.
"You're bluffing, stupid old snake!" He called back, snidely. "You need Sasuke's body for your stupid Immortality Jutsu. You won't risk killing him just to get to me." Orochimaru laughed, shaking his head.
"You really are like Jiraiya in every way. So idealistic. It's so obvious in your eyes. In everything you do. There will be other bodies, Naruto- kun." He hissed, a sinister smile playing across his face in reference to other things. "It's not just Sasuke who has the Uchiha Sharingan." Naruto's eyes widened, knowing he meant Itachi. Sasuke tried to turn his head to glare at the Sound ninja holding him, but only ended up snarling and raising his hands to try prying the thin fingers from his neck.
"Are you so sure you want to do that, Sasuke?" He tried to ignore the slickness in the man's voice and continued to fight off the fingers.
"Dropping to my death is better than anything else you've got to offer." He snapped, frustrated that the fingers wouldn't budge. Orochimaru returned his gaze to Naruto who had been brought up to the top of the tower by some of his ninjas. Sasuke managed to turn his head slightly to see his rival walk slowly towards the Sound shinobi.
"Naruto, don't!" He yelled, earning himself a tighter grip on his neck. "Stop trying to play the hero!" The blond looked up to him and glared lightly.
"Look who's talking." He snapped back.
"We need you to save the village."
"No you don't."
"Hai we-" He was cut off by Naruto.
"NO! I've never truly been acknowledged by anyone in this village, so how the hell am I going to save it. No, WHY the hell should I save it? Iruka never did, because he thought I couldn't handle being a chuunin." Sasuke winced as the hand around his neck became even tighter.
"Dobe, I acknowledge you, now stop this." Naruto looked at him in amazement.
"3... 2... 1..." Orochimaru counted down Naruto's time.
~~~~~~~
Chapter Title: 17. Enter the Demon
"Now let Sasuke go." He said more forcefully than he thought he could. Orochimaru stepped back, still holding the boy and kunai.
"As you wish, Naruto." He nodded and dropped the dark-haired genin, but not before catching his shoulder quickly with the kunai. Sasuke cried out in surprise and fell to the floor cradling his deep wound. That was all Naruto needed to spark his and the Kyuubi's rage. His eyes narrowed to glowing red slits and his nails grew longer and sharpened. In two seconds Naruto had Orochimaru on the ground, fighting to dislodge the teeth from his neck.
***the above spoiler may change a bit... and I'm still looking for people to give me ideas to fix up 17, so all people are welcome!
Title: Jaded
Series: Naruto
Rating: PG-13 (Will go higher later on)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama, Romance, Humour, Horror, Tragedy, Supernatural, Fantasy, etc. (pretty much all)
Summary: Blah, you've heard this a hundred times, do I really need to keep putting it here?
Pairings: SasuNaru...... one sided SakuSasu, and hintings of other couples throughout. Oh, and definite KakaIru... although... I warn you. I'm not exactly nice to them.
Chapter Title: 16. Practicing With Distractions
They figured it would take three days to properly train and prepare for a final confrontation with Orochimaru. They figured that since Naruto's escape he had upped his security and they'd never have another chance like that so they'd have to settle for a full-fledged offence. Naruto had, for the most part, opted to stay downstairs, training night and day by himself. Often a couple of his fellow shinobi would keep him company but he refused to fight with them and they never asked. Hinata had frequently been found just sitting on the stairs watching him work. Jiraiya came down to the basement on the second day, when he was alone.
He sat on the same steps and watched as Naruto aimed dozens of attacks at the new punching bag at the centre of the room. He'd already gone through two of them so far. It wasn't until the boy was starting to show signs of fatigue that Jiraiya spoke up.
"Don't use Rasengan against Orochimaru." He exclaimed. "But if you're forced to, only as a last resort." The boy didn't turn around and only acknowledged the old man's comment with a curt nod. "Once the guards are taken out, everyone will be attacking him together. I don't want you to miss and kill one of your friends." Again Naruto nodded sharply and Jiraiya turned to leave.
"Jiraiya?" The man stopped and looked back to see the blond's shoulders shaking. "We'll kill him, right?"
"Yeah, Naruto-kun. He won't live past tomorrow."
***
Naruto walked outside to meet and train with Sasuke. He nodded solemnly before crouching low in anticipation of an attack. The dark-haired ninja faked left and kicked right, almost hitting his partner, but the blond dodged and brought his kunai knives up to protect his face. Sasuke smirked and jumped back to await Naruto's response.
A few minutes into their fighting, Naruto looked to the side to find they had an audience. Or rather, he had an audience. Hinata sat on the steps of the house, watching them practice. He grinned to himself at the attention and returned his attention to his sparring partner. If Hinata had come to watch him fight, then he'd show her a fight.
Sasuke had noticed the girl's presence, too and frowned when Naruto's movements became slightly exaggerated in order to show off to her. He wasn't even paying attention to Sasuke.
Growling slightly, he continued to fight, hoping that Naruto would come to his senses and stop showing off for Hinata but he was sadly mistaken. He dealt a quick blow to the boy's chest, flipping him over his shoulder before turning around and kicking him swiftly in the side. Naruto winced in pain before staggering back to his feet.
"What the hell was that for, bastard?" He asked angrily, clutching his side. Sasuke smirked inwardly, noticing his partner's focus was fully on him again.
"You were too busy looking good for your audience to notice that you left yourself open." He snapped back. "If you act like this when a girl watches you then you'll end up slicing off your own head when the real thing comes." He glared spitefully at the blond before turning to Hinata.
"Don't you have anything better to do other than distracting my sparring partner?" He yelled. The shy girl jumped up and ran back into the house mumbling her apologies. Sasuke frowned at having to scare her off like that. He understood why Naruto enjoyed the attention, but now wasn't the time to be thinking like that. He turned back to Naruto who looked to be ready to fight again.
"Next time, watch your back." He warned, following Naruto's lead. The blond scoffed.
"You're assuming there's going to BE a next time. You assume too much." They continued practising long into the night.
***
By the third day, Naruto had found a way to rope Rock Lee into teaching him some Taijutsu moves in the basement. Lee had been out of commission for over four years, but he could still outlast the best of them, and only walked with a slight limp. He agreed eagerly to help Naruto train; taking any chance he got to show his support for the shinobi of the village.
Gai sat off to the side, watching his former student clash head-on with the flamboyant blond from his rival's team. He found it amusing that Lee had found a way to fight for Konoha through the kid. Naruto surprised him, though, treating his young mentor much the way he would treat any other shinobi and didn't seem to put any notice to the fact that Lee had been stripped of his position. He acted as though the green-clad boy was just another of his comrades getting ready for battle. He smiled fondly, watching the two increase Naruto's speed and knew Kakashi had taught the boy some valuable lessons.
Lee on the other hand, was amazed by the blond's stamina. Even after hours of gruelling training, he was still energized to try the new moves again, and again. His spirit and stubbornness was starting to make Lee exhausted.
Gai laughed out loud when he saw his former student forced to lean on an old armchair to catch his breath while his friend was still bouncing off the walls. They'd finally found someone who could outlast Rock Lee. Both boys looked up at the sensei's laughter and smiled themselves.
Lee stuck his hand out for a handshake. The blond eagerly took it and shook it firmly.
"Do it for Sakura-chan." He exclaimed. Naruto's eyebrows shot up. For a while now, he'd totally forgotten about her in his attempts to train.
"Hai, I will." He replied. "I think I need some sleep now, though. Everyone else must be training, ne?" He grinned and bounded up the stairs, two at a time, towards his room. Even though he didn't show it, he was dead tired, and wanted to be well rested come the morning when they set out to reclaim their village.
***
"Get up, idiot!" Sakura's scream echoed throughout the entire Uchiha household. Anyone who was asleep before would be awake now. Anyone, that is, except Naruto, who needed a hit to the head before he'd give up his nice warm blanket and rise from his bed. He moaned and groaned but finally awoke when his clothes were shoved into his face.
"Get dressed, dobe." Sasuke said. "We're ready to leave." He looked to the side to see Jiraiya getting the same warm treatment from Tsunade. Naruto nodded and quickly changed into his notorious orange outfit and followed his rival downstairs to where Sakura and everyone else were waiting for him, while the other men and women from the village were already fighting Orochimaru's guards.
"Good luck, everyone." Tsunade nodded to them all before opening the door and running out into the street to assist the fallen shinobi.
Naruto ran out, following Sasuke and the other genin towards the heart of the fighting near Hokage Tower. He pulled out his kunai and shuriken stars and began aiming at anything that came at him with a Sound hitai-ate. Within minutes the streets were covered in blood, but no sign of Orochimaru. At least, none until everything stopped.
Naruto, being the brash fool he was, continued attacking until he noticed the unnatural stillness of his surroundings. He dropped the man he had been pummelling and looked around to see that everyone was looking up, watching the Tower. He, too, turned his gaze upwards to see the infamous Sound ninja standing with one foot balanced over the railing, holding Sasuke by the back of the neck over the edge with a kunai to his throat.
"Naruto!" He called down, his voice slick and oily. The boy suppressed a shiver, but refused to respond. "If you don't give up now, I will slit this boy's throat." He stifled a gasp but remained defiant.
"You're bluffing, stupid old snake!" He called back, snidely. "You need Sasuke's body for your stupid Immortality Jutsu. You won't risk killing him just to get to me." Orochimaru laughed, shaking his head.
"You really are like Jiraiya in every way. So idealistic. It's so obvious in your eyes. In everything you do. There will be other bodies, Naruto- kun." He hissed, a sinister smile playing across his face in reference to other things. "It's not just Sasuke who has the Uchiha Sharingan." Naruto's eyes widened, knowing he meant Itachi. Sasuke tried to turn his head to glare at the Sound ninja holding him, but only ended up snarling and raising his hands to try prying the thin fingers from his neck.
"Are you so sure you want to do that, Sasuke?" He tried to ignore the slickness in the man's voice and continued to fight off the fingers.
"Dropping to my death is better than anything else you've got to offer." He snapped, frustrated that the fingers wouldn't budge. Orochimaru returned his gaze to Naruto who had been brought up to the top of the tower by some of his ninjas. Sasuke managed to turn his head slightly to see his rival walk slowly towards the Sound shinobi.
"Naruto, don't!" He yelled, earning himself a tighter grip on his neck. "Stop trying to play the hero!" The blond looked up to him and glared lightly.
"Look who's talking." He snapped back.
"We need you to save the village."
"No you don't."
"Hai we-" He was cut off by Naruto.
"NO! I've never truly been acknowledged by anyone in this village, so how the hell am I going to save it. No, WHY the hell should I save it? Iruka never did, because he thought I couldn't handle being a chuunin." Sasuke winced as the hand around his neck became even tighter.
"Dobe, I acknowledge you, now stop this." Naruto looked at him in amazement.
"3... 2... 1..." Orochimaru counted down Naruto's time.
~~~~~~~
Chapter Title: 17. Enter the Demon
"Now let Sasuke go." He said more forcefully than he thought he could. Orochimaru stepped back, still holding the boy and kunai.
"As you wish, Naruto." He nodded and dropped the dark-haired genin, but not before catching his shoulder quickly with the kunai. Sasuke cried out in surprise and fell to the floor cradling his deep wound. That was all Naruto needed to spark his and the Kyuubi's rage. His eyes narrowed to glowing red slits and his nails grew longer and sharpened. In two seconds Naruto had Orochimaru on the ground, fighting to dislodge the teeth from his neck.
***the above spoiler may change a bit... and I'm still looking for people to give me ideas to fix up 17, so all people are welcome!