Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and only use it for entertainment purposes.
Sasuke stood at the border between Fire Country and Rice Country. He had come here alone not wanting Orochimaru or Kabuto interfering with this fight. This would be the time when he finally achieved the Mangekyou Sharingan thus making the fight extremely personal. He had to get Naruto away from the Konoha and all alone. He could afford to fight several people at once. Naruto was inferior to his new power he was sure, but if his old teammate had help the odds would be against the Sharingan user.
To get Naruto out of the Konoha, Sasuke would use the old man he captured on his way here to infiltrate Konoha and deliver a personal message to him. The old man was of no real consequence and was not a ninja so would not draw attention once inside Konoha. Sasuke placed him under a Genjutsu from the Sharingan that is almost undetectable to anyone without a Sharingan. With only one person in the whole village with one eye the chances the Genjutsu being detected were slim. Especially during the off hours, as Kakashi was never one to hang around anyone in his spare time. "Go," he ordered and the old man only gave a slight nod as a response. Now all Sasuke had to do was wait for three days and he would finally get the Mangekyo Sharingan. He would be able to leave Orochimaru and hunt down his brother.
Late at night Naruto was woken up by a knock on his door. He was somewhat surprised because he was certainly not expecting any company this late at night. Naruto figured that what ever the person wanted it must be important so he got up and answered the door. When he opened the door he saw an old man he had never seen before. After a brief examination Naruto could tell there was something off about this person though could not tell what so Naruto became guarded. "Did you want something Sir?" Naruto asked.
The old man looked at Naruto and spoke in a monotone voice, "Uchiha Sasuke is waiting."
Naruto did not show his surprise at the news. He knew the traitor would receive his message and send a reply but did not know it would be this soon. "When and where?" Naruto asked.
"He will meet you at the border between Fire and Rice Country near the Valley of the End," the old man answered. "He wants you to come alone."
Naruto thought for a moment about the challenge. This was his opportunity to bring Sasuke back but knew it was a trap. Sasuke would not have sent for him unless he felt he had learned all he could from Orochimaru. That meant Sasuke would be alone. "He never was one to want help in anything," Naruto thought. "His foolish pride would never allow him to think he needed it. I can count on that alone to ensure it would be just him and I." Out loud he said, "I'll be there." The old man stood still for a moment then just dropped to the ground unconscious after the Genjutsu wore off.
The next day Kakashi arrived at the training grounds late as usual only to find Sakura there alone. "Sakura where's Naruto?"
"I don't know Kakashi-sensei," Sakura answered. "Ever since he got back with Jiraiya-sama he would always get here ahead of me."
Kakashi became concerned at the news. "We should try and find him." Sakura nodded as she and the Copy Ninja left for Naruto's apartment.
After a quick search of Naruto's apartment and not finding anything the teacher and student split up and asked around if any had seen Naruto since yesterday. Sakura found out that the last anyone saw of Naruto was when he dropped off an old man at the hospital late at night. The odd thing was that the man had amnesia for several days and did not show any signs of trauma to the head. It was here that Kakashi caught up to Sakura and when she described what she knew he lifted his Hitai-Ate and examined the old man. When he found traces of a Genjutsu caused by another Sharingan he immediately what happened. "Sakura we need to get to the Hokage right away," Kakashi said in an urgent voice.
After two days of travel Naruto finally met up with Sasuke at the Valley of the End. The two formal rivals stood less than twenty meters from each other. To the average citizen this distance was more than far enough away to ensure safety from another person. To powerful shinobi this was well within the range of danger. It was odd just two and a half years ago the two met like this before and for the very same reason in both young shinobi's minds. Naruto was determined to bring Sasuke back and Sasuke was here to prove that he was stronger than his former teammate.
"Aren't you going to ask for me to come back?" Sasuke said with condescending smirk. He took note of Naruto's appearance and had to admit that the blonde had grown since his departure but Sasuke was still confident that he could defeat the Kyuubi prison.
"No," was Naruto's answer. Two years ago Naruto would have tried to convince Sasuke in returning. Now he did not waste time on words, he let actions speak for him and too him. And Sasuke's posture still had the same arrogance he had during the fight at the Valley of the End.
Sasuke repressed the chill that went up his spine from the cold look and simple emotionless tone Naruto spoke with. In the back of his mind he wondered what had happened to the smiling blonde idiot he knew before. Still that part of his mind was in so small that Sasuke paid it no heed. Instead his conscious thoughts were concentrating on another person that he knew that had a similarly cold attitude, his brother Itachi. The thought of his Clan's murder caused a spike in his anger and shift in his posture.
Naruto noticed the change and saw the repressed anger in the oil like eyes of his former friend. "He must be thinking about Itachi," Naruto deduced. Naruto even before he left with Jiraiya was good at seeing a person's true feelings and could deduce the person's motivation was from them. He did it against Neji in the finals of the Chunin Exam, he did it against Garra only hours later, the same could be said for Tsunade and even now he was performing the same skill.
"Let's see what you've learned Dobe," Sasuke addressed after he calmed himself. "Show me how much of the Kyuubi's power you have." Naruto gave a slight twitch at the revelation that Sasuke knew about the Kitsune. "Orochimaru told me about the Bijuu that was sealed inside of you. Call on its power I want to see the reason Itachi is after you." Sasuke dropped into the ready stance he copied from Lee years ago, "That is the only way you can hope to keep up with me."
"I don't need the Kyuubi's chakra to beat you Sasuke," Naruto replied. "There is nothing you can do that can defeat me now." Naruto spoke the truth in this aspect. For the last two and a half years he had been training and strategizing ways to defeat the Sharingan and had developed four key principles to counter it.
Principle one was speed. He learned this lesson from remembering the bout Sasuke and Lee had at the Chunin Exam. If you move you body fast enough then the user of the Sharingan could not react fast enough to counter. To capitalize on this Naruto spent his time training his body for extreme speeds and the result was the he was at least as fast as Gai without opening the Chakra Gates.
Principle two was eye contact. Or rather lack of eye contact. Jiraiya had informed Naruto of that the Sharingan could instantly hypnotize a person and trick them into performing the techniques the user wanted. Naruto himself remembered Zabuza had something similar in Wave. Naruto countered this aspect by learning to fight by looking at the different body parts on his opponent and learning to fight from there. Even now he had not made eye contact with Sasuke once, he had been looking at Sasuke's chest the entire time.
Principle three was not using hand seals. The Sharingan allowed a person to see and instantly memorize the hand seals a person uses. With the amount of jutsus that Orochimaru could teach Sasuke Naruto knew the Uchiha could counter just about every jutsu he could use by knowing what he was about to perform. Naruto would defeat this by fighting without relying entirely on hand seals. One reason he took up the sword, Kenjutsu did not use hand seals, as both hands were required to use a sword properly.
Principle four was the compression of his chakra. This was the final and culmination of Naruto's preparation of facing either of the Uchiha brothers. As he demonstrated against Kakashi the compression of his chakra canceled the Sharingan's greatest advantage, the ability to copy jutsus by seeing how the chakra was manipulated. The added effect of compression gave Naruto far greater chakra control than ever before. Combined with his unheard of stamina and chakra reserves meant that Naruto could out last just about any shinobi alive.
Sasuke angered by Naruto's proclamation activated his Sharingan. He started to perform hand seals and finished with tiger seal, "Katon: Karyuu Endan!" The dragon made of fire raced out of his mouth at an impressive speed. Naruto countered the fire-based attack by drawing his sword and slashing at the dragon. The result was about half way to Naruto the dragon was split in half dissipating the jutsu.
Sasuke was shocked not only by the display of skill but also because he could not track the movement of the blade nor see the release of charka required for such an advanced technique. When the fire died out and the smoke cleared Naruto was no longer in sight. Sasuke quickly moved from his location in order to avoid being a sitting target. He hated to admit it but apparently his former teammate had found a way to fully counter the Uchiha's legendary Blood Limit.
Naruto had dashed away the moment the smoke rose from the destroyed dragon. He knew he had to end this fight quickly as he was certain Sasuke did not come alone whether the traitor knew it or not. "Orochimaru and Kabuto are probably either watching and waiting or are on their way," Naruto thought. "The most efficient way to defeat Sasuke is to catch off guard and beat him with one decisive blow." After a second of deliberation Naruto thought of a plan that would work. "Sakura will probably not like this but it is the most efficient way to end this."
Sasuke was moving to higher ground to have the best advantage he could, when he suddenly heard and felt a change in the wind. It was too subtle to be the actual wind so his mind instantly concluded that the change was some kind of attack. Without further thought he jumped to the left and narrowly avoided a cross slash from an incredibly sharp katana. The evasion was so narrow in fact that it left a small cut on Sasuke's neck. "He almost killed me!" Sasuke thought. It was then he realized the seriousness of the fight and the fact that he severely underestimated what Naruto was willing to do. He turned just in time to avoid another lethal slash and quickly jumped away in order give himself more distance. "I have to take this much more seriously," Sasuke concluded. He then activated his Curse Seal Level Three totally by passing the Level Two completely. With Naruto's obvious proficiency in Kenjutsu and willingness to use lethal force Sasuke could not afford to waist time.
Naruto watched as Sasuke began to change. He immediately and easily noticed the increase of chakra output. He also took notice of the difference between his memory of the Level Two Curse Seal and the transformation he was witnessing. The biggest difference Naruto noticed was the skin pigmentation was different. Sasuke's skin was a deep purple collar almost but not quite black. Next the hair was not as white as snow but still stood in the same style as the Level Two. Out of Sasuke's back the wings became more dynamic looking more like bat wings then over grown webbed hands like before. And finally to complete the change Sasuke now supported a long tail at the small of his back. He now looked more like a demon of hell than he did at Level Two.
Sasuke did not waist anymore time and attacked Naruto. He may have been arrogant but Sasuke was never stupid, he did not want to give Naruto a chance to use his full strength. With lethal intent the fight took on a whole new level. As he charged, Sasuke performed the hand seals for Chidori and the black lighting began to crackle on his hand. Naruto saw this and made an attempt to dodge, this was countered by Sasuke thrusting out his other hand, "Senai Jashuu no Jutsu (Hidden Snake Hands)," the snakes rushed out of Sasuke's sleeve ahead of him and trapped Naruto mid dodge. With Naruto stopped dead in his tracks he was an easy target for the powerful Chidori.
It shocked Sasuke when Naruto disappeared in a cloud of smoke as soon as the Chidori impacted. "A Kage Bushin! (Shadow Clone)" Sasuke thought angrily.
Not far away Naruto saw his Kage Bushin disappear and knew this was his only chance to strike. Naruto dropped into a Kenjutsu stance with his sword raised edge up with both hands on the grip. He then sent a mental command, "NOW!" and chakra burst out of his back rocketing him forward.
Sasuke's only warning to the danger was the massive burst of chakra to his back. The next thing he knew was pain coming from the right side of his chest. From there physics took over and Sasuke was lurched forwarded slamming him into a large boulder three meters away. With the sudden surprise of the attack Sasuke had no way to prepare and was knocked unconscious by the impact despite the physical enhancements caused by the Curse Seal.
Naruto whipped his sword clean of Sasuke's blood and then reseathed it. The technique he used was an original that he came up with towards the end of his training. He had not thought of what to call it yet but the principle behind it was using his dual chakra (his and the Kyuubi's) in succession. First he transferred his chakra through out his body enhancing it. Then he called on Kyuubi's chakra and used a focused burst out his back propelling him forward at an unheard of velocity. The range of the new attack was only a few meters but it was utterly devastating. Naruto knew that it would quickly become a Kinjutsu as soon as Tsunade heard about it, as without his two-chakra signatures he would not be able to survive it. With heavy breaths Naruto approached the downed Uchiha as the transformed back to his original state. "Now to get him home before anyone shows up or he dies form his injuries," Naruto thought.
Not far away from where Sasuke and Naruto had just fought two men in long black cloaks with red clouds watched the battle. They were observing the fight for the right opportunity to apprehend their target. As the fight ended the smaller of the two started to advance when he did the other taller man put his arm on smaller man's shoulder halting his advance, "Kisame why are you stopping me?" Itachi asked.
"We should head back," Kisame answered.
"And why should we do that?" Itachi asked. It was not like the shark man to show such caution in their assignments so his action confused the elder Uchiha.
"The Brat has grown more than we could have anticipated," Kisame replied.
"How so?" Itachi was now intrigued. Kisame never gave praise to anyone of any kind.
"I recognize the Kenjutsu the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki used against your brother," Kisame answered. His voice sounded a mix of awe and reservation. "It is a Kenjutsu called Tenken (Sword of Heaven) and it is superior to nearly all other styles." Itachi gave the Nuke-nin a look for him to continue. "Before I left Kiri the Seven Swordsmen were sent to a small village in Southern Fire Country. The mission was to investigate rumors of expert swordsman in the area. Kiri has always prided itself on having the best swordsman so if there were Kenjutsu styles there of enough merit we were ordered to steal them. The village turned out to be a samurai village," Itachi became more intrigued by this as true samurai were very rare now but still considered dangerous opponents. "When we arrived we were confronted by the leader of the village. He fought all of us at the same time using Tenken." Kisame looked directly in the eye his face was grim, "of the seven only four left alive and we that lived were seriously injured." Kisame turned back to the direction Naruto left in, "The last move was new but the stances, the movements, the speed; it was all signature of the Tenken style. If you want to go after him I won't stop you. But I won't help you either, I'm not suicidal."
Itachi mulled over Kisame's story, he found it hard to believe what was described but Itachi could also tell Kisame was dead serious. Kisame may get overzealous in the assignments and a bit blood thirst but he was no fool. You do not get into Akatsuki by being all brawn and no brain. With Kisame's expertise in Kenjutsu, a subject Itachi was lacking in gave more credit to the advice to hold back. "Very well," Itachi conceded, "We shall inform the others of this development and plan the rest from there."