Author's Note: This is a long, long chapter. I hope you're able to sit through it and read it all... It's very action-packed, though, so it shouldn't be too bad!
Chapter 6
Sasuke didn't go back to sleep for the rest of the night. He sat shivering in his sleeping bag, worried that if he went back to sleep, he'd have another horrible nightmare. It was like the last three years with Orochimaru had never happened. Sasuke felt slow, stupid, and childish, like he was seven and Itachi had just killed his clan all over again.
When the sun finally rose, Sasuke managed to stand up on his wobbling legs to go outside and relieve himself. He knew that Konoha's morning patrol was on its way out to check the surroundings, and that he was close enough to Konoha that he was likely to be caught. He zipped up his shorts and went back into the tent to put on his hitae-ate and boots. The more prepared he was, the better.
Sasuke kindled a small fire and put some rice and water in a pot over it (alas, there was no milk). He was tired, but only in a psychological and emotional sense; physically, he felt as fresh and strong as he ever did. The night had worn him down. That dream, for whatever reason, had disturbed him so profoundly that he nearly burned the rice. "Crap..." he muttered, pulling the pot off the fire and looking down into it, getting a face-full of hot steam. He spent the next five minutes hopping around camp, cursing rather loudly.
When he finally settled down to eat, Sasuke was constantly looking over his shoulder. Traditionally, Konoha sent only Chunin on the patrols, so he shouldn't have much trouble killing the ones closest to him silently so as to not make the others aware of his presence. Not only that, but since the patrol members always had backup no more than 35 yards away, they didn't need to worry about being quiet. Which, admittedly, gave Sasuke the advantage.
As he was finishing his rice, Sasuke finally heard the telltale crunching of bushes and twigs. He reached for a kunai just as the Chunin broke through the bushes. Sasuke half-sighed in relief that it was no one he knew.
"What...?" the Chunin muttered, apparently to himself. "The Betrayer?" He opened his mouth wide to call for reinforcements, but Sasuke's kunai flew through the air and pierced his chest before he could say anything. Making a sound like a leaking balloon, he fell over.
"Good." Sasuke said. "Only one to deal with now." That one appeared rather quickly. He burst from the trees on the right side of Sasuke's camp, and before he could even notice that Sasuke was there, there was a kunai in the back of his neck. He collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
After hiding the corpses in his tent and sitting on a log outside for quite some time, Sasuke realized that if he was going to complete his assignment, it had better be soon. So, with that, he packed several kunai, a load of throwing stars, and his oversized kunai and headed towards Konoha. He began charging his chakra in every inch of his body that he could before he even reached the gate, just to make sure that he speed, strength, and reflexes were up to snuff.
Sasuke stopped suddenly and hid behind the man gate, taking only a second to peek around it. It was likely that there were people, whether ninja or not, inside the gate. Above all, whether he was a traitor or not, he did not want to hurt innocent civilians. That, he felt, would be more despicable than what he was preparing to do.
There were about a dozen children, their mothers, and- Sasuke's heart gave a jolt- Hyuuga Neji, one of his targets. He had wanted to get all of the Jounin together so that he could do this and be done, but he realized how foolish that was as he thought of it. Screwing up his courage, he stepped through the gates.
Neji saw him instantly, because of his Byakugan, but showed no signs. Instead, he turned to the knot of mothers and said, "Ladies, I would suggest taking your children to the other side of the village." He rounded up the children over the mothers' protests, and shooed them away with little trouble. For the first time, he turned to look at Sasuke. "So, traitor, you've decided to return. Has Orochimaru sent you, or have you come to beg for mercy?"
"I wouldn't beg for mercy from you even if I hadn't betrayed Konoha." Sasuke spat, activating his Sharingan. "You lost to Naruto, didn't you? You're not worth the time of day. So, just let me kill you easily so I can move on to bigger and better targets."
"You won't get any farther." Neji said, clenching his fists and striking a fighting stance. "If it's Hokage-sama you're after, you won't get to her. I'll kill you here, or die trying."
"Brave speech." Sasuke said, taking out a throwing star. "But I'm not after Hokage, nor am I after the Council. I'm after... you." He charged Neji.
Neji threw a punch that was aimed at Sasuke's left shoulder. Sasuke dodged to the right and threw the throwing star, but Neji deflected it by charging his chakra into it and waving his hand. Sasuke threw two punches, one at Neji's right arm and the other at where he'd dodge. Neji dodged down and to the left, was clipped by Sasuke's punch, and stumbled. Sasuke launched a kick at Neji's torso, but was blocked and thrown backward.
"Didn't see that, did you?" Neji sneered. He straightened up, his fists still clenched. "Your Sharingan doesn't see everything, now does it? Well, my Byakugan does."
"In a literal sense, maybe." Sasuke said, getting back off his feet. "I guess it didn't see everything when I hit you in the side."
Neji ran at Sasuke again, but this time Sasuke wasn't going t use Taijutsu. Forming three simple signs, he held this first two fingers and thumb to his mouth, cried, "Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!" and blew. The flames launched at Neji, who dodged and punched Sasuke squarely in the side. Sasuke was lifted off his feet, and as Neji ran beneath him, prepared to stab at him with a kunai, he flipped over, caught Neji's arm, and twisted it.
Sasuke it the ground and got up quickly, blocked a punch, and threw one of his own. Neji wasn't used to fighting Ninjutsu, because he, his teammates, and his master were all either skilled with Taijutsu or weapons. As Neji slid backwards from the force of Sasuke's punch, Sasuke took out a kunai, performed some signs, and said, "Art of Lava's Whip!" Just as it had with the Otogakure Jounin, a long whip of fire extended from the kunai.
"This'll be it." Sasuke said, whipping the fire towards Neji. To his surprise, Neji dodged as he started making his own signs. Determined to keep Neji from attacking, Sasuke attacked at hand-level, but Neji ducked and said, "Lightning Style: The Shocking Shuriken!" He threw three invisible throwing stars, but Sasuke saw that as soon as Neji's hand went back for the next shuriken, the one he had just thrown appeared as a little burst of electricity.
Sasuke's whip disappeared, and he ducked and dodged the three throwing stars. "Too bad." Sasuke started to say, but before he could make his next move, Neji had gestured toward himself and Sasuke felt three sharp pains in his back. "Ugh..." he grunted, but again, as he went to make his next move, he felt pain: this time, an electrical shock that blasted him backwards and onto his back. He lay there for a few seconds without moving, but then groaned and started to stand.
Neji walked over and kicked him in the stomach. "It's over, Betrayer." he said, taking a kunai from his pack and holding it so it pointed downwards at Sasuke. "Give hell my regards." As he drove the kunai down, Sasuke used both legs to kick him underneath the chin, knocking him high into the air.
Sasuke decided to take one of his own techniques and modify it. He formed several signs, yelled, "Art of the Shadow Doppelganger!" and leapt into the air after Neji, using the same technique to follow him that Maito Gai had in the dream. Then, he spun and kicked Neji in the stomach, then repeated it twice, knocking Neji lower each time. Then, just inches from the ground, the two Doppelgangers that he had created leapt up with him, and at the same time all three of them kicked Neji in the stomach. "Triple Shishirendan!"
Sasuke landed a few feet away and dissipated his Doppelgangers. Neji lay motionless, barely breathing, definitely unconscious. Sasuke was starting to feel lucky that he had not only copied the Leaf Shadow technique from Gai's student and Neji's former teammate Rock Lee, but also the Shadow Doppelgangers from Naruto. Sasuke, feeling sick, took out a kunai and walked closer to Neji, ready to kill him.
"If you touch him with that kunai, I'll give you such a book-whip that you won't know what hit you." a familiar, muffled voice said from behind Sasuke.
Sasuke turned to see his former teacher, Hatake Kakashi, leaning against a building with a copy of his favorite (rather obscene) book series, "Icha Icha Paradise," in hand. He tugged at the mask that covered his nose and mouth, as if it were uncomfortable. "Good to see you, Sasuke."
"Can't say the feeling is mutual." Sasuke said, straightening up and staring at Kakashi. "Sorry, but you're on my list, too. I've got to take you down, just like I did Neji."
Kakashi's eye closed and curved upwards, signifying that he was smiling. "Who do you think you're talking to? I'm 'Copy-Ninja Kakashi,' remember? I've got more Ninjutsu ready to use against you than Orochimaru could show you in a lifetime." He stopped smiling and stowed the book in his pack. "I'm sorry, Sasuke, but now that you've nearly killed Neji, you're definitely an enemy of Konoha. I want to try and bring you back into the fold, but... I'm not sure Hokage-sama would allow it."
"I don't want to come back." Sasuke spat. "There are things far more important than loyalty to friends and country." He flipped the kunai around in his hand. "And if killing you means that I'll get to stay with Orochimaru and continue training till I'm stronger than him, than I'll kill you."
"What makes you think that Orochimaru's training will make you strong enough to beat Itachi?" Sasuke felt as if he'd been slapped. "Yes, you're that transparent." Kakashi sighed. "It's pretty obvious that you're using Orochimaru merely as a tool in your revenge. But Orochimaru is nothing... nothing compared to Itachi."
"Shut up." Sasuke said. "I'll show you that I can beat Itachi!" His hands flew as he performed many complicated signs with the kunai still in his hand. He began to charge the Chidori. "My training is paying off in big ways!"
Kakashi shrugged and pulled his hitae-ate up away from his left eye, which it had been covering. His left eye, which was permanently Sharingan, glared at Sasuke as he charged his strongest attack. "Sasuke... your Chidori is perfect in the way you form and use it, but you just don't have the power inherent to beat me." Kakashi formed the same signs and charged his own legendary Chidori, so strong it earned the name "Raikiri" ("Lightning Blade") because of a rumor that Kakashi had cut a bolt of lightning with it.
"Oh yeah?" Sasuke asked. "We'll see!" He threw his right arm back and began to charge Kakashi, but before he could get anywhere he felt at least three pairs of arms throw themselves around him.
"What a pain in the butt." a boy's sarcastic voice said. "You should feel lucky, Sasuke, 'cause I was sleeping, but this lot insisted I come help."
"Shut up, Shika!" a girl's voice shrieked, from the level of Sasuke's waist. "We couldn't let him do this!"
"Never!" another boy's voice said, from the area of the powerful arms that here holding his right arm, Chidori and all, back. "Sasuke is the best hope of the Uchiha clan, and the only one truly worthy of Sakura-san's affections!"
"Oh, what happened to you, huh?" the first boy's voice said.
"Get off!" Sasuke roared, recognizing the voices: the first was that of Nara Shikamaru, smartest person in Konoha, but also the laziest. The girl was Yamanaka Ino, another one of Sasuke's "groupies," as Naruto called them, and Sakura's rival. The final voice was Rock Lee's, the boy that was already Konoha's Taijutsu master and who was head-over-heels for Sakura. "Let me go! I don't want to kill you, but I will if I have to!"
"Yeah, yeah." Shika said, apparently rolling his eyes. "As if we haven't heard that one before." He had a strong grip on Sasuke's shoulders, and despite Sasuke's struggling, he didn't let go. "You should be grateful. Do you know how screwed you'd be if you hurt Kakashi? He's so highly ranked now that he's probably next in line to be Hokage!"
"A worthy rival to Gai-sensei!" Lee said. His grip on Sasuke's arm was bone crushing, and Sasuke knew that if Lee didn't let go soon, his arm would snap. "Sasuke-kun, you cannot be allowed to harm Kakashi-san! I would give my life to keep you from ruining yours!"
"Criminals aren't good suitors..." Ino said, probably more to herself than anyone else. "I can't let you hurt anyone!"
"Forget it." Sasuke said. "Get out of my way." He focused a good deal of his chakra into his skin, then spun around, throwing off all three of his captors. He turned back to Kakashi. "Are you ready?"
"As I'll ever be." Kakashi said, his Raikiri howling in his hand. They charged each other, and in a flash of light, it was over. They stood, back to each other, in a cliché form of a sword duel. "Impressive." Kakashi commented. "Even without all that power, your form was excellent. That may well have made up for the difference in power." With those final words, the area under his right arm exploded in blood, and he collapsed, gasping.
Sasuke, however, had not been unharmed. He was clutching his shoulder, which had been grazed by Kakashi's Raikiri. It was bleeding profusely, but he wasn't worried about that. What mattered was killing the person who now stood before him. That blond hair, those freakish blue eyes, the idiotic orange uniform...
"Naruto." Sasuke said, smiling grimly. "Good of you to show up and save me the trouble of looking for you."
"You... you retard..." Naruto growled, surveying the damage. Lee was starting to get up, but Neji, Shika and Ino were still down, and Kakashi, though conscious, could barely move. "How could you do this...? Your teacher... your friends... you... you humungous DICK!"
Sasuke coughed. "Are you going to insult me all day, or are you going to fight me?" he asked, taking out his oversized kunai. "I'll beat you this time, just like I did last time around."
Naruto shook his head. "No. You won't." He took out a kunai. "I'm not the same one-trick dunce that you fought last time."
"Prove it." Sasuke said, and he ran at Naruto. He slashed horizontally, even though he could see that Naruto would duck. But yet... Naruto didn't duck. He jumped over the slash and threw the kunai at Sasuke. Though Sasuke caught it without trouble, he was confused. His Sharingan had never failed to read a move before. What was going on?
"Ha!" Naruto cried triumphantly. "Art of the Shadow Doppelganger!" About a dozen Doppelgangers appeared above Sasuke, and they and the real Naruto kicked at Sasuke as they fell on him. Sasuke charged his kunai with a little chakra, so when he swung it, Naruto and his Doppelgangers were blown away.
"Still specializing in Doppelgangers, eh?" Sasuke said, tenderly touching his shoulder in an attempt to stop the bleeding. "I thought you weren't a one trick pony?"
"I'm not." Naruto said. "Art of Transformation!" Suddenly, all twelve Doppelgangers turned into huge shuriken, which Naruto threw at Sasuke with his chakra. Sasuke, seeing nothing else to do, turned and ran. The shuriken were so large, and they were spaced so well, that he couldn't have dodged even if he hadn't been hurt.
Sasuke was trapped. There was a building ahead of him, and the wall of shuriken behind him. With no other choice, he charged a Chidori in one hand and performed several odd signs with the other. "Art of the Solid Sound!" Suddenly, the high-pitched screech that the Chidori made was made solid, and it rocketed forward and cut through each of the shuriken. Sasuke returned the energy from the Chidori back into his arm. "Ha."
But Naruto wasn't were he had been before. Sasuke looked around wildly, but saw nothing. From above him, he heard, "Toad Style: Tongue Trap!" Sasuke looked up to see a long, sticky toad tongue shoot from Naruto's hand and wrap around him. Sasuke lost his balance and toppled over, unable to walk or move in any way.
"Got ya!" Naruto yelled, pumping his fist in the air. "Now what, traitor-boy? How ya gonna get outta this one, huh?" He walked close to Sasuke, who struggled fruitlessly against his bonds. Naruto crouched down and stuck his face right in Sasuke's. "Huh? What're you gonna do now? Ya got beat by the stupid dunce, didn't you? How stupid do you feel now?"
"Shut up!" Sasuke roared, pulling his arms free. He snatched Naruto's kunai before he could react and cut through the tongue. He went to stab Naruto, but he had stepped back and taken out a bunch of throwing stars. Sasuke picked up his oversized kunai. "I'm sick of your crap. You're not gonna live long enough to regret patronizing me!"
"Oh, because you've never said that to the rest of us." Shikamaru muttered audibly. Naruto snorted, but again Sasuke yelled, "SHUT UP!" He swung his kunai as hard as he could, not even caring to watch Naruto's reaction with his Sharingan.
"You're losing it, buddy." Naruto said, taking another step back. Sasuke gave a roar of rage and swung again, harder, again missing. "Come on. I know you can do better than that." Naruto said, smiling, and Sasuke again swung, this time even harder. The momentum made it hard to get ready for a second strike, and in the time that Sasuke had to compensate for the movement, Naruto punched him twice in the stomach and once in the cheek.
Sasuke fell backward, where he glowered at Naruto. "What's wrong?" Naruto asked with false curiosity. "Or has Orochimaru poisoned your brain so that you think anger is a good weapon?"
"You sonnuva-" Sasuke started, but was cut off when Naruto kneed him in the side of the head, sending him flying into the building's wall. "God... damn you!" Sasuke gasped as he stood up again.
"Stop being so annoyed." Naruto said, shrugging. "It's no fun fighting a weakling." He shrugged. "Ol' Ero-sennin says that anger clouds your ability to fight."
"Fine." Sasuke snapped. "You'll regret this, though." He tried to calm himself, but now that his anger was out of the way, his fear resurfaced. He'd have to kill Naruto... He tried to calm himself more, and busied himself with a range of signs. "Art of the Flaming Palms!" He dropped his kunai and charged Naruto.
"Holy crap!" Naruto cried, dodging the first few punches Sasuke threw and running from the others. Sasuke gave chase, ready to do all the damage necessary. Naruto, however, suddenly turned around and flung a kunai at Sasuke. Sasuke was forced to catch the kunai, melting it over his hand. Naruto took advantage of the distraction by punching Sasuke as hard as his could in the gut.
Sasuke flew backwards and landed, clawing desperately at the melted steel that was flowing freely over his hands. It dripped off and onto the ground, because Sasuke had his hands held off to the side. When it was all off, he stopped using the Flaming Palms Ninjutsu and stood.
"I'll give you this: you know how to exploit my powers." Sasuke said, panting.
"I do?" Naruto asked blankly. "I hadn't expected you to catch that kunai."
"You really are a dunce, aren't you?" Sasuke muttered. "Well, then, this'll have to come down to one last move." He performed the signs for the Chidori and charged it as quickly as he could. "You're doing down."
"Oh yeah?" Naruto said, forming chakra in one hand and spinning it around with the other. "Try me."
"I'm about to." Sasuke replied, and he charged Naruto.
Naruto stopped spinning the Rasengan, and ran at Sasuke.
When the two chakras touched, there was an explosion that downed electrical poles for a radius of about 50 yards, blew out windows, formed a crater in the ground, and sent a wave of air flying in all directions.
When it was all said and done, Naruto was the one standing, if only because he hadn't been wounded before the fight. He was now, though; blood was pouring from his nose and mouth, there were wounds up and down his arms and legs, and one of his eyes was black and blue.
Sasuke was in much worse shape. From the three Chidoris he had used, his chakra was nearly expended, and his shoulder wound had been opened up even more by the force of the impact of Chidori on Rasengan. Like Naruto, blood was gushing from his nose and mouth, but some of his ribs were broken and, judging by the pain, he had sprained his left ankle.
People were starting to leave their houses, coming out to see what had happened. Children were crying, with parents who were looking worried and were trying to shield them from the horrors that waited outside. Ninja of all ranks were coming out of the training buildings and the intelligence center and command building, trying to figure out what massive chakra had caused this damage. The students from the Ninja Academy were filing out, kunai and shuriken ready, to fight whatever had come to threaten their village.
"Nothing to worry about!" Naruto called. He flashed the crowd a cocky grin before shuddering with pain. "I t-took care of it. You're all fine, you can go back inside... No danger here, go ahead..."
Shika, Ino, and Lee were climbing back to their feet. Lee was first up, since he was the strongest out of the three, and he walked over to Sasuke. "You did this to yourself, Sasuke-kun. Even for the mistakes of youth, this is nearly unforgivable... But, Sasuke-kun, for Sakura-san's sake I will make every attempt to forgive you."
Sasuke honestly wanted to say, "Keep your forgiveness." But, he found himself unable to, whether because of injury or because he just couldn't bring himself to. So, instead, he said, "Thank you... Lee." Lee bent down and slung Sasuke's good arm around his shoulders and hefted him off the ground.
Ino ran over as soon as her feet were underneath her. "Sasuke! Are you alright? I was so-" Shikamaru caught her by the shoulder before she could throw herself onto Sasuke. "Hey! We were having moment, there, Shika! What's the matter- jealous!"
Shika glanced at her with a look of mild annoyance. "Hardly. And for a 'moment,' that was awful one-sided." Ino flushed with anger. "Hey, give the guy some time. He's in a bad way, so let him heal before you get him sick all over again." Ino smacked him across the back of the head, but he didn't seem to notice. "C'mon, Lee, let's take him to Hokage-sama. She'll be able to heal him."
"But will she heal him?"
Kakashi was being helped to his feet by Naruto, who admittedly made him look quite healthy. Kakashi pulled his hitae-ate back down over his left eye. "He's still a traitor, and I'm not sure that Tsunade will be too quick to heal one of Orochimaru's men. Assuming, of course, that you'll be going back to him."
Sasuke laughed in a half-hearted sort of way. "You kidding? I failed to kill any of you. Even..." He laughed again, and gestured painfully at Shika and Ino. "Even the Chunin. There's no going back now."
"And Itachi?" Kakashi asked.
"He'll die. I can't come back here until he's dead."
"Let us help you, Sasuke." Kakashi said, spreading his arms. "With all of us, he'll-"
"No." Sasuke said flatly. "Can we at least try going to Hokage-sama?" he said to Lee, who nodded.
"Sasuke?" a panicked voice from behind him said. Lee turned to see who it was, and nearly dropped Sasuke.
"Sakura-san!" Lee brightened up considerably.
Sakura ignored him. "Oh, Sasuke, what happened to you? You look like you've been hit by a truck!"
Sasuke smiled grimly. "There are those who would call Naruto a truck." Sakura looked up to shout at Naruto, but Sasuke said, "Don't bother. I deserved it... and I have a feeling I'll deserve another beating like this when I get back."
"You mean..." Sakura stared at him in horror. "You're going back? You're leaving again?" Sasuke nodded weakly. "Oh, no, please, don't leave! Y-you can't go! P-please, Sasuke, d-don't go!" She looked on the verge of tears.
"Sakura, I don't-"
"P-promise me you'll stay here!"
"I can't-"
"Promise me, please, j-just-"
"Shut up." Sasuke said, leaving Sakura looking as if she were going to begin to sob. "And don't you dare cry over me. I'm not worth it. Look," he said, with a sigh, "you don't understand why I left in the first place. I haven't done what I had left to do. And... not even for your sake will I return before I've killed him."
Sakura's lower lip trembled. "L-lee... take him to my house."
"WHAT!" Both Lee and Sasuke's jaws dropped.
"But Sakura-san, he's-"
"Sakura, I just want to be healed so I can-"
"You need rest." Sakura said, more firmly. "Even if your wounds are healed, your chakra will be spent. Please, even if it's just for the night, it'd make me feel better..."
Sasuke sighed. "Fine... Just take me to Hokage-sama first, so I can be..." He stopped as Sakura pressed her hand to his mouth. "H-hey, what're you-?" He was shocked to notice that suddenly, his busted lip was healed. "You can heal people...?" he asked hoarsely.
Sakura nodded. "I've been training with Tsunade-sensei- I mean, Hokage-sama. You and Naruto were both training with a Sannin, so it's only fitting that I would, too." She smiled. "Here, let me take care of this." She pulled him from Lee and put her hands over his nose, his shoulder, his ankle. He was a little embarrassed when she asked him to pull up his shirt so she could heal his ribs, but that was over quickly.
He stood up, feeling healthy but tired. "Thanks, Sakura." he said. Neji was starting to get up, and when Sakura had taken Sasuke from Lee, Lee had gone to check on him. "We'll have to fight again sometime, Neji. I'm sorry if I hurt you too bad."
"Quiet." Neji said. "Your attacks weren't so strong that I'm in need of sympathy." He cracked his neck and rubbed his stomach tenderly. "But when we do fight again, I'll make sure you pay for doing me this dishonor and for betraying our village."
Sasuke snorted. "Try me... when I get back." It was just then that he noticed that Sakura had gone to heal Kakashi and Naruto, both of whom were looking rather annoyed. He walked over to Kakashi. "Kakashi-sensei... I'm sorry, but it had to be done. Even now I hold my revenge over everything else, but since I can't go back to Orochimaru, I've got no reason to want you dead anymore."
"Um..." Kakashi looked confusedly at him. "Right... Thanks."
Sasuke turned to Naruto. "Hey, screw-up... thanks."
Naruto laughed. "You're kiddin' me. You can't really be thankful, can you?"
A sad smile crossed Sasuke's face for just a moment before he said, "You'll never know quite how thankful I really am."
---
Author's Note: This is my personal favorite chapter, except maybe the last. I think that the reactions the different characters have to Sasuke's return are interesting, because for the most part, I think they're unexpected. (Shika's, for example.) Oh, and if you're wondering why Sasuke didn't use the curse mark... It's probably because he didn't want to rely on anything but definite skills he got from Orochimaru. He didn't want to use power that wasn't his to beat his old friends. Well, I hope you liked it!
