Yo. I'm sorry about this chapter for...well you'll see. Thank you for the reviews and I hope you aren't disgusted with me after this...

"Speech"

'Thought'

"Kyuubi"

(Standard Disclaimer)

Chapter 41: War

She wished it didn't turn out like this, she prayed every day that what information they had gathered was wrong. She wished most of all that the younger generation would never have to see this. Apparently the gods were deaf to her and her village had been submerged into a war. The next great secret shinobi war...why the hell did she have to be around for it?

Tsunade sighed as she sat in the temporary office. In reality it was but a large tent with a small fold-able table in the middle of it. Stacked next to her, instead of the usual papers to sign, was a large pile of scrolls. Each held whatever information that they had managed to gather from the opposing forces.

She shook her head as she reached for the next scroll in the stack, ever since their chief strategist accidentally triggered a scroll that turned out to be a bomb she wondered what the next scroll held. Would it be precious information or would it be the explosion that led to her demise. She smiled sardonically at the memory, Shikamaru had survived but he had a nice scar with a story behind it...just like his father.

Tsunade opened the scroll to find that it wasn't the bomb she subconsciously hoped it was, it was more information on Orochimaru's troops. Luckily this one was the one she was looking for, who had curse seals at their disposal. Tsunade stood up with the scroll tucked under her arm and exited her 'office' with Shizune in tow.

"Hokage-sama where are we going?" Shizune asked as they were quickly passed by a few Jounin off to the front lines. Tsunade smirked and said, "to the new Sannin." Tsunade came to a large tent then with one quick movement she tore back the sheet that covered the entrance and came upon a very interesting sight. Sitting on one of the beds was Sasuke, a grimace on his face as Sakura tended to the serious wounds on his back and sides.

It was quite interesting seeing the Uchiha boy so uncomfortable with the pink haired Kunoichi healer working his wounds without his shirt on. Sakura on the other hand held a look of constant worry, her thoughts went to the line of him being to reckless.

The third and fourth occupants of the room were one Uzumaki Naruto and one Hyuga Hinata, both clad in Chuunin vests showing their ranks. After Naruto and Hinata had returned from Naruto's realm they went to the hospital to locate and talk to Naruto's teammates for the exam. Since they had only lost a few minutes of time in the real world they made it to the hospital to find Itami asleep and Zaiaku in the operating room for his arm.

The next day brought surprises, both good and bad for everyone. Naruto was explained the death of Taishou, something that made his anger spike for the Sound. He found that Zaiaku had come from surgery, his arm fine except for the cast it was stuck in for quite a while waiting for the bones to practically form.

Naruto and Hinata were about to leave but were interrupted as a very irrate Sakura and a bored Sasuke entered the room Sakura chewed Naruto out and demanded that he tell her everything or she would, quite frankly, wish he was never born. Not being one to disappoint Naruto confessed everything which answered a whole lot of questions for Sasuke...but got a mixed reaction from Sakura. She didn't know what to think so she went home leaving Naruto with a heavy cloud of dread over his head.

Just when Naruto felt his day was at a deep low it got worse...there was a large storm brewing in the aftermath of the storm that had come by the other day. It was a highly irregular event that caused everyone to worry. By the looks of it this storm was worse then the last.

Naruto was one of the ones that volunteered...no, he was drafted to aid with the storm and he was the one that made all the difference. Tsunade remembered it fondly, one second she looked outside her office window at the raging storm, seeing only a dark day for Konoha. Then next thing she knew a monstrous golden furred Kitsune stood in the path of the storm, blocking the wind and drawing the lightning to it's body.

Tsunade watched in amazement as the Kitsune held the cracking electricity long enough to make it well past Konoha's walls. In one bright flash the lightning was dispersed and the storm was reduced to a heavy rain and strong wind but it was nothing compared to before.

She awaited his return...she waited for that massive Kitsune to make his comeback...but he never showed up. To her surprise she later found that many were awaiting the same thing, many who had treated Naruto horribly in the past found that he had publicly saved them from a horrible destruction. They awaited their savior, some more convinced at his purity then others.

They waited until the storm had died down and the sky had cleared, but no sign of their hero appeared. Several ninja were ordered to retrieve the boy but whomever Tsunade called upon she found that they had already gone to search for the lost Kitsune. Many thought the power was to much for him and he died to save the village, others say he harnessed the lightning and turned into something more then demon or human.

Those who unrelentingly hated Naruto said he was stalling under the pretense of being injured but those people were quickly silenced by those whom Naruto had won over. He had done it, a good portion of Konoha now recognized him as a hero who had saved them from a direct assault on the village...but he was no where around to appreciate it.

On the third day of searching for him he was dragged through the gates of Konoha in his human form by all of the original rookie nine, his chakra exhausted and in a semi-coma. This however did not distract the fact that he had indeed gained another tail, the seventh of his collection. Tsunade instantly checked him over finding some very surprising news. The lightning he absorbed into his body was held in his chakra coils, stretching them out to a point that they almost broke. When he pushed it out his chakra coils had to readjust to the lower level.

He was kept in the hospital for a week before he woke up, it took him a while to shake off the mental cobwebs but when he did he was surprised to see...he had flowers by his bed. And not all of them were from his friends. After being fed the information of what happened by Hinata he was visited by none other then Tsunade.

The boy was so happy that he moved up in a rank he jumped out of his bed and rushed out of the room to have a party...completely forgetting he was in only a hospital gown. That resulted in some...less then wanted attention from EVERYONE...

Tsunade smiled as she watched her little brother speak in whispers to the Hyuga girl who in turn whispered to him. They were so cute together...to bad the rest of the village didn't see it that way. No matter how their majority views about him changed they thought it was 'evil' for the Hyuga heiress to be wed to a Kitsune.

"Sorry to disturb this little scene but I have some information for Naruto and Sasuke that they would find very interesting," Tsunade said with a grin as she tossed the scroll to Naruto seeing as he was the only one able to catch it. Naruto easily caught the scroll and opened it, his seven tails whipping around him furiously showing his excitement as he read. "Oh you just made my day. Hinata-chan's birthday in a few weeks...the wedding," Naruto said with a look to his fiancé who just blushed with a smile.

Hiashi's reaction was...well to put it simply the major gripe he had was that Hinata was far to young. After a few days of 'negotiations' Hiashi had come to a fair agreement. They would be allowed to be married only after Hinata turned 20...and Naruto fulfilled some qualifications which no one except those two knew about. Hiashi couldn't put the same age stipulation on Naruto because as it was Naruto was already, technically, older then Hiashi.

Those plans however went into the toilet the day the Sound attacked...

Tsunade rolled her eyes at the two and said, "I have a mission for you. Naruto you will be in charge of making sure all of these individuals are assassinated. You may bring whomever you choose but choose wisely." Naruto smirked and said, "Sasuke." Tsunade raised her eyebrow as she turned to said black haired boy. His hands were crossed in front of her face as he stared off into nothingness.

Tsunade stared at the boy, feeling something radiating off him like a cold fire...something wasn't right. "I'm willing to aid Naruto," Sasuke said as calmly as humanly possible. "Excellent, that's all Obaa-chan," Naruto said with a grin while Tsunade and Hinata looked at him with concern.

"Are you sure Naruto? Wouldn't it be safer with more people?" Tsunade asked attempting to spur the Kitsune on. Naruto shook his head and said, "more people would equal more injuries and pain. I'm sure Sasuke and I can take care of this." Tsunade sighed and nodded, "you leave as soon as possible. Eastern exit so as to not rouse suspicions."

Naruto nodded while Sasuke merely grunted a reply. With a short tiding of good luck she left with Shizune, a feeling of darkness in the pit of her stomach. She shook her head clearing her mind, she was imagining things, she was sure of it.

Naruto looked at Sasuke and asked, "when we leaving Sasuke?" Sasuke closed his eyes and said, "as soon as Sakura heals the rest of my wounds. Not all of us heal in an instant Naruto." Naruto smirked and turned to Hinata, his jesters grin gone as he saw the look on her face.

"Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked which made Hinata place mask of a smile on her face. "Hinata-chan, I'll be fine, I promise," Naruto tried to reassure her but it wasn't as...reassuring as he had hoped. Hinata sighed and leaned on Naruto, loosely hugging him as she settled her chin on his shoulder.

Naruto hugged her with his right arm and said, "realm?" Hinata smiled softly and said, "realm." Naruto put his hand to the side of the tent and with a pulse a small gateway had appeared. Naruto and Hinata vanished into the world and in a matter of minutes reappeared hand in hand, both looking very happy. "Ready yet Sasuke?" Naruto asked which made Sasuke glare at Naruto. "Idiot..." Sasuke muttered while Naruto shrugged and led Hinata back into the realm.

"Tails to Chidori, Tails to Chidori, come in Chidori," spoke the Kitsune ninja as he snuck through the undergrowth. His entire body was covered in a light Kitsune illusion, blending in with the foliage and the plants of the forest to near invisibility. "Chidori to Tails, what is your position," came the quiet response in the boys head set.

"Southwest of the target. What is yours?" Tails asked Chidori through the headset. "Northeast of the target, perfect ambush positions," came Chidori's voice through the headset. Suddenly the grumbling of voices came and the thumping of footsteps could be heard nearing the spot between Tails and Chidori.

"Attack in three seconds," Tails spoke as he readied for a strike. "Copy..." spoke Chidori both silent as they mentally counted, 'three...two...one!' In a flash both Chidori and Tails flew from their positions, taking the surprise aspect of their attacks to full advantage, quickly cutting down the opposition.

The entire encounter had lasted less then five minutes, neither of the covert assassins had a scratch on their person while all of their targets had been reduced to scattered parts of humans. Naruto rose an eyebrow while Sasuke merely crossed his arms and closed his eyes.

"That was way to easy," Naruto said as one of his tails poked the dead body parts. "Exactly..." Sasuke said as he turned to Naruto opening his eyes to reveal the blood red eyes of the Sharingan. Naruto turned to Sasuke, the golden edges of his eyes on the border of glowing.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at Naruto and said, "is this why you only wanted me to accompany you? Do you know?" Naruto smirked and cracked his knuckles, "I don't know a thing...but I have a pretty good idea." Sasuke nodded solemnly and asked, "so why didn't you stop me earlier. I could have easily annihilated you in your Chuunin exams if I wished." Naruto's eyes changed and his mask dropped.

His face held a look of pure pity and pleading, "Sakura-chan, Konoha, a lot of people Sasuke, most of all you. You're throwing away your life and killing the village your entire clan helped to build and protect." Naruto took a deep breath and with his exhale he expelled a short burst of flames.

"I will make the same promise now that I did when we fought in the Valley of the End. I will do whatever it takes to make sure you do not go any farther," Naruto said as he slid into a battle ready stance. Sasuke glared and nodded, "and so the past repeats, you remember what happened that day don't you Naruto?" Naruto nodded sadly, "it will be different this time around."

Sasuke growled and said, "yes it will, because I will go right to the top from the beginning." Sasuke's curse seal activated and the black flames infiltrated his skin slowly raising him to level one. In an instant he accelerated his power, transforming the simple level one to a complete level two. Sasuke felt the power flow through him and he let out a sigh of relief, "it feels good to be back in this form. Everything else felt so weak."

Naruto merely looked at his friend, his brother...soaking in his deadly sins. Sasuke clenched his fist and said, "let us try something of an experiment." Sasuke closed his eyes, his body slowly filling up with more and more power. His fingers grew longer and his skin turned a dangerous pitch black. His sharingan eyes stayed the same they had in his level two form but from the brow of both eyes rose two horns, twisting backward into a ram like skull protection.

As the horns grew they pushed his Hitai Ate further and further until it reached the breaking point and suddenly it snapped in two, falling to the ground that shook with his power. His hair faded from dark black to a pure white and his pitch black skin began to be covered in thick, twisting barbed wire shaped lines. His muscles bulged as they grew but then shrunk as they compacted, making him hundreds of times stronger.

His grin turned wicked as he produced fangs even larger then Naruto's and as one final spit in the face of Konoha the twisted barbed wire lines converged on Sasuke's forehead into the form of a broken Konoha symbol. "Do you like level three Naruto?" Sasuke asked as he flexed his fingers getting used to the longer digits.

Naruto showed no emotion, his face frozen in a look of pity and disgust at the mental shambles that had become his friend. "I'm very confident that at this level I can easily top your seven tails. Would you like to test it out?" Sasuke asked in a dark demonic tone.

Naruto's face slowly began to twist from a look of pity to a deep rooted anger. His friends was being poisoned by that seal...turning his mind and soul against the one he called his friend. This was Orochimaru's doing...this was the snakes deadly poison! "Sasuke!" Naruto yelled his chakra flaring high enough to easily match Sasuke's output.

"I'll bring you back!" Naruto howled as he poured out the fullest his seven demon scroll training could offer him. Sasuke smirked and formed several hand seals in quick succession. "Lets see you back up your words," Sasuke said smugly as he took a deep breath and held up his fingers blowing out a massive stream of fire at Naruto.

Naruto simply stood there and let his tails do the work. His tails engulfed themselves in flames and with a single swing of his seven tails the flames had been reduces to cinders. Naruto looked through the dispersed flames seeing Sasuke wasn't taking the same chances he had so long ago and was going right for Dark Chidori.

Naruto sighed, he hated how the past had a way to repeat itself. Naruto held up his palms and concentrated his chakra into his palms forming two completely perfect Rasengan. Naruto closed his eyes and forced even more of his chakra into the cyclones, retaining the accelerating winds with his teachings from the demon scrolls.

Sasuke's Dark Chidori rang with the sound of its namesake and he grinned darkly as the light bent around his arm, falling to the darkness of his attack. Somewhere in his mind he felt this was wrong, he felt as though something wasn't right about his actions. He pushed that small part of his mind deep into his subconscious and charged his Chidori with even more chakra. The ground around him fissured and shook with his power, the fox couldn't beat him!

Naruto pressed his two Rasengan together forming one massive swirling ball of chakra. With the greatest of his concentration her compressed the ball, smaller and smaller it became until it was no bigger then a normal Rasengan. Naruto stared at the ball, it looked like a dark marble in his hand, the light swirling within the solid shell held the power of a thousand hurricanes. This hurt...

Sasuke laughed darkly and yelled, "prepare fox!" Sasuke took the first steps to attacking Naruto who stood still, staring into his swirling ball of death and destruction. This Rasengan didn't need anything added to it...no touch of elemental power...no clones to add to the power. This was a dooms day weapon that could destroy a village...he had to turn it against his best friend.

Sasuke reared back his hand and screamed, "victory fox!" Naruto's eyes turned to his friend revealing something...he was crying. Naruto's golden edges turned bright and he yelled as he thrust the ball of pure chakra at his friend. Chidori and Rasengan collided in a storm of dark power against white light that shook the very ground they stood on.

Naruto stared into the dark eyes of his friend, his surrogate brother, and saw that behind those cold Sharingan eyes there lay something that betrayed his hate. There was something that betrayed his psychotic demeanor. This was the last portion of his sanity not effected by the demon in his heart. "Sasuke!" Naruto yelled calling out to the small portion of his mind.

Sasuke growled at Naruto and pushed his Chidori harder slowly cutting into the storm that was Rasengan. "Think about what you're losing!" Naruto continued to scream but it seemed as if his pleas were falling on deaf ears. "You'll lose your friends! You'll lose your true home!" Naruto yelled then when he saw nothing working he yelled the last thing he could think of, "you'll lose Sakura!"

Sasuke's eyes opened wide, then narrowed dangerously, "what are you talking abut Dobe! I don't care for her!" Naruto smirked and pushed his Rasengan to give extra power into his words, "I never said anything about you caring for her!" Sasuke growled and pushed herder then ever as he screamed, "shut up Dobe! I don't care about her!"

Naruto's mind snapped and he screamed out, "but she cares for you! She loves you, you moron! When you left guys would always make passes at her but she turned them all down! JUST FOR YOU, YOU INGRATE!" Sasuke's attack stopped moving forward, his Sharingan eyes showing that flicker of sanity he had. She loved him...even after he had left...she had loved him. Sasuke felt a pain in his stomach, it was that feeling again!

Suddenly he realized...this was guilt manifested. But it couldn't be, he held no guilt! Sasuke growled and pushed harder, if he pressed enough the guilt would leave and he would be in peace! Naruto's eyes relinquished their anger...all of their rage...and once again offered only his pity. "Sasuke...history repeats itself..." Naruto said sadly as his Rasengan slid off target and he felt the power of the dark Chidori at his stomach.

Sasuke's eyes snapped open, no this was not going to happen again! Sasuke swiftly pulled his attack back and thrust it into the ground to release the built up energy. The ground erupted in an explosion of his dark power throwing rock and dirt all over. Sasuke sat through it all staring into the ground, his skin back to it's natural color as the curse seal faded from his system.

As the dirt and dust cleared Naruto lie on the ground, his side terribly burnt and cut from the Dark Chidori's power. Sasuke fell to his knees, he had almost done it again. He had almost killed his friend...and from the looks of it they had to get back or Naruto would be dead from his repeated mistake.

Sasuke stood up to gather Naruto but suddenly he saw a flash of silver and a glint of glass, "Kabuto..."

End Chapter

...I am REALLY sorry about this...I have just not been having good days with my writting. I have to say that this is the low point for me...but it was the best thing I could think of to get my message across. Sorry but I can promise you I'll make it up with some REALLY AWESOME chapters coming up soon. I swear it! Q and A time!

Q: Onigiri?

A: This is a inside joke with my friends who drew up the OC's Itami and Zaiaku. The person who drew the characters (wonderful artist by the way see for yourself at under the name Mockingbyrd) I helped her with an assignment or two and she agreed to drawn the two characters that Psycho and myself had come up with. She drew Itami, Psycho's character, and was in the process of drawing Zaiaku when she got to the forehead protector. She asked what village he came from and me, in my infinite wisdom, came up with a village and showed her the symbol.

The village symbol, the village being under the name of Ore, looked remarkably like an onigiri so out of jest I made Zaiaku's family name Onigiri. Well that's the story and thak you for noticing that little inside joke.

Q: To Wolf

A: Its ok, I know how sometimes people lose their minds at things they don't like. It's human nature.

Q: Exchanging blood?

A: ...I don't think that was in this story...and no I'm not takeing it in that direction. When something big happens you'll see but until then it is defined that Naruto will surely out live Hinata.

That's done and once again I failed and I don't have a preview...I'm really sorry once again at this bad chapter but I promise to make it up to you guys. Later.