Author's Note: a lot of mixed reactions from my last chapter. Some people like it and some people didn't take a good look at this chapter, I plan to make the retrieval arc decently long, the next chapter will only focus on one of the fights, the chapter after will focus on the other fight etc. etc. I'll be taking my time to give everyone the best of this arc. But for now enjoy this chapter!
"Just keep going we don't have time to stop!" the boy was fearful, he finally stopped crying but all he could remember was the pain in his master's eyes. The blood on his hands were still drying, he couldn't believe what he did, his body had just acted and now he knew it was too late. There was no going back now, he had fucked up beyond belief.
"Calm down Sasuke, we need to get my teammates, they're our back up. My team leader will explain everything once we get to them, but if we run at them they may mistake us for enemies and kill us. I don't want to take that chance so justs bear with me. Once we get to Orochimaru's lair everything will be fine" Sugestiu couldn't help but be impressed by the boy. Sasuke had full on ended his sensei's life like it was nothing. Plus the pure speed and power the boy had was also impressive, but he knew they had to hurry. There was a chance that people would notice if Sasuke was gone for too long, or even worse Kakashi. Both of them were important to the village in there own respective ways.
It wasn't much longer before the two came up to the rest of the team that Orochimaru had sent. Guren saw Sasuke and Sugestiu and smirked, "Looks like Koden wasn't all that much, whatever let's get going. We've already wasted too much time. Sasuke have you taken the pill yet?" Guren's question was simple, but Sasuke could tell the girl held the power in this group, and if they all followed her orders, he had a good reason it was because she was more then strong enough to make sure that they listened.
"He didn't take it yet Guren-taicho, he killed Kakashi Hatake, the copy cat ninja and we had to quickly leave before anyone found out." Sugestiu pulled out the pill and gave it to Sasuke, "Here take this, Puko you have the greatest physical strength so you'll carry him in the barrier." Sugestiu said, Guren didn't stop the man from ordering the other man around.
We will not stop for any reason, Sasuke get in here" Guren told the boy as she opened the barrier. "Once we close this lid take the pill, that will put you in a near death like state so your curse mark can upgrade to the second level. This barrier is to help your body adjust to it so as to not kill you also." Guren stated, Sasuke nodded.
In all honesty Sasuke was terrified, he didn't know what would happen and now it was too late for anything else, he had no choice but to listen. "Yes Guren-san" Sasuke said, his body more so moving on autopilot than anything else. The boy quickly got in and sat, he found it to be rather uncomfortable but didn't voice his opinions to the group. Guren quickly and carefully put the lid on, as soon as Sasuke saw nothing but darkness he knew he had no other choice. He swallowed the pill and did his best to relax. Because the next time he saw light his whole world would be different.
"Ok everyone let's go. I don't care if the hokage himself chases us, we don't stop until we are back in front of Orochimaru-sama. So I hope whatever rest you got here was enough is that understood?" Guren said as she stood up and faced their exit.
"Yes Guren-sama" the two answered in sync as the team quickly left. Sugestiu popped a soldier pill as they took off, this was the first time he had ever gotten Guren to smile at him. He just wished she was a few years older and less psychotic, and then maybe he would go for her. Whatever, there's still Karin maybe I can still woo her the boy thought to himself as they took off.
Meanwhile a certain Jounin was trying his best not to die. Kakashi had done his best to close the wound with a fire jutsu, but he feared for the infection that would follow. Had he not been careful he would have had a full evisceration and would have been dead by now. He got lucky all his organs stayed inside his body and not fallen out. The man had no chakra left in his body, and in all honesty he didn't know what was keeping him alive. He just hoped an Anbu patrolling would find him sooner rather than later he needed a hospital and the Hokage. The man was doing the best he could to drag his body across the ground, but he was moving extremely slow. Plus he had already lost a lot of time he knows he lost consciousness, he's not sure how long he was out for, but since it was still night time there was still time to save Sasuke. He heard the boys last words, and he could tell that when Sasuke had stabbed him, he was different, and he's almost certain that the cursed seal had influenced him in some sort of way because he was acting way to different. That wasn't him and he knew it.
"TAICHO!" An anbu had quickly landed near Kakashi, the man smirked, finally Kakashi closed his eyes, feeling too weak to keep them open, as he heard the anbu yelling into his com for immediate assistance.
Another fifteen minutes had passed but Kakashi found himself waking up with Tsunade herself over the man. "Hokage-sama -" Tsunade stopped the man from talking, he could tell she was doing her best with how much sweat was on her forehead.
"Shut the hell up, you're lucky your fire jutsu didn't kill you when you tried to close this damn wound. You will wait until I'm done healing you until you speak to me" Tsunade ordered the man.
Kakashi wanted to tell her to fuck off, but he knew better as important as Sasuke was, him being dead wouldn't be any help. Kakashi just laid his head back and closed his eyes as he felt the women heal him.
It had been a long time since Kakashi needed this kind of help, and he forgot how nice it felt to be healed. It was also a weird feeling, he could actually feel his body being repaired, it was unusual but also calming at the same time. He knew there was nothing he could do but let her help. All the man could think about though was how he messed up. If he hadn't been so weak this wouldn't have happened. He should have been able to do more, if he had trained his sharingan more, then maybe he could have dealt with the enemies more quickly.
Kakashi opened his eyes looking at the kage who had stopped to wipe the sweat from her brow as she relaxed. Tsunade sat back stretching her knees which were aching from sitting on them for so long, "Ok, now you may speak, but don't sit up just yet" She told the man as she waited to hear what could have happened to one of her top jounin.
"Sasuke Uchiha was kidnapped by Orochimaru's forces and I'm sure they used some kind of genjutsu on him, because when he arrived to help me, something changed and while I was weak and down he stabbed me. Even I could tell it wasn't purposeful the minute it happened his senses came back and the horror on his face isn't something easily faked. They headed north west of where you found me last I saw." Tsunade looked at Kakashi like he had just grown another head.
She couldn't believe what she had just heard, and with the village still recuperating from the attack a lot of the higher ranked jounin were out of the village to try and get more revenue in, then something clicked, "WAIT OROCHIMARU?" It took the women longer than it should have to see the biggest piece of information. "How?!" she demanded.
"I don't know how the man is alive, but the people who took Sasuke made it clear they were here on direct orders from the Snake Sannin" Kakashi said, "But they also made it clear they were just a retrieval team, meaning no back up, and no Sannin with them. However the man is alive is beyond me, but he isn't with them. He may be too weak" Kakashi said. Tsunade mentally cursed at this.
While there was still some high profile jounin in the village, most of them needed to stay back to show power just in case someone tried to attack again. The best she could do was chun- That's it! "Ok I understand, cat" Tsunade got the attention of the Anbu that found Kakashi, "Get him to the hospital to heal. Bird" Tsunade's personal anbu appeared at her side upon request. "Get me Rock Lee, Naruto Uzumaki and Shikamru Nara immediately. You have 10 minutes for them to be in my office" Tsunade said, the anbu gave a nod before disappearing while she turned around to go to her office. "Before I leave do you have any information that will help?"
"Just a little, the boy in the blue shirt with silver hair and shark teeth has a unique ability to turn into water, making it difficult to take him down. My best bet is that if he runs out of chakra he won't be able to use that ability." Tsunade nodded before she left, she had an A, possible S rank mission to write up for some chunin.
"Tsunade-sama here are the requested ninja" Bird said before hiding in the shadows to the Chunin's surprise.
"Good you're all here, I have an A rank mission to be led by you Nara. Sasuke Uchiha was kidnapped by Orochimaru's men. We're unsure of how the man is alive but he is not with the team, we only know of one member of this force we're unsure how large the force is though. The only help is that they are north west of the village, and one member of the team identifiable by his blue shirt, silver hair and shark like teeth. He has the ability to turn his body into water making most Taijustu and Ninjutsu useless against him. Your preamiters are to get Sasuke back by any means necessary." Tsuande said.
Naruto was doing his best to hold his anger back, while Shikamaru and Lee were more than obviously shocked by this revelation. Shikamaru spoke up, "I understand Hokage-sama, but I need a request from you. Neji Hyuga and Kiba Inuzuka. None of us are tracker ninja's, the two of them together should help us locate Sasuke."
Shikamaru's words were true, Tsuande knew she should've thought of that sooner, "I'll grant it they will meet you by the North gate, you have 10 minutes to get their, they will be their in 10 to 15 minutes" Tsuande said while making eye contact with her anbu giving him the message of how long he has to get the two genin to the location. Everyone from the office dispersed.
"Fuck this is going to be a drag" Shikamaru stated, Naruto's fist though were clenched this hsould not have been possible. Kakashi was watching Sasuke, and Orochimaru should be dead. Naruto made a clone to go find his sensei to get more information on what was going on. At least this time they had more time to catch up, but this time he had no idea who they were facing beside Sugestiu. Naruto also knew he stood no chance against the boy's abilities, while he could wear him down, it would waste too much time he was never that proficient with fire jutsu.
"We need to be careful, we don't know how many ninjas will be guarding Sasuke. If they were good enough to take out Kakashi-sensei we need to be on high alert" Naruto stated.
"YOSH! Naruto-kun is right we must give our all against these unknown enemies no matter what!" Lee said trying to stay positive. "No matter what happens we cannot give up!"
"Ok guys listen up, I'll repeat this when Kiba and Neji get here but follow this to a T" Shikamaru said, Lee was doing his best to listen to his squad leader and show he was doing his best. "Kiba will be in front since he will be the best to try and track Sasuke. Lee you will be right behind him incase of a surprise attack, your speed will prove useful to defend against any weapons that come at us, or if need be to get Kiba down incase of a jutsu. Also Lee if you find yourself fighting against an enemy ninja stronger than you, you will remove your weights to keep an advantage. If need be use the gates, but those are a last resort only if you know you can not hurt the enemy, or if you know you're losing. I hope your judgment will tell you when it's time to use the gates" Shikamaru told the boy.
"Do not worry Shikamaru-san! I promise to do my best, and if I must resort to using the gates then I will make sure that there is a valid reason, and if there is not then I will do 1000 laps around the village on my hands with boulders attached to my ankles!" Lee said making his teammates sweat dorp.
"Sure whatever," Shikamaru said to get the boy from going on further. "Next in the formation will be you Naruto. Your use of clones will help incase of an ambush on all sides you can quickly utilize your clones so we can get together to fight back, or escape depending on the situation. Neji will be right behind you with his Byakugan active. I will be last so I can see the entire battlefield and more easily give orders if need be" Shikamaru said, no one saw a problem with this.
It was just a few more minutes before Neji and Kiba showed up, it seemed they got the 411 on the situation from the Anbu because they came prepared. Shikamaru quickly told them the formation that the group would travel in. Kiba smiled hearing that he would take the lead, he and akamaru quickly found Sasuke's scent and the squad all took off following the Inuzaka.
The ninja all lept through the trees that made up the land of fire, it was eerily quiet as the team made chase. Kiba had let them know that the scent was still strong meaning that Sasuke had been taken only an hour or two beforehand. Kiba said they should expect at least three or four enemies from what he could smell.
Everyone had different thoughts going through their heads on what to expect and what to think of the situation at hand. All Naruto knew was that he had to stop this no matter what, if Sasuke made it to Orochimaru than the chance of keeping Sasuke on their side was pretty much zero. He could see the boy changing for the better in the village, and he knew it was because everything was different this time around.
Naruto's clone just then popped giving the boy his memories back from Kakashi. It had been almost an hour, turns out that the man was in the hospital. Kakashi told him everything that happened, and he honestly had to agree with his sensei. No one knew the true power of the curse seal, it's completely possible that the power inside had altered Sasuke's mind and made him attack their sensei. The old Sasuke wouldn't have freaked out and apologized before leaving if he wanted to kill the man. No that Sasuke would have ended Kakashi without a care in the world, so Naruto knew there was still time he just needed to hurry. Naruto wanted to run faster, outpace all of his teammates, but he knew he couldn't do that even he knew better than to take on all of these enemies alone.
"Suigestu go distract them" Guren said without even blinking an eye.
"But, are you sure? We don't even know how many people are following us, and how strong they are." Suigetsu seemed somewhat worried.
"Are you talking back to me?" Guren's voice went from her carefree self, and dropped to something more serious.
"Uh n-n-no ma'am" Suigetsu stuttered out. The boy quickly turned around and did what the girl asked of him. He knows why she sent him, he just hoped he could draw the group of ninja to a river or something. If so he could use more water and use barley any of his chakra. Suigetsu sighed and turned around, he had no sensing ability of any kind so he just hoped that he could run into them, hopefully catch them by surprise.
"Shikamaru-san, it seems that one of the enemy ninjas have turned around, most likely as a distraction for us" Neji said as the continued onwards.
The Nara groaned, of course, the minute they started to catch up one of them would come back to stop them. Who knew how strong this enemy would be. This guy would either be the weakest of them or the strongest. It would make sense for them to send the weakest though, including that they have Sasuke, the boy is high profile, no reason to get rid of their strongest fighter. He didn't have long to think of a plan though.
"Ok Naruto, I want you along with myself and Kiba to go around this guy. Neji I'm leaving you in charge with Lee since you two are used to working together. Once this guy faces us you two need to distract him enough so we can get around do you understand?" Shikamaru said as the group kept charging forward.
"Yes Nara-san, Lee when he shows up I want you to attack him head on. His chakra is unusual, I can't understand it I want to see what happens when he faces one of us first." Neji said already ordering his teammate around.
"YOSH! Do not fret Neji-san, I promise to do my absolute best!" Lee responded, surprising everyone when he kept his answer short.
The team headed onward for another minute or so, Neji than quickly hoped to the front, "ROTATION!" The boy screamed as he quickly protected his team from a giant water dragon.
"Oh ho, seems one of you knows what to do in the face of an opponen-oo" Suigetsu bent over as Lee shoved his fist into Suigetsu's gut. Suigetsu then smirked to everyone's surprise as the boy stood up, and they could see that Lee's fist was literally in the boy's stomach as water was surrounded the boy's fist. "Let me show you a real punch" Suigetsu said with a smile, Lee tried to get his fist out but was stuck. Suigetsu then pulled his arm back as his fist grew 10 sizes and become a pure force of water. Suigetsu slammed it into Lee's body, the green clad ninja flying back into a tree.
Naruto was able to catch his friend before he hit a tree, "Thank you Naruto-san, that tree almost took me out of the fight."
Naruto set Lee down, "No worries, what're friends for. Now come on we need to stop him" Naruto said as he got into a fighting stance, Lee did the same. Everyone else showed up around the boys.
"Naruto save your energy, this fight is for Lee and Neji" Shikamaru said. Naruto wanted to argue, he knew that Suigetsu could pack quite a punch and would be extremely troublesome for both Lee and Neji. But shikamaru was right, if they were to get Sasuke back he would need his energy, who knew who Orochimaru sent to get Sasuke.
"Lee drop the weights, we'll use tactical formation #4" Neji said as the two got in attack formation. Lee smiled as he started to take the weights off.
"Oh don't make me laugh, some weights won't make any difference" Suigetsu said as he, like everyone else, severely underestimated Lee.
"Everyone as soon as the dust kicks up, leave. This is your chance to use our distraction, we've already wasted to much time, Sasuke is out of range I can't see them anymore, you need to rely on Kibas nose. Now hurry!" Neji said, Lee threw his weights as Suigetsu, the result was the boy tried to catch them, and he exploded into water, the two weights kept going and crashed kicking up a huge cloud of dust. Kiba took the lead again, and everyone save Neji and Lee followed the boy. Suigetsu reformed and was upset when he realized that only two of his opponents stayed behind. Guren wouldn't be happy if he lived, he needed to hurry up here and beat these two so he could hurry and try to distract the rest of the ninja going after the Uchiha.
"Don't even try you're not going anywhere unless you can beat us" Neji said as he charged forward. He had to be careful attacking this guy, he could turn his body into water, but if his chakra supply was cut off than maybe he could land a real attack. Only one way to find out Neji thought as he attacked.
"Mizu Peretto!" Suigetsu shouted as he made his fingers into the shape of a gun and blasted Neji in the gut. Neji's eyes widened as he realized that the boy doesn't need hand signs to do jutsu. Neji doubled over from the pain of the water blast to his stomach.
Lee quickly attacked Suigetsu, being careful to not let his attacks go into the boy. He couldn't punch as hard but that didn't matter when he could attack faster than the water boy could keep up.
Suigestu did the only thing he could do to stop the onslaught of attacks, he turned his body into a puddle of water. He timed it just perfectly, Lee went for a hard kick and was thrown off balance. Before he could get his balance back, Suigetsu was on the attack again, "Suiro no jutsu (Water prison jutsu)" Lee was quickly caught in a ball of water as Suigetsu recovered his form into human form. "Ha, is this the extent of you leaf ninja" Suigetsu said as he smirked at how easy the battle seamed. At least until Neji came up from behind and got a couple of hits on the boys arm. Effectively shutting off the chakra to the arm holding Lee, Suigetsu jumped back facing the two.
"Heh, maybe you two won't be so easy" Suigetsu said putting up a defensive posture. He looked down at his arm worried, he needed to be careful using his liquidated ability since his arm will stay solid when the rest of his body won't be. "Alright boys, lets go" Suigestu said with a smirk as he made a water sword.
Meanwhile the rest of the group was slowly catching up. "Guys, Sasuke's scent is getting stronger. At this pace we should catch up in no time" Kiba said as Akamaru started to whimper. "Whats wrong boy"
Kiba was worried when his partner started to worry. All of a sudden Kiba was ripped back by Naruto as Shikamaru quickly dropped back also. Kiba's eyes widened as he saw giant crystals appear out of the ground. Destroying the tree where he was about to land on. "Fuck not her" Naruto said, as he paled a little bit.
"What do you mean Naruto? Do you know this person?" Kiba asked
Naruto quickly had to think of a good excuse, he didn't mean to say that out loud but this was bad. He doesn't really have a jutsu that can break this girls crystals. He had the Rasengan, his Tamtski Rendan, and some other powerful jutsu. But he wasn't exactly sure just how well he could hold up against her.
"Awe shoot, I didn't get any of you. Well that's fine a couple of you are cute but that doe.." Guren stopped talking when she saw Kiba. "OH MY GOD IS THAT A DOG! I"VE NEVER SEEN ONE IT'S SO CUTE!" the inner child in her immediately broke out. The boys sweat dropped at this reaction.
Akamaru yipped though at being called cute, even if she was an enemy, being a dog he still loved compliments. "Akamaru stop, she's not on our side" Kiba said as the dog spoke to his partner, most likely apologizing.
Before anyone could react Guren was inches from Kiba's face, "Can I pet your puppy! He is so cute"
The three boys looked on in fear, she may be acting childish, but she was also super fast. This isn't good, mix that with those destructive crystals they had very little hope of winning. Naruto silently deactivated his weighted seals, he just hoped that he was fast enough to keep up with her. Naruto got ready to attack while Guren was petting Akamaru, "I wouldn't do that if I were you. I could kill these two before you reach me Guren said as she kept petting the puppy. Naruto wasn't sure what to do, one wrong move and Kiba was a dead man. This was really bad, Naruto looked over at Shikamaru, the boy was obviously trying to think up a plan. Naruto only had one choice.
"Kurama can you help" Naruto asked his friend.
"I can give you some chakra, help enhance your abilities and speed, but I don't know how much it will help. If you aren't careful you'll lose your friend. But if you do nothing Sasuke is guaranteed to get away and then you'll be forced to kill him. If he gets with Orochimaru, he will change for the worse." The fox said as he started to pool some of his chakra to Naruto. It didn't take long for one tail to appear behind the boy.
Guren got distracted as she turned around to look at Naruto, obviously feeling the chakra. That was long enough of a distraction for Naruto to appear in front of her and knock her away from his friends.
Guren got up and looked at Naruto, trying to be cute as she tilted her head, "Oh it's going to be fun to kill you"
Authors Note: I hope you enjoy this chapter, I'm trying to update more often than not but life plays a roll of course. Please tell me what you think of this chapter and I'll get started on the next one soon!