Naruto: The Weapon Master
Chapter 32: Exiting Stage Right
"So I guess the time for you all to return to Konoha," said Mei who was currently sitting on a chair behind a desk inside the Mizukage's office alongside Ao and Chojuro, she was talking to the Konoha Shinobi especially who was still wearing his ANBU out outfit with a spare mask "I would have liked for you to stay for a while longer,"
"As much as we would like to, we need to return to Konoha and report to our Hokage about the recent events especially that one," said Kakashi.
"There's still a place for you to return Zabuza, now that the war is over. We're planning on creating another generation of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist and we could use your help," said Ao.
"That's good to hear, but I can't. Already got a place to call home thanks to a certain blonde gaki," Zabuza replied with a grin behind his mask "Plus I got a bowl of sushi waiting for me back there with my name on it,"
"I'm must return and help stoke the youthful flames of my beloved students!" Gai declared loudly, causing everyone to sweatdrop.
"Inside voice Gai, inside voice," Kakashi rubbed his temples at the antics of his friend.
"And you still have a ways to go until everything is restored after everything that's happened," said Naruto.
"You're right Kitsune-kun," said Mei with a sigh.
After Yagura's defeat, a majority of the loyalists surrendered with a several few foolishly deciding to go out with guns blazing and so were put down. The civilians especially those possessing Kekkei Genkai were overjoyed upon hearing that the Mizukage was finally defeated and had quite the celebration. They gave credit to Mei and the rebel forces while thanking the Konoha Shinobi though Naruto chose to make himself anonymous to avoid drawing attention to himself, one of the main reasons why he was dressed up as ANBU in the first place. The group themselves agreed not to reveal the real truth about the Mizukage's tyrannical rule as the ramifications would be quite severe, like the civilians would blame Konoha for what happened because of the masked Uchiha regardless of them being technically innocent or not until they're able to capture the perpetrator and then reveal the truth. Naruto also suggested for them to hire Tazuna to help with the rebuilding and said to use his name to vouch.
Mei fought the urge to pout at the thought of the cute blonde having to leave "Hmmm, perhaps I could request for his involvement on missions after everything is stable, then he can come and stay around more often," she took out a scroll from the drawer and held it out to Kakashi "Give this to your Hokage, it contains terms of agreement for an alliance between the two villages, we'll converse more thanks to the trans-scroll which you have given us,"
Kakashi accepted the scroll "We'll be sure to pass it over to her safely,"
"Will we see you again, Kitsune-san?" asked Chojuro nervously.
Naruto grinned behind his mask and gave him a thumbs up "Sure thing, though it would be under different circumstances,"
Chojuro perked up at that "O-okay!"
"Best you take care of yourself Kitsune-san, I hope that this experience will further your maturity to becoming a good Shinobi," said Ao.
However Mei interpreted the sentence otherwise "Experience…maturity…both needed for marriage," she turned towards Ao with an all too sweet smile "Ao…Shut up or I'll kill you,"
"H-hai Mei-sama," Ao looked ready to faint with the others feeling the urge to run for the hills, except for Naruto feeling a slight chill instead.
"That guy really needs to learn how to avoid using words with double meanings or he won't live to get married himself," thought Kakashi with a sweatdrop.
"Goodbye Mizukage-sama, we hope to see you again," said Naruto politely.
"Aww, you can call me Mei-chan instead the next time," said Mei with flirty wink, Naruto blushed behind his mask.
"Get going already!" Kurama almost yelled out of jealousy and she wanted him far from her…for now.
"Calm down Kurama-san," said Chinami in a placating manner, eventually doing so.
Ao and Chojuro escorted the group to the gate of the village and bade them farewell as they left, Naruto and the others took to leaping through the trees and in a few weeks' time had finally arrived at the gates of Konoha. Naruto felt ecstatic at finally returning home after everything that happened, they made their way to the Hokage mansion and went inside to find Tsunade along with Shizune and Hiruzen who smiled brightly upon seeing them.
"It's good to see that you've all returned safely, we've heard the news about the civil war having ended in the rebels' favor," said Hiruzen with a smile.
Naruto took off his mask and replied with a foxy grin "Yeah, totally kicked some ass while we were over there," then he frowned, surprising the others "But we found out something unexpected too,"
"What do you mean Naruto-kun?" asked Shizune confusedly.
Kakashi himself wasn't joking around either "Let's just say that the former Mizukage didn't begin the bloodline purge of his own free will and that an outside source was the cause of it instead,"
"Could you please tell us what happened?" said Tsunade, for Naruto and Kakashi to be serious must mean that they've learnt of something highly critical to the village. Kakashi and Naruto proceeded to tell them of what happened over at Kirigakure and what Yagura revealed to them before he died and Kurama affirming the Genjutsu being the same one which was used on the night of Naruto's birth, to say that they were surprised would be an understatement of the year.
"I never would have suspected that anything like this would have occurred, it certainly seemed odd that the Mizukage would do something like that without an accurate reason," said Hiruzen with a frown on his face.
"The masked Uchiha was able to put Kurama under a Genjutsu so he could just as easily do the same to the other Bijuu and their jinchuriki, and also used the civil war as a method of distraction and preventing anyone from seeking him out, this is very unsettling," said Tsunade.
"And I have a hunch that this Uchiha could also be a member of the Akatsuki, making this group more dangerous than thought possible," said Kakashi.
"I think I would be doing both villages a favor if I find this guy and separate his head from his shoulders and gouge out that eye of his," Zabuza growled in anger.
"Better get in line, cause that guy is at the very top of my shit list more than ever now," said Naruto.
Hiruzen coughed loudly to get their attention "It's important that we gather more information about this group, Jiraiya is currently doing that but we might need to seek out information on our own as well. In the meantime, you three have been through a lot so I suggest that you all go to your homes and rest before later returning with your mission's report,"
"Very well, Sarutobi-sama," Kakashi bowed before leaving.
"Same here, be sure to let Haku know that I'll be coming by tomorrow gaki," Zabuza was the next to leave.
"I'd better get going too, Sakura-chan and the others must be worried about me too," Naruto took off his ANBU gear and walked out of the office, leaving Tsunade, Hiruzen and Shizune behind.
"What do you think of all this?" asked Tsunade seriously.
"The fact that this unknown Uchiha is at large is bad enough and now this Akatsuki is hunting for the Bijuu, we may be facing a threat greater than anything we've ever encountered in the past," said Hiruzen.
"So what do we do?" asked Shizune worriedly.
"We need to prepare for any encounters with any of the members and attempt to reduce their numbers bit by bit," said Hiruzen, getting nods of agreement from the others.
Meanwhile, Naruto was walking along the streets towards his home, some of the villagers greeted him politely though there still a few who frowned at him but not with that much hatred unlike before. Naruto simply shrugged that off as that had completely lost its effect now.
"Hmmm, should I get some ramen to take home with me?" thought Naruto.
"Oh no you don't, head home first before anything else," said Kurama sternly.
"She's right Naruto-sama, your loved ones must still be awaiting your return and you needn't delay," said Chinami in agreement.
"Okay okay, you got a point there. Haku must be worried out of all of the girls," said Naruto in a placating manner, he suddenly stopped and looked to his left at a wooden fence "You three can come out now, you guys really need a new approach since it's the second time you're using this method,"
There was a slight distortion before a cloth matching the appearance of the fence was unraveled to reveal Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon who cheered upon seeing their boss/brother figure.
"Naruto-niisan, where've you been all this time. We couldn't find you anywhere," said Konohamaru with a pout.
"Yeah, even Iruka-sensei didn't know where you were," said Moegi with Udon nodding in agreement.
Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly "Sorry about that guys, I was sent out on a mission,"
"What kind of mission?" asked Konohamaru curiously.
"I can't tell you three, it's a top secret mission," said the blonde playfully, causing the trio to whine a bit at the unfairness "Anyways, I'm heading home right now so I'll see you three later okay?"
"Okay, bye Nii-san!" the trio ran off while waving goodbye towards the blonde.
Naruto smiled fondly before resuming his walk to the house, but kept in mind to visit Iruka later to check up on him. He eventually arrived at the doorstep and unlocked the door with his key before entering, he barely took three steps when a green blur slammed into him and flew out to the front yard. Naruto groaned a bit before looking to see a familiar green hair and realized who it was that just tackled him.
"Hello again, Fu-chan," said Naruto amiably.
"We really missed you Naruto-kun," Fu turned back to the house "Naruto-kun's back!" soon there were the sounds of running footsteps then Haku, Hinata, Ino and Sakura appeared. They teared up upon seeing the blonde, especially Haku and went to engulf him in a tight hug.
"We were so worried about you! You shouldn't be making us feel that way!" said Ino happily.
"She's right, Naruto-kun," said Sakura.
"Sorry about that, I'll try not to do so next time," said Naruto apologetically.
"We're just glad you came back to us alive and had kept your promise," said Haku tearfully.
"Me too, let's go inside cause I'm a little tired from the everything that happened," said Naruto, the girls nodded in affirmation then jostled the blonde inside the house and sat him down in the parlor while Hinata and Ino went to the kitchen to prepare some tea. Fu sat next to Naruto and Haku sat at the other with her hand interlinked with his as if afraid that he might disappear, Tora sat curled up on his lap and was fast asleep while softly purring. Hinata and Ino returned with the tea and sat down too.
"So what happened when you were over at Kirigakure?" asked Ino curiously.
"Well it went like this…" Naruto proceeded to tell the girls what occurred during the war and the aftermath, the girls were surprised then worried when he mentioned the former Mizukage being a jinchuriki before his defeat "…needless to say, the bloodline war is officially over,"
"I'm so glad to hear that, no one will lose their families anymore," said Haku with a look of relief.
"Yeah, though you girls should keep this to yourselves for the meantime okay?" said Naruto, girls nodded in affirmation to his request "Thanks, I'll be going to sleep for now. I'm really tired right now,"
"Okay, we're going to run a few errands anyways," said Hinata.
Naruto picked up Tora in his arms and climbed upstairs to his bedroom, he took off his clothes before settling on the bed and going to sleep. After a couple of hours, Naruto stirred awake and rolled to the side of his bed…only to see a pair of eyes staring back at him.
"BOO!"
"Waah!" Naruto stumbled out of bed and fell to the ground and bumped his head while Tora shot up with a yowl, he heard someone laughing at him and got up to see who it was and was surprised "Anko-chan?"
Said person waved at him with a cheeky grin "Rise and shine whiskers, the girls told me that you were back which wasn't that hard since I also saw Kakashi, Gai and Zabuza around just today so I figured I'd drop by and see you,"
Naruto sat on the side of the head while rubbing the bruise on his head, Tora looked rather annoyed at Anko for the rude awakening "Thanks Anko-chan, I was planning on seeing you when I pass through the village later on. Where's Kurenai-sensei?"
"She's on a 'date', something she constantly denies," said Anko playfully, Naruto chuckled as he got the idea of what she's talking about.
"I see…a tsundere in other words," said Naruto amusedly.
"Yup and I wonder what she's going to do once I tell her that you said that,"
"Eh? Oi you tricked me!" Naruto protested, shuddering at what his second sensei might do to him.
"Did I? Then what would it take to keep me quiet?" said Anko thoughtfully.
Naruto deeply for a few moments then a light bulb lit up in his mind and he smirked, Naruto blurred before Anko and pressed his lips against hers for a deep, she was taken by surprise but eventually responded in kind before he pulled away much to her disappointment.
"You get that and some money to burn for some dango, deal?" said Naruto with a wink, it was his turn to be taken by surprise when Anko kissed him again before responding with a smirk.
"Two of those and the money, then we have a done deal. Don't keep me waiting for long Naruto-kun, my lips are a bit loose," the snake mistress walked out of the room with her hips swaying, mesmerizing the blonde ninja.
"You two sure had fun," said Kurama jokingly.
"Bet you wanted to join in too," said Naruto in a playful manner, getting the vixen to look away and pretended to pout, making him chuckle a bit. He put on a new set of clothes and had created a shadow clone to write up the report for him to pick up later then left the house with Tora snug in his hood and a destination in mind.
Naruto walked through the streets and took a few short routes before stopping before a store with the large sigh written Higurashi's Armory, he walked inside to find Tenten sitting behind a counter with a bored expression on her face but she perked upon seeing the blonde enter the shop.
"Hey Naruto, where've you been?" asked Tenten.
"I was on a mission and got back today, I came by to check up on you," said Naruto.
"It's been boring for me since Gai-sensei was gone on a mission too, Neji has been training with Hinata at the Hyuuga compound and Lee is getting ready for the surgery in a couple of days' time,"
"I see…anyways, there's something that I'll need your help with building," Naruto reached into his ninja pouch and took out a scroll "I got an idea from a mission some time ago and I feel that it will help out a lot,"
"Let's have a look see then," Tenten took the scroll and unrolled it to reveal a blueprint of an equipment, from what she could see is that is wrist mounted with certain mechanics applied along with Fuinjutsu, she became even more interested upon reading the specs "This is an interesting piece of equipment Naruto-kun,"
"Yup, if applied correctly this could serve as a very useful tool while on the field and this is just the prototype," said Naruto.
"I'll see what my dad and I can do about it when we get the time for this project,"
"Thanks Tenten-chan, I'll be seeing you later then," Naruto bade her farewell before leaving the shop and is now contemplating where else he should go next "Hmmmm…maybe I should just walk around a bit to run into any familiar faces,"
"Sounds like the least you could do for now aside from training," said Kurama.
Naruto shrugged his shoulders and began his stroll through the village to check out for any new changes to the village and hopefully have a 'little' ramen run over at Ichiraku's while he was at it. He was passing through the market district when he heard someone calling out to him and turned to see who it is, turns out that it was Chouji and Shikamaru who are approaching the blonde ninja.
"Heya Naruto, long time no see!" said Chouji cheerfully.
"Hey man," Shikamaru greeted with a lazy wave of the hand.
"Hey guys, been a while like you said. What's been going on?" asked Naruto.
"Nothing new, the same old drill no matter how much of a drag it is," said Shikamaru with a shrug.
"Geez Shika, everything is a drag for you man. I wonder what's ever gonna hype you up," Naruto smirked at the lazy Nara.
Shikamaru rubbed the back of his head "Please Naruto, I get enough of that from my mom already,"
"How his father got married to begin with is an anomaly in itself," said Kurama, Naruto had to agree reluctantly to what she said.
"So what's been going on with you?" asked Chouji curiously.
"Nothing much, I came back from a mission today and taking a stroll through the village to catch up with the others. How about you two?"
"We're on our way to meet up with Asuma-sensei for some training, threatened to sic Ino on us if we don't show up. She's definitely changed since the Chuunin exams," said Shikamaru.
"Yeah, she doesn't even diet anymore," said Chouji.
"I get the feeling that Anko-chan might have something to do with that," thought Naruto.
"She certainly seems the most likely, given how she can be very persuasive," said Kurama amusedly.
"True that," Naruto chuckled inwardly, recalling what happened between them earlier "Well I shouldn't keep you two waiting, I catch you guys later,"
"Yeah, see ya," Shikamaru bade Naruto farewell before he and Chouji left for their meeting place, leaving Naruto behind.
"Well, back to what I was doing earlier," Naruto took a few steps forward and suddenly stopped for a moment with a small frown on his face then resumed his walk.
In a dark room barely lit up by a single candle, we find Kabuto standing before a bed on which Orochimaru laid, his body was still recovering from the attacks by Tsunade and Naruto from his last encounter with them while his arms are already showing signs of rotting with a putrid stench emitting from them.
"Orochimaru-sama, did you really have to send all four of them?" asked Kabuto.
"I hadn't the heart to refuse them, they all wanted to meet this Sasuke-kun whom I spoke so highly of. They wanted to test his strength," said Orochimaru.
"Seems somehow unfair, he's no match for the four of them at his current level,"
"Ku ku ku ku, and that's why he would come to me seeking for power, just like I said he would," said Orochimaru with glee "And when I gain the perfect body, killing the spawn of the Yondaime will be the first thing that I'll do then I'll use that bracelet of his for my conquest!"
Somewhere deep in the forest, there are four black silhouettes currently leaping through the trees at high-speed and their chosen destination happens to be Konoha with a certain goal in mind.
Meanwhile, Naruto had long since walked out of the market district and had eaten a couple of snacks along the way with Tora being fed as well. They arrived at the training grounds near lake where Naruto stood there to view the scenery for a while, but then he suddenly spoke out loudly for some reason.
"You can come out now, I know that you had been following me ever since I entered the market district," said Naruto, he heard footsteps and glanced behind to see someone walk out from behind a tree, revealing it to be Sasuke who was staring at him intently.
"So you knew that I was following you," said Sasuke.
"Kinda hard to miss that duck butt hairstyle of yours from the rooftops and since you didn't call out to me the whole time, I had a hunch that you wanted to talk to me in private," Naruto explained.
"Hn," Sasuke simply scoffed.
"Ignoring that, what is it you want to talk to me about? And personally, why the glare?" asked Naruto with his arms crossed.
"How…," Sasuke muttered.
Naruto quirked an eyebrow in confusion "Huh?"
"How is it that you're so strong? You weren't like that back at the academy all those years, you were the dead last of the class," Sasuke demanded "How did you get so strong?"
"Who the hell does he think he is to talk to Naruto-kun like that?!" said Kurama angrily.
"Indeed, it is most disrespectful of him," said Chinami with a frown.
"Please calm down you two, no need to be angry. Let's just find out what his problem is," thought Naruto while calming Tora who was visibly displeased before responding to Sasuke "The best answer would that I trained hard just like everyone else, it also helps that I have good proficiency in certain aspects of the ninja arts,"
"That doesn't explain anything! I trained just as hard and yet you became a Chuunin while I didn't,"
"Dude, two main reasons would be because I fooled around more than I should have been training, and the second reason was because my education was sabotaged otherwise I should have graduated on my first year instead. It was after a certain incident that I woke up from that façade and took things more seriously like I was supposed to," said Naruto.
Sasuke didn't appear satisfied with the explanation still "And yet you were able to defeat people I couldn't, even my brother ignored me for you!"
"Last I checked Sasuke, Itachi is an S-ranked missing ninja alongside Kisame who was a member of one of the seven swordsmen of the mist. There was no way I could actually beat them, I had to buy time for Pervy Sage to show up to provide backup and they hadn't gone all out either,"
Sasuke walked up to Naruto and grabbed him by the collar of his vest "Stop lying to me! I bet it's because of the bracelet that you were able to be that powerful,"
Naruto was now glaring and pulled Sasuke's grip off his clothes "Will you cut that out?! Why are you in such a hurry to get more powerful?"
"Killing my brother is my life's purpose, I can't afford to waste time playing around!" the Uchiha retorted.
"Are you thinking clearly? Your brother was one of the most prodigious Shinobi Konoha ever had and also took part in one of the great ninja wars. You can't beat him as you are now, he was able to defeat Kakashi-sensei because of his mass experience he acquired in the years. I don't need to tell you this since you know that fact better than anyone else. What is the point of gathering power when you wouldn't know how to use it?"
Sasuke gritted his teeth as the memories of that night surfaced in his mind, then he heard Naruto call out to him.
"And if you do kill your brother, what happens next?" asked Naruto, Sasuke opened his mouth to reply but no words came out "As I thought, you didn't have a secondary goal other than revenge,"
"And how would you know?! You have no idea what I experienced that night and what I saw him do!"
"And you think rushing at him with a Chidori would mean an easy killing? Neither of us are ready to face someone of your brother's caliber. One of the many reasons why we train, so we can be ready and strong enough to face such opponents. Besides, you could have been promoted to Chuunin if not for Orochimaru messing things up back then. There also other senseis whom you could request training to get stronger aside from Kakashi-sensei, not exclusively but at least advise on certain aspects. Kenjutsu, Genjutsu, Ninjutsu…there are a lot of Jounin and Chuunin who are experts in that and you know them too, there's no doubt that they would lend you a hand and don't forget that gaining experience will help you a lot too and that can mostly be acquired from missions,"
"You mean those chores which could have been done by civilians themselves?" Sasuke retorted though not as angry as before.
Naruto chuckled at that "Aside from those D-ranks, you also took on higher ranked missions than those and learnt about a lot of things right like the Wave mission or the one at the Land of Snow/Spring? And besides…I can always be your sparring partner and help you get stronger. Without a doubt, Itachi will show up again and next time he won't shrug you off," then he thought "And we'll be able to reveal what truly happened that night to you,"
Sasuke was now deep in thought, he originally wanted to learn about the blonde's methods of gaining strength in the shortest time possible so he could employ it for himself and here he is hearing something else. However Sasuke couldn't deny what Naruto was saying, indeed there are strong Shinobi in the village whom he could request training from besides Kakashi and there aren't any rules forbidding it with the exclusion of clans. There's also the fact that a former swordsman of the Hidden Mist lives in Konoha now so he could learn about the one who seems to be accompanying his brother just in case.
"I hate to admit it but he's right, I should be able to attain the power I need from training with them. Guess I won't be wasting my time like I was thinking," thought Sasuke.
"So what do you think Sasuke? I know that you're a proud guy but asking for help doesn't make you look weak, it shows that you're willing to expand your horizons, and don't forget to think about what you'll do after accomplishing your main objective,"
"Hn…," Sasuke responded with a snort.
"I hate that kind of attitude, as if he knows everything," Kurama growled in annoyance.
Naruto simply shook his head and turned to leave when he heard Sasuke call out to him again and looked back to see what he wanted "What is it Sasuke?"
"I wish to challenge you to a spar right here and now, I need to know just how strong you are compared to me," said Sasuke.
Naruto looked thoughtful for a few moments before smirking "Challenge accepted, I've been wanting to fight you for a while now ever since our academy days,"
Then he took a combat stance as Tora jumped out of the hood and went to sit underneath the shade of a tree to watch with Sasuke also taking a fighting stance, both stared at each other intently then suddenly lunged at the same time to begin the spar.
Music Start: Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 OST; Rivals
Naruto and Sasuke were rapidly exchanging punches and kicks with both sides either defending or attempting to counterattack, Naruto backpedaled whilst parrying the barrage of punches launched by Sasuke then he quickly found an opening and took step forward to parry a left punch with a left open palm then retaliated by slamming a palm thrust into Sasuke's chest, knocking the Uchiha back then followed it up with a flying kick.
Sasuke managed to recover in time to duck underneath the incoming attack and struck out at his back with a jumping roundhouse kick, Naruto sensed his approach and performed a front flip upon landing with a leg out to deflect the kick. He spun round to engage Sasuke with the praying mantis style and was continuously capable of locking his opponent's attacks before striking with his.
Sasuke jumped back to catch a breath and observe Naruto for a few moments "Tch, the dobe's tough but I'm not through just yet!" he flung a handful of shuriken at the blonde the quickly weaved through a set of handsigns "Fire style: Phoenix Flower jutsu!" he took a deep breath before spewing a volley of fireballs.
Naruto dashed backwards whilst throwing a handful of his own shuriken to deflect the incoming projectiles when he saw Sasuke weaving through a set of handsigns and so did the same albeit faster "Water style: Raging Waves!" he opened his mouth and spewed a large volume of water in the form of a wave which rushed towards Sasuke whilst extinguishing the fireballs along the way. Sasuke quickly leapt out of the way of the jutsu to land sideways on the trunk then kicked off towards Naruto with a kunai in hand to slash at him, the blonde switched to defense by using the metal plate on the back of his gloves. Naruto grabbed Sasuke by the wrist to force the kunai out of his grip then quickly threw him over his shoulder "Shadow Kick!" then he sped forward with a side kick while leaving green afterimages behind him but Sasuke flipped out of the way before retaking, revealing that he had activated his eyes.
Naruto frowned a bit upon seeing the active Dojutsu "I'll also need to come up with countermeasures for it, till then let's see how he is with it," he dashed towards Sasuke in a zigzag pattern with twice the speed before lashing out with a roundhouse kick which was evaded and quickly blocked a knee strike then used the momentum from the impact to hop backwards before charging back in. Sasuke continued to parry the strikes and attempt to strike back with Naruto blocking and countering with his but increasing his attack speed steadily and rapidly shuffling in between his fighting styles to throw him off his rhythm.
Naruto went in with a low sweep kick with Sasuke jumping into the air and coming down with a heel drop kick but he formed his signature handsign and created a shadow clone to intercept the attack by catching the leg, he swiftly maneuvered around Sasuke and launched an uppercut to send him high into the air, Sasuke recovered in midair and weaved through a set of handsigns and took in a deep breath "Fire style: Grand Fireball!" he launched a large ball of fire towards the blonde ninja. Naruto weaved through a set of handsigns as well "Water style: Water Sword!" he conjured water to his left hand and manipulated it to take on the form of a zanbato then he swung the blade to split the fireball cleanly in half before throwing it at Sasuke who somersaulted in the air to evade it before landing on the ground.
"My turn, Wind style: Gale Wolf!" Naruto gathered wind in between his hands before thrusting forward to launch a wind construct of a howling wolf to rush towards Sasuke, the Uchiha leapt backwards while flinging kunai at the wolf but the projectiles bounced off upon contact and it continued its charge before tackling its target, causing a small condense tornado to blow him away with great force. Naruto quickly teleported to appear behind Sasuke and perform a double palm thrust to knock him down to the ground. Sasuke suddenly puffed into smoke to reveal a wooden log causing Naruto to become alert for an attack, then Sasuke appeared in front of him in a crouching position and lashed out with a kick, Naruto crossed his arms to reduce the damage and was launched into the air. He saw Sasuke disappear from the ground and sensed him from behind "It's over with this, Lions Barrage!"
"Don't be so sure, Wind style: Gale Surge!" Naruto channeled wind chakra throughout his body before expelling it in a radial burst of air to knock his opponent back then spun round to counter "Dive Kicks!" he proceeded to land diving kicks on them continuously with Sasuke blocking as best as he could until both landed back on the ground and jumped away from the other.
Sasuke was about to charge in again when he saw Naruto raise a hand and called out to him "That's enough Sasuke, this spar is over,"
Music End
"What do you mean? I can still keep going," Sasuke was adamant in continuing the fight.
"I know but remember the reason why we were sparring which was to measure the level of power between you and me," Naruto explained "So far I've seen a few things that you need to work on,"
Sasuke crossed his arms "And what are they?"
"First you need to work on your speed, your Sharingan relies on your speed both for action and reaction. Get yourself a couple of weights, if you recall that Lee did the same before and look how strong he became. Also train with your Sharingan less so that your body can learn to adapt instinctively and utilize lesser chakra which in turn sharpens your use of the Dojutsu in combat, remember that Kakashi-Nii uses that method as well,"
The Uchiha saw logic at what he said, recalling what Kiba told him about the battle between Rock Lee and Gaia during the preliminaries not to mention the spar which he had with the former beforehand. He also noticed that Kakashi hardly uses his Sharingan unless he was using his signature Ninjutsu or facing an especially strong opponent.
"And I think you should try a hand in Kenjutsu too," Naruto added.
That piqued Sasuke's interest "What makes you say that?"
"When I was deflecting your kunai strikes, I noticed that you were attacking as if you were wielding a blade. You might have a talent in it, Zabuza could confirm it if you ask him," Naruto felt something plopped into his hood and looked to see Tora mew at him, he looked to the sky and saw that the sun had already set "It's getting late, we better head on home,"
"You've given me a lot to think about," said Sasuke.
"An understatement of the year," Kurama scoffed.
Naruto smirked "Sure I did, but at least you've found ways of getting stronger. And be sure to carefully think about what to do next after all this and not anything you might regret for the rest of your life. See ya later Sasuke, I might have another spar with you later," the blonde took off through the trees in direction of the compound.
Sometime later, Sasuke was also on his way home with a lot in mind "So many routes and it took a dobe to point it out to me. At least I know that I'll be able to gain the strength needed to avenge my clan…but what do I do after killing Itachi?" he landed on a tree and was about to move on when something or rather someone landed in the middle of the path to obstruct him, he took that they were four and wore similar outfits along with the fact one of them wore a headband bearing the symbol of the Hidden Sound village.
"Alright then, who are you four and what are you doing here?" asked Sasuke whilst keeping his guard up for a potential fight.
"We're the Sound Four, I'm Kidomaru of the east gate," said the dark-skinned Shinobi with the ponytail and six arms on his body.
"And I am Sakon of the west gate," said the fair-skinned Shinobi with light blue-grey hair and a second head protruding from the back of his upper back.
"I am Jirobo of the south gate," said the tallest of the group who sports a Mohawk like hairstyle.
"And I am Tayuya of the north gate," said the only female redhead of the group.
"Don't make me repeat myself, what you want from me?" asked Sasuke.
Kidomaru smirked in response "You should consider yourself lucky, you've been invited to join Orochimaru and we're giving you the VIP treatment,"
Sasuke frowned at the name "Orochimaru, the one who placed the cursed mark on me?" then he spoke up "What exactly does he want from me?"
"It's not what he wants but what he offers and that is power beyond imagination and what the village has been holding you back on," said Sakon.
"That's right, time has come to ditch this shitty village and gain true power," said Tayuya.
"As appealing as it sounds…I'll have to pass on that offer," said Sasuke much to the surprise and then anger of the Sound Four.
"Why do you refuse such an offer? Sure you had witnessed the prowess of Orochimaru-sama when he attacked your village," said Jirobo with a frown.
"Kinda hard to ignore, but then again it took two villages to attack one and yet were soundly defeated. Another thing was that Kakashi told me of how Orochimaru retreated while being permanently crippled on both arms, so I don't think a cripple would make a good teacher," said Sasuke nonchalantly.
"What did you say you little brat?!" said Tayuya angrily.
"You heard me, this 'shitty' village as you called it offers me greater power than that of a missing nin who was forced to run from his own village twice so he can take his offer and you shove it down the throat for him,"
"Orochimaru told us that there would be no need for us to be forceful, however you proved to be the opposite of what he said. Personally I was hoping to pick a fight with you, I'm gonna play do-re-mi on those ribs of yours till they crack before bringing you back to Orochimaru-sama!" said Sakon with a crazed smile on his face.
"I was hoping for some playtime, and now I've got it," said Kidomaru.
"Time to make you sing you shithead!" said Tayuya.
"You should have come along peacefully, but it's too late for you now!" said Jirobo.
All four of the sound nin charged towards Sasuke with the intention of harming him while the Uchiha poised to engage them with his Sharingan active although he felt stinging pain from the cursed seal but managed to ignore it as he moved in to attack.
This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, Naruto and the others have returned to the village and delivered the report. Naruto went around the village to check up on his friends and later an irate Sasuke whom he had to talk some sense into the Uchiha before sparring with him. Now Sasuke has been targeted by Orochimaru who sends his elites to retrieve him by any means necessary, what's going to happen next? Stay tuned to find out. Next chapter marks the beginning of the Sasuke Retrieval Arc so be sure to look forward to it.
Read and Review as always.
This is Hussbek from Ghana.
Signing out.