Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Never did, never will. Masashi Kishimoto does.
THANK YOU FOR ALL THE REVIEWS! I've never received so much in just one chapter. This chapter will conclude the battle between Naruto and Sasuke. By the way, this fiction has a lot of flashbacks! I kind of feel bad for myself for keeping you people wait in too much suspense. But heck, there's going to be more. Hehehehe…..
The two sparring partners stood once again, as they prepared themselves for the second round. Waiting who would be the first one to make a move. Either the first move would be the advantage of a first assault, or simply giving away a chance of more speculation of the move for the one defending. Sasuke decided to take the initiative.
He had simply made only a seal, one that Naruto easily recognized. He would, concerning he had used it over and over since he stole the Forbidden Scroll from Sandaime (The Third) Sarutobi. The index and middle finger from both hands hold out, held together to form a small cross. Sasuke somehow managed to utter out the name of the technique, even while biting the small scroll.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)!"
Explosions blew up everywhere, forming a circle around the two of them. Naruto was completely surrounded by a huge group of Sasuke clones, shadow clones to be exact. But all the Sasuke clones lack the scroll that is in the real Sasuke's mouth. Naruto was mildly surprised; the Uchiha had learned a Forbidden technique.
'Shadow clones, huh? No way would you have learned this technique off from the Forbidden scroll. Kakashi must have taught it to you.' thought Naruto as he assessed his current situation. He gave a one hundred eighty degrees scan, from right to left, from the corners of the vision. The mask tends to narrow the field of his eyesight.
'Kage Bunshin.'
The word played out in all of the Sand-nins' minds as they saw the Leaf trademark Jutsu. For Baki's students, it was their first time seeing such technique. They had heard a lot of things about it, but never actually saw it first hand.
"So these clones are actual flesh and blood?" asked Hirami at her teammate, Takagi.
"Yes." Answered Takagi, "They sweat, get tired, and give out body heat. Practically like the real thing. They say these things have a mind of their own. Simply obeying orders of the original one, or they all share the same mind. I don't know."
'What an annoying move,' thought Kisame boringly.
'Seen it too many times,' thought Asami, 'WAY too many times.'
However, Kabuto was thinking, 'Oh, Sasuke learned Kage Bunshin? Oh well. Should have seen that one coming sooner or later.'
'His clones don't have a scroll in each of their mouths,' thought up Gaara. Of course, with his face expression, few would know he's actually thinking. 'Letting Naruto know where the real Sasuke is.'
The horde of Sasuke moved in, each one pulled out a kunai from their right thighs with their right hands. What sent Naruto curious was that the Sasuke clones from only his right side were coming in for the fight. The rest of them just readied themselves, as though waiting for something. Several possibilities flashed through Naruto's mind. Trying to push him to the other awaiting side? A simple distraction because of the scroll? Waves upon waves of clone attack out to tire him out? Perhaps it was something underneath the underneath?
Naruto decided to parry the attacks, dodging and attacking the Sasuke clones that were coming from his right. A straight punch with his right hand at a clone's gut had already destroyed the shadow clone, and Naruto bended the same right hand as he quickly elbowed another Sasuke straight at the face. None of the Shadow clones managed to touch as he swiftly dodged each attack that the clones threw at him. Naruto bowed down reflexively as he dodged one Sasuke clone that attempted to give a roundhouse kick from the back. The Kyuubi vessel grabbed on to the clone's leg, and swung him like a baseball bat. Most of shadow clones from the first wave poofed out of existence as they collide, and Naruto finished by letting go and threw the Kage Bunshin at another unsuspecting clone.
"Impressive Taijutsu," commented an ANBU. "Not even a scratch or hit."
"This guy over there that you're talking about may be Uchiha Itachi," reminded the ANBU leaf-nin with the raven mask. "An Uchiha who finished the Ninja Academy at the age of 7, tapped the powers of the Sharingan at the age of 8, promoted to Chuunin at the age of 10, Jounin at the age of 12, and joined ANBU at the age of only 13."
Sakura looked slightly worried after hearing the information from the ANBU not too far away from her. Kakashi tried to reassure and calm her down with a happy expression and a pat on the shoulders. She seemed pretty convinced as she continued looking at her precious teammate and prayed for the best.
'Damn, he's not even moving from his place.' cursed Sasuke silently. 'I need to push him further.'
More of the Sasuke clones moved in, this time from the front and back of Naruto. Naruto saw this one coming, and did a back flip over the rest of the Sasuke clones that were readied on his left. He landed perfectly on both feet as his mud covered Sand cloak hit the ground. He held out his right hand out from the under the cloak, and looked like he was staring at the palm of his hand.
'Come on, Sasuke. This is what you call not holding back?' taunted Naruto all to himself and Kyuubi in the recess of his head.
Chakra pulsed and concentrated at the palm of Naruto's right hand as it spun round and round. It was looking like an incomplete stage 2 Rasengan as violent wind blew from the center of his palm. All of the Leaf-nins couldn't believe their eyes as the swirl of wind spiraled in the Sand ANBU captain's hand.
"Rasengan…." recognized Tsunade with awe.
Naruto clenched his fingers altogether into a fist, crushing the imperfect sphere in turn. Gaara, Kankurou, and the rest of the Sand ANBU elites realized what he was going to do the moment he closed his fingers into a fist. The violent wind didn't vanish away as it now began spinning around Naruto's entire right arm. The ANBU guard with the Byakugan knew something was up.
He said, "He's concentrating chakra in his right arm. They're flowing at a fast pace right in the chakra coils in his arm."
Tsunade sighed in disappointment. She thought that she must have really been missing the prankster 'brother' of hers.
'Whatever it is, I won't let you finish It.' thought Sasuke as he realized that he'd been giving time to Naruto to perform a Jutsu.
He ordered all of his clones to rush in towards his so-called brother with no hesitation. The shadow clones at the back jumped outwards towards their target like a tiger pouncing out of a bush. The shadow clones on the front lines that were still on the ground, continued to run with the sharp ninja weapon in their hands. It was like a sudden tsunami wave, an attack from up high and ground below at the same time. No matter how good a Taijutsu the ANBU was, he couldn't possibly take on all clones at once. It wasn't the usual clones waiting in turns to fight him on and on.
Naruto was ready as he rotated to a full spin, with his hand out.
Sakura sworn that she had seen that exact move somewhere. Her memories flashed over her vision as a Temari image overlapped Naruto in a stance that she would use every time blowing with her battle fan.
The effects were just that.
All of the Sasuke clones didn't see that one coming. Violent winds gushed out and blew from where Naruto stood as it struck down on the Uchiha clones. Every single one of them was blown up high into the air. Well those that already jumped into the air were blown off even higher then the rest. As they were carried of by the gust, their skins began to begin to bleed as cuts opened up like countless invisible kunais had struck them. All of the Shadow clones poofed out of existence before they could even hit the ground. The trees not too far behind them, those that surrounded the entire Team 7 training grounds, suffered several cuts on the bark and branches.
Sasuke, whom ran out of the gust of wind's path the moment he saw his clones flying, was now panting heavily as he crouched down, hiding behind a tree. He had managed to seek protection at the very last minute. The very tree he saw Naruto got hung to during his bell test. He came to a conclusion as he tried to catch his breath, 'A Fuuton (Wind Element) Jutsu.'
"SUGOII! (Incredible)" exclaimed Hirami out loud in content. "He performed a Kamaitachi without even using a battle fan!"
Her eyes twinkled with stars in admiration towards the Sand's ANBU captain. He was far beyond cool in her opinion. Her teammates, Takagi and Chiro, couldn't express such feat any better. They just stood there among the spectators, just trying to comprehend the technique performed right before their eyes. A Kamaitachi, done with no aid of a battle fan whatsoever.
"Heh," puffed out Kankurou. He remembered seeing Naruto perform his first Kamaitachi back in Suna. 'He sure pissed off Temari back then when he learned that technique down in just only two days. TWO DAYS. Temari tried to play him off a bit, purposely not telling him that he needed a battle fan to perform such technique. She didn't stop ranting and sulking for a whole week after he pulled it off.'
Kakashi and the ANBU with the Byakugan (I'll just write him wearing an owl ANBU mask) saw the blue chakra induced in the wind that was blown by the Sand ANBU guard.
Naruto surveyed the landscape, and could already sense Sasuke hiding behind the tree. Either it was because of his ragged breathing or quick heartbeat, he didn't care. He didn't want to depend too much on his acute senses. This was an all out battle between him and Sasuke; he'd fight this on fair grounds. Sasuke wasn't using the Curse Seal, so Naruto didn't want to tap into the Kyuubi enhanced senses or even the demon fox's chakra. Besides, it would blow his cover if he did. The Kyuubi vessel knew he was right behind there, no questions asked. He slowly walked towards the tree, unknown what Sasuke had in store for him.
'That's right, Onii-san, just walk right in.' chanted Sasuke in his thoughts. He was dead serious, no more fooling around.
Naruto walked step-by-step, getting closer and closer until he just stopped a few feet away. Waiting for Sasuke to make the next move, Naruto charged up his hand with swirling winds of chakra once again. Sasuke thought that it was now or never, the outcome of lifetime hatred between the two Uchiha siblings would be settled right here, right now.
'Guess this is as close as it gets.' noted Sasuke to himself. He's eyes could sense the intense chakra flow from behind the tree. The Uchiha rolled out from behind the tree as
another whirlwind of Kamaitachi struck the tree. Again, managing to dodge the attack, he crouched down on the ground with his Sharingan eyes locked on the Sand ANBU captain. He had managed to make a large distance from him and Naruto. Sasuke dropped the scroll onto the ground as both hands opened the scroll out wide horizontally like a red carpet in front of him. His right hand hovered right above the surface of the paper, already waiting for something to pop out.
"BOOM!"
(I'm not good with sound effects, okay? The might sound corny like some comic, just bear with it okay?)
A large smoke explosion had blasted right from the scroll, obscuring Naruto's view from seeing his sparring opponent. The smoke was definitely too much, it kind of remembered Naruto of Konohamaru's mistake in adding too much gunpowder to his smoke bombs. Naruto, Asami, Kabuto, and Kisame already had their eyes looking up in the air. The rest of the spectators just realized what they're looking at as they followed suit.
Uchiha Sasuke was high up in the air, with something large in his hands. It looked like a blade of some sort, but Naruto recognized it in an instance.
"Fuuma Shuriken," said Sasuke as the blade slowly opened up to a large four pointed, aerodynamically designed Shuriken, the Evil wind Shuriken Shadow windmill.
He mustered all the necessary strength needed as he threw the large Shuriken right at Naruto. It spins at an incredible velocity, far much faster then he threw one at Momochi Zabuza on his first C ranked mission. It was a little challenging as the black shuriken sailed in the air at night. Naruto was expecting the large projectile to split in two in the half run towards him. The Sand ANBU captain was taken by surprised when the Fuuma Shuriken just blew up into another black smoke right when the shuriken was supposed to split in two.
All his senses suddenly spiked up to its full capabilities, though still not assisted by Kyuubi, when he knew had to somehow expect something new. His ears could hear the whirling metals cutting through the air, while his nose picked off the minuet odor of cold hard iron in the air. Naruto saw several shadowy figures burst out from the cloud of smoke, and he began counting them off.
'Four…five...no…six Fuuma Shurikens,' finished Naruto as his eyes turned to every one of them in a blur.
'This should prove to be entertaining….' mused Kyuubi as the demon fox laid back in Naruto's body, enjoying the first point view of the fight.
Two of them tried to hit him at the same time, one from the right while another from the left. The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki had to perform a back flip as he easily dodged the two Fuuma Shuriken. Just when he was in mid air, another one made its way straight at his chest. Naruto whipped out a Kamaitachi in haste as he blew that one up with his left hand in to the starry night sky.
The spectators aside from the battlefield watched on, Sasuke was pulling out the best Uchiha techniques that the clan was famous for. The genius usage of Shinobi projectiles, and they were still waiting for the great Katon Jutsus that the Uchiha specialized in.
Naruto landed on his feet and palm of his hands, crouched down like a fox that was ready to pounce. He heard the three Fuuma Shuriken he had encountered earlier hit the ground, and was already waiting for the other three. He noticed Sasuke was falling, with all ten fingers stretched out apart much like frog's. The three Fuuma Shurikens were still cutting through the night sky, bending and making turns like a group of vultures. Naruto could barely see the flashes of the moonlight in a thin line in the air making out from his fingers. The ANBU captain then realized what it was .
'Wires….?' thought up Naruto curiously.
Sasuke was controlling all of them using the thin wires from his fingers like a puppeteer. Uzumaki Naruto then saw the large Fuuma Shurikens diving down towards him as Sasuke bit the wires from his fingers. Sasuke steered the first and third Shuriken as he tugged the wires up with his teeth. The Sand ANBU captain saw one coming from his right, one from his left side of his back, and the last one from the right side of his back. He was like standing in the center on a triangle, where all three Fuuma Shurikens were coming from each corner.
Naruto performed a few hand seals under his cloak as slammed both palms hard on the grass. Suddenly got air raised from the ground, blowing his dirty cloak upwards and his hood fluttered violently. Yet the hood never fell back, he wasn't worried that the Leaf-nin spectators would see his bright yellow blonde hair at all. It was already dark, and the gust of wind was obscuring his whole body from view. The harsh cold winds that raised from the air were twirling like a small typhoon, Naruto in its eye, rebounding off all three Shurikens as they were blown off.
"You show him, Sasuke-kun." cheered on Sakura was she saw the last attempts of the shurikens fail before her eyes. He wasn't going to give up, and neither was she going to stop cheering him on.
Meanwhile, the three ANBU members of the Sand were watching on without the slightest of worry in their minds or heart.
'You've come a long way, Naruto.' Thought Asami as she watched her lover fight on. He never worried her if he was ever going to lose a fight or his life. 'A long way….'
--Begin Flashback--
"So you must be the Kyuubi vessel everyone's been talking about." said Asami as she gave a looked at Naruto for the first time.
Naruto just laid sprawled on the cold cave floor, breathing heavily with only his orange pants and shinobi boots on. He had just received his first dose of the seal lunatic Sakai's seal a few minutes ago, and was still recovering. The Kyuubi vessel slowly turned on his back, and crawled his way to the corner of his prison. He rested his back on the cave walls, paying no attention whatsoever to the girl that crouched outside the prison bars.
"Not what I expected, you look really weak. I bet I can kick your butt without even breaking a sweat." smiled Asami as she continued on looking at Naruto.
Naruto gave a look at Asami, but didn't say anything. He only talked to Kyuubi, 'Great…another pretty looking kunoichi. Just when things couldn't get any worse.'
The fox demon laughed to his heart's content.
'They all look good on the outside, but she's probably just like the others. Just like bitchy Sakura and the rest of those stupid villagers. How I hate people….' continued on Naruto as he looked intently at Asami. The kunoichi didn't know what he was thinking.
'And you ask me why I go destroying and rampaging human civilizations.' Added Kyuubi as the demon recovered from its laughter.
Asami searched her pockets for a few seconds, and finally found what she was looking for. She pulled out a necklace with a small rectangular, green precious stone hanging in between two small, white pearls. She dangled it in her right hand, in between the prison bars as she showed it at Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto was a little angry with himself, not being able to protect his only treasure of his few precious people. He had already his headband that Iruka had given to him. He didn't value it as symbol of Konohagakure and how he was related to it. It was more of treasured item passed down to him.
"This is yours right?" asked Asami. The necklace swung back and forth in her hand like a pendulum.
The daughter of Raetsu teased Naruto, "Never thought a boy, a shinobi of all sorts, would accessorize himself with jewelry. It really looks pretty and expensive, good taste for a boy. You sure you're not a girl?"
She laughed as Naruto continued looking at her, probably cursing in his mind. She was surprised when Naruto flashed a foxy grin from under the shadows.
"Look who's talking, -pant- a group of scary S-Ranked missing-nins decorating themselves by wearing -pant- a golden ring." replied Naruto happily. He stopped as he took another deep breath. He was still breathing hard, and continued on, "Let's not forget the clear purple nail polish that each one of them have on their fingers. And those dorky fashion hats and robes."
Asami didn't know what to say, as the Kyuubi vessel was having his turn of laughing at her. She was some how angry, and thought hard upon Naruto's comment. She took Naruto by surprise as she laughed along side him after a few seconds later. She was laughing just as hard, unknown to her that Kyuubi was laughing at her in Naruto's head.
Her laughter slowly died down, long after Naruto had stopped.
"I never thought of it that way…you got me there." chuckled Asami with the necklace still in her hands.
Naruto was puzzled by the girl's behavior. She put away the necklace back in her pocket as she slowly got up from the floor. She still had her eyes on Naruto the whole time, and finally turned as she took the resting torch out from its handle in the cave wall. She made her way to the exit, and stopped just as she was going to leave.
"You know what? You're really interesting--" bade Asami with a seductive smile, "for such a weakling."
The blazing red haired kunoichi finally left as she stepped out from the prison chambers, and made her way down back to her father.
'I think she likes you…' teased the Nine Tailed demon fox followed after another laugh.
Kyuubi was like laughing most of the time now, Naruto thought that the Bijou was finally going mad after being imprisoned for twelve and half years in total darkness. Much in his own current status at the moment. He was starting to think about himself, was he really that interesting? He already heard that from Tsunade, Jiraiya, and the Kyuubi himself.
'Whatever…'
Fast forward (We're still in flashback, people)
Uzumaki Naruto skidded off the ground after being violently blown away by a harsh blizzard. This was the third time. He was still only wearing only his worn out pants and shinobi boots. There were blisters and cuts over his back, but it healed in a second flat. The Kyuubi vessel just had his third trial run on a B-Ranked Hyouton (Ice type) Jutsu. Raetsu wasn't pleased with the result, and had struck him with a blizzard. Naruto was shivering as he just sat on the ground, looking at his current mentors that stood tall in front of him. He would have died from frostbite if it weren't Kyuubi. Failing to perform the necessary basics had already brought chill down to his bones. Well, the demon fox was just idly sitting comfortably with his head resting on his front paw.
Raetsu had a serious look on his face, radiating a power and cold air like he was some sort of refrigerator at the moment. He didn't look pleased with what just happened. The three of them were in Naruto's mindscape, an altered one. The place was a never-ending horizon of grassy plain and blue sky. Everything would seem perfect except for the few huge craters, icicle shards protruding out of the ground like trees, and a blanket of snow covering a few places here and there.
Naruto really hated all this constant non-stop training. Even in his own mind, he could feel every single pain administered to his body. Learning from a bijou and three Akatsuki members definitely taught him a whole new meaning to the word 'Pain'. Kyuubi told him that it was the only way he could let the mind training affect his body. The fox explained that it was much like the reverse of how the five senses work. How sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch relays from the body parts, travel through the body via neurons and spinal cord (Naruto had no idea what they meant until they beat him to it), and goes to the brain. Well, the training in his mind somehow causes his brain to send messages to the parts of his body, and causing them to change at a fast pace.
"Get up." ordered Raetsu as Naruto slowly got up. "Again."
Just when Naruto started to perform the first hand seal, the three of them saw Asami suddenly walked out from thin air. The kunoichi seemed to be enjoying herself, watching Naruto working his ass off. She made her way to her father, and finally delivered the message.
"Otou-san, Raiha is calling you for another mission." said Asami after a bow of respect.
Raetsu looked past his daughter, right at Naruto. Now he had to go on a mission, leaving the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki all alone with the fox demon and his daughter. He could bring her with him on his mission like he always did, however it was for the best to have her to have a look on things while he was away. Itachi and Kisame had their missions to handle and Naruto would once again continue his studies with his Bijou. It was what he had expected; none of them were having regular turns in teaching as planned before. It was all messed up; one would just teach when they had the opportunity. So far, Kisame and Itachi had been teaching theirs quite fairly, Kyuubi as well since he had the most time. But Raetsu had a lot in mind to teach the boy, yet he just never had the time.
"Asami, looks like you'll have to teach Naruto while I'm away." sighed Raetsu as he looked intently at Asami.
"I get teach him…?" asked Asami who somehow seemed that she couldn't believe what she just heard. She looked back at Naruto who was lying down flat on the grassy plain.
"This is going to be fun…."
"Fun, huh? You can teach him any Hyouton Jutsu you want. But just don't waste his time trying to teach him things that he couldn't possibly learn. Kyuubi-" Raetsu stopped as he gave a glance at the gigantic fox. "Kyuubi-sama wouldn't want any time wasted. It's better to teach him a few A-Ranked Jutsus than spending too much time just letting him to understand the basics of a S-Ranked Jutsu."
"Sure." replied Asami. She already had a few Jutsus lined up for Naruto to learn. "I know just the perfect techniques."
Raetsu disappeared in front of her eyes in the blink of eye, already returning back to his body. Asami had a mischievous grin as she turned her attention at the blonde ninja whom slowly raised himself to a sitting position.
"Come on, get up." called on Asami.
"So what now?" asked Naruto.
"Like my father said, I'll be teaching you until either Itachi or Kisame returns from their mission." answered Asami in a bossy stance. Her right hand on her waist while her left was just beside her hip.
"Great…just great." complained Naruto as his face gave out a bored expression.
His eyes widen in surprise when several ice crystal kunais zoomed their way towards his face. Suddenly his hand whipped out a simple katana from out of nowhere, and began deflecting off every single ice projectile.
"Looks like Kisame is doing a good job in teaching you." commented Asami as she watched her crystal clear kunais fall down to the ground.
"Yeah, and there's a lot where that came from." bragged Naruto with his foxy grin as he pointed out the edge of the sword at her.
"Don't get too cocky," said Asami.
"Enough fooling around. Start teaching…I mean torturing him already." interrupted Kyuubi as he lashed out his tails into the air.
"That didn't come out right," commented Naruto.
"No, it came out perfectly fine. Just how I wanted to." thought of the nine-tailed demon fox. "Now shut up, brat! Pay attention!"
"I'm going to teach you some A-Ranked Hyouton Jutsus." started off Asami. She paused for a second and gave a seductive smile. "Let's make this more fun. The wager is the necklace. If you can master each Jutsu in just under four days, I'll give you back the necklace."
"If I don't?" asked Naruto curiously.
"I get to keep it. No chance of getting it back. Even if you'd follow me around for the rest of your life after all of this is over," answered Asami with a glee. "Deal?"
"Deal," confirmed Naruto. He now had his determined face, and the Kyuubi couldn't help be entertained by such agreement. It was like the gamble of the necklace with Tsunade all over again.
Raetsu's daughter then held out her right hand and pointed it at Naruto looked at it.
"This Jutsu doesn't require hand seals, so you don't have to worry about Itachi copying it. But I bet you its far more than difficult than you're Rasengan. Here's the first one."
With that, Asami flicked her thumb and middle finger together. In a flash, Naruto could barely sense the sudden outburst of chakra from her fingers.
She only whispered a single word, "Freeze,"
--End Flashback--
The typhoon that had been blowing around Naruto died down as the final three Fuuma Shurikens were deflected back to the ground. The Sand ANBU captain could already see Sasuke standing there, with his hands just hanging to rest. The Uchiha had let go off the wires when he saw Naruto slammed his palms on the ground. At such speed, the rebounded Fuuma Shurikens would have pulled the wires and cut or pulled his fingers off.
"Don't think its over yet," smiled Sasuke as he just jumped away several feet more.
The moment he landed on the green grass, five of the Fuuma Shurikens that was stuck on the ground exploded into smoke like a smoke bomb. Naruto gave a full three hundred sixty degrees of view as he turned around a complete spin. Looking at every clearing smoke, he finally ended back where he started, where Uchiha Sasuke was standing.
Naruto was standing the middle of it all: five out the six shurikens had landed all around him.
'Show me, Sasuke-teme (bastard)' chanted Naruto, 'Show me what you got.'
The smoke cleared as a cold breeze of the night blew it away, revealing all of them to be more Sasuke shadow clones. All of them had something in both of their hands, including the real Sasuke. Then, in perfect synchronization, all six of them threw four shurikens right at him. The shurikens were tied by wires to each of their hands like the Fuuma Shuriken, and turned around as they were steered. The flying projectiles had turned and wrapped Naruto up, as he bounded tight in the middle. He looked like he was a bull that had been lassoed by surrounding cowboys.
Naruto tried to move, but to no avail. All six Sasuke pulled the wires away as the wires began to tighten their captive even further. They raised their right leg and stomped down hard on the wires into a lock. The sudden strain caused Naruto to bent down on his knees, with hands bound at the thighs. Uzumaki Naruto couldn't even twitch his fingers, and he was knelt down on the ground.
"This ends here, Onii-san." said Sasuke adjusted the wires for his hands to be free. So he could start making a few hand seals. "I know this is not going to kill you. But the pain and burn marks will forever remind you of what you did for the rest of your life."
Naruto once again tried to move, but to no avail. He could even move his fingers, let alone perform hand seal.
'So he's going use that Katon again huh?' thought Naruto even under such predicament. 'Things have been a little entertaining, teme. Guess I'll get serious too.'
'How are you going to escape out of this one, Naruto?' asked Gaara as though expecting Naruto to hear his thoughts.
Tsunade expected that Gaara was going to intervene and end the whole match right about now. Before Sasuke could even finish his chain of hand seals. But it never came. She was intrigued that all the Sand-nins remained calm yet excited in the same time. They had a look of pure confidence on their faces, knowing no matter what that their Sand ANBU captain was going to escape unharmed.
'What trick will you pull out now?' questioned Kisame under his mask in excitement.
'I've never seen you in such predicament, Naruto.' Smiled Kabuto under the red decorated cat ANBU mask.
Asami smiled even wider, 'You show them, Naruto. Show the power you've rightfully earned.'
"Come on, come on, come…" chanted Hirami full heartedly. Baki and his other two students just looked serious than ever.
Tsunade turned her head from the Sand ANBU elites, only to hear her shinobi call out the punishment.
"Katon! Ryuuka no Jutsu! (Fire Element: Dragon Flame Technique.)"
There it was, the fire elemental Ninjutsu that could be performed by all Uchiha clan elites. Every Leaf-nin knew that it was that it was the second strongest Katon technique right after the Karyuu Endan (Fire Dragon Combo), which was performed by Sandaime Hokage (the Third). Chakra was fully concentrated in the Uchiha's mouth, then converted into fire, and letting it all shoot out in a long jet of flames.
A large jet stream of flame blew out; burn its way fast on the wires like it was covered in gasoline towards Naruto. The sudden bursts of flame totally lighten the dark atmosphere, causing their spectators to close and shield their eyes away. Their eyes hurt a little from the flash of light, as it adjusted to the sudden light intensity. When the flames finally touched Naruto's dirty cloak, the Sand ANBU captain exploded right in that spot like a match falling into a barrel of gunpowder. The spectators heard it clear after shielding their eyes, but Sasuke still keep both eyes on the burning mass.
The fire crackled as it began burning off, specks of burning matter blew up to the sky probably from the warm rising air or cold night breeze.
"I know you're not dead Onii-san! Orochimaru didn't die from this technique!" shouted Sasuke as he watched the fire burn on. "I knew you're by far much stronger than him! He fled from Akatsuki because of you!"
Sasuke didn't want to kill his brother, but he at least want to hear him shout out loud in pain. Even Orochimaru shouted when he was burned back when Sasuke performed the technique in the Forest of Death.
He just wanted to hear him cry in pain, much how he'd been through ever since Uchiha massacre.
Kakashi gave a look at Kisame and the other two Sand ANBU elites. Kisame noticed the attention, and looked back at the man of the Thousand Jutsus. He just gave a wave of hello as he turned back to watch the fight continue on. Sakura was the only Leaf-nin that didn't notice the slight gesture, and the rest of the Leaf-nins seemed troubled.
'What does this all mean?' thought Kakashi, Tsunade and Shizune. Question popped up in their minds. 'Was this an infiltration in Suna, and get their hands on Shukaku that was sealed in Gaara? But the Sand was fully aware of the existence of Akatsuki…Or something already happened in Akatsuki? What about Naruto and Jiraiya?'
Sasuke performed another once again, "Katon! Ryuuka no Jutsu!"
And again, the fire traveled down the fire from his hands towards Naruto. Again. Naruto burst into flames once more. The fires now crackling ever louder and bigger as another jet of flames were added. All the spectators watched on, as though it was a celebration where it was a huge open fire. The majestic fire entranced Baki's students not too far for them. All of them thought that they saw the burning figure move, but it was really nothing. It dropped face first onto the black, burned ash ground like it was dead. Sasuke and the five shadow clones looked at it, expecting it to move more. But it never came.
Then the all-usual annoying sound entered his ears.
POOF!
The smoke that erupted out from the figure had cleared away, revealing nothing more than a badly burned ashen log.
"IMPOSSIBLE! THERE'S NO FUCKING WAY!" cursed Sakura out loud in reaction.
The rest of the spectators were too busy to even think about the pink haired kunoichi's choice of words. They were too busy trying to think how in the world had the Sand ANBU captain had pulled out a kawarimi (replacement) right before their eyes. Of course, ninja could perform and replace a kawarimi in their place. That is if they could even move. But Naruto couldn't even move an inch at all. Asami, Kisame, and Kabuto thought a few possibilities like that thing were nothing more than another clone or something.
"Kakashi-sensei, Tsunade-sensei, how's that even possible!" asked Sakura in disbelief. She turned to her teachers and demanded an answer or explanation. "He was long tied down, there's no way he could have moved away and left a kawarimi in his place. Even Orochimaru couldn't escape back when we encountered him in the forest death."
All the Konoha shinobi agreed with her, there was no possible way. The Sand Chuunins looked at Baki, waiting for an answer or explanation on what had happened.
They didn't have the time as a few bubbles raised and burst at the surface of the river. Sasuke looked between the burning log, and the river. He noticed a hole on the ground where the log had stood, and thought that the Sand ANBU captain had used a Doton (Earth type) Jutsu. More bubbles rose to the surface of the water, and the brother of Uchiha Itachi expected an attack coming. Naruto jumped out of the river and landed a few feet right away from Sasuke. Asami, Kabuto, and Kisame thought that they've never seen their captain and friend in such condition.
Uzumaki Naruto was now soaking wet, most of his clothes were burned to a coal black color in, and the edges of his cloak and sleeves were singed. His Oni mask had melted badly, revealing a little skin of the forehead and left eye. Sakura and Sasuke instantly remembered him as Orochimaru right after the attack in the Forest of Death. Sasuke could feel a cold killing intent slowly radiating itself from the really pissed ANBU captain. There were probably scorch marks all over his skin, as they heard a hiss of pain coming from him.
Asami, Kisame, and Kabuto thought that this couldn't be the Kyuubi vessel. They've never seen him like this. Well, Asami and Kisame thought that it was last time they'll see him like this ever since his Akatsuki training. Sure, he's probably telling Kyuubi not to heal his injuries so that he wouldn't have his cover blown. He just couldn't be. Right?
"When you play with fire, you're going to get burned. Didn't your mother ever teach you that?" taunted Sakura. She didn't care if this person was Sasuke's brother or not.
She sensed the killing intent, but it wasn't only coming from the Sand ANBU captain alone. It was coming right next to her. She, along the rest of the Leaf-nins, turned to the direction where the killing intent was coming from. It was coming from the Sand-nins.
It was really something, coming from them.
Asami, Kisame, Kabuto, and even Gaara were looking right at her. Kankurou just looked disgusted and pissed upon her words, but with the Kabuki face paint, it had added an extra effect. Gaara was glaring at her, with the scary eyes that he used to have three years ago back in the Chuunin exam. She swore that she saw his eyes flicker in yellow or was it a trick of the eyes reflecting the still burning fire. She couldn't fully describe the killing intents coming from the three.
In short, it was inhumane. A predatory glare coming from all three, Asami's was a cold one, Kisame's was an animalistic one, yet Kabuto had the death glare that would rival even Orochimaru in her opinion. Sasuke was distracted by the coming sense of hatred, while Naruto side glanced from the only remaining eyehole on his Oni mask.
"Stop it."
All the spectators were startled by the simple words, they was coming from the Sand ANBU. The killing intents slowly died down from the side of the Sand, but now the Sand Elites and their Kazekage gave out a feeling of frustration at him. He was playing around too much, WAY too much. He'd never play around except only with Asami, Kabuto, Kisame, and the Sand siblings. Naruto just giggled in heart. Sasuke took the opportunity to unbutton another upside down pocket of his Chuunin vest. Another small white scroll dropped into his awaiting hands. Sasuke was down to a third of his chakra capacity, and he was just to muster most of them into this Jutsu.
"I must say, Kakashi, I'm really impressed with that student of yours. Uchiha Sasuke has developed a lot of stamina and increased his chakra capacity greatly over the following years." praised Tsunade at the Jounin instructor.
"I'm quite surprised myself." replied Kakashi happily. "He had managed to perform the Suiryuudan, Daibakufu, the Seirei Jashuu, TWO Chidori, a mass number of Kage Bunshin, and two Ryuuka."
"And he still has the chakra and stamina to fight on." added Sakura in support of her teammate. "Sasuke-kun was all tired out after performing a single Ryuuka no Jutsu back in the Forest of Death."
Sai, however, decided to be the one that spoils the mood, "Still, he's starting too tire out. That ANBU captain over there isn't even breaking a sweat."
Sakura, Kakashi, Tsunade, and even some of the ANBU Konoha shinobi didn't seem pleased with what he just said. All in all, even the shinobis of Suna had to agree with Kakashi and Tsunade. The precious Uchiha had stamina and the large chakra capacity.
But compared to Kisame's own, he'd been far outmatched in every way. Let alone compare to what the Kyuubi vessel had developed over time. Naruto's chakra alone was already higher than Kisame's chakra, even if the ex-Swordsman of the Mist had converted his stamina into chakra.
Uchiha Sasuke opened up the scroll like the previous one, and laid it open on the ground. The Uchiha prodigy then bit his right thumb efficiently as it was now bleeding out from the small bite. It was as though Sasuke had done it over a hundred times over and over and got it down perfectly. He then used raised his left sleeve all the way to his elbow, revealing a black snake tattoo around his arm. Naruto knew what was Sasuke had in his mind the moment he bit his thumb. Sasuke slide his bleeding thumb across the open scroll, leaving a long trail of blood on it. The paper instantly rolled back into the scroll, and Uchiha Sasuke grabbed it into his left hand.
It was going to be a Kuchiyose no Jutsu (summoning technique).
"Call out your clones if you want." challenged Sasuke. "It wouldn't make a difference."
'I already did,' replied Naruto to Kyuubi. The Nine tailed Demon Fox was really enjoying this, and he had the front seat unlike the Leaf-nins and Sand-nins.
More and more Sand ANBU captains raised out of the ground like zombies, while more jumped out of river. It was a mixture of the original Naruto hidden with dozens and dozens of mixed Suna Bunshin (Sand clone) and Mizu Bunshin (Water clone). Sasuke didn't seem to care even a single one of them.
"I don't know how you are able to trick the Sharingan, Onii-san." Stated Sasuke in serious manner. "Probably you've managed to master everything there is about the Sharingan. But I've realized something. You…"
Naruto was interested what he had to say, thinking that he actually knew everything like he always did. He just waited, already hearing and hiding from his spot in the whole training area of Team 7.
"You're too dependent on that Sharingan of yours!" shouted Sasuke.
Asami, Kisame, and Kabuto were slightly confused upon the Uchiha's statement. Kakashi, Sakura, and Tsunade looked proud and smug as they heard Sasuke move in for the technique. Uchiha Sasuke then slid his bleeding thumb on the snake tattoo on his left arm, and slammed both hands with the scroll under it to the ground. Naruto saw the intricate lines of seals spreading out of the scroll and into the ground.
"Doton: Doton Tsuiga no Jutsu (Earth Element: Earth Tracking Fang Technique)!"
Naruto had never know about this being Kakashi's technique, let alone see it first hand. It was his first time, an earth type Jutsu utilizing summonings. He was even more curious what the technique would do to him, after hearing the name of the technique. He sensed chakra and something else in the ground, a lot of them, spreading underground. It was quickly making its way towards the Sand ANBU captain. Naruto tried to jump up into the air, but there was sudden cracking and soon something burst out from the under the grass and soil.
It was a snake.
More specifically, it was a pit viper with black and brown scales covering its head and entire body. It quickly wrapped around Naruto's left leg and finally locked into its victim by sinking both of its fangs right into the Sand ANBU captain's knee. Naruto fell down hard, while another snake burst out from the ground as it wrapped the other leg. This time, it was a larger snake, an adder with cocoa brown scales on the back. It did the same thing, biting the other joint of the leg with its long fangs. Naruto heard louder explosions coming behind him, and turned his head as much as he could to see three more snakes coming right at him.
The largest one was an anaconda as it wrapped around Naruto's body twice and gave a huge bite on his right shoulder. A boa constrictor snaked its way around Naruto's left hand, and bit hard on the wrist. The same thing happened at Naruto's right, except it was a golden brown python. All five reptiles tightened themselves around their captive, rendering him immobile. Baki's students winced and were irked as they saw the snakes adjusting themselves to a more comfortable position, as hissing sounds broke the silence of the night. The spectators could see the glowing yellow of the snakes from a far. The sand clones and water clones dissolved away into the ground.
"Don't tell me, you helped him with that?" asked Tsunade.
Kakashi answered, "Yeah, I did. We kind of had to make alterations to it since the technique was actually my own Ninjutsu. But the name still applies, whether its snake fangs or dog fangs. I never copied it with my Sharingan."
"So that's what you two have been doing for the past week?" asked Sakura with a slight tinge of anger. "You let me and Sai do errands and simple C and B-Ranked missions all by ourselves. You could've just told us."
Sai didn't seem to care at all, but being the usual critic he is, he decided to talk. "It's still kind of slow. The snakes I mean. If the first one didn't catch the leg, he would've gotten away."
"I know." replied Kakashi. "But that technique is more of an element of surprise type. May be when you could sneak behind the enemy."
'Terrific.' mumbled Kisame in boredom. 'First it's Kage Bunshin. Now snakes. What's next? Finger puppets?'
The tallest Sand ANBU elite looked at Kankurou, thinking of all those puppets he had shown off back in Suna. It was fun watching them, but even better when he got to pester him about boys playing off with dolls.
'You have never played this much, Naruto.' thought off Asami in frustration. 'Two Jutsus already, you're just so….Aaaaargh! When I get my hands on you…this can't be you!'
Sasuke was now tired; he had exerted himself to the point of exhaustion. He slowly walked his way towards his snake stricken sparring partner. He was happy with himself, he'd managed take down his brother whom he had so hated and despised.
"Looks like I win, Onii-san." smirked Sasuke as he stood face to face with the ANBU captain. "You're lucky that I didn't order the two poisonous snakes that are currently wrapping your feet to let their venom enter your blood stream. It hurts? Doesn't it?"
The Sand ANBU captain remained silent, but a slight wince and curse could be heard. Having fangs embedded in his wrist and knees, Sasuke was already satisfied with the pain that he's brother feeling at the moment.
"This is nothing compared to the pain you've put me through after all these years." continued on Sasuke as he tried to achieve eye-to-eye contact. There were burn marks all over the revealed skin where the patches of clothes had been burned off. "I guess you're probably wondering how these snakes managed to find you behind all those clones, right?"
Naruto just remained silent. 'Guess this is where he gloats like he always do.'
Kyuubi couldn't help but tease, 'Want me to tell you the exact words he said back when he gloated and discovered the human mind trick, or Genjutsu as you call it, back in the Chuunin exam? Walking through some silly door, peh! Clearly a stupid way to test your wits."
"If you had performed a Kage Bunshin, may be you would have some chance. All of all clones that you know by copying with the aid of the Sharingan, you had to make Mizu Bunshin and Suna Bunshin. True, you managed to trick my Sharingan by the chakra flowing in each one. But all in all, you're the only one that's giving off body heat how a human would. These clones have their own body heat thanks to the chakra, but that sand or water are still the same; they're not real blood and living cells."
Sakura and the rest of the Konoha shinobi were happy for him. He'd finally managed and proved that he was over his revenge, and at the same time out wit one of the genius Uchiha to ever been born in Konoha. Well except of Tsunade.
She looked at the Sand-nins, and felt something was wrong judging from the calm behavior coming from Gaara, Kankurou, Baki, and the ANBU elites. Takagi, Chiro, and Hirami looked upset and angry. Her suspicions were proven where she heard a chuckle and quickly turned her attention back to the two sparring Ninjas. The Sand ANBU captain was shivering, the chuckling grew louder and louder every second. He was laughing when looked into the Sharingan of Uchiha Sasuke. Something was off. It could already be seen with the help of the fire that's still burning the kawarimi log.
The color of the Sand ANBU captain was now transparent.
How a typical Mizu Bunshin would be seen under the Sharingan.
Clear water in the shape of a human being, with electric blue chakra flowing within the human water figure. But then, the water changed color again. Blood vessels, organs, and vessels slowly appeared over the chakra pathways. (Picture this like a man turning invisible but you can see his muscles and veins before he completely turns invisible. Kind of sick when I think about it.) Skin finally covered over the skin, and there were the clothes over the skin. Then it suddenly reverted back into the clear water and chakra pathway form. It then kept repeating the process before Sasuke like a blinking light.
Sakura had always seen diagrams and charts of how the chakra system would look like in books and scrolls. But this was her first time to see it like that with her own two eyes.
"Is that how a Mizu Bunshin would look like….?" asked Sakura nervously.
"Yes, well…when he's in the water and chakra form…" answered Kakashi. After all his years of being an elite shinobi of the Leaf, he'd never seen such thing in his life. It was a phenomenon, much like his brief encounter of the gruesome Kyuubi in the forests of Fire Country.
"That is one sick thing to watch." commented Chiro like he was going to vomit.
'Lucky for us that's one of the least Jutsus he'd show off.' Said Kisame in his mind.
'Demonic knowledge. Manipulation of the elements.' thought up Asami. 'From water to blood. Elements manipulated to other matter, a completely whole level when compared to changing chakra to fire, ice, or any form of matter.'
The same annoying sound entered Sasuke's ears. The annoying small smoke explosion.
The burning log had turned back into the original Sand ANBU captain. He was burning all over like a stuntman in some action movie. But he just stood there like there was nothing at all. Naruto let a burst of chakra out of his whole body, which in turn just extinguished the fire. He didn't look anything like his clone that stood in front of Sasuke. His clothes and mask weren't even singed at all, though it was now covered in dried up mud. Realization dawned on the minds of the two Kage, Kakashi, Baki, and all the ANBU that were with them.
"He never dodged the Ryuuka no Jutsu. Both of them." said Kakashi in surprise.
"You were right when you said there was no way he could have performed the kawarimi." agreed Shizune. "But withstanding that…"
"I know what you mean." interrupted Tsunade. "He placed a Genjutsu that made we think he had placed a kawarimi."
"So he's been lying down on the ground, with his whole body on fire, and maintained a Genjutsu on all of us the whole time?" asked Sakura in disbelief.
"A powerful Genjutsu…" said the ANBU guard with a black raven mask. Sai and Sakura looked at him, waiting for him to explain what he meant.
"Don't forget you two. He placed a genjutsu on our Hokage and the Kazekage without even them noticing. Well Gaara seemed to not have noticed that he was also placed under the genjutsu. Even the Sharingan didn't detect the incoming jutsu, much less prepare Sasuke and me to perform a counter jutsu." explained Kakashi.
"But how about the time when both you and Sasuke were caught under some genjutsu that even lead to a coma?" asked the pink haired kunoichi. "You said that it was done both by Itachi."
"Magenkyou." answered Kakashi briefly. "You know, that odd Sharingan you and Sai saw me and Sasuke performed a while back.
"So he also used the Magenkyou Sharingan, then?" asked Sakura in astonishment. Kakashi noticed that Sai, Shizune, and the Leaf ANBU squad were interested. But the son of the Konoha White Fang didn't notice the three Sand ANBU elites.
"Magenkyou Sharingan. It's a completely whole different level of the Sharingan," stated Kakashi. "Apparently, Itachi thought that killing his best friend was the only way of obtaining the Sharingan."
"But Sasuke-kun proved him wrong." perked up Sakura a little. "You don't even have the Uchiha blood, yet even you can performed it."
"True. But remember, I was bed ridden for a whole weak because the strain it exerted on my body." said Kakashi as he remembered it like it was just yesterday.
The Magenkyou Sharingan had always made him bed ridden. His first encounter of it was when Itachi performed it shortly after his student's first Chuunin exam. They realized that Naruto was drawing something out from under his cloak. He was already in a position where his right hand pointed right towards Sasuke. Asami smiled as she remembered the posture. She knew it, since she taught it to him herself.
Naruto's thumb and middle finger flicked together, and whispered. "Freeze."
Sasuke didn't know how to react when he felt a flash in chakra outburst coming from his back and Naruto. Nothing happened when he kept on looking at Naruto, but he then felt something cold radiating off at his back. He turned around to see what it was. The Mizu Bunshin that was wrapped by five snakes was solid ice. Along with the anaconda and the rest of the snakes, they were now stuck as the fangs and some parts of them were frozen and encased in ice. Naruto already knew that the intense cold would eventually kill the snakes. He hated snakes, even though his fox 'siblings' loved eating them. So he decided to make it quick. He gave another flick of the fingers, and whispered again.
"Spikes."
Sasuke heard the flicking sound from the back, and watched as another burst of chakra flashed in the frozen Mizu Bunshin. His brain reflexively ordered his eyes to shut tight as blood sprayed on to Sasuke's face and shinobi clothes. When he opened back his eyes, he saw the once clear frozen water clone was now covered in huge jagged shards of ice. Protruded all over the place, instantly killing off all five snakes. A long shard of ice had made its way through the lower jaw of the python and out through its head. The rest didn't even need to be checked if they had survived. A bloody tail of snake was already hanging from a several branched out spikes that used to be the clone's left hand. Some blood was trailing down the ice as it mixed with the water that was starting to melt.
"Hyouton (Ice Element)…" whispered Kakashi in disbelief.
Sakura was now dumbfounded; the person that stood there not too far away from Sasuke was just unexplainable. The variety of elements he controlled from an earth dragon to the gruesome ice spikes. The fire didn't seem to hurt him one bit.
The whole thing had played out in a matter of seconds right in front of the spectators. It wasn't usual for Sand-nins to see ice type techniques. Heck, the other four elemental countries have never seen thing played out. Snow-nins were usually weak, that's why they aren't registered as one of the strongest shinobi countries, let alone a Hyoukage (Ice Shadow) as their leader.
"W-O-W." mouthed Chiro out in amazement. Baki's Chuunin slowly shook his head as he witnessed what had happened before his eyes.
Kabuto had seen it a few times, but he would be just as astounded every time he saw Naruto or Asami do one. He didn't exactly say 'wow' in his first time.
"I agree with you there, buddy. W-O-W." mumbled Takagi.
Their teammate kunoichi, Hirami, could just faint in happiness, Uzumaki Naruto had just blast off from her 'Cool Planet' rating.
Asami felt a little annoyed. 'Show off.'
Kisame was a little jealous from the stunt his friend and pulled off. He always wanted to be the center of attention, kind of childish in everyone's opinion. He remembered that Asuma and Kurenai would directly recognize Itachi with his Akatsuki hat off. Well, Kurenai took a while before she could say who Kisame was even with the hat off. Even with he factor that Itachi once came from Konohagakure.
'And he says not draw attention to ourselves.'
Naruto stretched out both his hands like he was a scarecrow. Asami and Kabuto panicked. They all thought the same thing when they saw him in the pose. 'Oh shit! He's got to be kidding.'
'Eheheh, let's see how long the Uchiha is going to last now.' snickered Kisame in delight. Only Gaara and few ANBU Sand-nins had seen him used it ever since he entered Suna.
A katana shot out from each sleeve, but Naruto's hands quickly grabbed upon each before it would shoot out even further. The Sand ANBU captain was now armed with a pair of katana blades. Most ANBU members from the elemental countries had a one sided katana strapped on their back. Most of the spectators were wondering where Naruto stashed his weapons away. They would think he'd started wielding the pair of katana ever since he joined ANBU, but in reality he had using them since Kisame taught him all about weapons. During his three non-stop years of training, he focused and had his eyes on using two-handed swords. He was no longer a right-handed person, that's why he's one of the few shinobis that had kunai and shuriken holster strapped on both thighs.
"Katanas?" asked Sasuke. He remembered his brother using a katana back when he was an ANBU member.
Sasuke drew the only kunai left, and took a guarding stance. "Come on. Onii-san."
There was no chance, even if hell was to freeze all over, would the Uchiha give up. He had few chakra and stamina left in him, and he wasn't going to give up fighting off his brother. Naruto knew his ex-teammate too well, how he was really stubborn even to admit absolute defeat.
'If only your brother were here to see all of this….' thought Naruto.
The Sand ANBU captain set loose the horrifying killing intent that once froze Kakashi and his band of Team 7 in their tracks earlier. It was like a shockwave, the intense intention of performing a kill ripped its way through the Uchiha and all the way to the standing spectators. It repeated over and over through the surrounding shinobis like a continuous ripple on the surface of a pond. Tsunade and Gaara were on standstill. Being a Sannin and Hokage, she could only resist the worse effects while Gaara only had Shukaku in him. However, Gaara could tell that even the one-tailed demon was a little scared.
Sweat trickled down his forehead, either from exhaustion slowly taking its toll and absolute fear. His eyes blinked when a sweat drop tried to flow down into his eyes. The moment he opened them, Uzumaki Naruto was long gone. A clash of metals broke out into the night sky, as the spectators watched on. But they didn't were the sound was coming from. In the second, the intense killing aura vanished like it was never there. However, it left everyone in shivers.
A rustle of the grass behind Sasuke caused him to turn around. He saw the Sand ANBU captain showing his back at him, as he slowly walked to the awaiting Sand-nins. He didn't give a back glance to Sasuke at all His two katanas surprisingly were cutting through the ground when he merely looked like he was just dragging them along. One would expect the blades to fall onto the ground when he let his hands go. It didn't, instead, it was sucked back up his sleeves and were gone like magic. No evidence that the pair of blades ever existed. It wasn't really a magnificent thing to behold about when ninjas were involved, especially ANBU. Like summonings, even items could be stowed away.
Sasuke was trying to figure what just happened when his Konoha head protector split in half and felt down right before his eyes. It hid the ground with a small thud. After all those times. He'd received for the first time when he graduated the Ninja Academy. It then had been scratched by Naruto at the Valley of the End on his first attempt to go to Orochimaru. How Sakura had kept it after all those times and gave it back to him since he returned to Konohagakure. Uchiha Sasuke could feel something warm trickling down his forehead, and it wasn't sweat.
It was his blood.
After all of them recovered from the killing aura, the Leaf-nins and Sand-nins looked at the sparring shinobis. The Leaf-nins and the Sand-nins saw a small laceration on the Uchiha's forehead with the help of the moonlight. His opponent had managed to cut his Konoha head protector in half, and managed to avoid a deep cut by leaving only a small laceration. It all happened so quick, even Tsunade was left in awe. Well, excluding the three Sand elites that is. The cut he had received was nothing three of the best medic-nins of Konoha couldn't fix.
The Sand ANBU captain was making his way with his other three teammates. Gaara's brother couldn't have been happier, as Naruto passed him. He gave a quick bow to Gaara though reluctantly.
"Game Over, Uchiha Sasuke." announced Kankurou with a smile.
Okay people, time to RATE and REVIEW! I'm sorry for taking such a long time. The fighting on this chap may suck. But this one had been the longest chapter yet. 21 PAGES! Thanks for sending the reviews. I really appreciate them. Please be kind and give your rating and review.