Human Sacrifices

by Tactician404

They were just children. How were they supposed to know the way the world worked? The politics, the brutality and subtexts of it all. At such a young age? It cost them their family, friends and even loved ones. Why were they forced to bear the brunt of becoming human sacrifices, weapons, jinchuuriki? Missing-Nin Naruto.

7. We'll Rest When We're Dead

CHAPTER SEVEN

We'll Rest When We're Dead!

XXX

Review Response

ayubayesha726: It was probably because I quickly deleted chapter six then reuploaded it, hopefully there are no problems with alerts for this chapter.

A10riddick: I don't want to make pairings and relationships the focus of the story, so all I can say at the moment is that they'll develop as the story develops.

FuuBestGirl: I usually use the XXX to indicate a change in scene or passage of time, but if you feel line breaks would be better then I don't mind using them instead for the rest of the fic.

XXX

"He's weak, I see the trail of blood," a samurai yelled. He opened one door after another in search of his target.

"The moment you see him, do not hesitate to gut him like a fish."

"Won't that release the Nine-Tails?"

"No, the Nine-Tailed Fox should die along with him. It'll be reborn a few years down the line, but it should give Lord Mifune enough time to enact his plan."

A samurai warrior threw open a door that hadn't been fully shut to see a thirteen-year-old blonde shinobi curled up into a ball. Their eyes met as the kid erupted, skin peeling off, jaw dislocating, chakra pouring out through every orifice. "I found…"

Deathly silence.

A flash of light.

Raw vibrations in the earth.

A rush of chakra.

And then, the sound. A quick and powerful bang followed by a steady roar that echoed throughout the clearing into the forest.

The fire went out. Trees lost their leaves. Han hit the floor. His lungs burning with every breath. This energy. It was so violent and visceral that it filled Han's mind with no emotions other than anger, rage, and hatred.

Kurama, the Nine-Tailed Fox, for the first time in thirteen years, was back.

Had the Nine-Tails been released? No, the way it formed implied that it hadn't been released all at once, but had formed around Naruto's body. Did Naruto just perform a completed tailed beast mode transformation?

Gaara slowly rose to his feet, followed by Fuu, and finally, Hinata. The Hyuuga princess, one hand over her mouth, gasped at the sight of the creature, "Is that… what's been in Naruto-kun all this time?"

Violent winds continued to rage on as the Nine-Tails looked to the skies and let out a roar. The deathly roar turned to Kurama spitting fire into the jet-black night sky. Kurama's bright red eyes landed on the other jinchuuriki as massive boulders and pieces of wood and flesh, now engulfed in fire, rained down on the clearing. The samurai tried to evade the meteorites but the sheer size of them meant a few got crushed.

"The Nine-Tails is loose! Take out its legs!" the remaining samurai had one last trick down their collective sleeve. It didn't matter though, no plan worked against Kurama, but it amused him to see them try. They threw a volley of kunai knives. Kurama watched them carefully. Explosive tags. All the paper bombs went off, exploding on Kurama's fur, but the beast was unfazed.

Four samurai appeared around Kurama's right foreleg. Another four around the beast's left hindleg.

"Four Way Chakra Sli-!"

Kurama jumped. He landed with so much force that he caused the earth to crack, rumble, and cave in on itself. Every attack felt pointless and, to be fair, it was. Only forty or so samurai remained. Kurama cut those numbers in half by slamming all nine of his tails on the ground, coating them in blood.

"Fuck it! Retreat!" with less than twenty men left, whoever was in charge, finally decided it was time to call it a night. Kurama let them leave. He turned his attention back to the jinchuuriki.

Han, Fuu, Gaara and Hinata could do nothing but watch. Three of those four people were jinchuuriki themselves, Han perfect, with Gaara and Fuu near perfection in their own right. But seeing Kurama in the flesh… he was just not of this world. The way he carried himself. With so much confidence and prestige, being in his presence made them feel unworthy. He had a swagger about him that no other tailed beast could even remotely emulate. He was the Nine-Tailed Fox, one of the nine strongest creatures in existence, an unstoppable being of pure chakra and destruction and the embodiment of negativity, and he made sure you knew that. With his transformation and body temperature, he melted all the ice and snow in a kilometre-wide radius. With his breath, he turned simple rubble to meteors, and they rained down inflicting several casualties. With his body weight, he caused the earth to tremble and split open. With his tails, he turned men into puddles of blood. When they threw explosive tags at him, where Kokuo and Choumei would've tried to evade and Shukaku would've tried to block, Kurama let them hit him just to instil a sense of hopelessness and despair in the hearts of his enemies. Dodging and blocking would've had the same effect, true, but taking a hit that would've wiped out a human army and not even flinching allowed him to show the samurai that they had no hope of victory. As soon as Kurama stepped foot on that battlefield, their chances of winning that battle instantly dropped down to zero, and that was what a tailed beast was supposed to be. A battle-ender. The endgame. A peace negotiator. A tool that informs the enemy that the fighting is over, it's time to go home. Every part of his body was a weapon. And for as long as they were mortal men and he was a divine being, representing one-tenth of the millennial God Tree, killing him was an impossibility, and no creature could remind you of that fact more than Kurama.

His work here was done. With one last stomp and a snort, the beast of nine tails took his leave. His fur melted off, followed by his skin, muscles, and bones, leaving nothing but Naruto's body, clothes tattered but skin fully healed, covered in tons of steam.

XXX

Naruto woke up the next morning in a cave with a crackling fire by his side. His cerulean blue eyes slowly crept open to see Fuu and Hinata still asleep. Gaara and Han were sitting on a pair of rocks staring out at a forest. Where were they? Where were the rest of his clothes? He had no sleeves left. His grey jumpsuit had been turned into a grey vest with a matching pair of shorts. What happened?

The Uzumaki groaned as he pushed himself off the grassy floor and sat up. Gaara and Han looked back at him.

"Good to see you're finally awake," Han greeted.

"Yeah… why aren't you guys asleep?" Naruto wondered.

"There will be plenty of time to rest when we're dead," Gaara said.

Han nudged him with his elbow, "Oi! That's no way for a thirteen-year-old to speak."

"My eyes, at thirteen, have seen far worse things than most men twice my age," Gaara said.

"Good point," Han said, moving over on his rock to give Naruto some room to sit, "You know, the only reason the village system was created was to stop thirteen-year-olds like yourself from existing. The Warring States Period, the era that preceded the village system was so full of war and strife that no one was safe, whether you were a man or a boy. They said the average life expectancy used to be around thirty years old, and if you lived long enough to see your hair grey and thin out that you were respected and revered beyond your wildest imaginations. The Warring States Period is over, but reading books of what life was like for an average child back then, hearing about how Roshi grew up, and now hearing about you guys and how you were treated… I'm sure Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha are rolling in their graves as we speak."

"Madara Uchiha?" Gaara had never heard that name before.

"Hashirama Senju?" both Han and Gaara stared at the Uzumaki.

"How do you not know your First Hokage?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head, "I never used to pay much attention in class."

"Didn't you want to be Hokage at one point?" Gaara asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure he came up during Hokage History but why should I have cared about Hokage History when I wanted to be a part of Hokage Future?"

"The whole point of learning about history is so we don't repeat the mistakes made by our predecessors," Han explained.

"Well, it doesn't matter now. I'm a missing-nin so my chances of becoming Hokage are null."

Han patted the blonde jinchuuriki on the head before telling him, "Believe me when I say you dodged a bullet. You wouldn't have enjoyed being Hokage," he groaned as he got up and walked over to the mouth of the cave, "The shinobi world as we know it… it's built on more than a hundred years of lies, hatred, and corruption. Maybe for as long as shinobi exist, there will never be peace."

Naruto jumped to his feet, "That's why I want to keep going east until we can create a world where peace exists… at least for the nine jinchuuriki, that is. I'm gonna create a world free of systems, oppressions, and politics. A world where we won't be seen as objects of war, but as people. So, if the five great shinobi nations want to wage war on each, they'll have to do so without us as scapegoats, dattebayo!"

"Oi! Quieten down, ssu!" Naruto's shouting awoke Fuu. The mint-haired kunoichi used the cave's earthen walls to pull herself up before rubbing her eyes and stretching her arms. "Here I was thinking all the chakra you exhausted from transforming into the Nine-Tails would tire you out."

Naruto looked at her like she was crazy, "What are you on about?"

"I'm talking about you saving our asses last night. I would've frozen to death were it not for you melting all that ice, ssu."

Han chuckled, "Yeah, turns out wearing a midriff shirt and an apron skirt in minus ten-degree weather is a recipe for disaster."

Fuu puffed out her cheeks and folded her arms. "Leave me alone, ssu! Takigakure was humid as hell when we left it."

Gaara locked eyes with Naruto, who looked back at him and shrugged. "Naruto… how much of last night do you remember?" the Sand sibling asked.

Naruto stared at the ceiling as the cave fell into silence. "Uhh… the last thing I remember is… that old lady giving us the poisoned tea… then we talked about negatives and positives… then we were supposed to fake falling asleep… and that's it," Naruto scanned the surrounding area for a moment before asking, "What happened to my jumpsuit? What happened to your armour? What happened to your clothes?" Fuu wore little clothing to begin with, but now she was missing her armlets and her under-armour had been sliced apart.

"Naruto, we got ambushed," Han informed him.

"I know, wasn't that part of the plan?"

"Yeah, but there were about twenty times more samurai than we had expected, and they forced us to fight outside, meaning we got overwhelmed by the cold in minutes," Han explained. "After about two minutes, the battle looked like it was going against us. Gaara's sand had absorbed too much moisture from the ice and snow meaning he couldn't keep up with the samurai… Hinata's chakra reserves nearly hit zero… Fuu was experiencing hypothermia… I thought… I thought I'd never see you again."

This was news to Naruto. "Then how did we end up here?"

"The Nine-Tails. It saved our lives. With just its transformation, it warmed the surrounding forest, melting all the ice and snow. Then it killed like forty samurai in one move and forced them to retreat. Are you telling me you don't remember any of that?" Han wondered.

Naruto shook his head before placing his hand on his stomach. "My tailed beast did all that? No, there's no way, dattebayo. My tailed beast hates me."

"It's as Roshi-sensei always says 'to trust' and 'to like' are two different terms. Even if you don't like your tailed beast and it doesn't like you, a bond built on trust can still be created. Kokuo and I don't talk all the time or like each other, but I trust her as my tailed beast. She trusts me as her host. Every leap of faith I take she's always got my back and vice-versa. Maybe you took a leap of faith and the Nine-Tails had your back."

"My only fear is that his transformation reminds me of the relationship I used to have with Shukaku before I met Roshi," Gaara explained, "It was a relationship not built on a two-way bridge of trust but a promise of death and blood. As long as I promised to soak my sand in the blood of my enemies to feed Shukaku, my enemies would always die. Just like you, I could perform completed tailed beast mode transformations, but as long as that promise was in effect, over-relying on such power would've eaten away at my mind in the long run," Gaara explained.

"Would've?" Fuu quipped.

"Regardless, last night showed us that while we have the power of the One, Five, Seven and Nine-Tails on our side, a well-executed plan combined with natural elements being used against us could result in our defeat," Han explained, "On that note, we will definitely be walking into another ambush when we get to the Hidden Cloud Village. Even worse is that, rather than just samurai from one country, in the Hidden Cloud, we'll probably be attacked by shinobi from all five great shinobi nations."

"The Hidden Cloud? By then, hopefully, we'll all be perfect jinchuuriki with mastery of our given ninjutsu. We should be able to handle whatever they throw at us," Gaara said.

"Well, we learned from last night that 'whatever they throw at us' can be too much for us to handle. Especially since, as the name suggests, the Hidden Cloud Village sits high within the clouds meaning thin air and less oxygen than we're used to, they'll beat us in a war of attrition." Han wasn't done. "Furthermore, Orochimaru probably already knows that we're here, and since the five shinobi nations aren't entering the Land of Sound anytime soon, he can pretty much do whatever he wants to us."

"So, what you're saying is… there's a trap behind us, there's a trap ahead, and we're currently in a trap as we speak?" Gaara asked.

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Han replied.

"The Land of Iron, the five shinobi nations and Orochimaru?" Fuu massaged her temples as a headache began to set in from all the stress. "I need to step out for a second," she said before exiting the cave.

Naruto crossed his arms, "This Orochimaru guy, why does everybody talk about him like he's a big deal?"

"Because he is. According to Roshi-sensei, he killed both Suna's Fourth Kazekage and Konoha's Third Hokage during the Chuunin Exams."

Naruto's eyes widened. This was the first time he was hearing this, "Old Man Third is dead?" the Uzumaki more fell onto the rocks than sat on them. His legs gave out as he held the tears back and gritted his teeth. "I gotta sit down," he said.

"Did he tell you who the new Kazekage and Hokage were?" Gaara wondered.

"I believe he said Temari was set to become the Fifth Kazekage, whereas who was meant to become the Fifth Hokage had come down to three possible candidates: Kakashi Hatake, son of the deceased Sakumo Hatake, and the two remaining Legendary Sannin, Jiraiya, and Tsunade, the First Hokage's granddaughter."

Gaara couldn't hide the faint smile that was forming across his face, "Temari, huh?" Han interrupted his train of thought by asking him to check in on Fuu. The last thing they needed was for her to get caught in an ambush or overwhelmed by Orochimaru's forces since no one knew where the Hidden Sound Village was. He let out a little groan before following the petite jinchuuriki out of the cave.

Han got down on one knee to console Naruto. "When all of this is over… we'll go back to Konoha and visit his grave," he promised.

"I know."

XXX

Gaara managed to track Fuu out of the cave, through a small patch of forest and out into a grassy plain with huge hundreds of rolling hills. He approached the kunoichi as heavy grey clouds rolled in overhead. The wind was beginning to pick up. Fuu looked over her shoulder as the sand sibling approached.

"How'd you find me?" Fuu wondered as Gaara got within earshot.

"I waited until the northern winds came through the forest and hit the cave, carrying sprinkles of the scale powder you naturally generate that I could taste, and each flake gave Shukaku a glimpse of where you'd been ten seconds beforehand," he explained dramatically.

"Really?"

"Of course not, I just tracked you with my Third Eye as soon as you left the cave," Gaara said pointing at a small brown eyeball that'd been floating over Fuu this whole time.

She let out a little chuckle. That made a lot more sense, "Where the fuck did you get a sense of humour, ssu?" Fuu asked before patting the ground invitingly.

"The Hyuuga heiress has been teaching me how to socialise," Gaara said sitting down, "The last lesson we did before we left Roshi's training hut was communication and active listening."

"Really?" Gaara nodded. "I'm sorry, I've just never heard of someone who needed to be taught how to tell a joke, ssu. It must've been rough… growing up in a village where no one wanted anything to do with you… other than trying to kill you, of course."

"It's okay. I'm over it, especially since I just found out my father was slain in combat against Orochimaru." Fuu had never heard of someone who 'got over' assassination attempts either, but everything was a first with Gaara. "Anyway, I'm sorry for almost killing you."

Fuu wasn't sure what he was talking about at first, but then it hit her, "Oh! During the sparring session, ssu? You couldn't kill me even if you tried! In fact, you're lucky Han stopped the match so quickly otherwise I would've broken out of there and flying spin-kicked you, ssu!"

Gaara burst out laughing, "You really are a female version of Naruto."

Fuu puffed out her cheeks, "Oi! Naruto's the dude version of me. Actually, I'm the dude version of me. Naruto's like a much weaker version of me, ssu!" she loomed over him.

"Of course, of course, now back off," Gaara said. His whole body tilted back away from the terrifying kunoichi.

"Aww, is my sheer presence scaring the big bad psychopath?" Fuu teased.

"Of course not," Gaara shifted the sand underneath her to put some space between them, "I just value personal space."

Fuu wasn't sure if he was joking or not, but to save herself another maniacal episode, she respected his space. Fuu had only known Gaara for a month but the Gaara she met one month ago and the Gaara sitting next to her now felt like two different people. Slowly but surely, his stoic and deathly persona was being chipped away. Then again, if anyone could be around Naruto and Fuu for a whole day and not even crack a smile, they deserved a medal and cookie.

"It's getting a bit chilly," Gaara noted as the cold breeze from the north picked up, "Don't you have less revealing clothing you could wear?"

Fuu folded her arms, "Are you saying there's something wrong with what I'm wearing, ssu?"

Gaara froze. He thought about an answer for half a second before defaulting to, "The Hyuuga heiress told me I should be careful when commenting on girls' appearances, so I will choose to not answer the question being presented."

Fuu threw her head back in laughter, "Right answer," she said before falling back onto the grass and staring at the clouds.

"Be careful when lying down on the grass. All that exposed skin will cause you to itch," Gaara warned.

"Good to see you're looking out for me, but it's okay. Come, lie down." Fuu replied. Gaara shrugged before falling onto his back and cloud-watching with his fellow jinchuuriki. "What do you see?"

"Clouds."

"Captain Obvious strikes again. Where will his adventures take us next, found out next week," Fuu giggled. Gaara, who hadn't learned sarcasm yet, just stared into her eyes. "I mean, what do you see in the clouds? What shapes can you make out? Do you see a bird? A dog? A turtle?"

Gaara looked back up. To be fair to him, it was getting quite cloudy, so a lot of the clouds had clumped together to form blobs of bleh. He struggled to make out a shape. "I see clouds."

Fuu pointed to a lone black cloud that was moving across a light grey sky, "Look at that one, what do you see? If you say, 'a cloud', I swear I will-."

"A hare?"

Fuu looked back at it. She could kinda see it. The ears. The tiny round tail. The long legs. "Yeah… yeah! A hare! A cute little bunny making its way across the Oto sky."

"Actually, hares and rabbits aren't the same-."

"IT'S A BUNNY!" Fuu shut him up.

"Okay," Gaara didn't want to argue. He scoured the sky for more lone clouds that looked like animals. He pointed to another, "That one looks like a scorpion. We have those all over the place back in the Land of Wind."

"Really? You know… maybe one day you could take me back to the-."

"They were about twelve metres long and had enough poison to kill a man in two hours."

"Scratch that, I never want to see your village in my entire life."

Gaara had a rare smile on his face, "It's okay, they only came out at night, and they rarely ever appeared in the Hidden Sand, unless people were making too much noise or causing vibrations in the earth. I remember whenever we hosted the Chuunin Exams or had village festivals, my father would… my father… he would…" his smile faded away as he sat up and snapped back to reality.

"Still stuck on your dad, huh? I know he tried to kill you and everything, but he's still your father. I'm sure you feel a little pain?" Fuu sat up too.

"Only on two occasions has anything ever touched me, no matter who the perpetrator, the sand always interferes. I don't feel pain… not even a little," Gaara stared up at the fast-moving clouds.

"Oh," Fuu stared at the earth.

"Except…" he took his right hand and placed it on the left side of his chest, "Here. All my life, I've always felt pain here. I thought it was getting better, but it hurts now more than ever."

Fuu shuffled closer to the redhead. She went to put her arm around his shoulder, but the sand rushed to constrict it. The mint-haired kunoichi flinched for a moment but persisted until the sand dissipated and her sinewy tan arm could wrap around his broad shoulders without any interference.

"Yeah, those wounds are always the worst," Fuu said. "Unfortunately, there's no mednin that can fix that type of pain. There's only one thing that can cure those types of wounds, and that's-."

"Love," they said in unison.

Gaara turned to Fuu to stare into her piercing orange eyes. He'd heard those words before in a memory he had since suppressed. "Yashamaru…" the jinchuuriki whispered as a tear streamed down his face.

"You were my late sister's legacy. However… I was unable to love you. My sister didn't choose to have you. My sister became a sacrifice for the village. My heart had borne the wounds of that moment, and it has never healed. My sister gave you that name…" Gaara rolled away from Fuu and clutched his hair in agony.

Fuu got up in a panic, "Gaara, are you okay, ssu?"

The redhead let out an agonising scream as the tears flowed at full force.

"This child's name is Gaara… a devil that loves only itself. Love only yourself… and fight for your own sake… then you will continue to exist… that was my sister's wish. She didn't name you out of love or concern. You were never loved."

"Get out of my head!"

"Did I say something wrong? Talk to me!" Fuu wriggled around Gaara before wrapping her arms around his tense body and pressing her head against his, "Gaara, listen to me."

"Please die… That was Karura's last wish… for you to die… Gaara." That was the last thing Yashamaru said before he was caught in Gaara's completed tailed beast mode transformation and was killed by Shukaku.

Gaara and Fuu made eye contact. "Run," he mouthed.

Fuu was engulfed in the flash of light.

Naruto was blinded. Han closed his eyes. Hinata was woken up. Rays of pure white light pierced the thick forest foliage and filled the cave.

Usually what followed was the searing hot wave of chakra and an explosion so violent it ruptured eardrums. Instead, the light just gradually receded until it burnt itself out behind the treeline.

Han put everything down and sprinted. Naruto, confused, chased after him. Hinata, still a little sleepy, stumbled after both of them, leaving everything behind to see what was happening just beyond the thin veil of shrubbery. She'd fallen asleep to one tailed beast, was she about to awaken to another?

"What's happening, dattebayo?" Naruto asked.

"Shut up and keep running!" Han replied, focusing on what lay ahead. The trees whistled past them as they broke out of the forest and reached the field of grassy knolls. Han's knees almost gave out when he saw the two kids hugging atop one of the hills.

He slowed down and put his hands on his head to breathe. Naruto came to a halt just in front of Han, still unsure of what the large man was sweating over but happy to see him smiling after that moment of trepidation. Hinata accidentally ran into Naruto. She apologised profusely as Han approached the duo.

Fuu's chest was pressed against Gaara's, so she could feel his heartbeat and he could feel hers. He dropped his head onto her shoulder. She rested her head on his. Fuu tightened her grip on the hug. Her legs were about to give out, so she needed Gaara to stay standing.

"How am I alive?" her voice was so shaky.

"I guess I should apologise for almost killing you again," Gaara whispered. "I don't know what got into me. I just… I just…"

"It's okay… it's okay," Fuu whispered back.

"Thank me later…"

Han hugged them both, "I asked you to check up on her not almost kill her."

The three of them let out nervous laughs together as Hinata continued to apologise for simply bumping into Naruto.

"… because we've got trouble."

The ground lit up from under the trio.

The earth exploded. All three of them would've been obliterated were it not for Gaara's sand coming to the rescue. The sand jinchuuriki lifted them all and put some distance between themselves and the explosion.

"Aww, wasn't that quite the show? I have to admit…" Naruto's eyes widened. He'd heard that voice before. "I'm a little surprised to see a worthless runt like yourself make it all the way out here."

The genjutsu was dispelled. The grassy knolls turned to sandy dunes as the field turned to a beach. Beyond the sand were ten or so rocky outcrops with ominous metallic buildings jutting out from the rocks. Each outcrop was linked to another by rickety wooden bridges. And on one of those bridges. The wooden plank bridge that led from the nearest outcrop to the beach. Stood Sasuke Uchiha. The only surviving member of the Uchiha Massacre and Naruto's former teammate.

"Sasuke? Sasuke!" Naruto greeted the Uchiha with open arms. He rushed over to his teammate, "I thought I'd never see you again. Did you follow me here all the way from Konoha?" Han grabbed Naruto's arm, almost tearing the limb from its socket.

"Watch it, Naruto. I don't know who this guy is but the four people behind him aren't to be messed with."

"Four people… huh?" only now did Naruto even notice that there were four shinobi behind the Uchiha. A large young man with orange hair, a smaller man with light grey hair, a woman with red hair and a third man with four arms. All four were dressed in beige tunics with purple rope belts wrapped around their waists. "Who… who the hell are they?"

"That's the Sound Four. Orochimaru's personal bodyguards. They were in the Hidden Leaf during the Konoha Crush and they helped kill both the Fourth Kazekage and the Third Hokage," Han explained.

"Oi! Sasuke! Watch out! Apparently, the guys behind you killed Old Man Third! Hurry up and get behind us!"

Han palmed his forehead. Sasuke chuckled, "Naruto, it's good to see that you're still a loser… here I was thinking the next time we meet I might actually have to break a sweat. Sakon, Kidomaru, Jirobo, and Tayuya are all here because I want them to witness greatness…"

"Sasuke? What's the meaning of this?"

"Following the days of the Konoha Invasion, your disappearance became almost as important as the Hokage's death. Rumours began to spread that you were gathering an army of tailed beasts that would band together and destroy everyone who wronged you. After hearing about all that, I sought to become stronger than you could become, so I came here… to the Hidden Sound Village and asked Lord Orochimaru to make me powerful beyond my wildest dreams. I was already stronger than you to begin with, now my power far exceeds the realms of reality," he said before flashing the Sharingan at his former ally.

"This doesn't feel right," Han noted, "Orochimaru rarely just 'trains' people, especially people as strong as this guy. Usually, he gets something out of these deals for power. This guy… Sasuke… he might have made a deal with the devil that will result in Orochimaru using his body as a vessel. If he gets the chance to do something like that. Sasuke's body could rot away within three years. He'll be no more."

Naruto and Sasuke locked eyes for the first time in months. "Get back to the Hidden Leaf Village," Naruto ordered.

Sasuke chuckled as flame-like markings spread from his shoulder to his face and down his left arm, "Why don't you come over here and make me?"

Naruto disappeared.

Sasuke told the Sound Four to stand their ground.

Naruto appeared in front of the Uchiha. Sasuke went to sweep the leg, but Naruto launched himself into the air.

Sasuke appeared behind him.

They wrestled in mid-air.

Sasuke threw Naruto off and went through some hand seals, "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"

The barrage of flames forced Naruto to land.

He turned.

The ball of lightning tore through his chest.

"Chidori," Sasuke said as he bawled his hand into a fist. He barely missed Naruto's heart but a hole in the chest is a hole in the chest. Sasuke couldn't name a shinobi who'd survived a fist going straight through their chest before, so he pulled his hand out and let Naruto sink. The grey jumpsuit. The whiskered face. The blonde hair. They all softened into memory as Naruto disappeared under the water.

Sasuke fell onto his knees. In an act of hysteria, he made one last desperate attempt to reach into the water and grab Naruto's hand, but the blonde was gone. "I did it? What have I done?" he stared at his new teammates as his three tomoe Sharingan fused together through the tears.

"You've fulfilled Lord Orochimaru's master plan," the four-armed man commented before kneeling in front of the Uchiha.

"AHHHHH!" Hinata let out a bloodcurdling scream as what she just saw finally set in.

"Can somebody please shut the bitch up!" the redhead demanded.

"Sure!" Fuu came in from out of nowhere to tackle Tayuya and slam her against one of the many tall outcrops.

"Tayuya?" Jirobo looked over his shoulder to see the redhead grab a handful of Fuu's hair but get punched into the earth. "I guess I'll take the big guy then!" he said running across the bridge and onto the beach.

"You'll be outmatched," Han warned as Jirobo gained speed. Han propelled himself forth and clashed with the younger shinobi.

Hinata rushed past them and began taking her shirt off. She was going to dive into the water and rescue Naruto. If the blow didn't kill him instantly she might be able to save him still. She had to try.

"Oh no, you don't," Kidomaru grabbed her and slammed her into the sand.

"Get off of her!" Gaara yelled.

"Your fight is with me!" Sakon laughed as he appeared from behind the jinchuuriki. The Oto shinobi's hand smacked against a wave of sand. Gaara glared at the grey-haired maniac.

Sasuke knelt on the water's surface, muttering to himself. "I did it… but at what cost?"

Fuu turned to stare at the Uchiha, blood dripping from her knuckles. "Chou…" before she could release her tailed beast, Tayuya pulled a flute from her pocket and placed it against her lips. The music hit Fuu's ears like a truck.

She stepped out onto the water and fell through.

Tayuya wiped the blood from her lips before slowly rising to her feet, "That damn slut did a number on me. I'll fucking tear her throat out!"

"What did you call me, ssu!" Fuu flew out of the water and rammed Tayuya against the outcrop. The fight turned dirty quickly. Tayuya clawed the jinchuuriki's eye. Fuu bit Tayuya. They both kick each other back.

Tayuya hit the outcrop. Again.

Fuu hit the bridge and fell into the water.

Tayuya stumbled forward and dove into the water to continue the fight.

"Water Style: Aquatic Repulsion Jutsu!" Fuu pushed Tayuya back. She slammed her back against the bottom of the outcrop as Fuu swam to the surface. Tayuya got up first. "You're a tough girl."

"I'm just getting started, you whore!" Tayuya began a set of hand seals. Fuu knew those signs and countered with her own.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" their blasts of compressed air cancelled each other out, staggering them both. Tayuya fell on her ass, so Fuu used the moment to go for Sasuke. Tayuya grabbed her by the ankle, lifted her, and slammed her into the rocky outcrop.

Fuu lied there in pain for a few seconds. Tayuya sat on Fuu's exposed midriff and landed hammer fists. When Fuu started blocking the fists, Tayuya lifted the jinchuuriki's shirt. Fuu dropped her arms to cover her chest, giving Tayuya a free hit.

Fuu's flexibility came into play. She wrapped her legs around Tayuya's chest and pushed her off. Fuu got up and turned into Tayuya's flute. The redhead almost poked her eye out. Fuu fell into the water. Tayuya grabbed her by the hair and threw her onto the bridge. Fuu kept holding her eye. Tayuya picked her up by her shirt and skirt and rammed her into the outcrop.

It was only at that point that Fuu remembered, "Wait, I'm a jinchuuriki!" she fluttered all six wings, staggering Tayuya. "Scale Powder!" she blasted the redhead with a stream of scales that exploded, sending her into the water.

Whilst Fuu could rely on her status as a tailed beast host, Hinata could not. She tried to dive into the water again, but Kidomaru grabbed her by the shirt and yanked her back. She slipped between his legs, only for him to drag her back by the ankles and barely miss stomping on her face. She tried to rush past him again. He grabbed her shirt again. She slipped out of it and sprinted into the water.

She was stopped by a web latching onto the back of her neck. Kidomaru grabbed it, swung her around and tossed her into the forest. Thankfully, a tree broke her fall. "… Naruto-kun," she mouthed as the taste of blood filled her tastebuds.

Kidomaru was standing over her. She tried to slip under him, but he shut his legs while she was halfway through. He grabbed her by the leg and let her dangle for a bit. "You know, when Sasuke told us about you guys, he hyped you up so much I actually almost took you seriously. Now I see that we're just dealing with a bunch of inexperienced…" he almost spat out his lunch as Hinata aimed for the groin.

He dropped the Hyuuga heiress on her head. Both lay there, dazed.

Sakon punched at Gaara but the sand was there, "Try again," Sakon did just that. He spun around Gaara and went for a kick from the side, "Try again," Sakon vaulted over a layer of sand to fake a punch, then spin around kick. More sand. "I said try again."

Sakon slid back as the sand receded into the earth. "You must think you're so powerful, huh? What you don't know is that all you're doing is just pissing off the leader of the Sound Four!"

"Are you done trying?"

The question unnerved Sakon a bit, "Of course not."

"Then don't stop… because the next time you stop… it'll be my turn… and I'm going to kill you… so fight… get all of it out of your system… while you're fighting, think of all the decisions you made in your life that led to this moment… because this is your last moment… but I'll let you live long enough to see me rip Sasuke Uchiha limb from limb… so at least you'll know that you died for nothing… now try again."

Jirobo charged at Han, who picked him up and tossed him against a tree. Han grabbed Jirobo by the neck and kept slamming him over and over and over and over until the tree crackled and broke in half, "Do you have any idea what you've done?" he stepped over the broken tree to grab Jirobo by the neck again. He steamed through a few more trees before grabbing the shinobi's clothes and slamming him against a broken tree trunk. "What did you gain from this? What do you gain from snuffing out a bright light?"

"Get off me!" Jirobo headbutted Han, which did nothing but anger him. Han blasted him with a jet of steam, toasting his face a little. Jirobo tried to crawl away, but Han grabbed the back of his head and pressed it against a tree.

"I warned you that you were outmatched and now you're paying for it!"

All this took place while Sasuke knelt on the still water's surface. "I'm sorry Naruto, but these eyes… they see everything so clearly… that's why they were worth it… right?" the Uchiha was just chatting to himself at this point.

Naruto's body had already hit the floor.

"We had a deal."