Ultimate Outcomes

Follow-up to Ultimate Technique (Ch30)

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Sasuke stared in shock in the mirror. His last memory before he had collapsed had been watching multiple Naruto's embracing and somehow creating the background of a sunset on a rocky beach, then he had collapsed.

"Ah, Sasuke." Kakashi said from the doorway. "Good to see that you're finally awake again."

"My eyes…" Sasuke said, glancing again into the mirror to meet the gaze of his black eyes with the three overlapping red ellipses. "How?"

"Naruto's trick." Kakashi said, briefly raising his angled forehead protector to show that he had a Sharingan that looked like a three-pointed scythe-shuriken. "The sheer power of his illusion forced mine to fully evolve as well."

Sasuke blinked. "Fully evolve?"

Kakashi nodded as he lowered his Hitai-ate back down. "I have been tasked with teaching you how to use your… Eternal Mangekyo."

Sasuke grinned. At last, he had the weapon that would allow him to defeat his brother!

And it was all thanks to Naruto.

Sasuke made a mental note that he now owed the Blond Idiot hugely, although he would never admit it anywhere that anyone could overhear him.

Maybe he could use his status to help boost Naruto into becoming Hokage when he was old enough.

It was worth keeping in mind. That trick would be invaluable when he finally got around to repopulating his clan. The greatest power without any sacrifice of friends or family.

Yes, keeping close to Naruto would be a good idea.

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Sakura sat at the table, ignoring her parents bustling around.

Her long talk with the Hokage had been… enlightening, and not in a good way. He had taken her every past action and disassembled it to show why she hadn't understood what being a Ninja truly meant.

He had apparently changed the curriculum after the farce of Team 7's genin test to place more emphasis on the physical aspects. Had the Academy tested her on the newer program, the only Kunoichi of her class who could have passed would have been Hyuuga Hinata.

"Hey, you Sakura?"

Sakura looked round at the person who had barged in and promptly simultaneously paled and blushed at the sight of the kunoichi dressed in sandals, miniskirt, mesh armor, trench-coat and virtually nothing else.

"Yes?"

"Blondie asked for a favor." The woman said. "He felt sorry about accidentally stopping you becoming a Shinobi, so you're gonna get special training to bring you up to speed. I'll be in charge of your physical development, you'll also get training in other things such as basic Iryonin training and weapons-work. I've seen your records and while you suck at the moment, Blondie thinks you could be great."

Sakura felt her emotions churn and flow inside her.

The boy she had thought of as an annoying brat who would only slow her down in her pursuit of Sasuke was the one who was trying his hardest to help her become better while the Uchiha had simply dropped her like she was a piece of dung.

"All right." She said, surprising herself as she stood up. "I'll do it."

"That's the spirit!" The scantily-clad woman smirked. "We'll get you up to proper shinobi levels. Now come on, let's get started."

Sakura nodded. "Yes, but… who are you?"

"Name's Mitarashi Anko, Special Jonin, and your team-mate is my boss's newest apprentice."

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Yamanaka Inoichi collapsed beside his two oldest friends.

"How the hell does he do that?" he half-gasped, half-whispered as around them, hordes of energetic blondes ran up and down trees, fought atop the stream and performed a dozen other chakra exercises. "This is all your fault, you know."

"Troublesome." Shikaku sighed. "I should never have explained the memory aspect of the Kage Bunshin."

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Naruto glanced at the Ino-Shika-Cho team as he continued to train with his clones. Today was his mandated training day as decreed by Ibiki-Sensei and quite a few of the T&I staff had taken it upon themselves to help him as an unofficial reward for how quickly he could break the prisoners simply by using the Sunset Genjutsu.

Inoichi had helped him with the basic training that no-one had ever explained properly to him at the Academy, training that had been enhanced beyond all comparison by Shikaku's comment about memory-transfer. Even now, a dozen of his clones were learning how to read properly under Yugao-Sempai's stern but benevolent gaze.

Occasionally, he would even spar with Anko's new trainee, Sakura, who had taken to using medical techniques in combat with terrifying glee. Combined with her genjutsu skills, she was getting harder to beat, even with his Clone Tsunami technique.

Naruto returned his attention to training. If he was good enough, Ibiki-Sensei might give him a smile of approval again!

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Hiruzen raised an eyebrow at the tall man standing in front of him.

"I'm sorry…" He finally said. "I must have mis-heard that."

"You didn't, Hokage-sama." Ibiki said. "I've been overseeing Naruto's training for almost three months, during which time he's used that technique of his to clear the backlog of prisoners out. Anko reports that her apprentice has shaped up, so I wish to take them both out of Konoha on a C-rank mission to see how they've truly progressed."

Hiruzen leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers as he considered Ibiki's request.

"Very well." He finally said. "There is a mission available, escorting a bridge-builder to Wave. However, it occurs to me that your apprentice will need another team-mate once the chunin exams arrive."

Ibiki blinked and Hiruzen hid a smirk at the proof that he had out-thought the head of T&I.

"Another, Hokage-sama?"

"I assume he's trained with Anko's apprentice, yes?"

Ibiki nodded slowly and Hiruzen continued.

"Then he will need a third for the team and who better than a lone genin with the most powerful dojutsu in the village."

"You're putting Team 7 back together." Ibiki realized and Hiruzen nodded.

"For this mission, Kakashi will back you up since you have two genin to his one." Hiruzen said. "Try not to screw with their minds too much."

"No promises." Ibiki smirked as he stepped back into the shadows and vanished.

"I really need to get him to tell me how he does that." Hiruzen sighed, looking at the now-empty corner.

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Sasuke stared in shock at the group waiting for him at the entrance. The old man was obviously the client, Tazuna, and he vaguely recognized the bandana-wearing man as someone Kakashi had been talking to before one of his training sessions, but the other two…

Naruto and Sakura, but totally different from how they had been.

Sakura had ditched her dress and pulled her hair back into a ponytail, her Hitai-ate covering her forehead. She wore reinforced boots, mesh armour, black knee-length shorts and a tight black T-shirt that showed most of her mesh-covered stomach, all underneath a tan-colored trenchcoat that went down to her knees. Although she would have looked ridiculous in the outfit back at the Academy, her stance and lean build almost screamed predator at him.

Naruto was also wearing a trenchcoat, but his was black, like the one the Bandana-man was wearing. Under it he wore a rust-orange T-shirt, black shinobi pants with the legs bandaged and black sandals. His Hitai-ate served as a belt-buckle and his hair was starting to be pulled down out of its usual spikes by its own weight.

"Ibiki-san." Kakashi said from behind him and Sasuke managed to not jump at his Sensei's annoying ability to appear out of nowhere.

"Kakashi." Ibiki replied in a gravelly voice. "On time for once."

Sasuke's eyes widened as Kakashi didn't respond, but simply strolled past Sasuke to join the party.

"Well." He said. "Shall we go?"

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"What. The. Hell?!" Sasuke gasped in shock.

In front of him, the two shinobi who had leapt out of the puddle and tried to charge them writhed as Naruto finished binding them while Sakura stood guard, her hands filled with senbon showing the discolorations of various poisons, several of which she had used to help disable them.

"Prisoners ready for interrogation, Ibiki-sensei!" He reported and the prisoners stiffened.

"Ibiki?" One of them whispered and Ibiki walked over, his scarred face set in a terrifying smirk.

"I am Morino Ibiki. The two who have captured you are my apprentice and the apprentice of Mitarashi Anko. Behind me are Sharingan Kakashi and his apprentice. I think you have something you wish to tell me, right?"

Both ninja nodded so fast that Sasuke half-expected their heads to fall off.

"What the hell?" He asked again.

How had those two got so strong?

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"Oh fuck." The man on the sword said in a casual tone of voice as he turned to face them.

"Zabuza." Ibiki said politely.

The nuke-nin coughed a couple of times. "Ummmm, you still holding a grudge over Burning Elms?"

Ibiki didn't reply, but Zabuza seemed to pale.

"This is not good."

"Sensei, you met him before?" Naruto asked and Zabuza turned almost white.

"Sensei?!" He shouted. "Shit! You're his apprentice?! You're the Hakai sa reta kibō no bīsuto?"

"They still call me that?" Naruto asked and Zabuza glanced at the rest of the party.

"…oh crap." He whispered. "Sharingan Kakashi as well?"

"With my apprentice." Kakashi said, tilting his head towards Sasuke.

Zabuza swallowed and his fingers twitched, then he frowned and his fingers twitched again.

"What the…?"

"Sensei, I caught his helper!" Naruto's voice came from the bushes by the path and Zabuza blinked, then managed to pale even further as the Naruto beside Ibiki vanished in a puff of smoke, only for four more to emerge, carrying a trussed-up hunter-nin.

"Good work, Naruto." Ibiki said.

"Meh, I just ambushed him." Naruto shrugged. "You're the one who spotted him, I didn't even realize he was in the area until you pointed him out. I'm going to need more training when we get back."

Sasuke shook his head in disbelief. When had Ibiki told Naruto about the watcher?

Zabuza crashed out of the tree, a line of senbon in his back and Sasuke turned to look at Sakura, only for her to vanish in a cloud of smoke as well.

"Sakura knows Kage Bunshin?" He asked.

"Nope." Sakura chirped as she strode up from behind Zabuza. "But Naruto-kun knows it, Henge and Kawarimi."

Sasuke's eyes widened in belated realization.

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Ibiki unrolled the scroll and unsealed Gato's body from within it.

"So that's where you two went last night!" Naruto gasped. "Did you grab his loot as well?"

"We did." Ibiki stated. "Half for Wave, half for Konoha. Agreed?"

In the corner, Tazuna nodded jerkily, then took a huge swig of Sake to try and calm his nerves.

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"Man, what a dud." Naruto groaned as they re-entered Konoha. "I didn't get a chance to use my favorite technique even once during that mission."

"I didn't get to torture anyone either." Sakura grumped. "I mean, we caught four missing nins and they all pretty much talked immediately?"

Sasuke shook his head.

Just what the hell had those two been learning.

Thank goodness it was over with, they were freaking him out.

"I'm so glad you three worked together so well." Kakashi said with his eye-smile. "I was worried about teaming Sasuke-kun up with you, but I think you'll do brilliantly together in the Chunin exams."

As Sasuke collapsed, he had one final thought before the blackness took him.

Keeping close to Naruto was not a good idea.