Author's Note: Hey guys, welcome to the 3rd chapter. For those who care, I'd like to address two reviews I received for the second chapter. From ahmadaziz and Gen. Malasise.
Reading your reviews, mostly Gen. Malasise's, about not beating the dead horse that is the villagers beating a younger Naruto, I had to stop and realize, "that's a good point." It certainly has been overused in fanfiction and there really is no mention of the villagers ever taking it that far in the manga. It's easy to assume that, which led to its implementation in fanfiction. Personally, I think it makes it more dramatic. Although his story was never going to be about Naruto winning the village's approval back as it will be him and his friends defeating Sasuke.
That being said, I already wrote a later chapter that just so happens to involve the villagers being dicks to Naruto. So for the time being, I'm going to have to keep the ignorant villagers around. At least until the story begins in earnest. By then the real adventures will begin. Just a few more wacks until then.
And now…I take you to Sasuke fleeing the village.
Chapter 3: Escape from the Leaf
'Where is he? I know he was actively spying here back then.' Sasuke thought to himself as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop above the busy city streets of the Leaf. Most of the civilians didn't even bat an eye when they heard the sound of kids and adults leaping overhead. Their attention was focused on facing the Academy where an explosion went off.
Sasuke leapt past a Jounin squad that didn't even give him a second look before they rushed off to help whatever was going on at the Academy.
"Hey, kid! Stop!" An ANBU shouted at Sasuke. He and his team had finally caught up to the Uchiha.
"Shit." Sasuke cursed as he ducked down into the nearest alley way.
"I said stop!" The ANBU shouted again as he sailed over the alleyway. His second in command then kicked off of a water tower and swan dived into the alleyway to continue the chase while the rest of the ANBU tried to circle around and cut the academy student off.
Sasuke pumped as much chakra into his legs as he could spare. He might have downed enough chakra pills to give a full grown Jounin a heart attack, but that didn't mean his young body could outrun an ANBU team for long.
'Damn them.' Sasuke cursed. 'Fucking years of planning, deception, negotiations, and perfectly executed strategies thrown to the wayside. My plans are back to square one. On top of that! I've lost all my advanced Kekki Genki powers. I'll have to undergo the same emotional trauma just to unlock my full potential. I'll also have to kill my brother again just to get his eyes and unlock Amaterasu! Not to mention Susanoo and the Rinnigan!'
Sasuke leapt over a stack of crates and threw them to the ground, spilling the contents all over the alley floor. Not that it slowed down the ANBU agent wearing (of all things) a Walrus mask. He just did a front flip and continued his chase.
'I shouldn't have fled. Maybe if I surrender now and play the innocent victim I could bide my time until Orochimaru seeks me out.' Sasuke thought to himself as he made a hard right into a narrow passageway. 'No, dumb idea. I already foolishly attacked Naruto in the middle of our classroom. Iruka saw me attack him. I'll be questioned and if they get me in a Yamanaka Mind Probing Session then they will surely detain me and stop me from fulfilling my mission. Even if they don't. The Dobe and his friends will hound me and I cannot take them all on in my current state. I have no choice, I have to get to Orochimaru. He will protect me and help me unlock my potential. Then I can make steps towards the destruction of the Ninja System.'
The Walrus masked ANBU rounded the same corner Sasuke had taken and cursed when he saw the pathway empty.
"Damn it, lost him." The ANBU agent cursed just as one of his teammates landed besides him.
"We spotted the Uchiha heading East. We think he is going back to his Clan Compound." The Tanuki masked ANBU reported.
"I just saw the kid ducking down this pathway." Walrus said.
"Yeah, he jumped back up to the roofs. Poor kid is probably running scared. Doesn't know what is going on." Tanuki replied.
"I don't know. He's not acting like he is just frightened. He is deliberately trying to run away from us."
"Walrus. He is just an Academy student. You saw the way he was being cornered by all those other kids. Now he's being chased by some guys in bone white masks with dead eyes? We ought to ditch these masks to show him we mean no harm." Tanuki suggested.
"Whatever, let's just catch this kid. I swear, this is worse than having to catch Naruto after one of his pranks." Walrus said before he and Tanuki flash stepped back up to the roof and sprinted after their other two teammates.
As soon as they were gone, the real Sasuke stepped out of the shadows to ensure that the coast was clear. He activated his Sharingan for just long enough to check for hidden chakra signatures and saw none.
'Thank you, Dobe. Your Shadow Clone jutsu is as insanely useful as ever.' Sasuke thought as he downed a few more Military Ration Pellets. They each tasted like the bitterest chocolate anyone could imagine, but they were the leg up that Sasuke would need if he wanted to get out of the Leaf in one piece.
'I need to find Kabuto. If they've locked down the Leaf, then Orochimaru's favorite double agent is the only one who could smuggle me out of the village and take me to the Snake Sannin.' Sasuke thought as he carefully walked down the alleyways.
He passed by some trashcans before he realized he was in one of the apartment districts of the village. A thought occurred to Sasuke and he looked down at his clothes. He was wearing his old attire from this time period. Blue sandals, white cargo shorts, his white fireproof armguard sleeves, and his high collar deep blue T-shirt that he knew had his clan's white and red paper fan symbol designed on the back. He might as well be walking around with a giant target on his back.
'Too risky to try to maintain an illusion.' Sasuke thought to himself. 'And too risky to run to my apartment to change my clothes.' He had no choice. He opened the trashcan and his face shattered like glass when the stench hit him.
'Definitely not that one.' Sasuke thought as he closed the lid and moved on to the next bin. It had less of a stench, but contained only old newspapers and magazines. Sasuke grabbed a handful of the magazines and threw them in the recycling bin. He finally struck gold with the third trash bin at the end of the alleyway. Sasuke could see the villagers slowly walking down the street and keeping on the alert in case another explosion went off or the sirens blared indicating that they were under attack. No one paid any mind to another kid shifting through the trash. Sasuke opened up the bin and discovered a stack of torn and worn out civilian shirts that looked about his size. Sasuke grabbed the least tattered looking shirt and nearly smiled when he spotted a Leaf Shinobi Rain Poncho. Probably owned by a ninja husband of whatever mother threw out her son's ruined shirts.
Sasuke threw off his Uchiha clan T-shirt and dawned the mystery kid's old T-shirt and then his father's poncho. The bottom of the poncho was stained with mud and blood, but it was springtime, no one would give a second look to a short ninja walking around in a rain poncho. He stuffed his old shirt into the bottom of the trash bin where his scent would get lost among the other family's scent. Then he dawned his new hood and slipped into the crowd of civilians.
"Take them to my office. Don't let anyone interfere unless they have a personal approval from me." The 3rd Hokage ordered as he stood over the ANBU that had roughed up Naruto.
Another ANBU agent wearing a tiger mask nodded before passing on the orders.
"As for these lot. Throw them in jail for excessive brutality. I can't even look at them right now." Hiruzen snapped.
"Demon Lover!" The leading racist among the group shouted before he was dragged off.
Hiruzen shook his head. 12 years since the tragedy and people still could not let go. It was understandable with the civilians who did not know the first thing about chakra or Tailed Beasts, but the higher ranked Shinobi should have all known better.
'Some days like this I really question my own judgement in keeping Naruto's heritage a secret. His father had many enemies, but because of the Kyuubi, Naruto has more enemies inside his home village than outside of it.' Hiruzen thought to himself.
"Lord Hokage." One of the Medic ANBU agents ran up and bowed before the leader of the Leaf village and the entire Leaf Military Forces.
"What is it?" Hiruzen asked before he chewed on the tip of his pipe.
"These children are all showing signs of Chakra Exhaustion. I must insist that they be taken to Konoha Hospital immediately for treatment." The ANBU Medic reported.
"Very well. Have them be treated in the same patient room with ANBU guarding inside the room and outside of it. Let the medical staff know that they are to treat ALL of the patients equally." Hiruzen emphasized for absolute clarity. He would tolerate no more of village's bigotry today.
"Yes, sir." The ANBU Medic nodded before passing on the new orders.
Shikamaru didn't even bother trying to struggle against his restraints. He knew they were all caught and were too low on chakra to do more than limp around even if they were freed. All they could do now was bide their time until the ANBU caught Sasuke and interrogated them all. The Hokage and the Councils would want to know why Naruto had managed to pull off such a powerful barrier jutsu and why the heirs to every other major ninja clan in the Leaf had decided to attack the last loyal Uchiha to the Leaf. It didn't matter what punishment laid in store for eight of them. So long as the ANBU kept Sasuke in the Leaf than they could deal with him at a later date. They would be released into their parent's custody, hopefully under house arrest. Then the 8 of them could sneak out of their homes later. Slip into Sasuke's apartment (if he didn't get thrown in Jail for trying to skewer Naruto with a Chidori) and overpower him. Naruto had his chance to reason with Sasuke already. Naruto was a fool, but he wasn't an idiot. Shikamaru knew that the Hokage-to-be knew when the chips were all down, killing Sasuke was the only way forward. He knew too much and he was far too dangerous to be left alive. Hell, without Sasuke, their entire mission could be declared a success. They could focus entirely on the coming 4th Shinobi War and remember to include the minor ninja nations in the Shinobi Alliance afterwards.
The Nara heir was brought out of his thoughts when he was suddenly hoisted by his pants and jacket collar onto a stretcher. Seems that they were going to take all of them to a medical facility, either the underground ANBU one or the Konoha General Hospital. This was good, they all needed medical attention.
Shikamaru shifted his head over to view the 3rd Hokage standing a mere 20 yards away from him. The Nara was in awe. He didn't have the personal relationship with the 3rd Hokage that Naruto did, but everyone in his generation looked up to the 3rd Hokage as a kind of grandfather figure. He was the Professor of the Leaf. The man who knew every jutsu that the Leaf village had in its arsenal. He was also the father of Shikamaru's late Jounin-sensei.
'Scratch that. Ex-late Jounin-sensei.' Shikamaru corrected himself. He had to remember that Asuma-sensei was alive again. But he also had to avoid thinking out his future Sensei. If he did than he honestly might start tearing up and wouldn't be as effective as the group's planner. In these crucial first few hours, he had to remain on his A game.
Shikamaru then witnessed another ANBU agent with a walrus mask land at the 3rd Hokage's feet. His curiosity got the better of the future Hokage advisor and he channeled some of his precious chakra into his ears.
"Lord Hokage, we lost Sasuke Uchiha. He used a Shadow Clone to give us the slip. My squad leader requests additional ANBU squads to help search the village for him."
'NO!' Shikamaru thought, 'God damn it, no!'
All around him, the rest of his friends who had overheard the ANBU's report reacted to Sasuke being on the loose.
"Request denied. Send teams of whatever available teams of the regular forces to track him down. He might have attacked his fellow classmates, but he is a scared Academy student. More teams of ANBU agents would frighten him." The 3rd Hokage wisely stated.
"NO!" Another voice called out. Shikamaru had to shift his head to see that it was Sakura who had cried out. The pink haired girl struggled against her own exhausted body.
"Send Hunter Ninjas after that bastard! He cannot be allowed to leave the village!" Sakura pleaded with the Hokage as two startled ANBU agents held her up in a stretcher.
"Forehead, be quiet!" Ino shouted, trying to calm her best friend down. They were already under enough suspicion as it was.
"I will not! Lord Hokage, please! You need to send all of the Inuzuka clan after him if you have to!" Sakura shouted. "Send the Hyuga and the Aburame too! Anyone who can track!"
The Lord Hokage approached Sakura with an air of uncertainty. "Curious that you would be so adamant about us hunting down your fellow classmate." He stated. "Do you know something that we do not?"
"Sakura, please don't." Hinata pleaded.
"No! She's got the right idea! They need to know before it's too late!" Kiba argued.
"We can't tell them!" Naruto argued back.
"We don't have a choice anymore!" Shino countered.
As this was going on, Shikamaru had to bite his own lip. Should they tell them? The Third Hokage, probably, but not every here out in the open like this. There were too many ways this information could spiral out of control. But their window of opportunity was closing every second.
Just then, a glimmer of hope. Out of the corner of his eye, Shikamaru could see two figures leaping onto the rooftop to see what all the commotion was. One in black sweatpants and a pink sleeveless top with two hair buns, and the other with a bowl cut hairdo and a green spandex jumpsuit.
"Hey, you two. This is a restricted area." One ANBU lectured the two newcomers. "Go control the crowds with the rest of the Genin."
"Please let us through, those are our friends. What are you doing with them?" Tenten pleaded.
"Lee! Tenten!" Shikamaru shouted at the top of his voice. The two Genin turned to face him.
"Sasuke came back with us! He's still in the Leaf! He doesn't have his full Sharingan! You have to capture him!" Shikamaru ordered.
"What is that? What is he talking about?" The ANBU standing near Lee demanded.
"It's all up to you now! You're our last hope!" Shikamaru ordered.
The two Genin looked at one another. Then all the ANBU on the rooftop looked at them. And then the two of them took off.
"Wait, damn it!" The ANBU they talked to shouted. "Lord Hokage, permission to go after them."
"Are we going to be arresting all the children under the age of 13 now?" The Third Hokage asked.
"Sir, they clearly know something." The ANBU argued.
"Yes, this entire situation is getting fishier by the minute." Hiruzen stated. "Take these children to the hospital. Lock down the village and find Sasuke Uchiha. He is the key to all of this." The Third Hokage then walked up to Shikamaru's stretcher and looked him in the eye.
"I fear you and your friends have a lot of explaining to do." Hiruzen warned.
"Trust me, sir." Shikamaru answered. "You have no idea."
Sometime later, Sasuke Uchiha was standing outside of a Dango shop contemplating his good fortunes. Orochimaru had always told Sasuke had he possessed the devil's luck for being born into the Uchiha clan and therefore was blessed with so many gifts. One of those gifts apparently being finding exactly who he was looking for just a few blocks away from where he officially began his search.
There, sitting inside the run-of-the-mill Dango shop you could find on every other street corner in the Leaf was Kabuto and the rest of his fake Genin teammates. All of them trying to keep up the appearance of being Genin enjoying a team building snack of the popular treat.
Kabuto was in his traditional purple outfit with a lighter purple sash across his waist. He few distinguishing traits as a Genin were the Jounin fingerless gloves with the metal plate sewn onto the back of his hands and his full moon spectacle glasses. His other teammates were all wearing similar outfits and the same type of glasses. Except they both had their nose and faces covered like bandits from a western. Plus, one of them had shaded glasses. Sasuke recognized him, although not his name. He had fought against Sasuke in the preliminary fights of the 3rd Test of the Chunin Exams. He sucked the chakra out of Sasuke's system just by touching him. On top of that, Sasuke had his chakra handicapped by Orochimaru's curse seal. Even still, Sasuke had been victorious in defeating him. The other one had been defeated by the Puppet user from the Sand as Sasuke vaguely remembered.
None of it mattered. What did matter was if they could get Sasuke out of the Leaf and into Orochimaru's care. Plus, how many of them would Sasuke have to sacrifice in order to make it to the Sound village.
The Uchiha stepped into the Dango shop and ignored the greetings from the owner as he stepped directly into Kabuto's line of sight.
The double agent looked up from his plate of half eaten Dango and adjusted his glasses upon seeing this hooded stranger.
"Can I help you?" Kabuto asked.
"Yes, you can drop everything and take me to your master, right now." Sasuke demanded, making Kabuto sit up a little straighter.
"I don't know what business you have with my Jounin-sensei, but I'm afraid I don't know where he is at the moment." Kabuto answered.
"I'm not talking about your cover team leader. I'm talking about your true master. The Snake himself." Sasuke stated as he activated his Sharingan and let them shine through the shadows cast by his hood.
"Sasuke Uchiha?" Kabuto asked, keeping up his cover. "I have no idea what you are talking about."
"You know damn well what I am talking about. Your master wants my body and my eyes. And I am giving them to him in exchange for power. I want to be able to kill my brother. But you know this already, you've been keeping tabs on me for your master. As well as gathering information for your upcoming invasion of the Leaf in one year." Sasuke stated, making Kabuto's eyes go wide.
"Hey, what's he talking about?" The Dango shop owner asked in confusion. "Something about invading the Leaf?"
"Yoroi, Misumi, take care of the bill." Kabuto ordered as he stood up to escort Sasuke out of the shop. Letting his two teammates close the shop's doors behind them and turn the sign over to CLOSED.
"I don't know where you got such crazy notions in your head, Uchiha. If this is all a trick by the 3rd Hokage to get me to reveal my master's plans and the location of his bases than you are going to be disappointed when we take you to our base where the ANBU cannot find you, or rescue you." Kabuto explained calmly as he and Sasuke walked down the street shoulder to shoulder.
"Do I look like I am resisting?" Sasuke asked. "If I was, I would have taken that syringe you have poking my sides and jabbed it in your throat already."
Kabuto smiled as he pulled away the needle laced with knock out drugs he had ready to use on Sasuke. For an Academy student, the Uchiha prodigy was exceptionally perceptive.
"You'll forgive me if I am hesitant to fully trust you. You must admit that from my perspective this meeting is very unexpected." Kabuto said.
"Today has been full of unexpected things. Now can you get me out of the Leaf or not?"
"I can, but we must move fast. The explosion at the Academy has put the village on high alert." Kabuto said as Yoroi and Misumi caught up with the both of them. "If I may take a leap of faith, I assume the explosion was your doing?"
"And what if it was?" Sasuke responded.
"Then you are even more fascinating than your personality profile suggests, Sasuke Uchiha." Kabuto smiled as the four of them ducked into an alleyway and took off sprinting.
A few blocks away, Rock Lee and Tenten were frantically searching from the rooftops for Sasuke. So far they hadn't been able to spot anyone wearing a blue shirt, much less the Uchiha bastard himself.
"Oh, this is impossible!" Tenten exclaimed in frustration. The two of them were a part of the Combat Team, not the Tracking Team. If either of them were Kiba, Hinata, or Shino this might be doable. Heck, if Naruto was with them he could send out an army of Shadow Clones to search every nook and cranny of the Leaf simultaneously. Hell, if Shikamaru was with them he could have just correctly guessed exactly where Sasuke would be with the help of his genius brain. What were the weapons girl and the Taijutsu expert of the Konoha 11 supposed to do? Bust a wall down to see if Sasuke was hiding behind it?
"Come on, Tenten, we can't give up!" Lee exclaimed as he leapt to the norther corner of the rooftop they were currently standing atop of. His eyes scanned the crowds but sighted neither black spiky hair nor the Uchiha symbol among the sea of civilians walking along the streets. Neither did he spot Sasuke jumping on the rooftops.
"Our friends are counting on us. We cannot falter until we are certain that we've failed. To any less would be unyouthful." Lee declared, making Tenten huff in annoyance. Mostly because as tiresome as it was to listen to Lee whenever he went on about youth like their sensei, he did have a point.
"Well said, Lee!" Might Gai declared as he and Neji landed on the rooftop out of nowhere.
"Gai-sensei!" Lee exclaimed, for once not out of joy at seeing his master.
"What are you both doing here?" Tenten asked.
"We followed you of course. We both heard the explosion and tried to find you two, but you were nowhere to be found. I them deduced that your Springtimes of Youth compelled you both to run towards the explosion to help out your fellow Shinobi. Which led us to the Academy where we were told you two were sent off to help track down one Sasuke Uchiha. And here we are." Gai explained with a shining smile.
"Yes, that's right, Gai-sensei. We are tracking down Sasuke Uchiha. And we must find him before he escapes the Leaf village." Lee stated.
"Escape? Why would he escape the Leaf village? Moreover, why would a supposedly loyal Uchiha run from the ANBU. Just what is going on?" Neji demanded to know.
Lee and Tenten looked at each other for a split second.
"We can't tell you." Lee said. "But we must catch Sasuke as soon as possible. Lives are at stake."
"Lives? Lee, Tenten, what is this about?" Gai asked, turning serious for a second.
"We really can't say." Tenten stressed. "Just please trust us, Gai-sensei." She begged.
The Youthful Jounin-sensei looked at his two students. Even if he had only known them for a little over six months, he looked at them as he would his brothers-in-arms, perhaps even as his children. He loved his Genin students. Even Neji, as stubborn as he was to not accept his Springtime of Youth.
"Of course, I trust you." Gai declared with a thumb's up and a winning smile. The two Jounin turned Genin felt their hearts swell with pride to have their old master back.
"Gai-sensei!" Lee cried as he ran up to embrace his surrogate father.
"Lee!" Gai cried as he held his favorite student and surrogate son in his arms. Neji and Tenten just groaned at their display.
'Why do I have to be dating such a weirdo?' Tenten thought to herself as she slapped her forehead.
"Tch." Neji scoffed as he turned away from their display. Tenten's annoyed glare softened into a smile. It really was Neji. He was alive again. After 5 long years.
"What do you say, Neji? You're gonna help us too, right?" Tenten asked.
"I don't know why you're asking me. It is our job as Leaf ninja to find Sasuke and that is what we will do. Why you feel the need to be vague about it I don't know and I hardly care." Neji said as he activated his Byakugan: The All Seeing Eye. The veins around his eyes popped and he began to see the chakra networks of everyone within 50 yards, even through walls.
"Hmmm?" Neji muttered when he glanced something out of the corner of his vision.
"What is it?" Tenten asked while Lee and Gai continued to hug.
"I think I see something suspicious." Neji responded before he leapt off of the rooftop over to the other side of the street. Tenten followed after him, followed by Lee and Gai closely behind her.
Neji leapt from rooftop to rooftop heading south before finally stopping over a mildly famous Dango shop that Tenten knew about.
"Master Gai, there is a dead man alone in that Dango shop." Neji reported as he looked down at his feet. The three of them all knew he was looking through the ceilings.
"What? Is there anyone else inside the shop?" Gai demanded.
"No. He is alone. And he died very recently." Neji reported.
"Alright, you three stay up here. I'll check this out first." Gai ordered, wanting to check for any booby traps the killer might have left without putting his students in harm's way.
"Very well." Neji nodded.
"Lee? Tenten?" Gai asked even as Lee and Tenten were already outside of the door of the Dango shop.
Tenten slid the sliding front door to the shop open by a hair's width and traced a fine kunai along its edges. This was a tried and true method Jounin used to check for booby traps. Upon completing her inspection and confirming that there was no tripwire, Tenten opened the door fully. Lee then slipped inside quiet as a cat. He did his own quick visual inspection. Running his fingertips underneath the countertops, checking for paper bombs or hidden seals. His inspection led him into the backroom where the owner kept the refrigerator.
Tenten stepped inside and could already smell the faint trace of iron lingering in the air.
"Tenten! Back here!" Lee shouted. Tenten dashed into the back room where Lee had the refrigerator door opened and was kneeling over the warm body of the Dango shop owner.
This disturbed Tenten. Not because it was a corpse. She had seen more than her fair share in her lifetime. No, she recognized this owner from later on in her timeline. She and the rest of Team Gai would stop to grab a snack here once or twice after they had become Chunin. She and Lee had even gone on a date here to this exact store. Neither of them were friends with the owner, but they knew that he shouldn't be dead yet.
'Has it even been an hour yet? And already we've screwed up the timeline.' Tenten thought. She shook her head. No time to get caught up on theories and paradoxes, they had work to do.
"Tenten…" Lee said with pain in his voice. Indicating that his thoughts were alike with hers.
"I know. But if he was killed today. You can bet that, that snake Uchiha had something to do with this." Tenten deduced.
"My thoughts exactly, but something seems off about him. I can't place what though." Lee said.
Tenten took another look at the body and for the hundredth time in her life wished that she had the chakra control to have qualified for Lady Tsunade's medical training. Maybe then she would have at least been trained as a coroner. Then it hit Tenten like Temari's fan back in the Chunin preliminaries.
"He was killed with a curve tipped kunai." Tenten said automatically. Noting the exit wound on the slash mark along his throat. Mock Tenten all you want for only being known as the weapons girl, but the girl freaking knew her weapons.
"Lee, Tenten, what is the meaning of this?" Gai asked as he and Neji entered the backroom.
"Um…we are just investigating the crime scene." Tenten said.
"I told you to wait for me to go in first." Gai said.
"We didn't hear you." Lee admitted. In truth, they had gone inside the second that Neji had mentioned dead body. One of the many jobs entrusted to Jounin and to a lesser extent Chunin was crime scene investigation. In an experienced shinobi's line of work, it paid to know how to autopsy a corpse by visual glance alone. But Lee and Tenten were supposed to be fresh faced Genin. They were supposed to shiver away from dead bodies, not kneel over them like they had a hundred times before.
"And what if there were booby traps?" Gai argued.
"We already checked." Lee said before he could stop himself.
"When did you learn how to do that?" Gai asked.
"Back in the Academy." Tenten answered quickly.
"Ah, of course." Gai said, realizing that he was overthinking it.
"Sensei, this man was killed with a curved tip kunai. Of Konoha design. I'm certain of it." Tenten said, getting them back on track.
"How can you tell?"
"The entry wound on the end of the cut." Tenten pointed towards the slash across the man's throat. "Only Leaf Medical Ninjas use kunai like this. The Mist ninja also have their own variation of a curved tip, but theirs has multiple hooks to double as emergency fishing hooks."
"Good eye, Tenten." Gai praised before he leaned forward to sniff the wound. While his sense of smell wasn't nearly on par with Kakashi or anyone from the Inuzuka clan, but that didn't exclude him from sending chakra to his nostrils to enhance his sense of smell.
"Not that this isn't important, but does this have anything to do with us tracking down the Uchiha?" Neji inquired.
"Yes. We're certain of it." Lee stated, surprising Neji. He always assumed that Lee was an over enthusiastic fool. He would never expect that tone of voice from the self-proclaimed Green Beast of the Leaf.
Tenten nodded. Even though they never knew Sasuke to use this special kind of kunai. It couldn't be a coincidence that them all jumping back in time would lead to this store owner being murdered by a random mugger. Or could it?
Tenten shook her head, this was their only lead, they needed to follow up on it. But why this specific kunai? The only ninjas from the Leaf who even bothered with this specific kunai were medical ninjas, specifically those from the undertaker squad. But who did Sasuke know that was a medical ninja?
Tenten's eyes went wide. "Kabuto."
"What was that?" Neji asked.
"I think Sasuke met up with Kabuto and his two other teammates." Tenten said.
"Who is Kabuto?" Gai asked.
"A medical ninja and a traitor to the Leaf." Lee answered. "If Sasuke truly has met up with him, than he will try to flee the village and head for Orochimaru's Sound Village."
Neji raised an eyebrow while Gai's blood ran cold.
"Orochimaru? The Snake Sannin?" Neji asked, having heard about him from his history lessons back in the Academy.
"Yes. He was once the star pupil of the 3rd Hokage before he fled the village. He was discovered to be researching forbidden jutsu and performing inhumane experiments." Gai explained. "But that doesn't explain why Sasuke would want to go to him as you say."
Lee and Tenten looked at one another. They were skating on thin ice. If they told Gai and Neji anything more, they would have to tell them everything. Shikamaru had spent the last several weeks lecturing Naruto on the theorized dangers of letting anyone know that he was from the future and that he should keep that a secret at any cost. Should they not follow his example? Even if it meant that Sasuke might get away as a result?
"Gai-sensei…" Tenten began.
"Tenten, what is really going on? Where are you and Lee getting all this information? The both of you are acting like two completely different people."
Tenten tightened her fist. She wanted to just tell him and get it over with. Let the whole world know. But she knew that they couldn't.
"Sensei, as soon as we catch Sasuke, we will tell you everything, we promise." Lee stated, making Tenten snap her head towards him.
Gai looked at his two pupils with mistrust in his eyes, something they had never seen from him before in their lives. "Very well. I've got the murderer's scent. We need to hurry if we mean to keep it."
Gai dashed out of the store, followed by Neji after he gave the two of them one last glance. The two shinobi looked at one another before sprinting after their teammates.
Sasuke meanwhile looked down emotionlessly at the back of the female ANBU's head. He had his sandal pressed against shoulder blades and a string of ninja wire wrapped around her neck. The poor girl couldn't have been older than twenty, yet all she could do was furiously scrap at the wiring buried in her skin, cutting off her oxygen. The two of them were deep in the nearby training forest on the eastern edge of the Leaf village. All around them, Kabuto and his two teammates were dispatching the rest of the ANBU squad that was sent to find Sasuke. Yoroi and Misumi had also managed to sneak up on their ANBU agents and bind them in headlocks. Yoroi was using his unholy gift to drain his burly ANBU agent of his chakra just by touching his skin. While Misumi used his special ability of unhinging all his joints to wrap his entire body around his opponent like a snake constricting around his prey. As for Kabuto, well he had already killed the ANBU team leader and was wiping off the blood from his glasses.
"Hold still, you little…" Yoroi cursed before the ANBU agent knocked his head back right into Yoroi's nose. "Aah! Son of a bitch!" The ANBU agent struggled further against the traitor even as he felt his energy being drained faster every second. He looked up just in time to see Kabuto standing in front of him and plunging a curved tip kunai into his throat.
"Damn it, Kabuto. I had him." Yoroi cursed as the ANBU agent fell to his knees, pathetically trying to cover up his throat.
"Save it. Getting Sasuke into Lord Orochimaru's fold is more important than your sense of bravado." Kabuto lectured as he walked over to Misumi who was being slammed into the back of a tree and stabbed his victim in the heart.
Meanwhile, Sasuke's ANBU finally gave in and collapsed into a mud puddle. Her blood seeping into the brown water as her last few breaths bubbled up to the surface.
'One more needless death. All on you, Naruto. You and the rest who could not accept the truth.' Sasuke thought.
He stood back up and felt a shooting pain in his stomach reverberate all throughout his body. He clutched himself and reached for his bottle of chakra pills. He popped three of them in his mouth and sucked down the pain. Kabuto looked on with concern.
'How could this brat possibly be the future vessel of Lord Orochimaru? His chakra control is abysmal if he keeps pushing himself to his limits. And those chakra pills will only substitute real rest for so long. He'll go into Stage 2 Chakra Exhaustion before long and then we'll have no choice but to stop and wait for him to recover.' Kabuto thought grimly.
"Where is this secret tunnel?" Sasuke demanded. "They will be coming more aggressively after us now."
"Calm down. Its right past this ridge. A narrow underground river entrance that runs directly underneath the walls of the Leaf village." Kabuto explained as he pointed towards the direction of the ridge. "We'll have to hold our breath at a few points, but it will take us a mile outside of the village. From there it is a 2 day journey to the border and then we are home free."
"Then let's get it over with already." Sasuke said as he headed for the cave entrance, only to stop mid-step when he sensed another team of ninjas fast approaching, only these ones felt familiar.
"Halt!" Gai shouted as he landed in front the team of Sound ninjas, followed closely behind by his three Genin students. Lee and Tenten narrowed their eyes when they spotted 12-year-old Sasuke, sporting that same hateful look both knew and despised.
"Might Gai, I presume." Kabuto answered, delighted to make the acquaintance of the second most powerful Jounin in the Leaf village.
"Yes, and you must be Kabuto. Might I ask what you are doing with the young Uchiha? I hope it is returning him to the Hokage and proper authorities." Gai said sarcastically, noting the corpses laying below their feet.
"Afraid not. My master Orochimaru wishes to meet with Sasuke, who seems all too willing to accept his invitation. So we will be leaving now if it is all the same to you." Kabuto smirked as his arm lingered over his kunai pouch.
"I can't let you do that. Not after you've killed four ANBU agents and one shop owner. Surrender now or I will be forced to make you submit." Gai threatened.
"With what? Your little squad of Genin? By my intel, they've only been ninjas for six months. Unless you plan to take us all on by yourself." Kabuto sneered while Lee and Tenten leapt over him, both of them aiming for Sasuke's head.
Sasuke dodged Lee's kick, letting it hit the ground with the force of a 20-ton pillar of concrete. He then blocked Tenten's hail of shuriken with his kunai before backflipping over her kusarigama (chain-sickle) that slashed at him horizontally, tearing up the earth behind him.
'Shit.' Sasuke cursed. He was way too low on chakra to deal with the likes of them. Especially with them both being masters of taijutsu and bukijutsu (weapon techniques). Neither of which required much chakra to perform. Sasuke on the other hand couldn't risk using any of his ninjutsu anymore.
"You're not getting away, Uchiha!" Lee shouted as he ran straight at Sasuke with his fist upraised. Sasuke didn't even have time to raise his arms in defense. Lee let loose his punch but fell forward instead. He looked back to see the one called Misumi had coiled his arm around Lee's leg.
"Run, Uchiha!" Misumi shouted as he began snaking his way up to Lee's torso.
Tenten meanwhile tried to throw some explosive tags tied to kunai at Sasuke, only to have them knocked out of the air by other kunai. Tenten turned around to see her attacker and got a hand clamped over her mouth as a reward. Yoroi slammed her head into the dirt while he sucked her chakra dry.
"Lee! Tenten!" Gai shouted before Kabuto attacked him with his hooked kunai. Gai grabbed the double agent's forearm just as his kunai was about to pierce Gai's forehead.
"So, I'm to understand that you consider yourself to be the great Copycat ninja's rival. Is that, right?" Kabuto taunted the Jounin as they both traded punches before leaping away from one another. "Because Lord Orochimaru once praised me as being Kakashi's equal in terms of skills. Killing you might prove his hypothesis beyond the shadow of a doubt."
Gai held up his right palm to assume his usual taijutsu stance. "Perhaps, but I can tell you without hesitation that you do not possess my rival's youthfulness. Your eyes are too clouded."
Kabuto adjusted his glasses before smirking. "Who needs youth when you can instead be immortal?" He flashed through his hand signs and his hands began to hum with chakra. 'Medical Scalpel No Jutsu.' He thought.
"Only to those who hate life would one seem more appealing than the other." Gai said before rushing at Kabuto.
As they were all fighting, Sasuke had made his way down the ridge and instantly spotted the narrow river as it cut across the forest floor and flowed into a natural cave. Kabuto was right, the entrance was small. No bigger than the width of a coffin. If Sasuke could just slip inside, he would be home free.
Sasuke ran half way to the cave when a kunai landed by his feet. He turned around and saw the once deceased Hyuga prodigy standing before him with his Byakugan activated.
"Sasuke Uchiha, where do you think you're going?" Neji asked as he walked slowly towards his fellow Rookie of the Year.
"Back off, Hyuga. I don't have time to play games with you." Sasuke sneered.
"I think differently." Neji said as he assumed his clan's infamous Gentle Fist style of taijutsu. "I think destiny will have you fall at my hands and then I will drag you back to the Hokage for questioning."
Sasuke snorted, not that he had much to laugh about. Had he access to his full array of chakra and jutsus, he could just swat this little bug away. No matter how fearsome he and his Byakugan claimed to be. His eye Kekki Genki were glorified x-ray telescopes. But his Gentle Fist style…
Sasuke drew his last remaining kunai and held it up like he used to with his katana. "I think you'll find that destiny has favored me, more than you, Hyuga. It did last time."
"What are you talking about?" Neji asked as the two of them began to circle one another.
"Nothing you'll live to figure out." Sasuke said as he threw a few shuriken at Neji while dropping a smoke bomb at his feet. The black cloud completely obscured Sasuke, allowing him to leapt towards the cave, only to be blocked by one pissed off Hyuga prodigy.
"Naïve!" Neji shouted as he thrusted his fingertips into Sasuke's chest. The Uchiha only had just enough space to lean back and avoid the strike. He slashed out with his kunai, but Neji recoiled his arm just in time. Sasuke started leaping backwards with Neji in hot pursuit. The two exchanged jabs, but close quarters combat favored the Hyuga. For every cut and bruise that Sasuke managed to inflict, all Neji had to do was land one strike to Sasuke's chakra node and the Hyuga could shut down the chakra flow through that node. Sasuke grit his teeth as the truth began to dawn on him. He could not win this fight.
Kabuto meanwhile wasn't having any more luck with his opponent.
No matter a ninja's individual skills, you couldn't beat good old fashioned speed and strength, as Kabuto was reminded of after Gai kicked him through a tree. The medic ninja rolled end over end before finally skidding to a halt across the dirt.
'I can't afford to drag out this fight.' Kabuto thought as he popped one of his own chakra pills into his mouth. His chakra had so far been used primarily to repair any damage that Gai had inflicted on him, but this was a losing battle. Kabuto sighed as he felt his strength returning to him, just in time for Gai to come sprinting straight at him. 'He thinks I'm worn out. Now's my chance.'
At the very last second, Kabuto leapt to the ground and stuck out his chakra enhanced hands. His palms his flesh and he knew he had won. Kabuto ducked underneath Gai's attack and his chakra scalpels cut into the taijutsu master's thighs. Gai tumbled over Kabuto and faceplanted into the ground behind him. He then tried to right himself, but found that his legs weren't responding to his commands.
"Checkmate." Kabuto smirked as he adjusted his broken glasses.
"What did you do to me?" Gai grunted as he grasped his legs.
"I severed your nerves from your upper thighs on down. Temporarily, unfortunately. I don't have time to do anything permanent. Especially with more ANBU teams no doubt on their way." Kabuto said as he turned to leave. "Give my regards to Kakashi Hatake, who I'm sure would have been an actual challenge."
Kabuto turned his back to his fellow ninja just in time to see the shadow forming behind his head.
"SOY-YOU!" Gai shouted as he used his arms to fling himself at Kabuto. The Sound Jounin sidestepped Gai whose fist created a crater in the ground. He spun around and flung himself at Kabuto again, his fists flying. Even with both of his legs incapacitated, Gai was still a formidable opponent.
Kabuto ducked underneath Gai and rolled behind him. 'He's like a wild animal. Truly a Blue Beast.' Kabuto thought as he threw his gas bombs at Gai's chest as he flew at Kabuto. Gai sailed past the gas cloud and slammed his fist right into Kabuto's chest, sending him flying back a hundred yards into another tree. "GAAAH!" Kabuto cried as the wind was knocked out of him.
Gai fell to his chest and dragged himself after Kabuto, only to become overcome with coughing. His throat felt like it was inflating like a balloon. He collapsed in front of Kabuto who forced himself to stand up on two shaky legs.
'Definitely Kakashi's rival.' Kabuto thought as he stumbled his way towards the secret tunnel.
Tenten meanwhile found herself in quite the pickle. Yoroi had managed to grab her in a head lock with his hands continuously sucking Tenten's chakra. She had seconds before she would faint.
"That's right, you little bitch. Give me every last drop of your chakra." Yoroi sneered into her ear, making Tenten's skin crawl. She had tried every method to throwing the man off of her. Headbutting, toe stomping, biting hands; none of the non-lethal methods were working.
So, she chose her least favorite method.
Tenten relinquished her grip on Yoroi's forearm and reached down to activate the kunai storage seals she kept on her wrists. Only her younger self hadn't learned about seals yet and didn't have any. Cursing, Tenten reached for kunai pouch strapped to her leg and pulled out a kunoichi's best friend. The classic, trusty, standard issue kunai. Which she then stabbed directly into the spot right beside her head.
"AAAAHHH!" Yoroi cried as he immediately loosened his grip on Tenten. The Kunoichi fell forward and saw that she had hit her mark as Yoroi grasped at the kunai lodged directly into his eye.
"YOU BITCH!" Yoroi cried as the pain was beyond anything he had ever experienced before. The knife was in his brain, he knew it! He could feel it! He was going to die!
Tenten ran up to him, knowing that she had moments of chakra left and decapitated the Sound spy with her chain-sickle. Yoroi's head rolled and Tenten collapsed to her knees. He had taken too much of her chakra. She couldn't go on.
'Lee, it's all up to you now.' Tenten thought as she drifted off to sleep.
Lee meanwhile was busy turning Misumi's face into mush. The Sound spy might have been able to dislocate his joints to sneak through tight spaces and bind his enemies like a cobra, but that really was that only string to his bow. Once Lee had managed to get one of his arm's free it was a simple matter to punch Misumi in the face until he fell unconscious.
"Damn. Your persistent." Lee praised as he untangled himself from his opponent's limbs. He stood up and took in his bearings. He knew that Sasuke was ahead of him trying to escape, but behind him were Gai-sensei and his metal flower Tenten-chan. The student and boyfriend in him wanted to check up on them first, but he knew that neither of them would want him to waste time he could be spending finishing off Sasuke once and for all. They would want him to trust them to deal with their own opponents. With that mini debate over, Lee sped off down the ridge towards the river.
His heart raced when he saw a lone figure in white laying prone on the ground, motionless.
'No please. Not again.' Lee pleaded to himself as he ran faster than before to kneel before Neji's body to inspect him. He jabbed two fingers into his teammate's neck and felt a thousand pounds lighter when he felt a faint but steady pulse.
Lee looked up from his friend's long luxurious black mane to take in his surroundings. He couldn't sense Sasuke or anyone else around. The only thing out of place was the moss that was brushed aside at the entrance to an underground river.
The Green Beast of Leaf dashed over to the entrance but lingered once more, doubting if he should give up his search and attend to his teammates or risk taking on Sasuke and whomever else.
His memories then drifted back to that night he and Tenten had to hoist fleeing children and elderly citizens from a nearby village into moving carts to flee their burning village in the dead of night. He could still hear their crying.
Lee jumped down right into the hole and let the current sweep him along. His body was knocked around as the waves picked him up and down, usually when there was no space between the water's surface and the ceiling. Soon, Lee's less than fun waterslide came to a halt when his feet his rocks and enough light peaked out from the forest floor for Lee to see where he was. The underground stream had reached a junction. One pathway to the left, and one pathway to the right.
'Times and places that I wish I could use ninjutsu.' Lee thought to himself before he chose the right path.
Another minute of sliding led him out to a great river along the nearby mountains outside of the Leaf. Lee ran along the surface of the mightier river and reached the shore just before he ran over the edge of the waterfall. From there he took in the breathtaking view of the valley below. Forest as far as the eye could see of every tree imaginable. But no sign of Sasuke anywhere.
Lee punched the nearest rock, splitting it in half. His anger numbed the pain better than any drug ever could. He had failed. Sasuke had escaped.
And the ninja world would bleed for it.
Author's Note: Dun, dun, DUUUUUUN!
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