"Sasuke! Get back here you bastard!" Naruto was running as fast as he can, the rest of the fondly dubbed 'Sasuke Retrieval Team' hot on his heels like a pack of nin-dogs. There were also actual ninken running with them, courtesy of his latest devotee's willingness to prove himself to his last student (as much as he would have liked to, Kakashi couldn't really count Sakura seeing as she had been poached by the hokage personally). The turncoat was not far ahead of the group, ninja from Sound running with him faithfully even as they looked back on the gaining Konoha ninja apprehensively.
Just as it seemed he would be able to reach him, Naruto held out an arm to snag the collar of the Uchiha's ridiculously low-cut shirt only for a feminine hand to bat his away just as the two collectives burst into a clearing that broke the monotony of the forest the chase had taken place in. The three ninja, looking like a strange flag with their respective black, red and white heads next to each other, quickly made their way to the other end of the opening before turning to face their pursuers.
Sasuke's face was red-hot with childish indignance at the fact that Naruto had managed to both find, and catch up with him so quickly. He let his dark eyes sweep the group before him as he smugly took in the fact that they had sent so many elite shinobi after him. He preened under the attention; Kakashi Hatake, Maito Guy, Shikamaru Nara, Naruto and a ninja he had never seen before gazed back at him, an impressive range of emotions being expressed between them. Particularly disturbing was the unknown man, who was standing directly at the clown's left shoulder, who was looking at him as a wolf might stare down a particularly plump sheep.
Tearing his gaze away from the disturbing ninja, Sasuke let his features settle into a familiar smirk as he addressed the fool that was beginning to slowly approach him, standing (surprisingly) at the head of the group. He scoffed inwardly when he surmised that it was most likely because he was the one Sasuke was most 'attached' to. Tch, as if.
"Why did you come after me, dead-last?" he sneered unkindly at the still advancing blonde, whose face was strangely solemn. His uncharacteristically grave eyes looked like they'd seen some shit, not that Sasuke cared, "Because we're friends?" The last word was said scathingly, eliciting a chuckle from his Sound companions; although it did seem slightly forced on Karin's part.
"Just come back, Sasuke, I'm not in the mood for this," Naruto sounded exasperated and the Uchiha bristled. How dare he act like he was the annoyance! Still, he hadn't yet said a word about any friendship nonsense. Good, it seemed that the message had finally made it through his thick skull.
Sasuke opened his mouth to continue taunting his old teammate when a sudden rustle behind him made him whip around. He stared into his ex-sensei's cheerful eye, but when he attempted to jump away from him he found that he couldn't move a muscle. Out of the corner of his stiff eyes, he could see the Nara gazing up at him with a lazy grin, his shadows extending to Sasuke's own, and he growled lowly.
Naruto relaxed his stance now, the silver-haired man (who hadn't left his side) panting in excitement, his eyes shining maniacally, "Huh, that was kinda anticlimactic. Oh well, we've got you Sasuke, time to come home."
Sasuke grit his teeth, looking to his comrades to find that they too had been caught by Shikamaru's clan jutsu. He saw Suigetsu's form begin to quiver slightly, and he gave a dark grin. He had a trick up his sleeve still.
"You're naïve to think you've won, moron," Naruto rolled his eyes at the comment, only making the raven's hackles rise more. "I will always beat you!" he literally spat, the spittle finding its home on Kakashi's mask, which he wiped at disgustedly, eye that had still been carefully on his wayward student closing now with the action.
Seeing his chance, Sasuke hissed, "Now Suigetsu!"
And as if time was moving in slow motion, Naruto could see everything unfold. The swordsman dematerialised, effectively releasing himself from the shadow jutsu, only to reform immediately. He unsheathed his sword and thrust it defiantly at his sensei. His sensei who was too close in proximity to do anything about the surprise attack. Kyuubi felt his panic and Naruto knew his eyes had regressed into feline slits as he threw his hand towards the masked man. He couldn't die.
"Kakashi-sensei! No!" he reached desperately for the shinobi, whose eye had widened as he finally comprehended his situation. Seeing the inevitably encroaching blade, he gave his student a peaceful smile, unlike any Naruto had ever seen before. And then his head flew off of his shoulders.
Letting out an unearthly screech that was neither animal nor human, Naruto fell to his knees and Kurama's chakra curled around him protectively. Eyes red as much now with oncoming tears as with supernatural energy, he turned his head to where he could feel Hidan about to take his own action.
"Make them pay."
With an odd combination of glee at finally getting to see some action, and rage at the stupid teenagers that managed to unsettle his Jashin-sama, Hidan went to work. It only took a moment of horrified spectating for Guy to join the man in his fight with his own emotion-filled battle cry, seeking to avenge his eternal rival and friend. Shikamaru meanwhile had immediately returned to Naruto's side, a hand on his shoulder in understanding while he glared at the Jashin priest who had killed his own sensei; but who had been rendered untouchable on the hokage's orders. It was a world of injustice that they all lived in. The fight was, unsurprisingly, not long – what with two seasoned killers going up against a newly minted team of teenagers, and it was only a matter of time before two waves of the unearthly chakra Naruto had come to associate with Hidan's sacrifices rolled over him.
There was no associated pain or nausea this time though, a fact Naruto would contemplate later as, for now he had the traitor to deal with. He rose, unaware of Shikamaru's sudden removal of his hand from his person or his bewildered gape. Sasuke was restrained and kneeling, face bruised and body bloody from the short battle, but he was glaring at his two captors with a vehemence that would have set them alight if it could.
Both Guy and Hidan looked to Naruto, one startling when he did and the other's eyes widening as a pleased grin spread across his face. Sasuke did the same, the venom in his glare quickly replaced with shock as he took in his teammate's appearance. He had seen Naruto in his various stages of kyuubification, but this. This was something else entirely. Naruto was stalking towards him with such hate in his gaze that he would not have thought the blonde capable of generating. His lips were pulled back in a snarl that exposed, to his utter bafflement, two rows of sharp, shark-like teeth. His whiskers were indeed darker and more prominent, and his irises a demon-fox red, but his sclera had tendrils of black swirling into normal their milky white. He looked, for lack of a better term, like a vengeful demon.
Naruto stopped short when he reached Sasuke and tugged his head back sharply by his shoulder-length hair, his snarling breath animalistic in his face.
"Tell me why I shouldn't kill you right now," he said quietly, and the words were so much more terrifying than they would have been if he had screamed them at him. Sasuke trembled with a fear he had not known in so many years, and he cursed himself for it. He looked desperately to his two guards, and the silver-haired one watching on with a wide smile on his face was clearly going to be no help at all in preserving his life so he turned to Maito Guy who (to his frustration) was not even looking at him. He was, instead, sharing an overtly concerned look with the Nara who had made his own way closer as well.
He gulped when Naruto tugged his hair harshly in an attempt to return his attention to him, "We're friends?" he squeaked.
Naruto snarled and Sasuke flushed red at his vocal mishap (he would take that squeak to his grave), but did not say anything more. What could he say? Then, with a bout of luck that he was wholly undeserving of, the boy was spared by the most unlikely voice speaking up and making the clearing's occupants fall into an astonished silence themselves.
"Come on, Naruto. This isn't my precious student at all." Yep, that infuriating patronising tone definitely belonged to Hatake Kakashi, "You're gonna regret it if you kill him now, as much as he deserves it."
Naruto shook his head to clear it, effectively clearing the eerie new additions to his features as well and then turned to look at where the Hatake's body was still laying. His jaw dropped, "S-sensei?"
The man's disembodied head was laying a way off from where his body was now twitching like something from a horror film, but he still managed to eye smile at his favourite genin, "Yep."
Naruto only continued to gape, joined by his companions now, and an increasingly paler Sasuke who trembled as he turned to look at the spectacle, his widened dark eyes appearing thoroughly haunted.
"Uh – a little help here?" The only one who could move was, unsurprisingly, Hidan and he whooped as he scooped up the grey-haired head and reintroduced it to its body. He dragged it by its shoulders into a sitting position where it remained like a puppet with its strings cut, before placing Kakashi's head on the neck it had been cleanly removed from.
It immediately fell off again.
Hidan chortled like he didn't know that was going to happen before pulling the Hatake's body into its feet where Kakashi's head realised that he could actually control it, he took his head from Hidan and held it facing the assortment of ninja in the clearing. He cleared his throat, his Adam's apple bobbing from way above his crown, before addressing them.
"It would seen that we need lady Tsunade." He then grinned insufferably and Naruto realised that yes, this was happening; yes, his sensei was apparently immortal and yes, Hidan was looking at him with the smug expression of a cat that got the proverbial cream.
That was, until he remembered his place and immediately dropped to the ground and pressed his face to the floor. A mumbled 'Jashin-sama' could be heard from the grass and he heard Gai sputter behind him.
He turned around to give the other three men a 'what can you do' shrug that was offset by the spooked look in his eyes when there was a fumbling and a cry of indignation as Kakashi's body dropped his head to follow Hidan's lead. Naruto sagged, and was about to explain the situation when the Green Beast of Konoha, apparently having come to his own conclusions, followed suit shortly after his eternal rival. He would not be outdone after all, immortality or not.
He met an aghast Shikamaru's eyes, before the Nara came up to him and shakily patted his shoulder, staring at the prostrate men before looking back to Naruto, entirely lost for words.
Naruto felt his knees buckle but was caught by his peer before he could collapse to the floor himself, the sheer relief at his sensei's (against all odds) miraculous survival and at the success of their mission.
He turned back to look at his ex-teammate, a satisfied grin on his face at finally being able to return his once tentative friend to the village, to Sakura. When he saw the boy's expression, he sagged in defeat.
On the bright side, Sasuke was finally looking at him with something other than disdain. Unfortunately, it seemed as if he was now utterly terrified of him.