I don't own Naruto, or any of the characters from the Manga or Anime.

A Price for Peace

Chapter 31 Instinct

The early afternoon sun caused the small jungle village to swelter in the humidity, for Naruto it was hard to believe that little more than a week ago that he and Karin were surrounded on all sides by an endless field of snow. 'Then again when you consider how long I have been traveling... it's probably been close to a year now, easily more than six months anyway. Wow now that I think about it I must have missed my birthday... that would make me seventeen now, even for a shinobi that's not a very long life,' Naruto sighed at the grim joke of him faking his own death. He sat on Cho's porch waiting for Karin to get changed after their individual training that morning and his thoughts soon turned to that of his red haired companion. He was dressed in a black shirt with a dark orange collar and cargo pants that matched. 'Come to think of it we could have missed Karin-chan's birthday as well, I wonder when it is? Well it will give me something new to find out.'

He was broken out of his stupor by the door opening behind him. The kunoichi walked out with her hair still lightly wet from the shower, Naruto could tell because her attempt to brush the ever messy half of her deep crimson locks had the illusion of working. That may have been the first thing that Naruto noticed, but his attention was soon drawn elsewhere, in fact he couldn't really look away.

Karin inwardly beamed at the blonds dumbstruck expression. 'I hope I didn't go a little overboard on my outfit and have him think I'm trying to seduce him... actually scratch that it's exactly what I want him to think I am doing, besides this gives me freedom to move easily, I can fight in this.' "So Naruto-kun, what do you think? I hope I'm not underdressed for our first date."

The outfit in question was not all that extravagant a light lavender tank top that clung tightly to her curves, exposing a fair amount of lightly toned midriff, a black miniskirt with matching tight black shorts that seemed to emphasise her feminine figure. She also wore black stockings, that rose to just above the knees, Naruto had to refrain himself from reaching out and caressing her exposed flesh that seemed to be calling to him. "You uh- you look... wow," was the oh so intelligent response to her question.

Karin blushed, she was not used to such an obvious response. For years she had received nothing but indifference from Sasuke whenever she had attempted to garner a response from her former crush. Naruto on the other hand had no problems with admiring her attempts. "I uh, take it you like it then?" She asked a little more sheepishly than before.

Naruto nodded finally coming to his senses. "Yeah you look... great, just like a kunoichi should!" Naruto declared happily.

"Huh what do you mean?" The red head asked her crimson eyes glistening behind her glasses with some pride from the 'great.' comment.

"Well you know... all of the best kunoichi I know have all been really beautiful, just like you." Naruto replied honestly.

"Yo- you t-think I'm beautiful?" Karin mentally yelling at herself for stuttering. 'Damn it I should be a little bit more composed, I can't let him affect me like this so easily!'

Naruto readily nodded. "Of course I do, I would have to be crazy not too."

Karin had heard enough, quickly pulling the blond to his feet so she could give him a quick kiss and a tight hug. "You're the first person that has ever called me beautiful like that, thank you Naruto-kun," she admitted in a hushed whisper that even he had to strain his ears to hear.

Naruto blushed from the kiss even though it was short he wanted more, a more primal part of his mind encouraged him to lead his new girlfriend back to their room and not come out until satisfied, but his more logical and self-conscious side won out shaking off the feeling. "You don't need to thank me for telling the truth, Karin-chan," He whispered back, lightly returning her hug.

'Well if she wasn't head over heels before, she is now.' Kurama said with an amused smirk.

'As if on cue, you're right on time to ruin the moment,' Naruto chuckled finding himself in front of his open seal.

'I do my best, and I guess as a potential mate this one is loyal.'

'What's that supposed to mean!?' Naruto knew that what ever Kurama wanted it would be important if he brought him inside the seal, he wanted to talk without Karin noticing anything due to the time dilation they experienced in his mindscape.

'I meant no offence Naruto, in fact I believe that her devotion to you would not be easily broken, and the more you bond now the less likely it is that would ever be broken.'

'I don't want Karin-chan to be devoted to me, Kurama, she's her own person.'

'You misunderstand... now allow me to explain. While I am not really a fox, I'm a ball of condensed chakra, I and by extension you take on certain traits that are known to that specific species.'

'I'm not gong to grow ears and a tail am I?'

'What!? No of course not, did you see your mother with fox ears? You really are an idiot sometimes, you know that right?'

'Yes,' the blond answered, his head hanging in defeat.

'No my concern is to do with behaviour. For example as kits both yourself and Kushina loved to pull pranks, something that several legends associate with fox deities.'

'Yo, I'm not following you what does this have to do with Karin-chan?' Naruto asked, he was growing slightly impatient waiting for his partner to get to the point.

'Simply this; foxes, both male and female mate for life. This is why you subconsciously couldn't answer that Hyuuga girls confession even though you wanted too. Mito Uzumaki never looked at another man other than Hashirama until he died, the same could be said for Kushina once she had chosen. It's likely not an issue as Humans sometimes act in a similar way once they find their "soul mate"' Kurama answered.

'So you're saying I get one shot to get this thing right... that's insane! I mean I really like Karin-chan, but what if she's not... "the one", you know.'

'Well if my hunch is correct, then in the end it's not really up to you, you will just imprint on the one you fall for. She will inevitably be "the one" for you.'

'A Hunch... so you don't know if it's true then.' Naruto let out a sigh of relief. 'Don't scare me like that Kurama, I mean I had a crush on Sakura-chan for years if I was going to... "imprint" was it? Then I would have done so with her.'

Kurama let out an mournful sigh 'Naruto, think back, and I mean really think. Tell me how did you really feel about the pink haired girl?'

'I loved-'

'No you didn't,' Kurama cut him off quickly. 'Compare that feeling you had for Sakura, to Karin, then tell me which feeling is stronger.'

Naruto paused for a moment, but the truth was, he didn't even need a second. 'It's stronger for Karin.' he admitted almost resigned to defeat.

'I am quite the gifted empath Naruto, incase you hadn't noticed. Your so called infatuation with Sakura was nothing but a cry to be noticed by a young, and lonely boy.' Kurama almost sounded sorry as he spoke. 'The lack of positive emotions in your life gave you something to latch onto when she acknowledged you, even if it was in a more violent way, she was someone who gave you some form of attention, and you so rarely received any.'

Naruto had to admit that the fox made sense. 'Oi how did you go from wanting to kill all humans to calm and collected so damn quickly again?' Naruto huffed in a mock pout. The memories were quite painful but he had let go of the past a long time ago.

'I can't have my fathers legacy left in the dark now can I. Besides, you seem rather fond of humans, I would be a pretty crappy guardian if I started killing them all for fun again.' Kurama chuckled his dark malevolence not yet faded for good.

'Alright, so say I believe you and you're right about this imprinting thing, why tell me now?I mean wouldn't this have been a better conversation to have before I started thinking about how I felt about Karin-chan?' Naruto asked genuinely curious.

'Well to be honest it is because I wasn't very sure at all, until just a moment ago that is when you had that... urge,' Naruto blushed heavily, knowing exactly what the fox was talking about. He had wanted to take Karin back into their room and do... unspeakable things to her. 'Your mother had that exact same feeling when your father saved her from those Kumo ninja it was like a switch just went off and she made up her mind about him. I passed it off as only a mild interest at the time, she had just been rescued from a dangerous situation and emotions were running high after all. Mito Uzumaki was already being courted by Hashirama Senju when I was sealed inside her, so it was no surprise to me that she had similar feelings. That, and the fact I had just been sealed in a human for the first time, and spent most of my time just trying to escape,' the fox admitted.

'Three jinchuuriki, and it's happened with each of us. You're right that doesn't sound like much of a coincidence anymore. But if that's the case then isn't it out of my hands now?' Naruto asked, he didn't like the feeling of having something that should have been an important choice for him taken away.

'No it doesn't, if I am correct that urge you just felt was simply to identify her as someone you have a strong attachment towards and marks her has a potential mate, the process doesn't complete until it becomes... official.' Kurama replied.

'What does that mean?'

'Please don't make me spell this out Naruto, You can be smart when you want to be, just think about it for a second would you, that way I don't have to answer everything myself.' Thankfully, as far as the fox was concerned, Naruto caught onto his meaning a moment later and sported a blush that would make Hinata envious. 'I did give you warnings about falling for that girl Naruto, you made your bed now you have to lie in it. More little urges like the one you just experienced will probably start occurring, and I would suspect that they will become more frequent the more attached to that girl you become.'

'Any advice?' Naruto asked almost pleadingly.

'None that I can think of, but are you really all that bothered? You said yourself that you really like her, is it so hard to think that it could be love, you humans are so fond of that emotion after all, never found the time for it myself.' Kurama said resting his head on his large paws.

'I guess it doesn't, but I'm certainly not going to force myself onto Karin-chan.' The blond declared proudly.

The fox chuckled, he always enjoyed seeing that determined look on his containers face. 'Then this should certainly be rather interesting for me.'

'Thanks for the information Kurama, even if it doesn't change anything in the end.' Naruto said kindly, he was was just about to leave when another thought crept into his head. 'Will the imprinting affect my... mate at all?' he had to struggle to get the final part of the sentence out, not wishing to refer to Karin in such a way.

'It's hard to say, but sadly I don't think so, only you have me sealed within you after all.'

'Why is that sad? I wouldn't want to burden her with being stuck with me if things in the end don't work out.' Naruto replied.

The fox sighed 'It's like pulling teeth with you sometimes. Think of it this way, if you imprint on Karin, then she is your mate for life, but if she doesn't need to imprint on you, then she can leave, free to chose another mate while you cannot. Meaning I would be forced to kill her in order to free you.' Naruto gave a rather horrified yet quizzical look to the final part of the foxes statement. 'Life, refers to either party, when Hashirama died, Mito Uzumaki seemed to pay more attention to other males, however she decided to never choose another mate, but that was a personal choice, not one of necessity.'

'Oh but that doesn't explain why you would kill Karin-chan!'

The fox smirked 'Oh I didn't realise you had already chosen for certain.' He paused for a moment enjoying watching the blond splutter ineligibly. 'To answer your question... You have been alone too much in this life Naruto, and if someone took the chance of your happiness away, well then I would make them... suffer for it.' The large nine tailed fox emphasised the last three words so precisely that even Naruto felt a cold sweat for a moment.

Naruto couldn't help but smile, once his shock had died down that is, at the almost familial guardianship the once terrifying Kyuubi now held for the blond. 'Thank you Kurama, I'll do my best to be careful.'

'Good, now you better get back out there, even with the time dilation in the seal your hug will be getting close to an uncomfortable length,' the Fox chuckled before he and his mindscape faded from Naruto's sight.

Naruto found himself back in the real world and heading the foxes last piece of advice he reluctantly broke their embrace. He was sporting a light hue of a blush as he thought about everything that they had discussed but that was easily disguised. "We uh, should get going, the stores will probably shut before dark and we have quite a bit we need to buy." He suggested careful for just the moment to avoid eye contact with the red head.

"Yeah you're right let's go," Karin agreed readily.

(Elsewhere)

Tetsu's mind was racing, he was now without a doubt that he was searching for someone that could not only use chakra, but had at the very least some basic training. 'There is no way that whoever it was, is still going to be in the village with two units looking for him, even if most of the military force in the city is made up from those that failed to pass in the academy.'

He had one target in mind as he stalked the large streets, surrounded on either side by the tall towers that scattered the landscape of the southern capital. His target soon coming into view. Several large gate guards tensed when they saw Tetsu approaching and quickly saluted the rust haired man. "Tetsu-sama," said a slightly shorter man with long light brown hair that was tied back into a ponytail. He wore the same red uniform as the other guards, however his were in a much better condition than the others and a small star was placed over the silver lion that indicated he had a higher rank than his peers. "How can we help you sir?" He asked calmly.

"I'm looking for someone... actually I believe it may be two people," Tetsu replied.

"Yes I am aware that the lockdown is still in effect I can assure you nobody has come in or out of the gate since the lockdown was put in place." The guard replied.

"Yes I'm aware, I do not doubt your ability to protect the gate. I'm actually looking for information on groups that entered the village... particularly if any of them contained a man with spiky blond hair and a woman with blood red hair with eyes to match. It sounds like it may have been a disguise to me but I thought I may as well ask," Tetsu asked calmly.

The gate guard thought about it and shook his head. "Sorry it doesn't ring a bell."

"Actually sir, I saw them," a large bald man answered calmly. He almost cowered under the almost accusatory gaze of both his commander and the ranking officer of the military. "They entered on the same day as the lockdown with four others, I'm not certain but judging by their cargo they were selling I would say they came from the south, near the forests right on the southernmost border," He quickly elaborated.

"Huh that's weird. Now that I think about it there has been a rather odd report from the south. One of the gangs that collects money from the villages had their hideout completely destroyed, reports seem to be that it burnt down, but we cannot find out for sure as to why, or if there were even any survivors." The gate guard commander said.

"Where?" Tetsu asked, he didn't believe in coincidences and this one stood out like a sore thumb.

"Near Akiraka village in the south," The gate guard answered honestly.

"Open the gate." Tetsu ordered. "I'm going to see this for myself. If I hurry I can be back beofre it gets too late tonight. Can I ask you to take a message to my team at the government house for me?" 'I can also use this to inform the surrounding villages that they will be hosting my team for a few days over the next few months.'

"Yes of course." The gate guard answered with some authority.

"Tell them they are to spend the afternoon doing chakra exercises and I will give them new orders when I return," Tetsu replied as the gate opened slightly for his exit. 'No time to waste, if I'm going to be back before it gets too late I need to get a move on,' he thought taking off in a blur.

(Later)

Naruto and Karin casually walked the streets of the large village, unlike in the capital the inhabitants didn't race around to perform their shopping as quickly as they could instead everyone seemed to move in large groups. "Safety in numbers I guess." Naruto sighed, the village itself looked dilapidated, the streets were full of holes and the walls were crumbling.

"The people here are really no better off than in Cho's village," Karin said as she cast her eyes around at several of the larger groups that appeared to be taking it in turns to enter a shop that sold basic groceries. She could feel the tension in the blond beside her as they walked. "Whats wrong?"

"Everything about this place. It's not right, there are enough people here that they should have a proper police force and security, they live in poverty yet I bet they all work hard just to stay alive," Naruto replied.

"Yet you could argue that they haven't had a single war in almost a hundred years," Karin replied.

"That's only because they have no way of standing up for themselves, their will has been crushed, civilians cant fight against shinobi, even if they tried they would just be throwing their lives away," Naruto sighed. It was a depressing scene, in the capital he saw a small taste, but at the same time he also saw that a few people were able to make a somewhat good living for themselves, even if most of them were in gangs. "The peace is a lie if it causes the people suffer like this."

Karin had to admit she agreed, there was nothing peaceful about this, they may not have been openly fighting a war against one another, but that was only because they were living in fear. "We can't do anything like this though, and you promised Cho that you would keep a low profile for today at least," the red head warned.

"Yeah I know. But it's frustrating to see so much suffering and not be able to do anything to help," Naruto sighed in defeat.

Karin smiled at how genuine the blond was and wrapped her hand in his own. "Come on we've got everything that we came here to get, lets find something to eat, I'm sure there are some restaurants or cafe's in this village somewhere," she said pulling him along to hasten their retreat from this particular area of the village as it was one of the worst that they had seen, not that the others were much better.

Just a short walk down the road they found a small cafe, the sign out the front was faded but still showed a hint of what would have been past glory, with elegant writing and high quality craftsmanship on the metal that judging from the few remaining flakes of paint had once been painted gold. The inside did it's best to rise above the squalor that was the rest of the village, the tables had been set with old but clean cloths and the odd set of cutlery seemed to be of a much higher standard than one would expect in such a poor district. Above the door there was a small bell that chimed as Karin opened the door to lead Naruto inside.

The sound of the bell was met with two rather large gentlemen appearing from a room out the back. "Oh look we don't want any trouble we'll just leave," Naruto said. He remembered the last time they were met in such a way and did not want a repeat of what happened at the capital.

"Nonsense dear, please take a seat and I will have one of my sons get you a couple of menus," came the voice of a small old lady who appeared behind one of the two men who were now identified as her children. "My boys can be rather intimidating but unfortunately that is a necessity of the world we now live in," she said with a kind smile while Naruto and Karin hesitantly took a seat.

"Thanks obaa-chan, you're the first friendly face we have seen since we have entered this village." Naruto said quickly making up his mind that she could be trusted.

The old lady smiled at the trusting young boy, while her two suns stood at over six foot, she was barely into the fives, her long now grey hair tied up in a tight bun. Despite the poverty of the village she wore a nice floral outfit that would not be out of place in a tea ceremony in Konoha. "Ah yes that is one of the many facts of life now, but it is because of that, that I need to be even more welcoming, otherwise a small little cafe like this one could not exist and there would be one less place for the people to escape for just a little while."

"Then why is this place so empty? It seems like the people around here could use an escape," Karin asked.

"Oh we normally do get a decent crowd in the late afternoons, you are probably just about an hour or so too early," The old lady answered as one of the large men returned with a menu. "I'll leave you to get back to your date, it's not often that we are blessed with outsiders here," she added and with one final bow left the two shinobi.

"Well she was nice," Naruto beamed with a smile, he was happy to find at least one person that was trying to make the village a little nicer. "You know I realised something today while you were getting ready. We have been traveling together for almost a year now, which means we forgot to celebrate both of our birthdays, or at least mine. I don't even know when your birthday is for that matter."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that. To tell the truth, I actually don't know when my birthday is," Karin admitted feeling a little uncomfortable. "I was an orphan, even during my time as a Kusa ninja I only ever knew my age, and Orochimaru was never one for celebrations so I never really thought about it."

"I can imagine," The blond said dryly in regards to Orochimaru. "But not having a birthday, thats not right."

Karin shrugged her response, it really wasn't an issue for the crimson eyed kunoichi. "It never really bothered me, I never had anyone to celebrate it with anyway, well there was Sasuke, but he was never... you know."

"Never one to celebrate anything," the blond finished for her. "But I'm different, I want you to have at least one day that you can say is important to you... I know why don't we pick a date and then celebrate it then... I would say we could celebrate it today but I lost trace of what day it was after the war, so I have no idea what the date even is."

Karin face had a light dusting of pink at his kind words. 'A day that is important to me?' She thought trying to think back there were a few dates that sprung to mind. Like when she was taken in off the street by Orochimaru and given a purpose, but the more she thought about it, the less enthusiastic she was about that particular memory. "Alright I got it. June twenty," she said calmly.

"Alright, I'll remember that," Naruto said with his still somewhat childish fox like grin. "Why that date? If you don't mind me asking?"

"Um..." Karin was shuffling uncomfortable in her chair, she had expected him to ask but found it rather embarrassing to answer.

Naruto saw this and thought he may have gone to far in asking her something that may have been personal. "Sorry I didn't mean to pry, you don't have to tell me."

"No I don't mind at all," she replied quickly. "It was the first time I saw you... I had been stabbed by Sasuke and your teammate saved my life, but I was really weak. But the main thing I remember from that day was feeling your incredible chakra for the first time." By now the young kunoichi's blush had intensified, but it was matched by that of the blonds. "It's weird isn't it? I'll change the date, I'm sor-"

"No! It's alright, I like it." Naruto said happily.

(Meanwhile)

Not far out of the village Tetsu stood in the remains of what had once been a well disguised bandit hideout. He could tell just by looking at the scene that this was no accident, someone or something had purposefully dismantled this base.

The rust haired man inwardly smiled, he didn't approve of this form of keeping the peace from the empire. They hired bandits to insure that the taxes of the people were paid, but gave them complete freedom to do what they liked with those civilians they were supposed to collect from.

Along with the burnt remains of the camp, several bodies were scattered, similarly charred from the flames. Tetsu kneeled beside on the the bodies to inspect the damage done more closely. 'Broken ribs that have caved in on themselves,' he mused, tracing his fingers over the chest of a man. 'This was not caused by flames, it's the same injury that those two thugs suffered from in the southern capital.'

Looking up Tetsu could see the edge of a large village, not too far in the distance, he had one more duty he wished to perform before heading back to his team. "I'm sure that who ever is responsible for this lives in one of the surrounding villages, but I have orders from Gouhara-sama not to engage, I also need to collect anyone with a chakra capacity capable of performing jutsu and invite them to the placement trials early next year."

(Several Minutes Later)

Naruto and Karin finished a small lunch and were just paying for their meal when the door to the cafe burst open with the light ring of the bell. A middle aged man with messy brown hair and a un-groomed beard stood in the doorway an urgent look on his face. "There's an Imperial officer in the village. He's calling for everyone that can, to gather in the centre of town."

Both Naruto and Karin tensed they both knew that they might be here to look for them. The old lady wore a frown that showed her lack of love for the so called military. "I should probably send one of my sons to go then, they will be able to pass on whatever message the empire wishes to pass on."

The man nodded and quickly disappeared from the door as quickly as he came, off to spread the news to the next shop in the street. Naruto quickly paid their bill and once they were out of the store began heading for the closest border of the town. "Naruto-kun wait. Before we leave we should go listen to what this officer has to say," Karin suggested.

"What? Come on Karin-chan they might be here looking for us," the blond replied in some urgency.

"But we don't know that, if we leave now then we could be putting Cho's village in danger, we need more information," the kunoichi warned her blond companion.

Naruto sighed but nodded his approval. "Alright but at the first sign of trouble we're getting out of here."

"Agreed."

When they arrived at the centre of the village a tall rusty haired man was standing on a large stage alone, Naruto and Karin found a nice area to hide, behind a large group of onlookers where they could overhear what was happening without falling into the mans line of sight.

Fortunately for the young couple, they didn't have to wait long for Tetsu to start. "I know you're not all that thrilled that I called you here today, and to be honest I cannot blame you," He said, his voice amplified via chakra to fill the area whilst nor sounding overwhelming to those closer to the stage. "As such I will just deliver my message and then move on. In a little over a months time villages in the southern empire will have a team of promotion candidates lead by an officer, spend several days within each of the smaller villages. The purpose of this exercise is to attempt to better get in touch with the citizens of the empire that are worse off."

His words were met with mixed murmurs from the crowd, often when the empire showed interest in its less fortunate citizens nothing good had come of it. Finally one of the braver civilians curiosity got the better of him. "Why us? Why the outer southern empire and not somewhere else?"

"Because this area will play host to the next squadron placement trials for the members of the military academy who graduated this year, and a few lucky individuals from these districts will be given the chance to attend the finals and see the best and brightest shinobi of the next generation," Tetsu informed the crowd.

There were a few more positive murmurs this time, most of the crowd seemed satisfied that they were not about to suffer the wrath of the empire for some unknown discretion against the empire. "That sounds an awful lot like the Chunin exams," Naruto mumbled. Regardless he couldn't help but feel somewhat interested in seeing just what the shinobi in this world could do, even if he didn't agree with how they ran things.

"Yeah, it also seems a little too convenient to happen right now. If what he is saying is true, then we will have to be extra careful when they come to the village, we'll have to keep our chakra levels suppressed, there's no need to draw anymore attention to ourselves then we need too," Karin added.

While Tetsu was busy answering questions about the upcoming visits to villages, Naruto and Karin slipped out, their curiosity had been rewarded and now they were ready to head home calmly leaving the village before taking off at a sprint once they were safely out of range. "Well at least our date wasn't boring," Naruto chuckled as they came to a stop at the entrance to their new home town. Their shopping for the day safely stored in a scroll, ready to be opened once their home was finally complete.

"I can't remember anytime with you that has been boring," The red had added with a small laugh of her own.

End Chapter!

Alright I'm fairly sure I might get some hate over the whole imprinting thing. Truth be told it doesn't serve all the much purpose other than a new obstacle that Naruto will have to overcome before pushing their relationship further forward... It's also true that foxes mate for life, so it seemed to fit it's also a bit of a middle finger to the over abundance of poorly written Harem stories, don't get me wrong if they are well written I have no complaints, but 90% of the time they lack emotional depth or any well thought out plot. But with that said it's a fan fiction so they should be allowed to do what they want.

Also as of late I have been inundated with a growing list of people asking me to write one of their challenges or a story with a specific pairing, (mostly Naruto x Hinata). While I am flattered at the thought, I would rather focus on the fics that I have at the moment as they are not finished. I also like to write what ever ideas pop into my head and I stay well clear of the popular pairings as I get sick of reading them, Nothing against Hinata, but I don't find her as a character that I can produce any new ideas with, the pairing has just been done to death. Just please keep that in mind when making these requests in the future.

Spoiler Alert!

Not much to say this week, Except it seems that Obito is going to finally die, if Kakashi just killed him and crushed the Rinnegan 20 chapters ago this shit wouldn't have been an issue, but that would have meant that they used some common sense and that has been absent for a long time. Only thing that I really found interesting was the Sage of Six paths showing up in front of the other Kage.

Anyone else see the Hypocrisy of Tobirama needing a sacrifice to summon Madara as an Edo Tensei? The Uchiha was able to use the jutsu on himself without a sacrifice when Kabuto ended the Jutsu. Anyway you look at that, it's one hell of a plot hole, this was just rubbing our faces in it.