Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of it's franchise. If I did, I would live in my parents basement, having used said money to buy said basement. MY basement. In other news, I do apologize for the long delay. As it is, I have no idea how to write this. I completely forgot where I was going with this and scrambled around trying to figure out where I had left off. I was not happy with where I left off. Mostly, this chapter will be an overview of what happened directly after the Sand/Sound invasion and what happened during it. It will likely seem as if I'm glossing over things. That's because I have no idea what I'm doing right now. I'm that tired. And bored. And hyper.. Hmm. Meh. Not my problem.
Sand and sound were in full retreat, running with little concern for their own allies. Well, the sound ninja really just had no concern what so ever for their allies. The sand nin did what they could to cover each other as they ran. All the same, they were in full retreat. Something had happened that had rendered the Ichibi null and void, as it had never appeared. Seeing as they were relying on it to appear in order to win, they were finding themselves outmatched.
Of course, some thought that whatever bijuu Konoha had stepped in and prevented the Shukaku from awakening, but most dismissed it as it was well known that Konoha didn't announce having a bijuu. These people of course assumed that Konoha was too great to keep a secret at all, leaving most of them as some form of fool.
The Konoha ninja however, were just glad that the invasion seemed to be over, and were happily lobbing jutsu and weapons at the retreating ninja, trying to take out as many as possible. They were largely successful in eliminating tight groups of those in retreat, but had a lot of trouble hitting those that stayed away from their so called allies.
Overall, the retreat worked to Konoha's favor. The Sandaime had even managed to send Orochimaru scurrying away, silently noting the sannin's guards for later. After all, while their abilities may have twisted them, the Sandaime did not have to worry about his appearance changing from their powers when he took them. And while he wasn't interested in placing those powers in the primary slots of his seal, of which were very limited, he could place them in the lesser slots. Sure, they'd be one use, but since those shinobi were enemies, he could easily have them captured and locked away, allowing him to easily regain their abilities.
Eventually, Sasuke Uchiha was found in a very much ruined shop, unconscious. In the street before him were several sound nin, one of which had been twisted into some form of monster. It had been obvious that the monster had knocked Sasuke out, before succumbing to it's wounds. Sasuke was taken to the medical wing again, and patched up. He was also told to report to the Sandaime in three days.
Naruto was found, as well as Sakura. Upon seeing him, Sakura again tried killing him, but was held back by several ANBU. While they didn't particularly like Naruto, they knew what Naruto held within him and did not wish to be forced to have to try and subdue the beast. They knew their limits, after all. They took Sakura to a detainment cell, holding her away from the populace until she was deemed safe and actual Kunoichi of the village. It took a solid week for her to be cleared after numerous questions and exams. Needless to say, she was not happy about any of it and fully blamed Naruto for all of it.
Naruto had been told the exact same thing as Sasuke, to meet with the Sandaime in three days. He asked the ANBU member to inform the Sandaime that he would also be bringing Kin Tsuchi along, as she was his spoil of war and he wanted to be able to keep an eye on her. The ANBU made sure to relay the message.
Three days later, Naruto, Sasuke, and Kin all made an appearance before the Sandaime. The Sandaime eyed Kin wearily, but she kept near Naruto. This of course, made him frown. He was not happy that Naruto had taken a spoil, and was confused how Naruto even knew he could. He had been sure that he had hidden that information from the boy, but he let the situation pass without making any remarks on it. He was upset however, that he had no idea when Naruto had even taken the spoil.
"Hello, Sandaime-sama." Kin said calmly. Sasuke just grunted, giving his Uchiha patented dismissal of anyone he considered below him. He still kept aware though, he had been called here for a reason after all.
"Jiji." Naruto nodded toward him, a light dancing within his eyes. The Sandaime smiled to himself in his mind. It seemed the boy hadn't changed all that much, and that he was still moldable. Good.
"Good day. I have called you here to inform you of your promotions. Naruto Uzumaki, and Sasuke Uchiha, you are now chunin of Konoha. These here are you chunin vests. Within them, there is a manual, stating the privileges and duties of your new stations. Where the vests with pride! Dismissed." He watched as Sasuke took the vest he had been given and walked away. He also watched as Naruto put his on before leaving.
He knew that the manuals in their vests weren't the same as any other chunin's. He had specifically delivered these vests to avoid people noticing the different manuals. After all, while many might be happy that Sasuke had different rights as a chunin than others, several key figures would not be happy about it. Of course, the law stated that since Sasuke's manual had said those were his rights, they were indeed his rights.
Naruto's was different too, but in the opposite direction. He still lacked many of the privileges of his fellow chunin, including the ability to lead a team. If the Sandaime ever had to go rouge, he did not wish to fight a competent jinchuuriki. A broken one would be far better. He silently mused to himself whether or not he should set up an assassination of the spoil, but he ultimately decided not too. That was Danzo's type of action, not his. He would find another way to get rid of the girl, before she unraveled everything that he had put in lace around the boy.
Sasuke was walking calmly down the road, chunin vest in hand. He couldn't help but smirk, he had already read the manual. Then, he had surprised even himself with this, but he had sought out another chunin and asked if he could borrow their manual. It took showing them his to get them to agree, and the young Uchiha found the duplicity. For some reason, he had been given a false manual. He had reported it to the Shinobi council, asking for the actual manual instead. They were unhappy that he had been given a fake, and confused as to why he had in the first place, but ultimately gave him the actual manual and let him be on his way.
Doing the right thing like this made Sasuke feel something he hadn't in a long time, happy. He didn't feel as if his actions had been a mistake like he usually did. Of course, him pondering this new feeling left him wide open to the attack sent his way. Before he could react, he was wrapped up in some form of spider web, then lifted away form the street. No one had noticed. It kind of helped that no one else was around.
When he regained his bearings, he found four ninja before him, with no obvious affiliation to the Leaf Village. One of them was very large, with orange hair and a snarl in his eyes. Another had two heads and grey hair. His eyes had a bloodlust to them that left Sasuke cautious. None of the ninja noticed this development.
Yet another had red hair, and had a flute on her side pouch. Sasuke noted the fear in her eyes as she glanced at the rest of her teammates. This made a question pop up in his mind, but he tossed it aside before his mental voice could even ask it. He needed to focus now, and he could always ponder later.
The one who had wrapped him up had six arms, and very much looked like a strange spider human hybrid. He had a maniacal gleam in his eyes as he looked upon the Uchiha, and this made him uncomfortable.
"Done checking us out?" growled the two headed one. This made Sasuke focus on him, and pay close attention to every detail that came across his sense. "Good. We have an offer for you, from our leader. He has graciously offered himself as an option for training. He has stated that he can help you unlock the full power of that seal on your neck, and has stated that he also willing to teach you anything else you desire." Sasuke absently noticed what was lacking here.
"Who?" A simple question, one that could prod far more information out. All Sasuke had to do for now. He absently noticed he was thinking clearer than ever before.
"Our leader, Orochimaru. We will serve as your escort from the village. You have two days to be ready to leave, we'll meet you at the north gate." Apparently, the leader had already made his own mind up about whether or not Sasuke would be coming with them, and the rest of the ninja followed suite. He quickly cut himself free, before moving to home to prepare.
He noted the arrogance of these shinobi, and quickly rationalized that they had some plan to get him out without being seen, and through the most frequently used gate at that. He quickly drew up a list of actions to take the next, and who all to inform. He would risk playing decoy to make this work. He knew that these people had to be powerful shinobi, and killing them may prove to be crippling to Otogakure. All the better for Konoha.
1602 words at this point. Not quite as long as I wanted, as I was aiming for 2000 words, but I wanted to get this out today. A little late with this one, and I apologize for that. I got an idea in my head and started writing it out. Hopefully, it will even turn into a book. I also forgot about this one for a while, and got side tracked with numerous other things, including video games and other stories. I can't give a good time frame for when the next update will come out, but I know what I want the next chapter to have, so I'll be working on that within the next few days.
On a side note, if any of you are looking for a good story to read, I recommend the stories written by the author Noodlehammer. At this time, I think he has four stories. Just start with the first one and work your way through. Very funny, and he has a nice way of writing.
Enjoy your day, and good day.