Emolette: -sits in corner with a blue background and dark lines hovering over her head- A new chapter. . . woohoo. . .

Naruto: What's up with Emo-chan?

Sasuke: Like her namesake, she's getting all emo. . . she's finally brooding.

Emolette: I AM NOT BROODING!!!. . . I'm just thinking gloomily. . . pondering moodily. . .

Sasuke: Yeeeeaaaah. . . that's brooding.

Emolette: T.T I hate everything!

Sasuke: So do I -joins Emolette in corner and broods-

Naruto: -sweatdrops- Well. . . since those two are busy brooding, I guess I'll start the chapter off. . . and remember, Emolette does not own me. . .

Chapter Three

" The Battle Tower "

Five Year Later:

Naruto listened to the sounds around him as he pretended to sleep on his desk. The chattering of his classmates, the thumping of their feet on the wooden floor, the squealing of Sasuke's fangirls, the snoring of Nara Shikamaru who was asleep as always, the crunching of Akimichi Chouji's potato chips as he munched away, Sasuke tapping on the desk with his pencil. . .

Tapping?

Naruto looked up "sleepily" and casually swept his eyes over the room. His cerulean pair landed on Sasuke onyx pair and then traveled down to the pencil that Sasuke was tapping against the wooden surface of the desk. About two years ago, Naruto and Sasuke had developed their own secret code they could use in class, or almost anywhere, without anyone noticing. Since most shinobi, like ANBU and jounin, would probably know morse code, they had to revise it and add binary code to the mix. All you needed was a pencil, or any type of writing material actually or even a stick and you have to tap the ends on a surface. The pointed end or writing end stands for 1 while the erasing end or flat end stands for 0. Though it took a long time to even make a sentence, it'll make you look like you were just absentmindingly tapping your pencil and that's exactly what Sasuke looked like he was doing.

"You've "slept" long enough. Iruka will be here any minute."

Naruto nodded once to show that he understood and he started to stretch as if he just woke up from a good nap.

"Yosh! That was really refreshing!" he cried, adding to the effect.

"You better stop sleeping in class or you'll get dumb," said Naruto's seatmate, Inuzuka Kiba, with a dog grin (as opposed to Naruto's "fox grin").

"I don't hear you saying that to Shikamaru," argued Naruto and that was met with a particularly loud snore from the Nara who was sitting in the row behind them.

"You got a point there," said the Inuzuka and Akamaru, Kiba's puppy, barked from beneath his master's bomber jacket.

Usually, pets aren't allowed in school, but there was special exception for Inuzukas. They always have to be with their familiar because it was tradition and most of their jutsu can't be executed without their animal partners. Naruto noticed that he had never fought an Inuzuka and niether have Sasuke. In fact, niether of them really fought in a while. There were useless shinobis in their class except for those who were part of clans, and they never really tested their strength except against each other or Kyuubi.

Why don't you go test your skills out?

What do you mean Kyuu?

You know what I mean. Go on a fighting spree and test your skills. You have my permission, both of you, and you can show off your skills as much as you want, but not too much.

Okay then. Now the question is where?

I'll handle that minor detail. Tell the Uchiha gaki.

Naruto mentally nodded and picked up his pencil, "absentmindingly" tapping it on his desk. Sasuke noticed it and interpreted it in a flash (or as soon as Naruto finished tapping it out).

"Kyuubi says it's time to go out and test our skills. He'll let us in on the details later. We'll meet at the spot, nine o'clock tonight."

Sasuke nodded without being too obvious to those around him and immediately snapped to attention when Iruka stepped into the room with a greeting of "Good afternoon" (it was just after lunchtime).

Time to test our skills huh? Finally, I thought we'd never be able to stretch our legs. . . I wonder where we're goin'?

Both Sasuke and Naruto smirked at the thought. If anyone truly knew what they were capable of, they would cower in fear. Ah, power in the hands of the youth is truly frightening.

School was over. Naruto and Sasuke calmly walked out of the academy grounds (with Sasuke being stalked by his fangirls). Even though they didn't show it, they were both excited about the night ahead of them. They didn't bother to train because they knew they were able to handle anything that came their way.

Both preteens decided to rest first. It might be a long night and they still had class the next morning, so it was best to build up their strength. Sasuke made his way to the Uchiha estate (which he still lived in despite the memories of the masscre) and Naruto trudged to his crappy apartment.

Slamming the door behind him (because just looking at the apartment complex annoyed him), Naruto walked into his apartment and hurriedly went to his room to take off the horrible excuse for clothes that was his bright orange jumpsuit. Shutting the thick curtains that adorned his windows to make the room more darker, Naruto stripped off his jumpsuit and pulled on a black shirt and shorts. He slumped onto his bed, bouncing up and down for a moment before becoming still again, and closed his eyes, ready for sleep to overtake him. When he was younger, he'd usually be too excited to sleep, but Kyuubi taught him how to empty his mind and listen to the sounds around him blend into one. Soon enough, Naruto fell asleep.

The same went for Sasuke. He arrived to his empty clan home and went to his room. He closed the curtains of his windows and pulled on a blue shirt and grey sweatpants before laying down on his bed, using the same technique Naruto used to fall asleep. He was looking forward to tonight. . . he was planning to test his new Mangekyou Sharingan. . .

Two blurs quietly jumped through the trees of the forest that surrounded Konoha, barely making a sound as they landed on branch after branch, hurrying towards their destination. The moon overhead was shrouded by a large cloud, concealing the faces of these two blurs that jumped side-by-side. They didn't seem like enemies for they were jumping together and heading towards the same direction, never changing pace, going in a steady jump cycle. The two were in the thickest and oldest part of the forest, which was a considerable distance away from the village and from prying eyes, which was an ideal place for the two blurs to train and keep their secrets to theirselves.

Soon, the two blurs came up upon a large ancient tree that wasn't exactly the tallest in the forest, but the trunk was as thick as the Hokage Tower. The two landed right at the base of the tree, just as the cloud that covered the moon shifted and moonlight shone down onto the two previous blurs, revealing the young faces of Naruto and Sasuke. Both faces showed no emotion, but excitement coursed through their veins as did blood.

"Kai," said Naruto and Sasuke as they simultaneously did a hand sign. At once, the ancient tree in front of them seemed to flicker and a treehouse appeared on its branches, hidden by a well performed genjutsu. Sasuke and Naruto jumped up onto the porch of what they called the Main House, which was the largest house that sat inbetween the other two that extended on each side.

It was roughly five years ago. After nearly being caught training together, Kyuubi said that it wasn't safe for them to be training out in public (ala the training fields). So Naruto and Sasuke decided to go exploring. They traveled deep into the forest and found a worn-down treehouse on the large ancient tree they were in now. With Kyuubi's help, they fixed it up to be their sanctuary where they could train without being disturbed. They would also sometimes sleep there and it was like their second home. But now, they were in a hurry to get ready for whatever Kyuubi has in store for them.

The main house was divided into three sections. The first section was almost half of the house and it was like a locker room for Naruto and Sasuke. There were two lockers on either side with a small bench sitting in front of it and a desk and chair off to the side. The other two sections were for the generator and kitchen. Naruto and Sasuke went to their respective locker and rummaged through it, taking out clothes to exchange for the ones they were wearing.

Before changing clothes, Naruto and Sasuke did a hand sign once again and there was a "poof" sound as they were engulfed in a cloud of smoke. When the cloud disappeared, the two preteens were replaced by two taller, seemingly older versions of themselves.

Naruto's sun-kissed hair, though still spikey, was now longer, reaching to the nape of his neck with his bangs falling over his cerulean eyes, which were more pointed and serious-looking. The whisker-like marks on his cheeks were jagged and more defined then when he was younger, and his face was now angular with no more baby fat bulging from his cheeks. Naruto's body was also different. He stood three inches taller then before and his slightly flabby body was now a bit muscular for his age. He no longer looked like the goofy idiot everyone knew him as.

Sasuke's raven-black hair was also longer then before. His bangs reached an inch below his chin and cockatoo hairstyle extended a hand's length behind his head. His onyx eyes were also more pointed, but instead of the angry, selfish, prideful jerk image he emitted through his mask, these eyes seemed kinder and merciful, though still capable of showing no emotion. Sasuke's face was also free of any baby fat, giving him a defined jaw and slightly prominent chin, and his body was just as muscular as Naruto's.

They both looked older then they really were. And they both discarded their masks, just for tonight.

"What kind of weapons should we bring?" asked Sasuke breaking the silence. Even though his appearance changed, his voice remained the same.

"Kyuu said bring any kind of weapon we want," said Naruto, his voice also the same but just not as loud. "Just as long as they can't trace us with it."

Sasuke smirked. "I wonder who 'they' are," he replied.

Naruto also smirked. "Kyuu says we'll find out soon enough."

They continued getting ready, checking if their clothes were okay and deciding which weapons to bring. They also went around the treehouse, checking the traps that they had laid (in the event that there is an intruder) and memorizing where everything was before jumping out of their sanctuary and reactivating the genjutsu that hid it.

"Keep traveling north, says Kyuu," said Naruto, pulling on a black mask that covered half of his face (a/n: think Kakashi's mask) and a red fox mask that looked eeringly similar to Kyuubi.

"Lead the way," said Sasuke, pulling on his own black mask that covered half his face and a black raven mask.

The two jumped away, adrenaline already rushing through their body. They were getting restless and their excitement just grew.

". . . One-twenty. . .one-twenty-one. . .one-twenty-two. . .one-twenty-three. . .one-twenty-four. . ."

A large muscular man with a deep tan and and wearing armor that was similar to what Konoha's Black Ops Squads wore was on the grassy ground, doing push-ups with only one hand. He was already past one-hundred and he still wasn't tired. He was restless and was eager for tonight's festivities to start. His partner, a blue-haired teen with a claymore on his back and wearing a khaki cloak sat near him on a rock with a bored expression on his face.

"When will it start, Genryu?" whined the teen.

"Don't ask me like I know Shin," answered Genryu, getting annoyed. "It always starts at eleen o'clock sharp, so if it's not eleven, then it won't start."

"Pfft, I was just asking," whined Shin once more. "You don't have to be so cranky."

A tick appeared on Genryu's forehead, but he let out his anger by doing his push-ups even faster.

The two were waiting for an important event, an event that occured every night for the past twenty years. This event was called "The Battle Tower" where fighters from all over come and test their strength against each other. Genryu have competed, and lost, for the past five years and Shin has come for the first time. The two were restless because they were both confident that they will win, even if it meant fighting each other.

"Hey, people are coming," said Shin, looking up into the trees and Genryu stopped his push-ups.

"Are they strong?" he asked, standing up. Unlike Shin, Genryu couldn't sense chakra.

"I don't think so," said Shin with a shake of his head. "It's wierd, I know they're there, but I can't measure their chakra."

As soon as Shin said that, a hard wind blew and a swirl of leaves appeared in front of Shin and Genryu with two figures appearing in it. The two figures were short and wore animal masks, like the ANBU, but one was black and the other was red. The one with the red fox mask wore a long red coat, with black flames on the hem, that was open at the front to show a black sweatshirt underneath that covered his neck, black pants tied at the ankles with bandages, black ninja sandals, and on his hands were metal gauntlets that covered most of his forearms. His companion, the one with the black raven mask, wore a black coat with red flames on the hem, had a large neckband (covering half of his face and mask) and three large buckles on the chest, black pants also tied at the ankles with bandages, black ninja sandals, and fingerless gloves with a metal plating on the back of the hand. They didn't carry any visible weapons, but that didn't mean they didn't have any. They both had a kunai pack on their right leg and a fanny pouch, like all ninjas carry.

"That was quite an entrance," said Genryu, smoothing his brown hair that was messed up from the wind.

The two figures were silent for a moment, then the red one spoke. "Where is the Battle Tower?" he asked. His voice came out as metallic and raspy. A voice changer perhaps.

"Wouldn't you like to know," said Shin with a sneer, but inside, he was wary of the two masked figures.

" . . . Never mind," said the fox, turning to his companion. "Just keep going north he says."

"Then let's go," said the raven with the same raspy metallic voice.

The fox nodded, then turned back to Shin and Genryu. "I'd say thanks, but you weren't really much help," he said and he and his companion disappeared in another gust of wind and swirl of leaves.

"Tch, I hate ninjas," said Genryu, smoothing out his hair again.

"If I can't measure their chakra, then it must mean they're weak," said Shin, fingering his claymore. "I wouldn't want to waste my time on them."

Genryu said nothing. Somehow, he doubted his partner's words.

"One minute to eleven o'clock," said Naruto through his voice changer in his fox mask, looking up at a twenty story tower that stood in front of him and Sasuke. "We made good time."

"What's the objective?" asked Sasuke.

"Get to the top floor where a treasure chest waits," said Naruto, repeating Kyuubi's words. "On each floor, there is a fighter waiting. We must defeat them. We also have to defeat the other fighters that are participating, if neccessary."

"What's in the chest?"

"Kyuubi says we'll find out when we get there. Since there are so many people here, he assumes that no one had triumphed in getting the object in the chest. The fighters here think its a chest full of gold, but that's just a rumor."

Sasuke "hn-ed" under his masks before looking around. There was indeed many fighters. Most of them were weak, just ordinary thugs and bandits who think they can measure up to a shinobi, and few were actually skillful-looking and barely any of them looked like they could put up a fight. Sasuke sighed through his nose. If he had to fight these weaklings, he was better off fighting off his fangirls at the academy.

"The doors are opening," said Naruto and Sasuke snapped his head around.

The ground floor of the tower had many doors lining the walls, which were all slowly opening to reveal darkness extending inside. As soon as the doors were fully open, all the fighters rushed inside and Naruto and Sasuke ran into the nearest one.

I hope there are might make this more interesting, thought Sasuke.

It was completely dark in the hallway, but the two preteens had no trouble seeing. Sasuke had activated his fully developed sharingan before entering and Naruto's eyes can adjust to any darkness or brightness quicker then ordinary eyes. It also helps that he can use the sound waves around him to navigate in the dark, sort of like echolocation.

The two came to a fork in the dark hallway and they immediately turned right for they sensed a presense towards that direction. After a minute of running, Naruto stepped onto a switch that activated a trap. Arrows started shooting out from the walls and the two ninjas quickened their pace, barely moving to dodge the arrows.

"Too easy," said Naruto and Sasuke smirked.

They came to another fork in the hallway and they took the left this time, activating another trap that made walls fall from the ceiling to seal off the hallway. Again, the two were too fast for the falling walls and they exited the hallway into a large room lit with torches (a/n: no, it's not Orochimaru's lair). The two looked around and saw a lone figure sitting at the far end of the room. It was a young man with defined muscles and slicked back black hair. His eyes were a deathly grey color and he wore black pants and a red vest with no undershirt.

"The first fighter I assume?" said Naruto and the man nodded.

"The name's Kazu," said the man, standing up and dusting off his bottom. "You're the first here. You must be really good."

"And since you're the first fighter, you must be pretty weak," said Sasuke and Kazu glared at him.

"I'll show you who's weak," he hissed. "Who am I gonna defeat first?" he added with a smirk.

"Him," said Naruto and Sasuke simultaneously, pointing at each other. They both sighed, then shook their fists. "Rock, paper, scissors!" they cried. Sasuke had scissors and Naruto had rock.

"Damn!" said Sasuke, punching the air in frustration.

"You scared that you have to fight someone like me?" said Kazu with a sneer.

"No," said Sasuke, walking forwards. "I'm disappointed that I have to fight a weak guy like you."

Kazu death glared Sasuke, then he raised a fist and charged at the masked Uchiha.

"If you won't shut that arrogant mouth, I'll shut it for you!" he cried and he brought his fist up to Sasuke's face, making contact with a sickly crunch. Kazu smirked, thinking that he did get to shut the masked shinobi's face up, but that smirk was wiped from his face when he sensed a presense behind him.

"Who're you punching?" asked Sasuke and before Kazu could turn around and face him, Sasuke gave him a taste of his own punch.

Sasuke's fist collided with Kazu's face in an even louder and more sickly crunch and Kazu was sent flying across the room, crashing through two pillars, and finally lodging himsellf two feet inside the wall.

"That was easier then easy," commented Sasuke and Naruto chuckled.

"I hope there're more stronger fighters ahead," said the blond, running towards the door opposite them.

"I sort of doubt it and sort of hope so too," said Sasuke, following his best friend.

The two proceeded to the second floor of the dark building, activating traps that were too easy for them to evade. They didn't meet up with any fighters until they got to an identical room like the one where they met Kazu. In there was their next opponent. This battle tower was way too easy for them.

It was probably nearing midnight now, an hour after the doors to the tower opened. Genryu thought this was way too easy. He wanted to fight the fighters on each flloor, not the weak thugs and bandits that participated, but whenever he and Shin arrived in the battle rooms, they found that someone had already beat them to it. The first fighter, Kazu, was knocked out and lodged into the wall. A couple others were in the same condidtion and quite a few were cut up pretty badly, oozing blood in a pool around them. One was even suspended on a web of string, dripping blood onto the floor as he hung. Genryu didn't need to wonder who did this for he had a pretty good suspiscion already.

"The top floor!" cried Shin next to him with a big grin on his face as they neared the staircase to the last floor.

And those two are probably there, thought Gneryu and he surpressed a shudder.

"Gah!" cried Ryuki, Naruto's opponent as said blond plunged a kunai though his stomach. Blood splattered everywhere, even on Naruto's coat as he pulled out the kunai. The silver-haired Ryuki fell to the floor, slowly dying if not already dead.

"Easy as one two three," said Naruto, wiping the bloodied kunai on his coat before replacing it in his pouch.

"Why did you have to fight the last one?" half whined and half pouted Sasuke, crossing his arms. "I'm sure he was the most powerful."

"At least you got the second most powerful," said Naruto, walking up to his friend. "And besides, you got the first one and since there was an equal number of fighters, that meant I got the last one."

Sasuke stuck out his upper lip behind his masks and he knew Naruto sensed that for the blond chuckled.

"You're such a child Sasuke," he said.

"I was just playin' with ya' dude," said Sasuke, playfully punching Naruto in the arm. "Anyway, we might as well get our prize."

Sasuke nodded towards the small chest that sat on the other side of the room and Naruto nodded also. The two went up to it and stared down on it, savoring the moment. . . oh to hell with it. Naruto bent down and opened it without any hesitation.

"What the hell is that?" asked Sasuke, bending over Naruto and looking into the open chest. Inside was a couple of bottles and a worn-out leather book that was already cracked and aged, but still looked well-preserved.

Before Naruto could asked Kyuubi, a shout came from behind them. Naruto and Sasuke whirled around and saw the two people they had met in the forest.

"So the two of you are here," said Shin, glaring at the masked shinobis.

"I don't see anyone else here," said Naruto, tucking the small chest under his arm and standing up.

"Where's the gold?" asked Genryu, his voice gruff.

"There's no gold," said Sasuke, straightening up. "That was just a rumor to lure fighters here."

"Bullshit!" cried Shin, unsheathing his claymore. "You're just hiding it from us! If you won't hand it over, then we'll just take it from you!"

Shin charged at Naruto, raising his giant sword above his head, but Naruto lazily took out a kunai and easily blocked the blow.

"How - ?" asked a shocked Shin and Naruto smirked under his masks.

"Your sword may be big, but you have little skill with it," said Naruto, sliding the kunai up and down the blade of the claymore, making small sparks appear. "To me, you're just a monkey waving around a measly stick."

Shin death glared Naruto and the blond's smirk got larger under his masks.

"I want to go home, so let me finish this quickly," he said, effortlessly pushing Shin a few feet away from him. Shin nearly fell over from the strength of Naruto's push.

He's strong, thought the blunet.

"Don't hog all the fun!" cried Sasuke and Naruto looked at him.

"You can take the big lug," said Naruto and the two friends didn't notice the tick that appeared on both Shin's and Genryu's heads.

How dare they talk as if I'm not here! they both thought.

"I wanted to try the mangekyou all night," said Sasuke. "It'll be quicker then you fighting."

Naruto shrugged. "Fine, do whatever you want. I've been wanting to see your mangekyou anyway."

Sasuke grinned under his masks and he stepped forward.

"Taking us on together?" said Genryu, raising his fist that sported steel knuckles. "That's a bad idea."

"I'll take on the both of you at the same time," said Sasuke, stepping forward. "Bad idea or not."

"Then lets not wait another second!" cried Shin, charging forward. Genryu followed suit and they jumped up and fell towards Sasuke. Sasuke easily side-stepped them and the two crashed onto the floor, cracking thw wood around them. Without hesitation, Sasuke appeared behind them and landed a swift kick on the back of their heads. With a grunt, the two flew into the wall and, like Kazu and some others, was lodged in there.

"D-Damnit!" rasped Shin. He could feel that he had broken several bones, including his ribs that made it difficult for him to breath.

With just a kick he managed to do that much damage to us? thought Genryu, also having trouble breathing because of broken ribs. Just who are these guys?

"Now, let's see what my new sharingan can do," said Sasuke, walking up to his defeated opponents and taking off his raven mask but he was wearing another mask under it that covered half of his face. His eyes, on the other hand, coud be clearly seen and they were blood red and had three tomoes in them. Both Shin and Genryu had no idea what is was, but their instincts told them it was going to cause them alot of pain.

Sasuke closed his eyes for one second. "Mangekyou Sharingan!" he cried as he opened them again and the ordinary sharingan with three tomoes changed into an atom with three hoops. Shin and Genryu made the mistake of looking into those eyes.

Then the night was pierced with two blood curdling screams that resounded in the air.

Naruto: Cliffhanger!

Emolette: I only did that because I'm too lazy and I was busy brooding.

Naruto: Did you rush through it?

Emolette: . . . Maybe. . . Fight scenes are not my cup of tea. . .

Naruto: -sigh- I don't know what to do with you.

Emolette: You can screw me if you want. I won't fight back.

Naruto: O.O Uh. . .

Sasuke: I'll do it! I need revenge on you after you made me say "dude" and punch the dobe playfully in the arm! -drags Emolette into another room-

Emolette: But I thought it was cute! -sigh- While I get screwed by Sasuke, go ahead and review if you want.

Naruto: O.o I don't know if this girl is wierd or just plain crazy. . .-screams come from the room where Sasuke dragged Emolette in-. . . O.O WTF?!

. . . To be continued. . .