Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto nor make any money off of writing this story.

A/N: I'm back with something new. Here is the second chapter. I'm not sure how many are in store but I do know that it will be a lot. I hope that my more frequent updates now will make up for the huge wait I made everyone go through. Read, review, enjoy.

Konohagakure no Sato – Village Hidden in the Leaves

Otogakure no Sato – Village Hidden in the Sound

Hitai-ate – Forehead Protector

Ten no Juin – Curse Seal of Heaven

Juin Jutsu – Curse Mark

A Promise Broken

"SASUKE!" Naruto roared as struck a fighting pose. "I can't let you go to Orochimaru. I can't lose you. Damn it Sasuke, why...? Why is power so important to you!? You can get stronger in Konoha, just come back!" Naruto pleaded with his friend. Both stood on the river that cut through the Valley of the End. Sasuke stood before Uchiha Madara, Naruto, Shodaime Hokage.

"You fool. Don't claim to understand me. I need power to kill him. He took everything from me, even if I must die, I will end Itachi's life. Until then, I must gain as much power as possible." The raven haired genin replied while releasing the Ten no Juin on his shoulder even further, allowing the black flames to flow over his flesh. He smiled wickedly at the orange clad ninja across the lake from him. He was only a nuisance. And nuisances needed to be dealt with.

"I have been alone too, dammit! I know what it's like! It's okay, just come back to Konoha. We can kill Itachi together."

"No! You never had bonds to begin with, you know nothing of what it's like to lose someone close. I officially cut all links to Konoha. I am done with that pathetic village. Now it's time to move on and grow stronger. And Orochimaru has promised me that which I seek.

"You're wrong. I may not have had friends or people I held dear like family before, but I do now. You, Sakura-chan, and Kakashi-sensei. We were like a family. And your leaving makes you no better than your brother."

Sasuke flashed through some handseals and held his wrist in his hand as white chakra poured into his arm. The chirping of a thousand birds echoed in the valley as the boy lunged at Naruto, jamming his Chidori in his shoulder. Naruto was thrown back into the water. He struggled to his feet and stared Sasuke in the eye as red chakra encased his body.

'His wound...it's healing so fast!' Sasuke thought as he prepared another attack. He then realized his only shot at victory. He released his seal, surrendering his body to the malevolent force that it contained. His black marks combined all over his skin, giving him the appearance having leather skin. Behind him two hand like wings rose and fell with the wind that howled in the water way.

Naruto rushed forward and threw a barrage of punches at his rival. All of his attacks were blocked by the wings that absorbed most of the damage. Naruto let more of his tenant's chakra out, giving him the appearance of a tail coming from the base of his spine. It swished dangerously behind him, taunting the Uchiha.

Naruto tried other attacks, none successful. As did Sasuke only to receive the same results. Both knew what came next. It was time for the last attack. Nartuo pulled out of range of his opponent to mold the chakra necessary. He crouched low on a rock as the ball of energy formed.

Sasuke raised his Chidori up and aimed himself at Naruto. He would make this attack count. There would be no healing after this.

"CHIDORI!"

"RASENGAN!"

Both boys ran towards each other. Their hands met and both techniques fought for dominance. Naruto pushed more into his Rasengan, but stopped. If he allowed it too much power, he could kill his friend. He had a promise to keep to Sakura. He wouldn't let her down. Unfortunately for him, Sasuke could care less if his ex-teammate was killed. As long as he received power, nothing mattered. And because of that, Sasuke's Chidori grew stronger still as more chakra was forced into it. A ball formed around them, stopping the waterfall that covered them with a cool shower.

Then, both were equal. To the pair of genin, it seemed as if time stood still. Sasuke knew he was risking death by holding on to his jutsu so long, but he could not lose. Not when he was so close to power. He pushed an extra ounce of power into his hand, just enough to disrupt the sphere around them. Taking this one chance, he plunged his hand deep in Naruto's chest, piercing his heart instantly. The balance of power had changed suddenly, causing the sphere to grow more unstable. Before it could break, Naruto gasped as his wound forced air from his lungs. He was taken off guard, and it cost him. He saw his chance to end it, he could throw his Rasengan into Sasuke's chest as well and be done. But he couldn't. He couldn't take his friend's life. Instead he swiped his chakra filled ball across Sasuke's hitai-ate. Then, the purple ball shattered, sending both in the opposite direction of each other.

The sound that followed was deafening. Neither stood, until Sasuke moved ever so slightly. He raised himself after straining his body up. Naruto was on a rock near the statue of the Hokage. He had a hole the size of a large grapefruit in his chest, allowing Sasuke to see through him. His breath was labored, if there was any at all.

Sasuke stood over his defeated rival, smirking. "I told you that you were only a dobe. There was no hope of bringing me back. I could finish you right here and gain the Mankeyou...but I won't. I will not do it his way. I'll become stronger myself. You are lucky, you should be dead now. At least you can go back to Konoha and continue your feeble existence. If you survive that is." Before he left, he thew his old hitai-ate next to the blonde. On it was a single scratch from his attack.

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Tayuya woke up groggily in the forest clearing. She was exhausted, but had this satisfied feeling. The red head grew angry suddenly, looking for the blonde that had practically raped her. But damn it felt good, she couldn't deny that.

She jumped up and redressed. Then Tayuya closed her eyes, searching for his chakra. If she found it, she would hunt him down and make him pay. A sudden spike in two evil powers rose several kilometers away. She recognized one as the red chakra she had dealt with earlier, but this time, it had to have been ten times stronger. It made the smallest hairs on the back of her neck rise in fear. 'He was holding back...a lot...when he fought me. Just how strong is this fucker?'

The other chakra felt similar to hers with her level two Juin Jutsu activated. Although it was untamed, it seemed powerful. She ran as fast possible in the direction. It was still her mission to escort Sasuke to Orochimaru.

She arrived just in time to see the cataclysmic fight come to an end. She saw Sasuke revert back into his normal form, then approach Naruto. Tayuya cautiously made her way to the river, approaching the avenger from behind. He tossed something down at the fallen genin then whirled around with a kunai in hand. Sasuke relaxed instantly when he saw her.

"How do I get to Otogakure from here?" he asked while breathing heavily.

"It's a distance from here, it'll take us the rest of the day, maybe more given your condition, Sasuke-sama."

"I'll be fine."

"I'll show you then, let's go," she replied while walking towards the wall of the valley. She looked back at what she thought was the corpse of one Uzumaki Naruto, feeling a small pang of sadness that he died by his friend's hand. And a bit of anger that it wasn't by her own. But since he lost, that meant that she and her boss won.

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Sasuke and Tayuya walked to the gate of Otogakure. She lifted her hand to signal a guard down. He appeared with a puff of smoke and looked at the two.

"Names and rank."

"Hanaki Tayuya of the Sound Four. Special Chuunin."

"Uchiha Sasuke."

The man immediately looked alarmed at this. Orochimaru had given each of them careful instruction to allow the Uchiha in the moment he arrived. The guard looked back at the man watching them from atop the village gate. He nodded and puffed away.

Before the pair of ninja, the massive gates opened, revealing a large city. Inside were tons of people going about their daily lives. From what the Sharingan wielder could tell, about two out of three people were ninja. Konoha barely had one in three.

After they entered and the door behind them closed, the same guard that left them a minute ago stood next to a pale faced man. He had piercing yellow eyes that mimicked those of a snake and an unnaturally colorless complexion. He smiled at the boy who just arrived and said aloud, "Everyone, this is Uchiha Sasuke. He, like me, is from Konohagakure no Sato. He is to be treated with the highest regard or else." All of the people behind him visibly tensed at this. They knew what their leader was capable of.

"Come Sasuke-kun. Let me show you around."

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Naruto awoke suddenly. His body ached, pain coursing throughout his chest with every breath. The same pain that lingered for days when he overused his demon's power. He craned his neck to see if anyone else was in the room, causing him to wince as if he were on fire. There was no one there next to him. Nor were there any cards or flowers next to his bed.

Naruto sighed as he closed his eyes to go back to sleep. Then he remembered the wound he received in battle. He moved his hand up and felt where he had been stabbed. In the center of his chest there was no scar. No marking. Nothing. You couldn't even tell he had someone's hand through him just a few days ago.

The Jinchuuriki sighed quietly to himself. There was nothing he could do now. All of his body screamed for rest. He kept his eyes closed and drifted off to sleep.

On the top of the roof of the hospital, Jiraiya sat. He felt his student's chakra flare up as he woke up then soften as he went to sleep. He sat there, monitoring Naruto's health, thinking of the best course of action.

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"Orochimaru-sama, may I speak with you please." Tayuya asked humbly as she approached his chair inside his office.

"What is it? I am busy trying to rebuild one of my best teams. You were the only one who survived that mission."

"That is it, Orochimaru-sama. I would like to request a mission."

"Go on," said the Otokage with a bored tone.

"From Sasuke-sama's report, it seems that Uzumaki Naruto is still alive. I would like to be given permission to hunt him down on an assassination mission."

"Hm...what brought this up?" Orochimaru replied with a hint of interest in his voice.

"I have a personal matter I would like to rectify. He also stands to pose a threat the sanctity of the village, Orochimaru-sama."

Orochimaru sat there behind his desk, weighing the options. Finally he spoke, "You know what happens if you fail, correct?"

Tayuya nodded in response.

"From what my informant has told me, Naruto-kun is leaving on a training trip soon according to the Hokage. You have two months. I expect you to return with a positive report. Dismissed."

The red head left and closed the door silently behind her. Kabuto appeared from the darkened corner of the office.

"Orochimaru-sama, why didn't you say that Naruto-kun would be traveling with Jiraiya of the sannin?"

"She is expendable. If somehow, she manages to kill Naruto-kun, then that will be fortunate. And if she is captured, then the Juin Jutsu I placed on her will activate and she will die immediately."

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama."

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"Naruto, how would you like to get stronger?" Jiraiya asked from atop a giant toad outside Naruto's hospital room.

Instantly the boy's eyes grew brighter. "You mean...You're gonna train me!? Yes!"

"Calm down. From what Tsunade told me, you can leave here tonight at the earliest. Meet me at the north gate at 8:00am tomorrow and we'll leave from there. I've already cleared it with her, so don't worry."

Naruto jumped from his bed, ignoring the pain that lingered in his limbs. "Why can't we leave now?"

"Don't you want to at least say goodbye to your friends first. Some of them are probably worried about you. Why not just relax some more and be better prepared in the morning?"

"Fine..." the Jinchuuriki grumbled.

Jiraiya had monitoring his progress over the last few days. He sensed the increase in the Kyuubi's chakra every day as it healed his organs. His body had been put through hell from that mission. All of his organs had suffered some serious damage and his heart had to be rebuilt. Had it not been for the Kitsune, he would have died the moment the Chidori struck. Of course the cause of his condition was kept secret, which only baffled the nurses.

Tsunade had to keep the demonic chakra from overloading in his body by constantly checking up on him and healing whatever she could. She was scared at the boy's condition when Kakashi ran into the main gates with him in his arms. By then the skin and muscle had regrown but the bone took some time to rebuild. At a casual glance, it could be written off as chakra depletion but she knew otherwise. She could tell something was wrong. Too much of the Kyuubi's chakra was being used for replenishing his reserves. It wasn't until she could run several tests on him that she discovered just what in Kami's name had happened.

Both of the sannin cared deeply for the boy. He looked at them like the parents he never knew, and they saw him as a child neither ever had. That was why they went to so much effort to protect him in the hospital after he returned. Jiraiya took the night shift while Tsunade looked over him in the day when she could. At least on the training mission, he would be in good hands.

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Naruto exited his room and went down the hall to the nurse's station. He signed his release papers silently and wandered down the corridor until he found the room he was looking for. The blonde opened the door gently and stepped inside. In the far corner was Shikamaru staring at the ceiling out of boredom. The pineapple head looked over at Naruto and stood up form his chair.

"Hey, Naruto, how are you feeling?"

"Fine. I just got released, so I'm about to pack up."

"Why?"

"I'm going away for a while. I need to do some stuff is all..."

"Oh..."

"Hey Naruto," Chouji voiced from his bed. "Sorry about the mission, man."

"Don't be. We all gave it our best. You held off a highly ranked Oto-nin on your own. That's impressive."

"From what Shikamaru here was telling me, you took on one yourself."

"Yeah..." Naruto said while concealing a mild blush. He couldn't forget that afternoon if he wanted to, not that he did.

"So, why are you here?" Shikamaru questioned while looking at the window.

"I just wanted to check up on you guys and see how the rest of you were."

Shikamaru focused back on Naruto, "Chouji used some of his family's secret medicine and defeated that Jirobou guy. But the side effects nearly made his heart collapse. Neji nearly died fighting that spider-like one, but he's fine now. Kiba and Akamaru are okay, but the damage would have much more severe had the Suna-nin not shown up in time. From what I can tell, Lee seems to be fine because of Gaara's assistance. So that only leaves you. And you said you were fine. So I guess we did well, despite the fact that we failed the mission. But we all lived to fight another day, so it's not all bad. It was just a really troublesome mission to be assigned. It was my first one as the leader, but I prefer knowing that all of my comrades are safe. Right?"

"Yeah," both Naruto and Chouji replied. Shikamaru may be a lazy bastard, but he's a dependable guy to have on your side.

"Okay, I'm glad everyone's healthy, for the most part. I have some packing to take care of, so I'll see you guys when I get back, see ya." After several moments of silence, Naruto turned to leave.

The other two bade farewell and then watched as the blonde left. Naruto exited from the room and outside the hospital.

Naruto walked down the street, admiring the pink sky in the distance. It was twilight, his favorite time of day. He watched the clouds stretched out over the horizon lackadaisically. Times like this always let him understand why Shikamaru loved just looking at the white puffs all day. It was truly a relaxing sight to see. Next he headed over to Sakura's house. He wanted to talk to her about the mission and to say goodbye.

He strolled up to her doorstep just as the sun vanished from the sky, casting a deep shadow over the landscape. He knocked softly and was relieved when it was his teammate to answer instead of her parents.

"Hi Sakura-chan. I just wanted to come by and say that I'm sorry for not...you know..." He trailed off and looked at his feet. The pink haired kunoichi in front of him stood silent, waiting.

Finally he found the right words to say. "I also wanted to tell you...that I'm leaving for a while. I'm going to go wi–" Naruto was cut off as a certain girl's hand found its way to his face. "Sakura-chan...?" He looked confused, the pain from the slap evident in his eyes.

On her face was the look of someone you didn't want to piss off. Sakura balled her fist up and socked him over the head next, but he still stood there. "How dare you! You are the reason Sasuke-kun left! You're the reason! And now you're leaving too! FINE! THEN GO! Just leave and never come back! You lied Naruto, you said you never break your promises! But you didn't bring him back! Why not!? I know that you're weaker than him, but you at least had a chance! You said that it was 'a promise of a lifetime'! You told me that you would bring him back to me! But you couldn't even do a simple task, could you! Your team nearly died because of you, Naruto! Are you proud of yourself, are you!? Just go! NOW!"

She slammed the door in his face. And left him all alone, again. He stood there, dumbstruck at what she said. 'It...it's...it's all true...I said I never break my promises...I said that I would bring Sasuke back to her...but I didn't...I failed...I broke my Nindo...'

All the while the Kyuubi stayed quiet. He never offered consolation. He didn't try to help him through it. He never did anything except help him fight. But now wasn't the time to fight. It was time to let his container experience even more pain and suffering.

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Jiraiya arrived early at the northern gate. Behind him trailed Tsunade, Shizune, and Iruka, all wanting to see the young blonde off. He saw his pupil already waiting, sitting dejectedly by himself. He could tell something was wrong.

Naruto sat with his bag in his lap and his back to the wall of the village. Where his eyes were usually a vibrant and calming blue, there was nothing more than a desolate ocean of sadness. He stood when he saw everyone approaching.

Shizune started off the farewell. "Goodbye, Naruto-kun. Here." She held out a tightly wrapped bag. On the front was the Leaf symbol. "I hope this comes in handy on your journey. It's a medical pack, but I made it specifically for you so you can utilize it in battle." Shizune smiled lightly at Naruto, also sensing something off with the usually energetic lad.

"Brat, good luck." The Hokage bent lower to plant a kiss on his forehead. "Come back alive." She never was one with words...

"Naruto, good luck. I'll treat you to all the ramen you can eat when you get back," Iruka said warmly. But not even this bribe could change the distant look in his former pupil's eyes. They seemed to have lost...hope.

Naruto looked up at all four of the people he could call family. He fake smiled at them, but none of them fell for it. They knew the real Naruto too much to let this simple mask fool them. "I'll see you all when I get back, goodbye. Let's go Ero-sennin."

Jiraiya walked beside the short genin as they passed through the open gates. When they were a good distance away, Naruto looked back and saw "retreat" on the open gate doors. And that's exactly what he did: he retreated back into himself to hide like he had before. There was no point in letting people see your weaknesses, especially when they would just take advantage when your back was turned and betray you. He learned that once because of his 'teammate' the night before.

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Tayuya had been running for two days straight, stopping only at night to get some rest. She was planning out how she was going to kill her prey. She had narrowed it down to a genjutsu that destroyed his mind by overloading it with pain while she stabbed in the chest with a kunai to let him feel both mental and physical pain to a degree that made your blood run cold by simply thinking of it. Or she could constantly kick him in the balls until he died from the agonizing pain that was sure to follow. Although the latter sounded all the more amusing, it required that she subdue him first while the former was so powerful that she doubted he could escape even with the red chakra he had used before. The only downside was that it was time consuming. And Tayuya wasn't a very patient person.

She crossed the border to the Land of Fire some time ago and was now setting her sights on Konohagakure no Sato. She prayed that the blonde idiot hadn't left for his training yet, it would make hunting him down all the more easier. But then again it wasn't the best idea to kill a village's ninja inside of a village of even more powerful ninja that were sure to deal out punishment swiftly.

While she was in Otogakure, Tayuya had read the reports concerning Uzumaki Naruto. Sasuke hadn't given her too much information on him so she had to actually study the little bastard first. From what the Otokage's information said, he was a Jinchuuriki. He held the most powerful bijuu. But he was embarrassingly inexperienced at controlling its chakra. She was beginning to wonder if what happened in the forest was just a fluke. It was shameful the way she fell victim to his...attack. Although she had to admit it was a very pleasurable attack. Even if he had defiled her body in the process.

Now that she thought about it more, the ball smashing technique sounded the best.

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A/N: I rewrote a lot of the finer details compared to the manga, I know. But I did it to show more character development. Besides, what's the point of reading the same lines twice? It's just redundant after a while... Anyway, this is the first update in a really long while, but do take note that I have improved my updating speeds drastically. My other fic is updated at least once a week nowadays and I hope to be able to do the same for this one. In all honestly, I was lazy about adding more to this story. I could have left it at a one-shot and be done with it, but I saw how many Story Alert , I had so I felt compelled to do something extra.

It was just the other day though that I decided how I want this fic to go. I have some huge plans with it, and I hope I can make it into a good story. I hope you all enjoy the story and thanks for reading.