An new chapter, freshly baked! Here is Chapter 9 of HSD Naruto. Now here, Kakashi will be receiving some...divine punishment for his crimes. A few really good nightmares'll be enough to set anybody straight! Anyway, I won't spoil anything good, so...Get to readin'!
UCHIHA CLAN DISTRICT
Sasuke was sitting in his clan's library after days of scouring for anything that could be of use to him, reading what ever he could find to make himself more powerful. He was met with failure after agonizing failure. First, he was trying to find new training methods that he thought could have given Naruto his strength in such a short time, but nothing lept out at him. After more fruitless searching, he stumbled across to old scroll hidden under a loose floorboard inside the Uchiha Shrine. The scroll went into detail that a powerful enough Sharingan could subjugate a Bijuu, or in this case it's host. As he read further along, trying to figure out how this could be done, he had to stop. He couldn't even channel chakra anymore for the remainder of his suspension due to how his chakra network was sealed up by the Godaime for how he busted out a Chidori.
One needed a fully matured Sharingan to even breach the outer defenses of the host, then they needed the Mangekyou to encroach on the Bijuu itself, provided they could get past the mental defenses that the host may have. Since he couldn't have a Bijuu of his own, he'd settle for controlling one and making it his slave, like his ancestor Madara did with the Kyuubi. However, this was all pointing towards the impossible. He had no idea how to gain the Eternal Sharingan and he had no friends to kill to give him the Mangekyou like Itachi.
"DAMMIT! WHY IS IT THAT THE DOBE IS ALWAYS STRONGER THAN ME?" Sasuke roared in anger as he threw the scroll away.
"Sasuke-kun...Are you in here?" Kakashi called out from the doorway of the shrine.
"What do YOU want?" Sasuke hissed.
"Are your still looking for easy ways to get more powerful?" Kakashi asked, exasperated.
"Yes! I refuse to let the Dead Last have something that I don't!" Sasuke ranted as he began to tear the shrine apart to look for something else that might give him what he wants.
"Sasuke...The Bijuu are not to be toyed with. I was there that night, fighting the Kyuubi. It took the entire village, two Kages, and the Yondaime's sacrifice to stop it." Kakashi tried to reason with him, but it was in vain. Although, through explaining this, he was starting to see that Naruto wasn't the problem...He himself was for not opening his eyes. For the first time in a long time, he was cursing his own foolishness.
"I don't care! That demon inside him is the only reason he's so strong! If I had one, I'd be even stronger! I could kill Itachi with no problems!" The now foaming at the mouth insane Uchiha raved as he intensified.
'Maybe I...Made a grave mistake with this boy...He needed structure more than pampering. He's insane if he thinks he could tame a Bijuu by force...' Kakashi reasoned as he slipped away from the compound to brood on his latest failure.
'First...Naruto earns the Medal of Valor for beating Gaara and then the rank of Chuunin...Now Sasuke's going off of the deep end, obsessing over power so blindly that he will sacrifice anything to get it and Sakura just disappeared. Maybe Jiraiya-sama was right...I've made a mockery of Minato-sensei's teachings. He, Rin, and Obito must be so ashamed of me...' Kakashi thought sadly as he slunk his way back home.
Little did he and Sasuke know, there was a quartet of figures watching him from a nearby wall.
"He certainly doesn't look like much." Kidoumaru scoffed.
"He looks like a fart-catching little psycho to me." Tayuya huffed.
"Well, Orochimaru-sama has marked him to be his next body, so we have to take him with us...or he will have us all killed." Sakon told the rest with a resigned sigh.
All four of them lept down from their perch and walked into the shrine's outer sanctum. Their footfalls on the mocking bird floors alerted the brooder to their presence, making him spin around wildly.
"Who the hell are you?" He snarled.
"Easy there, Sasuke-kun. We've come to bring you a message from our master, Orochimaru-sama. He wishes for you to join him." Sakon offered.
"Hmph...Why should an elite like me join that freak?" Sasuke sneered.
"I don't know...How about the power you need to best Uzumaki Naruto and to complete your revenge?" Sakon asked, baiting him along and playing his anger.
"THAT DOBE IS NOT BETTER THAN ME!" The Uchiha roared in rage.
"You think so, shithead? That dobe made you look like a chump, beat that Sand freak, AND he made Chuunin, too." Tayuya taunted.
"Che...This fruity little ass had his chakra sealed off, too! What a weenie!" Kidomaru remarked with a sneer.
"Yeah...I don't know why we're even wasting our time on a weakling like this. That Naruto kid deserves this more..." Jiroubo added, pouring fuel on the fire.
"DON'T LOOK DOWN ON ME! I DESERVE IT MORE!" Sasuke screamed.
"Will you join us, then?" Kidoumaru asked.
"...Give me time to think about it." Sasuke answered, his mind made up.
"Very well. We will return in a weeks time to hear your decision. I hope it will be the right one." Sakon said as they all lept away into the darkness, Sasuke leaving off to his room to brood some more.
KAKASHI'S APARTMENT
Kakashi was simply put, dog tired. He was lamenting his latest failure as a sensei and as a human being. Sasuke was slipping further and further into his self-inflicted insanity and there was nothing he could do to pull him out of it, Naruto had made Chuunin without him and he hadn't seen Sakura for days, assuming that she was avoiding him, too. He sat down on his bed and picked up the picture of Team 7 that sat on his nightstand and stared at it for a good 5 minutes, wondering where it all went so horribly wrong. Finally his eyelids grew too heavy for him to keep open and he succumbed to his slumber. Little did he know...Of the horrors that lay in wait for him...
KAKASHI'S NIGHTMARE
Kakashi opened his eyes and found himself standing next to the Memorial Stone in the middle of the night, light from the moon giving the place a creepy air to it as low, creeping fog rolled in beneath him. He was about to jump away when he heard a familiar voice call out to him.
"Going somewhere, Kakashi?" The voice taunted as a pair of rotted, decaying hands thrust out of the mist and caught his ankles, holding him in place.
"Wh-What the hell is this? Who the hell are you?" The copy-nin's voice trembled as he struggled to break free, but it was a futile effort.
"I'm hurt that you don't remember us, Kakashi-kun! After all, I USED to have a crush on you! Now, I can see that it was wasted on a piece of FILTH like you!" Another voice, clearly female, snarled as the light from the moon became red as blood, mortal terror making his heart beat pound in his ears. That terror was multiplied exponentally when five figures, all of them in various stages of decomposition, rose from the ground and lumbered toward him. As the bloody light hit their faces, he nearly died out of sheer fright.
"You've made a mockery of my teachings, Kakashi. You ignored my dying wish." His sensei and the deceased Yondaime, Namikaze Minato, growled.
"How DARE you use my memory as an excuse to betray one of your students!" Uchiha Obito yelled at him, his eyeless visage glowering at him balefully.
"You hurt my baby...You betrayed his trust and mine...You will know suffering beyond imagining for this, Hatake." Uzumaki Kushina snarled with rage and hate being the only thing alive in her dead eyes.
"You commited the ultimate sin! You betrayed your comrades and your own students just to gain favor with the greedy council! You are no son of mine!" Hatake Sakumo, the famed White Fang and Kakashi's father, shouted. He was ashamed of what his son had become.
"You spit on our memories...Remember that I DIED protecting Naruto from a mob that you didn't even care enough to stop! He was only a baby and you saw fit to let him die! And now...You betray him AGAIN so you can cozy up to that Uchiha brat? How dare you!" Rin screamed, her disfigured face twisted into a snarl at him as they all advanced upon him further.
"Bu-But I...I thought that I was...doing the right thing! The council said so! Sasuke was supposed to be the village's savior!" Kakashi feeblely defended.
"The boy you betrayed is more honorable than you could ever be and the Uchiha's soul is rotten to the core! The council only sought it's own interests, as did you!" Sakumo yelled.
"You're spouting bullshit and you know it, Kakashi! He is the container that keeps Konoha safe from the wrath of the Kyuubi, like myself a Mito-baasama before him! Minato sealed the Kyuubi within him with the EXPLICIT instructions that he was to be seen as a hero for what he had to endure!" Kushina roared.
"So...You took the word of those self-serving power mongers over MINE? You BRAINLESS, GUTLESS WORM! I will see to it that you will join me in the Shinigami's belly for all eternity for your betrayal!" Minato bellowed.
"B-but...sensei! H-he dishonored your signature jutsu! He killed you!" Kakashi pleaded, to which the deceased Hokage back handed him viciously.
"That jutsu is his by right! Naruto is my legacy and so it is his birthright! I sacrificed myself so that the village would be safe and I chose Naruto because I could see within him the strength to hold the Kyuubi prisoner! It was NEVER your place to judge my decision!" Minato shouted with all of the rage and anger left in his departed soul.
"Enough with these excuses, Kakashi! The Uchiha, my clan...care nothing for the village! I should know, because it was Fugaku that nearly had me exiled from the clan for caring about the village over our clan! I thought that you under stood that loyalty! I thought you were my friend! You betrayed my trust and abused the gift that I gave to you! Now...I want it back!" Obito screamed as he bore down on Kakashi, ripping his sharingan eye out.
The rest seemed to follow suit along with him.
"Traitor!"
"Scum!"
"Liar!"
"Die!"
Kakashi let out a blood curdling scream as they got their hands on him and proceeded to rip him to shreds in a grand and gruesome display.
KAKASHI'S APARTMENT
Kakashi let out a terror filled scream that snapped him back into the waking world, a cold sweat chilling him to the bone as he shook like a leaf in the wind. A sob of anguish escaped his throat as he spent the rest of the night awake, too frightened of what other nightmares lurked within his dreams should he fall asleep again.
KONOHA ACADEMY THE NEXT DAY...
Naruto had picked up Sakura for her first day back at the Academy, putting her on his shoulders and rushing her there via the Naruto Express, her giggling madly the whole way.
"That was FUN, Nii-chan!" Little Sakura cheered as they arrived at the front gate amid a crowd of on lookers, many of them not terribly happy to see him. A quick glare from the young Chuunin was all it took to make them mind their own business as he set her down.
"Now Sakura-chan, be good for Iruka-sensei, okay? Either your Kaa-chan or myself will pick you up after you're done." Naruto told her as he gave her a quick pat on the head.
"Okay, Nii-chan!" Sakura chimed as she ran inside.
Upon entering the building, she quickly ran into the classroom that Iruka specified, a class full of children her own age. Iruka walked into the room and couldn't help but be shocked when he saw her in person. It was like he walked back in time and he almost had to check the date to be sure.
"Um...Are you Iruka-sensei?" Sakura asked him, tugging at his sleeve.
"Yes, I am. I am Umino Iruka, an instructor here." He answered with a grin.
"Good! Naruto-niichan told me that you were nice and to listen to you, Iruka-sensei!" The little girl chirped.
"He did, did he? Well, he was a student of mine until around six months ago." Iruka told her with a chuckle, making her gasp.
"Really? Wow! Then I'm gonna learn a lot so that I can be like Nii-chan!" Sakura exclaimed as she took a seat.
"You really surprize me, Naruto. I'm so proud of you..." Iruka whispered to himself as he went inside to begin classes for the day.
RYOUZANPAKU
Naruto had just returned to the compound to find a note from Raichi pinned to his door, so he read it.
Dear Naruto-kun,
I just realized that even though we're engaged to be married, you've never taken us out on any dates! I think that tonight we can fix that. Meet me at Shushuya's at 6 P.M. sharp! Hina-chan and Renka-chan are planning similar things, so better keep on your toes!
Love,
Raichi
"Damn...She's right! I feel like such an ass..." Naruto muttered as he slumped against the wall just as the compound's resident pervert showed up.
"Ah, Naruto-chan! There you are! What have you been up to this morning?" Kensei asked.
"Ne, Ero-sensei...I just dropped Sakura-chan off at school and now I find this..." Naruto told his teacher as he handed him the note.
"Ah yes...I forgot about her...unique circumstances and her newly found relations. She is your cousin, like Miu-chan, no?" He asked quietly.
"Yeah...She is. It's been real hard to wrap my head around this, but...ever since I found out that she wasn't even in control of herself, it was easy to forgive her and start over. It's actually better this way." Naruto confided.
"I see...That is a wise thing to say, Naruto-chan. Now, moving on to this little...heh heh, letter. Might I suggest a few things on this little date?" He asked, wiggling his eyebrows around suggestively.
Before Naruto could even respond, Akisame walked up, his eyes doing that wierd light thing.
"Where were you for our training, Naruto-kun?" He asked patiently.
"Dropping Sakura-chan off at school, Akisame-sensei!" Naruto answered quickly.
"Oh. Okay. You are forgiven. Now, what is this business about a letter?" The moustachio asked, to which Naruto answered him quickly.
"I see. In that case, may I suggest taking in a Noh play in the Edo district." Akisame suggested.
"Don't do that boring crap! Hit the town, gaki!" Sakaki shouted.
"Apa! See a movie!" Apachai yelled.
"A movie, eh? What kind?" Akisame inquired to the suggestion.
"A romance. Girls like romance, Naruto-kun." Shigure suggested, hanging down from the rafters, her mouse Touchuumaru perching on Naruto's shoulders.
"Nah! Action! Real men like action movies, kid!" Sakaki offered.
"When as the last time you went on a date?" Shigure muttered
"You know...They play the REALLY good stuff after hours..." Kensei suggested, a pervy gleam in his eyes.
"Action!"
"Romance!"
"Play!"
"Apa!"
"Ecchi!"
"Squeak!"
Naruto's head was ready to explode until his great uncle walked in with Miu behind him, wondering what in the hell all of the fuss was about.
"Why don't we settle this the usual way." Hayato told them as they got into stances.
"Hey whoa! Don't fight outside my room!" Naruto yelled until Miu calmed him.
"Just watch, Naruto-kun." She told him.
An aura of power was permiating the very air around them as these masters of masters were ready to challenge each other over the right to make the suggestion for their disciple's first date. Each of them was dead set on victory. He had no idea what they were about to do, but he was sure that it would be awe inspiring or obscenely destructive...maybe both.
In a flash of movement, it was all over...The victor was clear.
"Apa! I won!" Apachai cheered as the rest of the masters scoffed.
"What...the hell just happened?" Naruto deadpanned.
"It was the way they usually settle differences...Rock, Paper, Scissors." Miu explained.
"I didn't even see them move!" He exclaimed.
"I did. Each of them were changing what they had within fractions of a second until they finished." Miu told him.
"Wow...That's fast..." Naruto marveled as the lumbering giant spoke up.
"Naruto-chan should let Raichi-chan choose the movie!" Apachai suggested, making the others think for a moment.
"That's...Not a bad idea, Apachai-kun." Akisame finally spoke out, the others nodding in agreement.
"Well...It's decided. Now, I believe that we should get to your training, Naruto-kun." Akisame said aloud, a sadistic grin forming.
"Well...Crap." Naruto muttered as he was dragged off to the yard for his daily beat down.
A FEW HOURS LATER...
Naruto was busy trying to pry himself out of a crater Akisame-sensei made with his body with a simple throw and listening to his lecture on how sloppy his last move was, when he looked at a clock. It was time to pick up Sakura from her first day (Again...) at the Academy and drop her off at home.
"Hey...Um...Akisame-sensei?" Naruto groaned.
"Yes, Naruto-kun?" The moustachio asked.
"It's time...to go pick up Sakura-chan...from school. I promised her mom that I would..." He grunted out as he stood up.
"Oh. Well...Since you made a promise, you should honor it." Akisame said simply, hoisting the small blond up and (Painfully) resetting his bones back into their proper placement. I'm no doctor, but I don't think that your femur and your lower lumbar are supposed to be touching.
"Run along now, Naruto-kun." Akisame told him dismissively, the boy doing just that, except he limped at first until his healing kicked in.
ACADEMY GROUNDS
"Does anyone have any questions?" Iruka asked the class, who all just clammed up until a certain pinkette raised her hand.
"Yes, Sakura?" The school teacher asked.
"Do we have homework, Iruka-sensei?" She asked, making the class groan.
"Why...I nearly forgot but yes, you do! I want you all to practice sneaking and stealth and we'll see how you all do tomorrow. That's all!" Iruka informed them cheerfully as he bolted for the door.
Sakura was left with a sense of fulfillment from her first day at school as she picked up her bookbag and left the school for the day. As she made her way out to the school yard, she noticed a crowd of girls older than her gathering around someone. Being naturally curious, she decided to check it out.
"It's Sasuke-sama!" One girl, three years older than her, squealed.
"I hope you're on MY team, Sasuke-sama!" Another girl, graduating this year, yelled.
Sakura got a good look at the person that they were gushing over and wasn't terribly impressed with him.
"What's so amazing about this guy?" The young pinkette asked the closest girl to her.
"What? Have you been living under a rock? He's only Uchiha Sasuke-sama, last year's rookie of the year and the last of the famous Uchiha clan! He's sooo cool!" The girl gushed.
"So? My nii-chan is WAY cooler than that guy. He made Chuunin his first time up." Sakura commented.
"Nuh uh! Sasuke-sama is way cooler than any dork that your nii-chan is!" Another girl responed with hostility.
"Which loser is you nii-chan, anyway?" Ami, a girl who was supposed to have graduated with Naruto and Sakura, asked with no small amount of disdain.
"Naruto-niichan is, that's who! He's awesome!" The little girl fired back, not liking how these people were being so snide with her.
Another group, who overheard from across the yard, came to her aid...The Konohamaru Corps.
"The Boss is your nii-chan? Man, I'm jealous! I idolize that guy!" Sarutobi Konohamaru exclaimed.
"Boss? Why call him that?" Sakura asked quizzically.
"Because...He's the boss! He taught me this really cool jutsu, too!" Konohamaru gloated as he performed the infamous Oiroke no Jutsu, changing into a buxom brunette, taking out every adult male within view and strangely enough, a couple of women.
"COOL! I wanna learn that!" Little Sakura said with a little bit of awe mixed in.
"Well...We can teach you if you want." Moegi offered kindly.
"Yeah...It's no problem and you ARE the little sister of the, so we feel obligated to look out for you while you're here." Udon added, his above average vocabulary coming to the fore.
Yet another voice made itself known from outside of the throng of people, one Hyuuga Hanabi.
"This Naruto you've been gabbing about...Is he Uzumaki Naruto? The same guy that ripped my cousin a new one?" She asked curiously.
"Um...Yeah!" Sakura answered.
"Wow...He's engaged to my big sister, Hinata! You're his little sister, then? You're going to be my sister in law in a couple of years, so you can go ahead and call me Hanabi-onechan if you want." The Hyuuga girl declared with a grin on her face and her arms folded.
"No way...The boss is gonna marry your One-chan? Cool! I hope he lets me be a broomsman!" Konohamaru cheered.
"That would be 'Groomsman', Saru-dorki." Hanabi corrected.
In the meantime, Sasuke froze as what the kids said registered in his head. He felt a near instant flash of rage bursting from within his gut.
"The dobe? HE IS NOT BETTER THAN ME! I AM THE GREATEST SHINOBI TO EVER GRACE THIS STUPID VILLAGE!" The last Uchiha snarled with rage.
"So? He still made Chuunin and you didn't. You can't be that great." Sakura retorted with a shrug as she tried to walk away, but he had a very firm grasp on her shoulder.
"You...You'll pay for mocking me!" He screamed as he cocked his fist back to hit her, only for a blur to snatch her from harm's way.
Sakura was ready to take the hit until she noticed that someone was holding her in their arms. She looked up to see who it was and couldn't have been happier.
"NARUTO-NIICHAN!" She cheered as her big brother set her down and stepped in front of her.
"BOSS! We're glad to see you!" Konohamaru yelled.
"So...Since you can't get what you want, you'll beat up little kids? That's low, Teme. Even for you." Naruto said, his crystal blue eyes narrowed with disgust for his former teammate's actions as many other parents watched on.
"Hn...I didn't know that worthless losers could have family. Then again, she was dumb enough to mouth off to me, so she has to be related to you, dobe." Sasuke sneered.
"Sasuke...On my authority as a Chuunin and your superior, I'm ordering you to leave here now." Naruto ordered him, trying to use his new rank to deter him without a fight. Some of the more brazen fangirls demanded that Naruto leave, but the rest obeyed and backed off.
"Feh...As if I'll listen to a dobe like you. That rank should have been mine!" The avenger yelled, spite and jealousy evident in his words.
"Not if you can't even show up on time, teme. Besides, I beat you fair and square." Naruto reminded him, hitting a sore spot.
The last Uchiha's pride howled in pain as he made another swipe for the little girl, only for his fist to be caught in Naruto's vice-like grip, his level of physical strength hard earned from his numerous torture...training exercises. Sasuke tugged wih all of his might, but he couldn't remove it. Naruto was too strong.
'W-what? How could the dobe be so...' "AAAGGGHHH!" Sasuke cried in pain as Naruto intensified his grip, forcing him to his knees.
"We can add attempted assault on a superior officer to that list, Uchiha." Another voice called out from the building. Iruka walked out of the main building and up to the two former teammates. Even the brazen fangirls were now backing away, since Iruka was not the instructor to mess with. He quickly ordered the rest of the rubberneckers to leave immeadiately except for Sakura, who was the victim.
"What happened here, Uzumaki?" He asked his now fellow Chuunin to brief him on the situation and brief he did. After that, Iruka's face melted away into a stony, professional visage.
"Is that so? What could little Sakura-chan have possibly said to make you try to hit a defenseless child?" Iruka pressed on him.
"Che...That little brat should have...Wait...Sakura?" He began to sneer, but he pause when he put two and two together.
"So...Is that what happened to that skanky psychopath? I thought she'd been too quiet for a while." He sneered at the girl, making her cringe.
Naruto applied even more pressure that wiped the smug look off of his face.
"That was who she used to be. She was given another chance...Now, she's my imou-chan and I don't want to hear you ever...EVER, behaiving like this toward her ever again! Am I clear, Genin?" Naruto growled.
"Whatever..." Sasuke scoffed until a blast of Ki hit him from another direction. They all looked to for the source to find none other than Kakashi.
"You never learn, do you Sasuke?" The copy-nin said, his voice cold and professional.
"What do you want, Hatake?" Naruto asked, his voice laden with suspicion.
Kakashi couldn't really blame him for feeling that way after how he betrayed his former student.
'I had that coming...I have a lot coming...' He lamented before he spoke.
"I saw a disturbance and came to investigate." Kakashi told the two Chuunin as he focused on Sasuke again.
"Why were you disobeying a direct order from your superiors, Sasuke?" Kakashi questioned.
"Who's superior? It's only the dobe and this weak school teacher..." Sasuke scoffed again until a hard backhand sent him to the dirt, shocking the two Chuunin and little girl.
"You forget who you're talking to, Genin. You are talking to two Chuunin and a Jounin who are questioning you for attempted assualt on an Academy student. Maybe a suspension is too light of a punishment for you? Maybe you need some jail time to correct that attitude of yours some more?" The copy-nin tore into his now ex-student.
Sasuke was shocked beyond words that Kakashi was talking to him like he was. Before, he was handing him jutsu and training like it was candy and completely snubbing his other two students for him. Now...
"So...You're betraying me, Hatake?" Sasuke snarled.
"No. I merely woke up and realised what I had done and had been allowing to happen. I won't let you drag my career and everything I've worked for down with you, Uchiha. I wash my hands of you here and now. Now...I believe that Iruka-san can take you to the jail and book you there for your crimes." Kakashi stated with a tone of finality to his words.
"Right. Come along, Uchiha. Let's go." Iruka ordered gruffly as he hauled the Uchiha off to jail this time.
Kakashi stood there for a moment and watched him be taken away until Sakura tugged at his sleeve.
"Mister? Thank you for helping us." The little girl thanked him politely.
He took a real good look at her and his mind was pieceing things together.
'Pink hair, emerald eyes...She can't be...' He thought in complete shock.
"Naruto...Is she...?" He questioned as Naruto nodded to the affirmative.
"So...That's what happened to her..." He murmured, Naruto changing the subject.
"Kakashi. We need to talk, but after I drop Sakura-chan off with her parents." Naruto told him as the little girl clambered onto his back and they both disappeared in a Shunshin.
"Naruto...How on earth can I tell you...That I'm so sorry?" The copy-nin said sadly, his already massive guilt increasing by the second as he waited for his ex-student to come back.
Naruto reappeared a few minutes later in a swirl of leaves and faced the copy-nin, who had been jsut standing there without his infamous Icha Icha out. He gave him a critical stare, searching for any hint of deceit. The man looked terrible, like he hadn't slept at all. His uniforn was rumpled and he slightly stunk, like he hadn't taken a bath or washed his clothes. Finally, Kakashi broke the ice.
"So...Um...I heard rumors about what happened to Sakura, but I didn't think they were true until I saw her in person." He commented awkwardly.
"Hmph...If you really cared about her or me, you would have known what happened to her and why it happened. What's with the change of heart, anyway? Why did you go postal on your favorite instead of helping him? What do you have to gain from it?" Naruto grilled him, trying to find any sliver of deceit.
"'Look...I...Dammit...This is really hard for me to admit this...But...I was wrong. I abandoned you and Sakura. I didn't even care if you two lived or died, as long as I had Sasuke. I was an idiot! I nearly threw everything away...All that my sensei taught me, my friend's dying lesson to me and Rin's wish...My father's last lesson to me...I as good as pissed all over them and my memories of them! I can't even look at myself in the mirror without feeling disgusted with myself and what I had done! I need to find some way to atone for all that I did! Please! Help me make things right! Please forgive me!" The copy cat begged and pleaded with him for some measure of forgivness, a hint of salvation for his soul.
Naruto was warring within himself over what to do, if he should forgive him or damn him. It was too heavy of a choice for him to make all of the sudden. He had to think about it.
"I...Can't give you an answer right now. Look, I need to go." He told Kakashi, headed back to the Ryouzanpaku compound and leaving the copy nin in purgatory.
NARUTO'S DATE...MULTIPLE LOCATIONS
Naruto had to step on it since his little incursion with Sasuke and his talk with Kakashi put him behind schedule, bathing and dressing at a record pace. He was out the door like a bat out of hell and headed right for the restaurant Raichi specified in her note. He spotted her waiting for him outside in a cute white dress with spaghetti straps and heeled shoes, her hair in it's usual pig tails. He had just BARELY made it in time.
"Naruto-kun! You were almost late! What happened?" She asked.
"I'll...tell you inside, Raichi-chan." Naruto told her. From the tone of voice he used, it had to have been serious, so she nodded and they went inside and got seated.
"Now...What's wrong, Naruto-kun? I can tell something's not right." The pink-haired martial artist asked with concern.
"It's just...I had a run in with the teme earlier today." Naruto started things off as they placed their orders.
"Really? What happened?" She asked.
"I was picking up Sakura-chan from school when I saw the teme take up root at the Academy gates. Sakura-chan called him out on something and he tried to slug her, but I managed to stop him in time. He was being a total bastard as usual and refused to listen. That was when Iruka came out and helped me with him. He still acted like an ass until Kakashi came." Naruto told her,
"Oh no...That means that jerk got off light." Raichi sighed.
"Actually...He didn't." Naruto corrected her, to her shock.
"What?"
"Yeah...I was just was surprized as you are. When Sasuke mouthed off to him to, he backhanded him and allowed Iruka to take him to jail for attempted assualt and disobeying a direct order from a shinobi of higher rank. He'll be spending some time in a jail cell for a while and won't be bothering anyone." Naurto explained.
"Well...That's good news, then!" Raichi chirped.
"Well...That part is, but what happened after that was pretty awkward..." Naruto told her as he explained what happened after Sasuke was taken away to jail this time. It's pretty useless to point her shock at the metion of the infamous Copy Ninja's begging and pleading for forgivness. Although, one thing still bothered her.
"Why? Why now after all that he's done?" The pig tailed pinkette asked, completely bewildered.
"I can't really say...I want to know what brought on this change of heart before I make a choice on what to do." Naruto answered her as their food arrived.
"Well...Let's eat and forget about this for now..." Raichi suggested as they dug into their meals and continued on with their date.
The date moved along at a steady pace, as neither of them were in any particular rush. Naruto was a bit awkward when she linked her arm with his, but he got used to it and it actually felt nice. He had a very attractive girl on his arm and was currently on their way to the theatre to take in a movie. To Naruto's surprize, Raichi chose an action movie with the famous actress Fujikaze Yukie, something they could both enjoy as a thank you for allowing her to pick the movie. During the whole movie, she refused to unlink her hand from his and even fell asleep on his shoulder. Naruto chuckled lightly and chanced slipping his arm around her. To his surprize, she snuggled into him and was snoozing so peacefully, he almost didn't want to wake her when the flick ended.
"Hey...Raichi-chan?" He said, lightly rousing her.
"Mmm...*Yawn*...Time to go?" She asked, still in a daze from waking up.
"Yeah...Come on." He said as he gently lifted her to her feet and escorted her out. By the time they reached the exit, she was fully awake and alert, feeling a bit playful as she gave him a kiss on the cheek when the left the theatre.
Walking down the street, however, was a certain blond kunoichi that had just gotten done eating with her team and was now on her way home when she saw the pair come out.
'I can't believe Sasuke tried to hit Sakura! That jerk! It's a good thing Naruto-kun and Iruka-sensei were there...' She thought until she saw the couple come out of the theatre. She quickly hid behind a business sign and watched them.
'What the hell am I doing, spying on them like this?' She asked herself until she saw the kiss. It was like something broke inside of her when she saw it. She didn't know of the engagements, but she saw this as a missed chance, a slight tear falling down her face.
'That's no more than I deserve for all I did to him...I wouldn't deserve him, anyway.' She thought sadly as she made her way home to sleep off her improptu heartbreak.
Finally, after a slow walk back to the Li Estate, they made it to their destination as she turned to face her escort and future husband.
"Well...I really had a good time, Naruto-kun. I hope we can do this again soon." She told him as she kissed him squarely on the lips, holding it for more than a minute.
"That was the my first...real kiss." Naruto murmured.
"Real? What do you mean?" She asked curiously.
Naruto groaned as he told her the tale of his ill-fated first kiss...with Sasuke of all people. She promptly began to laugh her ass off, but kissed him again, a little longer this time.
"There. I hope that was a better one." She told him coyly.
A stunned Naruto simply nodded his head.
"Goodnight, Naruto-kun." She told him as she slipped inside of the compound, the guards snickering as his flabberghasted reaction.
"Oi, kid...You alright?" A guard chuckled as he shook the stricken blond out of his stupor.
"Y-yeah...I'm...Fine." Naruto replied in a monotone voice, still in shock as he staggered his way back home.
KONOHA JAIL CELL...
Sasuke was currently sitting in his cell, awaiting trial for attempted assualt and disobeying a direct order from his superiors and sulking about it. He resisted Iruka the entire way to the hooskow, even breaking free at one point only to be brought down by another former classmate and his sensei, Shikamaru and Asuma, who had just gotten finished with a Shogi game at a parlor and were getting a bite to eat when the stumbled across them.
FLASHBACK
Sasuke had just broken loose form Iruka's grip and was currently pelting down Tea Street and bound for the Uchiha District.
"Uchiha! Get back here! You're under arrest!" Iruka hollered after him as he tried to catch him.
'If I can ditch this loser, I can grab some gear and leave this village of fools behind me. I'm taking Orochimaru's offer and after I kill Itachi, this village will burn for trying to keep me down!' He swore as he increased his running speed. His burst of speed was short lived, since he relied on chakra for nearly everything and never really did much in the way of physical conditioning. As a result of that, he was seriously out of shape and he was tiring quickly.
Coming out of a Shogi parlor down the street was Shikamaru and Asuma, fresh out of a game and ready to grab some food when Sasuke went pelting past them.
"Stop Sasuke! He's getting away!" Iruka called to them for help.
"Aw, man...Life just doesn't STOP..." Shikamaru whined as he and Asuma lept after the fugitive Uchiha.
They managed to get ahead of him using the rooftops and Shikamaru predicted that he was headed for the Uchiha district, so they made plans to ambush him there. Sure enough, he headed right for his house and gathered every piece of ninja gear and weapons he could find into a travel pack. Right after he set foot outside of main clan house, Shikamaru sprung his trap, ensnaring him in his Kage Mane while Asuma got his arms around his throat and Iruka caught up, signalling the lazy Nara to release his jutsu.
"Let me GO! This village is WEAK! Orochimaru will give me what I want!" Sasuke snarled with contempt.
"I don't think so, Uchiha. You obviously did something stupid enough to warrant getting arrested and now you're talking about treason. It's troublesome, but you're not going anywhere." Shikamaru told him in a bored voice.
He was ready to turn around when he felt a foot connect with the side of his head. Sasuke had managed to lash out and kick Shikamaru in the face when his guard was down. Iruka responded by nailing him with a powerful punch to his stomach before Asuma tightened his grip around Sasuke's neck, cutting off his oxygen and causing him to pass out. The bearded Jounin simply hefted the now rouge Last Uchiha by the scruff of his shirt.
"Little idiot...Throwing tantrums just because he was told no..." Asuma growled.
"Son of a...That's gonna leave a mark." Shikamaru hissed in pain as he checked for blood.
"You okay, Shikamaru?" Iruka asked.
"Yeah...I'll be fine. Let's just get this guy behind bars." Shika replied as they set off.
Their first stop was the Hokage's office. They needed to know what he would do about Sasuke's attempted flight on top of his crimes.
A few moments more saw them inside the Hokage's office as Jiraiya glared at the Uchiha's audacity to actually try and escape the village. The Gama-sennin smacked the downed triator until he woke up.
"Wake up, Uchiha." Jiraiya ordered.
Sasuke's eyes snapped open and he attempted to escape, but he was bound to a chair.
"What do you want? Un-tie me right now!" Sasuke demanded.
"Shut up!" Tsunade thundered.
"You've pissed me off for the last time, Uchiha. You've not only attempted to harm an Academy student, but you also assualted two of my Chuunin, resisted arrest and now you tried to defect? To Orochimaru of all people? You'll be lucky to catch another glimpse of sunlight as long as you live." Jiraiya snarled.
"You dogs! Release me right now, or I'll tell the council and have you all put to death!" The traitor demanded smugly. However, the response he got was bone chilling.
"You ignorant little shit...You honestly believe that the council will help you? You're behind the time, brat. You see, I've already taken the liberty of replacing many of the council's members. Many of them were on your father's payroll. Even after you clan's demise, they continued to suck up to you by giving you whatever you wanted, hoping that once you came of age to claim them, you would give them your continued support. We managed to weed out the bad seeds and replaced them with more...honest civilians and far more reputable. Your free ride is now at an end." Jiraiya told the once arrogant and smug clan heir, whose face drained of any color.
"You...You can't do this to me..." He stammered in disbelief.
"Yes...We can. You've crossed the line at treason and your last chance has been blown. Take him away." Jiraiya ordered to his ANBU, who simply grabbed the traitor, chair and all, and flickered away.
Jiraiya sank into his chair, Tsunade and Sarutobi by his side. The now ex-Hokage was kicking himself for not doing what Jiraiya had done at the beginning of his reign. Trust someone with an abstract way of thinking, like Jiraiya had always done, to come up with a simple solution to a complicated problem. He simply did as he explained, he got rid of the corrupt members of the council and replaced them which people he could more easily keep tabs on. This was must easier to do once he fired the two pervious elders and began to chip away at Danzou's power base in an attempt to bring him to heel. So far...it was working like a charm.
FLASHBACK END...
Sasuke was now sitting in his jail cell, trying to make sense of what just happened.
"B-but...I'm...an Uchiha, aren't I? Uchiha...don't go to jail..." He kept mumbling to himself as time clicked by.
OUTSIDE OF THE VILLAGE'S BORDERS...
What remained of Orochimaru's Sound 4 had just recieved word from their only remaining spy within the village that their target had just been arrested and was set for trial the following morning.
"We need to get in there and bust him out NOW!" Kidoumaru said forcefully.
"Shut up, dumbass! They got their top guys guardin' that stupid little fuck! If we go in now, they'll kill us before we even get near Lord Orochimaru's new dick sheath!" Tayuya countered.
"She's right. None of us are good enough at stealth to get the job done. We need to contact Kabuto and get his help...Maybe Kimimaro's, too." Sakon mused, being the de facto leader at the moment.
"Not that guy...Four-eyes is so...creepy on so many levels and who's to say that he'll even help us?" Kidoumaru whined.
"Heh...This coming from a guy with six fuckin' arms?" The feisty red head taunted.
"Shut your pie hole, carpet muncher!" The spider-like man retorted.
"Will the both of you grow up? We need to get started on a plan NOW, or we get to be Lord Orochimaru's next experiments." Sakon told them as they all disappeared from sight.
A/N: Ouch! Try asking Kakashi what goes bump in the night! Next, the Sound 4 is being patient for now, but they'll be making their move soon enough. On top of this, Naruto had the first of his dates with his brides-to-be, Raichi! It went pretty smoothly and Apachai's suggestion actually worked! The Muay Thai Shinigami and a doctor of love? Also, Konohamaru teaching cute and innocent lil' Sakura-chan the Sexy Jutsu? That could spell trouble...or comedy. Just depends if you're on the business end of it!