Chapter VII: Frightful Moment in Time
Sasuke woke with a strange feeling in his stomach.
He leaped from the bedroll, and looked around madly for a second, then realized it was all a dream.
"Baka! It was just a dream. Naruto isn't here to kill you. I bet that teme thinks he can beat me now, but he probably hasn't gotten any stronger in the past sixteen years." Sasuke thought, calming down immediately.
"Naruto is your friend Sasuke! You do not hate him. You hate only your brother... Do not go putting your anger where it will not help you." Inner-Sasuke commented, in his droll voice.
Sasuke shook his head, and sat down on the bedroll, thinking of what his dream could have meant.
He glanced out the window, and then he felt another stranger feeling than before.
"A chakra explosion? What kinda power would someone need to have to create an explosion of that magnitude?" Sasuke's eyes flashed as he realized that it was relatively close to his place, and that he might get hit with the next one if he didn't do something.
But when he tried to sense the chakra again, it was gone.
"What the hell was that explosion?" He thought, only to really wake up, staring at the ceiling, wondering what was going on.
"This is really messed up. I need to get out of here." Sasuke muttered to himself, glancing at the door, which groaned in the wind.
"Stupid door." Sasuke cursed, getting up, and kicking the hinge of the door back in, instantly silencing the groaning.
"I really do hate this place." He stomped back to his moldy bedroll, and dropped onto it.
He lay on it, contemplating finishing burning the place down, and going somewhere where he could just be alone.
He then noticed the ceiling was dripping again, and he cursed some more under his breath, as he looked out the window to see if it was raining.
"Oh great! It is pouring out again. What the hell is with this weather?" He shook his head in a sulky way, and went to find a way to make the plunking stop.
He grabbed a towel, or something that looked like it used to be a towel, and balled it up underneath the drip.
The plunking stopped.
"Thank the stars! That noise is just so annoying!"
He foraged around and produced the last of the bread, which was stale, but he ate it anyways.
When he had finished, his stomach growled miserably, and he went out in the rain to do some purification meditation to help clear his mind.
He found a spot in the woods that was sort of dry, and sat down, closing his eyes, and clearing his mind of all thoughts.
His body relaxed, and his mind floated gently on the air, letting him calm the fierce fire of hunger in his stomach, and allowing him to begin meditation.
He stayed out in the rain, soaked to the bone, and cold, but his meditation remained unbroken.
Then, a kunai struck the ground an inch from his leg, causing him to open his eyes.
"Sharingan!" Sasuke shouted, turning quickly around, and found two shinobi from the Earth country standing behind him.
"Huh! We found the Uchiha! Good, we will kill him, and get the reward on his head!" The shinobi on the left said through a mask not unlike Kakashi's mask, but it was white.
The other, a small ninja, with a zanbato, a huge ninja sword, stood silently in the shadow of a tree.
"What a day! We will be rich in about a few moments." The taller on continued, watching Sasuke's every move.
Sasuke looked at the shinobi, and smiled.
"Do you know who I am?"
"Yes Uchiha, Sasuke! I know who you are! We, Tsundan and Tsuda are the Earth's missing nin finders! First we will get your secrets, then we will dispose of you!" Tsundan said with a smirk.
"Then you know that I kill punks like you for practice?" Sasuke said calmly, smiling at their apparent disregard for his status as a ninja.
"Oh, we are not just any ninjas. We are much stronger than that. Let me show you my power!" Tsundan chided.
"Earth jutsu: Quake of Destruction!"
The earth started to tremble under Sasuke's feet, and he jumped aside just in time to avoid a large pointed pillar of earth that shot up from the ground where he had been standing.
"Earth jutsu: Spiked ground!"
Sasuke landed on the ground, just to have to leap into the air again, to avoid another more rapid set of spikes from the ground.
"Now for my specialty! Earth jutsu: Sandy Grave!"
This time, Sasuke just avoided a massive sand-hand that shot out of the ground, but he was not fast enough to not get caught.
The hand grabbed his foot, and started to swing him around in a rapid circle, and then with a huge force, slammed Sasuke into the ground, knocking the wind out of him.
Sasuke lay panting on the ground, trying to regain his breath.
"So, tell us all of your secrets little boy. We will make your death painless if you do!" Tsundan said maliciously.
"I would not give you my secrets for the world! I'll die before I tell shit like you anything!
"Well, maybe Tsuda would like to show you his power!" Tsundan laughed.
Tsuda took the zanbato from his back, and swung it in a clean circle.
His hands mover so fast, Sasuke's Sharingan could not pick up the movements.
"Why can't I see?" Sasuke thought as Tsuda finished his seals.
The sword melded into the ground, and Sasuke knew that he needed to get out of that area. But his body had not recovered from the previous blow.
The ground shattered right next to Sasuke, and threw himself to the side, with a lot of effort, and just missed being sliced with the zanbato.
Another set of seals, and the sword was dancing about, trying to kill him with even more ferocity.
"You will die here Sasuke Uchiha!"
"Never!" Sasuke shouted, jumping up, and using his vanishing technique.
"Such a grade school move! Earth jutsu: Dust of the Earth!"
Then dust fell from the sky, landing on Sasuke's sweaty and rain soaked clothes, sticking to him, and making him visible.
Tsuda then vanished from sight, but it was jut sheer speed that kept him unseen.
Then the hilt of the zanbato smashed across the back of his neck, throwing him onto the ground at Tsundan's feet.
"We've got you now!"
Sasuke smiled again, this time because he actually had Tsundan.
Tsundan reached for Sasuke, and the Sasuke yelled,
"Great Fire Ball Jutsu!" And aimed the blast at Tsundan, who exploded into flames, and screamed loudly as his skin began to peel off, and blacken into charcoal.
"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Tsundan shouted, before collapsing onto the ground, smoldering where he fell.
But before Sasuke could move, he felt the zanbato slice his back, cutting a clean line into the flesh on his back.
Blood exploded from the wound, and he rolled aside to avoid a second slash.
Then something bad happened.
Sauske's Heaven's seal started to glow.
"This can't happen at a time like this!" Sasuke thought, trying to suppress the spreading fire with his will.
His body started giving off large blasts of purple chakra, and the flames of the seal covered his body.
Tsuda's eyes widened as he stared at a grinning, curse seal powered Sasuke.
"You look surprised. Did they not tell you about the cursed seal?" Sasuke said with a gleam of death in his eyes.
Tsuda stepped back, but before he could react, he was hit with a Lion's Barrage, and slammed into the hard ground.
Then with inhuman speed, Sasuke picked up Tsuda, and threw him through a tree, and dive kicked him into the ground with enough force to form a crater.
Tsuda lay in the crater, and felt his life tugging at him. He smiled.
Standing slowly, he took off his headband.
Chakra exploded from his body like a deluge of violet fire.
"Chakra of that magnitude is unbelievable." Thought Sasuke as he observed the wave of chakra.
Sasuke was too stunned by the chakra that he did not notice that Tsuda was no longer in the crater.
The sword slashed, its razor edge gliding through Sasuke's body.
The stab was just below his left shoulder, missing any vitals, but causing excruciating pain.
Sasuke gritted his teeth, and tried to escape the situation, but before he could, he got stabbed again, this time from the front, and in his right leg, just cutting cleanly through his calf muscle.
Sasuke fell to the ground, unable to stand because of his leg.
"Tell me you secrets. I will make this painless if you do." Came a quiet voice from inside his head.
"Never! I would not give a punk like you my secrets!" Sasuke growled, though it was not as threatening because he was helpless and on the ground.
"Very well. You leave me no choice. I will drag it out." The voice said icily.
"Try your worst."
Pain shot through all his open wounds, and made him scream.
"He screamed for minute after minute of agonizing pain that flowed through his body.
"Tell me!" The voice demanded.
"NO!"
The pain increased ten fold, and Sasuke's voice stopped working, because the pain was too much.
That is when his seal released the second stage, and Sasuke sprouted hand-like protrusions, his hair grew much longer, and turned grey, and his face suddenly had an '+' mark on it, and the flames disappeared, leaving his skin a grey color.
"Your dead!" Sauske said, focusing all his chakra into the palms of his hand,
"Flapping One thousand Birds!" Curse Sealed Sasuke shouted, a large sphere of chakra that sound like thousands of birds taking flight, came to life in his hand.
He vanished from sight, and reappeared behind Tsuda, slamming the One Thousand Birds into Tsuda's back.
Tsuda dropped to the ground, dead, with a massive hole in his chest and back.
"Got you!" Sasuke muttered under his breath, as he transformed back into his normal self.
He struggled back to the house, and fell on the floor in the entranceway, and passed out from blood loss and exertion.