Chapter 8: Seventh Circle – Violence

Synopsis: Fate can sometimes be a disturbing factor in life to which you are never too certain what will happen or who you will meet along the road of life. However in this case what were the odds of meeting an old friend and enemy along the path of death? For the fact remains that no matter how much time passes there will always be lingering feelings left behind in reminiscence to age old wounds.

But the one unifying fact of all life is an age old saying, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" So in this sense can former enemies ally themselves long enough without killing each other?

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Naruto franchise or characters associated with it. I also do not own any part of the 14th century Italian divine comedy Dante's Inferno.

"talking"

thoughts

"We're almost at the end" said Naruto as the group continued to venture down to the next level

"Will things really be alright?" asked Tenten. "We barely managed to overcome most of the obstacles and that was when we were altogether. But now there is only a few of us left with very little chakra and supplies to go on with"

"No need to fear Tenten-san!" said Lee. "As long as we have the burning passion of youth we can overcome any obstacles!"

Everyone gave a slight sweat drop to Lee's usual antics. However it was much appreciated as a little optimism can go a long way. Their current predicament in Hell was going to get worse before it gets any better. But now after a small duration of walking sounds could be heard echoing up towards them.

"What is that?" asked Sakura as she cupped her ears to better understand the sound.

The noise echoed within the cavern it soon became clear to what they were. They were the screams of agony and pain from an innumerable amount of voices. As the group continued their way down they started to feel the sounds of their voices bounce off their bodies. But as they came closer another thing became apparent as well.

"Do you smell that?" asked Naruto while giving the air a sniff

"Yeah" replied Neji, "It's blood"

"But why does it smell like that?" asked Tenten

"Because of this" said Sakura as she pointed down within the seventh circle of hell

Upon entering this circle everyone's eyes looked down to see a huge river of red which lay before them. At a closer look the team could see as many souls squirmed and struggled amongst each other to stay afloat and escape their torment.

"These damned are punished for their violence against others" said Sakura. "Their punishment is to forever bathe in the blood that they spilt as it boils them each day in reminder for their crime"

"That is all well and good" said Naruto. "But how do we cross from here?"

"Look" pointed Lee, "we can use those rock pillars to cross. Hmm, but it does seem kind of far to jump though"

"No time!" stated Neji. "We have to go now!"

Everyone looked back to see a wave of demons descend upon them. It immediately then became clear that they could either stay and fight or escape past the river. But looking at their current status running was a far better option. So looking for the closest pillar the Konoha ninjas began their move as they jumped from one rock to another. Sakura stopped as her teammates started to move ahead of her.

"Sakura! What are you doing? We have to keep moving!" yelled Naruto

"I'm going to buy us some time. Just keep going" replied Sakura as she struck the pillar beneath her before jumping to another

Monsters began following pursuit as they moved onto the pillar. However the movement of too many of them broke the tampered rock formation, those unfortunate enough to be on them tumbled into the boiling river below. However these monsters weren't mindless as they could learn and adapt to the situation. So in this case the brutes taking advantage of their immense strength moved ahead of the wave by quickly jumping from one pillar to the next in which no time at all they caught up with their saboteur as she had just recently left her current position.

"Shit!" thought the pink kunoichi as her pursuers were now running side by side to her. A moment later two of them managed to move ahead stopping her progression. At this time Sakura had no choice but to stay and fight.

"We have to go back!" stated Naruto. But before he could even state his sentence one of his teammates had already left to do just that.

One of the brutes launched forward in a preemptive attack to skewer the pink ninja. However Sakura using her chakra enhanced strength caught the enemies spear while simultaneously lifting the monster and spinning it around. The brute soon released itself from its weapon while being tossed to one of its allies nearby sending the both of them below. Sakura then spun the spear before cocking it to her back. She then extended her arm forward flapping her hand for them to come.

Taking the invitation, they began their attack at all sides making certain that their target would have no room to fight back. But they weren't quick enough as Sakura swung her spear around knocking the closest brute away while simultaneously shooting it back hitting another opponent. Noticing an enemy coming straight at her, she jumped piercing the monsters back forcing it to the ground. Then following that momentum she lifted the monster up tossing the carcass to a nearby assailant while defending her six and nine o' clock position. However another brute came jumping from above slamming his sword down aiming to sever its human target in half. Luckily Sakura managed to block, but in doing so her spear was broken in half at the sheer pressure the beast applied. As the brute landed it followed its attack with a sharp kick to the gut which sent the pink kunoichi flying towards the edge.

At seeing the immediate danger Sakura stabbed the ground keeping her from falling into the river below, but now she was literally dangling at the edge of death as the brutes were now closing on her position. "Hell of a way to die" grunted Sakura, and at her perceived imminent death a familiar green beast made himself known as he planted his knuckles into the brute closest to the edge.

"Lee!" she said as the beautiful green beast of Konoha began his work kicking and punching his way through the crowd

Then taking the opportunity, Sakura pulled herself up. But during the process she watched as Lee danced around his opponents as they swung and slash only to receive a crushing and bone cracking attacks in return.

"Wow, fuzzy brows is incredible" said Naruto as the group had just recently arrived at seeing the taijutsu expert making good work of his adversaries. "Let's get in there. He is going to need our help"

But before he could leave Neji stopped him from pursuing. "Something doesn't seem right"

"What are you doing?" then stated Naruto. But before he could utter another word something else caught his attention as both Neji and Tenten eyes began to give off a weird red glow

Sakura who had just recently climbed back up assisted Lee in terminating the remaining brutes. A short struggle later the remaining monsters were either knocked out or taking a bath with the souls below. Afterwards the two Konoha ninjas jumped ahead to regroup with the others.

"We better keep moving the main wave isn't far behind and we shouldn't stick around to greet them" said Naruto.

But a moment later Lee punched Neji in the face sending the Hyuga to the ground. "But we haven't had enough fighting yet!"

"What are you doing?" exclaimed the blond. But Neji soon got up and responded by punching his teammate/rival back.

"So you want to die huh?" said Neji

"This is getting exciting" said Tenten as she summoned two of her batons as she gave one of them a lick

"Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!" said Sakura and soon enough they all went at it as they attacked the person closest to them

"What is wrong with you guys?" said Naruto. For as he watched his friends go at it he noticed their eyes begin to glow dark red as their battle increased in ferocity.

Naruto looked back to see the wave of demons begin to close the distance on them. "We don't have time for this!"

He then grabbed the first person he could and started to shake them. "Sakura! Snap out of it". However her response was less the rational as his pink comrade took a few swings at him. Tenten who was fighting Sakura was stopped as the Uzumaki halted her attack. "You need to stop this!" But once again, pleas fell on deaf ears as he was brushed aside for the girls to continue their bout. Lee and Neji were neck to neck as they exchanged attacks with each other with their respective styles. But as their attacks were about to connect again a certain blond got in between and intercepted their strikes.

"Stop it already!", but once again Naruto was brushed aside as they continued their battle. He then turned to see as the monsters were getting closer to them. So now he was in a panic to what he should be doing. On one hand thousands of monsters were about to completely flank them and on the other his friends were too busy trying to kill each other to notice their impending death. At this time he couldn't understand what had gotten into them to behave in such a horrific way. However something did come to mind when Sakura and Lee returned to the group. But even earlier before that when Neji and Tenten were standing next to him. So with a quick deduction Naruto came up with a plan. A ridiculously stupid plan, but a plan nonetheless. He quickly got to work as he gave a hard punch to each of his friends to get their attention.

"If you want a fight then come and get me!" he taunted and like ferocious animals the four insane ninjas began their chase wanting to rip him limb from limb. So with that notion he got moving across the river with his friends closing in behind. "Well at least we're moving away from the danger" he thought optimistically.

So taking the time as he ran Naruto placed explosive tags on each pillar he came upon. Of course simple land mines weren't going to rid his group of the advancing forces. Nor was it going to take out a significant number of them. But for now what he needed most was time, and time was something he required to get his friends back to their correct state of mind.

After reaching the other side, Naruto had to deal with the immediate problem as four of his teammates surrounded him on all sides. "This is going to be tough"

Sakura dashed forward shooting a hard right with Lee coming in with a flying side kick. The blond jinchuriki caught both attacks just enough for them to be redirected to opposing sides. Up next was the weapon mistress as she expertly swung away keeping him on guard. But out of instinct at seeing an opening Naruto launched a solid roundhouse kick sending her away.

"Crap! Sorry Tenten", but due to that moment of hesitation it left his legs in shambles. In response Naruto flipped onto his hands using his ragdoll legs to kick Neji away. "Damn, he almost completely dislocated my spine"

Using what stability he had left, he balanced himself on one knee as his friends fixed themselves for round two. Sweat began to leak off the side of his face in both exhaustion and anxiety. But even in such a lousy situation a slight smirk came about his face in confidence of being able to resolve this matter without further difficulty. As his allies rushed in for the kill he prepared his Rasengan and struck the ground creating an instant smokescreen.

Without hesitation, they rushed into the dust cloud and struck at their target. Even though their attacks landed each quickly realized that there was no substance behind what they hit. But their realization came a bit late as Naruto plus three clones took this window of opportunity and knocked them all out in quick pinpointed attack. The blond gave a huff as his clones laid his friends to the ground before dissipating. "Guess I should thank you a bit for giving me my legs bac kin time" he thought while patting his seal. At seeing the advance wave slowly but surely progress, he picked up his friends and proceeded to move them to whatever place could be considered safe within the seventh circle of hell.

~7th Circle – Violence –center ring~

The trees wailed in agony as the intruder slashed away any branches in his way. He didn't care for their pain as his only objective was to get through as quickly as possible and into lower areas. Earlier he was stalled after needing to kill the guardian of the outer ring as it wouldn't succumb to genjutsu and required to be reduced to ash to keep it down.

Now while crossing through suicide forest the beasts who managed the land were none too pleased about his presence in their territory. So without wanting to use up anymore chakra and not wishing to bother with persuasion he quickly made due with reducing the caretaker to slabs of meat with many quick slashes of his blade. However it proved to be a mistake as his latest victim kept the forest in a perceivably manageable state for crossing and planting of new inhabitants. So needing to do this the hard way, the intruder hacked and slashed as needed to easily get through the mess. But things were about to get hairy as the intruder got further in.

"Took your sorry a** long enough to get here" said a blond man sitting on a tree branch nearby

The intruder looked up with a bit of shock but was immediately subsided out of agitation. "I shouldn't be surprised to see you here. But I don't have time to play. So get out of my way or do you want to die again"

A smirk began to form of the blonds' face which soon stretched into a maniacal smile which then turned into a full blown laugh. "You're as arrogant as ever you f**king prick. You barely were able to stand up to me before. What makes you think you can do it now considering you can't kill a dead man?"

The intruder's eyes began to change as he drew out his sword. 'You'll find that I'm far more powerful since we last met. Since you want to be killed by me again so eagerly I'll at least grant you that much"

Soon the fight began as explosions and black flames consumed the forest as the two battlers collided giving everything they got.

~7th Circle – Violence – outer ring~

Naruto stood at the border to the middle ring curious to what all the tremors were. However most of his attention was focused on taking care of his unconscious comrades that had tried to kill him moments ago. Curious to how long he had to wait his curiosity was resolved as his friends started to come too.

"What happened?" asked Sakura as she rubbed her head

"I don't remember. But more importantly where are we?" asked Lee

"We seem to be near a forest of some sort" answered Naruto. "But I'm glad that everyone is back to their normal selves" he smiled

"What do you mean?" but then a flash of memory shot through the pink ninja's brain as she grasped her head at the intensity of what happened. "oh"

"Sorry Naruto, I honestly don't know what came over us" said Tenten

"It's obviously due to this circle" said Neji analytically. "This is the circle of violence so it shouldn't be too surprising that it feed our blood lust to extreme limits where we even tried to kill each other for no reason"

"But why wasn't Naruto affected?" then asked Sakura

"Yeah, I've been wondering that too" said Naruto

"It's most likely due to master Jiraiya's seal. It seems that it had the added affect of protecting you from this world's influence. So you should count yourself lucky Naruto" explained Neji

"But what can we do about it now? If we get infected again there is no telling what could happen" said Lee worriedly

The Hyuga prodigy momentarily shut his eyes before opening them again. "The best we can do is to try and avoid fighting as much as possible and move on to the next circle. But if it becomes unavoidable it will have to suffice that we suppress the blood lust with our own will power"

Neji then looked to his blond compatriot. "But if we get out of control again you will have to be the one to deal with us"

Naruto displayed a confident look. "It won't come to that. I know you all well enough that you won't let a little tantrum to get the better of you"

"Geez Naruto" as Sakura rubbed the back of her

"Yes! That's the flaming power of youth!" stated Lee with a passion

"Thanks Naruto" said Tenten while Neji just gave a smirk

Soon they were off as the Konoha ninjas walked to the center ring entering suicide forest. Along the way Sakura explained what this place was and why those souls were here. Although there was some pity to go around they didn't have the time to stick around and pray for their salvation.

Strangely, it seemed as if a path was made for them to easily cross through to the other side. But as they walked along, the tremors Naruto felt earlier indeed started to feel stronger and stronger as they moved closer.

"What is that?" asked Lee "and there also seems to be a heavy scent of smoke and explosives"

Neji activated his Byakugan to take a look ahead. "There seems to be an intense battle occurring up head" he then scrunched his eyes a bit, "but this chakra channel seems familiar somehow"

"Let's go take a look" suggested Naruto

"Wait! Shouldn't we avoid this? We'll probably get drawn to the battle as well" exclaimed Tenten

"Something . . . . is telling me I should go and look no matter what" said Naruto

"I agree" added in Sakura hesitantly

Neji paused to think this over. Since Shikamaru was no longer present he was required to be the group's voice of reason. But after a few moments of thinking he decided, "Just look and that's all"

Naruto and Sakura gave a nod to this before the team moved out to take a look at the commotion. But little did team Naruto know that fate sometimes has interesting ways of going about things.

"What's wrong? Ready to die already?" snickered the blond man

The intruder was indeed beginning to feel the stress of his technique catch up as he had apparently killed the blond man about five times now. But regardless of his effort he always manages to come back for another round. The fact was if their existence is weakened severely enough then their presence would fade away for the time being. However something was keeping this bombardier from dissipating when it was clear his will power should have faded after being killed the first time. During this moment the intruder had not yet come up with a guess to how he was doing it.

"Do you understand now? You can't dispel me no matter what you do" he taunted "But let's see how long you'll last thinking you have a chance here in hell of beating me" and at that the blond man who was formerly known as Deidara of Akatsuki casually tossed one of his C1 explosive birds to Sasuke Uchiha, a former ninja of the leaf.

"Sasuke? What is he doing here?" said Naruto in the groups hiding spot. At seeing his former teammate in a rough situation the blond ninja was ready at that very second to jump out there and help. However a strong hand on his shoulder kept him from doing such.

"We should not get involved with a traitors business. For we have our own problems and besides we can't afford to waste time helping out someone like him" said Neji

"You can stay here if you want! But I'm going out there to help!" responded Naruto

"Naruto! Wait!" exclaimed Sakura, but in truth she also wanted to go out there. But like everyone else they would lose their sanity the moment they started fighting, and an ally who would end up attacking you in the end would be better off not helping at all.

Sasuke was still puzzled to how Deidara had managed to hang on this long. Initially it was believed that the bombardier was using a replacement or clone jutsu to escape death each time. But his Sharigan eyes told him otherwise because his presence each time was no illusion or a fake. So if this were the case then he needed to understand the trick to how he was coming back each time. In that moment he decided to use Amaterasu again to see what will happen.

"Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhh" screamed Deidara as he was reduced to ashes once more. But a moment later the bomber man reemerged next to a tree nearby yawning at the current action. "You're getting very repetitive with that move. But I guess it's not your fault you're so f**king predictable"

The Uchiha's face scrunched a bit, "If you don't want to stay down then I'll just keep killing you until you can't get back up!" and with that Sasuke charged forward with his lighting infused katana hell bent on shutting up the talkative blond.

But upon slashing right through him another appeared right behind him to which he too was then cut down. But it soon became clear that after the fifteenth reappearance that all he was doing was making a point. The point being he was going too far outlast him before dissipating anytime soon.

"What's his secret?" thought Sasuke. "How do I beat him?"

At this point he was definitely feeling the exhaustion of constant chakra use. So not wanting to waste anymore he reverted to a more hack and slash method to buy time until he could figure out how he was doing it.

"This is getting boring. Let's make things more exciting" said Deidara as he started preparing his C1 bird bombs.

Recalling their last encounter, Sasuke once again charged his blade to nullify the earth element explosives. As the birds came he began cutting them down without delay. However, playing defensive was not going to get him anywhere. So without hesitation Sasuke charged his foe in an attempt to stop his attack for the time being. But this act proved fatal as he ended up stepping on a land mine placed there courtesy of his nemesis. He looked to see that he was completely surrounded by multiple explosive clay animals.

"Shit! I'm not going to make it in time!"

"Bombs away" laughed Deidara

In one brilliant explosion if a voice could be heard then it would be that of a sixteen year old boy crying out in concern to his friend as he jumped in the way to shield him from the blast.

"What the?" said Deidara as he looked down from his spot to see what just happened.

As the smoke cleared a very charred looking Naruto could be seen on all four directions protecting the intended victim of the blast. Meanwhile Sasuke had little to no reaction for his former teammate's appearance as he disarmed the mine he was standing on.

"What are you doing here?" asked Sasuke coldly

In that instant the Naruto's that surrounded him turned into puffs of smoke as the real body came walking in right behind him. "Is that how you treat someone that just saved your life?"

"Save? Do you think I need the help from an idiot to save me?" Sasuke retorted

"Sure looked like it from where I was standing" replied Naruto. "Besides there is nothing wrong with people helping each other ya know" as he smiled

Sasuke face remained in a neutral expression before he shut his eyes. "Do whatever the hell you want. But if you get in my way I'll kill you too"

"I wouldn't expect it to be any other way" said Naruto

"If you two are done with your little chat I'd like to get back to blowing sh*t up"

The two former friends looked to see as explosives came at them. The pair split up to avoid the incendiaries as well as the aftershock effect. However they needed to keep moving in order to avoid damage. Additionally they also had to watch out for land mines that were placed around the area. Naruto decided to go with mass kage bushins to safely detonate any explosives in the area. But taking the smoke as cover the Konoha ninja emerged with Rasengan in hand getting a point blank hit on the bombardier.

In that instant Sasuke noticed something unusual about the area the moment a new Deidara appeared. "What was that?" he thought

Deciding to let Naruto have another go the blond shinobi immediately dispatched the next Deidara copy to which a new one immediately showed up. "Why didn't I see that before? But I have to make certain"

"Naruto! Create many kage bushins and kill him as they come" commanded Sasuke

"You're not the boss of me!" complained Naruto as he finished off another copy to only be replaced by another.

"Just do it!"

"Fine! Whatever!" and at that Naruto formed multiple bushins to which Deidara had to respond with more fierce attacks to deal with the enormous mass.

"Why isn't he using his C4 explosives? That attack would have easily dealt with the idiot and all his bushins. If this is the case then it only proves what I think!" and at that Sasuke activated his Mangekyō Sharingan to burn down the surrounding area with the black flames of his clan.

"Amaterasu!" with his intended target being all the trees in the area

"Hey! Watch it!" shouted Naruto as a few of his clones got caught up in the attack

In the duration of a few minutes every tormented soul tree in a half-mile radius was reduced to ash

Sasuke immediately shut his eyes and held his head at the pain of holding the technique. "Are you OK?" asked Naruto worriedly

"Pay attention moron!" he shouted while still keeping his eyes covered

The blond ninja turned to see a flock of bomb birds come their way. So in that moment He grabbed his former teammate while simultaneously leaving a clone behind to take the damage. However he didn't get far enough as part of his body was burned from the blast.

"Get off me idiot!" yelled Sasuke

"Shut up! I'm trying to save your a** here!" he retorted

"It took you a while to figure it out" said Deidara

Naruto looked up to see the bomb expert slowly approach them. "You were right about the trees. They supplied me a new body every time you destroyed the old one. But they served their purpose in exhausting you, and you have still yet to see the big finale" to which a giant clay golem began to form underneath his feet. As Naruto watched, the golem easily grew to three stories tall. But what concerned him more was how he couldn't protect Sasuke while fighting the monstrosity at the same time.

"Well this doesn't look good" said Naruto

"This art work is going to be a blast!" said Deidara ecstatically

To counter the situation Naruto was prepared to use his last sage mode. But lucky for him a pink blur arrived just in time to save both their a**es as her strength cancelled out the attack of the golem.

"What are you sitting around for? Get off your lazy rears and do something!" said Sakura

"What are you doing? That thing is explosive! And what about the soul contamination?" exclaimed Naruto

Sakura scoffed at this, "Don't worry" as she grabbed the giants arm "we have it covered!" to which the golem was thrown a good distance away

"This wouldn't be much of a finale without more guests to see it" laughed Deidara as he commanded his golem to stand once more as he himself prepared some C1 explosives.

"Bring it!" yelled Sakura as she charged in

"What is going on?" asked Naruto

"We're using artificial seals"

Naruto turned to see Neji accompanied by Lee and Tenten from behind. "The seals we wrote artificially generate lightning element. All we have to do is power it". He looked to see a circle seal marked on both of the kunoichi's battle gloves.

"That explains one part of it. What of the other problem?" Naruto asked. He then turned to see as Sakura's eye began to glow red.

"Time's up! It's my turn!" said Tenten as she rushed in naginata at hand

"Got it" responded Sakura as she pulled out of the fight

"Each of our individual will power gives us a certain level of tolerance. But once our tolerance has been breached we go into bloodlust rage. So during the time you were fighting we were figuring out how long our tolerance was and how long it took to wear it off" explained Neji

"Tenten-san, it's my turn now" said Lee as he entered battle with his signature dynamic entry

"But we can't win like this if we have to constantly do a revolving door switch" said Naruto. "We have to end this already"

"I know" said Neji as he ran off to switch places with Lee

"I better get into this as well" said Naruto

"But what about Sasuke?" asked Sakura with a hint of worry in her voice

"He won't be able to help in his current condition. Just leave him be" to which he then switched with Neji to continue the fight.

The switch lasted for a while to which in time the group managed to bring the golem down. But the ex-human Akatsuki member didn't get any easier as he was now using greater yield C3 explosives. Things got more complicated as the post human then initiated his C4 explosive. However this move was counteracted as Neji unleashed a protective lightning Kaiten to neutralize the microbial bombs. In doing so he was removed from fighting to recover from the move. But things were getting harder as injuries were starting to stack on each other.

"AHHHH" screamed Tenten as a miniature explosive bird hit her side

"Enough! I'm going in now!" said Lee as he switched with his female compatriot

Lee began kicking and punching hoping to knock out his enemy. However most of his attention was occupied just neutralizing the attacks. "Fuzzy brows! Switch with me now!" yelled Naruto

"No! I can last a bit longer!"responded Lee

Unfortunately an attack got though hitting Lee's thigh. The green beast cringed at the pain but continued to keep fighting. But then another attack leaked in. However he continued fighting regardless of the damage. Then another attack got in hurting Lee more. But the green beast was far too stubborn to let such a thing to stop him. "I won't be stopped by something like this!" just as three miniature explosives hit but not without ramming his fist into Deidara sending him several feet away.

"That's enough!" exclaimed Naruto as he sent two of his bushins in to remove Lee. As they returned Naruto ran by giving a thumb up. "Don't worry, I'll make your punch count"

The blond ninja formed several bushins to confuse his enemy as he came charging at his enemy from all sides. Deidara followed the same strategy which resulted in several explosions smoke screening the area. But within the mist the two ninjas continued to fight with their hands and feet determined to win. Naruto however did manage to get a good solid punch in striking the bomber man in the face. But his reaction was off as all he did was smirk while grabbing his arm. Naruto's eyes bulged at was this meant. It was too late as the clay clone exploded sending the jinchuriki away charred and bleeding.

The real Deidara soon walked out of the smoke approaching the down blond planning on finishing him. But like déjà vu the blond ninja gave a smirk of his own as he puffed out of existence as the real Naruto appeared from behind grinding his Rasengan into his back.

Deidara was now imprinted into the ground after feeling the full force of the technique. "I will not go down like this" to which he promptly shot himself up and latched himself to the jinchuriki as he prepared his final move. "I hope you like it in hell" he laughed as he unleashed his final C0 self-destruct technique. In the one brilliant flash of light Deidara found himself back a few seconds ago to which he was now going to be struck with a second Rasengan.

In moments like these time seemed to slow down as the bombardier wondered how the hell did this happen. He then turned his head to see that Sasuke Uchiha the man that had caused his death the first time had just used Tsukiyomi on him to screw up his perception of time. Even if it were just for a moment it was enough to trick him and allow his current opponent to come out on top. "Son of a b**ch" and with that the Rasengan collided defeating the bomber man forcing him to dissipate from their presence.

Naruto collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. But he was soon collected by his friends as they recuperated from the near death experience with Neji and Sakura on medical tasks. After getting the patch up done the question hung in the air about what to do with the extra member.

"We should leave him. We have our own problems to deal with" said Neji

"What are you saying? If he hadn't stepped in we would have all been killed from that blast" said Naruto

"But that's the point. He is only here to help himself and that will only complicate the mission" said Neji

"But we need all the help we can get going down" he responded

Neji was now becoming irked, "and what makes you think he won't betray us the moment he gets the chance!"

Naruto looked down to his former friend as he was still breathing heavily from the injuries and exhaustion. He then looked back to Neji, "because he's the kind of jerk to sit through things until the very end"

The Hyuga prodigy scrunched his eyes in annoyance, "you'll regret your decision" as he turned his back to go survey the area

Naruto then gave Sakura the OK to heal their former teammate

As Sakura got to work a part of her ached in being so close yet to far from the person she wanted to save. But out of professional habit she struck up a conversation with her patient. "So why are you here?"

Sasuke looked coldly to her while maintaining his neutral expression. "That is none of your business. Just finish the job."

The pink kunoichi was a bit taken back. But to her optimism he wasn't lashing out at her.

Soon team Naruto plus Sasuke began moving again. Following the directions of the compass the team crossed into the inner ring where the gate to the next circle resided. Upon this new area it was like a desert with scorching hot sands which could burn the skin right off your bones. This area was dedicated to those who were violent towards god in either damnable or blasphemous acts which soiled their rule. Although there were many souls screaming out from the sands they posed no threat to the group. In addition there appeared to be no guardian in this area let alone any monsters aiming for their lives. So for all tense and purposes this was a good opportunity for the group to rest and get a few things straightened out.

"Can I ask for your assistance on this mission?" said Naruto

The Uchiha who was walking beside Naruto continued to look forward. "Why should I help you?"

"Someone important was taken from us and she is currently being held captive in the ninth circle. So we can really use all the help we can get" said Naruto

"Do you really think you can trust me so easily?" smirked Sasuke

Naruto folded his arms behind his head displaying a smile to lighten up the mood. "We're currently traveling in the same direction so I figured we could help each other out, and besides the more the merrier right?"

Now he knew Sasuke already had issues with any person associated with Konoha from their last conversation. Heck, he wouldn't have been surprised if he decided to kill everyone in the group at that very moment. However playing off of Sasuke's current mindset he believed his former comrade would not deny their assistance so long as he got what he wanted. Plus the fact if he tried to kill them now it would prove to be too costly for him in the long run to which he would fail to reach his objective and possibly die in the end. But of course this was a gamble on what his current mindset was.

Sasuke remained quiet for a while thinking this proposition over. But after a while he came up with his answer. "Fine, I'll play along for now until you used up your usefulness to me."

Naruto gave a smile to this which was also shared by Sakura. However Lee and Tenten were pretty uncertain about this decision while Neji was straight up apprehensive to the idea. But the moment no one was paying attention Neji made himself quite clear to their new guest.

"The moment you decide to betray our trust I'll make certain I am the one who ends you"

Even after that threat Sasuke just smirked in over confidence and decided to not think much of it.

Now finally at the gate towards the eighth circle Lee decides to stay behind to watch over things

"You're going to need every possible advantage from here. So it would be best if I'm the one to stay behind this time" said Lee

"Lee?" said Tenten questionably

"The use of ninjutsu will be the most important thing you'll have down there. So it's obvious that I'm the one who has to stay behind" said Lee. As he said this his body stiffened and clenched at the weight of those words. The fact was taijutsu alone would not be enough to make the rest of the journey and this was something he had to do to heighten the team's chances of success.

"Fuzzy brows . . . . " said Naruto sympathetically

"Just go!" said Lee

Naruto looked down with heavy face but then looked back up to Lee. "We won't let you down" and with that the group moved on to the eighth circle of hell.

"Good luck my friends" said Lee. "May you all come back safely"

~9th Circle – Treachery~

The master was starting to get agitated about the recent string of events. With all the power of hell played against them a small group of humans had not only dared too but also successfully managed to get this far into the cursed world of inferno.

But the dark deity couldn't decide what got its aura blazing with anger. The fact an Uchiha had dared to step into its territory or the bond the blond leader had with the captive. But it did not matter as the master would soon claim both their souls and make them suffer an eternity for their insolence.

Author's notes: sorry for the late update but yeah here is the chapter and I hope it made sense because fighting scenes are something I'm still working on. Also if anyone was wondering why Sasuke was sane for the most part it was due to the fact he also came well prepared with protective sutras. For the most part he has been getting by with using genjutsu to avoid fighting the guardians and wasting energy needlessly until now when the master took a particular interest in him. Now I hope this story hasn't been getting boring for anyone because this has been the longest story I've written thus far.

Additionally I know this story had potential to become so much better. Unfortunately, writing the dark elements of the human soul is a place I can't tread on because in doing so who knows what I'll find out about myself.

So I thank you for your time in reading this fic and further extend my gratitude if you can review it as well.