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Last time: Tsunade comes close to being killed by Sasuke. She is saved by the Sound missing-nin who turns out to be Naruto.

This time: Naruto and Sasuke fight.

Tsunade felt her heart stop. Did he just say 'Baa-chan'? She must have heard him wrong. The ONLY person she let get away with that was Naruto, but he would never join the Sound. He hated Orochimaru, even more than her or Jiraiya. But maybe, just maybe, this was really him.

"N-Naruto?" she asked, hardly wanting to believe the small shoot of hope that had sprung up in her chest. She nearly passed out when the hood nodded, the mouth stretching into a grin that wouldn't have looked out of place on a mischievous child.

'Or a fox,' she thought wryly. Now the burning urge to see what her adoptive little brother looked like after five years seized her. Tsunade's hand left the ground next to her and moved slowly to the edge of the hood.

All the shinobi on the wall had gone dead silent when Sasuke had knocked down the Hokage and moved in to deal the final blow. Add in the arrival of the Sound missing-nin and you could have heard a pin drop. Kakashi, Sakura and Iruka watched as an exchange went on between Tsunade and the cloaked shinobi. They were out of earshot, and the shrouded ninja's body hid the duo's mouths so the three shinobi couldn't read the pair's lips at all. What they did see, however, was Tsunade's hand reaching for the man's hood.

Jiraiya was up in a tree. He had no choice in the matter. The entire Oto army was between him and the other Sannin. How his mysterious companion had managed to get over there was beyond him, but he had and now he was in the perfect position to act should the missing-nin or the Sound army try anything funny. They would find Gamabunta sitting on their asses before the smoke from the summoning even cleared!

Tsunade's breath hitched in her throat, and her hand shook violently as she slowly pushed back the cloak's hood. Time slowed for what must have been the millionth time that day as a nose was revealed, followed by six whisker-like scars, three on each cheek. Tsunade knew right then that this was her little brother, but she wanted to see his entire face, just to be sure it was really him and not some pretender under a Henge.

Naruto was doing all he could to let Baa-chan take this slowly and not rip his hood off himself. He knew that she wanted to make sure it was really him. Naruto also knew that if he did remove it himself, the shinobi, Ero-sennin among them, would kill him in an instant. Not a desired outcome for either of the two residents of Naruto's body.

Tsunade felt the bottom drop out of her chest when the hood finally flopped back and revealed the face she had missed for the last five years. Tears welled in her hazel eyes as she looked at the face that was almost a carbon copy of the Yondaime Hokage's, yet was still the face of the pouting little boy with the sea urchin hair she had met seven years ago in a bar in Tanzaku Town.

"Heya, Baa-chan," the boy, no, the man, said gently, seeing her speechless. He grinned at her again and stood up. Tsunade couldn't help but notice that the little shrimp of a boy had grown to over six feet tall. Oh, yes, the boy definitely took after his father. Arashi would've been proud of his son. Abruptly, the blonde's face darkened to a seriousness that reached even his normally laughing blue eyes, furthering the likeness the man bore to his father.

"As great as this is, Baa-chan," he said conversationally, Tsunade hanging on his every word. "This is gonna have to wait. I've got some unfinished business with Sasuke-bastard." With that, he turned and strode toward the rogue Uchiha, coming to a stop several feet away. He undid his cloak and flipped it off his shoulders. Under it he wore a simple outfit of an orange T-shirt and black pants with three kunai pouches and on each leg was a shuriken holster.

Sasuke scowled as his rival took out a perfectly preserved Konoha hirai-ate and tied it to his forehead. This battle would be tough to win. He might even need Manda, as much as the Uchiha didn't want to summon the stuck up snake. But it all depended on the dobe. If he let that damn fox out of its cage or if he called on the giant toad Sasuke had seen him use once or twice, things would get very difficult indeed.

Kyuubi felt alive. How could he not? Soon there would be a giant battle, the likes of which the world hadn't seen since that little bastard Arashi showed up to challenge his greatness. How ironic that he was stuck in that very man's son. Though Naruto had no idea. Kyuubi had a feeling that the big chested woman and the old toad pervert wouldn't tell him until one of them was on their deathbeds. That was just how humans worked. Or maybe he was just biased. Either way, the fox wasn't going to be the one to break the news to Naruto.

Tsunade, meanwhile, had heaved herself to her feet and shot up the wall to the top, to get a better look at the battle. Something told her she didn't want to be caught in the crossfire. Knowing her little brother, he had trained himself into the ground to get ready for this moment.

Naruto rolled his neck to work out some of the knots in his muscles. He couldn't fight all tense like this. He had to be loose, limber, otherwise Sasuke-bastard would tear him apart.

'Ready, Furball?" he asked, knowing full well the fox lived for a battle like this. It was a great comfort in heated combat to know that someone had his back. Even if that someone happened to be an insanely powerful demon lord.

'Ready Brat,' his constant companion replied. 'Try and let me get a piece of him. I really wanna show this little prick what true terror is all about.' Naruto grinned and prepared to do battle with his one-time best friend.

A chill wind whipped in from out of nowhere. All those up on the wall could see the ominous gray clouds gathering in the distance. It was as if the gods themselves were coming to witness this clash. Each combatant drew a kunai and waited.

'I'm gonna need to be fast. Sasuke-bastard hasn't been slacking off for the last year,' Naruto's blue eyes, holding all the warmth of a sapphire in the arctic, narrowed, 'but neither have I!'

'Dobe will die here!' Sasuke thought to himself gleefully, 'And I will gain the one thing left that I need to kill Itachi! The Mangenkyou Sharingan!'

The bystanders felt like cotton had been pressed over their mouths and stuffed into their lungs. In their eagerness to fight, both Naruto and Sasuke had been letting their chakra levels rise. Now it was only a matter of time before the tension between the two snapped and the battle got underway.

The tension snapped.

Naruto sprinted at Sasuke as fast as he could, flipping his kunai into a reverse grip. The knife flashed out and lanced toward Sasuke's carotid artery. The Uchiha's own kunai flashed out at the same time and the weapons met in a shower of sparks and ringing steel. Sasuke stabbed at the Jinchuuriki, who threw himself backward, planting his hands on the ground and kicked both feet straight up.

Sasuke saw stars as Naruto's sandals met his jaw with such force that it lifted him off the ground. The blond had followed through with the kick, using the momentum to flip himself up to his feet. Now he spun, sticking out his leg and letting it collide with Sasuke's ribcage in a thunderous blow that sent the Uchiha straight into the village wall.

Several people fell over from the concussion of the collision between Sasuke's body and the wall. Sasuke charged out of the wall with a war cry, speeding straight at Naruto. His arm flashed and the kunai he had somehow managed to keep a grip on sped from it like a bullet, heading straight for Naruto's face.

'Crap!' Naruto yelled at himself, he'd expected to Sasuke to be down longer than that! He was still off balance from the kick he'd sent to the traitor's ribs. No time to think! ACT! NOW!! His hands did the acting for him as his brain was still processing. They made a cross-shaped hand seal and Naruto called on his trademark jutsu,

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" The clone appeared and, to everyone's very great surprise, caught the kunai inches from the real thing's face. The clone gave Naruto's trademark grin.

"Surprised?" the clone asked, seeing Sasuke's bewildered face. "I've been practicing. What did you think I was doing the last five years?" With that, he handed the real Naruto Sasuke's kunai and disappeared in a puff of ninja smoke. Now Naruto gave the fox-grin at his enemy's face. Sasuke recovered from the brilliant ninjutsu show and smirked,

"Figures. You only know three jutsu and need help for two of them! You are, and always will be, the dead-last." Naruto dipped his head and Sasuke thought he'd crushed the annoyance's will to fight. It was over now. Naruto would die. He made the hand seals for Chidori. He would end this now. His Sharingan activated and the Uchiha sprinted at Uzumaki with all the speed he had.

"CHIDORI!"

"LOOK OUT, NARUTO!" Iruka, Tsunade and Sakura screamed together. The man gave no sign that he'd heard them. He made no move as Sasuke closed on him faster than almost everyone below jounin could follow.

Sasuke's eyes widened when Naruto's head snapped up, the fire that he was so used to seeing in his rival's eyes burning even more fiercely than ever before. In that same instant, Naruto's right arm snapped up and the Chidori was halted in a splash of colliding chakras.

"Rasengan!!" Naruto shouted, right before the two opposing jutsu reacted and the resulting explosion hurled the two apart. Sasuke landed like a cat, skidding backward trying to stop his momentum. Naruto rolled once, to bleed off speed, before launching himself out of the roll and back onto his feet.

Sasuke wanted to scream in frustration. This was not going the way the Uchiha prodigy wanted! He was Uchiha Sasuke! The dobe should be lying dead at his feet right now! Now, now Naruto would learn what real power was all about! Manda would feast today! The raven-haired traitor bit his left thumb and smeared the blood on his right palm.

Naruto's eyes widened when he saw what his former friend was doing. He was going to use the Summoning Technique! Well, two could play at this game! He mimicked the Uchiha's movements and the two formed the same set of seals and slammed their blood-streaked palms into the dirt.

"KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU!!" the pair cried together. There was a massive explosion of smoke and wind that made all present shield their eyes from all the tiny pebbles that had been kicked up by hurricane-force winds.

Jiraiya, forced to abandon his tree when two massive bodies knocked it over, appeared next to Tsunade.

"Tsunade-hime!" he yelled, "What the hell is going on?" Tsunade punched him in the face. He keeled over, eyes swirling with blood pouring out of his broken nose.

"Watch you idiot," the Fifth replied grumpily. Really, the nerve of that pervert! Popping out of thin air when she was trying to make sure Naruto was okay and then yelling in her ear! He deserved what he got.

The smoke that hung over the battlefield was beginning to clear. Screams of pain accompanied the appearance of a giant purple snake and equally enormous toad that was dressed like a yakuza gangster. It appeared that the snake's long serpentine body was crushing many of the Sound forces. Naruto watched the injured men writhe in agony from the multi-ton reptile and shook his head in disgust and sadness. He had known from his time within Sound that Sasuke had gotten just as sadistic as Orochimaru, but he had chosen not to believe it. That is, until Kyuubi threw what he didn't want to see in his face and he became the Sound's one and only missing-nin.

"Manda?" the giant toad on who's head Naruto was currently standing spoke, clearly puzzled by his summoning into the material plane, right in front of his hated enemy. The head swiveled to look over the wall. "Konoha? What the hell's goin' on around here?" The boss toad took a big draft on his pipe. He exhaled a giant cloud of smoke, carelessly forgetting where he was and accidentally blew it over the Konoha-nins arrayed on the wall. That made Jiraiya jump to his feet, coughing and hacking. When he saw who had woken him up, he decided to take his anger out on the source,

"HEY! YOU DAMN TADPOLE!! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE BREATHING THAT SHIT! I WANNA LIVE TO SEE SEVENTY Y'KNOW!!" He bellowed, conveniently ignoring the fact that he smoked as well. All the Leaf shinobi present groaned. Kakashi sighed and rubbed his implanted eye. Now would start the comedy routine between the self-proclaimed "Toad Hermit" and the Boss Toad.

"Jiraiya! There you are, you buffoon! Why did you get knocked off when you summoned me? Keh, must be old age setting in," Gamabunta yelled. That made more than one vein on the Toad Sannin's head bulge out, but before he could make a snappy comeback, another angry voice entered the argument,

"HEY! Will you two ladies knock it off already? I'm trying to fight here!" Naruto shouted at both summon and sensei. He bounded over to Gamabunta's eye ridge and leaned over it, right into the toad's vision. The yellow eyeball widened in shock. The massive toad almost said the Yondaime's name, but then he noticed the Shodai's necklace.

"Naruto? It can't be. Naruto is short little gaki," that set the blonde off.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN 'SHORT LITTLE GAKI'!?" He yelled, "I'm twenty fricking years old here!" The toad's wide mouth curled up into a smile.

'I don't believe it,' Gamabunta thought to himself, 'I don't see the kid for the longest time and when he summons me again, he's a clone of Arashi! Got it right on the first try too, 'cause I don't see Gamakichi anywhere.' Any further conversation was cut off by a low hissing voice,

"Are you three morssssselsssss done with your comedy routinesssss?" It was Manda. Just prior to this, that arrogant whelp Sasuki, or whatever the hell his name was, were arguing over the human sacrifices the boy owed him. After coming to the agreement that the snake boss could eat the entire village, the snake had butted into their conversation.

"Manda, shut the hell up. You need my help with this worm, gaki?" Gamabunta asked his summoner. Naruto sighed at the continued use of 'gaki' but replied anyway,

"Yeah. Mind helping me out, Boss Toad?" the blonde asked. For once, the lazy toad decided to not be a dick and help the kid out.

"Sure. I hate snakes," the gangster toad replied, pulling out his sword. He would slice and dice that purple abomination of nature and make himself snake-kebabs for dinner! For the second time during that battle, chakra and tension levels began to skyrocket right up through the roof and all the weaker shinobi in the area felt like they had cotton pressed over their mouth and nose.

The four warriors stared each other down, then the snake lunged forward so fast that Gamabunta barely had enough time to react! Naruto found himself pressed to the amphibian's forehead as he flew three thousand feet into the air. Then he was floating as the toad began his descent.

'I'm gonna be sick. I'm not used to this,' he thought as he felt his stomach float into his throat. In the back of his mind, he heard Kyuubi laughing at him. 'Shut up, Furball.' The fox just snickered harder,

'Why? This is just too damn funny!' his tenant replied. Gamabunta slammed to earth with the force of a large bomb, kicking up a massive dirt cloud in the process. When it cleared, the toad boss' sword was jammed deep into the earth, with no sign of a giant snake summon impaled on the other end.

"Where'd he go?" Naruto asked. Then the ground started to rumble.

'You just had to ask.'

'Didn't I just tell you to shut up?' Gamabunta jumped again, just clearing the snapping jaws of Manda as he lunged from his underground hiding place. The toad had jumped forward this time, launching himself at the sword still impaled in the ground.

"Stop him you damn worm!" Sasuke shouted. If the giant frog got his hands on the sword it was all over! He'd seen the frog use the sword to rip the arm off of a giant raccoon made of sand before!

"Shut up you insignificant human!" the summon bellowed at him, "I already know!" They lost precious time arguing and Gamabunta made it to his sword. Naruto fell over as the Chief Toad was rammed by the purple snake, who had been hot on their heels. Gamabunta managed to stay upright even if Naruto hadn't and somehow swing his redwood-sized sword. A deep gash appeared in the snake's body and he reared back, hissing and spitting in agony as the wound sprayed blood everywhere. Naruto suddenly had an idea.

"Hey, Boss," he yelled, grinning at the plan that had formed in his head and had Kyuubi howling with glee. "Cover him with oil!"

"Why?"

"Just do it!" The toad responded and his cheeks bulged outward as he brought up oil from deep inside his body. Jiraiya began to chuckle when he saw what the toad was doing.

"Jiraiya-sama?" Sakura asked, confused as to why the old man was laughing. "Are you OK?" Tsunade was smiling as well. She had seen this jutsu a number of times before and knew Sasuke had better get out of there now or get one hell of a hot foot.

"I'm fine," the Toad Hermit answered. "Just watch. Naruto's about to turn up the heat!" Sasuke was busy hanging on to the top of Manda's thrashing head and was so saved from being drenched by the oil that Gamabunta spit out a second later.

"Awesome!" Naruto shouted. This would turn out better than he had hoped!

"Hey gaki," the toad summon said, clearly annoyed that he'd wasted so much oil, "You're supposed to light it on fire."

"Oh! Well, if you insist!" Naruto replied, clearly feigning innocence on how the jutsu was supposed to work. He reached into the pouches on the back of his belt and drew out a single explosive tag. His wrist flicked and sent the paper bomb on its way, latching right on Manda's underbelly. He made a handseal,

"KATSU!" he bellowed. The tag exploded and engulfed his foe in flames as the oil caught fire. Inside him, Kyuubi sighed,

'Why, oh why, did you have to imitate that clay-using freak?'

'Because I wanted to.' The fox just sighed at his cage's immaturity. Of course Kyuubi couldn't really blame the blonde. This was the first time he'd seen his friends in five years. Of course he'd be a little wound up. Manda managed to endure the fire until the oil was all used up.

"That wassss a low blow," he hissed indignantly. Naruto smacked himself on his head.

"Well DUH! I'm a shinobi, Dumbass! Low blows are what we do!" He bellowed. The only response he got was the snake lunging forward to try and kill him.

"Hold on, Gaki!" The toad lord yelled as he jumped up and away from his attacker. As they hit the apex of their jump, Naruto had a sudden flash back to the chuunin exams from when he'd been twelve. He grinned as he got another insane idea. Kyuubi saw what his host was planning,

'Oh dear god! You seriously want to do that again?!' Naruto stuck his tongue out at the kitsune, grinning.

'Relax. It'll all work out. And after we get the creepy ass snake to go away, I'll let you out!'

'Well then, by all means go with your little plan.' If it mean he got a chance to play with the Uchiha bastard, the Kyuubi wasn't about to complain. Naruto channeled chakra into his feet and jumped as high as he could. Everyone gasped at the man's seeming stupidity. He would be crushed beneath the snake's body or eaten if he left Gamabunta's back!

"NARUTO! YOU IDIOT!" Sakura, Tsunade, Iruka and Jiraiya all shouted at the same time. Kakashi just shook his head at Naruto's antics. Maybe he hadn't changed in all the time he'd been gone. Then again, the Copy-nin remembered, Naruto had always been unpredictable and he at least seemed to be thinking things through more than he used to. Maybe, instead of shaking his head, Kakashi should be making some popcorn to go along with this little show. Things were about to get interesting.

Sasuke also noticed Naruto's leap and wasted no time in pointing it out to his snake summon. Manda let out a hissing laugh and tilted his head back, opening his cavernous mouth. Naruto grinned as he saw the snake playing right into his hands. He didn't have the time or the patience to let Gamabunta have all the fun. He curled up into a ball and hoped Manda didn't like to chew.

"Has he lost it!?" Temari shrieked to the other two Suna shinobi. They had arrived just in time to see a man that could only be Uzumaki Naruto leap off the descending toad's head and arc directly for the huge snake's mouth.

"Knowing him, probably," Kankuro replied, astounded that any one man could be able to leap into the waiting jaws of a snake the size of Shukaku. Gaara just shook his head as he continued to watch the spot in the sky that was Naruto get swallowed by the purple monstrosity.

"He never did think about things," Gaara said to no one. He was just thinking out loud. He could remember the last time he'd seen that giant toad. And who would ever forget the gargantuan battle he'd had with Shukaku? Of course, Gaara had been asleep for most of it so he didn't know that much, but Temari had been there and she'd filled him in on what had happened.

"You got that right," Kankuro said nodding.

Naruto was mashed, compressed and squeezed as he felt the massive snake's muscles working him deeper into Manda's body. He had to wait until he had stopped moving. In the rank and pitch black silence he finally felt himself stop moving. He grinned despite his predicament. This bastard had made a big mistake in swallowing him,

'When you're done congratulating yourself,' the Kyuubi butted in, impatient to get his turn in battle, 'would you please get on with it?!'

'Okay, okay. Sheesh.' Naruto grumbled. Jeeze, some people couldn't wait five minutes.

Everyone outside fell silent with varying degrees of disgust on their face, either at Naruto's stunt or at the bulge in the snake's body working it's way down to Manda's middle.

'Ahh. Tassssty,' Manda hissed, clearly relishing his snack, 'Now, what other morsels can I find around thisssss dump." Screams erupted as the snake lunged for the forces arrayed on the top of the wall. As shinobi let loose with various weapons and jutsu, Naruto was busy building charka for the last (and most entertaining) part of his plan. His eyes snapped open as he finally hit the level of chakra he'd thought he would need. He made a cross seal with his hands and called his trademark jutsu one more time, except on a much much larger scale,

"Taijuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" He yelled. Outside Manda suddenly stopped, inches away from devouring a terrified chuunin by the name of Keitaro. Something felt funny. Gamabunta, sneaking up behind the snake to ambush him, suddenly stopped when he saw the bulge where Naruto was suddenly double, then triple in size.

"What is he doing?" Iruka wondered as he watched amazed. Sakura was stunned too. Then she remembered the story Naruto had told her in the Forest of Death during her first chuunin exam. About how he had been swallowed by a giant snake and had gotten out by using the Shadow Clone Technique to blow it up from the inside out.

"He's going to expand Manda until he blows up!" She shouted, the excitement clear in her voice, drawing the attention of everyone in earshot to the bulge that was continuing to expand. "Way to go Naruto!"

"Ugnh," groaned the snake. He felt like he was about to hurl, "I ate too much." That was the last words out of the summon before he exploded, spraying blood and gore all over the place. The wall was drenched as were a few houses on the other side of the wall. The south wall bordered the Residential District. Sakura knew that there would be some pissed off homeowners when the invasion ended. Not if, when. If Naruto could take down a summon as spectacularly as he'd just done, then he could certainly stop an invasion. Now instead of a massive snake, there were what must have been close to three thousand Narutos. In a massive explosion of smoke, all the clones dispersed as one, as did Gamabunta, who was laughing his massive ass off at what his henchman had done.

Now both Sasuke and an exhausted Naruto were standing on top of the wall. Sasuke was furious about what his annoying former teammate had done, but there was no way around it. Naruto had bested him. This round anyway. Sasuke was in a tight spot, but Naruto was worse off. The man seemed to be teetering on the edge of passing out. Sasuke smirked, his confidence returning once more. Naruto never did have great chakra control.

"Way to go, dobe," he taunted, sure that Naruto was on the ropes and would be easy prey. He could almost feel the power of the Mangenkyou Sharingan being released. "You've used up all of your chakra. Now you're nothing a liability. Just like you've always been." He got no response out of the other man, who was heaving great breaths because of both exhaustion and oxygen deprivation inside Manda. "Good god, Naruto, I thought that you would have learned your lesson over the last year. Guess not." It was fortunate that Sasuke's attention was on belittling Naruto and not looking at him, opting to stare out over the village he was about to obliterate.

Tsunade and Naruto's friends were watching him, however. And what they saw scared the crap out of them. The blond's hand was steaming, and his fingers were twitching, the nails on them slowly lengthening into claws. The places where Manda's stomach acid had eaten through his clothes and burned Naruto's skin began to steam and heal. Steam also began to leak out from underneath his feet, slowly bleeding into bright crimson chakra. Demon chakra.

"Kakashi?" The masked ninja looked over at the toad sannin who had spoken to him. "You still have that seal I gave you?" He was referring to the small square of parchment with a complex seal inked out on it, designed to suppress the Kyuubi's chakra.

"Yeah, I held on to it just in case," he replied. "You think we'll need it?" Jiraiya sincerely hoped that that was sarcasm in the masked shinobi's voice. Otherwise the Toad Sannin would have to kill him. A Kyuubi-possessed Naruto was not someone he wanted to deal with right now. No one did. Not only would Naruto be freakishly powerful, but he would be vicious and they might have to kill him, and Jiraiya didn't want to do that. Not after the kid had just gotten back.

"Seriously, dead-last, why do you even continue as a shinobi?" Sasuke was still trying to insult Naruto. The Uchiha didn't realize that he wasn't dealing with the Jinchuuriki anymore, but the beast that he held in check by simply existing.

Kabuto was no fool. He knew what was about to happen. This was it. Now was the time to strike and kill Sasuke. The best part was, the Kyuubi would do it for him and he would be able to take command of the Sound without ever having to challenge Sasuke.

"Captain," he said softly to the man next to him.

"Yes sir?"

"We're pulling out. Tell all the men to return to Rice." Kabuto said smoothly. The commander looked shocked,

"But Kabuto-sama, Sasuke-sama is-"

"A dead man," the bespectacled man interrupted, cutting off any further protest, "Take a look at the traitor up there. Notice anything about him?" The Oto-nin looked at the man who had decided to betray them after being welcomed in with no real protests. Orochimaru-sama had been very pleased to have a Jinchuuriki. He would have been able to strike a deal with the Akatsuki especially with the host who held the Kyuubi, strongest of the Bijuu.

"His body is…steaming?"

"Very good. It's a sign that the Kyuubi within the brat is rising to the surface. Very soon now, Sasuke-sama will be nothing more than a bloodstain on that wall."

"So we will cut our losses and run? Konohagakure will be left standing…" He trailed off at the murderous look Kabuto sent his way. The man realized that Kabuto-sama was right. There was no way for them to help Sasuke-sama. The Kyuubi would slaughter them all with just a flick of his tails. He leaned to his adjutant and passed the order to withdraw. Through whispers and covert hand signals, the Otogakure horde began to slowly withdraw, leaving some hundred and fifty dead, all due to the clash between the summon creatures.

"Now, I will kill you, gain the Mangenkyou Sharingan and kill my brother." At last Sasuke had reached the end of his speech. Naruto was sitting cross-legged on the soggy ground in his mental room, wishing he had popcorn. He'd been watching Kyuubi all during the speech and had seen the fox's tails beginning to twitch, a sure sign that the demon was getting impatient and was preparing himself to strike.

'This is gonna be good!' Naruto thought gleefully to himself. Kyuubi felt his cage's anticipation and knew that the time was at hand. He would deal the finishing blow. Naruto had allowed him that much. The Nine-Tails knew how much bringing Sasuke back meant, but also knew that Naruto really wanted to kill the Uchiha himself. That he would hand that goal over to Kyuubi with no complaining said a lot about how much the pair had come to rely on and trust each other in recent months.

"Are you done now?" the demon said with Naruto's mouth. Everyone took one look at each other and headed for the nearest rooftops they could find. Naruto's voice had gone from his normal pitch to a deep and very bass tone. Everyone who knew about what was inside the man knew that the Kyuubi had taken over. Uchiha Sasuke now faced the single greatest menace to ever threaten the Leaf Village.

"What was that dead-last?" Sasuke snarled. He would dare to interrupt after Sasuke had allowed him a few more minutes to live?

"I said, are you done?" The fox repeated. Naruto started to laugh outright. There were two things Kyuubi hated more than anything, the Yondaime and repeating himself. Making the fox do that was one thing that was sure to piss him off. Which is why Naruto made him do it often.

"A stupid fool should remember to never interrupt his superiors," Sasuke said coldly. He still thought that he was dealing with Uzumaki Naruto, not a demon. He turned to glare at the dead-last and found him just standing there, glaring at him with one angry red eye with a slit for a pupil. Sasuke took a few involuntary steps back despite himself. He smirked, "So, the baka can't even finish what he started without help. How pathetic."

"You say that like you believe that I possessed Naruto," the fox hissed, the urge to rip Sasuke's body in half and dance on the pieces clear in the demon's voice. "Yet you continue to be wrong. Naruto let me have control over his body."

Kakashi's eyes widened when his Sharingan picked up Naruto's lip movements. The blonde had given control over to the Kyuubi? What lie had the fox spun to get him to do that!?

The Sound was far enough away. They could turn their backs to the enemy and not worry about being decimated. Unfortunately for them, what they found when they did turn around made them wish that they had stayed to be slaughtered by the Kyuubi. Now the Oto-nins faced a giant tsunami, composed entirely of sand. They had only a split second before it crashed over them. Those who managed to stay near the top heard only a pair words before their deaths,

"Sabaku Taisou." None had time to scream in pain, they were crushed so fast, Kabuto among them. The sly nin had been the first one hit with the sand avalanche. He'd also been one of the deepest ones to be buried. Gaara stood, having completed his jutsu and brushed himself off.

"Damn," Kankuro whined, "You didn't even leave us any!"

"Does it matter Kankuro?" Temari snapped, rolling her eyes. "We can always spar with some of the Konoha shinobi." Gaara gave a half smile as his brother and sister began to bicker with each other. Really, you'd never guess that they were in their twenties by the way that they acted sometimes. The Kazekage turned back to Konoha to watch the battle unfolding on the wall. He hoped that his friend, Uzumaki Naruto, was okay, if that red chakra swirling around him was anything to go by.

"Let's keep going. Uzumaki Naruto still faces Uchiha Sasuke. He may need help," Gaara's words cut the sibling rivalry short and the trio began to walk across the bloody sand that still covered the ground.

Sasuke gulped as red chakra blasted up around the Kyuubi, beginning to shape itself into a rough outline of a fox. This wasn't good. Naruto may be a pathetic excuse for a shinobi, but the Kyuubi was death in physical form. The last few times the duo had fought, Naruto had been the one in control. Now the fox had full control over Naruto's body and if the demon was to be believed, the dobe had let him do it. One could take that to also mean that Naruto wouldn't be stepping in to save Sasuke from being shredded to ribbons by the vicious demon.

'I'm in deep shit,' crossed Sasuke's mind before he activated the first level of his curse seal, the black comma-shaped design burning as it wove its way over his skin, drawing out all of his chakra.

The Kyuubi grinned. Unlike Naruto's grin that was full of laughter and warmth, this one promised nothing but pain, torture and death. Sasuke had seen this grin once before, the day Orochimaru died. The Uchiha had been in the room watching the two powerhouses grapple and struggle. Then that grin had come out and Orochimaru had frozen, a look of stark terror on his face. In the instant he'd frozen, Naruto, not Kyuubi, had swung his kunai and Orochimaru's head had been sliced clean off in a move that would have made an ANBU proud.

"Isukumi." Was all the possessed man said. Before Sasuke knew what hit him, he was shaking like a leaf in a hurricane. He began to sweat, and it didn't take long before he soaked in the moisture. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, the curse seal was withdrawing.

He had to run. Had to! There was no way in a million years he'd be able to stand up to this monstrosity! He would be butchered like a rabbit before the hawk! The world was spinning, his vision graying out. His breath came in short, rapid breaths. All the while, Kyuubi's eyes just watched him. And the red orbs seemed to grow, until Sasuke felt as if he was under a microscope. He couldn't do anything to hide! He was just a lamb for the slaughter! He was about to DIE! He suddenly realized that he was laying on the ground. He couldn't stand against Kyuubi! He had to escape! He didn't want to fight anymore!

Then the stark terror he'd felt when the Kyuubi had said just that single word faded enough to where Sasuke could think straight. He had to get away! Konoha's destruction wasn't enough of a reward to tangle with a demon that could reduce him to a blubbering baby with just a single glance! He crawled to the edge of the wall and looked over it. It was a long way down. He felt like his stomach was going to come out of his mouth. He couldn't take it. Sasuke gritted his teeth and heaved himself over the edge. A second later, he'd smashed into the ground in an impact that made him cry out. He couldn't feel his legs, so walking was out. He began to crawl, trying to put some distance between him and the demon that had crushed his will to fight. No longer did Sasuke want to burn the Leaf!

Up on the wall, Kyuubi smiled nastily when the Uchiha had crawled out of sight and gave control over to Naruto, who was hopping mad at him for letting Sasuke get away.

'What in the hell is WRONG WITH YOU!?' Naruto shrieked, his voice hitting pitches that shouldn't have been possible for a man past puberty. 'You could have ended it right there! But NOOOO! You just had to let him get away! Baka furball!!'

'Listen Naruto,' Kyuubi purred, satisfied with Sasuke's reaction to the Isukumi, now the stage was set for their next battle. The one that would hopefully end with the spoiled Uchiha's demise. 'Yes I could have killed him. Why didn't I? Because, I wanted him to know that I…no, we can render him helpless with but a single glance. Now the next time we do battle, he will be so twitchy he will make stupid mistakes. And make killing him that much easier.' Naruto shut up right then, his old squinty eyed expression on his face. Finally he nodded after an eternity of thought,

'Yeah, you're right,' he sighed, 'Dammit, I hate it when you're right.' The fox just laughed at his cage before punting him into the real world.

Every shinobi of the Leaf watched in stunned awe as the Uchiha toppled out of sight. Then, after nearly twenty minutes of just standing there, Naruto finally faced them, his eyes and face exactly as they should have been. Next thing the blond knew, Tsunade, Iruka, Kakashi, Jiraiya, and Sakura, who had seen every minute of the unbelievable battle between him and Sasuke, mobbed him. Tsunade was the first to reach him, and wasted no time in clobbering him ontop of his head the moment she reached him.

"YOW! Dammit, Baa-chan," Naruto shouted as he picked himself up from the small crater he'd made from the force of her blow. "What the hell was that for!?"

"For leaving me for five years and not even saying good-bye, dumbass!" the Godaime Hokage yelled right back, the fighting duo's faces just inches apart. "And for letting that stupid demon have control of you!"

"I can't help it!" Naruto protested, looking very much like he was twelve again, squint-eye pout and everything. "It's part of our damn deal!" Dead silence met his words. Thankfully, all of the normal Konoha shinobi and all of Naruto's other friends had returned to their normal duties. All of Naruto's friends thought that they would be able to see him later, provided the missing-nin was grated his status again and allowed to stay in the village.

"Deal?" Kakashi echoed, wondering if he should loosen his mask. The thing must be depriving him of air and now he was hallucinating. Now Naruto's shift in personality took everyone by surprise as he went from hyper to serious faster than it took to blink.

"Yeah, our deal," he said. Tsunade smiled gently. This was something she had to know, both as Hokage and to have something to blackmail the blond with later on if it was embarassing enough.

"Well," the Fifth said finally. "It appears that we have much to talk about."

"But how, Baa-chan?" Naruto asked, "I'm a missing-nin and the council will commit suicide before they agree to reinstate me." Tsunade's face darkened,

"They'll let you back in or they'll have to deal with me," she growled ominously. Now a new voice spoke up from behind them,

"And they will also know that they will have to deal with Sunagakure if you are not made into a Konoha-nin again, Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto turned so fast that he almost pulled a muscle in his neck. He grinned excitedly when he saw who it was,

"GAARA!" The Kazekage smiled softly, only the second one that Naruto had ever seen out of the normally emotionless man. He noticed the other two and grinned at them too. Temari and Kankuro returned his smile and the group began to walk toward the Hokage's Tower. Naruto forgot all about the council and the vote they would have to take to reinstate him. It didn't matter.

He was back!

That's it. I hope that this battle was better than the last one I wrote. For those who thought the ending sucked, I agree with you. But I never intended to kill off Sasuke this early. I want to torture him a little. For those of you who have been screaming for Sasuke's head on a platter, fear not. By the end of The Disappearance, Sasuke will die. How and by who's hand I have yet to determine. BUT! That is a long way off. First, explanations and a fight between Naruto and someone else. Not gonna say who. Take a guess if you want! Sorry about Kabuto's death sucking, but I really hated that guy. I wanted him to get killed off quick, cause he would have had a very minor roll in the story.

Now for some bad news. I have finals and a crap load of flight activities going on this week. Simply put, it's gonna be hell and my updates will slow down or stop altogether. I also fly back home on Friday. After that, no college for a month and I should be able to make up for lost time.

Glossary:

Taijuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Mass Shadow Clone Technique) Kage Bunshin on a much larger scale. When talking about Naruto, generally between 100-2000 clones.

Sabaku Taisou (Desert Requiem) Gaara's bigger version of the Desert Funeral. Follow up to Desert Avalanche.

Kuchiyose no Jutsu, Rasengan and Chidori. I won't explain them here. They should be pretty well known to all you Naruto veterans out there. For the newbies to Naruto, just wait. You will love these jutsu.

Isukumi (Paralyzing Terror) Any RuroKen lovers out there? Recognize the name? Got it from Shin no Ippo used by Udo Jin-e. Basically Kyuubi's version of Tsukuyomi. Swamps the victim with an overwhelming terror that Kyuubi will slaughter them. If the victim realizes that they can survive a battle with the fox, or want to get away, the effect is greatly diminished. Will also drive the victim to do anything to escape, like throw yourself off the edge of Konoha's south wall. Downside is that it takes a lot of concentration to use to full effect. Original Jutsu.