During the same time as the other fights
Sasuke glared his glowing sharingan into Naruto's focused blue eyes. "Hmmph, so you have gotten a little better...good, this won't be as disappointingly easy as I thought it would be." Sasuke said as he continued trying to slash Naruto with his sword, only to find Naruto evaded and countered when necessary.
Naruto jumped back from Sasuke's next attack and threw several kunai at Sasuke, who deflected them with his sword, "You still are thinking you are above everybody, Sasuke?" Naruto's hard expression softened to very genuine grin.
"That doesn't surprise me at all." Naruto finished and formed his signature seal, and created a single clone before Sasuke attacked again.
Sasuke without a doubt was faster than Naruto, but as Naruto quickly concluded by him and his doppelgangers successful blocks, he sure as hell was no Rock Lee, which he inwardly thanked. Naruto quickly turned the attack around to his favour, and him and his clone were forcing Sasuke to go on the defensive. The focused Uchiha's eyebrow perked at the very well coordinated onslaught of attacks, which left few opening for him to exploit. '
He has gotten better with his kage bunshin...no matter.'
Sakura kept averting her gaze behind the standing Kabuto, watching Naruto and Sasuke fighting, but quickly shook her head.
'FOCUS! I will not be able to help him as long as he is in my way.' She scolded herself as she finally fixed her gaze on the snickering Kabuto.
"You're actually going to pay attention now, Sakura-chan? If you wish we can just call a truce and watch?" he said with the amusement clear in his cold tone.
Sakura's brows furrowed in concentration, as she ignored Kabuto's bait, 'Tsunade-sama told me about him in her fight when I questioned her a while back about her first encounter with Naruto. He is a skilled medic-nin that was the creator for the jutsu Tsunade-sama used to help Lee-san. That would explain how he didn't take damage from my kick. Tsunade-sama noted though that it uses a lot of chakra when she used it.'
Sasuke had enough of this pointless game of exchanging blows against the pair in front of him, and decided it was time to try something new.
'Internally charge my chakra.' He mused as he returned a blow at the Naruto he guessed was the real one.
Naruto went to block with his kunai, but widened his eyes when the sword had nearly cut straight through the kunai like a hot knife to butter. Naruto went to pull back but Sasuke was quicker and tore straight through the remaining bit of the kunai and cut diagonally across the side of Naruto's face. Fortunately Naruto moved back in time, but a few loose strands of hair and the fabric of his forehead protector were not as lucky as it was cut straight across from the side, and hit the ground with a loud thump. The clone attempted to counter, but Sasuke made short work of it as he cut straight through the attempted to block kunai this time, and would have decapitated the clone if it wasn't for the loud 'poof' on impact.
Sasuke inwardly grunted at his attempt, 'I Still cannot flow my chakra into my weapons properly...although it did nearly cut through the kunai in one go.' He mused, giving a smug smirk at his achievement in such a short time. Naruto looked at his cleaved kunai, then at his discarded forehead protector. Naruto rubbed the spot where the sword had cut, and brought his hand up to his eyes to reveal a slight amount of blood.
'I don't know what that was, but it seems fighting him with that weapon in his hand is going to get me killed if I am not careful.' He concluded as he threw his broken kunai to the side.
Naruto readied two more clones and charged towards Sasuke, who had finished his seals. "Katon, Goukakyuu no jutsu!" He announced as a large stream of fire whirled out of his mouth towards the incoming clones. Naruto used one clone as a stepping stone to jump high above the fire ball. His eyes caught something to his far side below, and his eyes furrowed in thought. Naruto then formed the kage bunshin seal again, and concentrated.
Sakura ignored the shout of Sasuke's katon, and continued her analysing, 'He is skilled in using genjutsu based on his jutsu he used during the chuunin exams...it would mean he would be able to detect my doujutsu quite easily.'
Sakura cringed and clenched her jaw in frustration, she was running out of options fast, 'Tsunade-sama told me he is surprisingly very agile, and was able to avoid most of her hits in their fight. Although she quickly commented that she wasn't in shape back then, and could easily top him now.'
Sakura emitted an agitated sigh, knowing just how bad of a matchup she was in, '...I am not as fast as Tsunade-sama. Landing a hit on him is going to be very hard...Will it even keep him down? if only I had some-'
"Hey Sakura-chan."
'-Help, maybe if I summo-'
Sakura finally realized that wasn't Kabuto's voice, and gasped in surprise as she span her head to meet the smiling face of her blond teammate. Sakura opened and closed her mouth almost like a fish in disbelief.
"W-Wha-Na-Naruto!? Wha- What are you doing he-"She was silenced by his chuckle at her dumbfounded features.
"I noticed you were in trouble and came to help." he beamed.
Sakura was still shocked but managed to spill out her now growing worry, "What about Sasuke-kun?!"
Naruto pointed casually with his thumb over his back, where Sakura saw another Naruto still fighting Sasuke, who was surrounded by kage bunshin's, but was dispersing them with minimal difficulty.
"Naruto..." Sakura's eyes widened in realisation.
"You're an enhanced kage bunshin?!"
"Hai!" 'Naruto' chirped with a smile.
Kabuto finally interrupted with his sickening laugh, "How noble of you Naruto-kun. You came to help Sakura-chan when she knew she couldn't stand a chance against a superior medic-nin...I seemed to have been mistaken after all Sakura-chan, you are still a burden to your falling apart team after all." He continued his chuckling as he lifted his falling glasses yet again.
Surprisingly Sakura wasn't the one that retorted, but instead the angered team mate next to her did.
"What did you just say teme?!" Naruto roared at Kabuto, with a clear trace of demonic voice mixed with his own.
Sakura placed a firm hand on the angry Naruto's shoulder, "Calm down Naruto, he is just trying to make you lose focus." She said firmly as she met the seemingly more red than blue eyes of her teammates glare.
He released a deep sigh, venting out his anger with it.
"Sorry Sakura-chan." The blond calmed down and his eyes reverted back to their true oceanic blue selves. Returning focus to his purpose here, he filled Sakura in.
"I don't have enough chakra to do too much Sakura-chan. I can create a dozen or so clones at most, and use rasengan a few times. If he takes me out, I will be back to help you soon." Naruto whispered, although she didn't miss his disappointed tone as if he was upset with what he could do.
Sakura looked hard at the clone next to her. 'Even now he still looks out for me when he is in a fight of his own...'
Sakura wanted to tell him to go back and focus on his own fight, since he effectively was ruling out his jutsu in his fight for her sake. But the determined almost flaming gaze in the clones eyes said he was not going to change his mind.
Accepting his help she smiled wide, "Thank you...you baka." The Naruto clone didn't respond but a slight pink hue across his cheeks could be noted along with his wide smirk.
Sasuke disposed each clone wave that came at him, then Naruto tried mixing it up a bit, and Sasuke felt several fuma shuriken spinning violently towards him. Sasuke's sharingan depicted something anybody else would miss.
'Those aren't real shuriken.' He prepared his sword.
'Internally charge my chakra.'
Moments before the first shuriken made contact, with a flick of his wrist Sasuke cut the 'metal' straight in half, causing a loud 'poof'. Sasuke then almost like a dance proceeded to cut the rest of the 'shurikens' until his sharingan eye caught interest in the next one from his side. 'That one is real!' Sasuke faced the incoming weapon and prepared his sword above his head. And in moments sliced down on the blurring circle, and split the shuriken straight down the middle, as the remaining two halves shot wildly outwards diagonally, colliding with several unfortunate clones.
The real Naruto gritted his teeth in the crowd from his spot. 'That sword is really becoming a problem.' Naruto then eyed the nearest clone and gave it a signal by nodding his head. Sasuke stood firmly in the centre with his sharingan waiting in anticipation for the hungry pack of clones to make their next move. Sasuke turned his head when he heard several clones 'poofing' one after the other in a line, as another Naruto charged through the smoke with a rasengan. Sasuke prepared to evade, but his eyes widened when a split second before he was ready to make his evasion, the Naruto in front of him 'poofed'.
'A clone!' Sasuke shouted internally as suddenly he felt a presence behind him.
"Rasengan!" The familiar voice of Naruto shouted as the spiralling sphere connected with Sasuke's back.
Naruto brows furrowed though when he only succeeded in connecting with a log, which was torn apart and shot splinters everywhere.
'Where did he-' Naruto couldn't finish his thoughts though when his eyes noticed it somehow had gotten dark, and he looked up to see Sasuke diving down towards him, holding his sword in front of him to impale Naruto. Wasting no time Naruto jumped back into his doppelganger forest, as Sasuke's sword dug three quarters of its length deep into the earth, causing a shot up of dust as Sasuke quickly pulled it out of the ground, pulling out loose strands of grass that flowed in the breeze. Sasuke wasn't given a break, and got ready as he felt another wave of clones swarming in from his back.
Sasuke decided to play on the offense this time, and rushed towards the clones disposing of them with ease. After disposing at least three of the incoming clones, two Naruto clones at the front of the surrounding crowd readied several kunai and threw them at Sasuke's back. Sasuke voiced out his typical 'Hn' , as he casually placed the sword behind him, and deflected the incoming weapons, as they landed on the ground around him. While he was doing that, he dispelled the incoming clones with his other free hand that wielded a kunai.
The Uchiha smirked in victory when he slashed the final clone out of existence, but quickly morphed into a scowl of annoyance.
'This is taking too long and is pointless.' He mused, but quickly reformed his smirked when he thought of a way to end this. Sasuke stood as straight as he could in concentration.
"Chidori Nagashi!" He whispered, as suddenly his body shot out large sparks that resembled miniature lightning bolts everywhere, causing all the surrounding Naruto's to 'poof' in union, creating a blinding mass of smoke clouds.
Sasuke took to one knee and released a light pant, as he stood up slightly shaken, 'It's a work in progress.' He concluded, as he started searching for the real Naruto, when his eyes homed in on what he thought was Naruto...standing next to Sakura.
His eyes narrowed on the pair when he read Sakura's lips mouthing out. 'Thank you...you baka' and his gaze hardened to a glare.
'Was he just playing me a fool?!' Before he was about to rush towards the pair, his ears caught the spiralling sound of a rasengan coming behind him.
Sasuke avoided the rasengan at the last moment, and looked in slight confusion at the Naruto standing before him, then briefly glancing back the Naruto next to Sakura.
Naruto snickered through a smirk, "What teme? Disappointed that you're not the only thing I'm concerned about?" Sasuke's hand gripped on the hilt of his sword tightly as his arm shook.
"Do you still foolishly think yourself as equal to me Naruto!?" Sasuke growled with his voice dripping with venom.
Naruto glared in return and said with just as much venom, "You really have forgotten the most important thing that Kakashi-sensei taught us, haven't you Sasuke!" Sasuke said nothing but glared.
"Teamwork is the most important thing to a shinobi...did you forget that when you went to Orochimaru!?" Naruto's voice rose at the end at the mention of said snake sannin.
Sasuke didn't say anything, as the bright light from a chidori flickered across his eyes which were glaring daggers at Naruto.
"I will show you just how useless relying on others is!" he hissed.
Sakura shared a brief glance at Naruto and mused her plan, 'He doesn't know about Naruto's enhanced kage bunshin, we will use that to our advantage.'
Naruto nodded almost as if agreeing with the unspoken plan as they returned their gaze back to Kabuto and charged.
Kabuto was at the ready with his chakra scalpels, 'It's just a kage bunshin, once I hit it, the clone will disperse leaving her easy to dispatch.' he concluded with a smirk.
Once the distance between them was closed Kabuto made a strike for Sakura's head, who evaded just in time as her hair flickered back from the force of the blow. Kabuto then swept with his foot to the right for the clone, but Sakura broke in front of Naruto and blocked it with her arm. Naruto took advantage of the sudden pause as swept around Sakura's left side and took a swipe at Kabuto with his kunai. Kabuto ducked his head back at the failed attempt to slit his throat and dived in with his scalpel at Naruto. Before he made contact, Sakura had gripped onto his wrist and attempted to kick him in the gut. Kabuto pulled back in time and took a swipe at the incoming foot with his scalpel, only to have Naruto pull Sakura back before he made contact with her ankle.
"Thanks Naruto." Sakura said in relief as they dove at Kabuto again.
Sakura slowed down during their rush as she casually passed Naruto a kunai, making him hold one in each hand. Naruto used the kunai to swipe and Kabuto in succession, who dodged each one. Naruto almost landed a hit at Kabuto's forehead, but only managed to cut a few loose strands of hair that did not make it in time as he ducked. Kabuto tried to jab the clone's stomach with his scalpels, but stopped and jumped back when he noticed a shadow lingering over him and the clone. Within moments in the spot where he was standing, Sakura had stomped with her foot into the ground, causing the area around her to crack. Without completely landing, she back flipped over Naruto and followed him as they closed the distance.
Kabuto's eyes narrowed though when he noticed that the clone had his arm held back, 'What are they-´
He gasped in surprise though when he suddenly saw a near turquoise glow illuminate behind Naruto, which reflected off his glasses hiding his shocked widened eyes.
'What is-' He didn't get to finish his thoughts though when the Naruto shouted "Toruko rasengan!" and he jumped up with the now revealed violently spiralling sphere.
Kabuto then caught sight of Sakura moving underneath Naruto once he had reached the tip of his jump and grabbed his feet.
"Shannaro!" She screamed as she span Naruto twice on the spot and then let go at the last moment launching Naruto at impossible speeds towards a stunned Kabuto. Kabuto only just made it with a roll to the right, as the Naruto clone tore through at least several trees. Before the trees had made contact emitting a mini tremor as each one hit the ground, he was forced to block when Sakura had closed in before he could react and delivered a firm punch that connected hard with his crossed over arms. Kabuto collided with a tree not far away, and on impact the tree cracked and fell and began its descent to the forest floor.
Kabuto recovered astonishingly quickly though and made a rush for the now alone Sakura who gasped in surprise.
'That attack was unexpected, but it left you open!' Kabuto mused in delight.
Sakura was able to evade most of Kabuto's attempts to land a hit on her with his scalpels, but Kabuto was able to make contact with her arm when she attempted to counter with a punch. Sakura gritted her teeth in pain as she tried to fall back only for Kabuto to pounce at her again with a swipe aimed at her face, that she evaded by hitting the ground on all fours. Unfortunately Sakura chose the wrong way to evade and was greeted by a firm kick into her gut which sent her flying back and colliding with a tree. Only the noise and loud crack that followed on impact didn't sound correct to Kabuto, when his suspicions were confirmed with a 'poof' that revealed a now snapped in half branch.
Kabuto tilted his head to the side as a fist wearing a glove flew past him from behind, and span around on his feet preparing to aim for Sakura's chest with his scalpel.
While doing so a smirk was on his features as he snickered. "You will have to try better than that Sa-"
He was interrupted from his taunt when the dirt underneath him caved in to reveal another fist that wasn't wearing a glove that slammed his lower jaw shut, which sent him airborne slightly, but soon turned to a missile when Sakura delivered a round house kick to his unprotected chest which made him crash through a tree, and hit hard on a second one, causing it to vibrate but not break, although a large portion of leaves rained down around it.
Kabuto coughed out blood as he stood back up and rubbed his chest and glared at the now reunited clone and Sakura.
His eyes narrowed behind his glasses, 'They do coordinate and cover each other quite well...I might have to update my information cards after this.'
Sakura wasted no time as she healed her arm that Kabuto had landed a hit on, 'While my chakra can stop a direct cut of my muscle from a single attack, it still doesn't mean it won't hurt like hell.' She mused through a small hiss.
Naruto didn't seem to hear her hiss and smirked, "We are doing great Sakura-chan!" he beamed.
Sakura tried to not smile, but the corner of her lips twitched upwards, "Yeah, but don't get ahead of yourself just yet though Naruto."
Kabuto focused his eyes on the clone, 'Every time I attempt to hit the clone, she is by his side and trying desperately to ensure I don't disperse it...let's see if I can use that against her.' He thought conclusively as he as he readied a kunai in his right hand, and gave charge.
The pair exchanged a brief look and decided to meet Kabuto half way. Once Kabuto thought they were close enough, he threw his kunai at the clone, who threw a shuriken to deflect it midway, but Kabuto was already rifling through the seals and was glaring at Naruto. "Shi no kumi no Jutsu!" The results were near instant as his eyes flickered with chakra and killer intent, causing Naruto to suddenly freeze on the spot. Sakura gasped and was about to set him free but suddenly remembered and cursed.
'I will disperse him if I do that! He has to break out of it himself.' Sakura stood in front of him and quickly readied the seals necessary to activate her own chakra scalpels.
The Naruto clone cursed, 'W-What kind of genjutsu is this?!' He shouted in fear as he tried to break out of it with no avail.
Kabuto closed in for the kill, 'She didn't try and free him from the genjutsu? I wonder why she did that...no matter.'
Kabuto now had Sakura where he wanted, and tried to aim for her throat, only for Sakura to use her now glowing blue hand as a kunai to block it, causing sparks of chakra to fly between the two humming cutting tools on contact. Sakura unfortunately still couldn't keep up with Kabuto's speed and was being pushed further and further away from Naruto's clone. It didn't take long for Sakura to be overwhelmed as Kabuto landed a hit on her knee causing her to grunt in pain with gritted teeth and threw her slightly off balance, which allowed Kabuto to then take a slice with his now kunai wielded hand at her right shoulder.
Naruto's eyes already transformed to their red slits when Sakura emitted a loud cry in pain when Kabuto landed a hit on her stomach, then at her left shoulder, then her right elbow, finally ending his onslaught by attacking her knee again, followed by a slash aimed for her neck, but she was able to pull back in time to make it cut a small fine line across her cheek, drawing blood as Sakura fell to the ground.
'BREAK FREE DAMN IT!!' Naruto screamed with no trace of fear present like earlier, as he tried again and failed, Kabuto then smirked and tossed the kunai casually towards the clone colliding it with its gut.
Kabuto didn't seem to notice that there was no disperse noise and looked down at his prey, who was shaking furiously in pain and breathing heavily.
"Well well Sakura-chan, I must say I was mistaken yet again, you have quite amazing potential...you HAD quite amazing potential that is." Kabuto said darkly as he pulled out another kunai. Sakura tried to stand, but Kabuto stomped her hard on her back causing her to crash into the ground and cough out blood.
"Please...this was over the moment you lost Naruto-kun as support."
"Are you so sure about that Kabuto?" A demonic voice dripping with killer intent growled directly behind the now wide eyed and shocked Kabuto, but he didn't have any time to react as he suddenly felt immense pain in his lower back.
"Rasengan!" The raged Naruto growled as Kabuto was knocked across the forest and landed in the area Naruto and Sakura had destroyed earlier.
Naruto went down on his knee and placed his clawed hand gently on Sakura's back. "Sakura-chan are you ok?!" he half shouted in worry. Sakura had large bruises in the areas she was hit by Kabuto's scalpel, and the right side of Sakura's face had several trickles of blood running down its side.
Her shoulder was cut, but to Naruto it didn't appear deep. Sakura looked up to meet the red worried filled slits of Naruto, and tried to smile through her pain while she whispered through her deep breaths, "A-Ah...thank you Naruto."
She hissed again in pain though when she attempted to stand.
"What do I do Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, eager to help. Sakura gritted her teeth as she tried to sit up and formed a seal.
"Just give me a minute, he has cut my hamstring and damaged everywhere else." She said with her eyes closed in concentration as she then began repairing the damage to her knee first.
Naruto turned his head and glared with his blood red eyes when he heard the loud grunt from Kabuto as he stood up from the rubble. Naruto bared his fangs in annoyance when he noticed the damage his rasengan dealt to his back only left a small swirling scar.
'This is just like what happened two years ago.' he mused, mentally noting this time Kabuto didn't collapse but instead gave off a arrogant laugh.
"How interesting...you can't be the real Naruto-kun since I still hear Sasuke-kun fighting...that means you must be the same kage bunshin from earlier...how very interesting." Kabuto said in amusement as he turned around to reveal his deep smirk and his cracked glasses, being lifted as Kabuto eyed the location on the clones jacket to reveal a bleeding wound.
"I see...so that is what Sakura-chan meant by her little outburst of enhanced kage bunshin." He said in a mocking tone as he eyed her sitting form behind Naruto.
Naruto's jaw clenched as he growled, "Teme....Insult her just once more...and I will kill you!" he hissed through gritted teeth.
"Naruto..." He turned back in question to see the soft eyes of Sakura, who shook her head.
"Don't listen to his crap." She said while healing her leg. Naruto closed his eyes and sighed, but nodded before opening them up again to reveal their usual soft, gentle blue orbs. Sakura stopped healing and tried moving her leg, satisfied that she could move it again she tried to stand, then felt the pain of her other areas Kabuto had hit and almost fell again. Naruto caught her mid way though and helped her up on her feet.
Kabuto snickered, "Still needing Naruto-kun there to help you even stand...you will be the death of him you know if you keep that up...that is if Sasuke-kun doesn't k-"
"SHUT THE GODDAMN HELL UP!" Sakura exploded, her entire body shaking in rage as she was about to bolt straight at Kabuto, but halted when Naruto held her back with his stuck out arm, blocking her path.
"The same advice right back at you, Sakura-chan... you know you're better than that....I know you are better than that!" Naruto said firmly, his eyes wishing death on Kabuto.
Sakura went wide eyed, 'I told him not to listen to his insults and I end up being the one snapping...great going Sakura.' She scolded herself internally.
Sakura sighed, and with a single glowing green finger, gently traced over the wound on her face, wiping away the blood and restoring her skin now unharmed.
"Sorry...I am ok now Naruto." She said in assurance as Naruto shifted his blocking hand to make a seal. Naruto created a set of half a dozen clones, as the clones rushed at Kabuto.
"Sakura-chan...He is just targeting you now." Naruto said, while keeping an eye that his clones were keeping Kabuto distracted. Sakura nodded in agreement, while quickly healing her shoulder.
"I know. What do we do?" Sakura asked the clone, keeping focus on Kabuto. She turned her face to meet the clone's mischievous grin.
"I got an idea."
Naruto formed a rasengan in his hand just in time as he met Sasuke's jutsu with his own.
"Chidori!"
"Rasengan!"
They shouted in union as their jutsu's collided with a clash. Sasuke was in no mood to see who would be the victor though, and with his free hand he pulled out his sword from his back and slashed Naruto across his jacket. Naruto was forced to pull away at the last moment, avoiding the sword from cutting him in half, but then left the other problem...the still active chidori that was now connecting into his chest.
'poof'
Sasuke groaned in anger at the smoke, and almost like he was venting out his rage, span around in the direction he felt Naruto's doppelgangers coming from and roared. "Seneijashu!" Several snakes shot out from his sleeves and attacked the clones with their dripping with venom fangs. Sasuke released an annoyed sigh when none of them were the real one either. The real Naruto was behind him with a around house kick to the back of his head. Naruto gritted his teeth though when just before he made contact with 'Sasuke', he did his typical 'hn' then when Naruto made contact, he only felt a strange sort of soft and slippery surface.
'Mud substitution jutsu?!' Naruto questioned.
The cold voice from Sasuke came not far behind him "Seneitajashu!" Sasuke extended out both his arms when a large blur shot out towards Naruto. Naruto's eyes widened when the blur belonged to the fanged mouths of now dozens of hungry snakes all glaring at him with their yellow glowing slits. Naruto kawarimied with a log before the swarm of snakes made contact and tore the log apart. The snakes didn't seem to notice the smoke emitting from an explosive note left behind on the log, as the forest floor was littered with snake parts when they went up in a violent explosion.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed when the remaining snakes returned to his sleeves, he then casually turned to the side where Naruto was closing in fast with a rasengan in hand.
'Let's see how you handle this then.' Sasuke mused in sick pleasure as his sharingan tomoe began spiralling around rapidly. Naruto didn't appear to notice and when his rasengan made contact with Sasuke's back, his eyes widened though when he was rewarded with the last thing he expected. 'poof'
'Sasuke knows kage bunshin?!!?' Naruto's mind screamed in confusion but didn't get time to think when he heard somebody behind him call in a very chilling voice behind him.
"Naruto..."
He turned his head when he recognised the voice and smirked, "Sakura-chan! your ok? I knew you would kick Kabuto's ass." Naruto beamed, but dropped his smirk when Sakura said nothing as she approached him.
"Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked in concern, noticing her head was lowered, and her pink bangs were hiding her eyes from the world.
Naruto seemed to have forgotten where he was as all attention was now on Sakura.
"Sakura-chan whats-" He gasped though when he felt metal pierce his flesh, and looked down while coughing out blood when he saw that a kunai was lodged into his stomach...the hilt being gripped tightly by Sakura.
"You honestly think I would never find out about your little secret" Sakura whispered, her killer intent clear as she rose her head to reveal her green orbs that held great detest and hatred.
"Go to hell you monster!" She half shouted through a growl. Naruto was ignoring the pain he was feeling in his gut as his mind was racing while staring in shock at Sakura's cold eyes.
'...b-but she told me already that she knew?! A-and she said she still viewed me as a friend.' Naruto shook his head frantically at the conflicting memory.
'T-This can't be real...THIS IS A GENJUTSU!' Naruto's partial shock mind cried in realisation.
Naruto ignored what was happening in front of him and tried to dispel it, succeeding moments later as the image of Sakura and the kunai embedded into his stomach phased out of existence. Naruto's ears perked when he heard the hisses of snakes coming behind him again, and turned in shock when he saw the snakes already upon him. They bit hard into his flesh and venom shot out of their razor sharp fangs.
'poof'
"Naruto!" The owner of the snakes said in a cold, spine chilling hiss, as the snakes returned to his sleeves and disappeared from reality just as mysteriously as they came.
Naruto winced at the voice, 'What has Orochimaru done to you...Sasuke?' His eyes suddenly widened though when he heard the cry of a person he had been wishing not to hear.
Sakura.
Almost as if he forgot he was in the middle of a fight, he turned his gaze to see Sakura lying on the ground shaking as if in great pain, with Kabuto standing not far from her smirking. Naruto took several steps towards them to intervene, but soon stopped when he saw his clone connect a rasengan with Kabuto's back. He inwardly sighed of relief and his heart rate returned to normal when he saw Sakura's soft smile in the distance. Naruto's eyes widened when he realised his fatal mistake, he was standing out from his hiding position sticking out like a sore thumb in the forest, and he ducked back into a hiding spot.
'God damn it I am so reckless!' Naruto scolded himself mentally, and began searching for Sasuke. Naruto turned around behind him though to gasp at several incoming rounded fireballs.
Naruto wasn't able to move in time as they connected with his left arm and shoulder in several areas, partially burning his jacket. Naruto stifled his cry of pain to a loud grunt, when he felt the sharp metal of the hot shuriken that the fire balls engulfed on, dug into his skin.
"Stop worrying about her you fool! I must say Naruto, I am disappointed. This was all you have been able to achieve in your 'quest' to 'rescue' me...how pointless, I guess you really live up to your 'dobe' rank after all."
Naruto walked out of his hiding spot through the bushes, gripping his injured arm with his other, looking at the ground with his eyes closed tight. Sasuke was about to say something else but Naruto beat him to it with his demonic voice.
"Fine then Sasuke, I will go all out on you then." Naruto said with no emotion, still looking at the ground. Until suddenly Naruto shot open his eyes to reveal his burning red slits glaring into the similar burning eyes of the sharingan.
"Let us fight as the equals we are!" Naruto almost roared through his voice.
Sasuke emitted his 'Hn' as the curse seal glowed furiously across his pale skin.
"So, you were holding back all this time!" He hissed at his new discovery.
Naruto grinded his teeth in hesitation, 'I truly don't want to hurt you Sasuke...but you leave me no choice but to use the power I trained for so long to use.'
Kabuto kneed the clone in front of him hard in the stomach, causing it to disperse, as he turned to the next one. His eyes widened in surprise though when the remaining three clones 'poofed' out of existence in front of him, blocking his vision with smoke.
'What are they planning?' Kabuto asked himself. Kabuto's eyes narrowed when the smoke began to clear, then they widened when the pair he was looking for revealed themselves attacking him from the sides. Kabuto was on the defensive as he went for the clone again, but Sakura already was protecting him like she did before. Kabuto saw an opening though and decided to exploit it, when Sakura attempted to punch Kabuto, he side stepped it and slammed his scalpel directly in Sakura's chest, causing her to fly backwards several meters from the impact and coughed out blood. The Naruto clone recovered from the shock and tried to attack, but Kabuto sliced across the body of the clone with his chakra scalpel, causing it to cry in pain before it 'poofed' out of existence. Sakura struggled to stand as she gripped onto her chest breathing heavily, while still coughing out blood.
Kabuto smirked at his victory. "Your respiratory system isn't feeling so good I take it...what a shame." He chirped out innocently while lifting up his glasses.
Sakura glared at him as she struggled to stand, loosing balance slightly but recovered, although every breath felt like her lungs were cut, emitting a sharp pain with every gasp. Kabuto raised an eyebrow at her form.
"Pathetic." Was all he muttered as he readied his chakra scalpel.
His eyes widened though when he heard the cold, quiet voice from Sakura come from an undeterminable location, "You're pathetic!"
Before Kabuto knew what hit him, a Sakura tree formed out of the ground behind him, and latched out branches which ensnared him into the tree.
'Wh-What the hell?!' Kabuto shouted internally, as the real Sakura formed in front of him from Sakura petals that came from the tree.
'Just like we planned'.
-
Flashback, outside ANBU outpost, 3 minutes ago
-
Sakura looked at the clone in full focus, "You understand our plan?" She asked void of emotion.
Naruto grinned wide, "Whenever you're ready Sakura-chan!" he beamed, causing her to grin back.
"Hai! Let's do this, Naruto!" She chirped in return.
Naruto then dispersed his three remaining clones, blocking Kabuto's vision. Sakura then knelt down next to Naruto with her eyes closed in concentration as she ran through the seals she remembered taught to her by Kakashi. "Magen, Jubaku Satsu" she whispered, as her hair began to pick up as wind blew around her. Suddenly her body dispersed into Sakura petals, which drifted off through the forest almost like leaves. Before the smoke blocking Kabuto's sight cleared Naruto made his move forming his seal and whispered "Kage bunshin no jutsu" and created a single clone next to him. He then formed another seal and whispered.
"Henge no jutsu!"
-
Present time
-
'If he was not tricked by Naruto, he would have seen my genjutsu before I was able to spring it, and counter it easily.' She thought, glad that wasn't the outcome as she returned her focus on her pinned target. She glared at the immobile Kabuto as she ran through seals Kabuto recognised from a long time ago.
"Sorry to cause you some more discomfort, Kabuto-'KUN'!" She spat the suffix out in disgust.
"But this jutsu I can only do on contact." She hissed, as she finished her seals and then took one step forward and slapped Kabuto as hard as she could, the slap knocking his glasses right off his face as his head snapped to the side from the force. Kabuto tried to return his glare but his eyes tried to widen when he couldn't move at all.
'She used the paralysis technique to slow me down from breaking out of this jutsu! How the hell does she know an ANBU's jutsu?!'
"Medic-nin's need to know how to restrain a crazed patient...or a bastard." Sakura answered his silent question in a hiss. He cursed as he started dispelling out of the first genjutsu, although he was having trouble finding the chakra source.
'She can conceal genjutsu's quite well.' he concluded in agitation as he continued his struggle.
Sakura had already returned to the other 'Sakura' not far and asked in concern, "Are you alright?"
'Sakura' dispelled the transformation, revealing a panting Naruto who held a grin, "I will be able to do one more rasengan Sakura-chan, then I will have to dispel from lack of chakra." He said disappointedly as he rubbed the blood off his mouth never answering her question, believing his health did not matter. His widened his eyes when he felt a humming green glow vibrate from his chest.
"Sakura-chan I am just a clo-"
"Shut up." Sakura interrupted softly as she healed the wound and then stepped to his side.
"He will break free of that soon, one rasengan is all we will need...I will handle the rest." She said glaring at the struggling Kabuto.
Naruto nodded, "Please explain this to the real me afterwards Sakura-chan, I want to remember how badly we beat the snot out of this bastard!"
Sakura grinned back while placing her palm over his, "I would be more than happy to Naruto." They then started forming the rasengan and Sakura's eyes narrowed at the size being smaller than normal.
"Any more chakra and I will dispel before hitting him...sorry Sakura-chan." Naruto said disappointedly but Sakura grinned.
"No worries." She poured more chakra into it from her end, making the Rasengan grow to a soft ball, glowing a more vibrant green than a turquoise. The pair took off side by side channelling the rasengan, when Sakura removed her hand and dashed forward.
Kabuto saw the incoming rasengan from the corner of his still turned eye.
'OH SHIT!'
He finally broke out of the paralysis genjutsu, but Sakura already shot past and shouted, "NOW NARUTO!"
Kabuto turned his shocked face to see Naruto in front of him with the blinding light, "Toruko rasengan!" Naruto shouted as he slammed the rasengan straight into Kabuto's stomach, shredding his ANBU vest on impact and drilled right through into his stomach. Kabuto was then sent spiralling through the fading illusion as a blur flying backwards at missile speed.
"STAY DOWN SHANNARO!" Sakura screamed, as she lifted her foot at the perfect time and clothes lined Kabuto's body, momentarily pausing his flight, then flicking his body down into the ground emitting a loud tremor. The area around Sakura cracked from the sudden force in a violent explosion, picking up dust.
Sakura looked down to confirm Kabuto was dead, but her eyes widened when Kabuto's body...crumbled away like it was ash. Once the ash like dust had blown away from the corpse, it revealed the torn and bleeding corpse of a person Sakura couldn't recognise.
'W-What is this?!' she asked in shock as she looked away from the corpse in partial disgust.
"They defeated my clone, Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto announced to his master, looking up at him from his kneeling position after releasing his hands from the formed tiger seal.
"I felt the tremor from here Kabuto, we are only a minute away from their base after all." Kabuto was exhausted and sweating profusely, as he stood up and wiped the sweat away from his forehead.
Orochimaru smirked, "My...it appears Sakura-chan was too much for you to handle, Kabuto." He teased his right hand man, not caring that Kabuto was exhausted.
Orochimaru continued, "You should consider yourself lucky we decided to use that ANBU's body as a sacrifice for my jutsu, otherwise you would be dead right now."
'While it's not as good as your Shouten no Jutsu, it still does the job...even if it can kill the user, and has a lot less greater range, Pein-kun.' Orochimaru internally thought.
Kabuto wanted to say, 'Naruto-kun was there too' but knew saying that would result in him getting killed, and agreed.
"Hai, it was a good plan indeed Orochimaru-sama. I am still confused though at that kage bunshin." Orochimaru chuckled. "It's not that hard to comprehend Kabuto, basically the clone we used to 'reincarnate' yourself was essentially draining you of chakra to remain active. A kage bunshin can achieve the same thing, given you have enough chakra to feed into the jutsu." Orochimaru licked his lips almost as if this discovery was tasteful.
"Naruto-kun has become quite skilled thanks to the Kyuubi indeed...too bad Sasuke-kun would have killed him by the time this day is out." Orochimaru voiced, although it didn't sound in the slightest bit full of pity, instead it sounded almost like casual talk.
Sakura looked back up to where the clone was standing, only to see a smoke cloud. She couldn't help but grin at the cloud.
'Thank you Naruto.' She thought sincerely, remembering the promise she would have to keep after his fight with Sasuke. Her eyes suddenly widened when she realised this was far from over just yet and scanned for signs of the real Naruto, thanks to the many destroyed trees it wasn't too hard to find him. She found him not far from where she was still battling furiously against Sasuke.
She gasped when her eyes saw that he was hurt badly on his left side, maybe partial burns, and the kunai that she could see from where she stood where literally radiating with heat, she also noted that his forehead protector was missing, and he had a trickle of blood down the side of his head. She went agape though when her eyes fell on Sasuke, his entire bodies were covered with the marking of the cursed seal, and he had a sadistic smile on his face as he slashed at Naruto, who evaded in his animal like stance.
Sakura took off as fast as she could towards the fighting pair, 'Hold on Naruto!'
'What a strange stance.' Sasuke mused as Naruto leapt to the side to evade Sasuke's blur downwards cut of his sword, then quickly evading Naruto's sharp claws.
'It is almost like I am fighting an animal.' Sasuke thought.
Naruto then on all fours, dashed around to Sasuke's side and attempted to swipe at his hip, but Sasuke's sharingan caught the movement and he prepared his counter by attempting to impale Naruto's head. Before Sasuke's sword made contact, a second Naruto was seen at the corner of Sasuke's eye, and instead he was forced to jump back to avoid getting pinned by the second Naruto's almost fox like lunge.
'So I see, this is where you have been focusing your training with, Naruto.' Sasuke concluded, as he eyed the two predator like Naruto's that were closing in on him.
Sasuke gripped his hands full of kunai and shuriken, 'Ronan's subordinate only showed me this once, but it shouldn't be anywhere near as different as using the sword.' Sasuke then poured his chakra into the weapons, as they emitted sparks.
'Hmmph, no different.' He thought smugly, as he threw his now electrified weapons at the pair. One of the Naruto's 'poofed' out of existence, blinding Sasuke's vision with smoke in the distance as his weapons cut through it. Sasuke's sharingan already was ahead of time, as he brought up his sword in time to block the incoming swipe, as Naruto bolted into vision and covered the distance in a second. Naruto gripped the sword between his claws, and the two were battling for dominance. Sasuke then eyed an approaching figure and gave an evil smirk.
"Now I will prove my point Naruto, that bonds make you weak!" He hissed as he pulled back and attempted to slash at Naruto again, who evaded. Sasuke then put his sword away and started forming another chidori. Because Sasuke was using the curse seal's chakra, this chidori was emitting some traces of black sparks in Sasuke's hand as well. Naruto was at the ready and waiting although he questioned Sasuke's words.
'What did he mean by-' Naruto's entire world stopped though when he suddenly saw Sasuke's sharingan orbs drift to their side, where Sakura was running towards them.
'NO!' He screamed internally as Sasuke shouted out with his murderous intent voice, "CHIDORI!"
The Uchiha within a second span around and shot straight at Sakura. Naruto blinked, and when he opened his eyes he was in the familiar dark sewer, with the sound of drips echoing in the abandoned hallways. Naruto knew this place like the back of his hand, and wasted no time as he dashed through the hallways till he came to the chamber he hated visiting.
"I need more chakra now!" Naruto demanded in a half shout, causing his voice to echo in the chamber, as he glared his eyes into the darkness behind the large cage. He was greeted with the tremor of a deep growl, and red mist pouring out of the cages engulfing darkness, as he met the red glowing eyes of the thing he hated the most.
The Kyuubi.
The Kyuubi snickered and said in its deep terrifying voice that dripped with sadistic joy, "No...I think I will enjoy watching you suffer as your pink crush dies, I will help out once she is disposed of though." The Kyuubi then laughed, sending giant ripples through the water, and shaking the entire chamber with a rumble.
Normally Naruto would give up at that, but when somebody's life, especially Sakura's was on the line, he would NEVER give up. His entire body shook in rage as he clenched his hands tight and gritted his teeth, and then he exploded at alarmingly the same volume as the Kyuubi's laughter.
"LISTEN HERE YOU BASTARD FOX! GIVE ME YOUR STUPID CHAKRA NOW, OR I SWEAR IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO SAKURA-CHAN I'LL..." Naruto halted his scream in sudden hesitance, making the fox stop to stare in interest.
Smirking, the Kyuubi prodded, "You will what, you worthless child?"
Seeing the kunoichi with that soft smile she had given him all so much these past couple of weeks made the blond swallow down his hesitation, and glare straight into those red slits, "I'LL KILL US BOTH, YOU HEAR ME?!"
The Kyuubi's laughter in response made Naruto begin to tremble, "I MEAN IT! STOP LAUGHING AND GIVE ME YOUR STUPID CHAKRA!"
Still chuckling at Naruto's claim, the fox cackled, "So be it then, you pitiable fool."
Sakura froze when she saw Sasuke shooting right towards her as a blur.
'Sasuke-kun....' She shook herself out of her shock and got herself at the ready to evade. Only she and Sasuke gasped in surprise when Sasuke suddenly stopped meters away from what would have impaled Sakura square in the heart. Sasuke looked back in shock when he saw a large chakra claw holding his foot tight, cracking his skin and drawing blood.
"SASUKE!" Naruto roared in a strong demonic voice full of rage, as he flung his 'hand' back, carrying Sasuke by the foot along with it, then tossing Sasuke in the opposite direction, but Sasuke casually back flipped in mid air and landed gracefully away, as his hand stopped glowing with electricity.
Naruto was a few feet in front of Sakura now, facing the direction he had thrown Sasuke. Naruto's hands were on the ground now, in a stance that looked similar to a dog sitting on all four paws. Sakura's vision froze again as she felt the evil, murderous chakra radiating from Naruto. Not even Jiraiya's forewarning prepared her for what she saw. Naruto's entire body was enwrapped with red chakra that was emitting numerous sizzling bubbles across his body. The shuriken that were embedded into his side had shot out, and were healing rapidly with a noticeable burning hiss being heard. Naruto's hair had become very wild, and his whiskers were almost quadruple their thickness, along with fangs that were as long as knives. The most noticeable thing that had Sakura stunned was his eyes were completely blood red now, and were practically glowing with rage and anger. Behind Naruto was waving one lone chakra tail.
"Are you ok Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked in a voice that had more demon than the Naruto she knew mixed with the furious voice that sent a chill down her spine.
Naruto turned and asked again, "Sakura-chan are yo-" He stopped though and went wide eyed when he saw how Sakura was looking at him, her face full of terror.
Naruto had to look away as he slammed his eyes shut, "...I am sorry Sakur-"
"Thank you." Naruto snapped his head back in surprise with his red eyes wide in shock when he was met by Sakura's grateful smile.
"Thank you, Naruto." She said again, not whispering at all and looking straight into his red slits. Naruto gasped almost as if he couldn't believe it, but gave a toothy smile. Sasuke's cold snicker interrupted the two who turned back to meet his emotionless face.
"Sakura..." He said simply, and the effect was almost instant as Sakura finally got a good look at Sasuke's appearance and whispered in her shock.
"...Sasuke..-kun..."
Sasuke gave off his simple 'hn' then glared between the two, "Do not interfere! This is between me and Naruto." he hissed with authority. Sakura finally shook herself out of her shock, although her wide eyes remained.
Naruto looked back in worry of his friend, "Sakura-chan...Please do not get involved in this."
Sakura's shock face returned, 'W-what?!'
"Naruto..." She whispered, in shock with traces of disappointment which cut through Naruto harder than any injury he received.
"...You promised me...we would do this together..." She said still in a whisper.
Naruto's eyes widened but he said surprisingly more himself than the Kyuubi, "I don't want you to get hurt."
Sakura regained all her strength and glared into his red slits with a rage that arguably could compete.
"I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF BAKA!" She screamed in frustration.
Sasuke cold words cut through her anger, "As always Sakura, you are pathetic and annoying...Would you like to have found out what would have happened if Naruto didn't stop me."
Sakura gritted her teeth as her eyes fell to the forest floor.
'I would have died...' Her mind reluctantly admitted, as her hands clenched into a shaking tight fist.
'Sasuke-kun could have killed me in a single shot if Naruto didn't save me.....I am still behind both of them.' Sakura repeated, while inwardly crying.
"...Sorry Naruto....I will be more harm than good if I try and help you..." She whispered in defeat, causing Naruto to cringe at what his words had done, Sasuke adding his own bit only made it worse.
Naruto reluctantly pulled his gaze away, finding looking at her was hurting him, "You can beat me up all you want after this, I deserve it." He muttered weakly, only he didn't notice Sakura fist tightened to frantic trembling.
'I DONT WANT TO HIT YOU, YOU IDIOT!' She screamed internally but said nothing through a closed tight jaw. Sasuke's sharingan glared, as he alienated Sakura from his sights and focused on Naruto.
Naruto in turn narrowed his slits, "When this is over Sasuke, we are going to drag you back to the village." Sasuke gave off a laugh that to Sakura's terror sounded so much like Orochimaru's.
"Still going on about that, when will you understand that I don't need saving, I came to Orochimaru at my own will. I will even repeat for it to sink into your thick skull Naruto. Team 7 was slowing me down, my ambition had no hope of happening if I stayed."
Sakura finally felt her strength return as she near shouted, "Orochimaru just wants your eyes Sasuke-kun! He doesn't care about helping you avenge your clan!"
Sasuke gave an arrogant "Hmmph" and spat to Sakura dismissively, "I do not care of the costs, all I care is getting the strength to kill my brother!"
Sakura winced as her strength crumbled away, '...W-What has Orochimaru done to you?!' Naruto's growl brought Sakura out of her thoughts.
"Don't talk to her like she is trash Sasuke!"
Sasuke had enough of this pointless talking, and sprung to action as he shot at Naruto, while unsheathing his sword.
Naruto in turn leapt forward, as his chakra cloaked claw blocked the collision as both stared into the others faces with determination for their different goals. Naruto's claw won for dominance as Sasuke once again was pushed back, and Naruto closed the distance, running like a fox would in a red blur as he made a swipe several feet away from Sasuke.
Sakura questioned the clear miss, 'What is he-' Her questioning gaze changed to shock as the claws swipe physically formed in chakra, and released a shockwave in the shape of claw marks towards Sasuke.
Sasuke evaded the chakra swipes one after the other, and then after dodging several, ran through seals. "Katon, Ryuka no jutsu!" Sasuke released an enormous fireball out of his mouth. Sasuke's sharingan eyes widened though when the red chakra covering Naruto lunged straight through his jutsu unaffected and punched him across the face. The force from the punch sent him flying into a tree, only to give a loud 'poof', as a branch replaced with Sasuke's collision.
Sakura was agape, 'A-Amazing...the Kyuubi's chakra is able to protect Naruto from attacks!' Sakura's mind concluded, as Naruto was searching for Sasuke. Naruto's chakra ears physically perked though, when they heard the sounds of thousands of birds chirping. "Chidori!" Sasuke roared as he flew through the bushes as a blur towards Naruto who was standing there and waiting. When Naruto deemed he was close enough, Naruto pulled his arm back, with his hand held wide open as if to grab, then suddenly flung it forward. Sakura again was dumbfounded as the chakra cloak extended out freely towards Sasuke, covering the distance between them in a matter of seconds. Sakura gasped though when Sasuke's chidori ripped straight through the human size now claw, and continued ripping down through the chakra, but at a slower pace.
'It is not working!' she cried.
Naruto saw it too, but still held his focused features as his other arm swiped sideways. The arm suddenly extended out and knocked Sasuke off the course of his path, sending him rolling across the grass before standing up and glaring in irritation.
Sakura released the breath she was holding in, 'I see...he used the chakra to slow Sasuke-kun down, so then he could hit him with the other hand.'
Naruto shook his head, "Why are you holding back?" He said suddenly causing Sakura to gasp yet again in terror.
'Sasuke-kun is holding back!?!' Sasuke chuckled and gave an arrogant 'Hmmph' while ignoring the opened gash on his left side.
"I don't need the second level of curse seal to defeat you." Naruto gritted his sharp teeth in response.
"Arrogant as always Sasuke!" Naruto spat in out of character like aggression, as Naruto closed the distance between them again.
Sakura raised an eyebrow in question and then remembered what Jiraiya told her.
'The Kyuubi can influence Naruto's behaviour when he is using its chakra...anger allows the Kyuubi to flow more chakra into Naruto.'
Sakura gasped in new found realisation, 'H-He can easily lose control if he gets angry.' Naruto let out a half demonic roar as he balanced his body on his chakra tail, and began an onslaught of attacks at Sasuke, using his chakra hands and feet. Sasuke backed away in time, and stuck out his hand "Seneijashu!" he announced, as a large snake shot out of his sleeve and pulled the tail standing Naruto back.
"Naruto!" Sakura shouted as she saw the snake enclose it's razor sharp fangs into Naruto's stomach, and he emitted a loud animal like roar in pain as his back collided with a tree. The snake suddenly pulled back and emitted its own loud hiss, as its mouth looked like it was burning. Sasuke's eyebrow raised in question, while Sakura's eyes widened in alarm to Naruto's sudden addition, a second tail.
'Oh no...'
Naruto was on all fours and hissed in deep annoyance, as his large wound healed in mere seconds with steam emitting from his injury.
While the Snake returned to its owners sleeve Sasuke gave a small chuckle, "It seems you are even more reckless in that form than you usually are."
"Shut up." Naruto hissed, Sakura noting it sounded even more inhuman than before.
'H-he is losing control!'
"Naruto!-"
"I SAID SHUT UP!"
Sakura went agape at Naruto's retaliating roar from her call, as his killer intent practically collided against her body with overwhelming force making her knees almost buckle.
Sasuke raised his eye brow again, 'Looks like he can't think straight while using the Kyuubi's chakra either.' He concluded, as he recalled what Orochimaru told him about the Kyuubi.
Sakura trembled in her spot in fear, "N-Naruto..." she whispered out, her fear and worry clear in her vibrating voice.
Naruto suddenly realised what he had done and went wide eyed, "Sakura-chan I'm so-"
Naruto was cut off when Sasuke took his opening, and with his now charged sword, slashed across Naruto's face. Sakura once again cried out, as she tried with all her will to not move from her spot, "NARUTO!"
Only her shout was not heard over Naruto's own roar of pain. Naruto had moved back in time to avoid having his head split in two, but Sasuke's chakra charged sword had cut through the Kyuubi's chakra cloak, and was able to slice down his chest, splitting open his jacket and tearing partially through the top of his shirt. Naruto bared his fangs in retaliation, and seemed to have snapped and attacked Sasuke, his blood red slits practically radiating with anger.
"SASUKE!" Naruto semi roared out as he blindly swiped out at Sasuke. Sakura didn't know the reason, but it seemed the chakra looked less controlled than before, as it now was wildly trying to meet Sasuke's flesh furiously, moving even faster than before.
This time Naruto's chakra claw connected and slashed across Sasuke's own chest, causing him to emit a loud grunt in pain as he was sent flying. Sakura's worried eyes were twitching when another red chakra claw appeared out of the ground suddenly, and slammed its gigantic sized claw down over Sasuke's projectile like self, causing an earthquake on its collision with the grass. After the debris had cleared, Sasuke could be seen getting up with a tickle of blood running down the side of his face.
'My sharingan can't keep up with that wild chakra...just like last time.' he mused in annoyance. Naruto shot at impossible speeds at a now wide eyed Sasuke, readying another claw. Sasuke moved back in time as Naruto's claws swiped diagonally across at where Sasuke was once standing. The chakra claws released another shockwave that cut at least several feet down and outwards from where the chakra claws originally were.
'Naruto is going to kill him if I don't do something!' Sakura shouted internally at herself, as she remembered the tags she was given.
Sakura broke into a run, but saw Naruto was at Sasuke again, with another swipe just missing, only for one of his two tails to whip Sasuke in the gut, and sending him flying out of view behind bushes. Naruto was about to pounce after Sasuke, until his red eyes locked with Sakura's worried filled emerald set as she was closing the distance. Sakura seemed to stop and stare a few meters away. Looking into those burning red slit eyes was not the friend she once knew, and it terrified her.
"Naruto....it's me." She whispered, hoping he understood. Sakura took a small step, as she slowly pulled out one of the tags. Upon the sight of the tag, Naruto bared his fangs, causing Sakura to freeze.
'...T-The Kyuubi...knows what I am about to do?!'
Sakura swallowed her near overwhelming nerves and repeated, "Naruto?" She asked again, her fear now battling with her concern.
'I AM NOT RUNNING AWAY!' She shouted at her trembling bodies protests to run.
She thanked god when she saw his eyes flicker with familiarisation.
"Sakura-chan....help!" He cried, causing her to come in closer.
"Hold on Naruto!" She said strongly as she was about to place the tag on his forehead, until she suddenly felt a sudden unimaginable pain. The cause being Naruto's claw digging into her other arm as his eyes flickered back to their murderous flaring slits as his bone chilling roar deafened her.
'THE KYUUBI TRICKED ME!?!' She screamed in realisation, as she felt the liquid like chakra burn into her arm, causing her to scream as they dug deeper.
Sakura finally pulled herself together and jumped back, causing the wound to widen and drag down her arm, as she rolled to the side of another attempt from the chakra claws to dig into her body. Sakura now finally noticed a third tail beginning to sprout behind his body, as she tried to close the distance as quick as she could, but she met the surprisingly solid chakra tail whip across her gut, knocking the wind out of her as she soared back several meters and rolled across the forest floor. Sakura eventually came to a stop, and coughed furiously, as she tasted the blood coming up from the back of her throat. She soon felt a presence standing over her as her eyes slowly looked up to see red slits.
"Naruto..." She whispered in silent hope he listened, but was rewarded by one of his claws raising, as if to strike at her prone form.
Sakura refused to look away from the flaming slits, "Please...stop." She begged in what seemed a familiar way to her from long ago, but no response came. Sakura suddenly saw his left eye's red glow blur, as a tear formed and ran down his cheek.
"STOP ME NOW!" He screamed with what little remainder of himself he had left, as he began to violently shake as if he was resisting the chakra's will. Sakura ignored her body's protests and bolted up and slammed the tag onto his forehead, causing Naruto's shaking form to suddenly freeze.
The effect was instant as the chakra dispersed in a violent shockwave, sending her hair and the nearby leaves flying back wildly for moments then relaxing with a disturbing silence. Naruto closed his eyes then fell to the ground, along with the tag crumbling out of existence like ash.
"Naruto!" Sakura cried out in worry, ignoring the overwhelming pain she was feeling on her arm and ribs. She shook him and he moaned, as he struggled to pull himself up while he was panting furiously. Sakura rested her good arm on his shoulder in support.
"Are you ok?" She asked in a whisper.
Naruto staggered through his gasps to reply in a way she wasn't expecting, "What have I........what have I done to you!?" He said, his voice now full of shock instead of exhaustion, as his averted gaze now was staring at her other arm she was holding close to her body. Sakura gritted her teeth as the burning like pain was getting worse, Naruto's tears rolling down his face was not helping her in the slightest.
She finally looked down herself to see the damage done. Her arm had a large wide slash, each mark was wider than her own fingers, and went deep, but nothing could be seen due to the large amount of blood. The wound went diagonally down her arm and widened at the end, from when she pulled away.
Sakura then used her good hand to check her ribs while replying, "Don't you dare blame yourself for this Narut-"
"What have I done to you?!" He said again still in his frozen shocked state, now with a cracked voice. The amount of pain held behind it was enough to make her gasp in shock, "Naruto I said it-"
"WHAT HAVE I DONE TO YOU!!?" He now screamed as his eyes ran with tears as he struggled to remain on his knees. Sakura stopped caring about her ribs once she determined no bones were broken as she stopped her diagnosis, and enwrapped her one good arm around Naruto's shaking body.
"It's ok! It's alright Naruto, you weren't yourself." She said softly, as Naruto crashed his exhausted head against her shoulder, almost toppling her over.
"What have I done to you?!" He repeated again through his weak sobs as if he was stuck in a loop.
"Shh...It's alright Naruto." she said in comfort, and gladly repeated it until he stopped his saying after several times.
Naruto pulled away to look into her eyes to see her honesty, "I mean it Naruto...It is okay." She repeated in a whisper as she didn't look away. Oblivious to the two, the hidden Orochimaru's eyes narrowed in interest, from his spot in the trees.
' So this is how Jiraiya kept him under control...with my own originally designed seal, for controlling the cursed seal in its early development.' He said in amusement of his discovery as he chose to remain hidden and watch.
Naruto sniffled as he tried to speak through his desperate gasps for air, "S-Sakura-c-chan..I am so so-" He soon gasped not in exhaustion, but in shock, as his eyes looked to something behind Sakura, fast.
With all the remaining strength he had, Naruto threw Sakura to his left, causing Sakura to yelp in surprise, and grit her teeth in pain at her landing. Sakura's gaze froze hard on the soft grass in front of her, as she heard something that made her heart skip a beat...the sound of metal piercing flesh and a weak cry of pain.
'N-NO!'
She span her head and the tears already began pouring from her glassy eyes which showed the reflection of Sasuke in a strange form. Sasuke's skin colour changed to some kind of blue tone, almost like scales, with small claws. His hair was at least triple its usual length, and was wildly dangling down his back. Sasuke also appeared to have wings that resembled some type of clawed hand coming out of his back, but that was not what made Sakura's heart skip a second beat. The cause was the sword, which was impaling Naruto through the left part of his chest, who appeared barely conscious as blood trailed down his mouth.
"NARUTO!!!!!" Sakura screamed as loud as she could, ignoring the pain felt in her dry throat and injury.
Sasuke didn't seem to care as he stared amused at his pinned prize and emitted his loud disturbing laugh, "I guess I underestimated you, Naruto." He said with a large fanged smirk, as he pulled out his sword, allowing Naruto's body to hit the ground hard, covering the once soft green grass with his own blood.
Sasuke prepared his sword to impale through Naruto's now red splattered hair. Sasuke held the sword for a moment as all his memories recollected of all his times back with Naruto, to the academy, all the way to their fight at the valley of end.
Sasuke suddenly remembered his own words, although his face held no change in expression, 'Why Naruto...why would you go so far for me?!'
'This is one of the first bonds I've ever had.' Naruto response echoed in Sasuke's mind. It was soon followed by his realisation after their jutsu's collided that Naruto was his best friend, causing Sasuke's grip on his sword to tighten.
'Naruto....' Sasuke musing was paused when the image of Itachi flooded, filling him with anger and rage.
'This is why your death will help me avenge my clan, Naruto.' Sasuke concluded, until his father's words struck at him for a second time.
"As expected of my child...You must continue to improve, and rise to great heights...in addition...don't follow your brothers path."
Sasuke's sharingan eyes widened on Naruto's near lifeless form, 'I...am allowing myself to be manipulated by you again! Ita-'
Before Sasuke could even finish his thoughts, he was sent into unconsciousness when something with unimaginable force collided with his face. Sasuke was sent shooting across through the forest at impossible speeds, breaking through trees without losing any velocity. It was over when his body collided with a large boulder, which completely crumbled at least thirty meters away from the fight, hiding his turned back to normal form under the rubble. Orochimaru watched the whole thing unfold wide eyed, as he looked back to the source.
A furiously shaking and crying Haruno Sakura stood over Naruto's body, with her fist not moved from the position she made contact with Sasuke's face, breathing loudly, short of breath from her dilemma and injury. Orochimaru noticed that the strange shape of her knuckles through the torn gloves fabric, that she must have broken her hand from the amount of force both physically and chakra wise she put into that punch. Since she had punched Sasuke with her already heavily injured arm, her wound was now running wild with her blood, while Sakura was beginning to lose all feeling in her left arm.
'...That is what you get for underestimating your opponents Sasuke-kun...and for hesitating at the last minute.' Orochimaru inwardly scolded to his student, as he disappeared into the tree bark to go and collect the unconscious Uchiha.
Sakura gently rolled Naruto onto his back, ignoring the overwhelming pain her entire left arm felt, so she could inspect the damage and more tears fell.
"W-Why..." Sakura muttered through sobs as she placed her good hand over the wound and began healing the life threatening wound.
Sakura suddenly felt all her guilt she had held back for so long come exploding out in her scream, "WHY DO YOU ALWAYS GET HURT FOR ME?!"
"I...I do not care...w-what happens to me...." Was all he could cough out as he was losing his battle to stay conscious. Naruto tried to focus on Sakura's face, but her damp, delicate face was starting to lose focus, although her glassy eyes were still as clear as day. Naruto let out a blood filled cough as he continued.
"...Until my precious people are safe....I will not stop to save them." He beamed weakly, as the emerald orbs disappeared behind tightly closed eye lids with more streams flowing freely down the distorted face.
Before he lost complete focus he felt something soft press gently onto his forehead, along with the feeling of some sort of salt tasting rain dropping onto his face, as he heard the cracked yet soft whisper, "You stupid, selfless baka!"
Naruto weakly chuckled as he muttered, "And...proud...of it..." He whispered as he slipped into darkness.