DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS. THIS IS JUST A FAN-MADE STORY!
The man unleashed a blood-curling scream as the sword was pulled out from the depths of muscle in his chest where his heart now lay burst and useless. As he crumbled in a heap before the young Uchiha's feet, the sword was thrust into the ground in frustration.
"Damn them, damn them all!" Sasuke growled, his usually emotionless face contorted with rage.
"S-Sasuke, c-calm down alright?" Karin said timidly, partly afraid of this enraged man before her.
"When you go through what I've been through then you've earned the right to come and tell me to calm down," Sasuke spat as he pulled up his sword, which was soiled with the viscous, scarlet liquid that dripped from it. Uncaringly, he wiped it roughly on the dead man's shirt and slid it smoothly beneath his rope belt.
"No one knows where the Akatsuki are...no one knows where Itachi is, NO ONE!" Sasuke lashed out a kick that sent the corpse tumbling into the opposite wall. With a sickening crunch, the body's skull smashed against the now red bricks as Karin felt her stomach lurch.
"Sasuke, that's enough. Let's go look somewhere else alright?" Suigetsu wasn't liking Sasuke's fury either. Besides, Jugo seemed to be shivering excitedly at the sight of blood oozing from the corpse. The last thing they needed was an uncontrollable monster on their hands.
But suddenly, with blinding speed, Sasuke grabbed the neck of Suigetsu's trench coat and slammed him violently against the wall, pressing his glistening blade to his throat.
"SASUKE!" Karin shrieked.
"Listen up bastard, who the hell do you think you are, telling me what to do?" Sasuke hissed menacingly as Suigetsu struggled against him.
"I was just trying to calm you down!" Suigetsu rasped as he felt the blade pressing sharply into his pale skin.
"I'm the leader. I pull the strings. You have no right to 'calm me down'. I expect you to wait obediently until I'm finished and then follow me wherever I take you. Unless of course you'd rather go back to Orochimaru's hell," Sasuke's black eyes were shining with a look of insanity: "I could always drag you back and leave you there. I can find worthier ninjas who are stronger and more willing to do what I tell them to."
"Sasuke please, we only want to help you," Jugo stepped in in an effort to save Suigetsu, but Sasuke was in a state beyond listening.
"What am I saying?" Sasuke whispered, laughing beneath his breath: "I should just cut you up right now!"
"Sasuke, I'm s-sorry! Please..." Suigetsu felt fear grip his insides when he felt the blade's sharp tip pierce his neck and a thin line of blood snake it's way down his exposed throat.
"Shoulda thought of that before shouldn't you?" Sasuke was about to slice his throat open when Jugo suddenly grabbed his arm and wrenched it back, breaking it with a deafening snap.
"What the hell-?" Sasuke shouted as he collapsed on his knees, gripping his limp arm as shockwaves of unbearable pain pulsed through it.
"I couldn't let you do it! I'm sorry Sasuke, but you were in a state of insanity!" Jugo stood before him, knowing that he had committed a highly consequential act.
"Sasuke...!" Karin gasped, sinking down next to him and pulling up her sleeve: "Here, bite my arm."
Sasuke stared coldly for a moment at the bite marks that tainted Karin's otherwise graceful arm, then sank his teeth viciously into her skin. The rage that still pulsed through him made him sink his teeth wolfishly into her soft arm, as if striving to tear off a whole chunk of it. Ignoring her deafening screams, he tried to concentrate hard on the chakra that flowed from her veins to his, healing the broken bone in his lifeless arm. When the process was complete, he released her bleeding skin and rose to his feet. Slowly, he began walking over to Jugo, who was still rooted to the spot in shock. For a couple of seconds, Sasuke stood right in front of him, staring straight into the animal-lover's panic-stricken face. Then he punched him right in the gut, the force knocking the wind out of him and shoving him down to the blood-stained ground.
"All three of you have suffered at my hands today. Let this be a lesson that will remain imprinted in your minds. From now on, you will never disobey me or order me around again...lest you wish to die," Sasuke glared round at all of them, then turned and began leaving the area: "I will see you again tomorrow at this hour. If any of you comes to find me, I won't hesitate in cutting you down."
As soon as he had left and was well out of ear-shot, the three of them heaved a long sigh of relief and slumped down on the red ground in exhaustion.
"Damn..." Suigetsu murmured: "That was a close call."
"I'll second that," said Jugo, rubbing his bruised stomach.
"Sasuke...oh Sasuke..." Karin had begun to cry softly, caressing the hideous bite that her crush had implanted in her arm.
"Yeah...your precious Sasuke..." said Suigetsu, but there was no hint of spite or taunt in his voice. Instead he climbed back on his feet, walked over to her and sank down beside her, rubbing her shoulders comfortingly.
"I just can't...believe he would be s-so..." she sobbed brokenly.
"Sasuke's become heartless. The sooner we all face it, the better," said Suigetsu.
"His chakra was so dark...so harsh and evil...it frightened me..." Karin pressed her hands over her eyes, but any effort to wipe out the image of the new, cruel Sasuke was in vain. He was still there, imprinted in her mind, as he had wanted it to be.
"Come on, we shouldn't hang around here," said Jugo, getting up from the ground and joining his teammates.
As they slowly made their way out of the area where the bloody scene had taken place, they all knew that from now on, things would be much harder than they ever were.