The Shinobi way Chapter 24, a naruto fanfic

The sound of a thousand birds filled the air as electricity crackled, held in the hand of a shinobi. A red eye glared, the other eye shut and bleeding from a light scratch over it. The shinobi yelled at the man across from him.

"Naruto! Stop this foolishness, please! If you just come back now we can forget that this ever happened. Please Naruto, Konoha will hunt you down if you leave like this!" The blond man said nothing as a blue orb formed in his left hand, fire soon spinning out of it.

~Break~

"The Uchiha has done what now?" came the apathetic tone of a blond shinobi. The shinobi was Uzumaki Naruto, chunin of Konohagakure, Hidden Village in the Leaves. Not much had changed with him since Tsunade had taken over the position of Hokage a month ago, but one thing that would catch your attention if you knew him well was a slight change in his eyes. It was the look of a man who had been pushed too far, but to Tsunade it looked no different than his regular appearance.

"Uchiha Sasuke has abandoned Konoha for Orochimaru, and he did so late last night. I am unaware of whether or not it was willing, but for the sake of the mission we shall say that it was. Now Naruto, I need you to retrieve him." Said the blond woman, going over several scrolls as she did so.

"By myself? If someone took him forcefully then I alone would likely not be enough to retrieve him." Naruto observed, wondering just what the woman was intending. Tsunade sighed, her posture registering defeat. Her brown eyes looked up at him, warmth in them, but a steel deeper down that told him she had no choice.

"If Sasuke ran off alone you should be more than enough to take him down. After all, you were able to hold off Orochimaru when he was serious, not exactly a feat that most are capable of. Unfortunately, if Sasuke has been kidnapped, I have no shinobi available to send out other than genin, and one chunin. Of course, if Orochimaru did send someone to kidnap Sasuke he would not send anyone that could be handled by genin. In fact they would most likely be elite jonin level, if not High ANBU level. I can only send you, seeing as you are at the skill level of a Sannin."

Naruto nodded in agreement, it made sense to him. He knew that the only chunin was Shikamaru already, the boy's father had decided to train the boy a bit more in family techniques now that he was a chunin. However, his mind now started to turn in a new direction. 'I will be alone? I can finally leave, ninja do not come back from missions all the time. Fastest way to get to the point where I can disappear into chaos would be to head to the Valley of the End.' He spoke up, no difference in his voice or posture.

"I will accept the mission. However, is lethal force allowed?" Tsunade nodded seriously.

"Good luck Naruto." The blond boy nodded and left the Hokage's office, but little did the woman know that she would never see him again.

It had been relatively easy for Naruto to catch up to the group, and now he was observing them, unnoticed by them. There was a large man with spiky brown hair, a red-head with a terrible temper, a four-armed brown haired man, and one really pale man with silver hair and an odd protrusion from his neck. The group was powerful, Naruto had watched as they used some sort of "curse seal level two" to defeat a squad of jonin. That implied several things. First, it implied that they would not be able to defeat the jonin normally. That meant that the curse seal was a crutch to give them extra power. There were several obvious side affects to it however, one of which was apparent exhaustion.

The group of four had a barrel with them that had several seals on it. He had easily been able to interpret the seals even from the distance that he was at. Those seals were designed to keep a person alive, even if they were an inch from death. However, the only one who could possibly heal someone that close to death was Tsunade, and even then it would be a very, very difficult for her to do so. So it had to be for something else. Sasuke had to be in that barrel, especially as the group was being quite careful with it. Naruto made a shadow clone, having it henge into the form of one of the jonin from earlier, injuries included, and had it enter the clearing.

Four heads snapped towards the eastern part of the clearing as one, and soon the group grew angry.

"You? How the fuck are you alive shithead?" was the snarled outburst from the red-headed women. From the shadows of the woods came a man, stumbling and blood-stained, injuries obvious in the way he moved. A head injury leaked blood down his face, his brown hair now murky and congealed.

"I…will kill…you all." The man stuttered, swaying on his feet even as he did so. A snarl came over the four-armed mans face as he walked forward, only to be stopped by the biggest one. "I will take care of them Kidomaru. For someone as injured as he is he has a large amount of chakra left, he must have taken chakra pills. I will have my fill and catch up." The four-armed man, now revealed as Kidomaru nodded, speaking as he did so.

"Hurry up Jirobo, we are on a schedule, remember?"

"Yeah, hurry up fatty, Orochimaru-sama needs this brat for his new body!" The red-haired woman interjected, her face set into a perpetual snarl. Naruto noticed something odd about her though. Her voice held a tint of hate when she said Orochimaru's name. 'She doesn't like Orochimaru then, well that's helpful. I can easily take advantage of this.'

"A lady should not curse Tayuya-san, it is impolite." Said Jirobo, resulting in the woman screaming additional curses at him. The other three jumped off, the four armed man carrying the barrel.

"Now then trash, I don't know how you are still alive, but you shouldn't have wasted what's left of your life pursuing us. Look at you, you can't even stand straight. I will put you out of your misery soon. Doton Kekkai: Doro…Gah!" The stumbling Jonin poofed into smoke even as Jirobo hit the ground, arms first, soon followed by the rest of his torso. A click resounded through the clearing as the blond shinobi continued on, already plotting the next deception.

Naruto took it slow, only going a little bit faster than the group was, and when they stopped for the night, the Jonin made a return trip.

Same as before, three snarling faces turned towards the side of the clearing, showing a Jonin that looked the same as earlier, with the exception of a few injuries from before were missing.

"How? How did you beat Jirobo?"

"He was the weakest of us, but if you're here now…" were the mutterings of the two remaining males. Tayuya on the other hand remained silent, gripping some sort of weapon in a pouch, slightly pale. Her thoughts were different than the others. 'Jirobo may have been weak, but that doesn't change the fact that this jonin was more injured before the two fought. How could he have healed? There is no way that wounds could heal that quickly unless…'

"Sakon, Kidomaru, be careful. He has to have some sort of bloodline." The twos eyes widened, and a feral grin spread across the Jonin's face. Naruto, hidden in the shadows, decided to go with it, making a shadow clone and dismissing it to inform the disguised clone of his idea.

A deep, insane chuckle rose up from deep within the brown haired Jonin, even as all three remaining members in the group paled slightly and gripped weapons, Tayuya bringing a flute to her mouth and Sakon stepping forward.

"Very clever bitch. Yes, I have a rather unique bloodline, the only one of its kind. The more damage I do to you," he grinned, and this time everyone there noticed the fangs now jutting from his mouth.

"The better off I am." Kidomaru, the four-armed man stepped forward, extra arms jutting forth from under his shirt, bringing him up to a total of eight limbs, six of which were arms. Two arms removed the forehead protector from his head, revealing a third eye, even as he pulled out several golden kunai from his mouth.

"You two get going, I'll take care of this guy." Sakon and Tayuya looked at him, Sakon taking the barrel.

"Be careful Kidomaru, don't play around. We don't know how strong this guy really is." The pale-haired man said, before turning around and leaping off into the trees with Tayuya.

A few minutes passed, the Jonin content to simply observe the multi-armed man, and Kidomaru doing the same.

"You will die here Jonin. I hope you put up a good fight." The frightening grin returned, and the last thing Kidomaru ever heard was this.

"I will feast upon your blood knave." Kidomaru's head hit the ground, all three eyes closed in death. Another click was heard as the Jonin poofed away a second time, Naruto looking upon the body of the second foe he had killed today. 'Theatricality and deception are powerful agents. These so called elites are too focused upon a single thing, resulting in their deaths.'

He was unable to catch up to them at his pace again that night, resulting in the remaining sound two having an uneasy night.

"Kidomaru should have been here by now." Sakon snarled. Tayuya snorted, shaking her head.

"He's most likely dead. That Jonin…there's something about him." Sakon looked at her seriously. Tayuya was the only sensor of the sound four, and despite her foul mouth when she spoke the others listened.

"What did you sense?" She looked at him, eyes bleak.

"Controlled chaos." Sakon snorted.

"Can you be a little less specific?" His amusement was cut off by Tayuya's serious face.

"I mean what I said. His chakra was higher than Jidanbo's, and he had the most chakra of all of us. It was also more dangerous, as if it was containing…something. Something evil and strong. It was like the feeling of the curse seals, but worse than that. Far worse." Sakon frowned, joined by Tayuya, as the two tried to figure out the odd Jonin.

Morning came, and with it was the arrival of Naruto at the campsite. He needed to end this soon. They were heading towards the Valley of the End, and while he was faster than them, he needed to be away from Konoha, which would be tracking this group. It would be better if he killed these two, along with Sasuke, because the less people who knew the direction he was heading in the better.

Two heads snapped towards the edge of the clearing, fear on one and anger upon the other. Sakon tossed the barrel towards Tayuya, who barely caught it. Black marks spread across his skin even as a snarl spread across his face.

"Get going Tayuya. Your powers would catch me in them, so we cannot fight together. I'll go all out from the beginning, he shouldn't be able to hold out for long with my abilities. I'll catch up later." Tayuya nodded towards him, the fear she had been feeling easing. 'Sakon is the strongest of us, and with Udon as his backup thanks to his unique bloodline he should be able to win.' She jumped off, barrel in her arms, knowing that the one inside it should be ready soon.

Sakon didn't have a chance to do anything further as he was bisected at the waist, the last thing Tayuya heard of him was a scream of extreme pain. Naruto, standing in the clearing at this point as his third disguised clone vanished, chuckled to himself. 'Give a shinobi one attacker that seems to be incredibly strong and they devote their sole focus to that foe, thus giving the advantage to those in the shadows.'

Naruto was off in an instant, hoping to rid himself of the last shinobi before preparing his deception. He could not have any witnesses, nor potential witnesses if he wanted the escape to go of perfectly. This time he was able to catch up fairly quickly, going this time at his full speed rather than letting them stay ahead of him.

He came upon an odd sight, two people around the barrel. Naruto was pretty sure that there was only the red-haired woman left guarding the barrel. That left only one option. 'Reinforcements. Crap.' He listened in on the two's conversation.

"Where are the others?" said the nearly albino man to the suddenly pale Tayuya.

"Dead, some Jonin with a bloodline killed them. Sakon was the last…" She was cut off by the pale man glaring at her, moving over and taking the barrel from her.

"Trash, all of you. I don't know why Orochimaru-Sama deigned to teach you if you cannot even kill a single man." He started walking back the way he came, towards the valley of the end.

"I'd advise you killing this Jonin and bringing his head to Orochimaru-Sama, and he may forgive you for your failure to reach him in time. If you manage to survive without killing him…don't come back." Tayuya clenched her fists, nearly drawing blood.

"Hai, Kimimaru." The albino man coughed a few times before vanishing, and Tayuya whirled around to face the area where Sakon died, taking a few minutes to set up several traps. Not that they would do her much good considering that Naruto watching her set them up, but apparently it was the thought that counted. Naruto decided to not bother making his illusion anew, especially seeing as she was now sitting right beneath the tree he was in.

The kill was silent; Tayuya's blood stained the ground even as Naruto cleaned the kunai he used.

Naruto easily caught up with Kimimaru, the other man carrying a barrel and not going his full speed. The albino man put the barrel down as Naruto approached him, turning to face him with an emotionless visage.

"So, you are the Jonin that was able to kill the trash that carried of my masters future body. I will destroy you for interfering." Naruto was silent, icy blue eyes staring unblinkingly at his newest opponent, the only one he wouldn't be able to take down by stealth…not.

A spear rose from the earth underneath the pale man at the speed of natural lighting, and with no sound. Kimimaru was impaled right through, the spear entering through his privates and exiting from his mouth, having no time to even consider creating any kind of defense as his blood spattered the ground. 'That should have exited through the top of his head, destroying his brain. Raising his head to the sky stopped that from happening though.' Naruto took the moment to nod to his shadow clone before it dispelled, allowing him to know just what it had done. A hissing interrupted his musings, causing him to whirl to face the now smoking barrel. Something stepped out, big and with one massive protrusion on each shoulder. These things were already shrinking, and as the smoke cleared they were gone, revealing Uchiha Sasuke, who turned to face him.

The Uchiha grunted, choosing to flee instead of fight. Naruto cocked his head curiously, but prepared to give chase. 'Move!' the Kyuubi shouted in his mind. Not taking any chances, Naruto substituted with a rock some distance away, seeing as the rock was shattered by for bone shards. His eyes snapped to the pale man, who was miraculously still alive. 'How?' Cerulean eyes trailed the gasping man, seeing the slow bleeding from the man's destroyed testicles.

'He's somehow slowed the bleeding. Considering how many veins and arteries that the earth spear had to penetrate as it pierced through his body, and that's not including the dozens in his balls and penis alone, he should have bled out by now. I know of no way that they could even slow the bleeding like this. Regardless,' his eyes swept over the man, who was in obvious pain. 'I give him three minutes, a minute and a half if he fights like this, a minute if I land anymore blows on him before he bleeds out.' The pale man spoke, desperation in his voice as he glared at the blond.

"You…w..will not int...interfere with Oro…Orochimaru-sama's am…ambition!" 'I guarantee that that spear ruined his voice box. How in the hell is this guy still alive? This would have been fatal to me!' The demonic voice of the Kyuubi rumbled up within him.

"Actually it wouldn't, at least not immediately. With the level of control the Shodaime helped you gain over my chakra I could heal that injury. Sure, it would take some time, but I could do it. This ningen on the other hand…" The beast paused, deep in thought.

"He has to have some sort of bloodline. There is no other explanation, because even to the other Jinchurikki this would be fatal. There has only ever been one event of this sort of thing happening, and that was before the Rikodu Sennin!" Naruto's inner mind perked up in confusion, but told himself he would get that story from Kyuubi later on. Then something happened that nearly had Naruto's mask shattering at the sheer impossibility of it.

Kimimaru got up. Slowly, obviously painfully, but he was getting up, coughing up blood all the way. Naruto wouldn't let that happen though, and this time he removed the man's head from his body.

"Ouch, couldn't you of at least allowed him to rise?" The Kyuubi asked. Naruto shook his head.

'Do you really think I'm going to let someone tough enough to get up after being impaled right through?' The beast subsided into grumbling, leaving Naruto free to chase after Sasuke.

'He's gotten a fair bit faster than I remember, he's easily high chunin. Kakashi did his job well.' Naruto thought to himself as he amped up his speed.

'Well it looks like there will be a second fight in the valley of the end. Of course, this one will be nowhere near as mighty as the first. Why is he running though? I figured that with Sasuke's arrogance he would attack me right off the bat.' Sasuke continued to run, eventually stopping where Naruto had predicted, the Valley of the End.

The Uchiha stopped upon the head of his ancestor, causing Naruto to stop on the head of the Shodaime, preparing several earth techniques and a genjutsu, the genjutsu taking affect in under a minute. Sasuke turned around to face Naruto, a smirk on his face.

"Isn't this fitting Dobe?" 'Dobe? Dead Last? Really? Is that the best this ningen could come up with?' The Kyuubi asked, Naruto silently agreeing with him.

"Isn't it fitting that we meet in combat at the place of legends? Where my ancestor and the Shodaime met in mortal combat, except that this time it shall be the Uchiha to walk away!" 'Is it just me Kyuubi, or is something wrong with him? He's even speaking differently then he was when I last saw him, and it isn't Kakashi's way of speaking. Has whatever Orochimaru has done to him resulted in a personality change?' The Kyuubi was silent, puzzling over Sasuke just as his vessel.

"You will fall here Dobe, and I shall continue on to Orochimaru and gain the power to kill Itachi!" 'Why does he insist upon telling me this? I'd be perfectly content to just get to fighting.' Sasuke went through hand seals for the infamous chidori, the lightning charging on his right hand as he braced his wrist with his left.

"Die here today, Dobe!" Sasuke leapt at the blond, two-tomoed Sharingan eyes glaring dangerously at him. He never knew what hit him as the original Naruto chopped him on the back of the neck, the Naruto on the Shodaime's head dissolving into the air. The Kyuubi laughed at the Uchiha.

"HA! Those Uchiha prided themselves upon their genjutsu, and now one of the last ones is completely unable to even register he's under one!" Naruto hushed the fox, something playing on the edge of his senses as he placed Sasuke on the ground.

Blood blasted from Naruto's chest as a green-glowing hand pierced it through, a pair of shimmering glasses behind the blond. A silver haired man chuckled as he whispered in the dying blonds ear.

"Sorry Naruto-kun, but Orochimaru-sama wants the Uchiha." Yakushi Kabuto spoke to the dying blond, taking the raven-haired Uchiha and leaving the valley. Blond hair poked up from the river as the body on the ground dissolved into water and the blood vanished into thin air. He smiled to himself, happy for the first time in years as he ran down the river, headed towards freedom and the pleasant peace of being anonymous. It was not to be that easy.

"Naruto!" The blonds eyes widened in horror as he heard the voice of one Hatake Kakashi. 'Damn! I was hoping to be long gone before Tsunade was able to send any reinforcements.' Easily acting as if nothing was wrong, Naruto slowed down and turned to face the silver-haired man.

"Kakashi." He greeted coolly, the other man completely serious as he caught up to Naruto. Kakashi didn't beat around the bush as he immediately asked Naruto about a certain missing Uchiha.

"Where's Sasuke?" Icy blue eyes staring unblinkingly at him were his answer for a moment.

"He got away. Yakushi Kabuto was able to buy Sasuke enough time to cross the border." Naruto was still mentally cursing the man's presence, as Kakashi was quite intelligent enough to put any slip-ups on Naruto's part together. The mere fact that he was here meant that Naruto would most likely wind up fighting them.

"Dammit!" The Cyclops-jonin sighed heavily, one visible eye heavy with sadness. His mind was on his former teammate Obito, thinking of his failures once again.

"Let's go back to Konoha Naruto, Tsunade is going to want to know about this." He turned around, slowly walking on the water, filled with a budding depression. Naruto sighed heavily. 'I suppose I should be honest with him. He deserves that much in return for his help these months, especially all the jutsu he taught me. Who knows, I may even be able to convince him to let me go.'

"I'm not going back Kakashi." The older man stopped cold, horror going through him. 'What?' He whirled around, looking at Naruto who was still staring at him, completely emotionless to the world. Kakashi was horrified, afraid of what the council would authorize to hunt for the boy. His head sank. He had no need to ask what the village had done to warrant Naruto fleeing, knowing full well why. He also knew that the village elders, Danzo especially, would not allow this. He knew Naruto would have thought this out, and in just a few seconds realized the boys plan.

'First solo mission…he was going to fake his death and head to another village! Either one that appreciates Jinchurrikki like Kumo, or one that would leave him alone through fear like Suna. I probably ruined his plan by arriving here…' an even greater revelation shook him as he looked into those icy eyes. 'He would have killed anyone else.' Kakashi's mind tracked everything he could think of in an attempt to decide whether or not he could allow Naruto to leave Konoha. Under any other circumstances he would, but…'Danzo knows him. Knows him and his abilities, along with his habits and tendencies. Hell, Danzo trained him, and because of that would be able to instruct Root on exactly what to look for.' He looked at Naruto again as he nearly bit through his lip.

'I know Naruto's good, but with the forces of an entire village against him? I can't risk it. I'll take him back, convince him to wait for a more opportune time to flee.' He resolved. He knew that if Naruto had decided to leave he would leave, and it would take a miracle for the blond to change his mind. He looked towards his Sensei's son, eyes pleading the boy to see sense.

"Naruto, please, come back to Konoha with me. We can act as if this never happened, and I can help you make a good plan to flee." Naruto shook his head, hand going to the ninjato sheathed at the back of his waist.

"This is the best time, if you hadn't of arrived then it would have been assumed that I fell to Sasuke, and the investigation would have revealed that someone had assassinated me via a wind technique. You arriving has thrown all of this into jeopardy." Naruto sighed, eyes showing sadness for the first time, before freezing right back up.

"I am sorry, Kakashi-Sensei, but if you will not let me go peacefully, I shall have to kill you." Kakashi's eye narrowed as his left hand pushed up his Hi-tae-ate, revealing a scarred and closed eye.

"So that's how it's gonna be, eh? Well then I guess I'll just have to beat some sense into you." The eye opened, revealing the spinning red Sharingan to the world as a poof of smoke announced the appearance of the jonin's own ninjato. Naruto drew his, the steel glinting in the sunlight.

"For what it's worth Kakashi, I don't want to kill you." He said, one last plead to his former mentor. The man's eyes glinted, filled with the power of an S-rank ninja.

"You won't." There were no more words as the fight began instantaneously.

~Break~

Naruto didn't move, didn't even blink, but suddenly there was a wave of Earth blasting towards Kakashi, the sheer force of it culminating into a sonic boom. Kakashi ignored it, charging the boy and running through the swiftly moving wall as if it wasn't even there. Their blades clashed, the power behind the clashing steel causing sparks to fly and ignite the nearby grass in a short-lived flame. Kakashi's fist blasted towards Naruto, easily stopped by the boy's own.

Naruto's knee hit Kakashi's leg, the brief contact and give in the older man's stance all he needed to gain the advantage. The jonin's blade was knocked high as Naruto pulsed chakra from his blade, Kakashi's other hand being thrown to the side as Naruto severed his head.

Naruto spun around in time to block another attack, the severed log falling to the ground behind him. The blond dodged a fist, ninjato moving quickly to deflect a series of high-paced blows from his opponent. Kakashi clashed with Naruto again, initiating a blade lock as he leaned closer to the blond.

"Katon: Stream" Fire spewed from Kakashi's mouth in a wide flamethrower, the blue flames reducing a log to cinders.

"You want to bring in Ninjutsu? So be it. Katon: Chou (Butterfly)" Sixteen crimson butterflies floated around the two combatants as the blades resumed their dancing. Naruto struck from the left at Kakashi, sliding the full length of his blade across the width of Kakashi's as he danced around the man, winding up behind him as he turned and slashed, landing the first blow.

"Tsk…" Kakashi hissed in pain, moving swiftly to both avoid another blow from Naruto's blade as well as the butterflies, which had suddenly begun flying towards him, every bit as fast Naruto's own movements. 'He's gotten a whole lot faster, and gained even more skill since he started training with Jiraiya. He's probably gotten stronger than me.' That thought caused a bittersweet pride within him as he deflected Naruto's blows.

The deadly dance continued, and yet it became increasingly apparent that Kakashi was no match for Naruto in swordplay. They both realized this, had known it to begin with, and as such it was no surprise when Naruto disarmed Kakashi, his blade pointing at the older man's throat.

"It's over Kakashi." The man eye-smiled and said…

"It's never over." A burst of chakra to his limbs allowed Kakashi to perform a move he had long since perfected, utilizing his arm guards to knock Naruto's blade above his head. He kept moving, one palm striking at Naruto's chest and the other attacking his sword arm. It had saved him from a fair few swordsmen.

Naruto blocked the chest strike, easily moving around to avoid the other palm, but that was part of Kakashi's trap. Naruto hadn't caught Kakashi's hand or arm, and he used that to his advantage, his fingers striking Naruto's wrist. Naruto's entire hand was paralyzed for a moment, forcing him to drop his blade. Wary of Kakashi's new style of combat, he leaped back, even as Kakashi kicked his ninjato into the river. Naruto rotated his wrist, having already regained full movement in his hand.

"Gentle Fist," he stated, and Kakashi nodded. 'Figures he would have copied it,' the blond thought, 'but it is not all that effective against me. I recover too quickly for it to be of use. This only worked because of surprise.' His eyes swept over Kakashi, who was already preparing for the next bout, this time of taijutsu. 'I am slightly stronger and more skilled then he is, and a little bit faster as well. The Sharingan he possesses negates all of those. That, when combined with his creativity, experience, and adaptability make him a serious threat for all but the strongest of shinobi. Despite his opinion to the contrary I do believe that Kakashi could match a Sannin level opponent for some time. And in this it's all he needs to do. Tsunade wouldn't send a Jonin with Kakashi's medical history out by himself, which means that there is a team of at least one medic and one escort on the way. He should know this as well, and knows that I can't fight for all that long.

Kakashi made it clear that he would cover for me, and we're both good enough sensors to catch a team long before they arrive. And yet…' the memory of the event that had finally pushed him over the edge this month flashed before his eyes, hardening his resolve. He sighed heavily. 'I refuse to go back. I guess I need to go all out then. I'm sorry Kakashi.' He entered his stance, arms up and ready to deal with Kakashi. The man moved, invisible to all but the best of shinobi, but Naruto easily matched him, and then…surpassed him. Kakashi's eyes widened as Naruto's fist broke several ribs, the brutal attack continuing as he stomped the man's calf and kicked him several meters back after that. Kakashi entered a great deal of pain, and it didn't stop there.

He had no time to react as he was beaten across the battlefield, the boy a blur even to his Sharingan eye. 'What the fuck?' he thought as he was kicked so hard blood blasted from his mouth. 'Did he open up the gates? Gai's the only one I know that can do this sort of thing to me!' Kakashi was finally allowed a moment's break, and as he took a breath he nearly lost an eye. Only instincts honed over years of war saved his only remaining natural eye from being destroyed outright. Even then the eye would still be useless for a while. He leapt back, right eye shut and bleeding. He saw Naruto staring at him, those icy cerulean eyes staring straight to his soul.

"One final chance Kakashi!" Naruto said as the orb span faster, nine tails of fire whirling around it. Kakashi nearly cried, blood dripping from his Sharingan eye. 'I'm sorry Sensei, Rin, Jiraiya, Naruto. It seems as though Naruto really will kill me for his freedom…not that he deserves anything less.'

"Raikiri! (Lightning Blade)" Kakashi's mightiest Jutsu crackled in his hand as he leaped at Naruto, the boy jumping to meet him.

"Rasengan: Nine Tails of the Kyuubi!" A great fiery fox formed behind Naruto, the nine tails of the Rasengan connecting to it, roaring in rage at any who dared to challenge it. The two jutsu met in mid-air, and it was immediately clear which was superior.

Naruto gave a light smirk to Kakashi as the man poured every ounce of chakra he had into his jutsu, and it made no difference in the clash. Kakashi was steadily pushed back, nothing but sadness in his eyes.

Naruto smiled at him, and ended his Rasengan.

Kakashi's eye widened in horror as his Raikiri destroyed the blonds heart, Naruto's dying smile being etched into his memory even as blood poured from his Sharingan eye, an odd pinwheel forming in it for a brief moment. Kakashi ended the jutsu, holding his former student close as Naruto's last, whispered words reached his ear.

"Don't…regret…this." Crimson tears fell from Kakashi's eyes, heedless of his injuries as he howled his grief to the world.

Kakashi stood after some time, still staring at the fallen body of the boy, and went to pick him up, only to be stopped by something. Crimson chakra flared, forming into the image of a fox and devouring the body of the boy in front of the Jonin's disbelieving eyes. 'No…I can't even…bury him…' Kakashi's mind nearly shut down as the last of the former blonds body crumbled to ash, the chakra vanishing into the air.

Kakashi walked away in a trance, eventually regaining enough control to mindlessly run, to flee from the area in which he fought Naruto as the tears continued to fall, not to stop for a long time.

A blond head rose from the mud, a bitter-sweet smile on his face, and turned towards the ocean, flying free.