Naruto Dragon Champion

by Freedom Guard

Two powerful swords from another world...forged by two Dragon Lords and their kind, one side who serve the light...another who serve the darkness, lands in the world of Naruto after a powerful battle. A new warrior class is born...the Dragon Champions

46. Malcontent

Naruto Dragon Champion

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Naruto or any media connected to it...

Chapter 32

Malcontent...

( ): Thoughts

(( )): Kyuubi's voice

((" ")): Holy Talon

...

In the Hokage Tower...

Tsunade looked at the mission reports made by Anko and couldn't help but shake her head at the news pertaining to the mission at the Land of the Sea. The discovery of one of Orochimaru's old bases where he had been working on his sick and twisted projects in the area was bad enough, but the finding of one of his old associates continuing the projects on his own initiative was disturbing to say the very least.

The mission to find out the truth behind the rumours of a monster attacking the convoys in the area had turned into a battle to fight another of the former Sannin's allies and the twisted experiments he had concocted, as well as the discovery of Anko's memories being restored. And now they had another case to deal with.

She placed down the report and looked at the bandaged form of the young woman named Isaribi who Naruto had brought back with the team. Isaribi in question was wearing bandages as well as several other clothes and she looked at the blonde Hokage with a great deal of hope, in fact, the young woman was giving her the very same hopeful look given to her by both Rock Lee and Gai when she had come there to try and heal the young Genin from his injuries when she had been brought back by Naruto and Jiraiya so many months ago.

She shook her head a bit more and looked at the blonde Chunin who remained ramrod straight while she and Shizune were in the office.

"You seem to have developed a habit for finding unexpected people Naruto-san, so Isaribi-san is the one who had been attacking the ships in the Land of Sea?"

"Yes Hokage-sama, she was being forced into doing so by Amachi, an old ally of Orochimaru to be cured of what had happened to her."

"So I have read, she also knows about your condition?"

Naruto nodded and Isaribi then spoke though she remembered who she was facing, as like all people, she was aware of who Tsunade was.

"I saw Naruto-san fight with Amachi and his summoned beast Tsunade-sama, and I saw him use that power of his."

"You know of the Kyuubi?"

"Yes I have, I had not...well, I had thought that Naruto-san knew nothing about suffering when he tried to convince me to stop doing this, but after seeing him use that power, I realized he was right...and that is why I chose to leave Amachi...even more so now that I knew that he neither had a cure nor the intention to cure me. I was only a test subject to him..."

Tsunade mentally growled at that, she had read the full report from Anko about Isaribi before the young woman even arrived into Konoha. And what she read was less than pleasing, and this was enough for her to decide that while it would take time, she would find a cure. Most of Amachi's notes were destroyed, something that Naruto personally apologized for though the situation was unavoidable. But thankfully Shino had allowed his bugs to find the notes and 'read' them as it were and they then relayed the information to him.

This made it easier for her in many respects and she then gave her decision regarding Isaribi.

"Very well, I will do what I can to find a cure, thankfully even with the notes gone and Amachi in prison and not being the least bit cooperative, we have enough to begin the work. Isaribi will be allowed to reside in Konoha for the duration until a proper cure for her condition is found."

Isaribi smiled for the first time at this without hiding her emotions, the chance to finally live as a normal human being was something desired so much, and now she was going to get it. She knew in her heart that it would take months or even years, but to know that she had a chance and with someone willing to work for real to cure her, she felt that she finally had something to hope and pray for that was not fake in the least. Naruto smiled warmly at this and in his mind, this was all worth it.

...

Later...

As the meeting came to an end, Tsunade ordered Naruto to escort Isaribi to his old home, which had undergone a good deal of restructuring and was soon considered good to live in. Naturally his own place had not been touched and he had moved most if not all of his things to his new home so it was bare. However, Isaribi did not seem top be troubled by this as she and Naruto walked to the apartment in question.

This allowed Naruto to recall just how the whole situation had happened in the first place. Once they had arrived into the Land of Sea, Anko had been distracted the very second she had seen the place and she reacted in pain a bit. Most of the others did not notice it but Holy Talon did and naturally informed Naruto of it's findings.

He had privately talked to Anko about it, but so far the Jonin admitted truthfully that she was having some problems recalling why she seemed to know of this place. The only thing she did tell Naruto was that when she was younger, and had been...abandoned as it were by Orochimaru, she was found here by the borders by Konoha ANBU.

This had concerned Naruto a bit but decided not to press any further, he knew that despite her past with Orochimaru, Anko had no love for the man and had tried to kill herself, and end her own life back there in the Forest of Death nearly a year and a half before. He replied that he was going to respect her privacy and therefore he was going to let her discover her past involving this place on her own terms.

That made the Jonin smirk as they got back to work, they naturally had decided to get into one of the moving convoys to guard it and possibly prevent another attack by what or who had been plaguing the convoys for weeks now. It was here that he had spotted two men accosting a young woman with bandages who carried food. He stopped it though he was briefly confused why the two men seemed to act differently when they saw him but he ignored that as he helped her get her supplies and it was after a few minutes of discussion that he learned that the woman was named Isaribi.

He placed the meeting aside as he knew that he had to take care of being with the team as he was the second in command due to his Chunin rank and as such, he had to meet up with the others. It was there that they were now guarding the convoy, Holy Talon sensed that there was more going on and they had to be wary.

They did not have to wait for very long when the attacks happened, and to his surprise, it was there that he encountered two familiar faces, not just him, but Sasuke, and the others as well.

...

It had been none other than the same guys he had dealt with before and who he now recognized as Kabuto's other team mates who were now recognized as Sound spies. He had not recognized them due to their change in uniform and the fact that they had concealed their faces considerably well. And it seemed that the one who had nearly drained Sasuke dry of his own chakra had decided to attack his former team mate once more. Sasuke however had been improving well enough to be able to fight with Yoroi without allowing his foe to take him out. Yoroi had attempted to take out the Uchiha once again and apparently had developed a number of new moves that caught the man off guard.

However the man's partner with the highly flexible body and joints, the one named Tsurugi was more than willing to attack in a more unique fashion, he still retained his ability to move his limbs and body without breaking anything in him. The two worked in unison and proved to be a serious pair, more than enough to have proven a challenge to the team, But they seemed to be focusing on Sasuke in particular. They continued to taunt him and while they knew that they were facing a more powerful force of Konoha ninja, and Naruto being a Chunin, they were still confident in themselves and Yoroi had indeed picked up a few Fire Techniques that surprised even Sasuke.

Naruto and the others were able to eventually fight them off though he had been separated from them due to the presence of the same team that of Rain Ninja from the Chunin Exams. This time around however, they were better trained than they had been before which was why they were able to have him taken out of the fight leaving the others to deal with them and the two Sound Ninja spies. This was where he encountered Isaribi and while he was not badly injured, he had not been able to recover as fast as he had hoped.

This allowed him to spend time with Isaribi, and it was here that Holy Talon told him that there was something about this woman in bandages, something tragic and painful. The sword also mentioned to him that she had the blood of innocent people on her hands...but was not evil at heart.

This confused Naruto considerably as he was not quite sure yet what Holy Talon was saying. He however got an idea when he had spotted some of the children from the village he and the others had been to before. He spotted how they vandalized her home and even willingly threw rocks at her even with him in plain view of them. He was angry them but noted that Isaribi had kept calm about the whole thing and that was something that made him all the more wary of her, though he kept that to himself.

...

Flashback...

(Something is not right here, she is taking those attacks too calmly, no doubt this is not new...why would they do that to her?)

(("Perhaps Isaribi is a representation of something that the villagers hate and fear, remember the rumours we heard about before Master Naruto?"))

Naruto recalled that, there were a number of people who had vanished from the village as well as some smaller towns. None had ever returned, but he had a feeling that maybe Isaribi was one of them. He however did not make a move yet as he needed to see just what else he could learn from the woman herself. It was when he returned to the village and met the others that he put two and to together.

The Kyuubi was more than willing to speak as well.

((Less talking and more action, I am itching for some action and it's boring me out of my mind being here and having no fun at all. Are you trying to kill me through boredom or something?))

((There's a thought.))

(("Shut up...let me have SOME action here, it's been ages already, what am I supposed to do here in your brain for entertainment? I'll admit seeing all of the collected memories of your sexual escapades with those ladies have been VERY nice, but I need to feel the rush of battle for a change here! Let me have some action before I really lose myself in here!"))

(All right...just wait all right fur face!)

(("Fur face? You ungrateful brat!"))

(Do you want me to let you loose so you can fight or not?)

(("Grrrr! All right then! But don't expect me to forget that insult brat...I might have a loathing respect for you, but that only goes so far."))

...

End of Flashback...

It was when he and Holy Talon met with the others that he found out that Anko had apparently been knocked out and he had tried to reason with Isaribi to stop her actions as doing this would truly make her a monster. That had not worked as she was determined to be cured from her condition and therefore she had escaped as the Rain Genin team appeared as well to thwart him and the others. Eventually they were able to get to Anko and as she recovered, she told them what she recalled.

Apparently Orochimaru had established some sort of base in the Land of the Sea to research on how to create through medical surgery, which was naturally the forbidden kind to give ninja the ability to move and fight underwater. She knew this since as a child she had been here before and here was where she got her own Curse mark. This shocked the others though Naruto noted that Sasuke was not as moved and seemed to have something else occupying his mind.

They managed to get a boat and head to the place where Anko knew the lab would be. They moved secure the location but it seemed that Amachi had been expecting them and they knew this when traps were being activated. It also seemed that apart from stealing ryo and gold before, Amachi had been hiring mercenaries to secure the island, and they were the fanatical onces with Yoroi and Tsurugi serving as captains for different groups as well as the Rain Genin team from before who apparently had somehow gotten some new equipment. Anko felt well enough to fight and ordered him and Sasuke to intercept Amachi who apparently had fled the area along with Isaribi while she and the others dealt with the rest. Yoroi and Tsurugi allowed them to leave as they had scores to settle and this allowed Ino, Shino, Haku, and the others to deal with them as well.

It was when he fought with Amachi, the man turned into a hybrid like Isaribi who was also in her supposed demon form but his was lacking any defining trait that was human. Naruto then allowed Holy Talon to unleash some of the chakra of the Kyuubi to give him something of an edge and allow the Kyuubi to fight since it had been eager to finally get into the action. The sentient sword relented and the Kyuubi and him were now fighting side by side.

Though Amachi had attempted to use his powers to kill the blonde, Naruto was not going to back down, and it was here that the others arrived. It was Anko who had arrived on site as she had used her Snake Summoning abilities to Summon a Snake that helped her evacuate from the place, but not after learning the truth of what happened to her. Ino, and Shino had succeeded to defeat their foes while Haku had managed to take down the Rain Genin team and Sasuke defeated a number of the creatures and mercenaries that came at him, though the collapse of the base had prevented them from taking the Rain Genin team alive.

After most of the battles were over, Naruto and Isaribi discovered that Amachi did not have a cure for Isaribi's condition nor did he even have the intention of curing her. All he wanted was to get as much money by using her abilities and when that was done, he would have her taken care of and examine her corpse. Isaribi always suspected that Amachi was lying to her but she held onto that hope of being free, and to know that she was not going to be cured by him made her angry, but she vowed never to take life to avoid being the monster she was called to be. Naruto was about to strike down Amachi himself but he was stopped by Anko who slugged Amachi herself and replied that his time had come to an end.

As soon as that trip down memory lane was over, he and Isaribi arrived at his old place and this was where he spoke to her.

"I hope this place is going to be all right, when I left this place there was not much left in there for most people."

Isaribi shook her head and replied to that.

"I can manage."

"Okay, but tell you what, I have a lot of money saved over, so if you need some appliances to help make life here a lot more helpful, just mention what you need and I'll get down to buying it for you okay Isaribi?"

The young woman nodded and smiled at the sincere way that Naruto had said it which told her that he meant every word that he had said to her.

"Thank you, this means a lot to me."

Naruto smiled warmly at that and soon helped Isaribi settle in to her new home. There were some left over pieces of furniture that he had left behind and thankfully the place was cleaned up every now and then. Most of the rooms were also cleaned up and were repaired to make the place better. It was not long before several Chunin came to the apartment and they showed that they were then ones who were going to help Isaribi in settling into her new home. With that out of the way, Naruto decided to head back home to make some of his own dinner and hope to see what was going to be the results when Isaribi got the treatment that she needs deeply.

...

Three days later...

Naruto was currently working sharpening the Dragon Steel Sword that he had been working on months before in his home, most people would have thought that it was finished and ready for use, but Naruto knew better than that. The sword was Holy Talon's only physical equal and therefore would be able to match it in blade combat, but not too much as Holy Talon had been heavily enchanted to make it a deadly weapon by Faldren and his Flight as well as the other Dragon Flights.

As soon as the weapon was done, he placed it aside and decided to head out from his home and go to see how things were for his friends. For now things had quieted down but he knew that sooner or later, there was going to be another assignment for him and the others. So far Isaribi was doing her part and going to the Hospital's lab ring to allow Tsunade to help find a cure in the notes recovered along with the aid of Sakura and Shizune as well as the other highly qualified Medic Nin who were not on duty.

As he passed the nearby park a fair distance from his current location, he spotted Sasuke training intensely with the Chidori. The Uchiha seemed not to care for the fact that he was in a public place and as such was not ideal for training in any stretch of the imagination.

He sensed something in Sasuke and the way his friend acted told Naruto that there was something brooding in his fellow team member. Holy Talon sensed that as well and spoke to his master.

(("You're friend Sasuke is seething with dark emotions, and I can sense that the seal on his form becoming a lot more active. I have a feeling that sooner or later, things will come to a head."))

(I know...I don't like this at all myself, I can only hope that Sasuke does not go any further.)

((" I can sense that, but I must be frank with you Master...ever since that battle with his brother, and the subsequent battles he has been in alongside you...he has changed. His aura is becoming darker and I can sense that despite the seal placed on him by your respective sensei, he is drawing on more of it's power. I fear that the darkness in him is becoming more pronounced."))

(I wish that you were wrong, but I feel it to. I will be ready for this and while I hope for the best, I have learned that I also have to prepare for the worst.)

That private conversation between Naruto and Holy Talon was cut short when Kurenai and Anko arrived. No doubt, judging from the bags that they had with them that they had been shopping for supplies and they smiled somewhat as they spotted Naruto. Naruto himself smiled right back at the two of them and decided to help them out.

Anko grinned warmly at this and soon they were off with Naruto willingly helping the two Jonin with their respective items. He dropped off Kurenai first with her supplies in her apartment and there he blushed a bit, recalling the night he had spent there with the red eyed Jonin. Kurenai and Anko noticed that and both smirked as Anko had been told by her friend what exactly happened between her and Naruto after their date together.

It was not long before Anko and Naruto arrived in her own home and there the blonde dropped off her groceries. However, he was still concerned about something that happened to Anko and he made that obvious.

"Are you feeling all right Anko-chan?"

The Jonin smiled a bit and replied.

"I am fine, it's good to know that I finally learned that I was not discarded but I left on my own and I had good reason to do just that."

"That's nice to know Anko-chan, but if you need anything, then I will do what I can to help."

The Jonin smirked at that and replied.

"Oh, you're being very thoughtful Naruto-kun, you want to join me in my house then? I can make something nice for you and we can enjoy some...quality time."

Naruto blushed at that while scratching his head. He recalled the last time he had been in Anko's house and what he had seen there. Truth be told, due to her past association with Orochimaru and her own actions in battle coupled with her flirty nature, looks and her form, Anko had been rumoured to be a dominatrix and a bit of a sadist when it came to sex and there were rumours that her house was like a torturer's store house filled with Kami only knew what. There was SOME truth to that but Naruto knew already that Anko's house was not like that. She did HAVE some toys and the like since he had been in her home but when it came to sex, Anko was not that extreme though she was not adverse to doing some things that would be surprising.

"Ah...maybe some other time Anko-chan, I have to check in and see if I have any missions for me to take up."

Anko pouted a bit but smiled and got closer to Naruto plastering her form on his own and moved to whisper into his ear.

"All right, I'll let you go free for now Naruto-kun, but I am not going to forget your offer, so I hope that you do keep in mind to come and visit me once in a while."

"I understand Anko-chan, I'll make sure to visit every now and then."

As he left, it was not long before he was greeted by Kakashi and Kaelyn with the War Blade being rather close to his Jonin sensei. He smiled at the two of them as Kakashi spoke to him.

"Good to see you up and about Naruto, we have a new mission being given out to us."

"Great! Same team setup as before Kakashi-Sensei?"

"Not today I'm afraid, Sakura is busy with her Medic Nin training while Sasuke is going to be here for a while undergoing some training of his own. So we're going to be working with others from the other teams who are available for deployment."

Naruto nodded warmly at that and the three of them headed out to see what they were going to be ordered to do by Tsunade.

...

Two months later...

Naruto smiled as he moved through Konoha, wearing his regular clothes and his Chunin vest on him. He had left his weapons and Holy Talon back in his home and decided to take a break, there were no missions and he was not currently on rotation duty, as well as not having any new techniques yet to test out. Thus he had gotten some free time for himself.

He had already dropped by the Ichiraku Ramen Bar to have break fast and had some time to chat with Ayame and Teuchi to see how they were doing and once that was done, he headed off to get some time to relax. He headed off to the Hokage Monument and as soon as he arrived there, he wasted no time and climbed up the rock face. He then sat down on the face of the Third Hokage and smiled down to it, recalling the man who had bee more of a grandfather figure to him and spoke.

"Hey there old man...it's been a while since I came over huh?"

Naruto knew that if anyone saw him right now, they would think he had lost his mind, but since no one was around to make comments about him being there and talking, he placed that thought aside.

"I sure wished you were still around...oh the stories I could tell you about what you've missed."

Naruto felt some level of sadness well up in him as he knew that Hiruzen was dead and gone, he missed him and how many times he had brought the man to the ground with that jutsu of his. He would give anything to see the elderly Hokage go flying away like a rocket due to a nose bleed. But that was going to be for another time as he began to regale the statue about what had happened ever since his last time here during the invasion of Konoha a year and a half before.

Naruto had no doubts in his mind that Hiruzen would have been utterly shocked at his...current status with women, along with one of his own students Tsunade. He could have loved to have seen that expression, and also he would have wanted to see the Third's reaction to seeing how much he had grown since he had been alive. He told him of his rise to being Chunin and how his fortunes had changed.

He also told him of his most recent accomplishments as well after the mission in the Land of the Sea. The next mission he had was in the Land of Vegetables where he, Chouji, Kaelyn, Kakashi and Hinata had to escort the Princess named Haruna who had been disguised as a member of a convoy of vegetable peddlers and suppliers. She was not alone as she had her bodyguards as well and learning that a band of ninja had come after all.

Holy Talon had warned him that there was more to what was going on, and he got the answers out of the man who was chief of Haruna's body guards, just as the three sibling Ninjas came after them. Through it all, he had been able to learn about Haruna's life and while he was not the least bit pleased by her way of seeing the lives of her guards as worthless compared to her own, he had to admit that she was not entirely at fault as she had been given that mindset by the way she had been treated as a child.

There had been some battles and in one of them he and Holy Talon were facing a foe who had proved to be a bit hard to defeat though he knew that he had to hurry and help Haruna. Hinata had challenged the ninja to his surprise at her decision to face this ninja herself, and that very same surprise grew even more when she had been able to defeat the ninja despite the fact that he was a lot stronger and more experienced that she was at that time. Her tactic in doing so was very ingenious and risky but it had rendered her foe utterly unable to fight back, and he was utterly pleased which was why he praised her deeply while healing her. She blushed deeply at this and stated that she would go and help Chouji while he saved Haruna.

It was there that he was able to catch up with Haruna who was about to be attacked by the leader of the two, who he later learned had slain his own siblings, much to his disgust and even that of Haruna as well as Holy Talon. It was here that Haruna learned the truth of her father's wishes and last moments before he was slain. That revelation had changed Haruna and after defeating the man, Naruto stopped her from slaying him, but in her place, he personally dealt with the man...he was taken away and was scheduled to be executed after a time in prison for the death of Haruna's father.

Haruna asked him to serve as her bodyguard after spending some time apologizing to her slain bodyguards, he replied that he would take that mission and help her rebuild her nation but only for a time as his own village needed him. Shizune who had arrived in time to help Hinata in taking care of Chouji with reinforcements gave her agreement and promised to inform Tsunade of the request by the new leader of the Land of Vegetables.

Naruto got that permission two days later while under the service of Haruna, and the two of them had been very busy. They had to remove those who were enemies of her father and those who had selfish ambitions for the throne had she not come. Their time together was good and it was not surprising for him to learn that Haruna had developed an affection for him...though with the short time together, he was not sure what to make of it.

As he left the land after the time of his stay came to an end, Haruna vowed that as soon as the Land of Vegetables had recovered and was on it's two feet, she would work hard to establish ties with Konoha as a show of her support and as a form of thanks for all he had done for her and also in helping her finally become a better person.

Naruto grinned at the memories of that and replied.

"That was one heck of an adventure, Hinata-chan was great and so was Chouji though I did not know how his battle turned out. Haruan-hime is going to be a great leader to her people now that she has changed her ways Old man, and I am going to be happy that she is going to side with Konoha if we can ask for a favour it it's in her power to grant it."

"Anyway...that's not the only mission I was on with the others...here's another one that got me into another interesting situation old man."

...

Naruto then told Hiruzen's face in the Hokage Monument about yet another assignment that had him working with Neji, Tenten as well as Kakashi which had the four of them go to the Land of Birds and where he had met yet another Princess who reminded him in some ways to Koyuki and Haruna as she had disguised herself as her brother the current Feudal Lord of the Land of Birds. The news they got in Konoha about a Cursed Warrior made him wary though Holy Talon assured him that it had not sensed anything of Death Fang at play here, and the sword had been the one to inform him of the Princess's deception but advised that it would be better that he did not reveal that he was aware of the deception just yet.

The situation had been rather odd to him as he had a feeling that there was a reason for the Princess taking the place of her brother but knew that now was not the time to reveal his knowledge on the matter.

Naruto already suspected something was bothering the princess when he found out the truth after a lot of searching, and from his previous experiences with Haruna and Koyuki, he had no doubt that it was anything good. .

Ever since his inheriting Holy Talon and facing a number of Death Fang's servants which were more like ghosts and undead than living beings, Naruto had gotten used to it. And after seeing the being itself later on the course of the mission, Holy Talon told him that while it DID sense something supernatural about the being they fought with, the one they had seen a number of times afterwards was hardly a spirit. He had a feeling that the Princess had something to hide and it was related to what was going on in the land her family was ruling.

And it was not long before he and eventually the others had found out just what that was. This came about when he came back to investigate the place, trying to find out who was really pulling the strings and not agreeing with Moso, the priest who hired them that the situation was dealt with now that the man Komei was arrested. He warned Tenten, Kakashi and Neji not to leave just yet, revealing what Holy Talon had told him and Kakashi agreed with him as he too suspected something was up so they would pretend to leave and come back later. It was here that he met the princess Toki in disguise as the Cursed Warrior and revealed he knew of her deception when she tried to kill him herself. That was enough to make Toki reveal what was going on.

It seemed that she was aware that the priest who hired them, Mosu was actually a ninja who had taken a disguise and had assassinated her brother and father. She found out about it and ion an effort to avenge her family, disguised herself as her brother and took on the Cursed Warrior identity to kill Moso.

Naruto decided to save Komei and it was here that the one who had supported them, a young man loyal to Toki named Chishima revealed that Moso was working with the Watari Ninja to finally take over the Land of Birds once Toki/Sagi was killed. The others fought with the ninja serving Moso who was now revealed to be Nagare, a ninja that tried to be similar to Kakashi though Holy Talon stated that his powers were not in the same league as his master's Jonin sensei.

However, his concern was to aid Toki by helping her steer away from being stuck in the past and in the desire for revenge, and to keep her alive. That had been tough for him but with the ghost of her brother to assist him, he took out Nagare and saved Toki's life and Chishima was alive as well despite being hit hard. Toki finally let go of her past as the watch she had was now moving, something that she said had not happened when her brother was killed. That was a sign to Naruto that she had moved on since Holy Talon said so due to what he had sensed from before.

Toki was allowed to continue her rulership after apologizing to her people, with Nagare and his followers now placed in prison for the rest of their lives.

She thanked them and him in particular for what he had done and like Haruna stated that she would be willing to support Konoha if they asked for the aid of herself and her people. That was something that he found to be very nice indeed.

"That was one heck of an adventure old man, meeting a real ghost what was not part of Death Fang's minions was a good break. Normally I would have been scared out of my wits, but at least I now know that not all ghosts are that bad."

"The next mission I took allowed me to recover and old Konoha heirloom, something you might know about had you been alive...and met two old faces, one I wished was here, and the other...I terminated."

...

His next mission had him, and his old team minus Kakashi who was assisting his fellow ANBU on another assignment leaving him as the commander of the team itself. This mission took him to the Land of Tea and it was here that he learned that there were two houses that were currently competing in a race. But not just any race, it was a race to determine who would be the leading house who would be aiding in the rule of the Land of Tea alongside the Feudal Lord. It was here that he and his team met none other than Idate who was Ibiki's brother though it took them a while before they were able to learn that fact.

The guy looked absolutely nothing like his Jonin brother and Naruto himself stated that fact, the young man was not too keen about talking about the reason why he was not in Konoha and that was something of a concern for him. But he kept that out of his mind for now as he focused on the mission he and the others were sent to do though Idate did not quite endear himself to Naruto due to his flirting with Sakura though the pink haired Kunoichi was not rising to the bait and pointed out that she had already someone she cared deeply for, and while saying that, she was looking at Naruto. That action made by Sakura was enough to make Idate raise his eyebrows a bit while Sasuke didn't seem to mind or care at all.

It did not take long to learn that Idate was going to be the one who was the runner for one of the families and would be competing with the runner of the other family. This was due to him having them pay the bill at a tea house and escaping, they caught him when he tried to escape from them but when he took off the weights, he took off like a rocket, however Naruto was able to catch up with him, and pointed out that he was using the same training methods of Gai and Rock Lee. This made Idate a bit cockier but also a lot more cautious with Naruto as he had not met anyone who was able to catch him when he took off the weights.

They were hired due to the fact that Idate's new boss who also happened to be a very close friend of Tsunade, had suspected that the other family and it's members would do anything to win the race. That naturally meant the use of force and it meant either wounding or hindering Idate from winning. That became a lot more obvious when he and the others faced none other than the other runner's body guards, one of them was a Jonin from the Hidden Rain by the name of Aoi and with him were the same team of Genin from the mission with Anko, who had apparently survived the battle.

It was during the race that Naruto and the others learned that Idate knew Aoi and explained that he long ago had failed the Entrance Exams in the Academy, and in his saddened state after being told by his brother that he was not cut out for a ninja's life and was a coward for not being serious about his commitment, he was approached by Aoi who had been a Jonin instructor before in Konoha. Aoi had told him that if he acquired a secret scroll and the weapon owned by the Second Hokage, Tsunade's grand uncle Tobirama Senju and brother of the First Hokage. He had done so and only realized that Aoi had used him.

He would have left but with his actions he was now a traitor to Konoha despite being unwilling to begin with. It was his brother and two ANBU who chased him along with Aoi, Aoi however had help and the ANBU were killed and Ibiki was tortured to read the scroll for Aoi. Ibiki however managed to escape and so did he when Ibiki advised him to leave. He left and eventually landed in the Land of Tea and had been taken in by the head of the Wasabi family, Jirocho Wasabi despite the fact that he had tried to rob the man and had shown great faith in him despite knowing of his shame. This was why he became their runner to allow them to lead the land of Tea alongside the Feudal Lord for another four years, not to mention the fact that he had seen first hand the corrupt Prime Minister of the Land working with the Wagarashi Family to rob the land underneath the nose of the Feudal Lord.

Aoi attacked them at some point in the race and while the man was being arrogant, stating that as a Jonin, no matter how many Genin or Chunin were sent, the odds of a Jonin like him winning would not change, he was skilled enough to attack them with Senbon from his umbrella weapons that were poisoned as well. Both he and Sasuke attacked in tandem with one another and though he had been hit along with Sasuke, they survived alongside Sakura, who was more than able to counter the poison.

Aoi remained arrogant as he insulted Sasuke, stating that it was pathetic that out of the once vaunted Uchiha Clan, Itachi had only allowed a weakling to remain alive. This infuriated Sasuke a great deal and that allowed Aoi to undermine him as he spoke that it was sad that as the last of the Uchiha, Sasuke was nothing more than a weakling and he asked why Itachi spared him. Naruto had enough of his mouth and attacked the former Jonin and called him a traitor who was going to get what was coming to him.

The three of them finally forced Aoi to retreat and that allowed them to recover and protect Idate who had been injured from the fight. Naruto managed to remind Idate that he had the faith of Jirocho and he had to prove that the faith in him was well placed. They moved on and eventually fought with Aoi again. But this time the stress on Sasuke's psyche made him attack Aoi intent on killing the man despite the fact that he had warned his team mate to wait up for him.

Sasuke was badly hurt by the sword used by Aoi but he had managed to hit the sword's flat edge with the Chidori which weakened the weapon as Naruto saw it as Sakura managed to save both Idate and Sasuke using her own advanced skills and training, allowing him to make his own attack. He moved quickly and used his Wind Chakra to create a sword of pure Wind chakra that was able to block the sword and he quickly countered by smashing a Rasengan into Aoi's attack.

Naruto then told Hiruzen that he personally killed Aoi as the man and him flew into the air and over the river.

...

Flashback...

Aoi flew over the river and was shocked by what he had been hit with and made that obvious to Naruto as he spoke in pain.

"How...?"

Naruto snorted in disdain and replied, unmindful of where they were.

"You're arrogance doomed you, I learned from the best and that includes Jiraiya-sama, and Tsunade-hime themselves. You think that just because you are a Jonin that you are destined to win? You are blind and now you are dead."

"N-Never! I will not lose to a brat like you...even if you have such a technique..."

Aoi attempted to strike but Naruto was ready as he quickly used Holy Talon to knock the Sword of the Thunder God aside without breaking it and sliced off Aoi's arm without any resistance.

The former Konoha Jonin howled in pain as Naruto caught the weapon while tossing away his severed arm and the blonde replied as he readied both swords in hand.

"For your actions and cruelty Aoi, your punishment is death, and I will be returning the Sword to the village so you are no longer it's master."

With that, Naruto sliced off Aoi's head with Holy Talon and cut the man in half with the Sword of the Thunder God.

...

.End of Flashback...

"You should have seen the reaction of that head of that corrupt family and that of the Prime Minister when they got broken up and the man got turned into a Buddhist for his misdeeds, I guess the Feudal Lord was aware of the man's corruption and had waited for the right time to spring the trap."

Naruto smiled as he finished his tale with the wining of Idate in the race despite the Wagarashi Family's attempts at having Idate disqualified, the reconciliation of Idate and Ibiki who came back to bring them home, and the pleased reactions of the two brothers for the death of the traitor as well as the return of the Sword of the Thunder God.

"Tsunade-chan was pleased to get the Sword back, she had it repaired and made sure to have it re-secured in the vault and have better protection seals on it. I can bet that she will be wanting to use it at some point and I think that she deserves it. That sword is hers by right and I am happy that something from this village was brought back safely."

"Anyway, that was not the last mission, I had yet another one and we have a new addition as well to the team of Zabuza and Haku apart from Kin-chan old man."

...

Naruto then told Hiruzen's statue of his most recent mission, which also served to bring a new ally into the ranks of the Konoha ninja. He had been looking for bamboo for his ramen a few weeks before when he found a young man who was barely alive and seemed to be suffering from amnesia. Holy Talon however sensed that the amnesia was some sort of memory blocking technique that was used on the man. And this had been something of a concern for Naruto but he decided to keep it to himself until the man was fully recovered.

The young man had gotten from him the name of Menma and when he had saved several people from a fire in the hospital, Holy Talon told him that the memory block was gone. When Menma revealed his ability to enhance chakra in people with music from his Ocarina, many suspected he was a spy from Orochimaru's village. Naruto however discounted it as he worked with menma in doing odd jobs and sensed that he had no malice of deception in him, but genuine compassion and a desire to do good. That was reinforced by Holy Talon sensing no evil intent in Menma and Kin stating that before she had defected, there was no mention of anyone in the Oto village that had Menma's abilities.

He also brought this concern to Tsunade and she agreed that they would have to watch out and see what was going on.

When a bandit attacked and was captured, Holy Talon sensed that Menma did know the man despite his denials when the man claimed him to be a traitor to their clan. He, Tenten, and Neji moved out to the village that was spoken of by the captive alongside Menma on the belief that it would jog his memories despite Naruto and Holy Talon already aware of Menma's returned memories. The village was in the Land of Rice Fields and it turned out that Menma did indeed belong to the bandit clan though only he and Holy Talon were aware of it due to the villagers recognizing Menma and one young mute girl did so as well.

It was here that due to Orochimaru's actions, there was a war going on and the village was in a demilitarized zone and was off limits to armies, but not bandits. The reason they came there was due to the fact that a fairly lucrative gold mine was in the area. Menma wanted to atone for what his clan had done and set to building a wall and readying to fight the bandits despite many of the villagers not being trusting of him. Neji and Tenten themselves were doubtful but Naruto was not as he and Holy Talon sensed his sincerity. Eventually the two of them were aided by his team and the villagers.

The battle that came afterwards was hard and it was with Menma's help with his chakra boosting music that they defeated the bandit clan leader Shiin. The man however planned to destroy the dam to drown the village and leave the mine intact. Naruto then told Tenten and Neji to handle the evacuation as he took Menma with wason their way to stop Menma's former leader that Naruto revealed his knowledge of Menma's memories but explained that he did not doubt his good nature but asked why he would do this.

Menma then told him of the attack and why after witnessing one of the bandits kill a father before his daughter, the same mute girl he met in the village that he turned on them. He saved the girl but was wounded and used the Jutsu to forget. But now he wanted to make amends and stop Shiin, or die trying.

Naruto however convinced him that he had done more than enough and that he could better help people by being alive and he himself would stand by his side. This convinced Menma to change his plans and the two of them worked as one to stop Shiin and destroy the dam. They succeeded but also collapsed the mine to make sure that no one would ever come to this village again. Once that was over and the villagers forgave Menma, with the young girl being the first, Menma decided to stay in Konoha, feeling that he could do some good there and put his skills to more noble use.

Naruto was in full agreement with that and so were Neji and Tenten, much to Menma's happiness.

...

"And now he is with Zabuza, Haku, and Kin-chan, and I have to say old man, they make a hell of a team."

Menma, Haku, and Kin were now part of what many called Team Zabuza as the former Mist Seven Swordsman was now head of his own team. From time to time, he had gone to locate the old sword he used to carry and make sure that it was secured and kept safe while wielding his new sword made for him by the blonde Shinobi. And his team was fairly unique, Haku served to take down opponents alive in most cases and his Kekkai Genkai proved very effective as he had time to train considerably ever since becoming a ninja of Konoha. This was coupled with his very considerable skills in Medical Jutsu so he served as an improvised Medic Nin to them though he made sure to attend seminars on Medical Jutsu just to be safe.

Menma served to support the team by using his chakra to enhance the team's own reserve via his ocarina. This made him team support when they needed an extra boost and he had also taken the time to train on how to properly defend himself in battle. His ability to boost chakra reserves was a welcome addition in the team's eyes and it would also help alleviate their spirits as in some ways, Menma served as a version of Naruto's summoned Song Maidens who could boost courage and inspire in battle as well as out of battle.

Kin was obviously the skilled user of auditory illusions due to her specially made Senbon, though she had begun to use other means in order to fight back. This included learning how to use special whistling kunai that could allow her to have a greater level of range with her auditory illusion skills, along with her improving Taijutsu skills to make sure that she was not going to be suddenly caught off guard by their foes.

As for Zabuza, he was more than able to hold his own in a fight and that was something that was helpful as the team was going to be helpful due to Zabuza's knowledge and his own memories. Once that was over, Naruto got up and spoke once more to the statue.

"That's what's been happening since you've gone old man, the village is a lot stronger now and soon, I will make sure that everything will be all right. I'll see you soon and maybe have more to talk about."

...

In the area near the Forest of Death...

Naruto had gone there to look the place over, no doubt taking a trip down memory lane to recall the old days and how much had changed since then.

He was about to leave when his danger senses kicked in and he was attacked by someone who shouted to him.

"Fight me dobe!"

Naruto recognized that voice and blocked the attack and turned to see that it was indeed Sasuke. He was shocked by this and spoke out to him as he moved away.

"Sasuke? What the hell are you doing?"

"What's it look like? I am going to fight you!"

Naruto managed to block the attacks that followed and tried once more to reason with Sasuke.

"Sasuke, stop this right now! What the heck are you going to get out of attacking me anyway?"

Sasuke spat at Naruto as he continued to strike, forcing Naruto on the defensive for the moment.

"Shut your trap! You think you are better than me? You think that after all you've done, you can be better than I am? I have had enough! That power should be mine!"

"Stop this right now Sasuke! Or Kami help me I'll..."

Sasuke managed to get close to Naruto and sneered at him in disdain as he replied.

"You'll what? Beat me? Then come on dead last! You know you want to, no one is going to know, and I am going to enjoy showing to you that I am not going to let you defeat me!"

"Damn it all Sasuke, listen to reason!"

"Shut up! Fight me or I will KILL you right here and now! You're nothing but an idiot who got lucky, nothing more! All of the praise you've been getting, the affection from so many...it's all because of luck, you have nothing of your own, and I am going to beat you to prove it, fight me!"

Sasuke unleashed another attack with killer intent, but his punch was blocked by Naruto who responded with a resounding punch to the side. That attack was more than enough to stop Sasuke and force him back, allowing Naruto some breathing room.

Sasuke glared furiously at Naruto while clutching his side, the blonde Chunin had managed to blind side him with a powerful attack that made him wince in pain. And that infuriated him considerably as he had his Sharingan on full power and had even began to take some of the power of the Cursed Seal.

Naruto looked calmly at Sasuke, now fully aware that his team mate and the one he considered a friend had attacked him with killer intent even more so with the Cursed Seal now active despite the pain it was causing him due to the seal Kakashi placed on him. No doubt Sasuke was truly willing to endure the pain and let it fuel him into facing him right here and right now. The blonde Chunin had long suspected that sooner or later, there was going to be a point where they would be fighting, but he had hoped that Sasuke would be able to finally change his direction. Now it seemed that his hopes had been misplaced as Sasuke was being dead serious in taking him out in the fight that was now between them.

He knew that words were not going to do it, he had matured well enough to know that much as he looked at the face of the irate Uchiha survivor. There was only one way to possibly make his friend see reason, and that was to defeat him.

"Fine...if words won't work, then fists will, come on then Sasuke! Show me what you can do!"

Sasuke glared even more and quickly charged at Naruto, the blonde replied in kind as they smashed into one another into another furious Taijutsu battle. Sasuke launched a powerful kick and Naruto, aiming for his head, Naruto ducked and lashed out with a sweep kick. Sasuke spotted that and quickly flipped himself over Naruto while using his other leg in a bent angle, using the leap to launch a knee strike aimed at the blonde's head.

Naruto however quickly moved his head back while moving his own leg to block the attack, sending Sasuke aside as he landed, Naruto turned and blocked several kicks Sasuke used at him, with said attack is aiming for his chest and head. Naruto quickly blocked a spinning side heel kick with his fist and quickly grabs Sasuke by the foot and tosses him aside, but he follows up with a quick leap and lands a solid kick to Sasuke's stomach as well.

This was followed up by a dropping elbow strike to the chest that sends Sasuke down, Naruto lands and quickly goes on the defensive as Sasuke got up and attacked him once more. The two began to trade blow after blow with one another, the Uchiha then attacked with a combination of punches and kicks that Naruto was able to counter as well. They were once more in a stalemate when Sasuke decided to use the same style as Rock Lee, which he had copied and used in a few of the battles he had been in.

Naruto was quick to pick up on what Sasuke had in mind due to the fact that he had trained alongside Rock Lee and Gai. And so he decided to counter on his own as well as he began to rely on what he had learned from Neji and Hinata as well as Hiashi.

...

Kin was busy working on getting her new Senbon supply ready and planned to head out to meet with her team when she suddenly had a feeling run up her spine...something that she did not like. She turned in the direction of what she knew was the outskirts of the Forest of Death training area of Konoha. She recalled that place well enough and had avoided the place like the plague. But she now felt that something was telling her to go to the place, something significant was going to happen there and she had to be there to find out what it was.

She did so despite her own confusion as to why she would be doing that in the first place and she hoped that what she was feeling was not going to be bad.

...

But she was not the only one either as several other people began to converge there...among them were a trio of ANBU, and one of them was Uzuki Yuugao. When they all arrive, they were about to see something that was going to be with them for a very long time.

...

Back in the fight...

Naruto was able to block the attacks as he then unleashed a few finger strikes with his fingers covered with his own chakra that Sasuke was not aware of. The attacks hit him in several parts of his body and to the young man's surprise, the attacks seemed to affect the flow of chakra on his body. It was here that it became apparent that Naruto was using the gentle Fist in battle with Sasuke as he used the same attack points after blocking two kicks in rapid succession that was launched towards him by Sasuke. The attacks were however not as effective as Neji or Hinata, or that Hiashi for two reasons.

The first was that Naruto had no clear memory of where the chakra paths in the body were located or how much force with chakra was needed and so he had no idea just how deep the attack points were on the body. He only had a general idea on where to strike and hoped that he was going to hit the target. Even if he had used it before, it was still trial and error for the blonde Chunin as there were some things that even Hinata and Neji were not allowed to teach him.

The second was the fact that Naruto did not have the Byakugan and as such, had no way to see just where he was hitting his foe with. That meant that not only was it a style that had to be used carefully, but it was hard to determine if it was an effective style or not in the heat of the battle since he had no idea if he was hitting the chakra pathways or not.

However, it seemed to be working as Sasuke winced in pain somewhat from the attacks and that allowed Naruto to take the fight more effectively. He charged in and slammed a shoulder charge into Sasuke, then unleashed a head butt right into Sasuke's chin, spilling some blood and followed that up with an elbow strike to the chest that forced Sasuke back, and followed it with a powerful straight kick.

Sasuke managed to catch that and flip over Naruto while righting himself in mid flip to launch a spinning kick to the blonde's head, Naruto quickly counters the attack with a block but follows that with another as Sasuke unleashes a secondary kick aimed at Naruto's neck, and that attack was with the intent on snapping Naruto's neck.

Naruto followed up by grabbing Sasuke's leg and tossing him away...the dark haired Uchiha however was far from finished as he quickly landed and the two once more traded blows with one another. Sasuke attacked with a powerful descending heel kick which was blocked by Naruto and Sasuke followed up with a side kick that Naruto also blocks while lashing out with a kick of his own. Sasuke blocks that and both moved once Sasuke was on the ground moments later. Naruto then made his move as he closed the gap and so did Sasuke as they began to trade attacks once more, but this time Naruto began to use the Boundless State style of fighting as he attacked with a sweep kick that Sasuke leaped over, but was unable to block a straight rising kick the stomach, forcing him back. Naruto quickly leaped up from his starting position and grabbed Sasuke by the shirt shoulders and flipped back while tossing Sasuke away.

The Uchiha youth landed a distance from Naruto and attacked again, with his face already showing the seething heat of his rage towards his team mate. Naruto sees that and block's Sasuke's next kick as he began to use only his feet in a same fashion as the Boundless State, but Naruto was better prepared as flipped over Sasuke who had aimed a high kick to the side, he then unleashed a sweep kick that sent Sasuke into the air and followed up with a leap into the air and did a reverse flip that allowed him to drop a spinning back heel kick right into Sasuke's chest.

That slammed Sasuke hard into the ground and made him cough out more blood, this further infuriated him as he tried to get up and when he did he unleashed a trio of punches that Naruto blocked with his hands as well as two kicks and a sweep kick of his own. Naruto evaded those attacks, then used another style he learned from another Dragon Champion who turned out to be a Fire Dancer named Razell...this style was known as the Whirlwind of the Dragon as Naruto began to unleash several punches and kicks with rapid succession and followed up with deadly body throws that caught Sasuke off guard.

The irate youth barely had time to react to the new style Naruto was now using as he was kicked twice on the side, then hit by a back hand to the face a punch and elbow combination to the chest and the stomach before Naruto got him up and leaped into the air. He kept Sasuke in that grip and drove Sasuke down to the ground using his own weight, Sasuke's own body, and pure force to slam Sasuke into the ground hard.

As he got up, Naruto could tell that his attacks had been deadly as he spoke once more to Sasuke, hoping that this would be the key to stopping his team mate before he did something that was going to force his hand.

"It's over Sasuke...you know what happened already, so stop this..."

...

Sasuke however lashed out with a kunai that forced Naruto to back away and he caught the Kunai with his hand. This however allowed Sasuke some room and he began to use the hand seals and soon the sound of chirping birds was heard in the field.

Naruto was surprised at this and he saw Sasuke now using the Chidori itself and that told him that this fight had just gone into a whole new level. He knew why Kakashi had taught Sasuke the technique and that was to defend his friends, but Sasuke had been using the technique beyond what it was intended and now it seemed that Sasuke was willing to use that in conjunction with the Cursed Seal to attack.

Sasuke saw this and sneered as he charged at Naruto with the Chidori at the ready.

"Now let's see you dodge this!"

Naruto knew already from what he had learned from Kakashi the weaknesses and requirements of Chidori and why it was not for him to use. But that did not mean that he could not develop something similar to it, but totally different as he knew that Lightning Chakra based Jutsu could be countered by Wind Chakra based Jutsu, and he had been developing his own as well. He quickly made the hand seals to summon Kage Bunshin to mask his move as four of them leaped to slow Sasuke down.

The Uchiha growled as he charged with killer intent in his eyes as well as his movements as he shouted.

"You're Kage Bunshin are not going to work here dead last!"

Naruto did not reply as he worked on his technique, it was not the Rasengan, but it was going to be just as effective if he was able to use it right. Sasuke managed to cut down the Kage Bunshin and he was moving even faster to finally take down the blonde as soon as the Kage Bunshin were sent away. However, as he closed the gap, Naruto had an ace up his sleeve as his last Kage Bunshin had managed to slow down Sasuke a bit more, allowing him to place his newest technique into practice. As soon as the last Kage Bunshin was taken down, the Uchiha charged in and aimed his Chidori at Naruto.

That however was a mistake as Naruto began to summon his chakra and to Sasuke's surprise, Naruto spun himself around with arms outstretched and he was covered in his chakra which was soon creating a sphere of wind around him. This sphere was not going to remain a sphere for very long as blades of chakra appeared on the outer perimeter as Naruto was surrounded by a sphere of Wind mixed with his chakra

"FUUTON! BOUSHI KAZE TAMA KEN!"

This was a technique he had developed as a by-product of his training with Neji, Hiashi, and Hinata. Not to mention it was similar to the same technique Neji had used in the Chunin Exams nearly a year or so ago. Naturally, like his new fighting style that incorporated the same attack style and targets of the Gentle Fist, it was not a very accurate copy of the move. However, this was different as it was able to serve as a form of defence to block incoming weapon strikes and the blades of wind chakra served both as a weapon and a barrier.

Naruto however, knew that this was not an effective tactic when facing someone who used Fire Based Jutsu and had Fire chakra. That was due to what he had learned back in school and what he had learned after training the technique with both Neji and Asuma who had helped in forming the basis for the wind blades that made the outer shell of the sphere. But it was still effective in battle if used in the right moment, and with Sasuke not using any fire based Jutsu, Naruto took the chance.

The attack had the desired effect as it blocked Sasuke's Chidori and allowed Naruto to knock out the charge by Sasuke, relieved that his Wind Chakra jutsu had been enough to counter the Chidori. The blades of Wind chakra were also able to wound Sasuke as the blades sliced through the clothes he had on as well as wound him. Naruto then followed that by launching his next attack Sasuke was forced back, with several bleeding cuts but not deep enough to seriously wound him or slice off any limbs. This next attack was not the same however as it was a wave of pure chakra energy with wind in it. It was similar to some of the techniques he had developed, but instead of using his chakra like a blade as before; he focused it into a hammer.

"FUUTON! KANADZUCHI DAGEKI!"

Naruto's next attack struck hard at Sasuke and sent him back as the wind this time around was not cutting like a blade, but like a hammer. Naruto managed to pull it off due to hard work and training though he knew that it was not how Wind chakra was used so it was purely experimental from his point of view.

The attack however was effective enough as Naruto charged at Sasuke, using his increased speed to his advantage and slammed the attack into Sasuke's stomach. The attack was in effect, similar to the Rasengan since it did not cut like a regular Wind Jutsu but smashed. Sasuke was sent back and hit the ground once hard, but as he flew back, he grabbed the ground with a chakra covered hand and landed on his feet though in great pain as the attack had apparently cracked a rib somewhere in his chest, and it ached with a cuts he got from Naruto's previous Jutsu using his newly utilized chakra with Wind Affinity.

Sasuke was angered by this and quickly got to his feet, his first Chidori had failed as the blonde had managed to counter it along with attacking with a new Jutsu that was totally unexpected from his point of view. And the Uchiha understood just how he was able to do it, Wind did trump Lightning after all and so the Chidori was useless to face Naruto with if he was able to use Wind Chakra in the defensive which was rather surprising given that Wind Chakra was not normally used for defensive Jutsu. He however was not going to give up just like that as he knew that his clan's fire jutsu was going to be the key to evening up the odds. If Taijutsu was out of the question, then Jutsu would have to do for now.

With that in mind, he switched to his Jutsu and took out his clan's specially marked Jutsu, made the gestures and unleashed a massive fireball at Naruto.

"KAITON! GOKAKYU NO JUTSU!"

Naruto was aware that he had no jutsu that could counter Fire yet and so he was forced to dodge the attack. But that was what Sasuke was hoping for as he began to unleash more of the attacks to keep Naruto on the move and allow him to find a viable opening for him to attack.

"KAITON! HOSENKA NO JUTSU!"

The attacks which were smaller but faster and more numerous fire balls had their desired effect as Naruto was now on the defensive and Sasuke kept on the move in order to avoid getting himself caught in a corner. It was here that Naruto was in a corner and had to leap back that Sasuke managed to charge in and kick Naruto back.

He wasted no time and quickly got to his feet and engaged Naruto in battle once more, but this time, he had some of his kunai with him along with some wire. He had a plan to finally end the blonde idiot once and for all. He fired three of the kunai at Naruto at first, Naruto focused his Wind chakra into his hand and created a covering of razor sharp Wind around his hand as he then cut the kunai into pieces, but that allowed Sasuke to close in and wrap the blonde in the wire.

'NOW YOU'RE DEAD!"

Naruto however replied to that.

"Want to bet?"

Sasuke had no time to react as Naruto quickly moved down and spoke a spell using Dragon Fire.

"EARTH PILLAR!"

The energy allowed the young Dragon Champion to go up into the air, dragging Sasuke with him, Naruto then leaped off the ground and moved into the air as he then used his wind chakra once more to cut the wire. Sasuke cursed mentally to himself as his next move had been cut short as Naruto quickly used his wind chakra to focus into his feet. The blonde then unleashed the wind chakra and the results was that the sudden blast of wind allowed Naruto to rocket towards Sasuke who quickly tried to ready his Chidori once more.

Naruto saw that easily and countered with another band of Kage Bunshin as before, but this time one of them stayed with him while the rest charged. Sasuke growled in anger as he attacked the Kage Bunshin aside and used his Chidori.

"CHIDORI!"

The attack drilled through the Kage Bunshin and they poofed away as before, and Sasuke finally struck Naruto with his attack right in the chest. Sasuke smirked as he looked at the attack as he finally hit Naruto. The blond was in deep pain and it showed, much to the Uchiha's satisfaction, but his satisfaction...was misplaced as Naruto grinned at him, confusing and infuriating Sasuke that the very same time. He got his answer as Naruto turned into a mass of writhing steel wires that quickly wrapped around him as the real Naruto was tossed by his Kage Bunshin with his Rasengan extended, though in this case, Naruto learned enough from his time with Jiraiya, Shizune, and Tsunade on how to control the amount of destructive power in his attack.

Naruto rocketed towards Sasuke who barely had time to react as the sphere of chakra slammed into his stomach.

"RASENGAN!"

The impact of the attack was enough to send both of them to the ground and to the pillar, the two smashed hard into it, though Sasuke was the one who took the deeper blows due to him being there in front of the pillar. The formation of earth fell down as Naruto leaped off and Sasuke hit the ground hard and coughing out some blood at the same time.

Naruto saw this and moved to be with his team mate, hoping that he had not fatally harmed him, as soon as he got there, he spoke to Sasuke, hoping that he finally saw reason.

"That is enough Sasuke, it's over..."

That however served to infuriate the downed Uchiha, he had been humiliated when Naruto proved to surpass him in fighting in Taijutsu despite his use of Lee's speed and technique when he had seen it before. And now he had just been beaten when it came to Jutsu, he had used the Chidori twice and yet Naruto was able to counter him and wound him with that new attack of his. The blonde had surpassed him...and that drove him deeper into rage and remembered that Itachi had more interest in Naruto than him when they met again after so many years when he had vowed revenge.

He was not strong enough, and Naruto was now his...better...

(NO! I REFUSE TO LOSE TO THIS IDIOT! I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!)

"NEVER!"

Sasuke shouted as he tried to land a strike at Naruto with a kunai in hand, the blonde moved back and quickly got into a defensive position as Sasuke got up though with great difficulty as he was injured and tangled in the wire that he had been restrained with by Naruto himself in the battle. The blonde got ready as the dark haired youth was about to attack.

But it was here that they were stopped by Kakashi who appeared between the two of them and stopped Naruto and Sasuke.

"ENOUGH!"

The two stopped though Naruto was the first and soon they became aware that they were not alone at all. Behind Kakashi was Sakura, Kin, Iruka, Ebisu, and several ANBU, including none other than Uzuki. It was the ANBU on routine patrol that spotted the two fighting and Uzuki had gone ahead to inform Kakashi of what had transpired.

It was merely luck that the others were seemingly able to sense that something was amiss and had arrived there to see Naruto defeat Sasuke in a Taijutsu...and just in time to see Sasuke use the Chidori on Naruto with killer intent just as Kakashi and Uzuki had arrived to witness the end of the battle and Sasuke's attempt to still fight Naruto despite it already obvious that he had been defeated as Naruto had grown a great deal than what he was before.

Needless to say the others could not help but be shocked by what they had just witnessed, they had arrived earlier and saw that both Sasuke and Naruto were fighting one another. And while they had wondered what had happened, they were ill prepared to see Sasuke actually using the Chidori with killer intent on Naruto, not once, but twice. Kakashi was shocked and dismayed by this and quickly got between the two of them.

Naruto turned to Kakashi and spoke.

"Kakashi-sensei...I'm sorry about what happened."

Kakashi could see that Naruto was sincere with the apology and he had seen that Naruto's Rasengan had been smaller and less powerful than what one normally expected from the technique. That and the fact that he had noted the level of chakra Naruto used in his Rasengan told him that Naruto had no intention of killing Sasuke to win. Sasuke on the other hand had gone all out lethal, he had every intention of killing Naruto with the Chidori and that was not something he liked.

"I understand that Naruto."

The Jonin turned and glared at Sasuke who was still aching from the attack but glaring defiantly back at him. He had long suspected that Sasuke had developed a deep level of hostility to Naruto, and he had suspected that it had stemmed from the encounter with Itachi from before. But now this attack could not be ignored, using a technique meant to save your comrades in a fashion to kill them went against everything he had developed the Chidori and the Raikiri respectively for. He could not excuse this as he looked at the two other Jonin with him as well as Uzuki who had been the one to warn him of the fight earlier and spoke to them.

"Take him to a holding cell for now and keep an eye on him and also get a Medic Nin to assess his injuries, I will talk to him at a later date."

"Hai Kakashi-san!"

With that, the ANBU went to take Sasuke away who still glared defiantly at Kakashi and glared hatefully at Naruto who looked back calmly at his friend. What happened was no doubt going to have some very negative effects to Konoha in the future, and as the others crowded around in trying to get some answers from Naruto on what had just happened, he had other thoughts on his mind.

He had a feeling that before the day was over...something bad was going to happen, and as much as he hoped that the situation would be resolved soon, he felt that Sasuke was going to be in the center of it all.

...

A fair distance from the scene...

Several smiles came from the battle between Naruto and Sasuke, one of them was a fairly well sized person who would have passed as a replica for Chouji. He was not alone as the others who all wore the same symbol of the village that Orochimaru had command of.

It seemed that they now had the opening that they needed in order to make the grab for Sasuke, and soon their Master would finally have the price that he desires.

And soon, they will show that young Uchiha that his use of the Cursed Seal was not in the same league as the rest of them, for unlike him, they had the Cursed Seals for far longer and therefore, their skills were more than sufficient to use it to full strength.

Things were about to get interesting from here on out.

...

To be continued...

...

Author's Notes:

Well, here we are, a new chapter after so long with this story in isolation and in the proverbial freezer, thank God I did not forget too much what I had planned for this story, because if I did, I would have really been annoyed and disappointed in myself.

Anyway, I have decided for the sake of time constraints and for the problem I have of choppy internet due to the instability in the signal lately to compress the arcs involving Ibiki's brother Idate, the Land of Sea, the arc involving Menma, the Land of Vegetables, and the Land of Birds. This way i can focus on what I feel is the part all of you have been asking of me...

And that is Sasuke's defection from Konoha and his siding with Orochimaru, I know a lot of people had been asking for this for a very long time, and I hope that I am doing the right thing in writing this version of mine.

Now as many have suggested, I have allowed Naruto to defeat Sasuke in battle, unlike the canon version where they are stopped by Kakashi, or in other stories where Naruto holds himself back. This was done to show that Naruto is no longer the person Sasuke thought he was, and that if push comes to shove, he is more than willing to make the choices needed, though he will not change himself too much.

You can bet that Sasuke will not take this lying down and he will not hesitate to find ways to defeat Naruto, to prove to himself that he was not weak. You can bet that after the compressed arcs, Sasuke's now more than hostile due to the insults directed to him by Amachi and the rogue Konoha Jonin who had been the former teacher of Idate himself, and his defeat by Naruto, and thus he will not hesitate to change sides, but unlike the things that happened in the canon story in both the anime and the manga, Sakura will not be there to try and stop him by declaring her love and we all know why.

There will be a change in that for the next chapter that deals with the aftermath of the battle between Naruto and Sasuke. And in the next chapter, there will be some changes as Naruto knows that he has to stop Sasuke and try to keep his promise not to Sakura as it was never made, but to Itachi...remember that Itachi asked Naruto to prevent Sasuke from seeking out Death Fang, and if Sasuke leaves Konoha, he might do just that.

The team that will be deployed to get him back is the same, though in this case, both Shikamaru and Naruto are in command of the mission, and their will be better prepared in more ways than one for what is to come and who they will face.

...

Anyway, I hope that this will show to those fans of this story that it is now going to come alive, and I should point out that this story will soon be considered complete. So after I am done with the chapters I have in mind, this story is now officially over.

And before you start bemoaning that fact, I will be making a sequel to this and it will be very new and I will be making the prologue of the new story a bit of a surprise. I will not reveal what I have in mind so don't ask me what the prologue will be.

I hope that you all will be happy with the chapters that are to come, but it has been a while since I wrote in this story so I shall be a bit rusty, much to my shame.

The battle between Sasuke and Naruto is the first I have made for this story ever since I unofficially put it on ice, so I have no doubt that it's very rusty. I have been doing mostly gun battles for a while now and never martial arts battle scenes so I hope that you all are all right with it.

Now on to the next chapter...and you can bet that when the people of Konoha find out about the battle between Sasuke and Naruto, there will be results. And when Sasuke defects willingly to Orochimaru, you can bet that it will shock them even more. But before Sasuke leaves...he will do something that will anger Naruto and while he will not give up completely on saving Sasuke from damning himself...what his former team mate will do will leave a scar on Naruto's view of him for a while.

I will not reveal it for now, but it should be very interesting for all of the readers of this story.

See you all on the next chapter!