I don't own Naruto or Young Justice

Recovery

Mount Justice; October 21st; 4:05PM

Naruto and Sasuke sat in the center of the holo-ring in a meditative position with their legs crossed and their fingers rounded; They listened to the sparing going on around them as M'gaan, Artemis, Robin, Superboy, Wally, and Kaldur all went toe to toe with one-another around them. Red Tornado and Black Canary stood by and watched as M'gaan and Kaldur were taking on Conner and Wally whilst Artemis and the boy-wonder swapped hands alone on the opposite end of the ring. Sasuke could feel the vibrating of their steps, slams, and throws across the floor but, this was his born chakra and fighting instinct; he couldn't feel even the smallest smidge of Nature Energy as he had done on the beach before. Naruto opened his eyes and looked him over with his three-tomoe Sharingan and analyzed his chakra-network, it was sloppy but, not disrupted.

"Shouldn't we move out of the way of this if I'm going to concentrate?" Sasuke asked quietly without opening his eyes, the group continued sparring without making a single misstep.

M'gaan blocked one of Wally's punches and redirected the force to the side and used her opposing hand to grab his wrist and flip him overhead onto his back. This lasted a mere two seconds as he back-sprung onto his feet and threw a jump round-kick which nearly caught her in the face if Kaldur hadn't interjected with his right-forearm, however; this was short lived when Conner grappled Kaldur by the waist and leaned back to the ground pile-driving the Atlantean onto his back.

"You need to access Sage Mode in the midst of battles way more intense than this; if you can't do it here there is no point in teaching you anywhere else," Naruto tried not to say anything but the disruption in his Chakra network was too obvious.

Wally slipped down and swept Kaldur's feet out from under him, before M'gaan tried round-housing him to the ground being foiled by Wally ducking beneath the attack and grabbing her foot by the ankle and twisting it in such a way that wouldn't break it but, sent her spinning into the air and landing on her stomach. Kaldur had already stood and use this as an opportunity to drop-kick Wally onto his back before leaping into the air for a face-stomp which was expertly avoided by the speedster rolling over and flipping to his feet. Conner came in sending three jabs to the face being deflected with his dense forearms which he used to grab one of the Kryptonian's fists and pull him to the ground before watching him roll back to his feet.

"You need to let go of that fear and anger about what happened if you want to access Nature Energy," Naruto instructed catching Sasuke's attention quickly.

"What?" He asked almost daring Naruto to repeat himself, although; the Nine-Tailed Jinchuriki was the only one in the League or Team not at all afraid of Sasuke. Aside from maybe, Batman.

"I said, you need to let go of what happened if you want your Chakra Network to balance out. It's the only way to access Nature Energy," Naruto and Sasuke opened both eyes without leaving their positions on the ground and without disturbing the sparring still going on around them.

Sasuke cleared his throat and pulled his hands into his chest, "I have no clue what you're talking about," he stated without skipping a beat as Naruto sighed and crossed his arms.

"Don't be ridiculous, the injustice situation was a disaster for several reasons; just accept what happened and move on so you can focus on absorbing Nature Energy like we practiced," Sasuke narrowed his eyes as obvious anger began to boil within him.

'Kit,' Naruto heard the deep growl within his mindscape, 'It may be a bit soon to bring this up; I can already feel his anger building.'

"Look, I already came to terms with what happened, I'm already moving on," He growled before closing his eyes once again.

Naruto frowned at this before giving a loud sigh, "Did you forget I can read your Chakra and emotions like four different ways? I can tell your still guilty about Barb and afraid of Madara," this caused Sasuke to snap his eyes open quickly with a rage.

He stood from his position and pointed down at Naruto with a shout, "I am not afraid and I'm definitely not guilty!"

"Sasuke…" Naruto attempted to calm him but, the teen clearly continued anyways as the Team, Red Tornado, and Black Canary all stopped to look over at their argument.

Sasuke became even more frustrated with things quieting down to focus on them, "Maybe if you taught me properly I would have already mastered it by now! It's been like three months since I started the training and I still can't enter it for even a second!"

Artemis swatted her forehead with her palm, "Oh, brother…"

Naruto stood up this time tightening his orange jacket, "Oh, it's my fault now, is it? I'm the guy who mastered the technique in less time than the ancient sage even took; who the hell are you to tell me how I'm supposed to teach you?"

"The student not learning shit! You're a bad teacher, plain and simple!"

Naruto stood closer and put his finger out for emphasis, "Oh yea? Maybe if you listened and learned something Barbara wouldn't be sitting in a wheelchair right now!"

Sasuke growled and took a step closer as his Mangekyou Sharingan flared up and spun in both pupils, "Take it fucking back, now."

Naruto's Sharingan quickly evolved and spun into the jagged Mangekyou, "Make. Me."

Black Canary and Red Tornado were at a loss for words as they shared a look of worry; Artemis and M'gaan stepped forwards placing hands on their respective significant other, Artemis put one palm out towards Naruto and the other on Sasuke's chest, "Come on, Sasuke, cool it."

"Let's take a walk," M'gaan tried reasoning but, the tension only grew and grew as they began shouting over their crushes.

"Maybe if you were a better teacher, she'd be okay!"

"I am not the one who knocked out the League and Team just to handle a personal vendetta, look at you! It's no wonder Madara wiped your sorry ass all over the swamp!"

Sasuke snapped using his Almighty Push to knock both girls in opposite directions landing a few feet away on their hands; the Uchiha grabbed Naruto by the shoulders and slammed him back first into the solid rock of the cave shaking the foundation of the mountain, "I'll show you what it felt like!"

"Woah!" Canary shouted in distress as she placed a finger to her ear and spoke into communicator; Kaldur and Superboy wrapped their arms around Sasuke's torso using their combined strength to attempt to over-power him but, failed miserably when he simply backed up and tossed them over his shoulder onto their backs. Sasuke turned back to Naruto whom had erupted in a golden flame; his entire body was marked with black symbols and a flaming cloak hung down at his feet.

'For the record, I think this is a really bad idea!' Kurama advised his partner from within his psyche but, the warning went unheeded as Sasuke lunged forwards with a fist outstretched. Naruto used his Sharingan to calculate his sloppy movements wrapping his hands around his wrist and dropping to his back, rolling backwards and kicking him through the cave wall with immense force sending him out into the water.

Sasuke braced himself by skating across the water with his chakra dragging up a massive twenty-foot wave behind him; the Uchiha formed a Rasengan in his palm as he focused the energy and his Mangekyou Sharingan, "Amaterasu!" He shouted as the black flames erupted around the energy-attack and amplified its nature adding black flames to its condensed form.

Naruto flew from the Cave holding a Wind Style: Rasenshuriken, aiming downward with the force of a mountain-range and the furious nine-tails chakra bellowing out around him. Sasuke propelled himself upwards into the air holding his Inferno Rasengan with the raging power of the Amaterasu prepared to roast his opponent with the heat of the Earth's Core. They were mere inches from each-other and prepared to collide attacks when a rush of speed came from the distance, the sonic-barrier was an afterthought as the red and blue blur grabbed hold of each of their wrists and spun them around sending their attacks into opposite directions. The Rasenshuriken hit the water behind them with Naruto and exploded in a massive dome of sheering wind and white energy causing the entire mountain to shake violently; Sasuke flew face-first into the beach where his Inferno Rasengan hit the sand and carved a trench the size of a sixteen-wheeler unearthing massive rocks as Sasuke was covered in mounds of sand.

Superman floated down holding his bruised palms with a frown as Flash, Martian Manhunter, and Shazam lowered themselves to the beach in front of Sasuke with Flash skidding to a halt before them. A powered-down Naruto strutted from the water groggily pulling seaweed from his hair, "I'm not entirely sure I fully understand where it is either of you come from but, here on this Earth, we don't settle our differences with dangerous grudge matches which very well could have endangered the lives of everyone in that city."

Sasuke looked away as his Sharingan spun and morphed into it's three-tomoe design as did Naruto's; "Sorry guys, but, if you can't learn to do this training peacefully than your going to have to call it off completely," Flash attempted to sound as fair as possible but, didn't seem to get the approval he was hoping for.

Naruto looked up quickly, "But, Madara!"

"If you endanger lives than you are no better than he is at this point, in the eyes of the League," Manhunter confirmed folding his arms.

Sasuke scoffed, "Screw this, screw the League, and oh yea," He turned and poked Naruto directly in the chest causing him to growl back, "Screw you!" His Lightning Release: Chakra Mode sparked around him as blue-lighting buzzed about and he sped off at super-speed into the city away from the conflict.

Superman looked back to Naruto as the team approached from the Cave with Conner, Kaldur, Wally, Dick, M'gaan, and Artemis following front with the blonde sighing with a worried exasperation, "Should I follow him?" Flash asked as the emerald archer put a hand on his shoulder.

"I wouldn't bother, I know where he's going…" She said as she walked off towards the vehicle dispatch off the edge of the beach.

…

Unknown Location

Madara Uchiha sat in wait in the deepest most secluded chamber of the underground building which he called home, his surroundings were barely illuminated by the dim candle-light that burned in the corner; his eyes were closed and his legs were crossed in the classic meditative position used by shinobi to harness chakra. He felt every single block of every single level of the entire facility with just his thoughts so, it was no surprise to him when a knock on the door disturbed his meditation.

"Enter," He announced without opening his eyes.

The steel reinforced door slid open revealing two large thugs holding one blind-folded thin and malnourished man by the shackles that bound his wrists; behind them was Vandal Savage, the immortal, whom stepped to the side as the man was dropped in front of Madara.

"Exactly what you asked for," The thug announced as the blind-folded man began squirming and attempting to use any one of his senses to tell where he was or even how long it had been since his capture.

Madara opened one eye, "This won't do."

The thug raised a brow and ran his fingers through his dreadlocks, "He won't be missed, he's just a crackhead; what the hell do you mean he won't do?"

Madara closed his eyes once again and resumed meditation, "The technique I'm trying to perform requires a strong sacrifice, and the summon I'm trying to make will particularly take a large number of those strong people."

Vandal sighed and looked back to the door, "How many are we talking?"

Madara did the math in his head, the amount of chakra needed plus the amount of chakra the summoning would take; "A hundred give or take, and they can't be inches from death like this poor excuse for a man."

The drug-addict had cold sweats running down his body and shook nervously from the withdrawal of being kidnapped before dosing his next fix of heroine. Vandal Savage nodded his head to the thugs whom grabbed the addict by his arms pulling him out of the room, one lone gun-shot ringing through the corridors as the metal-door slid shut, "I think I may have an idea for where we can retrieve these sacrifices but, it will cost us an ally."

Madara didn't flinch, "Let's just get this done."

Vandal cleared his throat and stepped towards the door, "Before I do I need to know if it's necessary, the ally we're about to lose has resources, we can't lose them over a trivial matter."

The ancient shinobi opened his eyes with a sinister smile, "The warrior I'm going to summon will be worth a thousand men, capable of handling Sasuke in more ways than one."

Vandal nodded and rubbed his chin, "Very well, it'll be arranged by the end of the night."

…

Gotham City; S.T.A.R Labs Medical Center; 4:32PM

The dull rooms of this cutting-edge hospital were lined with motivational posters of cringe worthy statements to help the patients recovering there, however; being in a coma beat the purpose of these posters. Only Sasuke sat in the room as a low chime played through the speakers running through the ceiling, some beeps and other autonomous noises filled the room but, otherwise it was painfully silent. Flowers decorated the tables being the only source of color in the entire area aside from those cringy-posters, the card's attached loosely to the flowers read, 'get well soon, love J.G.'

In the elevated hospital-bed with clear tubes running through the sheets and into her arm and nose sat Barbara Gordan; she had been stable for weeks now but, she wasn't progressing whatsoever and she was deemed comatose after the first day of medical treatment. Medical Ninjutsu, magic, high-level technology; nothing seemed to be effective in treating her condition however, it did help her from receiving any damage to higher brain-function.

Sasuke sat in a single chair beside her I.V. rack, he didn't say or do anything but, stare off into the distance at those useless posters, they were beginning to grow on him spite their condescending nature. The rhythmic beeping of her heart monitor lulled him into a state of deep thought, he flash-backed to the events leading up to her being shot. He was so desperate to prove himself, to prove he was stronger than Madara that, he ignored obvious signs proving he was out numbered. Barbara payed the price for his arrogance, had he just let the League help him instead of going in practically alone, she might be okay. He'd done enough in his past to make even the toughest soldier sick to their stomachs but, he actually thought he had become a different person over the last six-months; it turns out he was the same person he'd always been, hiding under a facade, one that got his friend hurt.

Suddenly, without notice, he felt a hand placed gently on his shoulder; he was almost startled but, sensed who it was and relaxed the tension in his muscles that were prepared to strike on instinct.

"How's she doing?" Artemis asked as she brushed a blonde strand of hair behind her ear and moved to pull up a chair from behind.

"They're still sure she'll never walk again, that is, if she even wakes up," he narrowed his dark eyes back at the injured coma-patient, "No amount of energy I put into my Medical Ninjutsu helps at all; I put her into this mess and I can't do anything to help."

Artemis sighed, "No one expects you to," she reasoned reaching over to put a hand of hers on his own, "The fact that you're visiting her at all is enough."

He pulled away and turned back to Barbara, "She's in this situation because of my stubbornness."

"She's in this situation because the Joker shot her in the back; now, he's sitting in a hospital-bed deep in Arkham Asylum where he's resting off a full body-cast dealt by Naruto and Batman."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes never taking them off of his friend, "If it were up to me, he'd be dead."

"That's what the Bat said too, but if you killed him you'd end up no better than he is and Barb would still be lying in that bed," she moved to look back at her team-mate with a sad grimace.

"Who said I was any better than Joker? Maybe I'm not a psychotic serial-killer, at least not anymore but, I've done things just as bad as he has," Sasuke didn't waver in his composure simply moving his eyes to stare back down at his hands, "I've killed friends, hurt more than I can count for the sake of revenge; I'd like to pretend I've changed but, I haven't."

Artemis softened her expression, this time grabbing Sasuke's palm by force, "I put my own mother in a wheel-chair for the rest of her life, remember?" He turned for the first time looking her in her piercing brown eyes, "I've done things I'm not proud of but, it's not about what you've done it's about how you intend to move forward," he listened to her as her words filtered through his mind, "Becoming Pain, joining the Team, being a hero… dating me, it all shows your character and how you're trying to be a different person."

Sasuke sighed and looked back down to the sparkling clean hospital floors, almost seeing his reflection in the tile, he allowed her words to simmer as he processed what she'd said. All was quiet until they heard footsteps approaching, "Commissioner!" Artemis spoke up breaking Sasuke's focus.

He stood quickly as the officer put a bouquet of flowers on the table next to the many others, "I appreciate you visiting, Artemis but, I think it's time you go. Both of you," Sasuke could feel his spiteful glare hitting him in the back of the head as Gordan was still clearly emotional about Sasuke's choice to put his daughter at risk.

"I was just leaving," Sasuke muttered as he stood and grabbed his purple-jacket with a blank stare; Artemis put a hand on his lower back as they walked passed him without making eye-contact. Sasuke could read his emotions even without the Sharingan, it was still devastating him to see his only daughter in such a state.

…

Meanwhile

"Earth Style: Mud Wall," Naruto flipped through hand-signs before slamming his open palms to the ground where he looked up at the gapping hole he had made during his tussle with Sasuke. The rock sprung from the frame of the opening and sealed the hole until it almost seemed as if it had never been compromised to begin with. The Jinchuriki wiped a drop of sweat from his brow before noticing a stinging sensation erupting from his forehead, a smear of blood was relevant on his wrist now. Sasuke must've tagged him harder than he expected, "Idiot," he turned to retrieve some cloth to wipe up the blood when he nearly ran into M'gaan; he stumbled back as she leaned forward, holding exactly what he needed in the palms of her hands.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you," She said sympathetically before outstretching the gauze and tape in her hands, "I noticed you had a small cut and I just wanted to help."

He gave her a short-grin and grabbed the gauze from her, "Thanks, sorry about earlier, by the way," he quickly dabbed the bleeding area on his head.

M'gaan giggled a bit, "No big deal, apology appreciated though."

Naruto pulled the gauze back and noticed more blood than he expected, "I might actually have to use Kurama to heal this…" He meant to say this more to himself but, he was most definitely aware that he was speaking aloud.

"Ah, the fox-demon turned ally," She smiled reminiscing about the stories she'd been told, "Kinda similar to how you and Sasuke turned out, isn't it?"

The Jinchuriki chuckled, "I guess it is," He felt the soothing burn of his demonic energy bubbling at the microscopic level across his scalp healing the scrape.

"Surprising that you two could get into it like that," she folded her palms together behind her back as he looked back at his bleeding wound and felt that it had sealed nicely.

"We used to fight like that all the time," he chuckled before walking passed her to discard the bandage as she followed suit, "It's more surprising that we've come this far as friends."

She frowned as thought crossed her mind, they walked side-by-side towards the kitchenette where he could toss the bandage, "So, it's normal to say such hurtful things to each other?"

He sighed with exasperation, she reminded him a lot of Sakura in the way she talked, "I suppose not in that way but, I was only returning the favor."

"But, can you really blame for not being a hundred-percent after what happened to Barbara," he stopped walking and looked down at the ground whilst she continued, "Anyone would feel responsible for what happened if they had made the mistakes he made but, that's no reason to push recovery. He needs to deal with those emotions himself."

Naruto tightened his grip on the gauze and exhaled slowly, "We don't have time for that, who knows what Madara could be planning and he's the only one that can stand up to him," he turned to make eye contact with the Martian, "You think I should apologize?"

She closed her eyes and smiled without saying a word; he sighed and handed her the gauze back and leaned forward giving her a quick kiss on the cheek where she crinkled her nose in response, "Thanks M'gaan, you always know what to say, I guess."

"Don't mention it!" She blushed as red as a tomato as the crimson bounced off her green complexion; she watched as he gathered chakra into his eye and warped out of the Mountain in seconds.

…

Taipei; Northern Mountains; Temple of Shadows; 4:45PM

Vandal Savage strolled off of the helicopter that dropped him on a landing pad at the top of a mountain with six guards holding automatic weapons and one hooded guest close behind him. From the temple entrance, Ra's Al Ghul approached with his gold and emerald robes hanging down past his feet; his assassins lined up to make a path for him each in a similar blacked-out garb hiding their faces with at least twelve in each row. He approached Savage with out flinching his expression, the others including his guest did not speak as he folded his arms, "Vandal Savage, to what do I owe the personal visit?" being members of the same organization, he extended a hand to shake as curtesy would dictate but, was denied when Vandal ignored him.

Savage jumped straight to the point, "We need some of your assassins for a special mission," he looked behind the demon king at his followers, "I wouldn't expect to see them again."

Ra's was hardly content but, cautiously curious at the prospect, "What kind of mission?"

"A sacrifice, in return we will be receiving a warrior of untold power and skill to join our ranks."

Once again, Ra's Al Ghul was not impressed by this, "These fighters are not sacrificial lambs; they are born warriors, my students," he looked Vandal in the eye and saw the unwavering determination before turning back to his temple, "How many would you need?"

Savage glanced back at his guest and turned without a word, "no less than a hundred."

Ra's chuckled for a moment before bursting out into laughter, "You must be joking! These are not chickens or live-stock, they are machines, weapons, they are my students; to sacrifice a hundred of them for no reason is completely ridiculous and off the table."

"I just gave you the reason."

Ra's narrowed his eyes and folded his arms, "My answer is no."

Savage closed his eyes as his guest attempted to step forwards before he placed a hand out insisting that he could handle things verbally, the hooded guest stopped in his tracks, "Ra's, listen," he approached the demon's head without concern putting a hand on his shoulder, "I do urge you to reconsider; our mutual friend Is the one asking, not me; we wouldn't want to anger him, would we?"

Ra's looked beyond the immortal man at his guest before scoffing, "Are you attempting a threat? I have thousands of trained assassins all with the home-field advantage, what threat does one man, however powerful, pose to me?" With a snap of his fingers, hundreds of armed ninjas came from every corner of the temple even scaling down from the roof-tops of the temple exterior, surrounding the group with blades, throwing stars, Sai, daggers and other deadly weapons held at their eye level, "Instead, I have a counter offer; you leave my temple and order a reconvene with the rest of the light, settle this with them."

Madara Uchiha pulled his hood back and flashed a sinister smile as he let his long mane of raven-black hair spill out, "It has been a little while since I've stretched my legs," he flashed his dual crimson Sharingan as the army readied themselves for battle.

…

Mount Justice Cliffs; 5:52PM; October 21st

The sun gleamed brightly over the horizon as it was mere minutes from setting over the ocean; Sasuke and Artemis sat with their backs facing the city as they watched the water reflect the bright suns rays from thousands of feet above ground. It was one of the only things that could calm his mood, watching the sunset from the highest point in the vicinity, and he found himself going up to the same spot more often since the battle with Madara. How could he have been so wrong? Madara didn't even need his full powers to completely decimate his own best efforts, even with access to Honored Sage Mode is it possible to stop someone of that magnitude? His hand was flat against the small patches of grass beneath them to keep him propped towards the cliff and it was several minutes before he felt a warm texture caress against it. Artemis hadn't looked away from the sunset but, had placed her own hand over his, it was amongst the handful of things that truly calmed him and was arguably better than a perfect sunset.

"Things will work out," she spoke softly without taking her gaze off of the ocean, "They always do as long we stick together."

Sasuke sighed and stared back out at the water for several long minutes as they both felt the cool ocean breeze blowing passed them. It wasn't long until they both heard the familiar sound of wind and reality weaving together as Naruto was plunged from the Kamui transportation jutsu, landing on a hill not twenty feet from their sitting grounds. He didn't speak up for about a minute until they finally decide to acknowledge him, looking back at him Artemis made eye contact with Sasuke before sitting up and placing a hand on his cheek.

"I'll give you two a minute," she stood and began walking towards the opposite end of the mountain where she could take the path leading to its back-entrance.

"I could send you back into the mountain if you want," Naruto offered however, she simply waved a hand back at him casually.

"Nah, I could use the exercise," she left with those words as Naruto slowly approached the mountain side passing Sasuke and sitting with his feet dangling off the cliff.

"Join me, would ya?"

Sasuke gave a long exhale and closed his eyes before assuming a position next to his friend, now both overlooking the waters, Naruto smiled which caught his attention, "What?"

"This reminds me of a view from the Land of Fire on a hill where Jiraiya first told me about Sage Mode; at the time, I was really torn up about you leaving the village to find Orochimaru and not fulfilling my promise to Sakura," Naruto glanced over at Sasuke but, kept his smile which illuminated almost as bright as the sun which had just barely dipped under the horizon now, "He told me that emotions are natural, they're as real as the Earth and as reliable as the sun but, they're not quite as predictable and it can be easy to mistake one for the other."

Sasuke looked back towards the sunset as he spoke, "I thought you were afraid of Madara before but, I was wrong, you're afraid of everything he can take from you. You aren't used to having many friends or loved ones who at the same time are this completely helpless to the enemy. It must be a new feeling." He wasn't wrong at all, Sasuke could feel his words were the truth even if he didn't want to admit it, "I'm sorry for saying what I said but, I think I know how to help."

"What are you on about?"

Naruto quickly folded his legs and motioned for Sasuke to follow his example, "C'mon, what do you have to lose?"

"Fine, fine," As he folded his legs and placed his fists knuckle to knuckle he switched his focus to the nature energy that he could feel around him.

"I know it's easy to find yourself focusing on what you've lost and what could happen if you don't beat Madara but, I want you to just let all of that go," Naruto closed his eyes and Sasuke followed his example, "Remember your roots, your strength, what you're fighting for. Don't view what you can lose as something negative, use it as a motivation to move forward." Naruto took a long deep breath and continued, "To be a ninja you need more than strength and jutsu, you need to acquire the judgement to make the right decisions; to master Sage Mode you need to be smarter, this world is no place for a fool, that's the reality."

Jiraiya may have been a pervert but he was a Legendary Sanin for a reason, he was as wise as they come. His words echoed through Sasuke's mind as he began to focus on what Naruto taught him in their prior sessions, he sat perfectly still without moving a single muscle in his entire body, his breaths were even and calm only taking in as much air as he needed; he did as he was told and made sure to view all of his obstacles as positive advancements towards his over all goal of defeating Madara Uchiha. In his mind's eye he saw Artemis next to him suddenly, with a grin plastered across her face, then Wally appeared alongside Dick, Conner, M'gaan, and Kaldur all surrounding him giving him their strength. Finally, he saw Barbara floating over the cliff-side which startled Sasuke at first.

"I'm so sorry."

She gave a warm smile and floated towards him, embracing him, "I know you were only doing what you thought was best for all of us," she separated and looked him in the eyes as she knelt down, "I forgive you."

Suddenly, almost like a radar, he felt it all. The mountain, the base within, his friends casually mingling, the ocean and all of the creatures within. He could feel his sight spreading across the planet to every single person, plant, animal, or structure like a sixth sense. It was almost too surreal to see everything on the planet at once in such detail, it was unlike anything even his augmented Rinnegan could produce. He opened his eyes and, just like with the Sage Mode users before him, his eyes had been pigmented over with a purple-oval hue like Naruto's, his pupil was sharpened now like a snakes' but, it still took after the frog sages energy. It was his very own unique Honored Sage Mode.

"How does it feel?" Naruto asked, having sat back now propping his body up with his hands facing Sasuke with a bent up.

Sasuke looked down at his hands and tightened his grip, "Incredible, amazing, like nothing I've ever experienced in my life."

"And…?"

"Like I suddenly have a thousand times better chance at beating Madara and getting justice for everyone he took from us," He looked at Naruto for a moment and gave a short smile, "Thanks, you might be a pretty good teacher after all."

"Only pretty good!?"

…

Taipei; Northern Mountains; Temple of Shadows; 6:15PM

The flames burned red-hot from the rock and stone that constructed the former League of Assassins temple; rubble and ash was all the remained as dead bodies littered the grounds around the burning shrines. Each of the thousands of ninja were impaled, decapitated, burned, or mauled by their own weapons; Ra's Al Ghul was bound by wood-style shackles with a broken leg and four shattered ribs, however; he'd been through much worse. Vandal Savage stood nearby a group of exactly ninety-nine hostages now blindfolded and bound by the wrists and ankles. Six men with rifles surrounded them keeping them in a single horde and sitting on the ground; Madara grabbed Ra's by the collar of his robe and drug him across the temple-grounds nonchalantly as his deep voice mumbled to himself, "And you make one-hundred," he casually tossed him into the ground causing him to spit blood across the floor.

"You bastards! You can't do this to me! You need me!"

Vandal closed his eyes, "You over estimate your worth…" he looked back at Madara whom took one of the broken blades from the corpse of a ninja and stepped towards the mass of hostages, "Should we take them back to base?"

"No," he muttered as he stood directly in front of them, "This will do." He pulled from his belt a single scroll and stared dutifully at it, "Kabuto should really have kept his most sacred scrolls better hidden, and even more importantly, he should also better secure his stash of ninja DNA," Madara pondered for a moment as he knelt down by the horde of captured assassins, "Although, I can't say I gave him much time to up his security before I broke his neck…"

Unraveling the scroll, he was faced with Japanese signs in a unique pattern writing across the length of the paper with a small portion sized vile of red-liquid; as placed the scroll flat on the ground before them and smiled as he uncorked the vile and slathered the paper in blood.

He flipped through about seven or eight hand-signs before placing his hand flat on the sheet and shouting, "Summoning Impure-World Reincarnation!" From the scroll lines, designs, and Japanese texts extended off the paper and surrounded each and every hostage, all blindfolded which left them completely helpless to what was about to happen. Suddenly, they all began to fall apart, turning into dust and ash as the air seemingly drew their ashes into its current. All of the ashes collected and formed into a single body, dressed in a black robe with red cloud designs littered over it and a high-top collar extending over his face.

"Are you finally going to tell me who you summoned?" Vandal asked the standing Madara as he smiled in the bask of his success.

"I never had the opportunity to meet him during his life or the war, however; he was renowned even amongst Naruto and Sasuke as one of the most naturally talented ninjas of his life-time."

The man blinked for a moment revealing his crimson Sharingan as he scanned his surrounding, "Who dares rip my soul from the depths of the Pure Lands, again?"

"Vandal Savage meet the most proficient genjutsu user of his time, youngest Anbu Black Ops member to ever live, and the brother of Sasuke; Itachi Uchiha!"

"Sasuke Uchiha has a brother?" Vandal raised his brow with a curious and surprised expression.

"Had, past tense, who better to psychologically torture my only greatest enemy than the brother he killed under false pretenses?"

…

Mount Justice; 7:34PM; October 21st

Sasuke was sitting in his room staring at Naruto's headband and reminiscing on his past adventures with Team 7. He would have smiled if things didn't end as horribly as they did but, it wasn't like him to smile much anyways so he simply tucked it away in his sock drawer where he had been keeping it since he moved into the Mountain and out of Bruce's guest room. He had finally unlocked Honored Sage Mode and it was time to move on to mastering it and beginning to open the eight gates, or at least seven of them.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a knock from the metal door across the room; he sat up from his only chair and faced it, "It's open," he muttered casually.

The metallic door slid open revealing Artemis wearing a green tank-top, pajama pants, no shoes and her hair hanging down passed her hips with no hair-tie, "Shouldn't you be going home soon?"

She smiled, "No," she denied with a coy grin, "Figured I'd stay the night here…" She walked towards him with a seductive strut, "Did you work everything out with Naruto?"

"Yea, even managed to activate Sage Mode for the first time; and you can't stay here," He narrowed his eyes as he caught her tone and mischievous tone while she stepped in front of him, "What are you doing?"

"Nothing. Yet."

"What does that-" She cut him off by grabbing the hem of her tank-top and pulling it over her head revealing she was wearing no bra to hide her breasts, "Mean?" He kept his stoic composure but, gulped once after seeing her bare chest.

"Think you might wanna let me stay the night now?"

"S-Sure…"

…

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