Note: Apologies in advance for the short chapter.
Sasuke was nearing Kumogakure, carefully traipsing the edge of the battlegrounds. He was reading and rereading the Bingo book, specifically notes on the Third Raikage.
The noises of battle were strangely soothing. Sasuke moved within the foliage, walking past several withered and weary soldiers. The fighting was non-stop. Day or night, it didn't cease. Sasuke figured the death toll would be staggering, at this rate.
Finally, he arrived at the borders of Kumo. Past them, the Third Raikage resided in the centre of the village (well, he wasn't sure the Raikage would be here, but most Kage strategised from within the safety of the village, so it wasn't an aimless guess, right?).
Sneaking in effortlessly past border control, he noted that the village was abuzz with a haunted bustle. The moon shone, seemingly directly above him, illuminating the village.
He was surprised that no one had caught him yet. Surely, Kumo would have a few skilled sensors. He was barely trying to suppress his chakra. Nevertheless, he continued walking calmly to the Raikage's office. Catching him off guard would certainly give him an advantage.
Using chakra, he scaled the wall, peering through the window to see the Raikage's listless form. And the Raikage glanced back.
Shit. He had been caught.
The glass shattered into a gazillion shards. Sasuke managed to land gracefully on the ground, followed by the Third Raikage, who was charging towards him, looking absolutely livid.
The Raikage, with overwhelming speed, tried to punch Sasuke. Sasuke narrowly dodged every punch, not yet activating his Sharingan.
"Where are you from, ninja?" The Raikage bellowed. His voice was gruff and boisterous. "Konoha?"
Sasuke sighed in irritation, dodging yet another flurry of swift punches. He might as well be honest. In response, he activated the Sharingan - not the Mangekyou.
He sighed once again, feeling his annoyance rise as he sensed multiple people, both civilians and ninja. Great. The entire village had been alerted. Not that it mattered. The ninja present here were either injured, low-level, or not combatants. They couldn't even watch the fight without getting dizzy, let alone join in and try to kill him.
"You're brave, I'll give you that. Sneaking in and attacking me was a very bold move. But, you're outmatched!" The Raikage yelled. He ceased his pointless punches, moving on to ninjutsu.
"As if," Sasuke rolled his eyes, "All of your best ninja are too busy getting decimated by Namikaze. It's just you."
The Raikage, furious, levelled a mildly powerful lightning jutsu at Sasuke. Sasuke countered with an equally powerful lightning jutsu to cancel it out.
The Raikage became thoughtful.
"I'm going to have to fight you seriously, aren't I?"
Sasuke scoffed. "That's funny. I'm not even warmed up." This was a slight exaggeration, but the art of bluffing was crucial to ninja. And Sasuke was a master of lies and bluffs. He'd never admit that he was starting to get winded.
Then, the Raikage coated himself in a viscous, blue chakra. His lightning armour, or something like that.
How the fuck am I supposed to land a hit on him, Sasuke thought, before coming to a realisation. Oh, right. Well, there's no point stalling.
His Sharingan seemed to spin, whirring into the Mangekyou, much to the disguised shock of the Raikage. Before he could react, Sasuke used Amaterasu.
He was pretty strong. Sasuke would have struggled a lot more if he didn't have the element of surprise.
Once Amaterasu was contained, and the Raikage was burnt to ashes, Sasuke immediately deactivated the Sharingan. Maybe the witnesses saw it, or maybe they didn't, but either way, he didn't give a rat's ass.
After collecting his bounty, Sasuke was relatively content. Two days in this weird time period, and he managed to kill two S-rank ninja.
He reclined in his beach chair, feeling the Sun's warmth. He sighed in relief, sipping his cocktail. As per the ancient saying...A kill a day keeps the depression away.
After a few hours of lounging about in the Sun (strangely, the beach was empty, because all the civilians ran away), he got up and stretched, still feeling relaxed.
And then came a feeling of overwhelming and excruciating pain. It was the same feeling as earlier, equally as intense. His limbs flared up in pure, unadulterated agony. His vision swam.
Desperately, he tried to cling onto his consciousness. As he lost his grip on reality, he felt himself beginning to black out.
Sasuke forced his eyes open. His biceps ached. He tried to move, failing miserably to do so. He glanced up weakly. His wrists were chained to the wall, held against him. Moreover, he was stripped half naked.
Panic began to seep in as he took in his surroundings. Mould began to grow in this dimly lit room. He stared directly at iron bars. It was like he was a prisoner.
He shook vigorously. The chains clanged and rattled, but didn't budge. He couldn't feel his chakra pathways. Glancing down, there were numerous ink-black patterns on his torso: seals, which blocked his chakra.
Out of panic, he tried every viable strategy to escape, and failed. Sasuke realised with increasing distress that, right now, he was utterly vulnerable.
He tried to even out his ragged breathing, knowing that getting frustrated would get him nowhere. All he could do was wait.
"So you're awake," a deep, sonorous, disembodied voice called out. Sasuke immediately perked up, eliminating all traces of tiredness from his expression. He waited for the person to show himself.
A tall, foreboding silhouette emerged from the shadows of his prison cell. Sasuke recognised him immediately.
"What the fuck have you done to me?" he seethed, clenching his jaw in anger.
As he flashed several sadistic smiles at Sasuke, he brandished an array of weapons, all of them perfectly suited to torture.
He was in deep, deep shit.