I do not own Naruto

A few minutes later, Tanzaku city castle

"What is this? To come this far just to betray me? Answer me, Tsunade!" Shouted Orochimaru.

Tsunade stood silent.

"I really intended to revive those two…and I even promised not to destroy Konoha."

Tsunade let a smile creep up on her mouth. "Orochimaru…I know you're lying. I know it, but…Nawaki…Dan…I wanted to see them…even for just a second…I wanted to see their smiling faces…hear their voices…" She wiped the tears from her face. "I loved them. I still love them…But I can't. Because of that brat said…I remembered their dream…the same dream they all bet their lives on…and my own dream of seeing theirs become a reality…"

Orochimaru stood in silence. It seemed there was no way to make her see things his way. It was a shame.

"No choice then. We have no choice but to force you to do it, then." he declared.

Tsunade cleaned the snot out of her face and jumped in the air, her heel crashing on the ground with massive force, shattering the ground and the walls standing next to the three shinobi.

"Orochimaru-sama, allow me to engage her. We have to defeat her before her student finds us and drags Jiraiya in the midst." asked Kabuto.

Orochimaru nodded, jumping away to leadTsunade in an open field where the two of them would have an advantage.

Naruto and Shizune felt the ground shaking, a section of the castle wall, far in the distance, crumbled under their eyes.

"There they are!" shouted Naruto, jumping in their direction. He followed them across the town in the same area where Naruto had spent the whole week training with the Rasengan. Tsunade was fighting against an enemy shinobi with gray hair wearing black. As soon as he got closer, he noticed the enemy ninja charging at a clearly still recovering Tsunade.

Futon: Kamaitachi no jutsu

The blast of wind was enough to keep the ninja from attacking, leaving Naruto enough time to appear in front of the man, Kyodai Sensu open and ready to defend Tsunade.

Shunshin no jutsu

Naruto blinked at the man in front of him, the eyeglass-wearing Konoha ninja that Sasuke was adamant was planted by the organizers to give Konoha ninjas a boost, the one whose teammate he and Karin had defeated during the preliminaries. He frowned, noticing his Oto hitai-ate. Seems like he was Orochimaru's spy all along.

Half a second later, Shizune and Jiraiya landed at his side.

"You haven't changed a bit, Orochimaru." commented the sage.

Tsunade charged toward, shoving Naruto out of the way as she cocked her fist to his Kabuto.

The Oto ninja extended his arm, grabbed his kunai and sliced his own wrist, showering Tsunade with his own blood, before jumping backwards and weaving through hand signs.

In'yu Shometsu no jutsu

Kabuto's wrist stopped bleeding, the boy now smirking at a trembling Tsunade forced on her knees. Shizune rushed to Tsunade's side, covering her with her haori, whispering reassuringly as she tried to calm her master down from her panic attack.

Kage Bunshin no jutsu

Four Naruto clones charged at Kabuto, blades in hand, while the original standing back, Kyodai Sensu at the ready.

Kabuto flicked his wrist twice, blood shooting towards the clones trying to surround him, landing over their eyes with almost supernatural precision.

The real Naruto tossed a kunai, a simple attack to test Kabuto's defenses.

The Oto spy swiftly dispelled the blinded clones via shurikens while he himself weaved into melee with the remaining two. He grabbed one of the clones by the wrist, lifting it up to block the flying kunai and stepped back, using the smoke of the clones dispelling to blind the last clone, who got hit by a vicious kick to the stomach. He was good. Better than Naruto, but his fighting style seemed…off. Like he wasn't concerned with powerful strikes, as if a single touch would be enough. He thanked Kami for having picked Neji as his opponent during the finals: whatever trick Kabuto used to kill with a simple touch, he had spent a month training on how to fight against the Hyuuga's Juken. That experience would be invaluable in this fight.

"Orochimaru-sama, please take off your left bandage." said Kabuto, moving to the side of his master.

Naruto gasped at the sight of Orochimaru's arm, blackened, swollen and covered in bleeding cracks. It was clear that Orochimaru could not use his hands, but it was also pretty obvious that thanks to Tsunade's drug, the same could be said for Jiraiya. Tsunade herself was having a mental breakdown of sorts, and Shizune was just now getting ready to join in the fight.

Naruto watched as Kabuto flashed through hand signs, gathering Orochimaru's blood and driving it in a line over a snake tattoo.

Kuchiyose no jutsu

Two giant yellow snakes appeared with a puff of smoke, Orochimaru and Kabuto standing on top of their heads. The snakes hissed, launching themselves at the group.

The creatures impacted the ground, raising a cloud of dust and debris, hiding themselves from view.

Futon: Kiryu Ranbu jo jutsu

Naruto widened his hands, forcing the dust to split apart, only to reveal the open jaw of one of the snakes about to close down on him, Shizune and Tsunade.

With no options other than to block, Naruto dodges the fangs of the beast, channeling as much chakra as he could into his arms and legs as the mouth closed down on him, buckling under the strength of the monster but holding its jaws open.

Jiraiya dodged the second snake, weaving hand signs in an attempt to force his chakra to obey.

Doton: Yomi Numa no jutsu

The terrain under the snake buckled and turned into quicksand, nowhere near deep enough to imprison the snake, but just enough to make him miss its target and allowing Jiraiya to stand face to face with Orochimaru.

The snake sannin started to run towards him, fangs bared. Jiraiya once again attempted to force his chakra to obey while weaving hand signs.

Hari Jizo no jutsu

His hair hardened and lengthened in an attempt to cover him with white needles, but the jutsu was still incomplete, leaving Orochimaru enough of a gap to bite down on his forearm with a vicious grip.

Shizune launched a volley of poisoned senbons toward Kabuto, who swiftly dodged while charging at her, both of them weaving through hand signs.

Chakra no Mesu no jutsu

Dokugiri no jutsu

Kabuto's hands were surrounded by blue chakra blades, his attack landing on the kunoichi's shoulder as she spat a cloud of toxic gas into his face.

Kabuto was engulfed, disappearing in the poison. As it dispersed, Kabuto was nowhere to be found.

Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu

Shizune cried in pain as Kabuto's hands emerged from the ground, chakra scalpel still active and severing her ankle ligaments. Kabuto emerged completely, an evil smile plastered on his face as he kicked Shizune in the face, forcing the girl to the ground.

Tsunade watched the fight in a state of impotence. She was horrified. She saw Kabuto kicking Shizune while she was on the ground, she saw Naruto struggling against the snake and she knew she had to do something. She had to move. She had to fight. She was Tsunade Senju, the last to bear the Senju name since the clan discarded it and mingled with Konoha. She was the granddaughter of Hashirama Senju. She was the grandniece of Tobirama Senju. She was a ninja. She was a Sannin! She had to MOVE!

She saw Kabuto turning away from a beaten Shizune, chakra scalpels no longer active, and charged towards her, chakra scalpel still active in his hand.

Shunshin no jutsu

With a swirl of leaves, Naruto appeared in front of her, blades raised to block the attack.

Naruto swung, forcing the Oto spy to jump back just enough for Naruto to put his fingers in a cross position.

Kage Bunshin no jutsu

Six of his clones appeared on his side, charging Kabuto in combat.

"If you want to grow up to become Hokage it's best if you run away. Under these circumstances you might get killed, you know? If you die here you'll never reach your dreams"

He mocked, avoiding the slew of attacks from the clones.

"Shut up! I'm not done yet!" shouted the real Naruto in the back, standing next to Tsunade.

Kabuto frowned, slicing the forearms of one of the clones and dispelling it in a puff of smoke.

He stabbed another clone in the shoulder, then felt his hand being grabbed by the same clone, holding him. Realization dawned on him immediately: this wasn't a clone. The real Naruto used his free hand to perform three hand signs, two clones clasping hands on top of his own extended palm, creating a sphere of swirling chakra. Kabuto raised his other hand, the chakra blade reaching for Naruto's heart.

Rasengan no jutsu

As Kabuto's jutsu pierced Naruto's chest, the spiraling sphere of chakra impacted Kabuto's torso, drilling into his flesh and launching the spy away, collapsing to the ground. Kabuto lifted his trembling hands to perform his signature jutsu.

In'yu Shometsu no jutsu

He stood up, the horrific wound on his torso already healing. He stumbled forward, watching Naruto falling on his knee, hand reaching toward his chest. He watched Tsunade moving next to him, trembling but moving. This wouldn't be a problem, despite her strength, she couldn't… He felt his knee bending on its own, no longer able to hold his weight, as he coughed up blood.

He looked at the blonde with wide eyes. Was that technique's damage so extensive that all of his chakra wasn't enough to completely heal him? He once again looked up, smirking at Tsunade's desperate attempt to save the boy. It was too late for him. His eyes opened wide as he saw Naruto lifting his hand and grabbed Tsunade's necklace.

Orochimaru frowned. His duel with Jiraiya felt more like a spat between angry academy students than the clash of two legends. With Kabuto down and Tsunade seemingly having overcome her fear of blood, this battle was about to go downhill really quickly. They needed to retreat. Abandoning his fight, he jumped into the snake's open jaws, ordering the beast to pick up Kabuto as well.

Kebari Senbon no jutsu

He ignored Jiraiya's hair needles hitting his exposed back, Jiraiya's current control only allowed his technique to leave small wounds all over his body.

As Kabuto joined him in the safety of the snake's mouth, he dismissed the summoning, returning the snakes, himself and Kabuto to a safe location. While this mission had been a disaster, he still had options to try and fix whatever damage the shinigami had done to his arms.

Three days later, Konoha

"We are honored to present to you the Godaime Hokage, Tsunade Senju!" blasted the speakers to a roaring crowd of cheers.

Tsunade waved at the village, her village, as she knelt in front of fire Daimyo, allowing the man to place the hat on her head.

The rest of the ceremony passed quickly, and before she knew it she was already on her way to the hospital to wake up Kakashi and the Uchiha. Their treatment took her the best part of the day and during the time she received numerous visits from the various nurses and doctors wanting to welcome her to Konoha. She recognized a few older faces and was glad to see that Sarutobi had implemented a few of her suggestions on how to improve the hospital's efficiency. She still needed to do a lot of work before her plan to have an Iryo ninja per team, but implementing that kind of policy was exactly the reason the council had chosen her as the new Kage.

She met a handful of potential candidates: she could see the sparkle in the eyes of Tenten at the prospect of studying under her, she saw Sakura's potential and Shino interest on the subject. The Aburame would probably never be a good fit for a proper hospital doctor, but as a field medic he would do just fine. When it came to team 10, she was unsure. All three had some spark, but none of them showed any interest in the medical field. Perhaps they could share duties? A full team with basic medical training rather than a specialized Iryo ninja? It was not what she had envisioned in her plan, but it would probably be worth testing it out.

Sasuke sat in his bed, thoughts racing a thousand miles. He was weak. All this training with Risu-sensei, with Kakashi-sensei, with Jiraiya-sensei… all of it was for nothing. His hatred wasn't enough. Itachi was still stronger. He could still toss him around just like he had done that night. A pebble on the side of the road, that's what he was to the man.

He heard the door opening and glared at his teammate entering the room.

"Why are you glaring at me like that?" asked the blonde in concern.

"Fight me. Now."

"What are you babbling about? You're still recovering."

"Shut up and fight me!" screamed Sasuke, activating his Sharingan, three tomoes in his right and two on his left.

"You thought you helped me? That foolish fifth Hokage or whatever… butting into other people's business."

Naruto looked at Sasuke in confusion. What was happening to him? "Sasuke…"

"I said fight me, you clanless loser!" He shouted, standing up and glaring at Naruto with hatred.

Naruto sighed "Fine."

Sasuke snorted, shoving Naruto to the side as he reached the door. "Ceiling. Now."

Naruto growled. He didn't know what was Sasuke's problem, but if he needed to beat the nonsense out of Sasuke, that's what he would do.

The two stepped on the hospital rooftop, facing one the other.

"What's with the look, you dobe?" demanded Sasuke.

"What are you losing your cool for? That's not like you." said Naruto.
"Shut up and fight!" steamed the Uchiha, charging in with Sharingan blazing.

Naruto blocked the punch, stepping backwards to absorb the hit. Sasuke wasn't thinking. His swings were powerful, but his posture was horrible, his attacks were wide. Sasuke wasn't even putting up a guard, just attacking recklessly in a blind rage.

"What's the matter, dobe!? You think you're too good to take this seriously!?"

Sasuke jumped back, flashing through hand signs.

Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu

Nuno no Tate no jutsu

Sasuke's fireball collided with a wall of cloth, dispersing before it could reach Naruto.

Nunoshibari no jutsu

The cloth sprung to life, wrapping itself around Sasuke and covering him completely.

"Naruto, you can go. Sasuke and I need to have a little chat." said the familiar voice of Risu.

Without a word, Naruto left.

Risu sighed, preparing a jutsu to handle Sasuke once he freed the boy from the cloth. Pulling out his trusted brush and sealing ink, he quickly drew a circle around the cocoon that held Sasuke.

Isshi Tojin

As chakra ran across the sealing matrix, he freed Sasuke from the cloth. As soon as he was freed, Sasuke attempted to jump away, only to slam into an invisible barrier that knocked him back on the floor.

Sasuke snarled "What's the meaning of this?"

"I should be the one to ask you that question. Who are you and for what purpose did you take the appearance of my student?"

Sasuke growled in rage. "Sensei, I'm not in the mood for jokes."

"That's better. Now at the very least you sound like him."

"This is not fucking funny!" shouted Sasuke.

"You're right. But like everything I do when I try to teach you something, it's there to prove a point. You're not acting like yourself, Sasuke. I understand that you're angry, but I talk from personal experience…"

"What the hell do you know?! Don't talk to me like you understand!"

Risu stood in silence, staring at Sasuke in disappointment.

Sasuke smirked "What if I were to kill the ones you love the most in front of your eyes? Maybe then you'll understand."

Risu looked at his student for a long second. "Then you'd be the same as Itachi."

Sasuke snarled, almost on reflex, waiting for something else to latch on, but Risu didn't elaborate further, allowing his words to echo into Sasuke's brain. The same as Itachi.

After a tense minute, Risu broke the silence. Sasuke had calmed down enough to finally listen.

"Do you remember what you said when we first met? About your dreams for the future?" Asked the Hyuuga.

"to kill a certain man." answered Sasuke.

"WRONG!" shouted Risu, startling the boy.

"That's not what you said. Try again." he said in a calm tone, weaving through the hand signs for a transformation

Henge no jutsu

With a puff, Risu transformed into Sasuke, wearing the same clothes he had on the day of graduation. He sat down, hands crossed to cover his mouth and spoke in Sasuke's voice

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are tons of things I dislike but I don't particularly like anything. I don't want to use the word dream, but I have an ambition…"

He said, pausing and looking at Sasuke for him to finish

"...resurrecting my clan and to kill a certain man." finished Sasuke after a second.

Risu dismissed the genjutsu.

"I don't have a problem if a traumatic event makes you reevaluate your dreams. That's part of growing up. But I'll be damned if I allow a certain fuckwit to mess with your mind to the point of actually making you forget about your ambitions. You only have one life, Sasuke. Don't let Itachi's shadow control it."

He took a deep sigh, unsealing a very familiar sword and tossing it to Sasuke. "You have accomplished much since we began this. The first ever jutsu I thought you has near infinite potential. If it was enough to keep armies at bay, it's certainly good enough to kill one man. You have learned the means to get closer to anyone you wish and slice their throat before they even notice your presence. You can use this technique to bypass any level of security and even assassinate a Daimyo, do you think a missing nin would have better security than a feudal lord? You are practicing a technique that turns our most reliable means of escape into a death trap, you think Itachi won't ever use a Shunshin in front of you?"

Sasuke grabbed the sword, listening to his sensei's words.

"You are progressing. You are getting stronger, Sasuke. Incredibly strong. How many genins have fought a Jinchuriki and lived to tell the tale? I can give you a hint."

Risu waved three fingers at him.

"One doesn't count since jinchuriki are expected to fight other jinchuriki, while the other is crippled, currently under intensive surgery and might have to permanently retire from his ninja career. You were never expected to fight a jinchuriki, yet you came out of that battle unscathed."

He took a deep breath.

"How about you introduce yourself to me? Just to see what has changed since we started."

Sasuke looked at the blade in his hand. The blade he took in Wave after his first kill. His memento, Risu-sensei had called it. A chance to sit back and reflect on everything he'd done so far, everything he'd become and everything he could have been. He took a deep breath, puzzling through his thoughts.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are tons of things I dislike..." He paused "...like waking up late, the smell of disinfectants or the noise of crickets at night. I… like tomatoes, swords and… my teammates. As for dreams…" He took a depp breath "...I will resurrect my clan and kill Itachi."

Risu smiled, flaring his chakra to overwhelm the Isshi Tojin that was keeping Sasuke locked in place, shattering the fuinjutsu.

"Glad to have you back. Now, get back to your bed before Sakura or one of the doctors learns about your little fight with Naruto and chains you up to the bed."

Sasuke smiled, heading towards the stairs.

"Before I go… I have taken the liberty to buy a replacement sword. It's sealed with the rest of your stuff, you can ask a nurse to bring you your sealing scrolls."

Sasuke nodded.

"Oh, I almost forgot…since team Kusa is back in town for a delivery mission, Karin, Sakura and Ino are planning a little celebration for those of you that made it to chunin. No sensei allowed. Naruto rented the big red building near the Mokuton arena. The party starts in six hours."

Sasuke smiled "If it's mandatory I'll be there." he said, closing the door behind him.


Notes

Had a bit of an issue with the title for this one. I knew I wanted a chapter break between Sasuke's pep talk and whatever's coming next, but I hadn't realized how short that section was by itself. I hope you appreciate the pun in the chapter name

Personally, I think that Sasuke's fight on the rooftop was a bit of a miss in the original. I understand that Sasuke wasn't really in a good spot mentally, but the way the two just went at one another felt... wrong. Since in this version the team is more in tune with one another, Naruto isn't fighting back. Sasuke is still shaken by Itachi's encounter, so his lashing out for no reason is understandable

The pep talk between Sasuke and Risu was one of the scenes i was dredding the most, but... honestly it kinda wrote itself. It's one of the few scenes where I was satisfied with the first draft, the second one was mostly to check for grammar and adding periods at the end of sentences (for some reason I tend to miss a lot of those in my first drafts)

Why a party with "no sensei allowed"? Well... because the idea of sending genins after a fugitive is stupid AF, even if the village is short on manpower. Expect some changes on the next arc, if nothing because the cast has increased significantly from the original Sasuke's retrival arc

New Jutsu:

Doton: Yomi Numa no jutsu: creates a swamp that traps the opponent

Hari Jizo no jutsu: Hair extend and wrap around the used as spiked armor

Kebari Senbon no jutsu: shoot hair like they were senbons

Isshi Tojin: fuinjutsu barrier that prevents target from leaving an area. Really basic fuinjutsu (Iruka uses it)