Naruto: The Uchiha Chronicles Re-Version:

Arc V: Kusanoka's Revenge:

Chapter 29: Cry Havoc!

-x-x-x-x-x-x- NTUC -x-x-x-x-x-x-

Naruto paced through the shallow water restlessly. His stomach was tied into worried knots. There was no way to know what was going on. Were the grass shinobi already enacting their plan? He had no way to tell. All he could do was wait. Until the fox managed to purge the poison … again, he was stuck in the representation of his seal. The constant drip of water didn't help his mood.

Plip-plop … plip-plop.

"Ugh, I can't STAND this wait! How much longer Nine?" Naruto growled in frustration. From behind the towering bars came an ominous growl.

"I'm working as quickly as possible you whelp! If you would shut your mouth maybe I could concentrate better!" growled the Nine-Tails.

The foxes voice boomed from the high reaches of the ceiling. Naruto winced at the towering sound. It successfully jarred him out of his worried pacing. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The air traveled through nose and into his lungs, before exiting his mouth in a harsh hssss. His worry went with it. The fox was right. He wasn't helping anything with this pacing.

He was just about to sit down and rest, when the Nine-Tails let out a sound of surprise. "Hmmm, what's this?" The Fox asked. "It seems somebody has given you an antidote. I sense that pink-haired wench and the rest of your wretched team."

Naruto's heartbeat skyrocketed and his eyes widened in excitement. Sakura was giving him an antidote? That meant his team had caught up with Hiroshi's group. A chilling thought floated through his mind. One that stopped the excitement cold. If his team was here, that meant Sasuki was near enough to Hiroshi for him to take her.

"Nine, how quickly can you fix me up with the antidote?" He asked seriously.

Able to sense the seriousness, the Fox said "Almost immediately. It will still be a bit before you're at full strength though. Hold on."

True to the foxes words, Naruto could already feel the familiar tug on his consciousness. For once he not only embraced it; he threw himself into it vigorously.

For a single instant, his world was darkness. A void of sensation where his thoughts floated in a multi-directional stream. Then he felt a jolt in his chest. With a harsh gasp, his eyes snapped open. Instantly he was met by a blinding, green-tinged light. After the near silence of the seal he the sound of distant explosions and startled birds was jarring.

There wasn't any time to be confused! With sheer determination, Naruto forced his way through the confused fugue. His vision cleared. He could tell he was in a forest. Trees passsed by in a blur. He felt something soft and silky against his right cheek, and his chest was pushing against a firm but lithe surface. With a start, Naruto realized he was on one of the girls back. Sakura if the flash of pink was any indication. His shifting alerted her.

"I think he's awake!" She exclaimed.

Clack … clack … clack!

All of a sudden they came to a stop, landing on a thick tree limb. For the first time, he caught a glimpse of his other teammates. Kakashi hid his relief fairly well, but for once Sasuki wore her emotions on her sleeves. The concern in her eyes was evident.. Naruto wasted no time hopping off Sakura's back.

He was so focused on the situation at hand, any embarrassment he felt at being carried was shoved to the side.

"Guys, the clients, they're after Sasuki!" He said with panic, looking from Sakura, to Sasuki, then Kakashi, and back again.

The response he got wasn't quite what he expected.

"We already figured that out dummy. There was a lot of time after you got yourself caught." Sasuki scoffed. "Speaking of which …"

WHAM!

He was totally unprepared for the blow. Sasuki dashed forward and punched him in the stomach. His insides heaved. It felt like he'd throw up. Through tears, he looked at Sasuki's blurred figure.

"Wh-why?" He gasped.

The black-haired girl let out an annoyed huff. "You had me worried!"

Naruto flinched as Sasuki lunged towards him again. Though this time he was given a tight hug. His eyes widened. She never showed any emotions like this among others. It caught him completely flatfooted. He found himself awkwardly patting her back reassuringly.

"Uh, sorry." He mumbled.

After a couple seconds, Sasuki shoved away from him. Her cheeks were flushed pink. "Tch, whatever. Just don't be a stupid-idiot."

Rubbing the back of his hair nervously, Naruto chuckled. "I'll try not to. No promises, you know me."

Ahem. Naruto blinked and looked to the side. He saw Kakashi caught somewhere between highly amused and impatient.

"As much as I'd love to sit here and have a long reunion, we're kind of in a time crunch here." He said pointedly.

As if to emphasize his point, they heard a loud crash and splintering of wood in the distance, followed by the voice of the dumb one. "I'M GONNA PULVERIZE THOSE PIPSQUEAKS!"

Naruto's chest tightened. He realized the position they were in. If they didn't get going or they'd be caught. He instinctually grasped for Senbonzakura's hilt at his side only to hit empty are. His heart plummeted. That's right, they'd taken his sword.

"Crap, they have Senbonzakura. I have to get it back!" He cursed.

Kakashi looked like he'd swallowed a lemon. Though Naruto hadn't shared all the secrets of Senbonzakura, he'd shared enough that they all knew it would be bad if it's secrets were unraveled. "That is a complication. Not to mention Hiroshi has clearly taken the death of his student very hard. I'm not entirely sure why, but regardless it means he's not just going to stop pursuing us."

"You aren't sure why he took you killing his sister personally?" asked Naruto. The completely befuddled look he got from all his teammates made him realize they'd yet to be clued into that fact. "Guess you didn't know. He mentioned it when I came to from the first poisoning."

"… No, I didn't. I suppose that makes more sense. Which makes it all the more important we come up with a plan, quickly." Said Kakashi.

Naruto, for one, was slightly lost. He didn't really know enough about the enemy to decide. Well, aside from the fact Hiroshi and his brother were clearly the strongest.

"Should we divide and conquer? Use clones to make them chase after us in groups?" Sakura suggested.

He mulled it over. It was definitely a good idea. Fighting a bunch of unknown quantities together was tricky. Better to split them up. He met Sasuki and Kakashi's eyes and could tell both agreed with the plan.

"That's one problem down, but what do we know of their abilities? I assume Kakashi can take Hiroshi, but what about his brother and the others?" said Sasuki.

"Hmm, I'm not really sure about Koroshi's abilities, though they may be similar to Hiroshi's. He can harmonize his chakra to cancel out jutsu. Naruto would probably be the best bet to put against him." Kakashi answered. He gripped his chin in thought. "As for the others, they're an unknown. Given they're chunin it's safe to say they're probably a unit. You and Sakura will have to take them, just be careful. Grass shinobi are fond of poisons and the like."

While the plan was being discussed, Naruto decided to try and use his senses to feel for the enemy. It was difficult. Like trying to guide a large dog tugging at its leash. The effects of the poison must have been lingering still. Eventually he managed to extend his senses out. Maintaining it was hard. Sweat beaded his brows. 'There' He felt five signatures closing on them.

"Whatever we do, let's do it now. They're closing, fast." He cut in urgently.

Kakashi gave a sharp nod. "Alright, make the clones. When they get here, you three make a break for it. Then split off to take them on. I trust you can split them up like we discussed. I'll keep Hiroshi from following."

With little time, they didn't bother to reply. Naruto put his fingers in the cross-shaped clone seal. His eyes narrowed in concentration, wrestling his chakra into submission. Poof! A plume of smoke erupted next to him. To the side he heard the sound of two more clones being created. Without needing prompting the three clones split from their creators to form two groups.

"Think you'll be able to not screw the plan up?" Clone Sasuki teased.

The corner of his lip twitched. "Pretty snarky for a clone." He replied.

Despite the banter, Naruto's mind was fully on the clash to come. He couldn't help but remember how Hiroshi had talked about his plans. He clenched his fist so hard the knuckles popped and turned white. No. He wasn't going to let that happen. With every second that passed, and every inch he could feel their enemies get closer, his resolve hardened. Naruto wasn't going to let them succeed. It was almost time.

Creeeaak …. WHOOSH!

The five Hidden Grass shinobi appeared in an instant. Their speed cut the air in their wake. At their head stood Hiroshi with that same cold look on his ruined face.

"…I see the little ninja has woken up. Most curious." He remarked coldly.

Beside Hiroshi, his brother grinned madly. An insane light danced in his eyes. Naruto almost exploded with anger when he saw a familiar white sheath tucked into Hiroshi's belt. The thought of that sick monster laying his fingers on his grandmother's sword made his blood boil.

"Hehehe, why are we standing around Hiroshi? I want to get to the slaughtering already. You promised I got to mess with the Uchiha girl when we were done with her." Koroshi cackled.

Hiroshi's lip curled with distaste. His hand twitched slightly. "You'll have plenty of time for your bloodshed. Though based on the multiple brats, I'm guessing they've got some tricks planned."

Naruto's breath hitched in his throat. Would they see through the plan? It was rather simple.

"You mean they plan to run? Let's just smash em!" The big dumb one roared. He wielded a heavy kanabo single handed. A casual swing from the iron club obliterated the tree trunk next to the brute. It's upper half tumbled to the ground with a terrible crash.

The aggressive act was their queue. Even before he heard Kakashi yell, "NOW!", Naruto had already turned to dash into the woods. Swish! In a single bound he was in the treetops, dashing across branches fiercely. He could feel the presence of Sasuki and Sakura's clones on his flanks.

VHOOSH!

Naruto couldn't help but glance over his shoulder. As expected Koroshi and the other three (Junichi, Takahiro, and Ishimaru if he remembered right) were hot on their heels. Koroshi was cackling madly. An odd sight dominated his attention, though. A large oak tree rent in two. It's massive trunk and branches had been divided cleanly down the middle. An ever widening gap that grew rapidly.

BOOM!

A deafening crash echoed through the forest. He hadn't seen anything like that since his grandfather. From experience, he knew it wasn't Kakashi who had split the tree. That wasn't his style. No, that had to be Hiroshi.

"That Hiroshi, he's not one to take lightly. Hopefully Kakashi knows what he's doing." He muttered.

Shaking his head and turning around, Naruto focused back on the task at hand. He had to worry about his part of the plan.

"Once we've put a couple miles between us and Kakashi's battle, I want to slow our pace. We have to let them catch up to perform our part of the plan." He shouted to the clones.

"And how do you plan to do that?" Sakura's clone asked.

Even in the middle of a serious moment, Naruto couldn't help his excited smirk, and replied, "I'm gonna blow some shit up."

After that no words were spoken. He focused his energy on creating distance between them and Kakashi. His sensing still felt off. It was like water clouding his senses. Though he could feel Kakashi using several jutsu, only to have them seemingly snuffed out. Frankly he was more focused on making sure the four pursuing them didn't make any sudden moves. They seemed content to stick to a long hunt. The further they got, the more distant the sounds of Kakashi's fight got. Once they'd faded to nothing but faint crashes in the distance, he knew it was time.

Coaxing his chakra into the storage seal on his right armguard, he summoned several kunai pre-wrapped with explosive tags. He snatched them out of the air and clutched them between his fingers. They stuck out like a set of wicked claws.

Naruto glanced to the left and saw Sasuki and Sakura dashing parallel to them with his clone in the lead. As if sensing his look, Sasuki glanced his way. For a split second their eyes locked.

Her lips moved as she said something. The sound was lost to the wind. "Don't be stupid." He didn't need to hear her, lip-reading was something he was rather proficient at.

"You too." He whispered back.

It was a brief moment among the utter havoc of the past day. A momentary respite. He could feel his heart rate speed up in anticipation for what was to come. With one last deep breath to steady his nerves, he started to slow incrementally. Enough that it wouldn't be noticeable until it was too late. It only took a few moments for the Grass shinobi to close in.

"HAHAHA, oh, those ones are slowing down. I wonder if you're fake?" yelled Koroshi.

Now! Instead of landing on the next tree branch, he purposefully angled himself so his feet hit the edge. Naruto grunted with exertion while his legs absorbed the sudden impact. The muscles coiled tightly, only to burst into smooth motion again and launch him backwards. In a display of acrobatics he twisted about in mid-air to face the enemy shinobi. They were only thirty yards away at that point. He savored the shocked looks by the younger trio.

With careful aim, he let loose the first kunai after priming it with chakra. It hurtled through the air, aiming for the gap between Koroshi and the plain-looking guy.

"Tch, what kind of aim is tha–CRAP, PAPER BOMB!" Koroshi's gloating was cut short when he noticed the smoking explosive.

They threw themselves apart like a flock of startled birds. It was just barely in time. With a flash of heat and light, the bomb exploded. BOOOM! An almighty concussion thundered through the forest. Not wanting to give them a chance to regroup, Naruto was quick to toss the second primed kunai. This time it flew straight towards Koroshi, whose arms were crossed to protect him from the first bomb.

"YOU LITTLE SHIT, DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU'RE FUCKING WITH?" He roared.

In a flash, the man withdrew two of the blades sticking from his back. No, not blades, Naruto realized. With a metallic click they flew open into a pair of Fuma Shuriken. He felt a brief pulse of chakra, and two crackling blue shields burst into existence around the shuriken. A mere second later the kunai slammed into the shields and Koroshi was engulfed in the fiery cloud. BOOM!

Naruto didn't let his guard down, though. He could still feel the man's chakra. It was a good thing he didn't.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz …

One of the fuma shuriken zipped out of the cloud of smoke. The sound it made was like the demented buzzing of a giant bee. Even though it moved very fast, Naruto had plenty of time to dodge out of the way. As it passed by harmlessly he felt something off. A tingle of chakra.

"You bozos go handle the other group. It looks like I need to teach these ones a lesson, fake or not!" Koroshi ordered the other three.

"Oi, don't think I'll forget all these insults Koroshi!" Junichi shouted back. For emphasis he waved his kanabo menacingly.

The threat didn't faze Koroshi, who merely glared at the hulking man. "Do as you're told." He said, his voice a deadly hiss.

Junichi held the man's gaze for a few more seconds. Naruto wondered if he could possibly get lucky enough for them to begin fighting each other. No such luck. With one last dismissive grunt, the hulking man turned and reluctantly followed on the plain looking ones flank.

"Tch, one of these days I'm gonna kill that buffoon." Koroshi muttered.

Naruto tilted his head and regarded the man. Despite his aggressive nature, Koroshi didn't seem like an idiot. It's why he was slightly confused by the way he'd thrown the fuma shuriken. Something just felt … off. Wouldn't it be better to keep at least one to shield? Eight was not nearly enough to throw them away so casually.

Zzzzzzzz ….. Poof–poof!

His eyes widened. He had no time to think. On pure instinct he threw himself to the side. It was just in time. Milliseconds later the seemingly discarded shuriken came screaming by. The rotating blades passed within a hairsbreadth of him, just barely cutting a tiny nick in his kimono-top.

"What in the hell?" He exclaimed.

He tracked the projectiles as they sailed back to their owner. Koroshi had a taunting smirk on his face.

"Oh, so the pretty boy dodged it? Maybe you're not utter trash." He said.

Naruto didn't react to the taunting back-handed compliment. His gaze was on the folding shuriken. It floated behind his foe lazily. No, not floating he realized. It took all his concentration but he was able to sense it. A faint trace of chaotic chakra connected him to the shuriken. Straining his eyes, Naruto caught sight of a thin blue string. 'So that's it. Chakra strings. That means he's most likely a mid or long-range fighter.' He thought.

"What's a matter, cat got your tongue pretty boy? Maybe I should finish you quickly and go after the girls. I like their screams so much more than men when I'm picking them apart. Though I'll have to sample the merchandise first" Said Koroshi.

His taunts brought Naruto's blood to a boil. He couldn't help the horrible images that filled his head. Koroshi cackling as he tortured his teammates. It was a struggle to maintain his calm. Only the very faint pull of his connection to Senbonzakura stayed his hand. It served to calm him. He could feel it calling to him, like a pet yearning to reach its owner.

"You're not laying a finger on them. Also, I'd let go of that sword if I were you." He said coldly.

Koroshi didn't take him seriously. The man cackled and pulled the sheathed blade from his belt. "Oh, this little thing? What are you going to do pretty boy? I think I'll hold on to it as a souvenir."

Naruto shrugged. He'd warned the man. For one brief moment, he closed his eyes and focused on his connection to Senbonzakura. Thankfully, it wasn't effected by his current chakra control.

With a simple pulse of his Magnet Style chakra, there was an echoing pulse from the sword. In an instant it tore itself from Koroshi's grasp. He was too dumbfounded to stop it as the sword sailed through the air and into Naruto's waiting hand. The instant the familiar silken cloth of the hilt touched his palm, he felt a weight taken off his shoulders. A feeling a of completeness he hadn't known he was missing settled over him. He shivered in excitement. When he opened his eyes they were brimming with confidence.

"Now, why don't we dance?" Naruto asked his enemy.

-x-x-x-x-x-x- NTUC -x-x-x-x-x-x-

Hope everyone enjoyed that. Tell me what you think of the chapter. I've been trying some different things to improve my writing (such as manipulating the pace). I tried to give a bit more of a fast-paced feel to this, let me know if I succeeded or feel free to give suggestions for improvement. If you'd like to get content early and exclusive one-shots and polls, type in the patr eon web address in your search bar and add /RinneTaicho. Or just go on over to my AO3 account with the same name where I have a copy and paste link in my profile. Memberships start at $1.

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Until Next Time,

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