A/N: It is currently 3:23 AM EST on Oct 12th,2024, I planned to write like the first 400-500 words of this chapter to start it, yet here I am 3400 words in and was like, might as well finish it. I apologize if this is ass.
Sakura jerked away and looked up at the full moon, it was still nighttime. Her form was pressed against the cold stone bench that had been next to where Sasuke had been standing, the pounding and pain along the back of her head reminded her of why she had woken up on the bench.
"I'm leaving Sakura" stated Sasuke as he stood with his back to her, bookbag on his back, "This village has disrespected my clan one too many times, I cannot stay here and get what I desire"
"You would leave after all we've been through?" asked Sakura
"I have to, this village will never let me reach the level I need to be able to face Itachi"
"What about me?" asked Sakura, "What about Kizo who died for you?"
Sasuke stiffened, "I'm sorry Sakura, maybe one day I can return, but at this moment, I need to get stronger and that will never happen here'
"And if I stop you?" asked Sakura
"Why don't you come with me?" asked Sasuke, "Orochimaru is a Sannin, he is one of the strongest in the world. Join us … join me and we can become the strongest in the world together"
"I would rather die than betray the village" spat Sakura as she recoiled in disgust and shock, "I will not disgrace Kizo by leaving the village he loved'
Sasuke shook his head before he blurred away and appeared behind Sakura, "Goodbye Sakura"
The world went black as she felt something slam into her head.
Waking up, she raced over to the Hokage Tower and burst through the door, ignoring the ANBU that dropped from the ceiling, swords in hand to cut her down.
"Haruno, you better have a great reason for coming into my office in such a manner at this ungodly time" hissed Tsunade as she tiredly rubbed her eyes followed by a yawn.
"Sasuke Uchiha has left the village to join Orochimaru" blurted out Sakura
Tsunade blinked before all tiredness left her face, "ANBU get me all available forces that we can spar at once, we need to get ahead of this immediately"
The ANBU that had been willing to slice Sakura apart an instant ago, simply vanished in a burst of speed and Sakura felt her mouth go dry.
"I need you to tell me everything Haruno, please do not spare any details" ordered Tsunade
And Sakura did just that, spilling all of what she knew, even that it couldn't have been that long ago based on the position of the moon.
Tsunade took all that info in and after Sakura finished, she opened her desk draw and pulled out a tiny red scroll, unfurling it as she bit into her thumb and swiped some blood on it.
POOF!
Sakura watched as a small orange toad with a blue vest appeared.
"Hey wassup boss lady" greeted the small toad, "How did you summon me?"
Tsunade rolled her eyes as she waved the scroll at him, "Gamakichi, I need you to deliver a message to Naruto for me? Sasuke has fled the village to join Orochimaru"
The toad gave her a salute and disappeared in a poof of smoke.
"Sakura, this is going to get resolved" said Tsunade
Suna:
Naruto was sitting across from Temari, a pot of chilled tea sitting between them on the table.
"So due to their rudeness, I replaced all of their chocolate with the most liquidly poops I could get from the kernels. Ruined that asshole kids birthday party as the cake was filled with literal shit" finished Naruto as he explained one of his better pranks from his childhood
"Kami, no wonder they let you become a Shinobi, it was safer for the village" laughed Temari
"Do you wanna get some rest? I know Iwa Shinobi's have been making themselves scarce for the last day or so, but that's because none of them wanted to face Itachi or Kisame" asked Naruto
"No, I'm not tired" said Temari
"That works for me" said Naruto as he fiddled with the bandages that covered his hand, "I have enjoyed spending time with you"
Temari let a small smile grace her face, "You're not the worst company either"
Naruto opened his mouth, but they were interrupted by a poof of smoke and Gamakichi appearing on the table, sitting on the pot of tea.
"Kichi, what are you doing here?" asked Naruto
"Umm … the old lady … your cousin said that Sasuke guy ran off with the snake guy" said Gamakichi
Naruto froze
"Did you say that Sasuke ran off with Orochimaru?" asked Temari
"That's the guy, lady Hokage said that" said Gamakichi
Naruto grit his teeth as he stood up and he swiped one of the seals on his arm and he was wearing a copy of his mission clothing, a look of cold determination on his face.
"Suna is southwest of Konoha, if I leave now, I can intercept at the border of the Kusagakure, preventing them from crossing into the Hidden Sound Village" said Naruto as he balled up his fist, "Sasuke Uchiha will be returning to the village in a body bag before he gets to Orochimaru"
Kichi nodded and disappeared once more, Temari looked at Naruto and said, "I can't convince you to wait for me can I?"
"No, I have to stop them. I' m faster alone" admitted Naruto
"We'll follow up as backup" said Temari before she grabbed him and kissed him on the check, "I'll see if Kakashi is still in the village and have him follow up after you"
Naruto nodded and he took off running, skating on the sand with a variation of the water walking technique. His legs burned with the constant pulsing of chakra he was flooding through them, but he just pushed through. The dark night sky slowly gave way to the pink hue of the sunrise and Naruto was ready to sigh with relief as he reached the edge of the forest.
Leaping off the hot ass sand, Naruto took to the trees, and he felt his chakra readily start to replenish, he would be more than ready for whoever he came across.
He closed his eyes and tapped into the feeling of the forest around him, his chakra spreading throughout the trees, and he could feel a handful of nasty toxic chakra sources that were still a couple hours ahead of him.
He kept his sense on them as he felt familiar chakra starting to close in on their location and he was less than 25 mins away when they started to crash. Most of the toxic chakra started to race away and there was an explosion that he didn't need to sense as he could see it impact the forest ahead of him.
Speeding up to his absolute max, Naruto arrived as he saw Choji panting across from some guy with red hair and stage 2 curse mark.
Naruto's hand morphed into a sharp wedge, and he burst forward and buried it to the mid forearm into the back of the head of the enemy.
"Naruto, you're a sight for sore eyes" said Choji
"You good to keep going?" asked Naruto as he ripped his arm free of the man's skull, letting the dead man drop to the floor.
"Yeah" confirmed Choji, "These guys have such an intense chakra, I don't know if they're stronger than him, because I don't know if any of us are a match for any of them if they are"
Naruto shook his head as they took off after the rest of the team, "I disagree, I can handle any and all of them"
Choji chuckled, "Well none of us are on your level"
Naruto frowned, "Who the hell is on this mission?"
"Me, Shika, Ino, Kiba, Neji, Shino, and Sakura" replied Choji
"Not the most combat heavy team, but not a terrible team either" admitted Naruto
They arrived at the site of a fight, and they saw a dead curse mark user and a heavily injured Neji on the ground. A clone of Naruto split from his body and the wood clone picked up Neji to take him back to the village.
Moving on, they arrived at a sight of Shikamaru using his shadow to hold a girl in place, a coffin beside her.
"Good job Shikamaru" said Naruto
"Oh, thank God" groaned Shikamaru, "Kiba, Sakura, and Ino went over the cliff fighting some weird set of twins"
Naruto nodded as he went to grab the coffin that he felt Sasuke's bubbling chakra inside of, the feeling was growing more condensed and potent by the second. He was forced to jump back as a man with silvery hair landed on the coffin.
"Tayuya, you have failed your mission, lucky I am here to complete it" said the mystery man as he flipped the coffin with his foot, and it landed on his back where he caught it and took off running.
"Release her" ordered Naruto as he blurred forward, Shikamaru released her just in time for Naruto to snap her neck with ease.
"Let's go" snarled Naruto as he raced after the man who was running off with Sasuke, both Choji and Shikamaru following after him. There was a spike of dark chakra, and they all felt a bit of dread fill their bodies.
They eventually ran out of trees and arrived at a clearing and saw that the mystery man had stopped running, instead looking at them. The lid to the coffin was off and there was no sign of Sasuke.
"You will not get in the way of Orochimaru's next vessel" said the man
Naruto tried to run past him, but he was cut off by a blur of white projectiles and he glanced at the bone? that littered the ground.
"You will not get in the way, I will not allow it" said the man before he stiffened
"Go Naruto, Choji and I will handle it" said Shikamaru as he held his signature hand sign, freezing the man.
Naruto didn't need to be told twice as he blurred past him, and he felt the chakra of Sasuke getting closer by the second, he was much faster than the Uchiha even with the power boost that the Uchiha had recently gotten.
He arrived at the waterfall, standing on the head of the First Hokage as Sasuke landed on the head of Madara Uchiha, his back to Naruto.
"I was hoping that you wouldn't get here in time" yelled out Sasuke over the roar of the falling water, "But I would be lying if I said I'm not excited that you're here. You will be an excellent test of my new power"
"Are you out of your fucking mind Sasuke?" questioned Naruto, "Abandoning the village is one thing, but running away to Orochimaru who is going to try to take over your body, that's insane"
"It's easy for you to say, everyone loves you. Cousin of the Fifth Hokage, relative of the First and Second. And what of my founding clan? What of my people who were killed in their own beds? WHERE IS OUR RETRIBUTION?" roared Sasuke as he turned to look at Naruto, the left side of his face covered in the curse mark and his left eye was a black and yellow color rather than the normal onyx color.
"Itachi is too dangerous for any shinobi in the village to take on, going after him is suicide" countered Naruto
"Is that what you said before you and that eye stealing bastard Kakashi rehearsed after you guys drove him off?" retorted Sasuke, "The WHOLE VILLAGE IS TALKING ABOUT HOW YOU WERE ABLE TO MATCH HIM IN COMBAT!"
Naruto took a deep breath as he realized that Sasuke was mad with power and this was going to come to blows sooner than later, "I got lucky Sasuke"
"ENOUGH WITH THE LIES, NARUTO!" Spat Sasuke, "YOU AND THE VILLAGE WILL MOCK ME AND MY CLAN NO MORE! I WOULD RATHER DIE THAN GO BACK!"
Naruto let out a shallow breath as he nodded in understanding, "Poor choice of words"
Sasuke turned on his sharingan just in time to see Naruto's fist speeding at his face and despite seeing it in absolute peak vision and in slow motion, he wasn't fast enough to stop or avoid the first slamming into his face.
Skidding back, he received a kick to the face that sent him flipping backwards. But Naruto didn't allow that as he grabbed Sasuke's ankles and used it to slam Sasuke headfirst into the ground.
Despite the numerous blows, Sasuke found that with the curse mark unlocked, Naruto wasn't massively stronger than him. Sure, the trio of hits hurt like a bitch, but previously they would have left him unable to fight. But now? They felt like little more than regular hits, thus when he slowly stood back up, Naruto looked surprised.
Pushing his advantage, Sasuke tried to throw a punch at Naruto who dunked under the punch, crossing his arms in front of his chest to block the follow up elbow. He folded his torso down to avoid the spinning kick to the head and Sasuke landed on his feet feeling disappointed at being unable to land a single blow. But then again, it made sense to him. Naruto had been able to hold his own against Itachi, even if it was with help.
Gritting his teeth, Sasuke unleashed the first level of the curse mark as the black marks covered his entire body rather than his left side as it usually did. No, this felt much more natural to wield, less chakra draining too.
Blurring forward, Sasuke's kick was barely blocked by Naruto's left arm. His hand grazed Naruto's hair on the spinning back hand that he launched as he used the block for leverage. A big smile broke across Sasuke's face as his right hand buried itself into Naruto's stomach, the blond boy coughing up spit from the force of the blow.
The smile disappeared as Naruto slammed his forehead protector into Sasuke's nose, breaking it with a pop that sent a trail of bloody boogeys sliding down Sasuke's throat. He swallowed the mucky fluid as he crossed his hands in front of his nose to prevent a punch from Naruto from reaching his face. It failed as the blond's fist ripped through his guard like rice paper before slamming into his face, sending him flying off the head of the statue of his ancestor.
Righting himself in the air, Sasuke spat out flames from his mouth as Naruto jumped after him. But Naruto ripped right through his flames and the kick to the stomach, knocked all the air out of Sasuke.
He landed on his hands and knees on the surface of the water, wheezing as he struggled to bring air into his lungs. He staggered to his feet, and he went to bring up a guard for the rushing Naruto.
Naruto threw a punch, but he actually managed to duck under it. His left arm struck out and he pushed away the follow up elbow, spinning Naruto around. Naruto's arm turned into a mallet that he slid under before using both of his feet to send Naruto flying off into the air.
Naruto launched himself at Sasuke once more, but he blocked a punch, slipped a kick, blocked another kick. Spotting a brief opening, Sasuke chopped Naruto in the neck. Much to his surprise, the blow hit Naruto, and he gasped as he couldn't breathe for a moment. Sasuke pushed his advantage, landing a punch to Naruto's stomach, followed by a kick to his side, then a double footed backflip kick to the face.
Panting, Sasuke noticed that Naruto was much slower than before as he rushed back in. His movements were so much easier to read, and he could spot weaknesses that he hadn't before. His sharingan must have evolved to the 3 tomoe form.
Naruto landed across from him, "You're a little too good at using that curse mark, using it secret?"
Sasuke ignored the rhetorical question and narrowed his eyes at Naruto who simply rolled his shoulders and Sasuke's eyes took in that Naruto's body had taken no damage from the hits he had landed.
Naruto's chakra bubbled to the surface of his skin and Sasuke saw a flash of green and it might as well have been Rock Lee the way the punch caved in his face. Skidding across the water, Sasuke rolled back up to his feet only for Naruto to be in front of his and punch him in the stomach so hard that Sasuke felt his eyes bugle from the force. The next blow was an uppercut to the chest that lifted him off the ground, followed by a lightning quick one two combo to the chest before Naruto did a backflip kick to the face that sent Sasuke flying backwards.
How could this be happening to me? I'm supposed to be stronger than him … he's a fucking fraud. It should be me with this level of power
Sasuke growled as he climbed back to his feet and unlike Naruto, he was starting to take damage from all these blows. His body trembled as the curse mark first stage form was starting to take its toll on his chakra pools.
Glancing at Naruto, Sasuke leapt in the air to avoid the blond and charged up a Chidori with his right hand, "Dodge this you coward"
Naruto looked at the shrieking ball of lightning and lifts his own right hand as a ball of spiraling charka appeared in the hand, the ball of chakra spinning at a rate that even his sharingan couldn't track.
Sasuke launched himself down towards Naruto with his charka and Naruto leapt at him, both of them extending their arms holding their attacks at each other.
"Chidori"
"Rasengan"
The Jutsu clashed into each other and Sasuke gasped as he felt his body get launched back in a spinning motion. Righting himself, he landed on the wall of rocks feet first and he looked at Naruto who was standing on the water, looking up at him with his Forest Green eyes.
Panting, Sasuke felt himself grow a bit more worried that he might not be able to beat Naruto at this rate. The Senju had a fucking response for everything he pulled out and he felt the curse mark pulsing.
Why are you worried my dear little Sasuke … you have me by your side
Sasuke grit his teeth as he heard the slippery voice of Orochimaru whispering in the back of his mind.
Tell me what to do
Simple, dig deeper into the power of the Curse Mark
Sasuke closed his eyes, and he gave into the pulse of the curse mark, and he felt the deep well of power underneath the surface. And he did as Orochimaru said and reached in with both hands and pulled it into his being.
Naruto narrowed his eyes as he watched the black, flame-like markings spread across Sasuke's body, emanating from the curse Mark on his neck, forming twisted, intricate patterns that seem to shift and pulse with his chakra until it covered his entire body and caused his skin turns a dark, ashen-gray, like shadowed stone, giving him an almost otherworldly appearance. His eyes, once sharp and calculating, become darker and more sinister, glowing with a menacing intensity, the Sharingan activated and swirling.
His hair, normally spiky and black, grew longer, wild and untamed, cascading over his face and down his back. Two long, jagged, hand-like wings sprout from his shoulder blades, giving him an ominous and bat-like silhouette. These wings aren't just for show; they exude a raw, pulsating energy, further enhancing his terrifying presence.
His voice grows deeper, more guttural, reflecting the darker power now coursing through him, "This is it for you Naruto"
Naruto covered his face as a massive gust of wind swept through the entire valley, which proved to be a mistake when a foot slammed into his stomach, causing blood to spray from his mouth.
A fist slammed into his face, followed by a kick to the chest against, then a massive hand like wing backhand sent him flipping up into the air. There was a chirping of birds before a bolt of black lightning pushed its way into his chest, but he managed to jerk to the side, making it punch through his left shoulder.
Growling as the pain of the gaping hole, Naruto used his right hand to grip the arm that had held the Chidori and squeeze it until he heard a crack of the bone.
Roaring in pain, Sasuke jerked back as the curse mark rushed to heal the broken arm and Naruto dropped to the ground, a burning sensation filling his gut, and he found himself unable to move. The Valley of End around him flashed into the view of a sewer and when it returned to normal, he found Sasuke's foot slamming into his face.
The sewer returned and Naruto gasped as he felt his body twist before a pain unlike anything else he had ever felt before in his life filled his neck before the world went completely black, his last view was Sasuke staring down at him.
Pathetic
The sewer setting returned, and Naruto found that he couldn't walk on this water, in fact he couldn't feel any chakra at all. The ankle deep water was everywhere but Naruto accepted it as he followed the source of the grumbled voice.
He found himself walking down the hall and there was a mangled gate with a piece of paper waving in the wind. But in front of that massive set of gates was a giant wooden box, a pair of orange-red eyes glaring at him through a gap in the wood.
"Do I know you?" asked Naruto, "You sound familiar"
Do I? Interesting
The words shook the wooden box, but the wood held firm. The wood looked a lot like his Mokuton abilities, perhaps this was the source of it.
"My name is Naruto" said Naruto, introducing himself, "I'm like not dead right?"
Dead? No. That Uchiha brat broke your neck while you were having visions of this place. That might have been my fault, but once you loosen this box a bit, my power will heal you as I always did
"You're the reason I used to heal so quickly as a kid?" asked Naruto
Of course, we have been together since before you were born. You know who I am, you know what I am.
"Old Man Third had left me a scroll explaining the situation around my birth, you're the Nine Tailed Fox" said Naruto
The box shook as the massive fox inside chuckled, and Naruto frowned
"Why are you locked away inside that box? Shouldn't you be free to roam this place as you wish?" questioned Naruto
Your Mokuton abilities are a natural suppressor of my power, you know this based on your fight with Gaara and his tailed beast even if it basically hanging halfway out that pathetic excuse seal.
"So, I did this to you? How can we fix it?" asked Naruto
You would free me without any reassurance that I wouldn't just kill you and escape this seal forever?
"Um… You're not going to do that right?" asked Naruto
No, even if I wanted to, the seal has a reset built in should I ever manage to escape. You spend enough time sealed inside of an Uzumaki, you learn all about their sealing techniques.
"I am pretty sure I don't know how to make this seal" admitted Naruto
You are not the only Uzumaki that I've been sealed in
"Fair enough" said Naruto before he opened his hand and pointed his palm at the box and the wooden box slowly unraveled and turned into a tiny seed that shot off into his palm.
The massive fox was not there, but a small dog sized fox with 9 swishing tails behind his form was.
Begone from this place, you have a fight to continue
Naruto nodded and the sewer around him faded, and he opened his eyes in the real world to feel a hand around his ankle dragging his body.
Kabuto and Sasuke were walking in front of his form and Kabuto was the one dragging him, there was a flash of anger through his body and Kabuto hissed as bubbling red energy covered Naruto body and he was forced to let go.
"Going somewhere?" asked Naruto as he flipped onto all fours as a single tail of chakra appeared behind him
Sasuke looked like someone had killed his clan all over and Kabuto looked like he wasn't ready for this fight all that much either.
"Go on your traitors, say your prayers, but know that I am not listening" growled Naruto as he raced forward all on all fours, before he stopped by a massive 3 bladed scythe slamming down between him and the duo.
A/N: I did not forget about this story, I just have been able to write other stories with greater ease.