[Author-Notes: My computer's been damaged so I won't be able to upload another chapter for a while.]

June 9th 2002:

An ominous chill fluttered across the air of the secluded clearing in a forest in the western section of the village of Konoha. Ryomen Sukuna and Kimimaro Kaguya had stayed silent.

Sukuna could feel the general intensity of their battle sky-rocket beyond its natural limit. Channelling a massive amount of cursed-energy into his muscles, Sukuna vanished in a burst of speed.

Kimimaro clenched his hands onto the bones that he was holding, sweeping his gaze over the clearing to pin-point Sukuna's location. Sukuna appeared behind him, four red eyes flickering a low crimson.

Turning around a split second later, Kimimaro aimed a bone down at Sukuna's head to crush his skull and end his life. Hand raised, Sukuna defended himself from the bone and redirected its course elsewhere.

Having retracted the blade-like bone in his hand from Sukuna, Kimimaro tossed it upwards and punched his nose. Sukuna was hurtled into the middle of a huge tree trunk and was indented into it.

Pulling himself out of his indentation in the tree trunk, Sukuna kicked himself into a run and sprinted across the clearing they were in. Small craters were formed in the soil from the mere touch of Sukuna's feet.

Sharpened bones were sprouted out from Kimimaro's back to protect him from the blast of blood directed at his shoulder-blade. Sukuna maintained the pressure, firing off a second Piercing-Blood afterwards.

Keeping himself rooted in the same position on the ground, Kimimaro let his stout bones guard him against Sukuna's long-ranged attacks. Sukuna closed in on him in a streak of crimson, a hand outstretched.

"He can touch his target and destroy it." Kimimaro lifted his foot. "I remember lord Orochimaru told me about that facet of his abilities."

Sukuna's punctured foot was stamped on to disorientate his balance. Kimimaro slipped a smaller sword-like bone into his hand to stab into Sukuna's jaw until a Dismantle disintegrated it into a whirlwind of dust.

More and more sharpened bones surrounded every vulnerable section of Kimimaro's body, rendering any physical moves useless on him. Sukuna returned to his feet in a simple leap and jumped backwards.

"Dismantle can obliterate those bones." Sukuna grunted. "But they're like layers of protection. Kimimaro can just produce a second layer."

"I'm not sure if any of my Shikigami will help much now." Sukuna tilted his head to himself. "I suppose I should try my newest one out, then."

Kimimaro watched the shadows in the sector dance until an owl-esque bird emerged from them. Nue let off an aggressive screech at him. Sukuna took a small look at his bird-themed Shikigami and nodded.

"A third summon?" Kimimaro was successful in concealing his confusion. "How many of these strange creatures can he summon?"

Nue had swooped down upon Kimimaro and Sukuna had broken into his guard. Maintaining his unflappable composure, Kimimaro discarded the bones in his hands and conjured even sharper ones.

Kimimaro sliced through the weakened variation of Crimson-Binding that Sukuna had created from the blood of his punctured foot. Nue's lightning missed him by the inch of a thread when he dove forward.

Burying a knee into Sukuna's nose to disrupt his balance a second time, Kimimaro embedded a bone into his shoulder and tore it out. Sukuna stumbled back, grabbing his penetrated shoulder in irritation.

Nue was dispelled into the shadows before Kimimaro could kill it. Sukuna ignored his wounded shoulder, outputted more cursed-energy across his body, cracked his neck, and took on an animalistic stance.

"How futile." Kimimaro spoke to him in a somewhat bland voice. "Your summons are now useless. Your Taijutsu is pointless. Just let me kill you."

"Heh." Sukuna's mocking grin was wide and flippant. "Does it look like I give a shit? I'm still shocked you would serve that slippery bastard."

"I wonder how Naruto and Sasuke are doing." Sukuna flexed his clawed fingers. "Gaara's transformation would have started by now."

(-)

Naruto's crimson eyes were wide in raw disbelief at the dense amount of chakra being produced from Gaara's body. Kankuro trembled a little from his spot in the bushes. Temari clenched her jaw in obvious fear.

"I'll end you, Naruto Uzumaki!" Gaara cackled in a psychotic frenzy. "Only your blood can satisfy mother! The ninth one's blood!"

Teeth gritted in surprise, Naruto thought. "This bastard just wants to kill me, huh? Does he even care about his siblings or somebody?"

Naruto's clawed hands were balled into fists. "He's different from Doto—at least that idiot had some type of goal for the Land-Of-Snow."

"You think I'll just let myself die, you bastard?!" Naruto yelled in response. "I ain't gonna stop until I see you pummeled into the ground!"

"It's hopeless." Kankuro shook his head. "Naruto might be able to hold back Gaara for some time—but he'll get beaten like everyone else."

Hissing in pain, Temari cradled her broken nose. "If he is the Jinchuriki for the nine-tails, then Naruto will have to draw out more of its chakra!"

"I doubt that the level of chakra he's using right now will be enough." Temari murmured to herself, breath hitched. "He'll have to use more."

"Naruto will have to become as monstrous as Gaara to beat him." Kankuro declared in his mind. "Either Naruto dies or Gaara dies…"

One tendril of sand slithered towards Naruto, grasped him by the ankle, and dragged him into Gaara's sand-coated knuckles. Naruto was punched down into the ground, crashing into a row of boulders.

"Yeah, I was right." Naruto climbed out of the boulders, red bubbles of chakra healing the bruises plastered on his skin. "His sand is getting faster."

Naruto pressed a palm onto the seal on his stomach, accessed a larger portion of the Kyuubi's chakra, and felt himself grow stronger. His nails and teeth grew sharper while his eyes glowed a bright red.

"Pervy-Sage told me I'd go insane if I use more than this." Naruto blurred forward, unworried about himself. "But who cares?!"

Gaara blinked his green eyes as Naruto appeared in front of him and roundhouse kicked him off of the tree-branch they were on. In a rapid sequence of movements, Naruto threw Gaara down into the ground.

A Rasengan was formed in Naruto's hand. Gaara's killing intent intensified itself at the sight of the Jutsu that had drawn out his blood. Sand shielded him from its impact and trapped Naruto in a cocoon.

Red chakra burst forth from the sand-made cocoon, obliterating it and scattering it into dust. Naruto raised his fore-arms at the second swarm of sand that Gaara had attack him, then released a loud shout.

Gaara's concentration was broken by the unholy screech Naruto had let out and his sand was dispersed by a surge of vermillion chakra. It regrouped soon enough—but Naruto had grabbed Gaara by the neck.

Gaara was tossed high into the air, much to his glee. "Yes! Try and struggle to beat me, Naruto Uzumaki. Your blood shall still be mine!"

"You must be confident in yourself at this very moment!" Gaara was unhinged. "You must truly believe that you can defeat me and mother!"

Tendrils of sand assisted Gaara, lowering him onto a tree-branch. Naruto looked at Gaara's eyes in a bout of mild surprise — the sclera had become pitch-black and his irises had morphed into two crosses.

Sand consumed Gaara's arms — looking like gauntlets. "People like you make me sick! You rely so much on companionship to survive!"

"Your friends will die!" Gaara parted the sand on his face to exhibit his evil grin to Naruto. "And your blood shall be spilled for mother's sake!"

More sand swirled around the lower section of Gaara's body, becoming four sand-constructed arms. "Come at me, ninth one!"

"I've never seen Gaara do this." Temari gulped. "He's created those extra arms out of sand to compensate for his lack of physical power."

"He's never learned real Taijutsu since his sand protects him." She mused to herself. "Naruto's physical prowess is superior to Gaara's."

Naruto lowered his head after hearing Gaara's proclamations, then growled. "If you even think about killing my friends, I'll murder you!"

"Murder me?!" Gaara threw his head back and laughed in maniacal mirth. "Yes! Give into your instincts! It will make your blood sweeter!"

(-)

Sasuke Uchiha and Kabuto Yakushi stared at each other in entertained and composed silence. Wiping off the blood on his mouth, Sasuke focused on Kabuto and prepared himself for his next move.

The match had been a one-sided one on Sasuke's half — it was like Kabuto was playing around for his own amusement and nothing else. Kabuto flicked his chakra scalpel out, disappearing in a body-flicker.

Trusting the enhanced perception of his Two-Tomoe Sharingan, Sasuke weaved himself away from the end of Kabuto's scalpel and rolled backwards to create some space so that he could clear his mind.

"Most people would have succumbed to me at this point." Kabuto's glasses glowed under the sunlight. "You really are extraordinary."

Kabuto glanced at Neji Hyuga—who had been kicked into a wall and was unconscious. "I have no interest in him. I'll leave him be for now."

Sasuke rushed at Kabuto, locked him into a Genjutsu, punched him in the solar-plexus, and propelled him back. Kabuto then broke the illusion, adjusting his glasses and looking down at his charred torso.

"Impressive work, Sasuke." Kabuto healed his charred solar-plexus. "But my skill in Medical-Ninjutsu is why lord Orochimaru favours me."

"That's the main issue." Sasuke's Sharingan glinted crimson in response to Kabuto's provocations. "He can just keep healing."

Mouth flattened into a thin line of concentration, Sasuke pondered. "Sukuna and Naruto were also in a similar situation against Doto."

All of a sudden, Kabuto and Sasuke's senses went haywire at the feeling of two separate sources of demonic chakra. Kabuto regained his composure. "So Gaara's true self has been unleashed at last?"

"The second burst of chakra was from Naruto." Kabuto chuckled. "The chakra of the Tailed-Beasts is something else. Wouldn't you agree?"

"That was Naruto?!" Sasuke clenched his teeth. "His chakra has become even more monstrous than last time. It feels too powerful."

Flipping his scalpel into his other hand, Kabuto said. "I can see how surprised you are. Shocked that Naruto has grown so powerful?"

"Or are you jealous?" Kabuto's gaze grew a little scornful. "Tell me, Sasuke. Do you ever have the desire to murder your older brother?"

"He slaughtered everyone you loved in cold blood." Kabuto smiled. "I'm sure you despise him for that act, don't you? It must hurt…"

Kabuto shrugged in mockery once he saw that his statement had set Sasuke's emotions off. "But what would I know about your dynamic?"

Sasuke's emotions had become so wrathful that the Curse-Mark had responded to these negative feelings. Kabuto's smile turned curious before Sasuke suppressed the mark and breathed out a low sigh.

"You won't even use the Curse-Mark?" Kabuto huffed. "You only used it for a brief moment to re-awaken up your chakra points against Neji."

"I assume that's your limit?" Kabuto asked him. "I'm guessing if you use any more of the Curse-Mark then you'll lose your psyche to it."

Kabuto dropped his amicable demeanour, then said. "I hope you realize I could have killed you at any time. Don't think I won't either."

"You must think that I'll spare you because of Orochimaru's intrigue in you." Kabuto's curious smile grew acidic. "But I don't care about that."

Kabuto's intent to kill exploded outward, suffocating the area in it. Sasuke kept himself calm in spite of the bloodlust that permeated the air. Kabuto closed in on him in a body-flicker, a scalpel in his hand.

Clicking his teeth together, Sasuke struggled to stop Kabuto from grabbing him and digging the scalpel into his shoulder. Sasuke tolerated the dull pain, elbowed Kabuto's gut, and launched him away.

Kabuto reappeared behind him a second later, surprising Sasuke. Laughing, Kabuto declared. "I'll activate the Curse-Mark for you…"

(-)

Naruto and Gaara both resettled down on the soil of the forest in the western section of Konoha. Kankuro and Temari sucked in a deep breath at the monstrous volumes of chakra their bodies had released.

Despite having created these four extra limbs from sand mere minutes ago, Gaara had somehow gotten used to them. Naruto watched Gaara flex his six arms, pulling him back into combat.

Taijutsu had never been Gaara's specialty because of his automatic protection. However, the Chunin-Exams had given him the realization that there were a plethora of people out there who could harm him.

Naruto—himself—had gained an impressive ability in Taijutsu from what Kakashi Hatake and Sukuna had taught him. Four of Gaara's arms grabbed Naruto, yanked him forward, and threw him away.

Spinning on the heel of his foot, Naruto rebalanced himself, gritted his fanged teeth in annoyance, and blurred forward. Gaara's sand swirled across the air to catch him—but Naruto's speed proved itself superior.

"So!" Naruto broke into Gaara's guard, outmaneuvering his sand and new arms. "Would you mind telling me why you're attacking Konoha?!"

Gaara retaliated fast enough for two of his hands to catch Naruto's fist and the other four shoved him back. "I don't care about any of that!"

Transforming two of his upper sand-made arms into blades, Gaara slashed Naruto's chest and saw it heal. "This village means nothing!"

"All I've wanted since these exams was your demise, ninth one!" Gaara crowed. "I can only exist where there is blood and death!"

Naruto coated red chakra over his knuckles, clashed them against the blade-like appendages Gaara had created for himself, and redirected them upwards. His voice was low. "That's a sad existence, isn't it?"

Sand slipped underneath Naruto's feet, tugging on his ankles and making him lose his sense of balance for a moment. Naruto cast the hand-sign for the Shadow-Clone-Jutsu, summoning his duplicates.

Pellets of sand were shot off at them. A number of Shadow-Clones dispelled from this attack — though a good amount managed to ward them off. Hands angled into a hand-seal, Naruto nodded at his clones.

"You have to be faster than the sand to hurt him." Naruto manipulated the air around Gaara to burst. "Let's see if this works—!"

Naruto's train of thought was interrupted when Gaara's chakra rose to an even higher level of potency than last time. Turning all four of his sand-made arms into blades, Gaara leaped at Naruto and grinned.

Much faster pellets of sand stopped whatever Jutsu the Shadow-Clones were going to use and dispersed them. Naruto heard Gaara's voice as two. "Come on out and play, nine-tailed bastard!"

It was like that foreign voice from Gaara's mouth had irritated Naruto's dormant tenant. Time slowed between Naruto and Gaara—the second of the two landed on a tree-branch and clutched at his pained head.

The two of them blinked and they were elsewhere — water piled up underneath their feet and Gaara's body had returned to its usual state. Naruto's vision was blurred, so he couldn't make out any key details.

"What's this about now, Shukaku?"

"I wanted to talk, you nine-tailed bastard!"

"Enough of your pathetic games, Shukaku. Leave me out of them."

"I ain't stopping until your vessel dies!"

"My body can revive after his death, so do as you please."

"You really piss me off! I'm giving my vessel as much chakra as the seal lets me! I know you have a limit! Don't complain when he dies!"

"You think I care? I'm cutting off the connection you established."

Naruto and Gaara had returned to the real world — Gaara had regained his monstrous transformation and Naruto's vision had lost its blurred tint. Ignoring that interaction, Naruto lunged towards his foe.

Chakra had erupted out of every pore of Gaara's body, rattling everyone in the village who detected it. Kankuro and Temari—who had recovered—were propelled backwards by its sheer pressure.

Halting himself in his tracks, Naruto grabbed a vine and swung himself onto the top of a smooth-surfaced boulder. Rubbing his head at its sudden migraine, Naruto growled. "His chakra's gotten unbelievable!"

It was as though a sandstorm had been conjured in the forest. Gaara opened a path for himself, parting the sand like one would open a curtain. The grin on his demented face had stretched even further.

Shukaku's chakra had also enhanced Gaara's physical prowess and sand's speed over the limit. Naruto blinked at the torrent of sand approaching him before he was slammed through seven trees.

Bursting out into a run, Gaara reached Naruto, flexed his four blade-like sand-made arms, and went in to slash his entire body. Naruto then unleashed a destructive burst of vermillion chakra.

Naruto escaped the sand's clutches—but it reformed a moment later. Gaara turned around to face him, manipulating a hailstorm of sand down upon the area and his opponent. Naruto was hurled back.

"What's wrong, ninth one?!" Gaara laughed in pure joy. "Have you realized it's useless to defy mother?! Have you learned your lesson?!"

Embedded into the ground, Naruto struggled to stop the sand from consuming him and released multiple pulses of the Kyuubi's chakra. It proved to be a fruitless endeavour — Gaara's sand just regrouped.

(-)

Hiruzen Sarutobi and Orochimaru were embroiled in combat, trapped inside the barricade formed by the Sound-Four. At the moment, they were at a standstill and were having an aggressive stare-down.

"Tell me, Orochimaru!" Hiruzen clasped his hands. "Jiraiya notified me of the change you made to Naruto's seal a day ago! What was it?!"

"Oh?" Orochimaru had the reanimated bodies under his control stop. "I forgot about how well-versed that perverted fool was in sealing arts."

Nonchalant, Orochimaru chuckled. "I suppose I could tell you. You'll be dead soon enough and this village shall be crushed by me alone."

"I believe that the Jinchuriki has potential below Minato Namikaze's own, but an extraordinary potential nevertheless." Orochimaru smiled. "I wanted to help draw that power out."

"What did you do to Naruto?!" Hiruzen's wrinkled face was marred by rage. "That boy has no part in this! What have you planned for him?!"

"Not much." Orochimaru held the Kusanagi blade in his hand, then leaned on its pommel. "I gave him the Synchronization-Seal."

"I've never heard of such a seal!" Hiruzen's chakra was stirred. "Not even Jiraiya was able to remove its influence from Minato's seal!"

"That's the point, you pathetic old fool!" Orochimaru cackled. "It will create a perfect sync between the Kyuubi and its Jinchuriki!"

"It ranges from zero-percent to a hundred-percent." The Sannin hummed. "I engineered the seal so that the Kyuubi can't perceive it."

"What does a perfect sync mean, Orochimaru?!"

"Not even I'm sure of the full definition." Orochimaru shrugged. "Now, no more meaningless chattering. I hope you've made your peace."

(-)

Sasuke had sunk to his knees in a bout of perpetual pain. Kabuto had taken out a chair from an abandoned restaurant on the corner of the street, polishing his fogged-up glasses and gazing at the clouds.

Odd marks stretched across Sasuke's flesh — agony swelled up in each of his cells and muscles from the Curse-Mark's full activation. The Evil-Sealing-Method had been unravelled by Kabuto himself.

"Orochimaru wants you to be his vessel." Kabuto spoke to him in a casual tone. "He only picked you because you're the last Uchiha."

"Besides your elder brother, of course." Kabuto put on his glasses. "Not even lord Orochimaru stands a chance against him in a battle."

"There's a second stage to the Curse-Mark." Kabuto told him. "But I doubt your body can handle the mind-awakening pills at this point."

Convulsing on the ground of the isolated region in the village, Sasuke gnashed his teeth together in pain and glared at Kabuto. The blue-haired boy had closed his eyes. "You're quite the weakling, huh?"

Kabuto pulled out a container of pills from his pocket. "Orochimaru developed these pills for the old Sound-Five a few years ago."

"It's meant to help stabilize their minds, chakra, and body to the Curse-Mark." Kabuto fed Sasuke this medicine. "One more thing."

In his daze of pain, Sasuke had swallowed the pill without thinking. The pain in his muscles and the agony in his mind dulled. Kabuto witnessed him climb to his feet, panting in exhaustion and rage.

Tapping the side of his head, Kabuto said. "These pills will put you into an automatic state of aggression. You'll be fuelled by your emotions."

(-)

Sukuna and Kimimaro raced across the clearing they were in. Loud booms of sound flitted into one ear and out of the other. Body protected by the sharpened bones around it, Kimimaro paused.

Maintaining his unnatural velocity, Sukuna appeared in front of him and fired off a Dismantle at his chest. It cut into the multiple layers of bones on his upper-torso, disintegrating them in a hurricane of dust.

"Even Dismantle is pointless." Sukuna grunted to himself in irritation. "These bones all over his body take its impact."

"Cleave is useful for destroying the bones in his hands, though." Sukuna thought, chin cupped in one hand. "What can weaken him?"

Kimimaro cut off Sukuna's thoughts when he pulled out a scroll and a vial of blood. Distancing himself from Sukuna, Kimimaro unfurled the scroll, popped open the vial of blood, and poured it on the scroll's seal.

"Huh?" Sukuna blinked all four of his red eyes at the scroll and vial of blood in Kimimaro's hands. "What the hell are those supposed to do?"

A quick surge of cursed-energy enhanced Sukuna's vision to allow him to gain an even closer look at Kimimaro's odd actions. Once the blood had been poured on the seal, Kimimaro lifted the scroll higher.

Small white dust shards emerged from the seal on the scroll, fluttering across the entire clearing and settling down into separate spots in the sector. Sukuna's eye-brows were raised at Kimimaro in contemplation.

"I see you've noticed them." Kimimaro looked bored. "Those particles were made from my bones, so they respond to my chakra alone."

"Shit." Sukuna blinked his four eyes in realization. "Since the wind blew them all around the clearing, he can control those particles."

"I doubt the wind could have spread them far though—."

Sukuna's brief moment of thinking was stopped when Kimimaro cast a hand-sign and numerous jagged bones materialized under their feet. Hopping into the air, Sukuna clicked his teeth in mild annoyance.

"I've had enough of playing around against you!" Kimimaro shouted up at him from his position on the ground. "I will fulfil my task…"

Propelling himself onto a spot in the clearing that the bone shards hadn't reached, Sukuna touched his feet down on the grass. Kimimaro walked over to him, strange marks stretching all around his body.

"Kimimaro's version of the Curse-Mark." Sukuna entered a stance, fists clenched. "Unlike Sasuke, he can control himself in this state."

A chakra-enhanced fist had buried itself into Sukuna's nose a mere moment later, hurtling him back and submerging him into the soil. Kimimaro flexed his hand, rolled his shoulders, and stepped forth.

Pulling out his container of pills, he popped one of these pills into his mouth. "I have a limited amount of time until this medicine is useless."

Storing the container of pills in his pocket, Kimimaro approached his opponent. "I haven't used the Curse-Mark in quite some time, though."

Sukuna flipped out of the small crater he was in, grinning. Kimimaro broke into his guard, grabbed his shoulder, and slammed him downwards. Chunks of solidified dirt flew upwards from the clearing.

Blood erupted out from Sukuna's mouth at the sudden attack. "What the hell? I wasn't even able to react in time to see him move at me."

Shattering the bones in Sukuna's shoulder, Kimimaro conjured a bone from his arm and prepared to stab it into his abdomen. Clutching at his broken shoulder, Sukuna kicked himself away from Kimimaro in time.

It proved to be useless, however, once Kimimaro closed the distance he had established in an instant. Brandishing the blade-like bone in his hand, Kimimaro twisted himself out of the range of Supernova.

Swatting the small particles of blood that had erupted around him in different directions, Kimimaro caught the leg that Sukuna had used for a failed roundhouse kick. Plunging a bone into it, Kimimaro sighed.

"I won't let you use your blood manipulation, summons, or destructive pulses." He said. "All of your abilities have become useless to me."

Taking the bone out from Sukuna's punctured leg, Kimimaro felt the sharpened bones sprouted out on his face crumble from a Dismantle. Remaking them in the blink of an eye, he grasped Sukuna's neck.

Sukuna gritted his teeth to himself, feeling every muscle in his body burn in pain. "Crap. He's gotten stronger than I was expecting."

Dropping the blade-like bone in his hand, Kimimaro conjured a dagger-esque one and curled his fingers around it. He buried it into Sukuna's chest, impaled his heart, and threw his body onto the grass.

"Lord Orochimaru shall be pleased." Kimimaro deactivated his Curse-Mark and mused. "I'll have to pick up his corpse later."

"My first priority was to eliminate every Leaf-Shinobi possible." He thought, walking across the clearing. "No-one will find him here."

Blood escaped Sukuna's punctured flesh, dying the grass in crimson.

(-)

Kakashi had knocked out a multitude of Sound-Jonin in the middle of the arena of the Chunin-Exam—but a strange feeling of concern stopped him.

Slamming a punch into one of the Sand-Chunin behind Kakashi, Might-Gai shouted. "Kakashi! Get your mind in the game!"

"Sorry." Kakashi shook his head, slipping a Kunai into his hand. "How are Naruto, Sasuke, and Sukuna doing right now? I didn't get the chance to talk to them about standard protocol."

"You must be concerned for students, right?" Gai asked his masked friend, grinning and punching one of his opponents. "They'll be fine, Kakashi! I know that Lee, Neji, and Ten-Ten are!"

"You're right." Kakashi sighed, flipping forward and kicking the face of a random Sound-Shinobi. "I'll just have to have faith in the three of them."

That bad feeling stayed.

A/N: Thanks for reading.