Chapter 24: Unprecedented
(Three Months after Chapter 23)
Footsteps could be heard from a forest far away from the Hidden Leaf Village, two of which belonged to a twelve year old boy, and four that had to belong to some titan-like monster.
The boy was running through the forest as fast as he possibly could and as a result, leaves were crunching under his weight, twigs were snapping left and right, loud splashes of water were heard from the force of his feet stomping puddles, and his heavy breathing could be heard for miles.
After a while of running, the boy hit a dead-end, and as a result, he turned around to confront whatever it was that was chasing him. When he looked back, he saw an abnormally large elephant, red as blood, with black tusks.
"Guess there's no more use running" the boy said before getting ready to fight the beast.
The boy was of course, Sasuke Uchiha, and he was currently fighting an animal from his brother's forest, an elephant way bigger and stronger than an average one.
The beast let out a loud trumpet that released a geyser of air so powerful that it sent Sasuke crashing back-first into a huge hill behind him.
"Oomph!" He wheezed out from the pain of his back colliding into the rocky exterior of the hill. The elephant chuckled at this before bringing its trunk back and throwing it at the boy.
Sasuke saw this, managed to pull himself off the hill, and landed back on the ground just in time for the trunk to do some serious damage to the hill, but nothing to him.
As soon as the elephant saw that the Uchiha was back on his feet, it then started tapping its feet angrily on the ground, which shook the ground and resulted in Sasuke repeatedly flying eight feet off the ground and then falling back down.
'What the hell!?' He inwardly yelled while still flying and falling before eventually coming up with an idea. 'Of course' before thinking as hard as he possibly could about a certain point in time. 'Come on, what were the sig-?' He began to think before it finally came to him. He made the proper hand signs before looking down at the ground as he was falling and calling out "Futon: Daitoppa!" And releasing a gust of air to catapult himself away from the elephant's range of attack.
The elephant growled at this before following the Uchiha's movement in the air.
'Thanks for showing me the jutsu, Naruto' he thought with pride before finally landing on his feet with a backflip.
Finally back on a flat surface with no reason to fall, Sasuke went on the offensive.
He started it off by running at the animal with his fist cocked, only to get struck down to the ground by the elephant's trunk.
"Tohh!" He wheezed after getting struck right on the chest and getting sent flying multiple feet back. 'I should've seen that coming' he thought before getting back up and thinking about what his next plan of action will be.
The elephant however, didnt wanna give him any time to do so and so it began throwing its trunk around like crazy, at even crazier speed.
Sasuke had an extremely hard time keeping up with the trunk, but eventually he found his rhythm and was able to dodge accordingly.
After dodging the tenth swing, he began making hand signs before calling out
"Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" And sending a fireball at the elephant.
The elephant just stayed there though and didn't move, it even smirked before the fireball hit, which caused Sasuke to flinch.
After the fireball hit and the smoke cleared, Sasuke saw that the elephant was still on its feet, seemingly not even dazed, and as a result, it trumpeted before stampeding towards him.
Seeing the animal coming at him, he decided to do what his clan did best, he activated his sharingan and tried to put the elephant under genjutsu.
Like with the fireball, Sasuke's eyes had absolutely no effect on tbe elephant, but by the time he realized it, it was already too late.
The elephant was less than ten feet away and with momentum on its side, the elephant threw its trunk at the still standing Uchiha.
This time it was too fast and Sasuke was unable to evade it, so it hit him right in the chin and sent him flying before eventually he crashed into the stone ground.
Sasuke was knocked clean out, unable to get up, his eyes were rolled all the way back, his mouth was wide open, and he was powerless when the elephant snorted before running at him, attempting to crush the boy with its legs.
Right as the elephant was about to crush the boy, a swirl of leaves appeared in front of him and after just a few seconds passed, Itachi appeared with his head down.
The elephant stopped dead in its tracks before looking at Itachi strangely, that was before Itachi lifted his head up and stared deathly at the elephant.
He didn't even activate his sharingan, but the elephant stepped back with wide eyes while sweating and then turned around and ran away.
Once the elephant was away from view, Itachi immediately began tending to his little brother.
"I had a feeling this would happen" he said before pressing two fingers on Sasuke's neck. 'I still feel a pulse, he's fine, but I should take him somewhere else, its getting dark.' After this thought left his mind, Itachi, picked up Sasuke, tossed him over his shoulder, and carried him to safe ground.
(With Kabuto)
At the same time this was happening, in a laboratory located somewhere in the sound village, a very familiar white-haired individual was in the middle of an experiment.
"Yes yes yes, this will do nicely" said the white-haired individual.
"Is it ready yet, Kabuto?" Asked another man from behind.
"Almost, Chen" the white-haired man, now revealed to be Kabuto responded.
The man, revealed to be Chen Inuzuka, then looked forward and saw the near dead body of the Snake Sannin Orochimaru that was strapped down on what seemed to be some sort of gurney used for experimenting.
"Is he dead" Chen asked.
"No, Lord Orochimaru asked me to inject him with a serum that will put him in a state where he is between both life and death" Kabuto responded.
"Why?"
"Because in order for this to work, this needs to happen."
With that being said, Kabuto continued on with his testing and as he did, Chen asked him
"How much longer would this take?"
"One whole year" Kabuto responded. "If we're lucky."
"I thought you said you were almost done with?"
"I lied."
Kabuto chuckled a little at what he told the Inuzuka, but the Inuzuka was pissed. He calmed down though and then asked the scientist
"Give me a percentage."
"12%."
"That's good enough"
This response caused Kabuto to cock an eyebrow at Chen and ask him
"Good enough for what?"
"None of your buisness" Chen replied.
"Anything you do is my buisness now, since Lord Orochimaru trusted us both to carry out his orders" Kabuto responded. "So don't you even think about doing anything stupid"
"It's not stupid."
"Then what is it?"
"Simple" Chen began to explain. "Lord Orochimaru trusted us to destroy Konoha while he was in this terrible state and that's exactly what I'm gonna do.
"How exactly?" Kabuto dumbly asked, already knowing the answer.
"Using the full power of what you currently have."
"And what makes you think I'm just gonna give it to you?"
"Cuz if you don't I'll kill you."
Kabuto just rolled his eyes at this response before getting up, looking coldly at Chen, and then saying
"That's the stupidest threat I've ever heard in my life for more reasons than one. First of all, you and I are equals Chen, you couldn't kill me no matter how hard you try. Secondly, even if you could kill me, how exactly are you planning on administering Lord Orochimaru's power to yourself? I'm the only one that knows how to do it. Lastly, if you did kill me you'd be on the run from the Akatuski and Leaf all on your own without any efficient backup by your side."
Chen didn't consider any of this and as much as it pissed him off to admit it, Kabuto was right. So he let out a deep breath and said.
"Fine."
Kabuto just adjusted his glasses before saying
"I'm telling you right now Chen, I would never even dream about transferring you all of it. At most I'd give you half, but that's as high as I'm willing to go."
"Fine, give me half, I'll sort the rest out myself."
Kabuto just sighed at this.
'Lord Orochimaru trusted us to use his power together, to share it in order to destroy the Leaf, but what Chen is doing is completely reckless' he began to think before an evil grin curled to his lips. 'Wait a minute... if he does die though, that means I'll get approximately 94% of Lord Orochimaru's power and more after I strip his dead body of the remaining six percent.' "Alright Chen, go ahead and knock yourself out, I'll be ready to give you your six percent, but it's gonna take a while."
"Good" Chen responded before they got to it. 'Look out Leaf, because now, the real pain begins.'
(The Next Night)
The sound of fire cackling was heard by Sasuke Uchiha, who groaned awake from his pain induced slumber to see himself inside a tent. He crawled to the opening, opened it, and saw his big brother and big brother's girlfriend sitting on longs, inches away from him, with their backs turned to him, in front of a campfire.
"You're finally awake" Itachi said.
"How did you-?" He began to question
"I can still hear, Sasuke" Itachi replied. "Anyways, rest easy, you can't train with your head hurting the way it does."
Sasuke just layed back down inside the tent he was in before asking Itachi
"So when will we leave?"
"Soon" he replied while tossing a large stick into the fire.
"Itachi-Kun, don't you think you rushed him into this too soon?" Izumi asked.
"That depends on what he thinks" he said before turning to ask his brother "Do you think I rushed you into this forest too soon?"
"No" Sasuke groaned with a sharp pain in his head. "I asked for it and if this is what it's gonna take for me to catch up with Naruto-Kun, then so be it."
"See" Itachi replied before tossing more wood into the fire.
"How hard was it for you when you first entered this forrest?" Izumi asked.
"Not much" he said nonchalantly.
"Really?" Both Izumi and Sasuke asked in confusion.
"Yeah" Itachi responded.
"How did you even find this forresf?" Izumi asked.
"It's a long story" Itachi replied.
"Pretty sure we have nothing but time" Sasuke responded.
Itachi just looked at the two dearest to him and said
"Okay..." before beginning to explain.
(Flashback)
Fifteen year old Itachi and Kisame were currently hopping off of trees, in pursuit of a tailed beast, and what tailed beast it was would soon be revealed.
"What tailed beast are we tracking down again?" Kisame asked.
"The five tails" Itachi answered.
"You're not gonna let this one get away like before are you?" Kisame asked his partner.
"What if I do?" Itachi questioned.
"I don't really care honestly and to be honest, I like it that you spare them."
This answer peaked Itachi's interest and so while they were still hopping off of trees, he turned his head to look at Kiame and asked him
"Why?"
Kisame didn't even hesitate to say
"Whenever you spare a tailed beast, they take it as a sign to get stronger, meaning that if and when we meet them again, I get to fight them stronger than before, and you know I've always had a thirst for battle"
"Of course" Itachi replied. 'I wonder for how much longer I can protect these tailed beasts before the other members catch them' Itachi shook his head at this thought and then remembered something. 'No, don't think of that Itachi, think of who you're doing all this for, Sasuke.'
Out of nowhere, as if a fire lit up inside of Itachi, he blitzed through the trees even faster than intiially.
"Whoah hey, Itachi, slow down, you know I can't keep up if you go that fast" Kisame advised while following behind.
After about fifteen more minutes of hopping off of trees, the duo discovered some strange looking forrest. The reason the forrest looked strange is because unlike most trees, the leaves weren't green, they were teal and if that wasn't enough, the tree trunks were grey.
The forrest gave the duo a strange feeling, as if it was a warning them not to go further, but of course, Kisame went inside.
"Beat you in there" Kisame said before running inside, thirsty for a fight.
"What did I expect?" Itachi said with an eyeroll before following behind Kisame and entering the forrest.
(Inside the Forrest)
As the duo walked through the forrest, they felt a rather strong presence and knew it could only mean one thing
'We are close' they both thought in unison.
After a bit more walking, they saw a very tall man with red armor, a red face-mask, and red kasa, sitting with both legs bent and one crossed over the other, on top of a log, meditating.
'That's him' both realized.
Itachi was assessing the situation but Kisame just shouted out
"Hey freak, you're coming with us!"
This effectively got the jinchuriki's attention, so he opened his eyes slowy and saw the two standing in front of him.
"Who are you two and what do you want?" He asked.
"We're the Akatsuki and we're here for you, so get up and come with us" Kisame informed and instructed the man.
"No, I refuse to leave."
"You don't really have a choice in the matter" Kisame added.
"Is that so?" Han the five tails jinchuriki, asked before standing up slowly on the log.
"We can do this the easy way, or the hard way, your choice" Itachi stated.
"I choose hard way" Han said before turning into the five tails, Kokuō.
Kisame grinned at this, excited for what was to come.
"Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Itachi called out before blowing a fireball at the horse.
The horse dodged the fireball and leapt at Itachi, but as it did Kisame brought out his sword and went for a slash.
"Die!" He yelled in excitement before bringing Samehada down and striking one of the tails.
The beast screeched in pain, but stayed on it's feet and whacked the Akatuski member with its four other tails.
The impact and force of all four whacks sent Kisame crashing down to the ground and left a rather large crater.
The beast roared one more time before changing its target and running at Itachi.
As he laid down on the ground, Kisame could be seen with a strange look on his face. Instead of being visibly angry or hurt by the attack, Kisame just grinned while he was on the ground and thought
'There you go' before slowly getting back up and thinking 'I love that power' and when he was finally back on his feet, he wasted no time, made his favorite handsign, and called "Suiton: Suikoudan no Jutsu!"
Han in his tailed beast form heard this coming and moved to the side just in time to evade the giant shark made of water.
As soon as he moved to the side though, a big fireball from his original target was waiting for him, and with no time to react, it hit him dead on and knocked him to the ground.
"Nice fireball Itachi" Kisame complimented.
"Thanks" Itachi stated before both men surrounded the beast and waited for it to get up.
Eventually the beast did get up and when it did, Itachi said one more time
"Last chance, come with us or die."
"Go to hell!" Han said through Kokuō before the horse cranked its neck back, opened its mouth, and summoned a void purple ball of energy.
'Is that a-?' Itachi began to think before the Jinchuriki spat the ball at him.
Knowing what that ball was and how dangerous it'd be if it so much as grazed his body, Itachi immediately jumped to the side and avoided it.
While the ball didn't hit its intended target, it still hit a target, the ground. The impact that resulted from the ball created an explosion that took out everything from a mile radius.
When the smoke cleared, the beast was still standing as if nothing happened, but the same could not be said about Kisame and Itachi. Both were on the ground and were struggling back up to their feet.
Itachi groaned back up to his feet in pain, but Kisame chuckled maliciously as he did the same.
Once both were back to their feet, they looked around them and saw that not only were they now standing on burnt rubble land, but very few trees were still up and the ones that were were split in half.
Getting over their new battlefield though, they both focused their attention back on Han and rushed him together.
Han didn't expect the two of them to attack him at the same time so he got ready.
Itachi was the first to act and he did so by making the handsigns his clan is most known for, calling out
"Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" And releasing a fireball that hit the horse directly in the face.
The fireball resulted in a scream of pain from the horse, but it didn't get to voice its pain for much longer because Kisame then slashed all four of their feet and brought it to the ground.
Just because it fell to the ground though, didn't mean the two relented, it in fact meant the opposite.
The two brought out their most powerful tools which for Itachi was a kunai and for Kisame it was his Samehada, and began slashing, kicking, and blasting the beast with jutsu while it was on the ground.
This beatdown went on for about five minutes and throughout all five minutes Itachi kept repeating the same mantra in his head
'I am so sorry my friend, but I can't stop.'
Meanwhile Kisame was thinking
'Come on, fight back, fight back you little bitch!'
After one more minute passed though, the duo heard what sounded like snakes, elephants, and cockroaches but didn't turn around.
Had they turned around they would've seen one of each of the listed animals, only much bigger and much more powerful.
The animals saw what the duo were doing, thought they were attacking a friend of their's, and retailated.
As the stampede of animals rushed at them, the gaze of the two members of the Akatuski did not leave the tailed beast, till the animals were literally an inch away from them. Then as if by instinct or having another set of eyes on the back of their head, the duo turned around and very quickly called out
"Goukakyuu no Jutsu/Suiton: Suikoudan no Jutsu!" And forced them all twenty feet back.
Once they created the distance, the duo noticed that the animals didn't die and it intrigued them, Kisame especially.
"Who do you want?" Itachi asked.
Kisame just stepped in front of him, brought his sword up to his left shoulder, and said
"I'll deal with these losers, you deal with the beast" Kisame said.
"That's shocking, you don't want the stronger of them" Itachi sarcastically asked.
"I would, if he was actually strong to begin with, but turns out Han is just another weakling. Something tells me I'll have more fun killing these lesser animals since there's more of them."
"So be it" Itachi said before turning his attention back to the five tails.
Being the man he is, he let the tailed beast get back up.
"Getting soft on me, aren't you?" The tailed beast groaned in pain while getting back up.
"It doesn't have to be this way."
"Cut the crap and fight me" Han said.
Away from the two, Kisame was currently fighting off every animal at the same time.
The elephant couldn't keep up with his speed, the cockroach couldn't keep up with his power, and the snake couldn't keep up with his grace.
He was dodging moves left and right, venomous snake bites, mini earthquake-like stomps, endless cockroach kicks, and more.
'They are definitely fast enough to keep up with even some of the most skilled Jonin of any village, strong enough to kill them, and graceful enough to trap them' he thought while still on the defensive.
Similarly to his teammate, Itachi was also playing defense against Han and Kokuō.
"Stay back Uchiha!" The jinchuriki and tailed beast duo yelled together before going for lots and lots of kicks and headbutts.
Itachi just evaded every attack with relative ease and after dodging the last one, he backflipped and landed on his feet.
He then just waited for it to get closer and as soon as it was just ten feet away, he planted his left foot forward, dragged the other back, brought his right fist back, and then when he was within distance, he brought his fist forward and struck the horse with all his might.
The horse neighed in pain and stumbled back, before shaking it off, growling, and charging at the Uchiha again.
As it ran at the Uchiha, the horse cranked its neck back, opened its mouth, summoned a void purple ball of energy, and released it at them.
Itachi stood still and let the ball come, and once it was within arm's reach, he... caught the ball and threw it back at the tailed beast.
The ball hit the elephant square on the nose and sent it sliding back far before using one of its tails to soothe the pain.
Itachi took advantage of this and ran at the beast and once the beast noticed this it got ready to spit out another tailed beast bomb.
However, Itachi was right in front of him at that point and backflip kicked it in the chin resulting in the bomb going off inside its mouth.
'So fast' the jinchuriki and tailed beast duo thought before feeling and hearing the sound of blades and fists coming down.
Away from this fight though, Kisame was currently having fun with the three abnormally large and strong animals.
The elephant, snake, and cockroach were giving him a good warm up.
"This is fun" he said while using the side of his blade to push them back with force, as if it were a shield, and then embedded his sword to the ground, intending to make this fight last longer. "Come on, let's see what you really have."
The snake and cockroach hissed and the elephant roared, before going in to attack.
Kisame caught a bloodlusted trunk smack using both his hands, jumped up the air to avoid a bite from the snake and kicks from the cockroach, and while he was in the air, he used all his strength to throw the elephant over his shoulder, countered another snake bite by kicking it in the throat with his left leg, and using his right foot to stomp the cockroach down with all his might.
All three animals plus the jinchuriki slowly got back up, fully intent on finishing their fight and when they finally got back up, the duo was just waiting for them with their arms crossed.
The animals and jinchuriki let out a loud battle cry before rushing the two Akatuski members.
As the animals rushed them down, both Itachi and Kisame thought
'Enough holding back' and ended their fights with one attack.
Itachi just closed his eyes and Kisame winded Samehada as far as he could, both just waiting for their opponents to get close.
The second they were close enough, Itachi opened his eyes and deathstared Kukō, and Kisame did one powerful vertical swing and sliced the heads of all three animals clean off.
The animals' bodies hit the floor, lifeless and dead, Kukō however just stood their frozen before letting out one last gasp, having a mini-stroke, rolling his eyes back, foaming at the mouth, and then falling to the ground while reverting back to Han's body.
Kisame walked back to where he embedded his sword, pulled it out of the ground, and then walked off to where the Jinchuriki was laying down motionless.
Once he got there he squatted down and waited for the guy to wake up and eventually, he did.
The Jinchuriki coughed awake before seeing Kisame squat down next to him and look him dead in the eyes.
"You fool, don't you know being bigger just makes you a bigger target?" Kisame rhetorically asked.
Han gasped awake and with a very weak and raspy voice he spoke
"How, are you two so strong?" Han gasped. "Just minutes ago I was handling both of you with ease."
"We were both holding back before to see what you were capable of and in doing so made ourselves vulnerable to your tailed beast bomb. That's not happening again" Kisame replied.
Unfortunately, Han used up all the rest of his strength to ask that one question, so he passed out in the middle of the forrest.
Kisame was ready to take him in, but before he did, he looked back at Itachi and asked him
"I'll let you choose, should we let him live or turn him in?"
Itachi didn't have to think for another second and said
"Let's go" before vanishing.
"You were always such a boy scout" Kisame said before he too vanished.
(End of Flashback)
"So I let the five tails go and we never spoke about it" Itachi concluded.
"So what about the first tailed beast bomb, can we see where it went off?" Sasuke asked.
"You're sitting on it" Itachi answered.
Both Izumi and Sasuke flinched before looking down and realizing that Itachi wasn't lying, they were camping on muddy burnt ground.
'Cool' both thought before Itachi got up, stretched his arms, and told them both
"Rest up though, you both need to be in shape for tomorrow."
"Hai Oni-Chan/Itachi-Kun" Sasuke and Izumi replied with.
(With Shizune)
Shizune was currently in the archives of the Hokage Tower, looking for something that was asked of her by the Hokage.
'Where is it?' She thought while looking through the endless boxes upon boxes. As she looked through the boxes she ended up cutting her finger on broken glass. "Oww" she groaned in pain before looking around for bandages. "There they are" she said before grabbing a nearby pack of bandages.
As she wrapped the bandage around her pointer finger, she looked around and saw something she didn't expect. From her perephreal vision she saw a picture frame and what looked like yellow spiky hair. Knowing of only one person in the entire village with hair like that, she wondered what the picture was about.
Curiosity got the best of her and she walked over to see what was in the picture frame.
She pushed some more boxes out of the way and once she was close enough, she saw that it was a photo of her and Naruto. In the photo, she gave him a kiss on the cheek for saving her from debt-collectors.
'That brings me back' she thought before looking at the ceiling and reminiscing.
(Flashback)
"Damn" Tsunade muttered as she lost yet another bet.
"Oh boy" Naruto, Jiraiya, and Shizune all said in unison, equally disappointed.
Naruto even nudged Jiraiya's shoulder and in a whisper asked him
"Is this really the future Hokage I'm looking at?"
"Yep" Jiraiya responded, also in a whisper.
"She's got a terrible demeanor, terrible gambling addiction, and to make matters worse, she's terrible at it."
"I heard that" Tsunade responded.
"Am I wrong though?" Naruto asked.
"You've got balls kid, I'll give you that much" Tsunade said.
"I know" he responded with nonchalantly, before turning to look at Shizune and asking her. "How and why did you end up working alongside the old lady?"
"It's a long story" Shizune responded with a nervous sweat drop.
"I bet" Naruto responded with, before looking at Jiraiya and telling him "Speaking of which, Pervy Sage, you should probably help her before we have a repeat of earlier."
Jiraiya just sighed but replied with
"I guess so" before doing as the boy recommended.
If you're wondering what happened to the group on their adventure to Konoha.
Naruto, Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Shizune were all making their way to Konoh when something caught Tsunade's eye, a mini casino.
She wasted no time and headed straight in, no matter how much Naruto, Jiraiya, and Shizune warned her about what happened not too long ago, and here she was, losing bet after bet after bet, and she wasn't even being tricked, she just sucked.
All that aside though, Jiraiya walked up to Tsuande's table and told her
"Alright step out, I'll take over."
"You think you can do better?" Tsunade mocked.
"I know" Jiraiya responded.
"Be my guest then" Tsunade said before getting out of her chair.
Jiraiya sat down and then asked the one in charge of them
"Alright what is it we're playing?"
"We-" the one in charge began to say before Jiraiya interrupted him.
"Just kidding, I know we're playing poker, just give me my cards and chips" he interrupted while handing the server his own money.
Tsunade was expecting to see the old man fail miserably, because while all she had was terrible experience in gambling, it was still experience nontheless, and she didn't recall ever hearing about Jiraiya gambling.
Which is why when he kept winning game after game, she was dumbfounded.
"How is he-?" She trailed off before Naruto told her
"Baa-Chan, he can gamble, get over it, he's helping you after all."
"Don't call me that and I don't need his help."
"You sure about that, from the way you were losing, it seems like you can use all the help you can get?"
"Then why don't you try kid? Since you have such a smart mouth" she sarcastically replied.
"Okay" he said with a shoulder shrug before walking up to his mentor and telling him "My turn."
"Sure kid" the mentor said before getting off the chair and allowing the boy to take over.
"Tsunade-Sama" Shizune said disappointed.
"I didn't think he'd actually-" Tsuande began to say before both she and Shizune saw the boy, like his mentor, proceed to win game after game.
This shocked both Shizune and Tsunade to no limit.
'How could a kid be such a natural at this game' both thought as Naruto kept winning.
"At this rate he'll make enough money to last him a year and I'll make enough to pay off whatever other gambling debts you may have Tsunade" Jiraiya said humorously.
"Wait so-" Tsuande began to ask before Jiraiya interrupted her by saying
"Yep, I'm the one gambling to make money to help you, but not Naruto, the money he's making, is for himself."
"Well I'll be, this kid is a strange one" Tsunade stated. "Going so far just to prove a point."
"I agree, but that's what makes him him" Jiraiya said. "Speaking of which, I'll go to different tables and play poker too, gotta work hard if I'm the one that's gonna clear you of all your debt."
Shizune and Tsunade just watched the student and teacher duo play and dominate every game they played, never losing so much as a single ryo in the process.
As Naruto and Jiraiya continued winning game after game, Shizune stepped outside, deciding she needed a break from this.
"Well Tonton, I guess we'll just have to wait till those two are done humil-" she began to say before feeling a hand clamp over her mouth and an elbow to the back of the neck, which knocked her out cold.
When she woke up, she was tied up and sitting in front of five men with masks over their faces.
Scared, she tried screaming but couldn't be heard because her mouth was gagged and taped. It eventually got on the five men's nerves and they told her
"Shut up!" In unison.
This effectively kept her quiet so they could start talking.
"You probably don't remember us, but someone owes us a lot of money" the leader of the five, who was standing right in front of Shizune started to say. "This chick with long blonde hair and a huge chest came to me and asked me for money. And if my memory serves me well... You were with that chick with long hair and a huge chest, weren't you?"
Shizune cried and the leader grabbed the tape and ripped it off her with force, resulting in a yelp of pain from her, but also allowing her to finally speak.
"Y-yes" she stammered in fear.
"Good, so tell me, where's my money?" the debt collector asked, while cupping her chin with one finger.
"I-I don't know, but I'm sure she has it now" Shizune reponded in haste.
"Lies!" All five yelled at the same time while bringing out kunai.
"I hate liars, in fact let me show you what we do to li-" the leader began to say before taking a good look at Shizune.
"W-what is it?" She stammered.
"Nothing, I just realized how hot you are" he responded.
'N-no!' She inwardly screamed, not wanting to upset the men who were clearly stronger than her.
"What makes it even better, is that we're in a secluded area" he added while he began unbuckling his pants.
Shizune began crying and crying before the man said
"Don't worry, this'll be over before you know i-" that was until a kunai came flying from the sky and penetrated through his foot. "Arhg!" He screamed in pain before Naruto appeared right in front of Shizune, shielding her from the five men.
"Stay away from Shizune-San" he said while holding out his kunai with one hand and shielding Shizune with the other.
"Kill the kid!" The leader ordered and the men listened but couldn't follow through.
Naruto made quick work off all four underlings with one kick to the jaw that sent one of them flying and crashing into the rest, knocking them all out instantly. Afterwards, he walked up to the leader, who's foot was still embedded to the ground by the kunai Naruto launched at him, and pulled it off.
The leader fell to his back while cradling his foot with his hands, crying in pain, and as he did, Naruto just squatted in front of him.
"I could kill you all right now, you know that right?" Naruto intimidatingly asked.
"Y-yes kid" the leader responded.
"But that won't change a thing will it?" Naruto asked. "Even if I kill you, another one of your goons will try and hurt Shizune-San?"
"Who are you kid and why are you so strong? Me and all my men are Jonins from Kiri, you shouldn't be able to beat us this way."
"That doesn't matter" Naruto responded. "How much does Shizune-San owe?"
"500,000 Ryo" the lone shark stated.
"Fine, here" Naruto said before throwing every last Ryo he made from gambling at the casino on the ground. "That's 550,000 Ryo, now leave and don't ever bother Shizune-San again!"
"Will do kid" the five debt-collectors stated in fear before grabbing the money and fleeing.
Once he saw that they were out of the way, he turned to look at Shizune and asked her
"Are you okay Shizune-San?"
She didn't even hesitate to hug him the second she could.
"Thank you Naruto-Kun, thank you so much" she stated in happiness.
Naruto just rubbed her back and told her
"It's fine Shizune-San."
"N-no" she stammered.
"Huh?"
"Call me Shizune."
"Okay Shizune" Naeuto responded. "Now let's go find Ero-Sennin and Baa-Chan, kay" with a smile.
"Okay" she said with tears in her eyes.
So Naruto helped her back up to her feet and walked her back to the casino, and as he did, Shizune couldn't help but see Naruto in a new light. It was as if she was lost in a pitch white room and Naruto was guiding her out.
(End of Flashback)
'From then on I started seeing Naruto in a different light and I admired him for every good deed he did. Whether it was saving multiple children from a burning building, helping a lost kid find their parents, saving kids from trafficking, or any other selfless deed I'm missing. He also never stopped being nice to me or supporting me. Whether it was by believing in me, giving me advice, or just giving me a warm smile, he never stopped. Plus seeing all the love and support he shows all his girlfriends, I couldn't help but fall in love with him." She thought before kissing the photograph and putting it away.
Shizune kept looking through the archives till she found what it was that her Hokage wanted her to get.
"A sealing scroll" she whispered for seemingly no reason. She put it in her obi and began walking off. As she walked off though, her mind trailed off to Naruto's girlfriends and how one of them was pregnant at the moment. 'Lucky her' she thought to herself before making her way outta the archives.
(Next Morning)
The Uchihas were currently in the forrest meditating together.
As they meditated, Sasuke grew frustrated that they weren't doing fun activities like sparring and angrily asked his brother
"Onii-Chan, why are we meditating?" Which unknowingly hurt his head, which still hadn't fully healed from the fight with the elephant.
Itachi calm as ever, just opened his eyes and looked at his little brother.
"Patience little brother" he said calmly.
"I don't have time for this Oni-Chan, Naruto is out there somewhere growing stronger, doing real training, and I have to catch up to him, but how am I gonna do that if you don't take me seriously!?
Itachi stopped meditating and asked Sasuke
"And why exactly do you wanna be stronger than him Sasuke? Answer me that."
Sasuke just froze still before looking at the ground and staying silent.
"It's because your ego was damaged, not because of an actual necessity to be stronger."
"Itachi-Kun!" Izumi all but yelled out.
"Wha-?" Sasuke began to angrily mutter out before Itachi calmly interrupted him.
"Naruto has grown as strong as he has and only continues to grow stronger not because he's training out of ego, but because he wants to protect the people and women he loves from the likes of the Akatuski. You only train for yourself and your ego, and it pains you that you, a prodigy and a member of one of the most prestigious clans in the ninja world, lost to someone who had and came from nothing."
Sasuke was speechless and so was Izumi.
"I know about that all too well little brother, and untill you let go of your silly pride and ego, I'm sorry to say, but you'll never reach him."
This was the reality check Sasuke needed, cuz it made him rethink everything in his life up till that point.
"Itachi-Kun, go easy in him" Izumi scolded.
"No Izumi-Nee" Sasuke began to say. "He's right" he then gnashed his teeth and gritted out "As much as I hate to admit it, he's right." He then relaxed, looked at his brother much more respectfully and calmly, and then asked his brother "Then how do I?"
"It starts with you letting go of your pride and listening to what I'm telling you."
As much as Sasuke didn't wanna meditate, he realized that it was either this, or nothing at all, and he knew that his brother was really the only one that can help him.
So he let out a frustarted sigh and then meditated.
The two brothers did this for four hours straight with no breaks and no interruptions, Izumi herself just gathered more firewood and kept herself busy, so as to not disturb the two brothers.
Little did Sasuke know, the meditation was actually helping him in multiple ways, the most noticeable was healing.
All the internal and external damage Sasuke sustained in his fight with the elephant was healing at a rather quick pace, and he noticed it.
It wasn't just that though, he also felt his muscles strengthen, his eyes sharpen, and his stamina increasing.
Eventually, when Sasuke finally realized this, he stopped meditating and said
"Whoah, Onii-"
"Quiet" Itachi responded with, as calmly as possible. "Keep meditating."
Sasuke, no longer questioning or doubting his brother's tactics, did as he was told and continued meditating.
(In Kumo)
In the village known as Kumogakure, a very tall and overly muscular man known as Ay, or better known as the Fourth Raikage, was sitting at his desk, signing documents.
'Here I am, signing these documents while the Leaf has allied with Suna, doubling their military, and knowing them, there's only two explanations as to why. They're either trying to start another war' he thought angrily before clenching his fist so tightly that he broke the pen he was using to write. 'Or to humiliate me again.' He inwardly added before clenching his teeth so hard blood oozed out.
The frustration and anger he felt from these thoughts made him slam both arms onto the desk, demolishing the wood in the process, then he stood up from his desk, waked off to a nearby window and picked up two kunai knives wedged into the window.
After picking the two up, he grinded them both together and then turned his attention to something else in his office.
He stood absolutely still, locked onto his desired target, aimed his knife, thought
'Kami, I wish you were still alive,' before throwing the knife with lots of animosity. The knife hit his desired target, which was a photo of 'Minato Namikaze, just so I could kill you myself.'
It was at this moment that someone entered his office.
"I'm sorry my lord, am I disturbing?" The person asked before Ay angrily threw the second knife he had at them, which the ninja was only barely able to dodge.
"Next time knock!" He yelled before walking back to his desk.
The ninja bowed before saying
"Y-yes sir, I'm terribly sorry about that, but I have news."
"What is it?" He angrily asked before sitting on his desk, bored and angry.
"W-well, th-there's r-" the ninja nervously stammered but couldn't finish, due to his fear of his Raikage.
"Darui, quit stammering and spit it out" Ay ordered.
"Yes sir" the ninja, now identified as Darui, apologized with a bow. "What I meant to say is that there are rumors circulating about-"
Ay cut him off and said
"I don't care about rumors Darui, so if that's all you have to tell me then get outta my office."
"But sir-"
"I said get out! Now!"
Darui was terrified, but determined to get his Raikage's acknowledgement, so he stayed and with fear plastered on his face and voice, he muttered out
"This rumor is about Minato Namikaze."
This effectively made Ay flinch.
"That can't be, he's dead" he muttered before widening his eyes and saying "Unless he isn't."
"No my lord, Minato Namikaze is dead and there's no doubt about it, but this rumor is arguably better."
This really peaked the man's interest, and so he asked,
"What is it?"
The ninja calmed down as much as he could and after letting out a deep breath, he said
"There are rumors floating around that the Fourth Hokage had a son."
This immediately lit a fire in the Raikage who immediately asked
"What's his name?"
"I don't know, but I have reason to believe that this boy is indeed the son of your greatest rival."
Ay then asked him
"What's your evidence?"
The ninja then tossed three photos of Naruto Uzumaki which were taken from many meters away and said
"You can't say he doesn't look like him."
"It's uncanny" Ay replied in astonishment, before an evil grin began to appear on his face.
"It gets even better" the ninja told him.
"How is that possible?" Ay asked.
The ninja then told the Raikage what else he knew and after he and his Raikage were done speaking, his Raikage told him
"Good work Darui, but I know someone else who will be even happier to know what else you told me."
"You mean?"
"Yes, go get my brother, explain everything you've explained to me, and then tell him to meet me here, we have some things to discuss."
"Hai, Raikage-Sama" Darui said with a bow before leaving the premise. "Oh Minato, you really thought you could slip past me didn't you? That you could die in peace without me finding a way to get to you? Well you were wrong, so wrong, and I'll show you just how wrong you were" he then looked at the photo of Naruto Uzumaki he had on his hand, and crushed it before adding "Or at least your son will!"
(The Uchihas)
The moon was out and the sky was pitch black, and in the center of a campfire, the two Uchiha brothers were sparring.
They had a classic defense vs offense session, Sasuke was offense and Itachi was defense.
Sasuke threw his strongest roundhouse kick but Itachi easily parried it and stepped back.
"Not bad, but you tried to hit me using the top of your foot, extend your leg further, you'll break your foot like that."
Sasuke tried the same kick again, but this time did as his brother said, instead of trying to hit him with the foot itself, he trued to hit him with the shin, but again, his brother caught it without any trouble.
"Now go a little bit faster."
He went for a roundhouse one more time, as fast as he could, but also extended his leg further to hit his brother with the shin.
Itachi again didn't struggle when it came to reacting and blocked it, but afterwards, Sasuke switched it up and went for a left hook.
Itachi quickly brought his right hand all the way to the back of his head, using his forearm, upper arm, and shoulder to block the punch.
After seeing his brother block his punch, Sasuke went for a knee, only for Itachi to use his free hand to slap his knee back down, grab him by the scruff of his shirt, and then throw him five meters away.
"Oomph!" He muttered in pain as his back slammed against the ground.
"Come on Sasuke, I know you've got more in you than this, so get up" Itachi said.
Sasuke did just that and got back up before running at his brother with a flying side kick, only for his brother to cover up and successfully block the kick.
This led to Sasuke dropping to the ground, on his feet, and he took advantage of the short distance by throwing as many punches as he could, trying to box his brother.
He went for five straight punches, but his brother was already covering up, so they didn't have much effect. He then went for some hooks, but his brother brought both hands to the back of his head again and blocked each hook to perfection. Finally, he went for one final move, the uppercut, but of course, Itachi parried it away and pushed Sasuke back as far as he could, without hurting him.
Sasuke managed to stay on his feet from the push, but got angry, as soon as Itachi noticed this though, he looked at him from fifteen meters away and shouted
"Calm down!"
This shout was what Sasuke needed, cuz he did calm down and then with a level-headed mind, switched from taijutsu to ninjutsu.
Sasuke started it off by creating his clan's most famous hand signs before calling out
"Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" And releasing a large fireball at Itachi.
To Sasuke's shock, Itachi didn't evade but redirected the fireball away from himself and Izumi who was behind him.
"Whoah" Sasuke said, impressed with his brother's skills.
"Is that all?" Itachi asked.
"Not even close" Sasuke said before making his sensei's famous handsigns, using his right hand to hold his left wrist, calling out "Chidori" and then rushing at Itachi with a sparkling charge of lightning in his hand.
Barehanded or not, Itachi was easily capable of dealing with his little brother's techniques without any difficulties.
He just evaded the chidori repeatedly before grabbing his brother by the wrist, but instead of repeatedly kneeing him in the gut, he just tossed him like a ragdoll.
Sasuke's back crashed to the ground and as a result, his chidori vanished, but he still didn't give up.
He got up, made different hand signs, and then called out
"Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu!" Sending one ball of fire, which turned to twelve, at his brother.
Itachi was able to out-manuever every fireball with ease.
He did a side flip to avoid one, backwards side flip to avoid another, ran and slid across the ground with his knees to avoid five, and as soon as he stopped sliding, he got on his back, brought his knees all the way up to his chin to avoid another, did a kip up to avoid two, and a front flip to avoid the last two.
"You're gonna have to try harder than that" Itachi notified.
"Done and noted" Sasuke said before calling out "Kirigakure no Jutsu!" And covering the entire field in mist.
"Clever brother" Itachi said before catching a punch, adding, "But not clever enough" and then throwing his brother into the sky.
As he was being propelled into the sky, Sasuke made more hand signs and with the opening he could see of the cloud of mist still covering the field, he called
"Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu!" Which flew straight down the opening and effectively blew all the mist away and seemingly, also hit his brother dead-on. "Yes, I finally got him!"
"Nope" Itachi, who was right behind Sasuke, said before grabbing him by the collar and tossing him safely to another side of the field.
Once Sasuke landed on his feet, he wasted no time before making new hand signs, calling out
"Raikyū!" And launching a ball of lightning at Itachi.
When this didn't work he did it again and again and again, till finally, Itachi caught one of the balls and threw them back at him.
Sasuke was only barely able to react to the ball of lightning but as he did, he had a flashback of his fight with Naruto, and how a similar ball, one made of wind, was used to incapacitate him. This thought caused him to freeze mid-dodge and as such, the ball of lightning hit him full power.
"Ahhh!" He screamed in pain before a loud boom was heard, followed by a large cloud of dust.
"Sasuke!" Izumi shouted in worry before rushing to his side, only for Itachi to stop her and tell her
"He's fine, I held back on the throw."
"Aren't you at least a little worried, he's your brother?" Izumi asked.
Itachi turned to look at the woman and coldly said
"No."
"How can you say that?"
"I may seem cold to you, but this is the way I have to be, for his sake."
"How?"
"Izumi-Chan, it's Sasuke's ego, he knows what he has to do but still can't do it."
"Itachi-Kun, what does it matter if he ends up too hurt t-"
"No Izumi-Chan" she heard a voice croak out from the debris.
She turned her attention to where she heard the voice and saw a really beaten up Sasuke dragging his body out of the debris he was sent to. Sasuke was exhausted, sweating, and breathing as if he just got out of the sun in a day with 100 degree celsius weather. Not just that but his clothes were a mess. His shirt was all ripped up, dirty, and wrinkly. His brother on the otherhand was perfectly fine.
"He's right, Izumi-Chan" Izumi heard from far behind her. "It may hurt like hell, he may seem cold, but it's true, I need him to be this way."
"Why?"
"It's the only way I can finally come to terms with how things are"
"What do you mean?"
"My ego is still there, so I can't tell you, but when the time is right, I will."
"Wise words little brother" Itachi said before looking around. "Let's stop for now."
"Are you sure?" Sasuke asked.
"Yes, anymore will only do more harm than good" Itachi replied.
"Well then now what?" Sasuke asked.
"Now, you keep meditating, I have something else I must do" Itachi said before walking off.
As he was waking away, Sasuke turned to Izumi as if silently asking her why he was doing this but she just gave him a shrug of confusion.
(With Ay)
Back in Kumo, Ay was waiting for his brother while looking out the window in his office.
He got a new desk after destroying his previous one, deciding it'd be important for this talk he'd have with his brother.
Speaking of which, after a little more looking out the window, his office door opened.
"So you came?" Ay asked, with his body still facing the window.
"Of course, you fool" the voice behind him said.
"I assume Darui managed to talk you into coming here?" Ay asked before turning around to look at his brother.
"Yeah, he didn't explin why, but he told me it was something I'd wanna know, info containing -him-."
"Indeed brother" Ay replied before reaching into his new desk and pulling out a photo. "You remember your old friend?" Ay sarcastically asked his brother before putting down a photo of Fugaku Uchiha.
The photo of Fugaku was enough to enrage the Jinchuriki and it led to him growing a giant tentacle in place of his right arm and smashing the photo to pieces.
"I thought I told you never to show me that photo, you fool!" Bee angrilly yelled.
"Well you'll be glad I did pretty soon."
"And why's that?
"It turns out the Leaf lied all those years ago" Ay said.
"Why would I care about that?" Bee asked.
"You never asked me -about what-" Ay pointed out.
"Unless it's that he's still alive and that I have the chance to snap his neck for what he did all those years ag-" Bee trailed off before asking "Is he-"
"No" Ay coldly replied. "Fugaku Uchiha is dead."
"Then what, you fool?"
"The Uchiha Massacre."
This made Bee flinch and ask
"If he's not still alive then what does it matter?"
"Fugaku Uchiha may be dead, but his youngest son, Sasuke Uchiha, was not killed by Itachi Uchiha during the Uchiha Clan Massacre" Ay explained.
"So you mean...?" Bee trailed off in disbelief,
"Yes, and to make matters even better, I found out Minato Namikaze had a son too."
Bee grinned at this and asked
"So not just one?"
"But both our greatest rivals have sons that are still alive."
"Where are they?"
"Unfortunately, according to Darui, we don't know where Minato's son is, and Sasuke Uchiha is under protection of his brother."
"Pitty, that does complicate things" Bee said.
"However, once we learn more about them, they return to the village, and they're at their most vulnerable, what do you say brother?" A grinning Ay asked with his hand out.
Bee grinned and shook his hand while saying
"Count me in, you fool."
'Minato/Fugaku, you're son is going to pay for what you did all those years ago. I hope you're ready to meet them soon' both brothers thought with evil intent.
(With Kabuto and Chen)
Both Kabuto and Chen were inside their secret headquarters.
Kabuto was in his lab whilst Chen was outside of it, pacing around, and when Kabuto finally left the lab, Chen asked a single question.
"Okay, how many of our men are you gathering?" Chen asked.
"Twnety thousand" Kabuto replied.
"Why, I only asked for ten?"
"I'm coming with you."
"Are you serious?"
"Yes, Chen."
"What kind of sick game are you playing Kabuto?"
"It's no game, I just wanna test out the power that I have as well. Last time I checked, me and Kakashi were roughly equals, so I wanted to see how I'd fair against him or any other Leaf shinobi now."
"Why should I trust you?"
"Cuz you have a higher chance at success if I help you, rather than doing it alone. Or are you so fixated with your petty revenge against your own clan and village, that you completely overlooked that fact?"
This statement angered Chen so much that he brought out a kunai and attempted to stab Kabuto, only for the ninja to counter it with his own.
As their blades grinded against each other, Kabuto clicked his tongue and shook his head before saying
"There's that part of you I was talking about. So angry and with such a sensitive ego, that you completely forget who it is you're dealing with here."
Chen just gritted his teeth at this before eventually, Kabuto broke the clash and stepped back. With both their blades now away from each other, Kabuto gave it a small twirl before putting it back in his pouch.
Chen angrily did the same, but this momentary truce didn't last long, because Chen was still trying to figure out where Kabuto stood, if he was gonna get in his way, and if he was serious.
Kabuto was one hundred percent certain, but only because if it all went wrong, he'd get exactly what he wanted.
Either way, since both had a bit of the power they were supposed to wait longer for in them, this meant that no matter how angry they were at each other, or how badly they wanted to hurt/kill the other, they were equals, if anything, in power. So no matter what, neither one could do anything about the source of their annoyance.
Which led to Chen swallowing his pride and saying
"Fine, just don't get in my way."
"Speaking of which, you do have a plan, right Chen?" Kabuto asked.
Chen looked dumbfounded, which was all Kabuto needed to get his answer.
"I thought so."
"Do you?"
"Of course" Kabuto replied. "And I'll tell you, so long as you agree to my conditions."
Chen again, didn't wanna bend to this man's will, but unfortunately had to.
"Fine, what's your plan?" He asked.
Kabuto then pressed his fingertips together before saying
"Well.."
(The Forrest)
A loud trumpet could be heard, as well as the battle cry of a young twelve year old boy, because in the same forrest from earlier on in the chapter, Sasuke Uchiha was having his rematch with the abnormally large and strong elephant.
"Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" He called before shooting a fireball at the elephant.
The elephant easily dodged the fireball before trumpeting again and throwing his trunk at the boy.
The boy managed to parry the trunk using both his hands and all his strength, and seized the opening it created to run forward and hit the elephant above the mouth with a running knee.
"Yeah" Sasuke muttered as he was falling back to the ground.
Watching this from above was again, the brother of the young Uchiha and the girlfriend of said brother, who were watching as a means to study and also look after the boy.
'Come on, you've got this Otouto-Kun' both elder Uchihas thought in unison.
The elephant cried in pain as Sasuke landed on his feet, and when he did, the elephant began pounding the ground with its feet, creating another mini earthquake that resulted in Sasuke being sent into the air and back down with no way to plant his feet, but after five minutes pass, the elephant stopped and tried to stomp the boy out instead.
It brought a foot up and then brought it down, but Sasuke managed to move away in time and narrowly avoid getting crushed by the ten ton elephant.
'That was close' all three Uchiha thought in unison.
It wasn't over yet though and so the boy got up and got another jutsu of his ready.
"Raikyū!" He shouted before sending a ball of lightning at the elephant.
The elephant in question saw the ball coming and decided to attack it head on.
It did so by bringing its trunk back and then swinging it at the ball as hard as it could.
The ball and the trunk collided and were struggling for dominance, but as the elephant was doing this, he didn't realize the Uchiha was now behind him.
'Now is my chance' Sasuke thought before forming multiple different hand signs. "Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"
"Grrrr!" The elephant groaned in pain as its backside was hit with a rather powerful fireball, so strong in fact, that it lost the struggle against the ball of lightning and was hit in the face by it.
Sasuke didn't stop there and repeatedly unleashed more and more jutsu on it.
Fire and lightning were the the two types of jutsu he knew best, so he was throwing evrything he knew at it till finally, he was out of gas.
He was breathing heavy, down on one knee, extremely sweaty, and had one eye closed because of the exhaustion.
'That had to be it' Sasuke thought, no longer having the strength to so much as utter words. That was until he really focused the one eye that was still open, and saw that while the elephant was damaged, it was still standing. 'I hit it with everything I had, but it still wasn't enough' Sasuke thought in exhaustion, frustrated and angry.
The elephant itself was also breathing heavy and had one eye closed in pain, but when its eye relaxed and it noticed the young boy in this weakened state of his, it wasted no time taking advantage.
With one last loud trumpet, it ran at the boy, fully intent on stomping him to death.
As the elephant charged at the boy he closed his eyes, bracing himself for what was next.
'Damn it!' He inwardly yelled, expecting the worst, that was until he angrily opened both his eyes.
Unbeknownst to Sasuke, his sharingan flared awake and thanks to the prior damage and weakening the elephant took, Sasuke managed to accidentally put the elephant under a genjutsu.
The elephant froze stiff for about ten seconds, which confused Sasuke
'What, why is-' he began to think before he realized his eyes weren't closing. 'Wait a minute, my sharingan' he thought. 'And I can feel it, it's more powerful than ever.'
Sasuke then noticed the elephant, let out a very weak trumpet before falling limply on the ground, its eyes rolled back, and its mouth foaming.
Sasuke then closed his eyes and turned off his sharingan, but not without feeling tremendous pain in his eyes.
"Gahhh!" He screamed in pain, while rolling on the ground.
When the two observers saw this, they immediately came down from the tree they were hiding in, and checked on their wounded brother.
"Otouto-Kun, remember, meditate!" Itachi shouted over Sasuke's screams.
Sasuke heard what his brother said, sat up with his legs crossed over one another, and started meditating, enduring the pain he was feeling in the process.
After about half an hour, he healed just enough to stop meditating and get back up to his feet.
"You should meditate longer."
"No" Sasuke said before looking at the downed body of the elephant. "There's something else I wanna do" he added before bringing out his kunai.
(With Kabuto and Chen)
Kabuto and Chen were making their way outside of their secret headquarters and when they did, they were greeted to the sights of thousands of men gathered in rows, awaiting their commands.
Since this was all Chen's idea, he was the one who walked up to the ledge and spoke.
"Attention!" He shouted and the ninja gathered all turned to look at him, awaiting further directions. "The day has come, the day for retribution!"
"Hai!" They all shouted in unison.
"The oppression of the Leaf will no longer continue! They think they can get away with dropping us, killing us, or worst of all, the death of the real Hokage, Danzo Shimura?!"
"Absolutely not!" The ninja all shouted in response.
"Then say it with me my people, the Leaf will fall!" Chen ordered.
"The Leaf will fall!" The ninja all obediently responded.
"Death to every Leaf citizen, ninja or civilian, adult or kid!"
"Yeeaaahhhh!" The ninja all cheered and applauded.
Chen then turned to look at Kabuto and asked him
"What's your plan?"
Kabuto just grinned and tapped his fingers together.
To Be Continued...
Author's Note:
Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I have more in store for this story and the other stories in the near future.
Also, don't worry, I know most of you reading this don't like Sasuke, so this was the first and only chapter where he is the MC.
I felt this was necessary though since the Sasuke and Naruto in this story are different than their canon counterparts and I wanted to show at least one way how. You already knew why Naruto wants to get stronger and now you also know why Sasuke did.
That's all I have to say for now though, so see ya next time.