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Meanwhile in Konoha
In the Hokage's office stood Sasuke Uchiha, Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, Neji Hyūga, and Kiba Inuzuka with his canine companion Akamaru. Shikamaru had gathered his fellow comrades as an order from the hokage herself.
"Listen here all of you, I want you all to bring Naruto back to the village hidden in the leaves. Make sure you complete the mission without fail and bring that boy back. Jiraiya's intel has told us that he is somewhere near the hot water village. Search the area and bring him back in one piece, do I make myself clear?"
"Yes ma'am!" The group of 5 exclaimed before starting the expedition to the hidden hot water village.
In the Hot Water village with Naruto and Kai
It was a clear sunny day in the Hot Water Village. Today was Naruto and Kai's Day for rest. The pair of Uzumaki could be seen eating yakiniku at a random shop in the middle of the town.
"Mmmm this is good, I'm kinda glad you dragged me here." Naruto said with bliss.
"Told you it was worth coming here, this stuff is good." Kai exclaimed while diving into his 5th helping.
"Hey for a guy that's making no money you seem to be eating a whole lotta food ya know. I'm trying to make this money last as long as I can." Naruto said while cringing.
With the Naruto capture team
"Oi Shikamaru, I'm hungry, can we stop at that Yakiniku shop for some grub?" Choji complained, his stomach grumbling with displeasure.
"Fine Choji, but not too much, we still have a mission to complete." Shikamaru replied, slightly annoyed at the sudden detour.
The group of five walk into the yakiniku shop and are met with the sight of a familiar knucklehead blonde.
'Troublesome, didn't expect to find him here of all places. And who's that guy he's eating with?' Shikamaru thought with suspicion.
Naruto and Sasuke lock eyes with each other, and at the same time exclaim "Hey it's you!"
Almost as soon as those words were said, Sasuke threw multiple shuriken directly at Naruto, only for him to narrowly avoid them.
"Glad to see you've been keeping up with your training, guess this won't be that easy."
"What are you guys talking about? Why are you guys attacking me?" Naruto shrieked with slight fear.
"We're here to bring you back to Konoha because you're a missing-nin dumbass." Kiba deadpanned.
"Oh, that's right..." Naruto remembered.
"Naruto who are these guy-." Kai didn't get to finish as Sasuke came at blurring speeds to roundhouse kick Naruto, only for Naruto to block it with his arm.
"Let's take this outside Sasuke, I'm not paying for collateral damage after I kick your ass!"
"You wish." Sasuke retorted.
Naruto and Kai both walked out the store, leaving the money for the tab on the table. Before anyone could react, both Naruto and Kai made 6 dozen shadow clones, and they all spread out in different directions.
"Damn it, alright guys split up and take a group of clones to capture, it seems we'll have to take them out in groups to find the real one. Speak on the communication device if you find him." Shikamaru explained to the rest of the group.
The team split up, throwing jutsu at all the clones, dispelling them instantly, thinning them in numbers.
"I got nothing here." Shikamaru declared.
"Same here." Choji called out
"I have eyes on the accomplice. Since he is conspiring with Naruto, we must bring him in too." Neji announced
"I found Naruto, he's over here!" Sasuke shouted, brimming with excitement at the prospect to face his ex-rival.
"Ah crap Neji and Sasuke found us, you remember how to fight right Kai? Well, these two are the stronger of the bunch so get ready!" Naruto said, adrenaline rushing through his body as he assumed his fighting stance
Almost simultaneously, both Naruto and Sasuke dashed at each other, there arms colliding with each other. Naruto and Sasuke threw quick jabs at each other only for one to parry the other.
"You got faster Naruto, but it won't be enough!" Sasuke shouted as he activated his two Tomoe sharingan
With his Sharingan activated, Sasuke could track Naruto's movements with relative ease. Each punch and kick getting parried, blocked, or countered.
"Grah, that sharingan is a pain in the ass, seems I'm gonna have to use my secret strategy to beat him and get away!" Naruto thought to himself as he bit his thumb.
Meanwhile with Kai,
"You realize that you are conspiring with a criminal that is against Konoha? I'll have to take you out now! Eight trigrams: vacuum palm!
Neji's air palm shot through the air, initially catching Kai off guard, but Kai narrowly sidestepped just in time to dodge the fatal strike.
"Water style: Water Bullets!" Kai thought before shooting multiple compressed water bullets at Neji, causing Neji to dash to the right. This gave Kai the opportunity to create 9 more shadow clones, each engaging in taijutsu combat with Neji.
'What a fool, engaging in taijutsu combat with a Hyūga? He must be as hardheaded as Naruto.' Neji thought with bewilderment.
Meanwhile, one of Kai's clones launched Kai into the air, giving the real Kai time to form some hand signs.
"Water release: Water Bullet Technique! Kai shouted as he shot a multitude of water pellets. Kai was excited to seemingly catch Neji off guard. Unfortunately, Neji countered with the Hyūga's fabled palm rotation.
'Crap I need to figure out a way to get around that technique of his.' Kai thought to himself, slowly running out of ideas.
'He can't use that technique forever, which means I can fight him in a battle of attrition!' Kai resolved, finally figuring out how he could beat the young Hyūga, specifically with a technique Naruto had shown him just a day ago.
"Catch me if you can Jackass!" Kai taunted
Neji's eyebrow slightly twitched at the derogatory nickname but pursued his assailant with renewed vigor.
"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Kai shouted, creating 90 perfect copies of himself to spread out through the forest, just scratching his limit before he would start to run out of chakra. Kai led his clones into the nearby forest, which further irritated Neji.
Meanwhile with Naruto, a few minutes earlier
"Summoning jutsu!" Naruto shouted, summoning the chief toad Gamabunta. Naruto mounted on the chief toad's head and looked down at Sasuke.
'Shit!' Sasuke mentally cursed, seeing the enormous toad that he had once fought with being turned against him.
"Kid you've got a lot of explaining to do! What the hells this I hear about you deserting the village!" Gamabunta shouted at Naruto.
"It's a bit of a story chief toad, but I just couldn't stay in that village anymore. Before I made the decision to leave, someone had attacked me. After everything I did for the village, I got discarded like a piece of trash. Part of me misses my friends, but I made my decision already, and I'm not going to jail." Naruto explained in a sort of monologue type of speech.
"Hm, I'll help you this time only, but don't call on me again. Jiraiya will be very pissed about this. Got that ya brat!"
"Understood!" Naruto shouted before starting a weave of hand signs.
"Water release: Great Waterfall technique!"
"Lightning release: Electromagnetic Murder!"
The site was catastrophic as the two jutsu's collided, the destructive power ripping every tree off the ground in the area. Sasuke had no choice but to use his great fireball technique with the curse mark, to evaporate the water as quickly and efficiently as possible.
"Seems he's not going down this easy, but that's ok. Chief toad you can go, I just needed the battlefield to be wet for an advantage." Naruto said, his voice slowly turning cold as Gamabunta went back to Mt. Myaboku.
"I'll bring you back Naruto, no matter the cost, even if I have to bring you to the brink of death!" Sasuke said, determined to bring his old comrade back.
"I'd like to see you try Sasuke." Naruto shouted back.
In a split second, both rushed towards each other in the blink of an eye, with Sasuke gaining the advantage in speed due to his curse mark. Naruto was barely able to keep up, his face and torso slowly getting tattered by Sasuke's swift strikes. And then it happened.
"Shadow Possession Jutsu! Success." Shikamaru shouted with confidence behind his voice.
With Naruto paralyzed, Sasuke chopped Naruto on the neck, a brutish blow that knocked Naruto out cold.
Back with Kai
"I'm done chasing!" Neji stated as he went for a tenketsu strike, specifically straight for Kai's core, which he landed with near perfect precision.
"GAH." Kai shouted as he went tumbling from a tree midair. Kai was barely conscious as he smirked at Neji, almost laughing leaving Neji confused. In a swift motion, all the clones Kai had spread out, came into the clearing, forming a single hand sign. Realizing what was going on, Neji could only widen his eyes as the huge fluxuation of chakra literally exploded right in front of him. Everything went dark for both Neji and Kai at this point, resulting in a stalemate.
With Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Naruto in tow.
BOOOOOOOM
"What the hell was that! That chakra burst was so strong I could just feel it without even having to try sensing. Neji was over there last; don't tell me Naruto's accomplice used some destructive jutsu on Neji that could even break through the palm rotation!" Shikamaru panicked, his mind running through the worst scenarios in his head.
"Stop worrying and lets just get there already!" Sasuke growled, also visibly concerned for his teammate's health.
Naruto's mindscape
'Ugh man I got beat bad, damn Shikamaru and his shadow possession jutsu.' Naruto thought to himself as he suddenly realized where he was.
"In a pinch again, I see. I'll lend you some chakra this time." the nine tails said, looking down at Naruto from the seal.
"Heh, thanks again nine-tails." Naruto said with a half chuckle.
"Shut up and go kick that Uchiha's ass." the nine tails growled, kicking Naruto out of his mindscape.
Back in the outside world
"Naruto quickly stirred into conscious as the Nine Tails chakra spread through his entire chakra system. The vile chakra altering Naruto's appearance from his cheeks to his eyes. Naruto quickly broke free of Sasuke's hold and stared at him dead in the face.
"I'M NOT GOING ANYWHERE!" Naruto shouted as even more of the Nine Tails chakra radiated off him. A red tail sprouted behind him as he dashed towards Sasuke with a claw, scratching Sasuke near his eye.
Sasuke responded immediately by activating his curse mark. The pain inflicting a slight pinch on his skin but was subtly ignored. "Shikamaru get out of here, I can handle him, Neji needs your help. Kiba and Choji should be getting there soon, don't worry about me!" Sasuke shouted as he engaged in a taijutsu battle with Naruto.
This was a fatal mistake for Sasuke as he was quickly overpowered by Naruto in strength AND speed. A/N: Sasuke hasn't been kidnapped by the sound 5 so he cannot access the 2nd form of the curse mark. Shikamaru fled the scene, knowing he would only slow Sasuke down.
After Shikamaru left, what followed next for Sasuke was nothing short of a brutal beatdown. With the Nine Tails chakra enhancing Naruto's physique, Naruto was able to completely out speed and overpower Sasuke. A few more quick strikes and Sasuke was sent tumbling. Sasuke regained his footing only for Naruto to dash towards him again. Just before he made contact, everything seemed to slow down for Sasuke as his pinwheel eyes produced a third Tomoe.
With his Sharingan at a more advanced state, Sasuke was able to evade more of Naruto's attacks, preventing anymore strikes from colliding. All Sasuke could do was dodge and weave.
'I need to end this before I run out of chakra' Sasuke thought to himself before weaving through more hand signs.
Naruto charged right in, creating a vermillion Rasengan in his right hand, ready to beat Sasuke once in for all. Sasuke created a Chidori in his left hand and both sped off. It almost looked like a collision was going to occur until Naruto disappeared in a poof of smoke and Sasuke's Chidori faltered. The real Naruto came from behind and slammed a Kyuubi chakra powered Rasengan into Sasuke with fatal precision. All Sasuke could see was a large purple spiral before being knocked unconscious.
'That was too close, I need to find Kai and get the hell out of here before I run out of energy.' Naruto thought before dashing off towards the forest where he last found.
A/N: Another cliffhanger to finish this one. I promise I'll stop with the cliffhangers and get larger chapters.