Chapter 20: The Battle at Sea Part I

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Chapter 20:

The Battle at Sea Part I

Sasuke leaned against the rail of the ship that he was currently aboard on. The moon was shining high above the night sky, illuminating the dark waters around him. A day had already passed since he had split up from Jiraiya. The pervert hadn't wasted anytime in telling him what he had discovered during his own little adventure in Kiri. After that, he had took off towards the mainland again, one of his toad summons already on its way to try and intercept Uzu's fleet as soon as possible. Before they had separated, however, Jiraiya had allowed for Sasuke to assess the chakra of one of the three Kiri shinobi whom he had captured so that Sasuke could take on his form, which was exactly what the Uchiha had done in order to safely board one of the ships in Kiri's fleet. After that, nothing much had happened except for Sasuke doing many random jobs around the ship that his so called superior assigned him. As much as he had hated to do them, it was necessary in order to keep up appearances.

He was off duty at the moment, though, something which he was grateful for. But finding himself with nothing to take his mind off of things, Sasuke was quick to recall his confrontation with Madara. Needless to say, he was still angry with himself for having had let Madara get away like that. But mostly, he was still recalling the Uchiha's words.

Sasuke sighed as he looked up at the shining moon, wondering just when exactly he would be able to get some peace and quiet. It wasn't the first time that Sasuke had thought of such a thing. Problems just kept popping up everywhere. The young Uchiha knew that it would be easier to just say fuck it to it all and let the Elemental Nations run its course. But in doing so, Sasuke also knew that he would regret it for the rest of his life. No matter how frustrated he got, he knew that he could never walk away from all of this. It was impossible for him. He was too invested. That didn't stop him from thinking that maybe he was making a mistake in how he was going on about doing things, though. Madara was right: this world was rotten. Even if they had beaten the powerful Uchiha in the future and even if Naruto had been able to stop Sasuke's own plans, would peace actually come? Would the nations actually agree to come together? And even if they did, what about the smaller ones? They were also a part of this world. It was just that they were overlooked most of the time since, in the eyes of the rest of the world, they weren't in the same field as the five great nations. It wasn't a fair way of thinking. But it was a thought that had prevailed all through the current ninja system.

Sasuke shook his head, trying to clear his head from all the jumbling thoughts. Just why the hell was he thinking about all of this again? He had already agreed to do things this way, not the way that he had first thought of...right?

"The fact that you possess such eyes is proof enough that you and I are more alike than anyone else, boy. You're no doubt searching for something, just like I am. You've seen the darkness of this world, walked through it, and have tried to understand it."

Those words kept repeating themselves over and over again in Sasuke's head. Was Madara right? There was no doubt in Sasuke's mind that if Madara's plan did succeed, then there would really be peace in the world. But was that peace real? No, it couldn't be. Madara had said so himself: he was aiming to create a dream world. That sort of peace was nothing more than an illusion. But if he really believed all of that, then why the hell was even pondering about such things?

Sasuke sighed again. 'Just how can you stay so true to your beliefs, Naruto?' the Uchiha wondered to himself, actually finding himself envying the idiotic blond. The blond hadn't changed in the slightest since they were kids. Even now, Sasuke was certain that wherever the idiot was, he was still fighting for the peace that he so believed was attainable without a shred of doubt. It was admirable. Sasuke had always found himself at odds with his own goals, always rethinking what he was going to do. Even now, even when he had sworn that he wouldn't do so again. He brought his left hand up to his eyes. At the moment, they were the hands of someone else. But in reality, Sasuke could feel his real hand wrapped tightly under the white bandages. That was it, wasn't it? His hand, what it contained, it was proof that he was no longer the same. He had believed in the words that he had uttered when he had spoken with Hamura. So why the hell was he being an idiot now and questioning himself? That would only lead to defeat and nothing more.

Sasuke's troubling thoughts left him. The Uchiha decided to stop over thinking things. While he still wasn't sure who was ultimately right or wrong, one thing he was certain of was the fact that this ambush was most definitely wrong. And he would stop it and bring about the end of this silly war. That was all that he needed to worry about right now. After that, he could be as philosophical as he wanted.

With that in mind, Sasuke turned back towards his quarters, deciding to turn it in for the night. He had no other duties to worry about until morning. Not only that, but Sasuke was certain of the fact that tomorrow was going to be a busy day. After all, it was more than likely that the two fleets would intercept one another then.

He needed to be ready for when that happened.

'Heh, the idiot's gonna owe me one after all of this is over,' Sasuke thought with a small smirk before a yawn escaped him. It was time to get some rest.

The moon kept illuminating the dark sky.

In the middle of the sea that separated the mainland from the Land of Water stood none other than the grand fleet of Uzu. It had well over fifteen ships in total, all of which were packed with shinobi, mainly chunnin and jonin. The main ship of the fleet stood right smack in the center. This was also where central command was for the moment, which meant that Uzumaki Arashi was currently residing within said ship. The fleet was on standby for the night. Not because night had fallen. Oh no. The fleet had been on the move for a day and a half already with this being its first actual break. The Uzumaki clan used its almost endless stamina to its maximum use. Some might say it was reckless considering just what laid before them. But it was a calculated strategy: none of the shinobi were actually truly tired. While they wouldn't mind sleeping, it wasn't like they were about to drop dead either. It was one of their main goals: attack quickly and effectively. The sooner they got to Kumo, the less time the village would have to prepare itself against their strike in the event that they were spotted before they reached the village.

But all of that had been put on hold when Jiraiya had arrived on the scene a few minutes earlier. Imagined the shock on Arashi's face when what looked like a simple toad hopped up straight into his line of sight from his position on the bridge and spat out none other than Jiraiya himself. Needless to say, out of all of the things that the man had expected to see, this was not it. Things had progressed quickly after that. The white haired jonin had demanded to have a talk with Arashi and for the fleet to stop while this was going on. Seeing the seriousness on the man's face which was rarely there, Arashi had quickly obliged.

So, this was the scene that was currently in place. Arashi had taken Jiraiya to one of the many rooms in the ship, one of the few that was vacated, though. There was nothing but a simple table and a few chairs in it. Basically, it was Arashi's conference room. The man wasn't one for a luxurious spectacle, so he hadn't bothered to decorate it more. And what would be the point? In times of battle, such things were the last thing to worry about that. At any rate, Jiraiya was sitting down in one of the chairs on one side of the table with Arashi on the other. Kaito sat next to his father. The young jonin had quickly asked to be part of the meeting when he had seen what Jiraiya had asked. Arashi hadn't bothered to try and deter his son, seeing the urgency is Jiraiya's current mood. And finally, leaning against the wall next to the door of the room, was Kenji, his arms crossed in front of him. Two of the Uzumaki were wearing the standard Uzu uniform, Arashi being the one that was wearing his battle gear completed with navy blue armor pads rather than the red ones that Hashirama and Madara had worn during their lifetime.

"This is the second time in a week that I've been surprised, Jiraiya," Arashi said with a sigh. "Honestly, I'm getting too old for his crap."

Jiraiya chuckled for a moment, realizing that the old Uzumaki leader was referring to the whole ordeal that Sasuke had done during the man's stay in Konoha. Sarutobi had already informed Jiraiya how he had shown the Uzumaki clan head the corpse of the dead Root Anbu that Sasuke had brought along with confirming everything that Sasuke had told the man. Even Arashi wasn't able to turn a blind eye to such things.

Kaito glanced at his father, trying to understand what he had just said. Second time? Had he missed something or what?

"So?" Arashi said with another sigh. "What exactly are you doing here? Risking that we might get found out if I may add."

"It's too late for that," Jiraiya said with a shake of his head. "Your whole operation has already reached the ears of both Kumo and Kiri."

"What did you say!?" Kenji exclaimed with wide eyes. It was a reaction mirrored by both father and son. "How could that have happened!?"

Jiraiya sighed himself as he scratch the back of his head. "I'm sure you can figure out just who's the one behind the information leakage."

Arashi ran a hand through his hair, his eyes taking a dangerous look to them. "Jiraiya, Sarutobi has already told me that he doesn't have any evidence to make a move on that man. But at this rate, we'll be the ones that will have to take care of him. I don't care what Sarutobi has to say about it. All of this is getting out of hand. My people are being threatened here. If he's not-"

"You can stop right there," Jiraiya cut in while raising his hand. "We don't disagree with you. Sarutobi-sensei has had enough of Danzo's actions himself. However, this is a delicate matter. As of right now, that bastard can simply talk himself out of whatever we accuse him of. Not only that, but it'll make things worse by letting him know that we're on to his little schemes. We will bring him down. Rest assure of that. After all, it's not like you're completely alone in dealing with him. There's a particular person out there who wants to bring him down just as much as you do. Even more so if I would have to guess."

Both Arashi's and Kenji's eyes lit up at that, knowing just who Jiraiya was referring to.

"Just what is he talking about, father?" Kaito asked with a raised eyebrow. "It seems like you've been keeping some things from me."

Arashi sighed. "Yes, I have. But this is an urgent matter, Kaito. I don't want this information leaking out. Honestly, Kenji only knows of this simply because he was there at the time."

Kenji didn't reply, already knowing that his best friend had a point. If he was in Arashi's position, he would do the same thing. There was just no way that they could risk Danzo finding out that they knew what he was up to in regards to their homeland. And the larger the number of people who knew about this, the larger the chances of Danzo finding out.

Kaito simply sighed, letting the matter drop. He could see his father's point as well. He didn't like it, but he did understand. "And? What exactly are you telling us to do now exactly?"

"To keep going with the plan." Jiraiya wasn't surprised when he saw the skeptic looks thrown at him. They were no doubt expecting for Jiraiya to have told them to retreat.

"You have a plan for this, don't you?" Arashi asked, stroking his beard. It was the only way he could see the man before him suggesting that they do something so reckless.

Jiraiya chuckled uneasily. "Well, I guess you could call it a plan….."

"What the hell does that even mean?" Kenji said with a bewildered look.

Jiraiya sighed before glancing at Kaito. "Is it okay if he's here to listen to this?"

"He's not going to leave even if I tell him to, so it doesn't really matter," Arashi replied with a small shake of his head.

Kaito shot his father a small grin. "You do know me so well, old man." That caused Kenji to chuckle and Arashi to sigh. The youngest Uzumaki in the room then turned his attention back to Jiraiya, a serious look befalling his face. "Just say everything that you have to. I'll make sense of it on my own until father fills me in later."

Jiraiya nodded. "All right. First thing you should know is that this was in fact discovered by your Uchiha pal." Which wasn't a complete lie since Sasuke had in fact discovered the fact that there was an ambush happening. Now, as to how the brat had done such a thing, Jiraiya wasn't sure yet. But it was something that he was going to find out later when this whole mess was resolved.

Kaito's eyes widened partially for a moment at that while Arashi sighed. "Just why is he doing this, Jiraiya? No matter what I do, I just can't find out what his motives are for trying to aid us like this."

'I'd be surprised if you did,' Jiraiya thought before saying, "That doesn't really matter right now, does it? All that you have to know is that he is trying to help you. The fact that I'm here right now is proof enough."

That may be true, but Arashi still couldn't get past the irony of it all. An Uchiha of all people trying to save the Uzumaki clan who were in fact relatives to the Senju who were the Uchiha's bitter enemies…ah, karma did have such a way of biting others in the ass. While it was true that the Uzumaki clan had served as mediators of sorts between the Senju and the Uchiha in the past, it was still farfetched for such a thing to be happening right now. At any rate, Arashi had no reason to suspect that what Jiraiya was telling him was a trap or something of the sort. For the moment, he would believe what he had to tell them. It wasn't like being prepared for an attack was a bad thing either.

"Then where is the Uchiha right now?" Kenji asked.

"He's within Kiri's fleet," Jiraiya answered honestly. "From what he told me, he was going to infiltrate it and lie in wait until we clash with them. Then, he would rendezvous with us."

"And what?" Kenji said, pressing on. "Does he really think that adding one person to the equation will fix anything? Specially since Kumo is apparently joining the mix too."

Arashi nodded his head in agreement, acknowledging that Kenji had a point.

Jiraiya shook his head in amusement. "Under normal circumstances, that would be true. But he's…special."

"Meaning what?"

"You'll have to see it for yourself tomorrow," Jiraiya replied. "I'm not one to divulge the information of a comrade just like that. He'll show you what he can do. I guarantee you that the fleet will be standing the day after tomorrow. After we crush Kiri's fleet, we'll march onto Kumo itself."

"You'll be joining us then?" Arashi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't see why not," Jiraiya answered with a shrug. "Konoha is still at war with Kumo, after all. There's nothing wrong with having a Konoha shinobi present at the battle with you."

That was true, something which Jiraiya was extremely grateful for. If there was one thing that Jiraiya hated the most was politics. As far as Jiraiya could see it, it was the one thing that stood between him and doing whatever the hell he wanted when he wanted to stand up against an injustice. It got on the jonin's nerves sometimes.

Arashi continued to stroke his beard, a calculating look on his face. What Jiraiya had told him had interested him quite a bit. Just what was the Uchiha capable of…it had to be something remarkable if Jiraiya could think that just adding him to their ranks would guarantee them a certain victory over a combined force of Kumo and Kiri. Some part of him couldn't wait to see it while another didn't want to take that risk. He was the commander here, after all. The lives of every single man and woman aboard the ships that composed the fleet were in his hands. They weren't something he could gamble with on a whim. It didn't work like that.

Jiraiya could see the hesitation present on Arashi's face, not exactly blaming the older man for being hesitant. Jiraiya could see why he would be. But the self proclaimed pervert also knew just what Sasuke wanted to accomplish with this. And he needed to hold up his part of the plan.

"We should do it."

All three men turned their eyes to Kaito who had been the one to speak. The young jonin had a hand under his chin as he looked down at the floor beneath him.

"And what makes you say that?" Arashi asked, quite curious to know as to why his son would think like that. If anything, Arashi had been expecting him to say no to what Jiraiya was telling them to do.

"From what I've heard, it seems like this Uchiha has helped us out at least once already right?" Kaito said, getting a nod from his father. Continuing, he said, "Well, from that it seems like he really is trying to help us. And honestly, I can't see what he would be trying to gain from telling us this if he wasn't. While I agree that it does sound unlikely that his presence alone will shift the battle to our favor, Jiraiya-san is not one to make such comments without knowing that they are true."

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow at that. So, the son of the clan head had him pegged down quite well it would seem.

Turning to look at his father, Kaito added, "We were prepared for a fight since the beginning. Adding Kiri to the mix shouldn't change anything, father. Or do you really think that we're that weak?"

Kenji chuckled from his spot. "You seem a lot bolder tonight, Kaito. Any particular reason as to why?"

Shrugging, he said, "There's no real reason. It's only that we can't shy away from this fight simply because there's a possibly we might lose. This is no longer an ambush. If it were, then I would be saying the exact opposite. And it seems to me like Jiraiya-san and this mystery Uchiha do have something to gain from this, something which I don't think will harm us in any way. That's all."

Arashi looked at his son for a few moments longer before smiling. "Well, it seems like you're really doing your best at making sure I retire as early as possible, aren't you?"

Kaito sighed at that. "If only. We both know you're too stubborn to go out like that."

"I concur," Kenji said with a grin, making Arashi sigh.

"Well, you heard him, Jiraiya. It looks like we're in your hands now."

Jiraiya smiled at hearing this despite the fact that he knew otherwise.

'As much as I hate to admit it, we're in the brat's hands now. Well, it's not like I'm not looking forward to seeing what he can do firsthand.'

That was going to be a sight to behold all right.

Sasuke walked calmly to his destination. It was morning already, around seven if the Uchiha had to guess. He hadn't been able to get that much sleep the night before, his anxiety making him unable to go into blissful unconsciousness. But he still felt as energized as ever. It was why he had deemed it necessary to get out of bed, not that he was going to be sleeping anyway. His shift out on the deck didn't start until eight too. That did give him some leeway to do what he was planning on doing.

The disguised Uchiha bid some passing Kiri shinobi good morning which was returned. He was walking on some of the lower levels of the ship, not letting his stolen face betray anything. He didn't want to attract any attention to himself. Stashed away in his pockets were a dozen or so explosive tags that he had "borrowed" from the armory in the ship. It hadn't been that hard to do. It seemed as if the Kiri shinobi on board weren't that concerned of having a traitor within their ranks. How odd. Sasuke was sure Madara would have warned his men that he would try something. The older Uchiha was too smart to not foresee such a thing. Unless he had something else up his sleeve. In which case, what would that be? The problem was that, no matter how hard he thought about it, Sasuke couldn't come up with an answer to Madara's actions. It was why he decided to not dwell on it at the moment. After he put a stop to all of this, he would start to worry about what he would do with the information he now had.

Sasuke let those thoughts leave him for now as he approached his target: the engine room. There were two chunnin standing by the door that led into the room. They looked at one another when they saw him approaching, no doubt confused as to just what he was doing here. Not feeling like coming up with some story, Sasuke merely activated his sharingan without a word, the two chunnin falling to the ground a moment later as a result of being caught in his genjutsu. He would have to make this fast all right.

Walking into the room, Sasuke's eyes widened in wonder for a second as he stared at the sophisticated machine in front of him. It was the first time he had seen such a thing. It was one of the reasons Kiri was a world power all right despite the nation it was in being the smallest of all the five. At any rate, he couldn't stand here in wonder all day. Sasuke brought the explosive tags out, placing them all along the walls of the room. It would be a nice surprise soon all right. The only problem was that he couldn't do this for all of the ships in the fleet. Oh well. He still had another method to take out of the ships, not as clean as this. But beggars couldn't be choosers.

Heading towards the door, Sasuke stopped for a moment to look back at the room, making sure he had set things properly. His hand transformed into a fist at his side. In just a couple of hours, it would be show time.

And the whole world was his audience.

"Sir! The enemy fleet is within sight!"

The bridge was buzzing with activity, shinobi from Kiri running all around the room as they rechecked all their stations to make sure everything was still going according to plan.

The shinobi in charge of the ship and by default the entire fleet as well turned to look at the man under his command who had just uttered some very important words.

Turning his head to look at the direction the Kiri shinobi had pointed at, the veteran jonin squinted his eyes for a moment, making out the figures of the ships that composed Uzu's fleet in the distance. So it was finally time then? Admittedly the fleet was a bit earlier than they had calculated, but by a mere hour or so. Not that it mattered. He, along with every other Kiri shinobi on his ship and the rest of the fleet, was itching to get this started.

"What are your orders, sir?"

"Tell all ships to move into position right now!" the jonin stated without missing a beat. "We cannot afford to let them escape here. Not with all these preparations."

"Do you think Kumo will be ready?" asked another jonin who was standing beside him. From the looks of it, he was more than likely the second-in-command of the ship. "Even if it's just an hour, they are still early."

"They better be, or else we'll be the ones to take all the fun," he replied with a small shrug. It didn't matter to him one way or another whether Kumo was ready or not. As far as he was concerned, his men were more than enough to take care of the Uzumaki attack force. Despite his confidence, however, he knew just how critical it would be if both of their forces attacked simultaneously from the water and land. The Uzumakis would be sitting ducks. Either way, he wasn't going to stall any longer. A surprise hit was what he was aiming for here.

"Sir, we just received a report from our scouts!"

The Kiri captain acknowledged the chunnin that had just ran into the room. He had already dispatched a team to go on ahead and check on Kumo's progress the day before. "What do they have to say?"

"It seems like the Raikage and his forces are prepared as well, sir."

The captain smirked slightly at that. Leave it up to that man to always be ready. That had been his mistake, he supposed. He should have known that the Raikage's pride would have never allowed for his forces to be unprepared for this attack. The smirk vanished, however, as the chunnin carried on with his report.

"It also seems like the Raikage is injured at the moment, sir."

The captain raised an eyebrow at that. "What do you mean injured? The battle hasn't even started yet!" Not to mention that the whole point of this was to not allow for the Uzumakis to reach the mainland, so there wouldn't be a direct battle between Uzu and Kumo. And even if there were, the jonin doubted the Raikage would even get hurt unless it was done by the clan head. So just-

"It's unclear, sir," the chunnin responded with an uncertain voice. "Our scouts didn't include in their report just how he was hurt, so it's probable that they're not aware of the cause yet."

The captain of the fleet ran a hand through his hair, releasing a breath in exasperation. Some part of him was telling him that he should start to reconsider things for a worst case scenario. But his eager side won out in the end. Shrugging the information off, he said, "Well, whatever. Whatever caused the Raikage to be injured isn't really any of our concern. But we'll at least have some valuable information to bring back with us just in case."

The jonin smirked again at the thought. Now that would be ideal. He wouldn't mind bringing Kumo down a peg after all of this was over. One step at a time he reminded himself. He still needed to bask in the glorification of what was going to happen here today. He could think about Kumo after all of this was concluded.

The jonin's glorious thoughts of success died the moment a giant explosion overtook his ship.

"Well, well. It seems like the brat even started us out with a bang."

Arashi had to chuckle in agreement as he stood next to Jiraiya in the brig of his own ship. "It would appear so," he agreed as he, along with Jiraiya and the rest of his fleet, watched the giant explosion in the distance. "I guess that's also our cue to start this battle."

Jiraiya nodded in agreement before he started to make his way out into the deck where the shinobi who were on board the ship had gathered.

Arashi looked at the explosion one more time, another wave of irony hitting him. It seemed as if this time period was just full of surprises. At the very least the surprises weren't exactly bad ones.

Sasuke made his way out into the deck as more debris that had once been part of the ship began to fall around him. He didn't bat an eye as he spotted many dead Kiri shinobi along the way, knowing full well that deaths were unavoidable today.

As he walked out onto the deck, Sasuke dropped the genjutsu around him, changing it to that of his "Itachi" form instead. The young Uchiha was able to see how the rest of the ships in the fleet were scrambling to understand just what had happened as well as to figure out just what they were going to do now that their commander was dead, just like Sasuke had hoped. It was a basic rule of warfare, after all. Cut off the head, and the rest will fall.

This was proven true as none of the remaining ships were longer prepared as Uzu's fleet came raining on top of them, the shinobi jumping onto the enemy ships which contained the now confused foe. Smirking behind his mask, Sasuke brought his sword forward as he jumped off the sinking ship that he had been in and onto the water where many shinobi were already fighting with dead bodies piling up each second.

Sasuke quickly cut through a pair of Kiri shinobi before rushing to join next to Jiraiya who was already in the middle of engaging his own set of enemy shinobi.

"It looks like you pulled through after all, brat," Jiraiya said as he and Sasuke stood back to back, a kunai in the white haired jonin's hand.

"Did you have any doubts?" was Sasuke's response before the two were forced to duck as more Kiri shinobi began to make their way towards them to attack them. It seemed as if the remaining forces were now trying to push their way towards the command ship of the Uzumaki fleet in hopes of at least bringing down the clan head.

But Sasuke wasn't worried about the man for a second since it seemed as if Jiraiya wasn't all that concerned about this notion. Turning his attention back to the enemies around him, Sasuke sheathed his sword, raising his left hand as it was surrounded by lightning. Seeing this, the group of Kiri shinobi took several steps back, preparing to jump upward as they already knew what was going to happen. But not giving them that chance, Sasuke brought his hand down, the lightning current running through the water and to the Kiri shinobi which effectively brought them down and out of the fight. Unsheathing his sword again, Sasuke hmph'ed as he turned back towards where Jiraiya was fighting, his sword engulfing in lightning.

So far, everything was going well.

"Arashi, we're about to have a problem here!"

Arashi turned towards Kenji after having kicked another Kiri shinobi off of his ship and back into the water. Just what was his long time friend talking about now? This whole situation was a problem to begin with.

Nonetheless, he asked, "What is it?"

Standing by the other side of the now cleared deck, Kenji pointed to the shore that was supposed to have been their original landing. Arashi's eyes soon picked out just what the problem Kenji was referring to. There were artillery guns stationed all over the beachhead, all of which were aimed towards them. Arashi growled at seeing this. This was not what he had been expecting when Jiraiya had told him that Kumo was in on this little assault. They weren't close enough to engage and destroy those guns.

Turning towards Kenji again, Arashi screamed, "Get our men back into the ships! NOW!"

Sasuke should have known that things were going too good for them. Especially since in the midst of the battle he had completely forgotten about another important detail: Kumo. At first, Sasuke had only expected for Kumo to join in with the fleet, not to be all the way on land. No one on board had ever mentioned that little detail.

The disguised Uchiha turned towards the shore just as all around him the Uzumakis retreated back to their ships, just as the Kiri ninjas did the same. They were smart enough to know what was coming and didn't want to be caught in the crossfire.

Scowling behind his mask, Sasuke made his way to the main ship of the Uzu fleet, Jiraiya following right behind him. Landing on the deck, Sasuke spotted Arashi's familiar form. Said Uzumaki also caught sight of him the minute he landed on the ship.

"It seems like this is the second time so far that you've come to our aid," Arashi said with a small smile despite the dire situation. Kenji, who stood next to him, simply crossed his arms in front of him.

Sasuke didn't reply for a moment as he and Jiraiya made their way towards them just as another Uzumaki, far younger than both men, came to stand next to them as well. Sasuke didn't recognize him, so he immediately pushed him out of his mind.

"And this won't be the last, trust me," Sasuke said after a moment as he and Jiraiya stopped in front of them. "Before that, though, we have to deal with Kumo now." Looking around, Sasuke added, "I don't think retreating back to the fleet is going to really save your men from those guns."

"Don't underestimate us," the Uzumaki whom Sasuke didn't recognize said in response. "All of the ships in our fleet are protected by a shield similar to that of the one we have in place around Uzu. Each one of the hulls is carrying a series of seals generating it. It'll be enough to stop those guns from hitting us. It's why we retreated for the moment."

'Fuinjutsu is powerful,' Sasuke thought, silently praising Naruto's clan. They really were a force to be reckoned with.

"That still doesn't solve our other problem, though," Jiraiya said as he motioned towards the Kiri fleet. "The bastards are going to reorganize themselves soon enough and be back."

"We'll handle them," Kenji stated with conviction.

"I don't doubt that you can win if it does come to that," Sasuke began with a small shake of his head, "but I have an alternative solution. One which involves you not taking anymore casualties than you already have."

Arashi raised an eyebrow at that. "And what exactly would that be?"

"I'll take care of the whole fleet with a single hit," was Sasuke's answer as he made his way to the end of the ship.

"Father, are you sure we can trust him?" Kaito asked with a doubt filled voice as he watched Sasuke walk off. Despite what he had said the day before, he didn't trust the Uchiha. After all, this was the first time that he had met him.

"You already know what he's done for us so far," Arashi answered. "I see no reason to doubt him now."

But Kaito still wasn't convinced. What this mysterious Uchiha was proposing was preposterous. Take down the whole fleet in a single move? It couldn't be done! Were all Uchiha this arrogant?

Arashi gazed at the masked Uchiha's back for a moment, once more wondering just why he was doing all of this for them. He didn't seem to be gaining anything from this. So what was it? No matter how much he didn't like to think along these lines, Arashi found it extremely difficult to believe that the Uchiha was doing all of this because of the goodness in his heart. Kenji for his part didn't comment, merely opting to watch the proceedings in silence. He knew just how serious the situation was.

Jiraiya simply looked on as well, already knowing by this point that when Sasuke put his mind on something, it would get done. The boy possessed the power to back up whatever he said, after all. Not only that, but he also remembered the young Uchiha's words before they parted in Kiri.

"Because this gives me the perfect opportunity to tell all the other nations to stay away from Uzu."

The white haired jonin already knew that the method of delivery was going to be one hell of sight.

Off in the distance, the guns placed on the shore by Kumo began to fire just as Sasuke jumped back down onto the water.

Sasuke's head was filled with a million thoughts as he touched down on the water, the ships behind him starting to get bombarded from the artillery fire. He didn't need to turn around to know that the young Uzumaki had been correct: the guns couldn't penetrate the shield. At least, that gave him one less thing to worry about as he began to walk towards Kiri's fleet, some of the shinobi already looking his way in confusion.

Was he going to do the right thing here today? Or was he simply going to be an idiot and let his enemies know more about him? Sasuke t'ched, knowing the he was already an idiot for trying to rethink about what he was going to do. He had already made up his mind. This would also tell Madara one other thing: he wasn't a brat he could just toy around with.

The confusion among the Kiri shinobi soon died off, replaced by haughtiness at thinking that Sasuke was an idiot for walking towards them all by himself, especially since Kumo had begun to fire their guns. He would more than likely get his by one of the shots before he could set one foot on any of their ships.

This haughtiness didn't last for very long, however, as Sasuke brought his hands together. Unbeknownst to anyone, Sasuke's right eye changed into the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan while his left morphed into something else entirely. This was a power that Sasuke had felt ever since his talk with Hamura. It was a power that he hadn't touched until this day. It was a power that he was going to use to let everyone know that things were going to change.

Everyone, Uzu and Kiri shinobi alike, watched in both shock and amazement as Sasuke's Susanoo morphed into life, quickly taking on a form that it hadn't so far until this day. It soon began to tower over all of them, reaching high into the sky. Its armor began to change, resembling more to that of a samurai. An energy sword also manifested at its side. The shots fired from the guns on the shore were soon blocked by the Susanoo merely because of its sheer size, not even flinching as it withstood the bombardment.

Sasuke focused all of his attention on the fleet before him, his Susanoo raising its sword upward. Everyone held their breath, wondering just what they were going to see.

'This is my new power…my perfect Susanoo!'

The Susanoo swung its sword.