Chapter 49

Naruto had flashed right near the foot of Hashirama, ready to put his plan into action. While not one of his best ones, it would get the job done.

Simply put, he was going to hit Sasuke with every ounce of strength he had.

As soon as he got the memories of Sasuke getting caught in the water explosion, he put the next part of his plan into action. He had noticed during their fight that both he and Sasuke had moved quite far from the statues, far enough that they were nearer to the other end of the valley than the statues, almost seven-hundred meters away. He sent four clones to Sasuke's location to engage him and distract him while he started running.

He put everything in his sprint, every ounce of speed that he could muster, and enhancing it with chakra. By the time Sasuke and the clones came into his vision, Naruto was sure that he was running fast enough to give a freight train a run for its money. His target was the Hiraishin kunai right in front of him that was rapidly closing in.

Just as Sasuke had dispelled two of the clones, all the while being on the receiving end of punches and kicks, he saw Naruto speeding no towards them, but his track was such that he would run right past them. The guy was not even looking towards him. But before he could move in his direction, one of the clones engaged him, greatly increasing his annoyance.

The other clone saw the original running and caught his eye, receiving a nod in return. He knew just what he needed to do. He jumped right into the fight along with the remaining clone and was immediately on defensive, but his job wasn't to attack. He only had a five-second window to execute the plan. Just as Sasuke dispatched the other clone, the remaining one tilted his body to the side to avoid the kick that would have dispelled him as well. His right palm came to rest on Sasuke's back, and then he pushed.

Naruto grinned when he saw Sasuke appear just five meters before him. The clone had done his job perfectly, teleporting Sasuke into the path of the speeding projectile that was himself. His right fist came up, glowing with the color of his chakra, further enhancing the force behind the would be blow, and the plan was well worth executing, because the look of complete shock on Sasuke's face was absolutely worth it.

Sasuke was confused just what Naruto was doing running on the banks while his clones fought him. Knowing that this was part of some plan, he knew he had to get rid of the clones, or just get out of the way and dispel them from afar. But his confusion only grew when the clone behind him did not attack, but just place a palm on his back. It all became clear the instant he appeared right in Naruto's path, and saw the glowing fist. Knowing he couldn't get out of the way in time, he had barely crossed his arms in defense when he felt the fist crashing into his already abused arms.

Sasuke definitely felt something crack, and tear in both of his forearms. The speed with which Naruto had been running only added to the force behind the punch, and Sasuke was thrown back as if he had taken a punch from Orochimaru back in the forest, only the force had been multiplied some four or five times.

He smashed through a rock as if it were cardboard, crashed into the ground and kept skidding, and smashed through another rock, before coming to rest. All of his pain receptors were screaming, and he could only wonder why he wasn't. His back felt like it had been torn into two, repaired and then torn again. Yet, his resolve did not break.

'That…..son of a…BITCH! THAT HURTS! WHERE THE HELL DID HE BRING THAT PUNCH FROM?! WHY CAN'T I BEAT HIM?! He is always a step ahead of me, and either I fail to realize it, or I realize it and still can't do anything about it! I am in no condition to move, I only have a third of my chakra reserves left, my body feels like it has literally been torn apart! He even hasn't used the Kyuubi's power yet, but I am almost torn apart even after using the curse mark's power!'

The image of his brother drifted in his mind, his words echoing like a bell. "Still as weak as always, foolish little brother…"

Sasuke's wrist were cracked, if not outright broken. But in spite of the enormous amount of pain he was in, his hands closed into fists. The power of the curse mark flowed into him once more, this time, unrestricted. Sasuke drew every drop of power he could from the mark.

He would be the winner of this fight, not Naruto. The power, as if agreeing with him, mixed with him, merged with him. Then he stood up, marveling his form that pulsed with undeniable power.

Naruto was breathing heavily as he walked to where Sasuke had stopped after crashing. Sprinting for a long distance such as he did took a lot of breath out of him, but the result was worth it. The power behind the punch, combined with his speed, was probably enough to shatter a small part of the Hokages' heads on the mountain into pieces, he doubted Sasuke's hands were intact. He stopped before the prone form of his former comrade, looking at it with a small amount of pity. His fatigue had finally started to make itself known.

"It's over, Sasuke. I win," he whispered.

Then the unthinkable happened. It should have been impossible, no one should have been able to get up after a punch such as that. The curse marks on Sasuke's body glowed orange, and then they shifted so that they covered every inch of skin on Sasuke's body like armor. Naruto heard the gruesome cracks, no doubt the repair work on the bones. The skin stopped glowing, and Naruto shifted in a loose stance upon seeing it take on a grey color. Sasuke's hair grew, taking on a blue color and shifting into a form of a mane, much like Madara's.

Then, Sasuke got up.

Clearly, this was the change in the curse mark that had taken place inside the coffin. Sasuke stared at Naruto, an expressionless face, but the smugness was radiating off of him. Naruto couldn't quite hide the shock on his face, and his expression changed into a morbid curiosity as he heard the unmistakable voices of muscles being torn apart, or in this case, rearranged.

There was no expression of pain on Sasuke's face, but Naruto couldn't quite hide his horror when a giant, clawed, webbed, grey hand tore out of the left side of Sasuke's back. Another one followed, this time on the right side of Sasuke's back, and both the arms spread, almost taking on the shape of wings.

Only when thought went through Naruto's head. 'What the fuck is that?!'

'What the fuck is that?!'

Kurama and he had spoken on the same time, both of their tones echoing with disgust and disbelief. It was utterly disgusting and fascinating at the same time. Sasuke spoke lower than a whisper, but Naruto managed to hear him.

"My turn."

Then, he moved.

Naruto had flashed as soon as Sasuke spoke, to the farthest kunai he could. He watched, and moved just at the right moment to avoid Sasuke who crashed where he was but a moment ago. He didn't have a moment of reprieve when Sasuke flew towards him, and punched him with such force that he was thrown back into the wall of the valley, cracks spreading out from the point of impact. Naruto groaned as he dropped to his knees. The force behind the punch was enough to drop a tree. The only reason he wasn't puking was because he hadn't ate anything, and that his body was significantly hardened from the use of resistance seals.

He had barely gotten up when Sasuke was right back in his face. This time, he flashed away on pure reflex. His expression hardened, and he flashed away yet again when Sasuke converged on him. Sasuke chuckled, "Looks like the tables have turned, Naruto."

He then dug his foot where he was, and flexed his newly acquired arms/wings. Naruto chose not to flash away this time, dodging the attack with a simple flip. He then locked into an arm struggle with Sasuke, with both their arms locked. Sasuke was surprised for a moment, but then smirked.

Naruto's arms shook as he struggled to overpower Sasuke. The latter pushed him back without any appearance of struggle. Finally, Naruto allowed his rage to show.

'YOU WANT TO DO IT THIS WAY?! FINE THEN!'

Sasuke maintained his smirk when he saw Naruto clearly struggling. He could maintain this power for ten minutes at most, but it should be enough to beat Naruto into the ground. He forced Naruto back, but widened when he saw something that he had never seen on the blonde's face.

Rage.

Sure he had seen Naruto angry before, but nothing like this. Currently, Naruto looked like he was the type of guy who handled all of his problem by blowing them into oblivion. Then he felt it.

Naruto's entire frame was then covered into an unfamiliar, orange glow. It was clearly chakra, and it took Sasuke only a second to place the familiar feeling of malice.

Bijuu chakra.

Naruto squeezed his hands, and it was Sasuke's turn to grimace in pain and struggle. His hands were being squeezed and bent backwards painfully, and something sharp was digging into the back of his hands, through his newly hardened skin.

Nails.

Sasuke was desperately trying to free his hands from Naruto's painful grip and completely failing, when he was pulled forward. For the first time, he glanced at Naruto's eyes and gave a horrified expression.

Naruto's irises were completely red, with a black split in the middle. They were the eyes of the Kyuubi, Sasuke realized.

"You're a real pest!"

The growl frightened him more than he wanted to admit. Naruto's voice had gone a full octave deeper, and when he spoke, it was hard to say who was speaking, Naruto or the Kyuubi.

Naruto broke the grip on Sasuke's right hand and punched Sasuke right on the side of his face. With Kyuubi's chakra coursing through him, his strength had been enhanced so much that Sasuke was sent crashing into the wall of the valley so hard that cracks spread from the point where he impacted, roughly in the shape of spider's web.

Sasuke shook his head. That strike had hurt more than he expected, but not enough to cause anything more than some minor pain. A roar caused him to look up, and his jaw dropped when a full pillar of orange chakra shot up from Naruto into the sky, and cracks appeared on the ground due the sheer density and the force of the chakra. When the pillar subsided, Sasuke observed the changes in Naruto.

His hair had gotten wilder, with more spikes standing up. His eyes were red, and the whisker marks, which Naruto didn't have since the chunin exams were back, only much more thicker. Sasuke was willing to bet that Naruto's canines had sharpened as well, even if his lips were closed. He was surrounded by an orange cloak of chakra, which clung to him like a second skin. His aura and posture screamed of power, and for the first time in the fight, Sasuke felt a little scared.

'If the fool is so hell bent on trying to show off his power-' Kurama said.

'-It's only fair that we show him some of ours,' Naruto agreed.

Naruto allowed a full tail's worth of chakra to flow in him. He was willing to bet that Kurama's one tail contained more power that what Sasuke had right now. Sasuke cautiously took a step forward, "Naruto?"

He never saw the blow coming.

The beating that followed for the next five minutes was the worst that Sasuke had ever gone through. Naruto was relentless, not giving even one opening, and rained blow after blow on Sasuke. Sasuke tried to use his form's speed to get some breath, but Naruto quickly proved to be much, much faster than him in his own form. Either he was caught by pure speed, or he just happened to be unlucky enough to be near one of Naruto's Hiraishin kunai. Naruto was literally a blur, and even Sasuke's sharingan was unable to catch or predict his movements, because they were very fast, and very erratic, not to mention very painful.

By the end of five minutes, Sasuke knew that he had no chance of winning this fight through power. Naruto had proved that he was way ahead in that regard. Skill was out as well, as Naruto's arsenal was bigger than his own. He had less than a fourth of his chakra left, after which his current form would be gone.

His only option left was deceit. And he knew just what to do.

Naruto was enjoying pummeling Sasuke with his strength. It served the bastard right. He did not hold back at all, because he wanted Sasuke to know that he was the one with more power among them. He could hold this form for over forty minutes, which meant forty minutes of pure beating. But he was willing to give the guy a last chance to surrender. He walked down on the wall towards him slowly, like a predator stalking a prey.

"Ready to give up yet?"

Sasuke, who was bleeding from small cuts, had various bruises forming all over his body, snarled and sprang upward with the intention of snapping the blonde's throat for good. But Naruto simply flashed to a kunai fifty meters behind Sasuke, in a crouched position, sideways on the wall of the alley.

'I can't go on for much longer. This form won't last beyond two more minutes, and even that's pushing it. I've used up nearly all my chakra, dammit!'

He turned around and spoke slowly, in a drawl, hiding the pain from his voice. "Let's end this, Naruto. One finishing move. The one who remains standing wins."

Naruto also stood up, spinning a Hiraishin kunai in his left index finger as if he was bored with all the fighting. He rose an eyebrow at the suggestion. "Indeed, let's end this useless fight, so I can finally drag you back to Konoha."

The growl was as menacing as ever, but Sasuke didn't let that deter him. He smirked. "That's yet to be decided."

He charged up a chidori in his left hand, but this time the chakra changed from pure crackling white to a sort of grey with a white center. Naruto narrowed his eyes, and a rasengan came into existence on his right hand. The rasengan was bigger than his palm, and the most curious thing that Naruto found about it was its color. It was a purple, which was rather puzzling since neither his nor Kurama's chakra was purple in color. Perhaps a mix of them?

They stared at each other, and both took off at the same time. Naruto ran sideways along the wall of the valley, while Sasuke used his wings/arms to fly equally sideways. They were five meters from each other when Naruto threw the kunai in his left hand towards Sasuke's head, who just tilted it aside to let it pass by harmlessly. Time slowed down when they were right in front of each other.

Sasuke thrust his arm forward, making it seem like it was going to collide with the rasengan, which was still on level with Naruto's shoulder. He changed the course of his arm, so that the chidori would not collide with the rasengan, but drive itself straight through Naruto's heart.

This was his moment of victory. His arm inched forward towards Naruto's chest, but Naruto still kept eye contact with Sasuke, who was grinning sadistically. The chidori would strike Naruto's chest before the rasengan could meet it. The rasengan would still collide on his arm, but that was way better than having it on the chest.

'Victory is mine!'

Just as the chidori was about to make contact, it happened.

Naruto vanished.

Sasuke's eyes showed great shock as his chidori passed through nothing but air. He was only able to express it for a moment, when an enormous force slammed in the middle of his back, driving him so that he sunk into the rock wall. He gave a grunt of pain, and then he realized what had happened.

'Shit! He teleported to the kunai he threw?!'

As if sensing Sasuke's thoughts, Naruto said, "That was my Flying Thunder God: Level 2!"

He then fully slammed the rasengan on top of him. The impact and the power behind the rasengan was so great that an entire part of the valley's wall collapsed. The wall cracked and shattered into smaller rocks that came down like rain.

Naruto had snatched the victory from Sasuke by a landslide, quite literally.

Naruto had flashed away as soon as the rocks had started raining. He watched with no small amount of pride that it was due to his power the wall had shattered.

'Don't forget it was my power that you wielded, brat.'

Naruto grinned ferally, 'You know what they say: A weapon is only as good as its wielder.'

The destruction was truly magnificent, if he had to admit. He flash stepped to one of the bigger rocks, his senses finding Sasuke buried between some of them. He stood with a straight back and watched as some of the rocks shifted, revealing Sasuke who was struggling to stand up. His back was surprisingly devoid of any heavy bruises; it seemed that the second skin offered some level of enhanced durability held out against the rasengan. It still had bruises all over though, with a small marking on the middle of his back. He closed the reservoir inside, allowing his own chakra to flow through him once again.

His knees were wobbling as he heaved deep breaths. It hurt so bad that Sasuke was barely holding out from crying. The force of that rasengan was such that if not for his second form, Sasuke was sure that the rasengan would have likely killed him by destroying his spine. It was a painful realization that Naruto had, after all, not held back against him.

He lifted his head, and he was so exhausted that he could not even bring himself to be jealous, angry, irritated or frustrated at the sight. Naruto was standing on a rock calmly, without any semblance of exhaustion on him. Wind was gently blowing around them, blowing Naruto's bangs to the side. Just for a second, Sasuke thought that Naruto looked exactly like his father.

The he vanished again.

He appeared right in front of Sasuke, slamming a palm right into his stomach. Sasuke's knees buckled, and he finally lost consciousness as he fell against Naruto.

Naruto held Sasuke and gently laid him down on the ground. "That paralysis seal should keep you from running until we reach Konoha."

He was about to sit down to rest for five minutes himself when the distinct sound of footsteps reached his ears. It was faint, but he glanced upwards and was rather surprised to see Kabuto's face peering down at the valley, coming to rest on him. Looked like he was here to collect Sasuke from him.

Ha.

Naruto grinned and held up a Hiraishin kunai towards Kabuto, to see if that would scare him or not. Even his right hand came up as if he were about to form a rasengan.

The resident, politely sarcastic look was promptly wiped from his face, replaced by a small amount of fear. He turned and walked away, no doubt to report to his master.

Naruto put the kunai back in his pouch and sat down in front of Sasuke's for some rest. The fight had been exhilarating, easily the best and the most enjoyable fight he had ever been in, and he did not regret the hurt he bestowed upon Sasuke at all. In fact, in his opinion, the Uchiha could use some humbling, that the world did not revolve for him.

There was a sound of thunder, and Naruto looked up with a smile as rain gently poured over both of them. It worked like magic, for Naruto's muscles seemingly relaxed on their own. It wiped the dirt from his body and face and the best thing was, that it felt like a reward to him. All the hard work he put in this mission, and this was the reward. The thought of his team flashed into his mind and a frown of concern crossed over his features. He could only hope that reinforcements from Suna had reached his team in time.

So lost he was in his thoughts that his head jerked up from its resting position on his hands when he heard the voice. "Naruto?"

He smiled tiredly, "You sure took your time, Kakashi."

For once, Kakashi did not have a lame excuse. In fact, he did not have any excuse at all.

His luck had been the worst for the last two days. The first thing he heard after returning from an A-rank mission was: "Sasuke has left the village to join Orochimaru. Naruto and Shik-"

The second he heard "Naruto" he had ran out. He had always known that it would always come down to Naruto and Sasuke. He was puzzled as to how it happened. For the past few days, Sasuke had seemed content with his place in the village, and had developed bonds with his peers. So what the hell happened.

He had chased relentlessly after his two students in a very unfair time frame, hoping to stop it before it was too late.

Flashback

"Kakashi!" Kakashi looked down at Pakkun, who ran at his side. "It's up ahead- I can smell the small amounts of blood. I also smell snakes, but not Orochimaru. The other guy…."

A small relief went through him at the mention that blood was only spilled in small amounts. Then his eye narrowed. "Kabuto," he murmured. Was Kabuto sent in case Naruto defeated Sasuke?

"He is going away!"

Kakashi doubled his pace and reached at the valley, looking down at a site that nearly dropped him in relief and filled him up with dread.

Sasuke was laid on the ground on his back, eyes closed. He looked peaceful, too peaceful actually. Then there was Naruto, who was sitting with his head resting on his hands.

He dropped down and tentatively approached them, and only then he saw the seal on Sasuke's stomach. He relaxed a bit, knowing Naruto had put a seal on Sasuke to prevent him from escaping. He winced though, upon seeing the amount of abuse Sasuke's body had taken, no doubt by the hands of Naruto.

"Naruto?"

Flashback end

He gestured to Sasuke. "Is he…..?"

Naruto nodded, "Unconscious, and will stay that way for quite a while."

Kakashi gave a nod of understanding and looked around. The damage was enough to be visible. An entire section of the wall of the valley had been shattered to pieces. "I really thought you would have less trouble bringing him in, considering your knowledge of seals and Hiraishin."

Naruto gave a snort and nodded. "I would have, but this was more than a mission for me. Both of us wanted to see where we stood in regard to each other."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, but remained silent. It was no secret to him that despite of being his superior, in terms of rank and power, Naruto shared a rivalry with Sasuke. It was mostly on Sasuke's part, but if there was one person in Konoha that Naruto wouldn't refuse to fight with all his power, it was Sasuke. The bond they shared was…strange and rather un-understandable.

"And what have you found out?"

A small smile appeared on Naruto's face, as if being reminded of a joke. "He still has a few ways to go."

Kakashi could not help the snort that escaped him. "I can see that." Looking around, he found one thing out of place. "Where's Kabuto?"

"Oh, he did come here to collect Sasuke, but I scared him away."

The statement sounded completely absurd. The right hand man of Orochimaru, scared away?

"Apparently, he still remembers the rasengan I drove into his gut."

….That sounded believable. Anyone would keep their distance to avoid a repetition of that.

Naruto frowned. "What happened to my team?"

Kakashi shook his head. "I don't know. I really just came to….." stop the both of you from killing each other.

Naruto nodded in understanding and stood up in a smooth movement. "I hope you don't mind carrying him, Kakashi. I am a bit tired, and in need of attention from my wife."

Kakashi did not mind at all. In fact, he was ready to carry Naruto as well, should the blonde drop in exhaustion. But Naruto looked like he had barely been in a scuffle, unlike Sasuke. The guy could imitate a dead guy right now.

Naruto flashed to all of his markers, collecting his kunai. He really should figure out a better way to do this, rather than flashing to everywhere. Unnecessary waste of chakra. Maybe he could summon them? A summoning contract for the Flying Thunder God? He filed that thought away for later.

He came back to Kakashi and turned to him. "Let's go."