Act II: Chapter 3

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"Well at least he's on time today."

I jabbed an elbow towards Lee's ribs as I felt Sasuke's chakra speed into the training ground. Lee smirked as he saw our newest teammate. Sasuke appeared not ten feet from us, sharingan blazing and walking with a confident gait. I tried to analyze his movements, I was looking for any obvious soreness.

There wasn't anything obvious.

"You don't look sore at all." I called out teasingly. I myself was still a bit sore on my right side. Particularly on my chest and back. It was, unsurprisingly, directly where I had been impaled. But despite the harsh training method, the rest of my body had already adapted after a good night's rest.

Sasuke smirked. "I took your advice. It was easier than I expected." He said as he shrugged his shoulders and crossed the rest of the distance.

'No way.'

I frowned in disbelief. "What?" I asked. "You figured it out already?"

Sasuke nodded, but didn't give me any more information than that. I wasn't accepting that though, I needed the details.

"Oh no, you don't get off that easy! How did you learn the Mystical Palm Technique?" I asked, holding my hand back from throttling him by the throat and demanding him to answer.

He looked at me like I was crazy. "I did as you said, dumbass. I found Sakura and asked if she could show me. Then I went home and studied human anatomy. It was easy." Sasuke answered with another shrug, before looking away from me.

His sharingan was still active, but I refused to believe that was the answer for my questions. I knew he could copy jutsu with it. But the Medical Palm Technique required near perfect chakra control. Only a handful of people are capable of it within Konoha, and all of them hold prestigious positions at the hospital.

On top of that, you couldn't just use the technique without strict knowledge of anatomy. What if you sent the chakra to the wrong place, or too much? That could have disastrous effects. But Sasuke was claiming that it was easy?!

Guy-sensei's chakra network touched my senses, and I turned in that direction.

"Sasuke is cheating with his sharingan, sensei!" I yelled childishly, while pointing at the Uchiha.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, and Guy didn't even hesitate with his answer. "You cheat with your shadow clones!" He retorted equally as childish, and pointed his own hand in my face.

I went to respond, but he beat me to it. "Now you know how I feel with Kakashi! He's the biggest cheater in the Elemental Nations!" He said as he resumed standing normally.

"No you don't get it Sensei! Sasuke learned the Mystical Palm Technique in a night!" I replied, tattle telling as bad as I ever had.

Lee snickered and covered his eyes with his hands.

"You master ninjutsu in a night, how is this any different?" Guy asked as he crossed his arms sassily.

I frowned, not sure of how to respond to that. Mine was completely different, but in the end it did have the same result didn't it. I did have to put in the work, but it was still cheating. I threw my hands in the air as if I was 2 and throwing a temper tantrum, before I fell onto my ass in the dirt.

Guy had the audacity to ignore me.

"So I assume that is why you are standing, and not crawling to the training grounds asking for a day of rest?" Guy asked our newest team member, equally as sassy as he was before.

Sasuke nodded confirmation immediately.

"Good, you'll progress rapidly." Guy complimented before turning to Lee, the odd man out when it came to cheats in this world.

"Lee, let's show them that good old fashioned hard work is better than cheating!"

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My breathing began to slow along with my heart rate.

I was sitting down, leaning on a tree with my knees up and my arms resting on them. Sasuke and Lee had their own trees that they rested against. It was the end of our training. One of my clones dispersed, and I closed my eyes knowing what was coming. Then, one by one memories began to flood my mind. Nowadays, I am focused almost solely on fuinjutsu and that brings its own headaches.

After I realized that Shikamaru was also studying fuinjutsu, I realized that I had been taking my time with the art. Granted, I was also trying to master my wind and lightning elemental chakra, along with learning ninjutsu that I needed for the field. But I had mastered channeling wind and lightning chakra. I had mastered many wind and fire ninjutsu to use in tandem with my clones. I even mastered the Rasengan, and the Big Ball Rasengan. I had the ninjutsu repertoire of a normal jonin, outside of Kakashi of course.

And it had only been months since I graduated from the academy.

I couldn't help but think it wasn't good enough. After all, Itachi was S-rank at my age. I was barely dangerous compared to that. I needed to even the playing field even more.

Fuinjutsu continued to prove that it would be my route to S-rank status. In fact, the barrier that Orochimaru used was to be a blueprint for something much grander in the future. It sparked an idea inside of me that I wanted to see come to fruition. But I was so far away from even completing the first aspect of the seal. And there were many seals that needed to be tied together to accomplish what I wanted.

Half of my clones worked on that project, the other half furthered their fuinjutsu knowledge through the second volume of Tobirama's fuinjutsu scrolls. Because it was obvious that I needed more in depth knowledge to complete my projects. Shikamaru's interest in the subject was what lit the fire underneath me. He was a genius, and I knew that he had the potential to pass me up in the subject. I refused to allow that.

Sasuke's chakra flared from his position on the tree and I looked over to him. His sharingan was blazing and he had his hands held over his legs. His hands were covered in pale green chakra and he was running them over his legs. He was concentrating so hard that I was sure I could have thrown a kunai and killed him before he could react.

Slowly, he began running his hands down his leg, before he moved to the next leg, then he moved to his abs, chest, and finally arms. I watched him the entire way and it wasn't until the end that I realized how he mastered the technique so quickly.

Yes the sharingan let him copy the jutsu, but he could also see chakra. He could see his own chakra in his body. That had to be a major advantage when trying to heal his muscles. It was like Kakashi always said about the chidori, and the raikiri. It wasn't until he had the sharingan and he could see chakra that he could master the techniques. That along with the photographic memory of the information he read the night before could lead to prodigious results.

I sighed, as I realized that Sasuke would be able to match me in physical prowess and taijutsu very soon.

'The sharingan is so broken.'

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"I hope you're in a better mood than last time." I called out to the chakra signature that had just arrived at my training ground.

The person I was talking to decided not to delay any longer, and jumped out of the tree he stood in. He landed about ten yards away from where I was standing without a shirt on and my katana in my hand.

I noticed another three chakra signatures touch my senses, behind my new arrival. One was larger than the other two, but smaller than my own chakra reserves. I ignored them as I assumed it was his team.

Kiba Inuzuka looked different than the last time I saw him. His face was hard, but his eyes were clear. He wore the same outfit that he normally did, but he had ditched the white hoodie. The only new addition was the tanto strapped to his back. The handle peaked over his right shoulder.

"I came to apologize." Kiba said. His voice was quieter than I was used to. He was normally loud and didn't care who heard him. Akamaru's death had more of a chain reaction than I realized. I was just happy he wasn't drunk.

"There is nothing to apologize for. You were grieving." I told him sincerely.

"I shouldn't have attacked you, and for that I am sorry. I only wish I would have listened to you that day." He said. His jaw clenched when he said the last sentence. The wound was still fresh for him.

"And I wished I would have gone about it a different way. I'm sorry I made you angry before your fight." I apologized. I had been meaning to seek the boy out for a while now and apologize. I just didn't know how to go about it.

"I take responsibility for my actions now. That day was my fault. You have nothing to be sorry for." Kiba retorted quickly.

I nodded to him but I didn't respond. I wasn't sure what to say. There was still an awkwardness between us. Kiba took that as his cue to leave and he turned around. He primed his chakra but before he left me with something to think about before he jumped off.

"Soon, I'll catch up to you Naruto."

'No you won't.' I couldn't help but think in my mind. He would have to train for a long time to catch up to me, and I only planned on widening the gap.

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"Team Ten, reporting for duty."

It had been a while since I stood before the mission desk. As I thought about it, it had been about 3 months. The chunin exams had taken a month, I was in the hospital for that long, and we had been training together as a team for 3 weeks.

'3 weeks of hell.'

"The Hokage left one for you Guy. It's a B-rank escort mission." The chunin at the front desk told us while he offered our sensei the scroll.

"Anyone we should know?" I asked curiously. Now that I was a chunin, I tried to speak up and talk to my fellow shinobi. I was seriously lacking in the social aspect of my life.

"You should!" He answered with a grin. "The One-tails told me this morning that he misses you. It's time for Gaara of the Sand to go home."

I frowned as I realized what the man was saying. I had so many questions and they were about to spill from my mouth. Then I felt Guy's hand on my shoulder stopping me.

"Thank you." He said as he turned around and began to leave. I followed as he wanted me to.

Eventually we found ourselves at our favorite barbeque restaurant. It wasn't until we had already eaten that Guy decided to clue us into the details of the mission.

"I imagine you are all curious as to the details of our mission." Guy began. I sat there waiting patiently for him to continue. Sasuke and Lee didn't bother hiding their interest either.

"Gaara has been in Konoha's possession since Naruto and Neji defeated him during the invasion. We allowed Sunagakure to spread the rumor that he had escaped back to the Land of Wind. As it turns out, the seal used to contain the One-tails inside of Gaara was faulty. Jiraiya fixed it before his and Neji's departure. Since then, the Yamanaka have worked extensively with Gaara to repair the psychological damage he suffered from the Bijuu. They have cleared him to return to Sunagakure." Guy told us, trying to cover everything in a single explanation.

'I don't remember that ever happening…'

I struggled to remember the actual events of the anime. Did Gaara escape after the invasion in the anime? A part of me thought that he did.

"We…" I asked as I gestured to the entire team. "..are going to escort the son of a kage, and jinchuuriki back to their home village?" I was a little surprised.

"Aren't there more qualified teams out there?" Sasuke asked, going with the same thought process that I was.

'How is this a B-rank?'

"In short? No there aren't. I told you that we were making a show of force, did I not? Most teams are outside of the village." Guy answered quickly. "Not to mention it was Naruto that neutralized him during the invasion. I, and the Hokage, have complete faith in this team."

"Shouldn't this be closer to an A-rank mission?" I asked. Gaara was an extremely dangerous opponent. If he lost control, or if it turns out that he faked out the Yamanaka, and attacked again… It could be disastrous.

"We expect very little danger. In fact, it was originally a C-rank mission. Sunagakure has been extremely willing to work with us since the invasion." Guy answered.

"Isn't that odd sensei? I would think that there would be resentment because of the failed attempt." I asked. I would have assumed they would be too proud to work with the very people they tried to destroy.

"It comes down to a couple of factors. The first and foremost is the fact that Rasa is dead. There is new leadership in place at the moment. That leadership never agreed with the attack in the first place. The other reason is the fact that Sunagakure succeeded, in part, with the invasion." Guy explained, confusing me even further.

"You're going to have to expand on that, sensei." I told him, curious as to the reasoning. Sunagakure had been swiftly and decisively defeated during the invasion.

"Well, as it turns out. Otogakure lost the most ninja out of all the parties involved. Suna suffered about the same amount of casualties as we did." Guy answered.

"But their kage was killed." Sasuke added, as if it didn't make sense to him either.

"And our kage was crippled. Either way, each village is under new leadership, and each village suffered the same blow. Suna showed that they are still a major player in the world. There are already talks of their mission count increasing since the invasion." Guy said.

I hadn't expected that to be the case at all. If anything, I would have thought that the village would suffer tremendously with mission count. We kicked their ass plain and simple. Why didn't the world see it that way?

"Our client will be delivered to us at the front gate tomorrow morning. Do I need to tell you how to pack for a mission?" Guy asked mockingly. None of us answered him.

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As soon as Gaara left whatever building we had been holding him in, his chakra appeared in the village.

"They will be here soon." I told my team. Guy and Lee were stretching, while Sasuke leaned against the wall of the village.

'The more I learn of fuinjutsu, the more I realize how often it is utilized.'

The seal work on the building was not a very complicated piece of art. In fact, Tobirama's second scroll held the fuinjutsu required to hide chakra. However, it still required a decent amount of knowledge to apply the seal. I was not considered a fuinjutsu master, but I was surely approaching journeyman with my knowledge and it would still take me a couple of hours to apply the appropriate seal to the building.

Gaara's swift arrival, along with 10 other chakra signatures that didn't bother hiding their presence next to the jinchuriki, brought me out of my thoughts. We were at the western gate and it was so early the sun had yet to rise over the horizon. No civilians were around to witness or get in the way of our mission.

They all appeared moving faster than a civilian could comprehend. Sasuke, Lee, and I tracked their movements the entire way. Guy didn't even have to try. The other 10 signatures were surrounding him, and wearing the infamous cloaks and masks of ANBU.

I couldn't help but compare my chakra reserves to the jinchuriki. He had close to ten times the amount that I had, an impressive amount. I didn't dwell on how far ahead of me he was, instead I was proud of how far I had come. My own chakra had blossomed the past few months since my graduation from the academy. I didn't quite have a Kage's level of chakra, but I was rapidly approaching it.

That was one thing that Sasuke would not be able to cheat with. I already knew that his chakra would rapidly grow also, but it wouldn't be as fast as me. His skill, work ethic, and constant use of his sharingan would see to the growth of his chakra. But without my biology, or a bijuu locked inside him, he wouldn't be able to match me.

Gaara and I locked eyes. It was hard to describe the change in his posture, but it had surely changed significantly since I had last seen him. He seemed all around more relaxed than before. His eyes weren't bloodshot from the lack of sleep. His shoulders and core weren't stiff and ready to fight, they were loose, almost uncaring.

Beyond that, the look in his eyes no longer screamed death. They were still cold, but it was more in a calculating way. He looked inquisitive. In fact, he acted as if he recognized me but didn't know who I was.

"He is yours, Guy." The lead ANBU said before body flickering away. His comrades followed him, or at least they made it seem that way. I felt at least 5 chakra signatures race outside of the village. I assumed they were meant to scout our route for enemies. Although they could just be on the way to another mission.

Guy didn't approach the jinchuriki, but he also didn't waste time. "Did they prep you for this mission?" Guy asked the boy.

Gaara nodded immediately. I frowned at the jinchuriki's entire change in demeanor and attitude. It was weird to witness to be totally honest. He had tried to kill me in the chunin exams.

"We will move in a diamond formation. Naruto, you're on point. You two flank and I'll bring up the rear." Guy commanded, with his serious-notfuckingaround voice.

My training kicked in, along with my chakra. In the next few seconds, the five of us were speeding away from the village. Despite my chakra senses, and despite the multitude of clones I had in the trees surrounding and following us, I couldn't help the feeling I had in my gut.

'Why had those ANBU raced ahead, if we weren't expecting any resistance?'

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I set the pace, and it was one that I was incapable of just two months ago when I fought in the Chunin Exams. That felt like a lifetime ago to be totally honest. When you fought Guy for an entire month, and he put your reaction time through the ringer constantly, you were bound to grow.

'Wait, what's the math on that? At least a year for sure.'

My brain halted as I realized that the training I was doing with my shadow clones had already added up to over a year. It was no wonder that I was growing so rapidly with my skill set. I hadn't really thought about it in that way. It made me feel accomplished and confident.

'Perhaps I will be ready for Madara…'

Memories of a blade touching my neck and slicing through it flooded into my brain. At the same time, I sensed the briefest spark of chakra racing towards my position. They would arrive too quickly for me to warn anyone verbally.

My feet touched a branch beneath me, and I used my chakra to glue myself there and not fall off due to my momentum. The black blade of my katana leapt into my hand.

'Clang!'

"Ambush!"

I yelled the warning out just as I blocked a swipe of a tanto from my would-be killer. They were still in mid-air when I felt another chakra signature rush me from my left. He wore the typical iwagakure uniform: red shirt, red pants, and a plain brown vest. His eyes were brown and matched his hair, but they held no life inside of them. They were dull, almost dead.

'Clang'

I didn't have to look to know that one of my clones had raced in and intercepted a ninjato meant to pierce my ribs and into my heart. I had no time to focus on that opponent beyond the necessary, however.

My left hand grabbed the ankle of my attacker's right foot, intercepting a kick aimed at my temple. I held onto the foot and tilted my sword before swinging it down. The hum of wind chakra touched my ears as I channeled wind nature down my katana. My attacker, to his credit, tried to stab me again, before my katana connected, but another of my clones had arrived, and blocked the swipe of the tanto with an exact clone of my katana.

The leg that I was holding onto with my left hand, separated from the main body of my attacker. My katana cut through it like a hot knife did butter.

I lashed out with a kick to the Iwagakure shinobi's chest that threw him away from me, destined to bleed out on the forest floor within the next minute. It was just in time too, because my second attacker had just dealt with my clone, courtesy of a fist to the kidney. I turned to him, and ignored the memories that invaded my psyche.

I formed a single hand sign with my left hand, and inhaled a deep breath.

A genjutsu layered over my chakra, and the man disappeared from my sight, only to appear to my right.

However, my chakra senses told me that he was to my left. I trusted my gut, and exhaled the grand fireball. The flames left my mouth were almost white due to the dense chakra I had layered it with. It morphed a normal c-rank technique and increased the temperature, along with the speed with which it moved at, to make it closer to an a-rank ninjutsu.

As my chakra flared, it dispelled the genjutsu I was put under and showed me that I had been correct to trust my senses. I did not connect with my target. He replaced himself with a log from the forest floor.

I picked him up immediately with my senses, due to his spiking chakra. I leapt after the man.

Dense chakra filled the air around me. Gaara had become involved in the fight, and it took me a moment to confirm that he wasn't attacking my teammates, or myself. That moment allowed my newest opponent to gather his bearings.

We were on the forest floor now, and apparently the shinobi in front of me didn't mind that. He raced through hand seals at an agonizingly slow pace. A clone appeared next to me to my right, and had a swirling blue orb of chakra held in his right hand before the shinobi even finished his hand seals.

The clone crossed the distance just as I felt the man's chakra go into the earth beneath him. I leapt to a tree, and stuck to it horizontally, in preparation for the ninjutsu.

My clone was two feet from shoving a rasengan in the man's chest, when a spike of earth shot out of the ground and into his torso. He dispelled immediately, but before he did, he destabilized the rasengan in his hand. I smirked as the chakra exploded outwards and hit my opponent.

It threw the man a couple of feet into the air and I leapt after him. The man showcased his skill, however, and deflected the katana in my hands with his tanto. With a twitch of his wrist, I was forced to seal the katana back into the metal on my wrist or risk losing a couple of my fingers.

My hands leapt out. My right hand grabbed the wrist holding his tanto and my left snapped his head back as it impacted his nose. My right hand twisted his wrist and I sent a head kick at the same time. He was already dazed when my kick landed on his temple, and the lights went out for him.

I reached into my kunai pouch and quickly grabbed a piece of paper intended for Gaara. I slapped the seal on the man's forehead and immediately he lost access to his chakra.

I turned around and looked at where my teammates should be. I only found Lee and Gaara. Two bodies of our enemies hung inside a floating prison of sand, already dead. Gaara allowed his sand to release them, and they fell to the forest floor not twenty feet from me.

Lee leapt from tree to tree, avoiding swipes of a sword from a single opponent. They engaged in an exchange and I immediately realized why Lee hadn't finished his opponent. Lee's kick went wide, and the Iwagakure shinobi's sword cut his hamstring in retaliation.

My eyes widened and an invisible hand gripped my heart.

Lee kicked off of that tree with one leg to gain more ground. He couldn't figure out why his attacks were missing. He was in a genjutsu, his greatest weakness. Although he was too skilled for his opponent to land a significant blow.

Lee was heading straight towards me, and I knew he wouldn't be able to land properly with his new injury. Not only that, but his opponent pursued to press his advantage, just like he should. I jumped but I knew that I would be too late to stop the overhand swing from the man's sword. Lee's eyes were glazing over as well, he wouldn't be able to avoid the cut.

A wave of sand sped through the air, and engulfed the Iwagakure shinobi before the man could swing his sword.

I impacted Lee and wrapped myself around him. He fought me for a moment and struggled to get out of my grip. Once we hit the ground, and I pulsed my chakra through his system, he snapped out of the trance that he was in. I wasted no time in shoving him to his back on the forest floor.

"Don't move!" I yelled at Lee, so that he understood the severity of the situation. He obeyed.

"Ahh!"

'Crunch'

I ignored Gaara mercilessly crushing the shinobi to death in the air behind me. I even ignored the body that dropped onto the ground. I was too busy taking stock of Lee's injuries. They were much worse than they had seemed. I began to render basic field aid to Lee and his numerous cuts and holes. Three on the torso, five on his arms, and the slice that had completely separated his hamstring.

He was losing a lot of blood.

Guy's chakra flared to life on the outskirts of my senses, and soon he was standing near me while I worked. Sasuke took a little longer to appear and approach.

"Shit!"

I was so focused with the tourniquet on his leg that I didn't look up to my kneeling sensei. Nor did I comment on his foul language like normal.

"Sasuke!" I called out.

"I'm here." He said as he stood next to us.

"Can you handle these cuts?" I asked, gesturing to the damage across Lee's body. Particularly the largest, on his left side, just below his ribs. Thankfully, it hadn't hit any major organs.

"Are they bad?" Lee asked as he sat his head up. Panic leaked into his voice.

"No." I told him quickly. "But we need to stop the bleeding!"

"I can try." Sasuke said as he too kneeled beside our comrade. Guy finished his tourniquet on Lee's left arm just as Sasuke's hands were surrounded in green chakra. Sasuke's eyes blazed red, and his focus immediately sharpened on Lee's side. I watched through Lee's cut up green uniform as his side slowly began to knit itself back together.

After a couple of minutes, Sasuke at least had the wounds closed to a scab. It was the first time he had ever healed anything other than sore muscles. I eventually stood, with Lee's blood covering my hands, sleeves, and thighs because of my positioning on the ground.

My hands were shaking a bit, as I recovered from the panic of seeing Lee in that condition.

"I can't do anything about his hamstring. I'm not that skilled yet. He needs to get back to the village." Sasuke muttered between labored breaths. He was almost out of chakra from the battle and then healing Lee. His reserves were his biggest weakness at the moment. Although they were rapidly growing.

Sasuke's left hand leapt up to his neck, where I knew his curse mark sat behind his collared shirt. With his low chakra at the moment, it must be harder to keep the chakra at bay. I knew it must be telling him to draw on it for the power boost.

"I agree." I said as I turned to the shinobi still laying on the forest floor with a chakra suppressing seal on his forehead. I steeled my gaze, and my anger at the situation bled into my veins.

"But first we need answers."

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A/N: Boom.

I wanted to keep going, but the chapter would have been too long then.

We skipped a lot of their training, but we do get to see Sasuke excelling rapidly with the team. We also get to see their first mission, and that is to escort Gaara back to Suna. Obviously he is completely different now that he has had his seal fixed and been with the Yamanaka for a couple months.

He also saved Lee's life at the end. Why would Iwagakure ambush them? How did they get there, with the high activity of the Konoha shinobi around the Land of Fire?

Also, what do you guys think they should do with an injured teammate? Continue the mission, or return to the village?

Let's talk about it.