Chapter Fifty-One: Lost Ambitions

(Meanwhile In The Valley Of The End)

The fight between Sai and Sasuke was fierce and brutal. Neither of the two combatants was willing to let up and the cursed seal on Sasuke's neck was able to give the Uchiha an edge for some of the time. Despite this, Sasuke was surprised at Sai's abilities and skills as a ninja. Throughout the fight, Sai was not only able to hold his grounds against Sasuke, but on several occasions he was able to give the Uchiha quite a thrashing, and his Chōjū Gigas (Super Beasts Imitation Pictures) only added to Sasuke's troubles.

Sasuke, using the second level of his Sharingan and a few katon jutsus, was eventually able to dispel Sai's Chōjū Gigas. Currently, Sasuke and Sai were standing on top of water logs in the ever running river at opposite ends of each other.

"You're better than I expected Sai," Sasuke noted, "But I won't succumb to the dead last like you."

Sai gave the Uchiha no remark while holding his scroll and paint brush in his hands. Giving Sasuke a fake smile, Sai remarked, "It's clear to me Naruto-kun has a big dick in contrast with you dick-less. Because unlike you, he had the balls to own up to his responsibilities to Konoha and accept disciplinary training through effort and hard work rather than running away looking for short cuts to acquire power like how you're trying to do."

Sasuke snarled venomously at Sai before engaging the painting-type ninja. The two teens battled each other on top of the raging river waters in hard taijutsu combat. Jumping off of the water, Sasuke ran speedily up the side of the ravine and did a set of hand seals before turning to look at Sai who was down below running up the wall after him.

"Katon: Gōkakyū No Jutsu," Sasuke said as he blew a large fireball into Sai's direction as it burned and grazed the side of the ravine. Acting fast, Sai painted a falcon and then made a hand sign.

"Ninpō: Chōjū Giga," Sai said, bringing his artwork to life. The falcon flew quickly from out of Sai's painting scroll before Sai jumped onto it's back. He safely avoided the fireball that plunged into the river, creating an explosion and a smoke screen as a result of the flames canceling out in the water.

"Where did he go," Sasuke asked aloud to no one in particular. Sasuke suddenly felt something grab and lift him into the air from the ravine. He looked up to see Sai on top of his animated falcon painting. The falcon flew at a fast speed before throwing Sasuke into the wall of the ravine. The Uchiha, after a hard impact, started plummeting to the water. Before reaching the water however, the falcon came and collided into him in a brute body crash. Sasuke flew into the wall again before hitting the ground by the flowing river as collateral damage.

Sai jumped off his falcon as it dissolved into ink and splashed onto the ground. He walked over to the fallen Genin who was currently trying to pull himself together. While making his way to Sasuke, Sai said, "Regardless of Sakura-san's senseless infatuation with you and desire to have you back with that promise she wanted me to make and keep to her, I have my orders, which is of higher priority."

Sasuke scowled at Sai who gave him a cold facial expression in return.

"You have one of two choices," Sai continued, "You can either do this the easy way which entails surrendering and being brought back to Konoha in one piece or you can do this the hard way which entails losing and being brought back to Konoha in pieces. I don't care either way."

Who the hell is this guy, Sasuke thought angry, He doesn't fight like a Genin!

Sasuke gradually stood back up and faced Sai defiantly.

"I choose none of the above," Sasuke retorted, "I refuse to be returned to a village where I'm underappreciated and looked at as Naruto's nameless second."

"If your performance moments ago marks you as Naruto-kun's nameless second," Sai remarked, "Then I would look at Naruto-kun as being incredibly weak. It's little wonder why you'd carefully labeled yourself as his nameless second under such circumstances because it would hurt the Uchiha's pride to know how low they've fallen."

Sasuke was seething at Sai's logic and sarcasm, "You know and understand nothing about me Sai!"

"…," Sai's expression was blank.

"You know nothing of what my life is and was like," Sasuke yelled, "You don't know what it's like to come from a prestigious family and clan that was betrayed and slaughtered by your own older brother that you once looked up to! You can never understand what it's like to lose a father, mother and the rest of your family all in one night! You, who never had a family at all!"

Sai continued looking at Sasuke with the same expression.

"Konoha knew of my circumstances and everything that's happened, and yet what did the people of that village do," Sasuke continued, "Nothing! They did nothing to give me the kind of power and ability I need as an avenger to go after Itachi!

"No! They spent and invested their time and resources giving that kind of power to Naruto, the spoiled son of Yondaime and Godaime Hokage. They gave him everything; power, respect, prestige as a clan leader and member of the village council. Even while as an Elite Genin, Kakashi and all of the other Jounins and his own sensei took orders from him without question and the rest of us Genins were forced to obey his every word."

"After eye-witnessing Naruto-kun punch a huge crater into the arena floor before performing the Hiraishin and slaughtering all of those Suna and Oto Jounins instantaneously during the invasion," Sai pointed out, "They weren't stupid enough to start questioning the orders he later gave them and the rest of us like you did. Plus, he made it clear that he was the one who explained the invasion plan to the Hokages after he learned about it from Gaara. He knew more about the operation of the invasion in much more details than any of us did so it only made sense that he was the one in charge. He wasn't the same Naruto-kun you went to the academy with."

"That's just it," Sasuke added, "I trained and pushed myself as hard as I could through all these years I've been in that worthless village to become stronger and nothing has changed. My fight and defeat at Itachi's hands is proof of that, yet Naruto was able to battle and beat Itachi in one fight before becoming an Elite Genin. He was even given the ability to use and create S-class ninjutsus and kinjutsus while as an Elite Genin.

"Konoha spent so much time catering to the last Namikaze while allowing the name of the Uchiha clan to be overshadowed and forgotten. I will not stay in a village that will see to me remaining weak and undervalued while keeping me trapped in Naruto's shadow."

"Honestly," Sai remarked, "I have no idea what Sakura-san sees in you, an envious craven little coward who's always blaming everything on Konoha and Naruto-kun. You're no different from how Neji once was. The only difference is that he was willing to change his future and stop using fate and everyone else as scapegoats for his problems. Neji didn't try to run away from his problems and instead he grew up and learned to face and deal with them as a true ninja, something you should be doing."

"Don't put me in the same boat as the Hyuugas," Sasuke spat, "They could never measure up to the level of status and strength the Uchihas possessed."

"And if that's true then why are you the only Uchiha left, besides Itachi," Sai asked, "Your clan's arrogance and corrupted ambitions to be better and stronger than everyone else in Konoha only brought about its own self-destruction, and it'll also bring about your own undoing. The Namikaze clan's close extinction was the result of outside enemy forces that hated them for their abilities though that clan never sought to prove that they were or be better than everyone else. That is why that clan still exists and possess the status they held before."

Sasuke growled under his breath, "Say what you want Sai, but I'll do what I must to achieve my goals. I'll attain power through whatever method it takes and neither you nor anyone else will stand in my way."

"Have you learned nothing through all that happened to you and your clan and all that I told you," Sai asked with an unsurprised expression. There was a brief moment of silence between the two Genins. Sasuke soon remembered the words Itachi told him several years ago before his departure that night after slaughtering the Uchiha clan:

"You can also activate your Mangekyō Sharingan as I did. But there is one condition. You must kill your closest friend."

After thinking about all that happened so far, Sasuke at that moment started chuckling with a perplexed Sai staring at him.

"What's so funny," Sai inquired. A moment later, Sasuke explained, "It's interesting that you present yourself to everyone as a cynical, crude-mouthed Genin with no regard to the opinions or feelings of others, Sakura's especially."

Sai stayed quiet as Sasuke continued, "Yet, despite your character and how you have everyone regard you, you actually went through the trouble of keeping Sakura's promise in getting me to return back to Konoha. You even gone as far as a ceasefire to make a verbal attempt to convince me to return back with you peacefully. You talked and reasoned with me as a good friend and teammate with some concern about Sakura's silly feelings for me. I highly doubt the other Genins would have bothered to do what you did. You might not say it Sai but you are a good friend to both Sakura and myself."

Sai's eyes narrowed as he saw the third tomoe appear in Sasuke's eyes.

"That's why I have to kill you," Sasuke asserted. Sai gave no emotion reaction to Sasuke's statement, "What will my suppose death accomplish besides removing me as your obstacle and making you a wanted criminal for turning traitor and murdering a Konoha ninja?"

"I can tell you but you wouldn't understand my reasons," Sasuke replied, "All you have to know is that I will not allow the Uchiha name to stay in the Namikaze clan's shadow or in anyone else's."

"You're so obsessed with Naruto-kun and Itachi that you're willing to go as far as to betray your own people and comrades for power," Sai said, "You're a very sad kid Sasuke with lost ambitions."

"Hn," Sasuke snorted as he got ready to fight again. Seeing this, Sai readied himself for another fight.

"You may have caught my off guard those couple of times earlier," Sasuke said, "But there's more to my power than you know."

At that, he charged and engaged Sai in taijutsu combat again. Sasuke resorted to using the third level of his Sharingan to anticipate and counter Sai's attacks. The raven-haired Uchiha was able to predict a number of Sai's attacks but because of his lack of experience at fully understanding the powers of the Sharingan, Sasuke's abilities weren't as efficient and effective as Itachi's.

"I know some things about the Sharingan," Sai said as he blocked an attack from Sasuke, "It's not all that cracked up to be and using it as heavily as you are now will only prove to be a crutch to you in end."

"Shut up," Sasuke retorted before back swinging his feet at Sai's legs, only to see the pale-skinned teen back flip a couple of times away from him. The Uchiha charged in pursuit of him as he took out a large shuriken from his weapon arsenal and prepared to use it. Seeing the threat, Sai pulled out his kodachi and parried the large shuriken. The two boys pressed their weapons against each other in the struggle for dominance.

"You're no match for me Sai," Sasuke said as he pushed his large shuriken against Sai's kodachi, "You don't have a chance against the power of my eyes!"

"Even with your Sharingan," Sai remarked, "You couldn't foresee that you'd have no balls."

Growling from the insult, Sasuke jumped backwards and threw the shuriken at Sai. Sai leaned backwards as the shuriken flew over him. As the shuriken came flying back at Sai, Sai reached into his pouch and threw three kunais with exploding notes attached to them onto the spinning shuriken. The shuriken blew to pieces and fell harmlessly into the water. Holding onto his kodachi, Sai rushed at Sasuke and the Uchiha, pulling out his kunai, in turn, ran over to Sai. The two met up and resumed their taijutsu battle.

Sasuke threw kicks and punches at Sai while Sai for his part was using his speed and foresight to evade and block the attacks. It wasn't long before they hit a stalemate. As it stood, punches met punches and kicks met kicks that weren't deflected by the opponent's attacks, and kunai met kodachi.

The Uchiha grew frustrated that he couldn't easily take Sai out as fast as he'd have liked to. Finding an opening after the prolonged stalemate, Sai gripped his kodachi and spun around as he bent down and slashed at Sasuke. The Uchiha however, saw this and flipped backwards only to see another Sai appeared and slash him across the abdomen with his kodachi. Cringing from the sharp pain that came from the attack, Sasuke, losing his balance fell to the waters.

Sai was about to stomp down on Sasuke's form, but before he could, Sasuke rolled across the water as he pulled away. Standing back up, he held onto his now bleeding abdomen while his soaked shirt and white pants were stained with his blood. Sai gave no facial expression as he looked at his opponent with emotionless eyes.

"I warned you before," Sai said, "I have no intentions of bringing you back in one piece if you refuse to surrender…teammates or not."

Sai speedily dashed out of Sasuke's sight. Before Sasuke could react, he felt a cold razor-sharp blade slash down his back. The raven-haired Genin screamed out from the shear pain of the assault as he reached for his now bleeding back. Sai, focusing chakra into his right foot, swung kick Sasuke to the back where the wound was, adding to the injury he already inflicted as Sasuke was launched forward from him. The Uchiha skidded across the surface of the water before being met up with second sumi bushin (ink clone).

The sumi bushin closed-lined Sasuke to the face, causing the boy to flip backwards before hitting the water again face down. Sasuke was lying on top of the water motionlessly as the sumi bushin stood over him. Leaning down, the sumi bushin grabbed Sasuke by the hair, pulling his head back to see Sasuke looking at him with one eye closed.

"You're weak," the sumi bushin remarked, "And as mentioned earlier, using the Sharingan as heavily as you were would only prove to be a crutch to you in the end."

The sumi bushin brought its right kneecap into Sasuke's face, breaking Sasuke's nose on contact as blood spilled from out of the nose. The clone dropped Sasuke's head to the water with the Uchiha appearing to lose consciousness. Sai walked over to the second clone as the first one followed behind him. All three of them stood over Sasuke's form with his face in the water.

"You lack true power," Sai stated, "You never had it since the beginning of this fight."

At that point, Sasuke felt the influence of the cursed seal growing stronger as its power spread through his body. Sai then sensed a dark power growing within the downed Genin.

"I'll show you true power," Sasuke said as his cursed seal spread more, turning his skin ash-grey. His hair became spiked and lengthened to the middle of his back. A black mark resembling a shuriken appeared on his now healed nose and between his eyes. Speaking of eyes, his turned black although the Sharingan was still there. Sasuke rose from the water, where about Sai and his two sumi bushins waited, having felt the change in Sasuke's chakra. When Sasuke stood on top of the water again, he suddenly cringed in pain and a hand-like wing burst from his back. Sai and his clones jumped away and stood a few feet away from Sasuke while keeping a cautious position. Soon another wing burst out of Sasuke's back, giving him awkward-looking appearance.

"Behold my power," Sasuke declared, "With this, I can finish you, and most importantly outclass Naruto and kill Itachi."

Sai and his sumi bushins slid into their ready stance, their kodachis in hand. Sasuke flew forward after them as Sai and his clones rushed forward to meet up with the transformed Sasuke…

(Meanwhile Several Miles Away)

Kakashi, Pakkun, Haku and a couple of Chuunins with them were hurrying over to where Shikamaru and the others were. Because of the missions Konoha have been getting, many of the Jounins and other Chuunins were unavailable in going after Sasuke after his desertion, which was why Shikamaru and Temari were selected along with five Genins to go after him. Kakashi, upon his return, went in pursuit of them with Haku and the other Chuunins with him. If they met up with any of their comrades who were injured in anyway, Haku's medic skills were definitely going to be needed.

They ran into Genma and his partner on the way. Haku treated Genma's and his partner's injuries before the both of them started on they way back to Konoha with Kakashi and the others continuing on their way to catch up with Shikamaru and his team. Kakashi could only hope that things didn't get out of hand for Shikamaru and the others to handle on their own.

(Back In Nami No Kuni)

Deep inside the temple, Naruto was still traveling deeper into the mountain, with barely any light to see with. The heat from within the mountain was taking a toll on Naruto who found himself sweating and fanning himself to keep cool.

"Where the hell am I," Naruto said lowly to himself before passing his left hand across the wall of the tunnel he was walking through. Feeling the awkward feeling on his fingers, Naruto pulled his hand away and examined the substance on his hand. He brought it closer to his face to examine its smell.

"Magnesium," Naruto realized. Now remembering about the small flashlight in his vest pocket and feeling stupid for totally forgetting about it, he took it out and turned it on. Looking around with it, he saw large deposits of magnesium all around the tunnel walls and floor. He knew that with magnesium all around him he couldn't use fire of any sort. He continued his trek through the tunnel with the flashlight lighting up his path.

After a good amount of walking, Naruto found an opening at the end of the tunnel.

"Finally," Naruto said as he walked faster to reach the end of the tunnel. When he got there however, he walked into a large cave and looked around for any other exits and found none.

"Terrific," Naruto remarked cynically as he continued his investigation. He soon walked further into the cave and found a large opening in the ground. He walked over to it and looked into the opening to find that it was a deep pit into the ground. Casting the light of his flashlight into the pit, Naruto took a guess in measuring its depths.

"Give or take," Naruto said, "I say about ninety feet deep."

Moving away from the pit, Naruto started contemplating on everything that happened between him, Soujiro, Inari and Tsunami thus far. Sitting down the ground up against the wall, Naruto decided to think things out more carefully. He knew that his time was short and that it wouldn't be long until Soujiro found him.

Soujiro came up with an interesting method of using Inari and Tsunami against me, Naruto contemplated as he replayed the battle scenes, Regardless of the damages I inflicted on them, Tsunami and Inari just kept coming at me. And Soujiro said that he integrated the both of them into special bodies and that taking them out wouldn't be as easy as cake.

When I injected my medic-based ckakra into Inari, I found that my theory was correct: the more time and chakra spent fighting them, the stronger and faster Soujiro became. That being the case, Inari and Tsunami are keys to Soujiro's defeat.

After thinking over the situation further, Naruto saw that decisive action with his new thought out plan was in order. Reaching into the left pocket of his Jounin vest, Naruto opened and pulled out the two medic vials he's been working for a while.

"Well," Naruto said, "Now is as good of time to use them."

After taking out a needle from the same pocket, he inserted the needle into the cap of the first vial, carefully filling the needle with the liquid contents. He repeated this with the second vial as he watched the liquid contents mixed in together, changing from light blue and yellow to an aqua green color. When that part of the task was done, Naruto placed the empty vials back into his pocket. He then sprayed a few small drops out of the needle to make sure the needle was ready. Taking a breath, he inserted the needle carefully into his right leg and injected the contents into his body until the needle was empty of it.

The effect was almost instantaneous as Naruto cringed from the unwholesome feeling and pain his body was experiencing as a result of the concoction injected into his body. The shock knocked him completely unconscious before falling straight to the ground on his left side.

(?)

"Naruto," A voice called out, "Naruto!"

In his subconscious, Naruto laid motionless on a clean matted floor in a room that looked like a traditional Japanese meeting room. He opened his eyes to see a familiar figure moving closer to him. The figure stood over him before kneeling down on one knee in front of him, with chained cuffs around his wrists and two pieces of paper around the cuffs with the kanji "seal" on them.

"You seem to be having some trouble with this new enemy," the voice acknowledged, "But you've come too far now to lie there on the ground as you are presently."

Despite what the figure told him, Naruto couldn't help but smile at him.

"It's nice to see you again father," Naruto said, "It's truly been a long time."

"Indeed," Minato said, "That Fuchi Fuujin jutsu you used back then placed and sealed both Kyuubi and myself away in a deathlike state of inactivity. It was only recently that we were reactivated from our inactivity though Kyuubi's reawakening was faster than mine."

"It was hard trying to reconnect with you for the past two months," Naruto explained, "Nothing I did seem to work and ero-jisan also had a hard time fixing the problem."

"Your body was badly damaged Naruto, as was your chakra coils, which severed the connection you had with me."

"Needless to say Kyuubi was reconnected with me also," Naruto said, "Though his methods were less tasteful."

"You ungrateful little worm," Kyuubi's voice spat from the background, "After your performance earlier, your condition would have been much worse had it not been for my chakra healing your body you impudent human."

"Says you fur ball," Naruto retorted, only to receive a beastly snarl from the great fox. Naruto stood up from the matted floor.

"I was unprepared for the side effects of this revised medic jutsu I came up with and used."

"On yourself I saw…," Minato sighed, "Still taking risky gambles with your well being."

"What can I say," Naruto replied, "Old habits die hard. Besides I've came up with a way to beat Soujiro through his own abilities and this medic jutsu will be a great asset in accomplishing this."

Minato knew that this wasn't the first time his son developed methods of beaten if not holding back from killing his opponents by making their own specialized abilities backfire on them, bloodline limit or not.

"What is your plan," Minato inquired.

(Meanwhile)

Soujiro was searching for Naruto as he and his two subordinates traveled deeper into the mountain. So far they found no trace of him but Soujiro wasn't about to let up yet. He focused chakra through his diamond body to illuminate his body as a light source through the darken tunnel.

"Where are you," Soujiro taunted aloud, "You can't hide from me for long Naruto. I'll find you eventually, and when I do, I'll tear you apart and crush your bones!"

Tsunami and Inari went ahead to go after Naruto and deal with him accordingly.

(Elsewhere Inside The Mountain)

Naruto started moving as consciousness was restored to his being. He gradually rose back off the ground and stood back on his feet. The blonde was already feeling chakra pouring from out of the seal on his stomach and into his chakra coils. He took a few deep breaths before opening his eyes, revealing two sharp and fierce ocean blue eyes belonging to a ninja famed for his exploits.

"Time to get my plan started."

(At The Valley Of The End)

Sasuke vanished and a moment later reappeared in the same spot he had stood. The two sumi bushins in front of him, held the area where they had been hit and wore a pained expression before bursting into ink.

"Where are you now? Trying to hide? Are you that afraid of me now," Sasuke asked as he looked around for the elusive teen. He vaguely heard Sai's movements, but couldn't tell where it came from. Then he felt a hard blow crash into his back, sending him flying forward again. Sasuke used his hand-like wings to stop his flight and turn to see Sai standing there with a large winged ram painting standing besides him. Sai at this point had sustained a number of cuts and other injuries from dealing with Sasuke in his transformed state and parts of his clothes had sustained a series of damages. Through all this though, Sai was still able to fight.

"You're really pissing me off," Sasuke said, "I had just about enough of you!"

"The feeling is mutual," Sai said, "Let's end this."

Sasuke was about to prepare his Chidori when a blur suddenly appeared from the side where Sai and Sasuke were fighting.

"Kabuto," Sasuke said with an annoyed tone.

"Sasuke-kun, I've come to help," Kabuto said, pushing his glasses further up on his nose.

"I don't need your help to take out this loser," Sasuke retorted. Kabuto smirked, "If that's true then you would have finished the fight by now. Even with your cursed seal you're having problems with Sai-san. Clearly Sasuke-kun his skills as a ninja are on levels surprisingly higher than yours."

Sasuke turned and growled dangerously at Kabuto, "Don't ever compare me to that trash over there!"

"I mean no disrespect," Kabuto pointed out, "All I'm saying is that good ninjas know when to admit when they need help from a higher power; which is the reason for your deserting Konoha for Oto, am I correct?"

Sasuke said nothing in return as he looked back at Sai. Sai didn't know too much about Kabuto but he spied and kept tabs on him enough to know not to underestimate him nor let his guard down around him at any time. Kabuto focused chakra into his hands and formed a chakra scalpel with them.

This could be trouble, Sai thought. Dealing with Sasuke in his current form was one thing, but taking on Kabuto on top of that made things more complicated. Nevertheless, Sai wasn't planning on backing down now…

(Meanwhile In Nami No Kuni)

Inari and Tsunami raced through the tunnel in pursuit of Naruto. They scanned the area making sure not to miss any corners of their surround environment. They both of them came the end of the tunnel were the large cave was. The mother and son pair looked around and found Naruto nowhere in sight. Before anything else was done, a transparent figure stealthily moved from the shadows of the cave and appeared right behind Tsunami and Inari. The figure grabbed both fighters by the back of their necks and shot large quantities of aqua green chakra into their bodies. Both fighters struggled to break free but eventually their movements came to a complete cease.

When the task was done, Naruto placed the both of them to the ground, seeing that neither of them would pose as a threat to him anymore. The blonde deactivated his transparency jutsu as he looked down at the two fighters with the glowing aqua green chakra vanishing completely into their bodies.

"It's done," Naruto said before he sensed a strong chakra signature making its way over to him and fast. He grabbed both bodies and jumped out of the way with them as a large diamond fist plunged into the ground where he previously was. Naruto flipped and slid backwards on his feet while holding both Inari and his mother before coming to a stop some distance away from Soujiro.

"I finally found you," Soujiro said with a sinister smile. Turning to the exit, Soujiro threw several diamond shards over to it and sealed the exit off with diamond bars cutting off the path.

"You have nowhere to run now Naruto," Soujiro said feeling victory was soon to be his, "This cave will be your resting tomb. I'll be sure to mark your memorial stone with inscriptions describing your valiant but failed effort to take out Iwa's strongest shinobi."

Naruto said nothing in return to Soujiro's words. He set the two bodies down to the ground and stood up to face his towering opponent.

"Does Iwa seek my death so incredibly that they're willing to risk war with both Konoha and Suna," Naruto asked. That was when Soujiro let out a laugh that Naruto found disturbing.

"I'll tell you the truth," Soujiro said, "The Tsuchikage never actually sent me, his niece Tsuchiko-chan nor any one his other Jounins here to fight you and the others with you. I took it upon myself to trick those idiots into coming here without our Tsuchikage's knowledge of it."

"Is that right," Naruto asked.

"Yes indeed" Soujiro remarked, "Especially after the Tsuchikage turned down a mission Otogakure had requested of him; a mission to have you dealt with once and for all."

Naruto maintained a calm demeanor as he pieced everything together, "So you resorted to treason against your Kage and village while dragging fellow unsuspecting Jounins from your own village to their deaths. You risked war between three nations that would have been instigated by Otogakure through you just so you could satisfy your own selfish ambitions."

"I did what I had to," Soujiro shot back, "I have no regrets! That foolish Tsuchikage was weak and too much of a coward to act in the first place! The fool wouldn't budge from his decision nor would he listen to me in giving me the chance to battle and take you out! I was not about to miss my opportunity to challenge and prove my might against you!"

"Better ninjas than you have challenged me," Naruto remarked, "And all have met their defeat at my hands."

"Well I'll be the first and only one to have changed that and bring about your ultimate demise," Soujiro countered.

"No, you will not," Naruto shot back, "You'll just be is another to add to the growing statistic of failures."

Soujiro ran and brought his fist forward to strike Naruto. The blonde however easily evaded his attack. Seeing that his attack didn't hit its mark, Soujiro turned and raced after Naruto again with a fury of fast punches. Naruto danced and waltzed around the attacks with speed and fluidity which served to infuriate the Iwa Jounin. Soujiro saw that Naruto was much faster than before and he was hard pressed to keep up with the blond-haired Elite Jounin. Naruto flipped back a couple of feet away from Soujiro as he prepared his next move.

"Ready to die," Soujiro asked as he readied himself to attack again.

"Done that, been there, wasn't all that," Naruto remarked, "Though the experience for you will be different in your case."

"Excuse me," asked a confused Soujiro.

"I died once before," Naruto explained, "By my own hands with a kinjutsu ougi I created while fighting and killing Orochimaru with it two months ago."

"Say what," Soujiro replied with an even more perplexed expression, "How can you be standing and moving if what you say is true? You should be dead if anything."

"True," Naruto admitted, "But I came with a medic kinjutsu that revived life back into my body. You see, my mother, the Godaime Hokage, trained me in many forms of healing and medic jutsus almost all my life while growing up. I know a great deal about the human anatomy and chakra coils, and with this knowledge I was able to come up with some medic jutsus of my own, one of which I infused into your body just moments before you entered this cave."

"What," Soujiro said as he watched Naruto go through a set of hand seals before stopping.

"Ninpō: Iyasu Henshitsu No Jutsu," Naruto said before seeing Soujiro clasped to his chest in severe pain. He collapsed to his knees and left hand as the excruciating pain travel throughout his body. Aqua green chakra appeared and spread all around Soujiro's body as the diamonds around his body disintegrated, causing him to gradually shrink back to his original size. Inari and Tsunami also started glowing in aqua green chakra before deteriorating into what looked like crystal dust. The diamond bars blocking the only exit also dissolved into cystal dust, clearing the way out.

Naruto went over to the two piles of crystal dust that were once Tsunami and Inari, and retrieved the two items that stood out on top of the piles, two golf ball-sized diamonds with seal writings around them. He placed the two diamonds into his pocket and walked over to Soujiro who was lying on his back, cringing from the unbearable pain his body was suffering through. He stood over the Iwa ninja who looked back at him with hatred and contempt with the same chakra glowing around his body.

"W…What…ha…have you…d…done…to me…," Soujiro said with a strained voice. Coldly Naruto replied, "Something contrary to the nature of medic jutsus."

The Iwa Jounin looked at Naruto who looked down at him with hardened eyes.

"I placed a virus inside your body," Naruto said. Soujiro's eyes widened on hearing those words.

"You see, green medic chakra is used in healing injuries of many forms," Naruto explained, "From stab wounds, broken bones and blood vessels, damaged organs, you name it. However this viral aqua green chakra I infused into you does the complete opposite. Rather than healing, this viral chakra's sole purpose is to hinder healing and heavily damage one's body, immune system and chakra coils. It's an upgraded medic version to the original Kara No Tsuyosa No Jutsu, a poisoning jutsu a missing-nin used on my mother years ago. Though effective however, it wasn't enough to fully bring down a Sannin."

"Damn you…," Soujiro strained as the pain ripped through his body. He let out a scream of shear pain as Naruto stood over him with no signs of sympathy or remorse.

"You see Soujiro," Naruto explained, "In this fight, you made five fatal mistakes:

"First: you kidnapped and used innocent people who are precious to me as instruments to use against me. I despise those who use innocent people as weapons for their own use and then dispose of them after their use have worn out.

"Second: you threatened to rape three females whom you consciously knew I hold in high regards. I will admit that there are times I'm a pervert, but to willfully force yourself on another person, that's despicable. And by shamelessly telling me what you were planning on doing to Anko-chan, Ryo-chan, and Tsunami-san, you've practically signed your own death warrant.

"Third: creating an artificial doujutsu that had features that were carbon-copy rip-offs fashioned after the Sharingan and Byakugan. I have years of experience dealing with both the Sharingan and Byakugan and I had time to come with some methods to get around them. After I figured out that your doujutsu mimicked some of those features belonging to the two doujutsus, all I had to do was counter them like I had with the Byakugan and Sharingan.

"Fourth: bragging to me, a medic-nin, early-on before the fight even started about how you were able to integrate Inari and Tsunami-san into special combat bodies, bad idea. The one thing ninjas should never do is reveal secrets to the enemy about how they are planning on fighting them. As a medic-nin, I took the time to study the bodies you placed them in while and after fighting them, and I managed to make the link that you were using those bodies as absorbers to increase your strength and speed. They were absorbing the chakra I was using against them and converting them into energy for you to infuse into yourself, which was also why you were able to maintain that diamond body of yours. You used the real Tsunami-san and Inari as batteries to give life to those bodies.

"After I figured that out, I injected myself with the vials that contained the viral substances needed for my Iyasu Henshitsu No Jutsu. For that jutsu to work, I had to convert and concentrate it into my chakra coils before introducing it into those two chakra absorbing bodies. When the viral chakra in its large quantities was sucked into your body, all I had to do was accelerate its absorption into your chakra coils through your fighting me.

"Fifth: a ninja like you had no business challenging someone of my level. You selfishly sold out your own village and comrades just so you could have a shot at fighting me. Kakashi-niisan once told me that those who abandon their mission are trash. But those who betray their comrades are worse than trash. You Soujiro, are worse than trash."

"You…bastard…," Soujiro spat between his cringes of pain, "…Spare me your fucking lecture…"

Naruto focused a strong amount of his wind affinity around Soujiro's body and moments later…

"Fūton: Kūki No Kūtai," Naruto said as he encased Soujiro in a concentrated atmospheric dome. The wind manipulated dome had heavy atmospheric pressure compressed into it. Naruto, still using wind manipulation, levitated Soujiro's body off the ground and over to the pit. He lowered him down into the pit until he was all the way inside of it.

"I tell you today," Naruto screamed loudly enough for Soujiro to hear, "That while you're in the darkness deep within the abyss of the earth, you will by no means stay concealed in the earth's darkness. You will be made to see the light in all its power."

Reaching into his trench coat, Naruto took out a rock from within it that was covered in magnesium and wrapped with an exploding note.

"And I never go back on my word, that's my nindo," Naruto yelled as he tossed the rock into the pit. Halfway upon its descent, Naruto did a hand sign and caused the note on the rock to explode, spreading sparks and fire around the rock covered in magnesium. Soujiro's eyes widened when he saw the fireball coming straight down at him to crash into the atmospheric dome he was trapped in.

"DAMN YOU NAARRUUTTOOOOO!" Soujiro screamed at the top of his lungs just moments before the small fireball crashed into the dome, rupturing and releasing the atmospheric pressure, thus completely destroying both the dome and Soujiro's body as it was consumed in white fire that was instantly followed by a huge violent explosion. The giant blaze of white flames rapidly made its way up the pit to the surface, trailing up the magnesium covered walls of the pit. Series of ground shaking explosions followed continuously as the flames and heat intensified.

"Time to go," Naruto yelled as he used Yondaime-like speed to run out through the now lit up tunnels as the white flames and explosions seemingly chased after him. Not once did he look back as he raced out of the tunnels and eventually, out of the doomed temple. Naruto made it to safety outside the mountain. When he was a good distance away from the danger, he turned and watched as a large segment of mountain burned and collapsed into itself. It was a while later when the ground stopped shaking, with large amounts of black smoke coming from out of the fallen temple and into the skies.

"Such irony," Naruto remarked, "It takes extreme heat and extreme pressure within the earth to create diamonds. But yours aren't worth unearthing. Rest in hell Soujiro."

With that said, Naruto turned and hurried back to where Ryota and Anko were.

(Meanwhile)

Kakashi, Pakkun, Haku and the other Chuunins reached Neji and Chouji. Both of them suffered from severe injuries that were near fatal and both Genins were in need of immediate medical attention. A few of the Chuunins helped and carried them back to Konoha. The rest with Kakashi later met up with Kiba and Kankuro who was helping/dragging Kiba with his arm over his shoulder, keeping the dog user to falling to the floor. Akamaru, with injuries of his own, was being carried in Kiba's left arm. After Kankuro set them down, Haku tended to Kiba's injuries with the herbs and other treatments she brought along with her. Despite his injuries and near death experience, Kiba was obviously happy to see Haku again.

"I'm happy to see that your injuries aren't too life-threatening Kiba-san," Haku said, "It must have been a very difficult fight."

"Nothing I couldn't handle Haku-chan," Kiba remarked with a toothy grin, trying to look tough in front of the female medic-nin in spite of his condition, "That Oto Jounin I fought just caught me off guard, that's all really."

Kankuro closed his eyes and shook his head at the sight of Kiba's behavior.

"That's not how I remember it," Kankuro muttered under his breath, "If I recall, you and your pet were getting your asses kicked."

"I heard that," Kiba snorted, "And Akamaru isn't my pet, he's my partner and friend; remember that."

Akamaru barked at Kankuro who smirked at them before turning to Kakashi.

"Where are the others," Kakashi asked.

"They went up ahead to fight the other Oto Jounins and get Sasuke back," Kankuro explained, "I'm not sure what else happened after that."

Kakashi nodded his head. Though he wasn't sure what Gaara and Kankuro were doing around the area earlier, Kakashi was happy that they were there nonetheless to help Kiba and the others.

"Help Kiba return back to Konoha while Haku and the rest of us head over to where the others are."

A short while later, Kiba and Akamaru's injuries were treated. Kankuro helped Kiba and Akamaru on their trek back to Konoha for further treatment at the hospital. After their departure, Kakashi, Pakkun, and the others started on their way to catch up with the other Genins…

Soujiro has been defeated and his ambitions have been brought to a crushing end. As Kakashi and his team race to catch up with the remaining Genins, Sai is still battling it out with Sasuke and now Kabuto. Will Kakashi and his team make it in time to help and save Sai, and what became of Anko and Ryota? Plus, what were those two diamonds with seal markings that Naruto took with him? Stick around to find out next time.

Ninpō: Iyasu Henshitsu No Jutsu: Ninja Arts: Healing Deterioration Technique

Kara No Tsuyosa No Jutsu: Empty Power Technique

Fūton: Kūki No Kūtai: Wind Release: Atmospheric Orb