Chapter Title: 1. True Shinobi
Naruto scanned the trees to his left. The enemy was no where to be found, and they had all been split up. He could feel his heart pounding through his chest as the pressure and waiting began to make him nervous. He shifted on the balls of his feet, crouched low in the branches, waiting for a sign. They had already lost Choji, Neji and Kiba, fighting off the other four of Orochimaru’s ninjas. Now it was Shikamaru and him who were left to deal with the last ninja, carrying Sasuke’s coffin back to his Hidden Sound village.
Letting the last ounce of patience run out of him, Naruto hopped forward silently to another branch in an effort to keep from running ahead brashly. He knew it would get both of them killed, but he couldn’t keep his body still long enough to wait for Shikamaru’s signal. He continued hopping from one branch to another until he finally caught sight of both Shikamaru and the last ninja, Tayuya.
Shikamaru had apparently set a trap for him and was just waiting for the right time to spring it on the other blond. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on who you ask) Tayuya was stopped for an entirely different reason, his feet falling short of Shikamaru’s trap by a few trees. In an instant, Shikamaru had bolted, not wanting to be discovered, and took the round-about route back to Naruto. He landed softly on the branch right beside the young blond and they sat quietly, wondering what Tayuya and the man he’d stopped for were talking about.
After a few seconds of getting used to the background noises they were able to train their ears enough to catch most of the conversation, and their vantage point was perfect for seeing without being seen (especially since Naruto had abandoned his bright orange jacket hours ago and his pants were covered in clumps of mud and dried blood stains.
“You idiot!!” The man yelled at Tayuya, menacingly. From that statement alone, Naruto recognised the voice and it made his blood freeze and his body went ridged. Shikamaru noticed it and turned to the boy.
“What is it?” He whispered softly, knowing it would probably benefit their mission to know the reason for Naruto’s reaction to the voice. Naruto’s eyes never left the two ninjas as he answered.
“That’s the man Sasuke was going to find, Orochimaru.” He breathed. The chuunin nodded and returned his attention to the conversation.
“The curse was NOT supposed to be advanced this soon!” Orochimaru screamed. “I wanted him trained and possessed before *I* brought the body to level two. I wanted his body to be mine before this happened, you imbecile.” Tayuya was cowering before the outraged man. He took a step back in fear and dropped the coffin to the ground. Orochimaru tore through the seals and wood that contained Sasuke’s half-dead body. His skin pale and his form lifeless, Sasuke tumbled to the forest floor, landing at the feet of the raging ninja.
Naruto growled softly in his throat when he saw Sasuke fall out looking like he was dead. Shikamaru noted the sound and decided not to say anything until later. He couldn’t believe what was happening to one of his fellow shinobi.
“Take him back to the village and make sure he is attended to. If he gets worse you’ll die. Tell the men to put two guards on the door and never let him leave. I’ll see him when he’s regained some of the life you sucked out of him.” Orochimaru nodded curtly to Tayuya and disappeared, just as the trembling ninja gathered the Uchiha boy’s limp body into his arms and head straight for the village of the Hidden Sound as fast as he could.
Naruto was ready to go right after him, but he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He turned to Shikamaru and glared.
“We have to get him back.” He exclaimed. “Now’s our chance to swipe him from that bastard.” Shikamaru sighed and shook his head.
“No, we need to wait.” He replied. “Sasuke is practically dead,” he noticed another low growl from the blond, “and he’ll just weigh us down if we try to rescue him like this. Orochimaru said he’ll have guards on him, and he won’t go near him until he’s more or less healed. That’s when we strike.” Naruto still looked angry about having to wait, but he stayed quiet, willing to hear what Shikamaru had to say. He continued. “This gives us time to rest up ourselves, wait for the others to catch up to us and plan out something a little more effective than a simple ambush.” Naruto nodded his head slowly. His plan made sense.
“With the extra help from Kiba, Neji and Choji we can do more damage to the guards, ne?” Shikamaru nodded. He was surprised that Naruto was more than just an annoying brat who didn’t listen to directions, like everyone had grown up to believe. “Can we at least follow them so we know where they’re keeping him?” Naruto asked, keeping his temper in check. Shikamaru nodded curtly and jumped to the ground, pulling out a kunai and marking the tree like he had for all the others. Naruto was already a dozen trees ahead of him making sure not to lose track of Tayuya as he headed towards the village with Sasuke’s body slung over his shoulder.
***
They followed Tayuya to the village and watched as Sasuke was taken into one of the central buildings, before heading back to the forest to camp out and wait for the others. It didn’t take long, after they’d set up their place for the night, for Choji to come tumbling back.
“Choji!” Shikamaru whispered, knowing enough not to be too loud. The boy looked different and it didn’t take Naruto much time to notice this either.
“Did you lose weight out there?” He mumbled, finishing off his ramen. Choji was still looking thin from using the third pill in his fight against Jiroubou. Shikamaru smacked the boy over the back of the head and ran over to embrace his best friend.
“I can’t believe you survived the red pepper pill!” He hugged Choji tightly. The boy grinned his best and hugged back, glad to know that Shikamaru had worried over his safety.
“Yeah. I survived the pill, demo... where’s Sasuke, and where are the others?” He asked, his voice hinting at his own nervousness.
“Kiba stayed behind to tackle the two-headed freak and Neji handled another one named Kidoumaru. The blond guy took Sasuke back to the sound village.” Naruto replied. Shikamaru nodded and returned to his spot, opposite of Naruto.
“We’re going to wait for another day and see if everyone comes back. Then we were going to make a plan and rescue Sasuke.” The chuunin added, earning them a snort from the blond.
“Nani?” Choji asked. Naruto folded his arms across his chest.
“If Sasuke ever heard that you came to ‘rescue’ his royal ass then he’d not only stay with Orochimaru, he’d fight us to the death.” Shikamaru sighed and for the first time thanked Tsunade-sama for recommending Naruto for his team. The blond gennin was the only one among them that knew Sasuke personally, which meant he could (fairly accurately) predict the missing boy’s reactions. “He nearly killed me the last time I tried that by bringing Tsunade-baba back to cure him. I don’t think he likes looking as though he needs someone else’s help. He’s stubborn and will do just about anything to prove he doesn’t need other people.” Naruto rolled his eyes, thinking about Sasuke. Shikamaru nodded, revising his plan in his head.
“So then, what now?” Choji asked. The chuunin frowned.
“We’ll wait for a little bit.” He replied. “I don’t want to plan too quickly if there is a chance that Kiba or Neji might or might not come back.” The blond growled at his choice of words.
“You have so little faith in them?” He spat.
“I’m being realistic. Those ninja had far more advanced techniques and you’re forgetting that you are nothing more than gennin.”
“I think they’re still alive.” Naruto retorted. “And you’re forgetting that you’re not that far ahead of us.”
“Guys, don’t fight.” Choji interrupted. He was over at Shikamaru’s backpack digging through it.
“What are you after?” Shikamaru asked, curious. He tried looking over his shoulder but saw nothing until Choji straightened out with three bags of potato chips in his hands. He grinned at his best friend and sat down between him and the blond boy who was slowly grating on their nerves. Shikamaru laughed. “What happened to the ones you had?” Choji huffed.
“Jiroubou ate my last bag.” He grumbled in annoyance, pouting like a little kid. Naruto stayed quiet and watched the best friends have their conversation.
“Well go ahead and take as many as you want. I’ve got tons more stored up.” Choji nodded and popped open his first bag, replenishing his charka reserves.
“Nice to see you haven’t lost your appetite, Akimichi-kun.” A voice echoed through the woods, followed by a revealing bark of agreement. “Akamaru! You were supposed to stay quiet! My entrance was supposed to be dramatic! You’ve ruined it, now!” There was a whine of apology, followed by, “Aww, it’s okay. It wasn’t *that* important.” Inuzuka Kiba emerged from the woods a few seconds afterwards, grinning triumphantly, Akamaru trotting behind him. Naruto grinned at the distraction and huffed in Shikamaru’s direction.
“Told you they’d make it back.” The chuunin rolled his eyes.
“Then where’s Neji?” He retorted, frowning. Not only was the blond annoyingly loud, but he was also extremely stubborn.
“Right behind you.” A soft voice chuckled behind him. Shikamaru swivelled around and stared at the gennin in awe. Not only had they all returned, like Naruto had predicted, but they looked relatively healed from their battles, only Neji seemed to be limping slightly. He was shocked that he had underestimated them all. He hadn’t thought they were as strong as they all seemed to believe. He cursed himself for only trusting his best friend to return safely. Apparently, they all took his speech about Choji personally and made it apply to each of them. Naruto had kept the faith that they would return unharmed. Another point for Tsunade’s recommendation. He looked down to Neji’s leg and noticed the bandages soaked with blood.
“Are you okay?” Neji nodded.
“I’ll be fine by morning.” He replied and promptly dropped himself beside Naruto and curling up to go to sleep and recharge, similar to what Choji was doing. Shikamaru nodded and looked to the other boy. He was on his third bag of chips and was looking healthier and more energized. He grinned and let his back rest on a tree trunk, while watching over his team mates.
“In the morning we’ll discuss the plan.” He announced before Neji fell asleep. They all nodded. “I’ll take first watch shift, then Naruto, Kiba, Choji and last will be Neji. Get some rest guys. We’re going to bring Sasuke back tomorrow even if we have to take him kicking and screaming.” Naruto snickered at the mental image that brought.
“I think I’m going to have good dreams tonight, thinking of that.” He chuckled to himself and fell asleep lying against his own tree.
***
In the morning, after they had gone over the plan three times to make sure everyone understood, Shikamaru led the four gennin into the village. They walked into the hospital where Sasuke was being held and got as far as the same hallway he was in before they noticed guards. Three men were standing outside the boy’s room, wearing traditional chuunin outfits and carrying their kunais in very firm grips. Shikamaru smirked and thanked the hospital for being foolish enough to have built windows letting in the morning sunshine.
“Lets go.” He whispered to everyone and walked straight towards the men. Immediately they were in a fighting stance and lunged at the Hidden Leaf boy, but were halted in mid jump. “Not so fast.” Shikamaru exclaimed and shook his head. The seemingly frozen ninjas mirrored his movements. Neji stepped forward and, carefully avoiding Shikamaru’s shadow, made quick work of closing all 64 chakra holes on their bodies. Then Choji stepped up and forced all his charka into one hand and knocked them all unconscious.
“That takes care of that.” Naruto grinned and opened the door to Sasuke’s room, unprepared for the sight that met the five boys.
Right in front of them was Orochimaru completing his immortality jutsu on Sasuke’s body. Orochimaru’s old body slumped to the floor and Sasuke rose from the bed, grinning maliciously at the five. Naruto was the first to react, running up to Sasuke and slamming his fist into the other boy’s face, but he continued to smirk.
“It’s done, boy.” Orochimaru used Sasuke’s voice and effectively gave it his trademark snake-like venom to let them know who was now in charge. “His body is mine and there was nothing any of you could do to stop me.” He laughed.
“Fuck you, monster.” Naruto spat (quite literally) in his face, before grabbing hold of Sasuke’s shoulders and slamming him into the nearest wall, pinning him there. “You stupid asshole.” He muttered, but it was obvious that he was no longer talking to Orochimaru. “I thought you were stronger than this, Sasuke-kun. I thought you didn’t need to rely on weak snakes like this to achieve your goals. You weren’t this weak before. I didn’t think you were so weak you needed to use other people to inhabit your body to exact your revenge for you.” Sasuke twitched. “Cause that’s what you’re doing. You’re letting Orochimaru kill Itachi for you. I thought *YOU* wanted to avenge your clan’s death. I thought you wanted to be stronger than me. If you take this way out you are lower than filth. Trash. Garbage. And I will ALWAYS be better than you, because even someone like me is stronger than garbage like you.” He hissed out, glaring at the boy. Sasuke erupted into laughter.
“He’s gone, you fool.” Orochimaru spoke through Sasuke. “Just like every body I’ve taken over, his soul has receded and eventually it will die, just like that body over there.” He nodded to the lifeless body Orochimaru left behind. Naruto looked back and saw the defeat written over his teams’ faces. They had already accepted the fact that Sasuke was gone and they had failed their first mission together. But Naruto wasn’t willing to accept defeat. He’d go down kicking and screaming and do his best to make sure Sasuke did too.
“Sasuke’s stronger than that.” He snarled. Orochimaru looked as though he was about to say something else when his eye began to twitch. Naruto grinned. “Fight him Sasuke.” He whispered. Even though Sasuke had been hospitalized during their battle, Naruto couldn’t help but think of Sakura when she fought to get Ino out of her mind.
Sure enough, Sasuke’s form fell to the floor, holding his head. Everyone behind Naruto was stunned but remembered the battle too. This gave them a little ray of hope and they started cheering for Sasuke in their heads.
“No.” Orochimaru hissed out defiantly. Suddenly, his facial features contorted into a look of both pain and struggle.
“I’m not... letting... that dobe... win like this...” Sasuke gritted out. Naruto smirked and knelt beside Sasuke’s shaking body, placing a hand on his shoulder in support. It was quickly slapped away as Orochimaru regained control of the body for a few seconds before their battle continued. They continued their inner struggle for a few more minutes before Sasuke stood up steadily.
He placed his hands in front of him in the shape of a seal none of them had ever seen before and the corpse in front of him twitched back to life. Both began panting in exertion. Naruto stands up and moves to tower over Orochimaru’s body.
“I say we kick his ass now, ask questions later.” He growled, kicking the sennin in the side. He would have done a lot worse but the sound of hurried footsteps alerted them all to guards.
“We’ve got Sasuke, baka.” Shikamaru muttered and turned to the open window, but before he could jump out of it, he was thrown back inside by one of Orochimaru’s ninjas. It took him a second to get over his sudden disorientation, but he was quickly on his feet and backing up before the kunai the ninja threw could hit him. “Shit.” He cursed under his breath, moving so that he had his back to the other three gennin from his team, guarding the door. Naruto helped Sasuke to his feet by sliding his arm around his waist and propping the weak boy’s arm over his shoulder. Orochimaru was still panting on the floor.
“You know what we’ve got to do, guys.” Shikamaru nodded and lunged at the nearest pair of Chuunin. They immediately began fighting and Naruto, using the distraction to his advantage jumped out the window and up to the roof, where he lay Sasuke down.
“Are you okay, Sasuke?” He asked, a frown on his face. Sasuke sat up straight holding his head and nodded.
“I need to get down there.” He muttered and made to stand up, but Naruto pushed him back down, grabbing hold of his shoulders.
“Baka!” He exclaimed. “I did not work my ass off to come and bring your ass back to Konoha just to have you run back in their while you can’t fight and kill yourself. If you want to be a hero, then do it your own way because when I go back I’ll tell them you died fighting against us.” Sasuke heaved a great big sigh of frustration, rolling his eyes at Naruto’s stubbornness. He looked at the blond and noticed that his attention was no longer focused on him, but on the roof they were on. He saw Naruto’s ear twitch as if listening to something before he realized that there were no sounds of fighting coming from below them. Naruto looked back to Sasuke again, fear etched in his face. They both jumped back down to the hospital room balcony only to find Shikamaru, Kiba, Choji and Neji looking around, totally confused.
“What happened?” Naruto asked, stepping into the room, carefully avoiding the bloody shards of glass from the fight. Shikamaru looked up and shrugged.
“I don’t know.” He replied. “One minute we were fighting and the next they were gone.” Everyone nodded. Sasuke cursed, making them all turn around.
“Nani?”
“Orochimaru is gone, too.” He said, kicking the place where Orochimaru used to be with his foot. Naruto began to curse under his breath. They all understood Naruto’s frustration, knowing that Orochimaru will just keep coming back until he’s killed or until he gets control of Sasuke’s body for good. He’d just go away, become even stronger and try again. People like him didn’t give up so easily.
“Let’s not worry too much about that right now.” Shikamaru spoke up, turning to Sasuke. “Orochimaru lost a lot of charka not only performing that jutsu on you, but trying to keep your body, so he’ll be out of commission for a while. You have time to work on your own jutsus and preparing yourself for another attack from Orochimaru. That is, if you want to come back with us.” He held out his hand to Sasuke, who eyed it thoughtfully.
“We can’t guarantee we’ll save you every time you’re in danger, Sasuke-chan!” Naruto teased, slapping Sasuke on the shoulder suddenly. “But we will help you train, and we will try our best to help you fight him. After all... helping you train will help us train too!” He grinned. Sasuke paused before finally accepting Shikamaru’s hand.
“Congratulations, Shikamaru-kun.” He nodded to the chuunin vest. The other boy looked down to the vest before responding with a smirk. Naruto scoffed.
“Those of us ‘True Shinobi’ go about it the hard way, no shortcuts!” He laughed. “Maybe you can still catch up to our level.” Sasuke rolled his eyes.
“I don’t see you wearing a Chuunin vest, Naruto-chan.” He retorted. The blond narrowed his eyes at him in the best glare he could achieve and began yelling profanity at him. Sasuke snorted. “And I’m supposed to be learning from a *DOBE* like you?”
“WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!!”
“Oh, my mistake-”
“That’s right...”
“Dobe-CHAN!”
“NANI!?
~~~~~~~
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