Naruto Senju Shippuden

Chapter 10

Naruto and his team ran through the long corridors in Orochimaru's hideout. "Take a right," They followed Naruto's directions. "He is two corridors down..." Naruto whispers. "It doesn't seem like they know we are here..." He adds. Yamato retakes control and leads the two in silence down to the corridor. "You can come out now..." Orochimaru's grating voice calls out. Naruto stands up and walks out into the open. The first thing he sees is Sasuke. He was tall now. Taller than himself. Maybe one or two centimetres. He was wearing a white open at the front shirt, dark blue pants that were wide and had a high waist. Tieing the shorts together was the same style of belt as Orochimaru was wearing. It hangs down instead of the knot going upwards unnaturally as they did on Orochimaru. A sword scabbard sat on his back. "Yo... Sasuke..." Naruto says. It looked like Sasuke's eyes widened for a second. "I thought you died," Came his flat voice out. "Sorry to disappoint," Naruto says. A small pauce settles between them. "You helped me reach the next level that day," Sasuke says cryptically. "I see..." Naruto says, but he doesn't really understand what he means. Sakura joins him. "Sasuke-kun..." she says. "So, Sakura is also here..." Sasuke observes flatly. "You should come home, Sasuke," Naruto urge him. "Home? You still call that place my home?" Sasuke asks, baffled by the suggestion. "Or I can drag you there... Kabuto isn't going to stop me this time," Naruto says as he shakes his head. "Neither is the little snake you have next to you," Naruto says as he sends a chilling look to Orochimaru. Orochimaru actually took a step back. It seems the fight on Tenchi bridge left him scared. "He still has some things I can learn from him. Even if he is pathetic," Sasuke says as he glances to his side. It appears that he saw the slight hesitation Naruto inspired in him. "Let's go back to the village... I can help you search for Itachi... I can even deal with his companion," Naruto offers as a last-ditch effort. He has a feeling things will turn ugly in a second.

"And what if I refuse?" Sasuke asks whilst activating his Sharingan. However, it wasn't the Sharingan Naruto was used to seeing. No, it was different. It had three overlapping red ovals over the pupil. The rest of the eye was black. "Now, I see..." Naruto says as he moves his gaze from Sasuke's eye to his forehead. "You're right," Sasuke confirms. "What? I don't get it," Yamato says he had sneaked onto the scene and not made a sound. "So this is Kakashi's replacement... I expected more," Sasuke says as his eyes shift to the captain. "Sasuke unlocked a new Sharingan when he saw me die... Or at least thought he saw me die," Naruto explains. "Where is that Kabuto? We are leaving!" Orochimaru hisses. "I wouldn't wait for him or Sai," Sakura says. "What do you mean, little girl?" the Otokage hisses. Naruto gives her a signal. "Don't say anything else," it says. "We killed them both," Naruto says in a flat voice. "Did you now..." Orochimaru says whilst hardening his glare into Naruto. "They were both a danger to the village," Naruto answers with a stone-cold look. "Well then Sasuke... we are leaving," Orochimaru orders.

"No... I want to test my strength first," Sasuke disobeys. He pulls out his sword. His Sharingan was still blazing with life. "Stay back... I'll take him myself," Naruto says to his team. They take a step back. Naruto pulls out a kunai and spins it in his hand from a reverse grip to a normal one. Sasuke comes in with a forward slash. Naruto waits until it is too late to shift the strike and leads it down to the ground. "You have gotten faster..." Naruto observes. "So have you..." Sasuke says back. "You are not wearing your hitai-ate, so I won't attack... you know the drill by now," Naruto says. "Then die!" Sasuke says back with a vicious tone. He pulls the sword from the stone and tries to slash Naruto. Naruto evades with relative ease.

"I am better now..." Naruto says. Sasuke's scowl deepens. "Why?! Why hasn't the gap shrunk?!" Sasuke screams as he flails the sword around, trying to cut Naruto down. The longer he continues, the less technique is used, and more unchoreographed flailing is incorporated into the fight. "Why has it gone wider?!" Sasuke screams out desperately. "You think I have been sitting idly by waiting for you to return?" Naruto asks. "I practised every day, waiting for when I had to drag you home kicking and screaming!" Naruto says as he catches the sword over his head with his hands. "How..?" Sasuke begins. "This is enough... Sasuke. Can we please just go home?" Naruto asks one final time. "Sasu-" Orochimaru says as he gets into a stance. "Stay out of this!" Naruto and Sasuke scream at the same time. Orochimaru stands down. "It looks like I can't beat you..." Sasuke says as he relaxes. "No... not like you are now..." Naruto says. "I see..." Sasuke says. He pulls back the word and places it into his sheath. "Until next time then..." Sasuke says as he fire shunshin away from Naruto and his team. "I guess so..." Naruto says crestfallen.