Naruto:A New Path

My Ninja Way!

Naruto let out a hiss of pain as he clutched his stomach. A few beads of sweat trailed down his face, mixing with the blood trailing down his mouth and onto his chin. His right arm, now sleeveless, was full of scratches and a few open cuts though nothing major.
A frown etched on his face as he looked over Sasuke's condition. Much to his misfortune, he looked completely fine. The wounds he had inflicted were now closed thanks to the Curse Seal, not to mention the large gap it had put between their power.
"You look a bit worried Naruto," Sasuke mocked, noticing the frown on the Chunin. The Uchiha felt powerful, invincible, nothing could stop him on his current condition. It was euphoric. Like a drug coursing through his body.
Naruto drew in a breath before slipping into his new taijutsu stance, the one Anko had drilled into his brain by making him go through all kinds of dangerous exercises. His eyes narrowed on the enemy as the grip on his blade tightened, wind coursing through it as he pondered on his next move.
He was facing a much stronger Sasuke, one that could pose any non-senior Chunin. The fact that he had just come from a fight with Kimimaro and lost some chakra didn't make things any easier. The only way to beat Sasuke would be to come up with a good plan. Finish him in one shot.
' The only problem is that I don't know how to catch him off guard,' Naruto frowned as he took a step forward. 'Man, who cares anymore. I'll just attack until something comes to mind,' he concluded before breaking into a run.
Sasuke held his ground as Naruto approached. His sharingan could read everything Naruto could come up which left him in no real danger.
Naruto kicked off the water before throwing a punch with his right hand. Sasuke caught the fist with his left hand but the blond used his other hand to push his right arm downwards, getting out of the hold the Uchiha had on him.
The Chunin planted both feet on the water before throwing his body upwards, his head making contact with Sasuke's face. The Uchiha let out a grunt before staggering backwards, giving Naruto enough time to land a punch on his chest though it had no effect as Sasuke simply took the hit before the wings on his back wrapped around the blond.
Naruto cursed as the two arm-like wings picked him up and held him tightly in front of Sasuke, his eyes meeting a single sharingan. His eyes quickly snapped shut, knowing that looking into a sharingan was a very bad idea, before gasping in pain. The grip on his body tightened, his whole body shooting with waves of pain. He gritted his teeth in pain as he focused his chakra.
"You lose Naruto," Sasuke smirked before a wave of pain shot through one of his wings. His single eye widened as blood splattered out of his left wing, wind chakra ripping through it with ease. He cursed himself for having forgotten about Naruto's ability to lengthen the size of his blade and quickly withdrew his hold on the blond.
Wind encircled Naruto's right arm as his blue eyes snapped open in a glare. "Wind Style!" he began as the wind began to swirl violently around his arm, drawing a few drops of blood.
Sasuke had no idea what the new jutsu was and quickly put both wings in front of him as a shield. Whatever Naruto had up his sleeve, he would counter.
"Drilling Fist!" Naruto let out as he drove his fist into Sasuke's wings. His arm shook violently as his arm began to rip through the two wings, gusts of air shooting in all directions as his arm dug deeper and deeper.
The Uchiha let out a cry of pain before dropping the chakra on his feet, instantly falling into the water and narrowly escaping Naruto's jutsu. The Chunin grit his teeth in anger as his jutsu dropped, blood running down his arm due to the cutting wind that had gathered around it.
Naruto quickly jumped away from the area, not wanting a repeat of what had happened underwater before. Not long after, Sasuke crawled out of the water with a gaping hole on his left wing while the other was stained with blood.
The Uchiha glared as he ran through hand sings before putting a hand to his mouth. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" a giant ball of fire left the Uchiha's lips, heading straight for the hurt Naruto.
The Chunin quickly ran through hand signs, ignoring the pain shooting through his right arm, before putting a hand to his lips. "Wind Style: Devastation!" he exclaimed as a powerful gust of wind left his mouth.
The two attacks met with the fire overtaking the wind in a powerful explosion that rocked the area. Naruto, taking the worst of the attack, was hurled through the air as the explosion's shockwave kicked up large clouds of dust and water alike. Too hurt to do much else, Naruto sailed through the air before crashing into a heavily wooded area that shielded him from view.
Sasuke kept his feet planted on the ground as the powerful blast finally ended. A frown appeared on his face when seeing no sign of his old teammate. He scanned the area, watching as chunks of rock dropped from the waterfall and into the water around him. He scoffed before kicking off the area and landing on the ground next to the First Hokage's statue, seeing as Naruto had apparently landed near there.
"Come out coward!" Sasuke yelled impatiently. He wanted to keep on fighting, testing his powers, "Don't tell me you're done already!"
He snarled before taking a step forward, ready to look for Naruto himself before catching movement with his sharingan. He turned his head upwards, a gasp escaping his lips when seeing countless of kunai shooting through the air and heading right for his direction.
Sasuke scoffed before using both of his wings as a shield once more, his right wing in front of the left as to not let any kunai pass through the hole on his left wing. The kunai began fall on the area around him, some impacting against his wings but not managing to penetrate them. He kept his wings in place as more and more kunai fell from the sky, merging with the rhythm of the rain.
After a few more moments the rain of kunai finally ended. Sasuke retracted his wings, stretching them behind him as he scanned the area. Countless of kunai lay on the ground around him, but still no sign of Naruto. He frowned before hearing the sound of moving footsteps.
Sasuke turned to the heavily wooded area to see Naruto come out of the trees with his blade on hand. Blood trailed down his face and right arm as he charged at him but he didn't seem to mind as he quickened his pace.
The Uchiha scoffed, knowing that a mindless charge would do nothing to him. He ran at Naruto and prepared to throw a punch but, to his surprise, the blond suddenly vanished in a cloud of smoke. Sasuke stopped dead on his tracks before Naruto appeared behind him with his left fist held back.
"What?" Sasuke managed before Naruto's fist impacted against his back. The Uchiha grunted in pain before turning to the blond only to have him disappear once more.
Naruto appeared behind Sasuke once more, this time delivering a kick to the area between his wings before vanishing once more. The Uchiha staggered forward, hissing in pain before turning on his heel but, again, found no sign of the blond.
"What the hell is going on?" Sasuke yelled in anger.
"Just because you're stronger, doesn't mean you'll win!" Naruto yelled as he ran at Sasuke head on. He kept on charging before vanishing in a cloud of smoke, taking Sasuke by surprise. "I'll never give up. That's my ninja way!" he yelled as he appeared behind the Uchiha and cut through the base of his left wing with his blade.
The Uchiha let out a bloodied scream as blood splattered out of his back, the wing falling limply on the ground behind him. His hands shook before seeing Naruto appear before him with his left fist cocked back. Sasuke could only watch as the blond's fist dug into his stomach before he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
' What the fuck is this?' Sasuke wondered as he gasped in pain, receiving another punch from Naruto before disappearing.
'How is he moving so fast? Is he teleporting?' he received another punch, this time to his face before the blond disappeared once more.
Sasuke's head snapped to the side to see Naruto running at him from his left. The Uchiha quickly turned to the charging ninja but he suddenly vanished in a cloud of smoke once more. Pain shot through his back, another punch from the attacking Naruto before leaving in a cloud of smoke.
The Uchiha looked around for any sign of Naruto or a clue as to how he seemed to teleport around him. Sasuke used his sharingan to look for movement before realization struck his features. He looked at the ground, and finally arrived to a conclusion, those were no kunai.
Naruto appeared before him again, this time pointing a finger at Sasuke with a smirk on his face. "Attack!" he yelled as the kunai around him dropped their henge, revealing themselves to be clones. The army of clones charged at Sasuke from all sides, the Uchiha quickly jumping high in the air before running through hand sings and aiming at the ground.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
An enormous blast of fire shot at the ground, engulfing the charging clones with ease, leaving nothing but smoke on the area. Sasuke let out a few pants and he landed on the feet of the Madara statue, the area around him now free of any clones. He watched as Naruto landed on the feet of the First Hokage's statue with a focused gaze on his face.
"You'll pay for that…" Sasuke growled before focusing charka on his right hand. "This will put an end to all of our fights! We settle everything here Naruto!" he announced as the chirping of his jutsu began, lightning forming on his hand, "Chidori!"
Naruto's eyes narrowed as he gathered charka on his right hand. "Let's end this then," the chakra on his right hand began to take shape. Spinning on his open palm and glowing a blue color, "Rasengan."
The two glared at each other before kicking off the ground at the same time.
"NARUTO!" Sasuke yelled in rage as he neared the blond Chunin.
The jutsu on Naruto's hand dropped as he pulled a kunai out of his vest. He flicked his left wrist, sending the kunai through the air before Sasuke's hand stabbed through his chest.
Sasuke watched in glee as his attack ripped through Naruto's chest, life leaving his eyes before a smirk formed on his face. Sasuke's single eye widened as 'Naruto' burst in a cloud of smoke. He quickly turned his attention to the kunai the clone had thrown, watching as it transformed into the real Naruto holding a compressed orb of wind on his right hand.
The Uchiha, not being able to stop his momentum, could do nothing as Naruto dove towards his exposed back with his right arm extended.
"Wind Style: Spiraling Wind Ball!" Naruto yelled as his attack dove into Sasuke's back, cracking some bones upon contact.
Sasuke coughed up blood, the Curse Seal leaving his body, before being shot at the water beneath them, falling unconscious before hitting the water.
Naruto's eyelids grew heavy as he descended upon the water with his arm still outstretched. Having lost most of his chakra with the massive use of clones he had close to no chakra coursing through his body, not to mention the savage beating he had taken. He simply smiled wearily before falling into the water, somehow knowing that his mission was over.
Tsunade sat behind her desk going over a pile of paperwork. The Third Hokage had told her that she should get used to doing paperwork since it was one of the things she would be doing daily for as long as she remained Hokage. She read over the papers but seemed distracted, her mind clearly elsewhere.
The team sent on the retrieval of Sasuke Uchiha was taking too long. She was beginning to worry since the team had been picked in less than an hour, by a fresh Chunin no less, on a mission that they knew nothing about.
"Lady Tsunade!" Shizune suddenly entered the room with panic on her features, "We need you at the hospital!"
Tsunade was instantly on her feet, knowing that if Shizune asked for her then there was a big emergency. "Let's go, tell me what happened on the way," Tsunade ordered as the two left her office.
"So, the Uzumaki won…" a masked shinobi muttered, hidden among the trees in the area. The shinobi watched as the two ninja fell limply in the water before quickly breaking into a run.
A group of ninja was on the way so the job had to be done before any of them could get there. Retrieving the boy would be easy, covering their tracks would be the challenging part since the copy ninja, Kakashi, would be the one tracking them.
The masked ninja kneeled on the water before taking hold of the boy his leader had asked for. The young ninja was slung over the shinobi's shoulder before the two of them disappeared in a whirl of leaves.
Kakashi and Pakkun were first to arrive to the Valley of the End, finding it to be in bad condition. There were broken trees, pieces of rock scattered around the area, and the two statues having some parts missing.
"Over there!" Pakkun exclaimed, motioning for the body floating on the water.
Kakashi quickly ran up to the floating ninja fearing the worst but, upon getting closer, noticed that his eyes were open. He couldn't help but sigh in relief as he walked over to the shinobi gazing at the sky, the rain now falling lightly against the ground and a bit of sunlight peeking through the clouds.
"Looks like you had a rough fight…" Kakashi began, looking through his student's wounds. His right arm was broken and bloodied, his blond hair was stained with blood and his body trembled lightly. The copy ninja pulled the young shinobi out of the water, setting him lightly on the ground, "You'll be alright Naruto."
Naruto let out a shaky breath, his eyes beginning to close on their own but he couldn't fall unconscious. Not yet.
"Kakashi-sensei…" Naruto muttered through gasps for breath.
Kakashi turned to his student with a hint of worry, "Don't talk Naruto. Just rest for now, your team will get here soon."
Naruto shook his head slowly as he looked at his teacher with a worn down expression. "S-someone took him…" he muttered, gaining the attention of the copy ninja. Naruto took in a breath before speaking once more, "A masked ninja… he took Sasuke right after I beat him."
"Already on it," Pakkun spoke just as Kakashi turned to him. The summon sniffed the air before shaking his head, "Naruto's right. Someone else was here but they covered their scents not too far from here. The rain washing everything away doesn't make things much better."
"I guess there'll be no point in looking around," Kakashi sighed out before turning back to his student, finding him already unconscious. He frowned from beneath his mask before addressing his summon once more, "You can go rest now Pakkun, this mission is over."
"I'll see you later then," Pakkun nodded before leaving in a cloud of smoke.
"They're up ahead!"
Kakashi heard from the distance. He turned on his heel to see Neji, Gaara and Ino land in front of him.
"Naruto!" Ino exclaimed in worry, seeing his bloodied unconscious form upon arriving. She quickly ran to his side and worked on his wounds, quickly closing what she could and trying to ease his pain.
"We have to get him back to the village," Kakashi said as he made a single clone.
"What of the Uchiha?" Gaara spoke as the clone walked to the unconscious blond and gently picked him up.
"He was apparently taken by a masked ninja," Kakashi informed, "From what I gather. Naruto beat Sasuke but was too tired to prevent the unknown shinobi from taking him. We'll just have to ask him what exactly happened once he wakes up."
Neji activated his byakuugan but found nothing. He turned back to the Jonin, "What should we do now?"
"Let's go back to the village for now," Kakashi ordered as he watched his clone leave the area with Ino falling into step behind it, "There's nothing else for us to do here."
With that the 'Sasuke Retrieval' team left the area. A bittersweet feeling remained as they moved through the trees. They hadn't retrieved the Uchiha but had managed to come out alive from one of the most dangerous situations of their lives. It had been a small victory in a greater loss but at least they were all okay.